Thought it was about time I finished this story off. It's the summer holidays now so I have some free days to concentrate on writing. Sorry about the slight delay lol I really struggled to even begin this next chapter as I originally had an idea in my head, but then when I thought more about it, I wasn't sure about it at all, so I chickened out of writing it. I thought it might come across as being a bit silly. Anyway, I've finally forged ahead. I don't think the idea turned out as bad as I thought it would. It might seem a bit far-fetched but I think you should be able to make out Dempsey's reasons for it in the next two chapters… hopefully. And if not, my excuse is that they were both a bit drunk lol Anyway, here it is.

"Here, hold this," said Dempsey, handing Harry the dome covered plate of food as he jumped out of Eddie's car and rushed around the other side to let her out. Encountering a considerable puddle of water around the far side of the car however, he hesitated for a moment before stepping gingerly into it to open her door.

She peeked outside.

"Oh dear," she frowned. "It's all wet."

Indeed, a sudden summer shower had fallen since they'd left The Park Lane and pools of water now scattered the surface of the car park around them.

Damn! This was going to put her off, give her an excuse to object to stopping off there.

"Yes." Dempsey contemplated the watery scene before shrugging. "Still, this is Brit weather so no use lettin' it stand in our way," he replied adamantly, grabbing Harry's arm suddenly, placing his free arm around her waist and scooping her up towards him.

As it turned out, all the merriment, not to mention the copious alcoholic drinks of the evening, had put Harry in high spirits. She therefore allowed herself to be carried away, quite literally, by Dempsey.

"Good grief," she laughed as he strode swiftly across the car park with her in his arms, "there's no need for this. I haven't lost my ability to walk you know, Dempsey."

He glanced down at her. "Hmm, maybe not, but you weren't lookin' too steady after those last two vodka shooters of Eddie's in the back there. Better take no chances," he concluded.

In truth, that was just an excuse; he was more concerned about her resisting his impromptu idea for this next stop. He wasn't entirely surprised therefore, by her following comment.

"Dempsey," she began, eyeing the look of determination on his face just above her.

"Hmm," he replied, keeping focused on his goal: the building a couple of hundred metres ahead.

"What exactly are we doing?"

Her own question made her want to laugh at the bizarre situation she'd found herself in, but she refrained from doing so, mostly because she had the feeling that she should be objecting to this.

His attention was drawn briefly to her then. "I told ya, just gonna pop to see Danny."

She shook her head as if to clear it. "I really don't think we've thought this thing through, Dempsey," she pointed out. "I mean…"

Dempsey cut her off before she could continue. "What's there to think about? Just gonna drop this food off for him, say a quick hi and then we can go to…" he paused, "wherever Eddie wants to go next," he reasoned. "Everyone's a winner, right?"

"Well, first of all…" she went on, ignoring his last comment and preparing to tick off a list of reasons why this was not a good idea, "… do you realise the time? You can't just go waltzing into a hospital to see someone at this time of night. There are rules about that kind of thing," she stressed. "And secondly…"

Here we go. She was beginning to sound more like sober, sensible Harry again. It was all trivialities and he didn't want to hear them. Ok, so it was kind of a dumb idea maybe, but he felt sort of guilty knowing that Danny was in hospital and he had been out enjoying a luxury meal and a night on the town. Besides, the food would have only gone to waste, and it had only been a few hours ago that Danny had been complaining to Dempsey about how awful the hospital food was. Anyway, they'd be in and out before anyone knew it.

Now, all he needed to do was to quickly formulate a plan as to how they could sneak into Danny's room with the ever so slightly conspicuous plate of food. No problem, he could do it. It'd be a piece of cake… or rather, a plate of lobster risotto and steak.

"Dempsey," Harry whispered, jiggling the front of his shirt and bringing him out of his train of thought.

He looked down, almost as though he'd forgotten that she was in his arms. "Yeah?"

"Are you going to carry me right into the hospital?" she asked, pointing ahead of them. "Because if you are, I have my doubts that we will get very far without having to answer a few questions… especially with me carrying this plate of hotel food."

Hmm, she was right; he hadn't quite thought this through. Hesitating behind a row of cars close to the main hospital entrance, he scanned the front of the building, pondering an alternative access.

She chuckled, amused at Dempsey's obvious quandary. "You could always pretend to be a doctor; you've done that before," she reminded him.

"Yeah but, forgot to bring my doctor's coat," he replied absentmindedly, as his attention was drawn away from Harry to an ambulance which was pulling in around the side of the building. He turned to her then suddenly. "Think you can walk from here?" he asked.

