Chapter 9 – Elastic Heart

Three weeks on and Connie was still resting in hospital, leaving the department to be run by Dr Keogh. He had been shocked when Connie asked to see him and he couldn't quite believe, after everything, that it was him she wanted to keep everything in check.

Dylan was sitting in Connie's office where he was finishing the last of the paperwork. Zoe wandered into the office and sat herself down at the new desk across the room. There had been a table put in there for her as she had been helping with the paperwork side of things. "Everything okay?" Zoe looked over at her friend who was looking rather puzzled. "Hmm, yeah. Do we know when Mrs Beauchamp will be back yet?" Zoe just shook her head. "They say she's doing well, but I don't think she'll be back for a while… She needs to get used to Grace at home first."

The day went on pretty uneventful. Cal was treating a patient with Lofty when he heard Ethan talking outside the cubicle. "Okay, I think we're about done here. I'll just get your discharge forms Mr Smith." Cal smiled and left the cubicle with Lofty, bumping straight into Lily and Ethan. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Ethan smiled "Lily and I passed our exam last week, we just got the results." Ethan obviously hadn't wanted to speak to Cal about it as he knew he had wanted to take them too, but just couldn't at the moment. "Well done nibbles, I'm proud of you… I knew you'd both do well." He smiled and carried on with his day, not really thinking about it.

It was almost the end of the day and the staff had decided to go over to the pub and have a quiet drink together. They were all sitting around when Rita came wandering in. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late… I have some news though." She pulled up a chair and sat down as everyone waited for her to speak. "So I saw the doctor who's been treating Connie… They think she can be discharged in the next few weeks, get home and start re-adjusting again." The smile on Cal's face could be seen from a mile away, it was hard for anyone to not smile at realising things were slowly getting better.

Connie was struggling to sleep and so was just lying quietly on her side when she heard a slight knock at the door. "Dr Keogh, what are you doing up here?" He walked in with his bag and coat, obviously having finished his shift, and sat down next to the clinical leads bed. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I mean, see if everything was going alright." Connie huffed "If by alright you mean bored out of my brains and struggling to keep myself alive in this place then yes great… Sorry, bad joke. I'm just ready to go home now." Dylan nodded in understanding.

They were sitting for a few minutes before Connie asked. "So, how is the department? Not in pieces I hope." Dylan laughed "Not quiet yet, it's alright. Things are getting better, everyone is finally used to the mini eye rolling from your daughter. She spends quite a lot of time with us down there now… She enjoys it down there almost as much as you do." That thought made Connie chuckle slightly.

Dylan stood up "I better get going anyway…" He turned to walk away. "Oh, should probably give you what I came up here for. If anyone finds out I'm dead, so don't go shouting." He took out some folders from his bag and handed them over to Connie who realised what they were and looked up at him. "You're a lifesaver… Thank you Dylan." He smiled and closed the door behind him leaving Connie with something she could do, finally.

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Another week later and Dylan had been spending some more time up in the clinical leads side room. He had been discussing cases with her, asking for help with certain paperwork and making sure she was completely in the loop with everything that was going on downstairs. "Oh, Guy Self wants a meeting tomorrow-" "Ha, oh you'll love it he's such a nice guy…" Connie couldn't help but interrupt and laugh at what Dylan was going to have to face.

After an hour or so Dylan stood up to go back to the ED. "Anyway, that's the paperwork I have left for this week so I better get back down and finish it." Connie smiled "Unless you want me to leave- yeah I thought so, I'll see you later then to pick it up." He smiled and left Connie's room.

Dylan walked into the office to Zoe sitting down. "Let me guess she bit your head off at a chance to finish that paperwork?" Dylan smiled before sitting down at the desk. "It's helping her. I know she can't come back to work but at least she's still a part of this place. It's probably easier her starting with that, then getting home and then coming back here." Zoe nodded before the pair stood up to leave the office and return to treating patients.

It had been a long day for several people and Cal had decided on taking Grace up to say goodbye to her mother. "Hey, someone's here to say bye…" Grace walked in quietly knowing that they weren't allowed up to see people at this kind of time. "Night Mummy, school's been really good." Connie hugged the little girl before moving her backwards. "School?" She looked at Cal before he stepped forward. "Grace, run back outside to Uncle Elliot and get your stuff okay?"

Cal pulled up a chair. "Elliot and Grace's grandmother went to one of the local schools and spoke to the head about getting Grace in. They didn't even think twice about it, I know we should have probably spoken to you but we thought it was best to get her into one and then let you sort things later." She shook her head. "I can't believe they sorted that out for her. I can't thank them enough for that…"

Cal smiled before standing up and placing a kiss on Connie's forehead closing his eyes. "You're freezing." Cal straightened back up and took off his jumper. "Here, put this on. I'll be back tomorrow to see you, it's my turn to get stuck with you for a day." He winked at her as he handed over the jumper. "See you tomorrow wonder woman." Connie smiled looking down before carefully putting her arms into the huge jumper and wrapping it around herself. It still smelt like Cal's aftershave which made her automatically relax and smile as she lay down to sleep. For the first time in weeks she drifted off straight away and slept straight through.

Cal had spoken to Elliot and decided he would look after Grace tonight back at Connie's. "So are you going to stick around when Mum's out of hospital? Or will it just be me and her again?" Cal sat down on the sofa with the young girl smiling. "There's going to be a lot more people around here. Your uncle Elliot, Zoe, Max, Ethan and yes me." Grace nodded before settling on the sofa next to Cal. It felt strange to be here like this, but he wanted Grace to be at home.

A few hours later Cal woke up to see Grace lying across the couch with her head resting on his lap fast asleep. The TV was still on playing the title menu of the DVD they had on. It was dark outside still so Cal carefully got up without waking Grace to check the time. 12 o'clock. He went back to Grace and carefully scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. He laid her down and tucked her in before gently closing the door on her.

The house had been cleaned and kept in a good state so that when Connie came home it wasn't a constant reminder of what had happened. Cal settled himself back down on the couch and drifted to sleep. After all he was going to need it. What he hadn't told Grace or Connie was that he had managed to bump her discharge form to the top so she would be ready to come home sometime tomorrow.

Elastic Heart by Sia