A/N – I'm so sorry for such a crappy update in such a long time. I haven't really been in the mindset to do anything. So I apologize greatly for this and hope it's not much of a disappointment. I'm not entirely happy with this, but I guess it will do. I need more Aaron scenes this week in Emmerdale
Also, so sorry for being a bit neglecting of my other fics but again, stuck with where to go. All though be expecting an update for Bring me back! I'm thinking of doing a sequel to that as well!
Anyways, read, review, enjoy. Tell me what you think. Disappointed?
Oh and I'm thinking of re-writing my other fics when I've update my others. I feel they need a make over and a boost.
"I'm back!" Rhona chimed as she burst into the surgery, ditching her medical bag on the reception desk.
Paddy popped his head round the door, free from any clients all afternoon. "Alright?"
"Yeah, surprisingly." Rhona smiled. "Good do with a cuppa though, fancy one?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Paddy laughed as the female vet skipped through to Smithy Cottage.
She didn't notice him at first, too busy filling the kettle with fresh water and switching it on. It wasn't until Rhona took a seat at the kitchen table, flicking open a magazine as she waited for the water to boil that she caught site of Aaron's hand lying in the kitchen doorway.
"Aaron?" She spoke out cautiously, getting to her feet and slowly approaching the still form. She was scared as to what she may find. "Aaron?. . . OH MY GOD, PADDY! PADDY!"
No soon had she called for the Vet did Paddy appear beside her, dropping himself to his knees beside the teen. Aaron had clearly fallen down the stairs. God knows how long he'd been lying there without them knowing. His skin was paler than usual and blood pooled round the top of his head. It sickened Paddy to think how bad Aaron was injured. He was relieved to see Aaron's chest rise and fall. He didn't know how they would cope if Aaron was to die. He couldn't bear to think about it.
"Rhona call an ambulance." Paddy told her. He knew he should try to stop the bleeding at the back of Aaron's skull but he also knew he couldn't move Aaron. They didn't know whether he had any spinal injuries. For now, all he could do was wait for the ambulance to arrive. He couldn't understand how Aaron had fallen down the stairs. Accidents happened, he knew that. He supposed he should have expected in away, he'd often told Aaron to climb the stars properly instead of daring himself to skip several step's, one more each time he risked it. The young mechanic's luck couldn't get any worse.
A minute later Rhona returned to Paddy's side. "They're going to be five minutes." She told him, staring down at the teen. She feared for the young man also. For a moment she had thought she was dead and it had filled her with deep feeling of sickness. "I think you should let Chas and Jackson know, Paddy." She told the older man.
"Y-yeah, you're right." Paddy stuttered stumbling to his feet. "Could you- could you watch him for me please."
Even though Rhona had agreed she would, he still didn't remove his eyes from Aaron's form as he dialed Chas's number. He stood by the kitchen window listening to the ring tone on the other end until Aaron's mother answered.
"Hello?" Chas greeted.
"Hi, Chas don't panic." Paddy started, he didn't want to alarm Chas anymore than Aaron had already done in the past year. "It's Aaron, we're taking him to hospital."
"What! Why?" She shrieked down the phone, clear panic in her voice.
"He's fallen down the stairs." Paddy told her.
"Fallen down the stairs? Well is he okay? Please tell me he's okay Paddy." Chas pleaded, just as Paddy spotted Jackson's van pull up outside.
"He will be." Paddy rushed. "Look Chas- sorry but I have to go. Meet us at the hospital." He added as he raced through the lounge and out the lounge door. He wanted to stop Jackson from walking through the front. He'd catch Aaron when he would open the door if he did.
Before Chas got a chance to answer Paddy he ended the call and called out to Jackson who was already halfway to the front door. "Jackson!"
"Alright Paddy." Jackson smiled.
"No, not really." Paddy answered honestly. "It's Aaron, he's fallen down the stairs." There was no easy way to break it to him.
Jackson's stomach dropped and so did his smile. He dashed through the lounge outside door and through to the kitchen to see Aaron before Paddy could stop. He saw Rhona first, knelt down beside him and then the blood. There was so much of it. Jackson knew that losing so much blood wasn't a good sign. He threw himself to the floor and grabbed Aaron's hand. He couldn't think what life would be like losing Aaron.
"He's alive right?" Jackson blurted out, turning to Rhona then Paddy who had followed.
Paddy nodded his head. "The ambulance is on it's way."
"Oh god, Aaron." Jackson breathed. "Hang on in there."
It wasn't long till the paramedics arrived, stabilizing Aaron and strapping him to a board before carrying him out to the ambulance. A small gathering of busy bodies had accumulated at the bottom of Paddy's lawn all curious to know why Aaron was being taken to hospital. Betty was one of them, eager to know what had happened.
"Paddy what's happened? Is Aaron alright?" She asked craning her neck to see inside the ambulance.
"He fell down the stairs." Paddy told her. He didn't want her to go off and make up some thuggish lie about Aaron. She would get the truth. He deserved more than that.
"Oh dear, I'll be praying for him." Edna wished them as the paramedics closed the doors behind Jackson.
"Thank you Edna." Paddy said. "I'm sorry but I have to follow them."
"Sure go on!" Edna insisted, understanding of the man's need to follow his surrogate son to the hospital.
The wait was painful and nerve racking. Chas had met them at the hospital like Paddy had told her. She'd been harassing the hospital staff ever since, insistent to know how her son was doing. She's been told off several times by Paddy and warned by a nurse once when she's had enough of the mother's constant questions. It wasn't until they'd been waiting for an hour did a doctor enter the Family room where they were all waiting. Chas and Paddy recognized the doctor from when Aaron was last in hospital. They both hoped it was good news like last time.
"I'm Doctor Windsor." She addressed them all.