She laughed. "Oh, I think I could just about manage it," she replied, sliding out of his arms. "And now, you can take this," she said, passing the plate of food back into his hands. Let him try to sneak it past the reception; she had begun to feel a little ridiculous carting it across the car park with her. "Come on lieutenant, let's get this over with," she said over her shoulder as she turned and headed towards the hospital entrance.

He frowned, cradling the plate in one arm and shooting out the other hand to grab her wrist. "Not that way. I think there may be a side access over here," he said, redirecting her.

"Dempsey," she began again, resisting his insistence to move around the building.

"C'mon," he replied, practically pulling her along with him, "There's a door over here."

"But Dempsey…" she went on patiently and with a little amusement.

"Harry," he replied with a lot less patience, "look, I'm gonna get in through here. Just be watch out for me, will ya?"

She sighed. Well, no one could say she didn't try to tell him. "Fine, anything you say, Dempsey."

True to his word, and to her surprise, he did manage to open the small, metal door which seemed to lead into some sort of storeroom, although it was extremely difficult to tell for sure what exactly the room was, from both the limited outside lighting and total lack of light inside the room itself.

"Hmm, bit dark in there," Harry pointed out, peering into the abyss. "I suggest you go in first."

He glared at her. "C'mon, there must be a light switch in here somewhere," he said, edging into the darkness.

Against her better judgement, she followed, sliding her hands over the nearest wall in search of a switch. As she crept further into the room, she found herself bumping into, what she assumed to be, metal cabinets. Maybe they were filing cabinets and this was an office. It was so dark in there though, and yet patting down most of two entire walls didn't seem to be helping them find any much needed light switches. Dempsey was banging around in his usual impatient way and apparently having as little luck as she was.

"Do you think you could make a little more noise, Dempsey? I don't think that the entire hospital heard you," Harry commented after Dempsey had clearly knocked something to the floor with a loud clatter.

"Will you get the damn light switch, Harry?" he replied.

"This is ridiculous!" she exclaimed with sudden frustration, striding back towards the doorway and running slap bang into something on the way. She instinctively put out her hands and slid them over the barrier, trying to figure out what it was. However, unlike the hard surfaces of the cabinets, this object was softer and warmer, and to her surprise, it spoke.

"Harry," came Dempsey's voice directly into her ear, making her jump with surprise at his close proximity. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but now aint exactly the time."

Her hands sprung back from the fleshy barrier. Enough was enough. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her mobile phone and turned it on, spreading a small beam of light ahead of her.

The first thing she saw was Dempsey's face, inches away. He grinned. "We'll save that kinda thing for later, eh," he chuckled, taking the phone off her to scan the room with its light. "I mean, I can see your havin' trouble keepin' your hands off me Harry, but ya gotta show a little restraint at times ya know. There's a time and a place."

Harry assessed the room with annoyance as Dempsey prattled on. Great! She folded her arms and glared up at him. "The only 'trouble' I'm having is getting through to you that this is a bloody crazy idea of yours, Dempsey! I mean, what on earth are we doing in here?" she asked, gesturing around the tiny electrical room they had unknowingly entered.

Dempsey narrowed his eyes, contemplating their surroundings. "I don't suppose there's a door back there somewhere, leadin' into the hospital," he said, focusing the light between the electrical units.

"Yes, of course there is, and there's a lion, and a witch, and the magical land of Narnia back there too!" she exclaimed sarcastically, and in two strides, she had pushed open the door and reappeared into the car park again, turning to Dempsey with her hands on her hips. "All things considered, I think we should go home now," she announced, feeling decidedly more sober. "I'm sure that Eddie has had enough of waiting around for us, and I'm sorry, but it's just too late to get that," her attention fell to the plate in his hand, "to Danny tonight."

"Well, the food aint gonna be any good tomorrow, is it?" Dempsey snapped back, heading, to Harry's utter frustration, further around the hospital building, rather than back to the car.

"I wasn't expecting you were planning on keeping the food!" she exclaimed, rushing after him. "Where are you going now?" she asked incredulously, hurtling straight into the back of him when he stopped abruptly in his tracks.

"There," he answered her, pointing upwards. "That's how we're gonna get in."

She tilted her head up to see that he was pointing to a window, which appeared to be ajar, on the floor above.

"Are you out of your mind?" she asked.

"C'mon Harry," Dempsey began, placing one arm around her shoulders, "once we're in, we'll go straight to Danny's room, see how he's doin', drop the food off and then we're outta here." Judging by the expression on Harry's face however, it was clear that she didn't seem convinced. "Tell ya what, I'll buy ya the biggest, most expensive bottle of Champagne after this. Now, wha'd'ya say?" he coaxed.

