Thank you as always to Hollie for your wonderful reviews! Let's see if Jess can find the strength to get away from her toxic husband and put herself first!
It was a week after Jess' "abortion" and Tiah's murder. Dan was none the wiser that the abortion hadn't happened, nor had he noted the significant change in Jess. The hardest thing had been pretending to love him still. She still couldn't believe the audacity of him, to think he could just leave her there after knowing her feelings about the abortion and expecting that she would still go ahead with it. As she had promised Sally, she had been slowly moving money around and packing some bags, ready to make her move.
Jess was just finishing up for the day when a call came in. It was seven o'clock at night, and a neighbour had rung in saying that there was a lot of noise and smashing coming from the house next to her. She had said that there were a lot of teenagers hanging around drinking, and she was worried they could vandalise her house. Callum walked into CID, where Jess was tying up loose ends on Tiah's murder case that she'd been working on with Stevie.
"Jess? Could I borrow you?" Callum asked, poking his head round the CID door.
Jess looked at Stevie, who nodded, "Thanks for all your hard work today Jess."
Jess smiled at Stevie and followed Callum, "What's up?"
"We've just had a call about a party which is getting out of hand. So far it's me, you, Sally and Will." Callum said, holding the door open for her.
"Thanks. So a house party with lots of under-age kids drinking and smashing things up while mummy and daddy are away?" Jess guessed.
"Pretty much. The neighbour rang, said she was a bit worried, so we may as well check it out, disperse the party and send them all on their way." Callum said, rounding up Will and Sally from the canteen. "Oh, aren't you off shift in a minute?"
Jess checked her watch, "Yeah but it's ok. I don't mind."
Something about Jess' tone made him look at her, "You ok?"
"Yeah yeah, I'd just rather be working at the minute, that's all." Jess said quickly with a tight smile.
"Ok, if you're sure. Right, out to the squad cars." Callum said, directing them to the yard.
Sally caught up with her before they got to the cars, "You need to tell Callum that you're pregnant Jess, you shouldn't go out on a call like this and you know it."
Jess turned to her, "I'll be fine. I won't put myself in any danger, I promise."
Sally shook her head, "Maybe I should tell him, I mean it Jess."
"Sal, stop it. Once this shout is done and we're back here, I'll tell him ok."
Sally gritted her teeth, knowing Jess was not going to change her mind, "It might be too late by that point depending how this plays out."
Jess ignored her and got into the squad car.
They pulled up in a blur of flashing lights and screeching sirens. The house was a large brick built building with beautiful high windows and a well manicured front garden. A twinkling Christmas tree could be seen in one of the front windows, and lights adorned the roof line. The officers stepped out of their squad cars, taking in all the teenagers that were in the garden and sat on the steps to the house. Will sidestepped just in time as a girl vomited.
"Charming." he muttered, shaking his foot.
As the cops got closer to the house, they could start to feel the bass pumping through their bodies. Jess was very surprised that the windows hadn't smashed from the force of it. The music was starting to get louder and louder, piercing their ears and making them wince in pain.
"Should have bought ear defenders!" Sally shouted to the rest of them.
Callum stopped them from going any further with his arms. They all got close so they could hear what their Sergeant was saying, "Right, we need to try and wrap the party up and send as many of them home as we can. Will, your task is to try and locate the stereo and turn it off, preferably unplugging it as well. Sally, I want you to check all the bedrooms, making sure no one is loitering upstairs. If there are people upstairs, send them down to me and I'll show them the way out. Jess, I want you to head around the back, get people out of the garden and home. Try and get drinks off people as you go, throw any drinks in the bin. Also, be on the lookout for any drugs, or residue of drugs. Do you all understand what you're doing?" Callum asked.
"Sarge." they all said with a nod, Sally glancing at Jess. Callum led the way up to the house, sending the people who were sprawled on the steps on their way. As they entered, the music really hit them, and they paused trying to adjust themselves. Sally headed upstairs, past all the people who were leaning against the bannister, or who were making out on the stairs. As she disappeared, Will made his way through the throng of people, following the music to find the stereo. Jess started to head towards the back of the house, confiscating drinks off people as she went. Finally the bass stopped pumping, the music stopped piercing their ears, and there was temporary silence in the house as people tried to figure out what was going on. Jess heard Callum's strong voice, "This is the police. I want everyone out of this house now. Party is over. Let's go."
Jess smiled, watching all the disgruntled teenagers trudge out the house.
Ten minutes later Sally had managed to get everyone down the stairs and started getting them out the house. She had just walked into the living room where two girls had started fighting, calling each other names and pulling each other's hair. Sally rushed to them, trying to haul them off each other. But in their drunken states, they were a lot stronger, and one of them pushed Sally off, making her slam into the wall before falling to the floor. Callum was instantly at her side, helping her up.
"You alright Sal?" he asked quickly, checking her over.
She rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah, fine Sarge."
Callum nodded and easily separated the girls, "Right, you're both under arrest for assaulting a police officer and affray. I'm going to handcuff you and sit you here while we get everyone else out. Once that's done, I'll read you your rights. Understand?" he asked them while cuffing them and placing them on the sofa. They both nodded and sat placidly on the sofa.