"How's he doing?" Chas demanded, while Jackson hovered on the edge of his seat.
"I ran a few tests and we've ruled out any injuries to his spine or neck at the moment." Doctor Windsor told them. "Due to the fall Aaron's fractured his skull, we're just waiting for him to come round on his own at the moment. There is small swelling to the brain and at this early stage we're unsure as to how this may affect him. But apart from that, he's been very lucky."
"Lucky?" Jackson snapped, surprising himself with his anger at the Doctor's description of Aaron's situation. "Sorry." Jackson apologized quickly.
Doctor Windsor offered him a small smile of understanding; she was used to family's responding in that way in her line of work. "The nurse's are just making him comfortable at the moment; I'll come back and let you know when you can see him." She said before leaving the Family Room.
"That's good." Paddy announced to them all. "He's going to be okay."
"Okay? Paddy he's in hospital!" Chas cried, raking her hair from her face. "I can't cope with much more of this. It's all too much."
"You're gonna have to. He's going to need us all now more than ever." Jackson told them both. He needed to stay strong for Aaron when he woke up. They had to get Aaron well now as well as getting him through the charges against Darrel. How much more would be thrown their way?
"Jackson's right Chas. We need to be strong right now." Paddy agreed.
They were shown through to Aaron's room a little while later. He looked in a better state then last time, when he'd tried to kill himself. There were no frightening machines attached to him or any tubes placed down his throat. However, he was connected to a heart monitor, an IV and currently being transfused with blood. He'd lost so much. Paddy knew he had a lot of scrubbing to do when he got home later. So much of Aaron's blood covered the entry way wooden floor.
Jackson was the first to enter the room, taking hold of Aaron's hand as he stood by his bed. He couldn't believe he was hanging on the edge waiting for the teen to wake, he was in pieces. "Aaron, just hang on in there will you." He ordered through gritted teeth, he didn't want to cry. But the sight of Aaron lying so helpless in bed was bringing him close to it.
Chas stood at the far end of the room, staring down at her son in a haze. She's seen him like it once before and she vowed it would never happen again. She was wrong. She was once more in hospital wishing and hoping that her son would wake up and be alright. The doctors had said they were unsure of the impact the bang to the head would have on Aaron. She just hoped he was just as lucky as last time.
A few times during the evening nurses popped in and out, checking on Aaron. The rearranged his pillows, injected medication in to his IV lines or jotted down notes in files. Jackson knew it was all helping Aaron, he just wished he could help as well. Like Paddy he half expected Aaron to fall down the stairs sooner or later. The young mechanic liked to praise himself as the real spider man the way he climbed them stairs. He could never walk up or down them like a normal person. He'd once scolded the younger man when he jumped to the bottom on the seventh step. He was half frightened Aaron was going to fall and smash into the front door. He didn't though; he landed gracefully at the bottom like some sort of free runner. It had all caught up with him now. He wished Aaron would be careful sometimes. When he got home he was going to lecture Aaron on safe stair climbing but for now he would have to make do with watching him recover.
"I'm gonna go home now." Paddy told Jackson, placing a hand on his shoulder. There was no point in all three of them staying at the hospital over night. There just wasn't enough room. "do either you want a lift?" Paddy asked her, she was nearly falling asleep by Aaron.
"No, you're alright. I'll get a Taxi back later." She told him as Jackson shook his head.
"You sure?" Paddy insisted.
Chas nodded her head.
"I'll call you if he wakes." Jackson told her. He didn't want Chas waiting if she didn't need to be. She looked shattered and Aaron wouldn't want her to make herself ill because of him. Even though he didn't show it much he cared for his mum a lot.
"You're alright, I want to stay." Chas argued. She wasn't going anywhere. She was going to be there for her son no matter what, not like she hadn't been in the past.
"If you're sure." Paddy said as Chas nodded her head once more. He felt bad for going home, but he knew it would do none of them good if they were all tied. He would go home rest and come back in the morning to see how things were, let the rest of Aaron's family know as well.
Paddy had barely unlocked the lounge door and slipped inside when Hazel and Rhona both rounded on him through the lounge. He didn't dare go through the front, Aaron's blood could still be staining the wood. It sent shivers down his spine remembering the image of Aaron unconscious at the bottom of the stairs in a pool of his own blood.
"How's Aaron?" Hazel asked, she'd only received a very short phone call from her son. Rhona had tried to explain to her so much but she knew as much as her when it came to how Aaron was.
"He should be okay." Paddy told her, just like he had to Chas and Jackson. Hopefully he was right. "We're just waiting for him to wake."
"That's good isn't it?" Rhona asked as she followed Paddy through to the kitchen. He was in dire need of a coffee.
"I hope so." He said.
"Well let's all hope Aaron get's well then!" Hazel chirped.
"Who cleared up A- Who cleared it up?" Paddy stuttered unable to finish his first sentence.
"I did." Hazel told him. "Now sit down, I'll make you something to eat."
The next morning Jackson woke up in the hard hospital chair by Aaron's bed. He ached all over and to him it seemed like he'd only closed his eyes for a few minutes. Chas was no longer there, she'd slipped off a few hours ago, promising to return as soon as she could. Jackson just couldn't tear himself away from the young man. He was worried sick. He looked up as a nurse entered the room, for the tenth time in less than twenty four hours.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." She apologized as she checked on Aaron's condition.
"You didn't. How's Aaron doing?" Jackson asked, desperate for good news.
"As expected. The doctor should be along in a bit to check on his condition." The nurse explained, she couldn't tell him much. That was left to the doctor.
"Thanks." Jackson said as she left again. He looked over to Aaron. He didn't seem to have moved at all. He was still lying still, his eyes closed and breathing steady. A dressing on the back of his head the only sign he'd been injured.