Once again, thank you to the lovely people who have been reading and revieed, and also to those who have alerted (and I assume have been reading) it's nice to know people are actually enjoy what was a bit of a twisted early hours of the morning plot. Anyhow, on with chapter 3..
The sounds of screaming and what sounded like a body hitting the floor, had sent her rushing out of CDU, unsure of what was occurring. The first thing she had noticed was Dylan's chalky white complexion as he sunk to the top stair and seemed to be staring down the stairs without actually seeing anything.
Upon closer inspection she realised that Sam lay motionless at the foot of the stairs, both Noel and Big Mac were hovering nearby - as though not certain what to do, and immediately she rushed down the stairs. She fell to her knees at Sam's side, determined to assess the damage: "Sam, it's Zoe, darling, can you hear me?" She let her fingers fall to the blonde's throat, feeling for a pulse as she spoke. Upon receiving no answer she turned to the receptionist: "Get me Jordan, Charlie… and Lenny or Tom." He had disappeared by the time that she turned to the porter: "Big Mac, I need a spinal board and a collar, as fast as you can." She turned her intention back to blonde, willing her to regain consciousness: "Come on, Sam." She turned briefly to attempt to locate any assistance, and as she return her attention to Sam, she allowed her fingers return to her pulse point: "No, no - come on Sam, you're not doing this! Can I get some help over here? Come on sweetheart, hang on a minute…" She tilted her head towards the ceiling and was furiously blinking back tears as she heard the commotion which she could only hope was assistance. "Nick, I've lost output…" She spoke quickly, as she watched the Clinical Lead fall to his knees next to her, as flurry of Tom, Lenny, Linda and Charlie threw necessary items and themselves in their direction.
Nick nudged her out of the way, and she took that opportunity to turn and look at Dylan, who was still chalk white, though he'd now risen from the stair and was standing cautiously looking down them at a sight she wasn't sure she couldn't bare. Her own legs were like jelly as she gripped the banister tightly and began to climb the stairs hoping to coax Dylan down them to wait for further news there. However, it seemed when he had noticed her obvious effort to get to him, he turned very quickly on his heel - without waiting to see the outcome of the desperate attempts for Sam's life, which she, herself, was determinedly trying to block out - and marched purposefully towards CDU, letting the door close with a slam behind him.
As she heard the crashing of the door closing, she decided that it would possible be safer for all involved if she waited a while before she went to reason with the doctor who had obviously been affected by an uncharacteristic force of emotion which he was struggling to deal with. As she turned her herself to head back down the stairs, her attention was immediately grabbed by the sound of Nick's voice: "Okay, we've got output, we need to get her into Resus." She paused on the stairs, realising that her earlier encounter with Sam's motionless thin frame was enough for her to cope with and decided to let them get her into Resus before she joined them, in their assessment of Sam's condition.
She pushed open the doors, looking at the crowded bed knowing that in the middle of it lay a very tiny, vulnerable and frail Sam and she had began to stride purposefully towards the group of her colleagues, snapping on a pair of gloves as she did - though she was sure her confusion was evident when Nick left supervising at Sam's side, to turn to her for a moment, pulling off a glove as he did so. "We're okay Zoe. Why don't you go have a cup of tea, calm your nerves…" His words however only heightened her confusion, until he reached his now gloveless hand to her face and wiped at her cheek, and she reached her own hand to join his and felt the moisture of tears - which she couldn't remember crying - on her cheeks. She nodded, swallowing quickly, before leaving the room.
She was aware that Charlie was the last out of Resus, and he had left Sam to rest and probably get over the shock she'd just had. She had a nagging doubt about leaving the blonde alone, when before the fall she was clearly showing some fairly worrying symptoms; she also noted how Sam had failed to share these with anyone when she'd come round but she held her own tongue and decided to wait until she had Sam on her own to talk to her about it, hopefully without scaring the girl senseless this time.
Sensing that this was in fact the most likely opportunity of getting that time, she entered Resus, turning her head slightly as she did so, and quickly looked around the room to ensure that she and Sam were alone. "How are you?" She noticed that blonde, despite not answering her, did turn to look in the right direction and at least she had been able to identify from which direction her voice had travelled.
