Where We Are
Chapter Five
'Carol...oh, god...Carol, I'm so sorry' John stammered, crouching beside his fallen wife.
Carol scrambled away from him, her eyes wide with fear and anger. John's shaking hand reached out towards her but she smacked it away and rushed to her feet. Her cheekbone hurt like hell and when she raised a hand to touch it, she felt the hot, wet, stickiness that could only be blood. John staggered back to his feet too and gazed beseechingly at her.
'Carol, I'm so sorry' he replied, stepping forward again.
Panic overrode her anger as he drew nearer and she quickly sidestepped him and made a run for her room.
'CAROL!' John roared after her and she heard his footsteps following her. Just as she managed to slam and lock the bedroom door, John threw his whole weight into it and a loud gasp escaped Carol's lips.
Half an hour later, John's pounding against the door ceased and Carol looked up from her placed on the ground. Tears mixed with blood stained her cheeks and dripped onto her t-shirt but she didn't care.
Did that just happen? she asked herself.
Yes, it did a small voice answered and it bewildered her whose voice she was actually hearing, who exactly was telling her that, yes, her husband, the man she loved, the father of her child, had hit her. She raised a hand to touch her cheekbone again and the pain seared. She might only be a nurse, but Carol was sure it was fractured.
She was not this person. She tended to victims of domestic violence almost on a daily basis. Women that swore they had tripped and fallen when it was written all over their faces that it was their boyfriends or husbands that were responsible. Carol never thought that she would someday become part of that. She never imagined that John, sweet, quite John would ever be classed as a wife beater. But one thing was for sure, Carol was not taking this lying down like the many others she had tended to. She would not plead his innocence and return for round two. She was angry that John would jeopardise their marriage for a fling with a med-student but she was livid that he would actually raise a hand to her. She would not stick around for this to be repeated, possibly in front of her son.
Thoughts of Zach pushed Carol to her feet. She entered the en suite bathroom and grimaced at her reflection. Taking a cloth, she turned on the cold tap and soaked it, then dabbed gently at her cheek until all traces of the blood had gone. Returning to the bedroom, she grabbed a large hold-all from under the bed and turned to her closet. Grabbing whatever came to hand, she almost filled the bag then turned towards the door. She eased it open and glimpsed the top of John's head over the couch. She took a deep breath and left the safety of her bedroom and walked quickly to the stairs. She was halfway up by the time John realised she had left the room and before he had risen from the couch, Carol had already shut herself into Zach's bedroom. Repeating her actions from her own room, Carol grabbed whatever clothes came to hand and stuffed them into the bag too. She was halfway back down the stairs before John rose from the couch again.
'Carol, please, talk to me. I'm sorry about what I did. I really didn't mean it. Please, it will never happen again' he begged.
Carol ripped open the front door and then glanced back at her husband. She forced as much callousness and hatred into her expression as she possibly could.
'Goodbye, John' she said, then slammed the door and practically ran up the street, afraid he would come after her.
D&C
Doug woke suddenly from a vivid dream. He had been running through the familiar corridors of County, searching, searching desperately, but he could not find what he was looking for.
Now, he lay awake, listening to the wind howling and the rain lashing off the windows. He had broken out in a cold sweat and suddenly felt very jumpy. His mind wandered back over the details of the dream that was now quickly fading from his memory. What exactly had he been searching for? No answer came to him as he lay quietly in the darkness.
Finally deciding that now he was awake he might as well try to finish off his preparations for his trip, Doug swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stumbled towards the door. Once in the living room, he turned on his computer and got to work, making himself some coffee when his eyes started to droop once more. He looked at his watch and was shocked to realise it was already passed three in the morning. He would need to get some sleep if he was going to keep up with Eden that afternoon.
Doug smiled, thinking of the five year old. She was finally back to her hyper self after her near brush with death. When Eden was just three years old, Doug himself had diagnosed B Cell Lymphoma. For the following year, the toddler was put through things some adults never even had to think about. But after a gruelling thirteen months for both Eden and Alicia and even Doug, Eden went into remission. Slowly, the too-active, hyper child returned. It had been that night, as Alicia and Doug celebrated Eden's good news, that Doug had embarked on his relationship with Alicia. Not that he ever considered it a relationship before, but as he sat there at his desk, thinking of the brave little girl and her mother, Doug realised what he should have realised before. His feeling for Alicia had deepened over the months and only now, now that Doug was making himself move on, did he see it. He could make a good life for himself with Alicia and Eden.
But then it suddenly came to him what he had being so desperately searching for in his dream. He had been searching for her. Was he forgetting her so easily that his subconscious had to remind him, or was this a way of telling himself he wasn't yet ready, that he still couldn't let her go. Suddenly angry with himself, Doug switched of the computer and headed back to bed, stopping off in the kitchen for a beer first.
