Just another warning with this chapter, it's not overly detailed or 'gory' however could be a very sensitive issue for some. I've never really tried anything this serious before so please let me know what you think about it, good or bad. If it upsets you in anyway or you find it offensive please, please tell me!

Chapter 6 – Goodnight Goodbye (Part 2)

After sweeping up the red stained shards of glass from the floor Connie washed her hands. She looked up into the mirror hanging above the sink at a reflection she hardly recognised anymore. She threw her fist into the mirror smashing it into pieces. "Why!?" She dropped to the floor pulling her knees tight to her chest, her whole body racking with her cries.

"Connie, please if you get this call me. I'm worried about, just let me know you're okay? Please…" Cal put his phone away as Charlie walked into the staffroom. "Charlie, don't suppose you know when Connie left?" The older nurse shrugged, "It must have been a good few hours ago now…" Cal's face dropped at hearing that, he thought she hadn't been gone long. "What's wrong Cal? Caleb." He looked back at the nurse after becoming deep in thought. "She's just had a real tough time, before Grace was home too… I just want to make sure she's okay."

Zoe was at home with Grace when her phone rang. "Connie? Is everything okay? She's here if you want to talk to her-" Grace looked up and smiled at Zoe, realising it was her mum and she could talk to her. She felt awful about speaking to her mum how she had, and the fact her mum was phoning showed she did care. "Zoe, just tell her I love her and I'm so sorry for what I've done… doing to her." That was it, the phone went dead.

Grace's face dropped when Zoe spoke "Connie? Connie?" Zoe tried phoning back but her phone had been turned off. Zoe noticed the young girl sitting in front of her still. "Grace, run upstairs and get changed for me." She did as she was told, whilst Connie got on the phone. "Charlie? Yeah it's me, it's Connie."

Cal was standing at the nurses' station when Charlie got the call. He looked straight at Cal and he knew what it was. "Cal, where are you going?" Ethan tried speaking to his brother but he wasn't listening. Cal ran to the staffroom grabbing his keys and coat before walking back to Charlie. "I'm going round there, something's wrong. Her apologising, disappearing, she's letting go of everything... I need to get round there." The nurse nodded and watched as Cal ran out of the ED.

Connie put the phone down and turned it off whilst the tears began to sting her eyes again. She walked back into the bathroom and turned the taps off. She finished the drink she had on the side before slipping out of her clothes and sitting in the bath. It had been one hell of a long day and she was ready for it all to be over with.

Everything became foggy, dreamlike. Connie was sitting in the bedroom and got into the bath. She saw herself drift off and fall beneath the water. An easy way out after a hard day? She could hear banging but saw nothing, just the blurry bathroom from below the water. She remembered thinking what a strange thing to dream about.

Cal ran all the way to Connie's house, nearly being hit by several cars. He didn't care, because right now only one thing mattered and that was getting to Connie. Arriving at her house, he knocked on the door several times. No answer. "Connie!" He knocked again, except this time it was banging. "Connie! Connie! If you're in there please answer me…" Still nothing. He moved from the door to look in through the window and noticed the empty bottles on the side, then his gaze fell to the floor where there was a pool of sticky red liquid and smashed glass. "Please, no…" He went straight back to the door with his phone out already dialling 999.

He put all his effort into it and pushed through the door. On the second attempt it swung open. "Yeah, I need an ambulance straight away…" He reeled off the address as he ran through the downstairs of the house searching for the woman he loved. "Connie!?" Still nothing.

Running upstairs he was scared for what he might see. He went straight into her bedroom, nothing but the lights were on in the bathroom. Again Cal prayed that what he opened the door to wasn't what he feared the most.

All the while Cal was banging on the door, Connie had fell below the water in the bath dropping the glass she held to the floor. A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and Cal ran in dropping his phone to the floor. He climbed into the bath and lifted Connie above the water, seeing the water tinged with red made his heart stop. "God no, please… Connie, Connie?"