"I can't see you when you stand there." Sam's voice was low, almost whispered, and Zoe's heart went out to her as she moved to the other side of the bed to attempt to reassure her young colleague. "Why can't I see?" Zoe closed her eyes, before stepping forward and taking the blonde's hand - fully aware of what Sam was attempting to not acknowledge. She didn't want to be the one having to do this she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a thing, Sam spoke quickly: "I don't want Dylan." The tear that slipped down Sam's cheek did not escape her notice and as the blonde rolled onto her side she stepped further forwards her and tightened her grip on the younger woman's hand - remembering that less than two hours ago, the same blonde had been sobbing into her shoulder.
She watched as Sam seemed lost in her thoughts, every so often looking at the drip they had attached to her, the oxygen mask that lay by her bed, just in case. "We didn't mean to frighten you, before…" She had to speak, because she couldn't stand silence, because she wanted to make Sam acknowledge her - she had to know she was still capable. Her heart broke when she had stepped into Resus once Sam had come round, looking at her colleague, in her twenties barely into her life and she lay there struggling to see, she had seen each of Sam's more obvious symptoms earlier in the day, she knew that their colleagues had assumed Sam was in shock but she couldn't bear to correct them. But Zoe believed that she genuinely knew that what was going on was so much worse than that; she had to get Sam to face up to it, let them try to treat her, if they had to. She wasn't willing to let Sam throw her life away because she was too frightened or too self-conscious to ask for help - help that she didn't need to ask for, they were already there ready to provide it.
She felt Sam's grip on her hand loosen and the younger woman appeared to have drifted into sleep; which maybe could be a good thing, provided the rest made her realise that there really only was way to deal with the situation she was currently in, and that was in fact Dylan's way. Her thoughts drifted to Dylan, as she watched his wife sleep - reluctant to leave her and have her wake up alone - remembering his ashen face as he sat at the top of the stairs watching as his colleagues attempted to resuscitate Sam.
Sometime later the Clinical Lead had entered the room, taking the moment to take a look at Sam's notes and he quickly made his own observations. Her hand was still holding onto Sam's, as though afraid that if she let go something would change. "She had quite a fall, she's been lucky." She tried to force herself into making some sort of response, though when she didn't she could feel Nick staring at her and she looked away from Sam to let her eyes lock with his.
"She couldn't see Nick." She'd blurted the words out, the moment Nick had looked at her, unable to suppress the fear she was feeling for her younger colleagues health - no matter how much Sam tried to mask it.
He looked up from Sam's chart sharply, upon hearing her words, letting his mouth open and close a few times before he managed to form words: "Since she fell?" She turned his head away from her, looking back at the now sleeping blonde.
"No…" She had begun so much more confidently than she now felt and found herself struggling with the words she knew she had to say. She returned to the blonde's side, and suddenly became aware of the fact that Dylan was not by her side. She moved momentarily to sit down on the stool, nearest the trolley Sam lay on, before taking the blonde's hand in her own, once again, and reached up to place one hand under the cut on her cheek. A cut obviously inflicted in her fall yet despite being Sam's only visible injury it seemed so irrelevant. "She's so young."
On these words she had felt Nick's hand fall on to her shoulder, in a comforting fashion, before he began to speak "What's going on Zoe?"
She couldn't put into words how sick the whole situation was making her feel as she began a second attempt at explaining to the Clinical Lead exactly what was going on with Sam before she slipped on the stairs. "Her vision has been disturbed since this morning; that's why she fell, she couldn't see properly." She couldn't bring herself to look at him, so she began forming a list of things Sam would need in her head.
"Anything else?" Nick's calm voice broke into her thoughts and pulled her harshly back to reality.
"She had started becoming sensitive to the light, headaches…" She trailed off, wondering where exactly Dylan was, and how she should go about expressing her concern that he wasn't there.
"And you didn't think to send her for a scan?" She looked up at his words unsure to go about explain that it was when she had uttered those very words to Sam, the younger woman had panicked and hurried off and consequently taken her horrifying tumble down the stairs, so she simply shook her head.
She watched as Nick eyed her curiously before he began to speak again: "Tell me when you want me to arrange that." She nodded again.
Nick's words were still circling her mind when she let her attention drift to Sam again, and suddenly she made a decision. "Can you get someone to sit with her, so she doesn't wake up alone? I need to go and get Dylan and work out what to do." She never waited on a response, instead she tucked her hair behind her ears and hurried from the room, only looking back as she reached the door to see Nick kick the stool closer to Sam's bedside and sit down, apparently having taken on the responsibility of keeping a bedside vigil himself. She smiled to herself as she recalled the kindness of the man, a kindness she'd always known was there even if he wasn't showing it.
You can review if you like, they do make me happy..
anyhow, I shall see you on Tuesday morning, until then, Anny. x.