The Sister stood up and followed the nurse, but Arthur and Gwaine were quicker and ran in the direction of the screaming. Reaching the bedside they were greeted by Merlin being held down by a male nurse who was trying to hold him in bed whilst a female nurse was trying to calm the screaming young man. The two body guards stood undecided about what they should be doing.
Arthur and Gwaine pushed through, Gwaine made the male nurse move and took his place gently holding his friend, and Arthur pushed the other nurse to one side and knelt by the bed and started to talk to Merlin.
"Hush love hush it's me Arthur. Look at me and calm down, no one's going to hurt you, hushhhhh, Gwaine is here as well he's holding you, my love"
Gwaine slowly released his hold allowing Arthur to sit Merlin up. He held him in his arms gently running his hand threw Merlin's hair, it took several minutes for Merlin to start to settle down. Even then sobs shock his body.
"What the fuck happened?" Gwaine looked round glaring at everyone.
"Please Sir, there is no need to use that language let me handle this!" the Sister glared at Gwaine. But that was water of a ducks back to someone who was used to Morgana!
Both the nurses started to talk at once.
"Please stop, we will take this to my office" the Sister turned and walked away expecting the nurses to follow.
Arthur looked up at Gwaine "Here take Merlin, I'm going to listen to this"
Gwaine moved round and took Merlin into his arms as Arthur let go. He continued to make soothing noises. Merlin looked up and seeing Gwaine settled once more. Arthur soon caught up with the ward staff and followed them into the office.
"Mr Pendragon would you mind waiting outside a moment" said the sister holding the door open expecting him to leave.
Arthur didn't move, putting on his best QC face, he looked directly into her eyes.
"No I will not. This matter concerns my husband's welfare and I insist on being present." He was obviously determined to win the battle of wills.
The Sister deciding that she would get nowhere shut the door. Arthur stood his ground at the side of the sister's desk.
Looking at the Female Staff Nurse the Sister asked:
"As the senior staff member involved would you please tell me what happened?"
The nurse looked across to the male nurse before starting to speak.
"Mr Pendragon had finished his breakfast and I had given him a bowl to start his wash, asking him to ring once he had done all he could. He rang his bell a little while later and I asked Peter to come to help me to turn the patient so we could wash Mr Pendragon's back. We went in and turned him on his side and whilst I helped support Mr Pendragon's arm and leg Peter started to wash the patient. He had just started when Mr Pendragon started to scream. That's when I asked another nurse to fetch help as we couldn't stop him" The nurse then looked at Arthur as if to say 'find something wrong with that'.
Arthur bit his lip and kept quiet wanting to see how the Sister dealt with it first.
"Is that what happened Peter?" the Sister asked the male nurse who seemed very nervous.
"Yes, I had spoken to Mr Pendragon before I started the wash, he seemed a bit apprehensive but Sofia said we need to get a move on as we had a lot to do…" he paused as if to collect his thoughts. "I mentioned before we entered the room, that at handover it was said that all personal care needed to be given by female staff, but I was told by Sofia that we were too busy and patients couldn't demand to have certain staff."
"What do you have to say to that Staff Nurse?" the Sister didn't look at all happy.
"Well Sister we are very busy. I was asked to work with Student Nurse Peter, and we needed to work together, as it is his first allocation. We were given the single rooms. I have always believed that patients cannot ask for set nurses and we needed to get the washes done as soon as we could, as we have several dressings to do this morning"
"Were you listening in handover? I was there, and I heard the night staff say that Mr Pendragon was only to have female nurses due to severe psychological trauma from his injuries. Peter said he mentioned it to you, yet you still chose to ignore the instruction" the Sister paused, waiting for the reply
"Well, we had a lot of work to do and everyone else was busy! I was there, and saw no reason, not to use the help I had available, with a simple backwash, it would only take a few moments. How was I to know he would flip?" The Staff Nurse looked from the Sister to Arthur in defiance.
"Did you read the patients care plan before coming to that conclusion Nurse?" The Sister was holding her temper it was bad enough to have to deal with such stupidity without the patients next of kin listening.
"As I said I was busy."
At this Arthur could no longer keep quiet and in his best steely QCs voice he went for the kill.
"So you decided, without the full information available to you, to disregard the instructions you were given in the care of your patient, even though you had been told he had severe psychological issues regarding personal care. Is that how you normally work?"By now Arthur was livid.
"As I said, we are busy and it would have only taken a few minutes" the Staff Nurse clearly wasn't good at reading body language.
"My husband was kidnapped, and held for two years being beaten and raped on a regular basis by two men, another treated his broken bones and stitching his wounds with no analgesia. He was subjected to psychological torture, kept chained up, isolated in a cold darkroom and you feel you can ignore the care instructions given by the consultants in charge of his care."
At the both Sophia and Peter gasped and went pale.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Sir" Peter muttered.
"I wasn't aiming my comments at you young man, you raised concerns with your senior and I am sure you won't make the same mistake again" Arthur had taken note that it was his first ward.
He returned his gaze back to Sophia.
"You however are a disgrace to your profession. I will wait to see what action the hospital takes before I decide what to do"
"I demand professional representation, you can't threaten me like that" Sophia clearly had no sense.
The Sister started to speak but Arthur cut her off.
"You need it. Unfortunately for you I know exactly what I can and cannot say. I didn't get to be a top Q.C. without knowing the law" turning to the Sister Arthur continued
"I am going to see my husband now. I will leave this to you and the hospital to deal with, but I would appreciate a report once you have made you decision. I will decide then if I need to take my own action. I expect my husband to be given the care and consideration his condition merits, he has suffered enough. Up to now I have been very pleased with his care in this hospital and I sincerely hope I will have no complaints in future. I would see it as a personal favour if the young man is dealt with leniently."
With that Arthur left the office and went to see Merlin who was asleep in Gwaine's arms with just the occasional sob.
"I'll hold him now please" Arthur moved to take Gwaine's place.
"OK Princess, be careful" Gwaine looked up at Arthur "I hope you gave the bastards what for. What the hell happened?" Gwaine was obviously upset and angry.
"I'll tell you later. I'm going to stay here for a while, why don't you get a cup a tea and come back later when he's awake?"
"Nah, I'll sit here with you and wait for them nurses"
"Leave it Gwaine. Wait to see what the hospital does first and leave the young man alone…. He did his best."
They sat for over an hour until Merlin woke up. Then they got him into a t-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and socks and waited.