She sighed. "How exactly do you propose we get up there, anyway?" she replied, glancing back up at the window.

"Now Harry," he began, pulling her closer to him with the hand on her shoulder. She glared at it. "Don't tell me you never shinned up or down a drainpipe in all of your private, public school days," he said with some amusement, watching for a reaction.

She hesitated only for a moment before giving into temptation to reply, "Well, I have actually," she admitted. "I knew every possible way to get over the walls of Winfield Hall when I was a teenager," she boasted.

"Well there you go then," he smiled triumphantly, gesturing to the drainpipe that ran up the side of the building. "After you."

She folded her arms, "You really are going to make me do this, aren't you."

"Well, it's down to you, but if you aint up to it… if it's gonna be too much for ya…"

She tutted and headed for the drainpipe, saying as she passed him, "That was a pathetic attempt at coercing me, Dempsey."

"Well it worked, didn't it?" he countered.

"Only because you seem to have got it into that stubborn head of yours that we're going to see Danny, come hell or high-water , and you're not likely to shut up about it until we do!" she replied, grasping onto part of the drainpipe and commencing her climb.

Dempsey watched, suddenly amused, and pleasantly surprised, by the incredible view he now had of Harry as she climbed the drainpipe in those deliciously figure hugging black trousers. Then suddenly she stopped climbing and paused for a second before turning to look back at Dempsey.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

He grinned. "Just admirin' your climbing skills."

"Oh really, well there are a few things you haven't thought of, Dempsey. Like how you're going to get up here with that thing in your hands, for one…"

"Stop worryin' Harry, I'll get up there. You just concentrate on reachin' that window," he replied.

"And when I get there, what if it's an occupied room? What on earth do I do if I climb in and interrupt someone in bed?" she asked.

"They should be so lucky," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothin', just take a peek in there first before you go climbin' in," he advised her.

She tutted again, but turned around and resumed her climb.

He waited with bated breath as she reached the window and peered in. It must have been good news because without so much as a backward glance, she clambered over the windowsill and disappeared into the room, reappearing moments later and gesturing for him to join her.

This was going to be fun; Harry watched as Dempsey spent the next few moments shifting the plate of food from one arm to another, trying to figure out how he was going to ascend one handed. Finally, he settled on precariously balancing the plate under his arm and using his free hand to scramble up the drainpipe, not looking too dissimilar to an orangutan. She chuckled to herself, reaching out to take the plate off him as he neared the window.

"Done with such finesse," she teased.

Once Dempsey had scrambled through the window, he realised that they had climbed into some sort of small waiting room, which luckily wasn't being used at that time.

"Here, this is yours I believe," Harry said, passing the plate back to Dempsey and heading for the door. He followed her and they both peered through the small window.

"Coast is clear," Dempsey said, pushing the door open.

"Wait," Harry said, catching hold of Dempsey's shirt sleeve, "What exactly do you plan on saying if someone asks us what we're doing?"

"They won't," he replied impatiently.

"And if they do?" she insisted.

He tutted, "Just pretend you're injured or somethin'; I'll be the doctor."

"Right, the doctor that looks nothing like a doctor, and who is carrying a plate of food," she came back, reluctantly following Dempsey.

Before they reached the end of the corridor, they passed a few rooms but, glancing through the windows, they found that only a couple were occupied, and none of them with Danny. Most of the rooms were simply locked storage rooms, or staff areas. Finally, on reaching the end of the corridor, they peered around the corner. Left was the entrance to a large ward, and to the right was the reception desk for that ward.

"Great," Harry whispered. "Where to now?"

"Errm..." Dempsey popped his head back around the corner, hoping to see an alternative route to the elevators, which must have been beyond the ward. No such luck.

She watched him wracking his brains. "Where exactly is Danny's room anyway?" she asked. "Where are we heading?"

He tried to draw an imaginary map in his head.

"You have no idea, do you," she accused. "I don't believe this…"

"Quit it will ya," he snapped suddenly. "I'm tryin' to think."

"Shhh," she cautioned him. "There are nurses at the desk… So you had better think quickly and get us out of here." She wryly recalled his earlier promise of "…once we're in, we'll go straight to Danny's room, see how he's doin', drop the food off and then we're outta here."

"I'm sorry, but this aint exactly the same way I came in earlier today," he reminded her, a touch of sarcasm in his tone. "We just need to get to the elevators. Ready for your injured patient routine?" he asked, placing his arm around her waist as if to support her.