"Sarge, there's still too many people in the house. Maybe we should call in for a few more bodies?" Will suggested, coming back into the living room.
"Yeah, I was just about to get the Inspector to send us a few more, maybe a van too. I don't want anyone else fighting or assaulting my officers. Be careful Will." Callum warned.
"I always am Sarge!" Will said with a cheeky smile; Callum rolled his eyes, unconvinced.
Jess made her way into the conservatory where there were two boys sitting on the sofa, drinking lager.
"Come on guys, you need to leave now. Did you not hear the other officer?" Jess asked, taking the cans of lager and binning them when the boys put them down.
"Oi, I wasn't finished with them!" one of the boys said aggressively, getting unsteadily to his feet.
"Yes you were. Now come on, go home." Jess said sternly.
"Who gives you the right to tell me what to do?" he asked mouthily.
Jess was screaming inside...why couldn't he just listen to her and leave? Why couldn't he just do as he was told and not argue with her. She flicked out her asp, not willing to take any chances. Although a teenager, he was taller than her. "The government gives me the right within the law, as a police officer, to tell you to leave. I'm not going to tell you again. Leave."
"No. You leave." the guy said, with a quick wink at his friend. He pushed Jess firmly as she turned to go and get Callum, and she fell forwards, losing her footing and crashing through the glass conservatory window. She fell heavily onto the broken glass that now littered the grass. She didn't move, partly in shock but also not wanting to stab herself further with the glass.
"Shit! What did you do that for you idiot? Come on, let's go before the other cops get in here!" the other boy said, pulling his friend away who was looking at Jess not quite believing what he had done. Just as the boys were about to go they were caught by Callum and Will who had heard the smashing and came running. Will looked from the boys, to the empty window pane, to Jess lying on the grass on broken glass. He grabbed the boy closest to him, pushing him forcefully against the window and cuffing him.
"Sit there and don't move." Will growled at him.
"I don't want to hear your explanations, you're under arrest." Callum said angrily, cuffing the other boy and sitting him next to his friend.
"Sarge?" someone called from the front of the house. It was Ben and Beth, back up.
"In the conservatory!" Callum shouted back, stepping over the coffee table and carefully climbing through the empty window pane to where Jess was on the grass. Ben and Beth ran through, taking in the scene before them. "Take these idiots back to the station. Tell the Inspector that I'm taking Jess to the hospital. Make sure Sally is checked out by FME when you get back as well. Will, round up any stragglers, get them out, take the two girls in the living room back to the station. Look after Sally ok?" Callum ordered.
"Sarge." they all confirmed in unison.
"Can you move?" Callum asked Jess.
Jess looked up at him, the moon shining brightly over them, "Uh yeah, but I don't want to. There's glass all underneath me, I can already feel some of it cutting into me."
"I'm gonna kill those bloody kids! Right, I'll lift you off the glass, but tell me if I'm hurting you." Callum said.
"No Sarge, you'll cut your arms. It's ok. I'll just sit up slowly." Jess said, starting to move but wincing as a shard of glass pierced her side.
"No, just stay still while I lift you up and off, then I can stand you up and check you properly." Callum said sternly. He slowly slid his arms under Jess' body, not flinching when some glass cut him. He lifted her up, watching as glass dropped to the grass. He walked a few paces away from where all the glass was covering the grass, and then shifted Jess in his arms so she was comfortable.
"Sarge, thanks. But you can put me down now." Jess said with a laugh.
Callum looked as if he was going to say something, but decided against it and gently set her on her feet. "Let me have a look at you." He said, inspecting the small gashes over her upper body and sides where the glass had scratched her.
"Oh look at your arm." Jess hissed, gently touching the long scratch up Callum's left arm. She led him back into the house, into the kitchen, grabbing a flannel and running it under some warm water. She rinsed it out, and carefully dabbed away the blood, picking out a shard of glass. She saw Callum wince and quickly apologised.
"It's ok, leave it." Callum said, trying to pull his arm away, but Jess held it tight, cleaning the wound.
"You'll still need to get it seen to, but at least it's clean now." Jess said with a smile, wringing out the bloodied flannel in the sink.
"Yeah, I'll get myself checked once you've been seen to, you've got more cuts than me, a few looked deep too." Callum said, leading her out the house.
"Oh wait, I need to get my hat, I'll be out in a minute." Jess said, running back through to the conservatory where her hat was perched on the sofa. She had just picked it up when a shooting pain ran through her stomach. Her hand flew to her stomach, and her body tensed through the pain. A little gasp of pain escaped her lips. She pulled her shirt up, checking to see if any glass had cut her stomach. But there was none there. The pain subsided, and she tucked her shirt back in. It was gone now, so she would ignore it. Probably just growing pains. She made her way back out the house and into the squad car.
"How's the arm feeling?" Jess asked Callum as he drove towards the hospital.
"Stings a bit, but I'm a man, I can take it." Callum said with a smirk. Jess laughed, but it was cut short by another pain in her stomach. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath and waited for it to go away. "Are you ok?"
