RICKY'S POV:
I nervously made my way back into the waiting room, Heath looking up from the magazine he was reading… "How's he going?"
"Good. I left him to rest. There's something I wanna talk to you about…" I admitted
"Shoot" he replied, shutting the magazine, throwing it back onto the table in front of us
"How would you feel about moving away from here sooner than planned?" I questioned
"Is this because of your brother?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me
"He's threatening my safety now too as well as Brax's, and knowing Adam; he won't just stop at us. He knows how much he cares about you and Case, so you guys will be next" I admitted "I don't want to scare you but we need to get out of here as soon as we can"
"How soon is soon?" he inquired
"Brax should be out of the hospital by the weekend, so next week at the earliest" I replied
"That soon?" he asked "wow…"
"I know it's big, Heath, but we need to do this for all of us" I informed him
He nodded his head in understanding… "It's just; I've been seeing someone"
"You sly thing" I proclaimed, nudging him playfully "who is she?"
"Bianca Scott from my History class" he admitted
"And you're worried about what she's gonna say?" I questioned
"Not just that" he sighed "she'll wanna know why we have to move, and I can't lie to her, Ric"
"You really care about her, don't you?" I inquired
He nodded his head, signalling yes… "What do I do?"
"If you care about her as much as you say you do, then you need to tell her the truth" I informed him "and if she cares about you too, then she'll understand"
BRAX'S POV:
I was discharged from hospital that Friday night. Flopping down onto the sofa as Ricky and I arrived back at the house, I grabbed my laptop from it's place under the coffee table…
"What're you doing?" Ricky inquired
"We need to be out of here as soon as we can, so I'm looking for places we can go" I informed her
"I've had a thought" she admitted, sitting down next to me "why don't we go to Summer Bay? It's not far away and that way, Heath can still see Bianca whenever he wants"
"And what if Adam sees them?" I questioned "we'll be screwed!"
"Look, Heath's telling Bianca everything now, so we might not have to worry about that" she replied "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but Summer Bay's a good option, Brax. Just take a look, please, for me?"
"Okay" I sighed "where're you going?"
"To pick Casey up from Maureen's" she informed me "I won't be long"
RICKY'S POV:
My phone started to ring as I began my walk to Maureen's. Pulling it from my handbag, it was an unknown number…
"Hello?" I greeted the person on the other end of the phone
"Hello, am I speaking to an Erica Sharpe?" the person asked
"Yes" I informed them "who is this?"
"This is DCI Cooper from Sydney District Police" he explained "we have reason to believe your parents have been involved in an RTC"
"What? Are they okay?" I inquired, beginning to nervously bite my thumbnail
"I don't have that information to divulge unfortunately" he replied "but they've both been taken to St Vincent's hospital, so they'll be able to tell you more"
"Okay, thank you" I stated, swallowing a lump in my throat
We both hung up the phone and I exhaled a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, continuing my journey to Maureen's, not wanting to let Brax down…
"Icky" he greeted me, a smile immediately gracing my face as I saw him
"Hey, mate. You ready to go home?" I questioned
He nodded his head, signalling yes… "Ax?"
"Brax is at home; yeah" I informed him "thank you for having him, Maureen"
"Oh it's been my pleasure" she proclaimed "he's a lovely young boy, credit to Cheryl"
"Yeah" I replied, smiling at her warmly, taking his bag from her "we'll be seeing you. Say bye, Casey"
"Bye" he proclaimed, waving at her as we left the house
BRAX'S POV:
Ricky and Casey arrived back at the house forty minutes later, him hurrying over to me, Ricky making her way into the kitchen to put Casey's dirty washing into the washing machine…
"I missed you, Ax" Casey admitted
"I missed you too, bud" I mirrored "how about you go and play in your room, yeah?"
"Will you come and play with me?" he questioned
"Soon, yeah" I informed him "go on, off you go"
He made his way into his room and I stood up, making my way over to Ricky as she stared out of the window. Reaching her, I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and rested my head on her shoulder… "You okay?"
"I got a phone call whilst I was on the way to pick Casey up" she informed me "my Mum and Dad are in hospital"
"Are they okay?" I asked
"I don't know" she admitted "I didn't wanna let you down so I haven't had chance to ring"
"As soon as Heath's home, we're getting you to the hospital" I informed her
"I can make my own way there, I don't want anything kicking off between you and Adam" she replied
"Nothing's going to happen, I promise" I assured her "and I wanna be there for you because I love you. You're not going through this on your own"
"What would I do without you?" she inquired, turning around in my embrace
I smiled at her warmly and kissed her softly, the front door opening interrupting us…
"Heath…?" Ricky questioned
"We're over" he informed us
"Sorry, mate" I sighed as he flopped down on the sofa
"It's fine" he replied "what's up with you, face-ache?"
"Oi" I proclaimed
"What?" he inquired
"My Mum and Dad are in hospital, Heath" Ricky informed him
"Shit, Ric, I'm sorry" he replied "are they okay?"
"I don't know" she admitted
"Are you gonna be okay looking after Case for a couple of hours whilst I go with Ricky to the hospital?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him
He nodded his head, signalling yes… "Course. I hope they're okay, Ric"
"Yeah, so do I" she replied, grabbing her handbag from the side
So a bump in the road for Ricky and Brax leaving – will her parents be okay?