"No!" she panicked, pulling away from him. "We're going to get caught. You can't pull off a doctor, and I don't look injured. Besides, all the doctors and nurses probably know each other," she pointed out.

"What about the interns?" he put to her. "Not all doctors and nurses know all the interns."

How the hell did Dempsey know about interns anyway? What exactly were interns?

"Look," he went on, "just ooze confidence. Look natural. Pullin' off somethin' like this is all just about believin' in yourself," he assured her.

Hmm, she wasn't so sure, but she really didn't have much choice, unless she wanted to be standing at the end of that corridor all night.

"Okay," she conceded, "I seem to have developed a pain in my foot. Could be a broken bone?"

"Sure, let's go get an x-ray of it to make certain," Dempsey replied, slipping his arm around her waist once more and handing her the plate.

She frowned at it. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Here, I think it's better that you take this," he said.

"Oh no, I'm not carrying that thing through the ward with me. It was your stupid idea to bring it; you carry it."

"Harry," he sighed, "What would a doctor be doin' with this?" he asked.

"What would a patient be doing with it?" she came back.

"Just take it, will ya? We need to get outta here."

For goodness sake!

"Okay." She snatched the plate off him and cringed as they moved around the corner, with her limping ridiculously, and Dempsey pretending to guide her… but worst of all, was her trying to conceal the absurd plate of food, silver dome and all!

Since their backs were turned to the reception desk, neither Dempsey nor Harry knew if they had been spotted by the nurses at the desk or not, but they continued ahead, moving right through the ward. Harry didn't dare look to either side of them to see the reactions of the patients, but focused everything on the doorway straight ahead, and to her relief, the glimpse that she already had of the lifts beyond.

To her utter amazement, they actually made it through the ward!

"See, what'd'I tell ya," Dempsey said, rushing over to the lifts and pressing the button for the 5th floor. That was one thing he had remembered: the floor number of Danny's room. "It's all just about confidence."

Harry breathed a long sigh of relief and Dempsey turned to watch, grinning. "Well, you can't say a night out with me aint excitin'," he said.

She glared at him. "I can think of other words to describe it, Dempsey," she replied, preparing to enter the lift as the doors began sliding open.

She had just lifted her foot off the floor to take a step forward when, to her horror, from behind her she felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a voice say,

"Can I help you Madam? You seem to be lost."

She froze, caught horribly, and terribly in a trap of her own making. For one mad moment, she contemplated throwing the plate of food behind her into the man's face and running like mad for the nearest exit. Calm Harry, don't do anything stupid, she told herself. Slowly, they both turned around to face the man, who, to make matters worse, appeared to be a security guard.

"Listen," Harry began, trying to think of excuses in her head as she was talking. "You're right, we did get lost. You see…" Silence. The security guard loomed, staring and waiting for her to continue. "Doctor Dempsey will explain it to you," she finally blurted out.

"Doctor?" the man said, turning his attention to Dempsey.

Dempsey laughed, saying, "She hasn't taken her medicine today. No, we are just here to… to…well, actually… we were just leaving," he said simply.

"Ah okay," the security guard nodded. "Just take the lift to the ground floor and follow the exit signs. I thought you were here to visit someone and I was just going to remind you that visiting hours for private rooms will finish in around," he glanced at his watch, "ten minutes time." And with that, he turned on his heel and left.

Dempsey turned with disbelief to Harry. "I thought you said there were rules about visitin' hours and it was too late for visitin' now!"

She frowned angrily at his onslaught. "How was I to know there were different rules for private rooms?"

"You made me break in…" he began, but she interrupted him before he could continue.

"I made you! Ha! You," she pointed the finger of blame at him, "You were the one who insisted on breaking in. I was trying to tell you that we could just walk in."

"Just walk in? But what about the visitin' hours?" he asked.

"Yes, Dempsey. There might be rules about the visiting hours but people don't bar you at the hospital door. You can walk into a hospital, if not into the wards."

"Oh right, and ya didn't think of tellin' me this?"

"I tried!" she exclaimed. "But oh no, it was all, 'be my look out, will ya,' and 'we'll just pop in through the window.' You made me climb up that drainpipe," she accused.

"Really," he laughed. "And you always do exactly as I tell you then?"

She took a breath to answer, but then paused. "Well, no, not exactly."

"Maybe I should be more adamant about other things and you'd do those too," he went on, a twinkle in his eye.

"Don't get your hopes up," she replied primly, "And here, you can take this bloody thing back," she said, passing him the plate again. "Come on. We've got ten minutes like the man said. I'm not going through all of this for nothing!"