D&C
'Hey, I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost or something' Mark called from the door as Carol approached, a bag over her shoulder. Carol didn't respond.
Mark waited for her to arrive next to him before saying 'How did it go?'.
Carol had her head bent, curls falling over her face. Again she didn't answer. Beginning to worry, again, Mark was about to speak again when Carol raised her head.
Mark gasped aloud and his foot slipped on the icy front steps. Once back, steadily, on both feet, Mark pulled Carol into a hug as she let out a heart breaking sob. He helped her back up the stairs to his flat and lowered her gently onto the couch, then scooped Zach up and moved him onto the camp bed in his room with Rach. Then he ran for the first-aid box that he kept in the kitchen. Carol's face was red and puffed and her eyes were glazed over as Mark cleaned her wound and put a steri-strip across the cut. Once he was finished, he tidied away the medical supplies and then looked back at his best friend.
'Thanks' she sniffled.
'I should have gone with you' he reprimanded himself.
Carol shook her head. 'No, it's okay. Someone had to look after Zach' she replied.
Mark sighed. 'Well, I'm going to knock on my neighbours door and see if she will watch Zach and Rach while we go to the hospital, okay' he said, laying a hand gently on her shoulder.
'No! I mean, we don't have to go to the hospital' Carol told him, her eyes wide with fear that her colleagues would find out what a mess she'd gotten herself into.
Mark sighed heavily. 'Carol, we need to get an x-ray of your cheekbone' he told her.
'You're a doctor, Mark. Surely you can tell if it's broken or not and even if it is, there's nothing we can do' she tried to talk her way out of going to the hospital.
'Carol, you know as well as I do that you need an x-ray and proper sutures' Mark replied. Carol slumped back against the couch, she couldn't find anything else to say.
'I promise no one will even know you're there, okay?' he said, trying to reassure her.
Eventually, Carol nodded and Mark stood.
When they arrived at the ER, Carol kept her head down.
'Hey, Dr Greene, Carol. What are you guys doing here?' Jerry asked as they came through the door.
'Just need to take care of some things, Jer' Mark called back, steering Carol towards the deserted Exam Room 3.
'Okay, I'll go see how soon we can get you into x-ray and then I'll stitch you up and we'll be home before you know it' Mark said. Carol nodded. Mark left the room.
Not even ten seconds after the door had swung shut, it opened again and Dr Weaver entered. 'Oh, Carol, I didn't know anyone was-'
Carol had not looked down quickly enough and Dr Weaver had gotten a good look at her cut and bruised face.
'Carol! What happened?' the doctor gasped, moving forward. The sympathy that leaked out from Weaver's every word reduced Carol to tears once more. Weaver sat down and wrapped her arms around the troubled nurse.
'I can't believe he'd do that. I can't he'd hit me' Carol sobbed, and although she offered Weaver no further explanation, the doctor didn't ask, seeming to come to her own, and quite correct, conclusion.
'What do I do, Kerry?' Carol asked, pleaded. She needed to be told what she should do next. And, for some reason unknown to her, Carol found it easier to talk to Weaver.
'You can't go back there, Carol' Kerry whispered. Carol nodded, defeated. She had wanted to give it a got shot at saving her marriage but she knew after what had just happened, there was no way back for her and John.
'You need to get away. You need some time to think. Is there someone you could go and visit, get away for a while?' Kerry asked.
Immediately, one man's face floated through Carol's mind but she knew she couldn't go there, it would be absurd for her to show up on his doorstep. Actually, she didn't even know where his doorstep was. But Kerry was right. She needed to get away and Mark's just wasn't far enough. She nodded into the doctor's chest.
Just then, Mark re-entered the room. He locked eyes with Kerry and was surprised at how much compassion and sympathy he saw within the emerald green depths. She smiled ever so slightly at her colleague and Mark nodded, thanking her for looking after Carol.
'X-ray is ready' he told the still sobbing nurse. Carol nodded and stood up and Kerry's arms fell back to her sides. Carol moved towards the door but at the last minute, she looked back at her boss.
'Thanks, Kerry' she sniffled. Kerry smiled slightly again and nodded.
Carol and Mark left the room and Kerry was left to her own, horrific thoughts of what had happened to her friend, for yes, she did consider Carol a friend, even if Carol didn't know it.
AN: Okay, so what did you think. It was a little rushed I know, but I'm eager to get to the good stuff :)
This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful, amazing, precious little boy Noah, who is officially FOUR YEARS OLD today! October 19, 2006, one of the two most amazing days of my life :)
Happy Birthday, baby! XXXX Love, mommy and Rory :)
If you review, I will consider it a birthday present to my wonderful son :D And how could you deny a four year old a present, eh? Lol!
Katelyn x