He carefully picked her up and placed her down on the bathroom floor. He checked for a pulse, but there was nothing there. How long had she been under? How long had she been bleeding? What if I had been quicker? Cal began compressions, praying for her to come back to him.

It was a matter of minutes and there was noise downstairs. "Hello? Paramedics." Dixie, they were here. "Upstairs in the bathroom… Dix please hurry up, she's not breathing!" Cal called out and soon enough Dixie and Iain appeared in the doorway not believing the sight before their eyes. "Right what's happened?" They bent down next to him and began trying to save Connie.

Cal sat next to Connie while letting Dixie and Iain try to get her to breathe again. It was the longest 5 minutes of Cal's life but Connie began coughing, having swallowed a load of water. They rolled her onto her side as Cal came closer and clung to her hand. "Everything's going to be okay, you're going to be alright. I'm here, it's okay…" Connie began breathing slowly, it didn't last long though.

"Right she's got a faint pulse, let's get her into the ambo and get moving now. Cal stupid question, are you coming?" Cal nodded and was up with the paramedics. He noticed a bag at the end of Connie's bed with some clothes in which he grabbed, before he noticed a letter on her bed. It had his name on, she really had no plans to get through this which hurt him even more. He grabbed the letter and followed everyone downstairs. He pulled the door shut and jumped in with Dixie.

It was a short drive to the hospital and on getting there Cal climbed out of the ambulance to see Zoe already there. Dixie began reeling off stats to Dylan and Zoe. "This is Connie Beauchamp, 42. She's lost a lot of blood and has very shallow breathing. When we arrived she was already out of the water, but not breathing. Not sure how long she was down before hand."

Connie was wheeled through to resus by Dylan and Zoe. Rita was already in there and couldn't believe what she saw. "Okay, Lofty can you help over here please?" Charlie had frozen at the doors when seeing his boss in such a mess. Cal followed everyone into resus only to be stopped by Rita. "Cal, you can't be in here-" "I'm not leaving her… I can't." Rita pleaded with him "Go to the relatives room, she's got the best doctors around her taking care… Okay? I promise I'll come find you if anything changes." Charlie came behind him and led him out the room while they treated her.

"Okay can we get an intubation kit, we need to do this now." Dylan tried to get the tube in but couldn't. "I can't get through-" "Let me try." Zoe stepped in and after failing first time, managed to get it in. "Okay bag her, and can we get an IV line in please." Zoe began compressions, still nothing. "Okay charge to 160, everyone clear? Shocking." Connie's lifeless body raised from the bed then fell again. Nothing. Zoe started again. "Come on Connie, you're not giving up that easy."

After 5 rounds of CPR there was still no output. "Okay charging again. Everyone clear, shocking." The room was silent until the machines beeped. Come on Connie. They began coming to life again and she started to breath. "Right can I get some bandages over here and I need her lab results rushed ASAP." Lofty moved to the phone to make the call, whilst Rita began to clean up the clinical lead.

Cal sat in the relatives room alone with a cold cup of coffee complimentary from Honey. He held the letter in his other, not having the courage to read what it said inside. The door opened and he shoved the letter back into his pocket. "She's stable and looks like she's going to be alright. She's probably going to come round soon but will be disorientated." Cal breathed a sigh of relief before Zoe enveloped him into a hug. "She's going to be okay, whatever is happening we're going to help her and she's going to make it."

Cal went into the side room where Connie had been moved. He sat down next to her, she looked peaceful. Almost happy. He pulled the chair close to her bed and held onto her hand before raising to his lips and kissing it. "All you had to do was call me, and I've have been there… I'd have never let you go, get into this mess." He took out the letter again, not sure if he was ready to really see what she wanted to say to him. It was the start of an extremely long road but he was never going to let her walk it alone, no matter what was thrown at her. He opened the letter and began to read.

Goodnight Goodbye by John Newman