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Chapter 24

It had been a long, long night.

Dylan had been on shift for nearly eight of the ten hours, and was due back in half an hour. The migraine drugs had at least settled Ethan, and he was physically on the mend- his temperature and oxygen were stable, the operation site seemed satisfied to close without complication for the last time, his heart rate had dropped further into a healthy range than it had prior to the surgery. It wasn't always easy to understand what Ethan was trying to tell them when he was having a bad day with his speech, or just not feeling up to talking, but he hadn't tried to communicate that he was in pain to any of them.

After the migraine, the impact of the anaesthetic and the surgery had seemed to have taken the greatest toll on his mental wellbeing. He'd cried again, and been unsettled for ten hours after coming out of recovery. Given how much he usually slept, as well as the importance of rest for brain injury recovery, Ethan was completely exhausted.

Cal slipped out to go and grab a drink. He'd not left yet, but was gradually getting more and more tired. 'Cal- take this,' Connie slipped him a silver key on the end of a navy lanyard. 'My office. Put the blinds down and get some sleep. Dylan comes off shift soon.'

'I can't leave him. Not like this.'

'Cal, you look dreadful. You've got to look after yourself. Otherwise you'll be no good to Ethan.' She felt guilty using that card; it worked.

Ethan had had his eyes closed, red marks from tears splashed on his cheeks. When he opened them a minute or two later, he realised Cal was gone, and cried out. 'Ca.'

'He's just gone to sleep for a little bit,' Connie said, softly. 'I think you need to do the same, hmm?'

Ethan shook his head, then squeezed his eyes tightly as the motion made him feel sick. 'Can't move,' he whispered, tears sliding down from his closed eyes again. 'Why?'

'Small operation,' she said. Gently but firmly, she helped settle him into bed. 'Come on, you need to sleep.' She had the option of giving him Temazepam if necessary, but didn't want to get into a vicious cycle of sedating him and making him more exhausted when he was conscious again.

'OK,' he said. She helped him have a long drink, and then dimmed the lights completely. She sat in the darkness feeling aware of her own heartbeat.

'Con-nie?'

'Yes?'

'Scared.'