Jess turned to him, trying not to let the pain show, "Yeah it was just the cut in my side stung a bit, it's fine."
Callum didn't look convinced but concentrated on the road. Jess turned away from him, pushing her hand against her abdomen, trying to stop the pain. It was slowly getting worse, building up like a fire in her stomach. The pain wouldn't stop, and tears dripped down Jess' face onto her shirt. It hurt so much, and she knew instinctively that she was losing the baby. After everything she had been through at the abortion clinic, she was having a miscarriage. Jess was crying freely now, and Callum pulled the car over in a dark street. She was curled up in the seat, trying to make herself as small as possible. Callum leaned over, trying to get her to talk to him.
"Jess, what's wrong? Where are you hurting?" he asked urgently. Another round of pain shot through her stomach, and her crying became moaning as the pain gripped her. Callum turned the inside light on in the car and was shocked by the state Jess was in. Her face was pale and clammy, and her whole body was trembling. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach, her legs pulled up towards her chest. And on the seat where she sat, there was dark sticky blood. He didn't know what to say, so turned on the siren and the lights and sped towards the hospital, reassuring Jess as he went.
Callum pulled into the ambulance bay outside Accident and Emergency. He ran into the department, yelling for help. A doctor and a nurse ran after him, followed by two paramedics with a trolley.
"Please, you need to help her. She's bleeding and she's not responding to me properly." Callum shouted as the doctor and nurse ran to Jess' side of the car, opening it to gain access to her.
"Jeff, Dix, can you go bring the trolley alongside the car and get the oxygen on her please." the dark haired doctor shouted. He turned his attention back to Jess, gently pulling her arms away from her stomach. His hands pushed on different parts, "Alright, my name is Dr Adam Trueman, can you tell me yours?"
Jess' eyes fluttered open, and she looked at the doctor in front of her with confusion. Where was she? Last thing she remembered was breaking up that party...oh, and then the details came rushing back to her. She answered the doctor's question, "My name...is...oh God it hurts so much...Jess."
"Her name is Jessica Waite, she's twenty five. We were breaking up a house party and she went through a conservatory window. She landed on a lot of glass." Callum explained quickly. "But she was fine, it didn't look like any had done any significant damage."
The doctor nodded and spoke in hushed tones to the nurse beside him, "It looks like a PV bleed. We need to get her through to resus and call obs and gynae."
"Shall I tell her colleague what's going on?" the nurse asked quietly.
"No, not yet." the doctor said, signalling to Dixie and Jeff to place the trolley next to him. "Can you two help us get her out of the car onto the trolley?"
"Yep, give us some space." Jeff said with a nod. Dr Trueman moved back, as did the nurse. Dixie opened the back door of the car and slid in the seat behind Jess.
"Jeff, lower the chair then we can slide her out easier." Dixie called. Jeff reached around Jess, turning the nozzle that made the chair go back. Once it was flattened as far as it had gone, Jeff grabbed Jess' legs and Dixie grabbed her arms. Dixie pulled Jess backward, then moved round to the front so she could hold Jess' legs better. They gently lifted her onto the trolley, Jeff sliding the oxygen mask back on.
"Alright princess, you're in good hands now." Jeff said as they wheeled her through reception to resus.
"'Scuse me darling, could you wait outside while they work please?" Dixie asked, leading Callum to a seat just outside of resus. Callum watched as she was wheeled through to resus, the door swinging shut and impeding his view. What the hell had happened? He pulled out his phone, dialling the Inspector.
After half an hour, the doctor came out to talk to Callum. He immediately got to his feet, walking forward to meet the doctor.
"How's she doing?" he asked, trying to look past Dr Trueman.
"She's stable now. She'll be moved up to gynae soon." the doctor said.
"Gynae? Why? I thought it was blood loss from the cuts?" Callum asked, confused.
"No it wasn't. I'm afraid your colleague suffered a miscarriage; the cuts had nothing to do with it." Adam said sadly.
"She was pregnant? Why the hell didn't she say anything!" Callum asked angrily, running his hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry. We've given her painkillers and stitched up the cuts from the glass and she's stable. The bleeding has slowed for now. She's going to be a bit out of it, but she should be ok. Have you got a number for the next of kin?" Adam asked.
Callum hadn't thought about Dan once, he had been too concerned for his officer, "Uh yeah. I'll ring him and get him to come in."
"Ok then, thanks. We need to get your arm seen too." Adam said with a nod at Callum's bloodied arm.
"No it's fine, thanks." Callum said, not caring about his arm.
"Please Sergeant. Just let one of the nurses clean it and put some steristrips on it." Adam bargained.
Callum sighed, thinking that at least he could put off calling Dan. "Ok then."
"Follow me." Adam said, leading Callum to the cubicles.
By the time Callum had been cleaned up and contacted Dan, Jess had been taken up to gynae and had woken up. Callum was sitting in the waiting room, waiting for the nurse to take him to her.
"Sergeant Stone? You can see her now." the nurse said, signalling for Callum to follow her. "Ten minutes."
"Thank you." Callum said to the nurse before entering Jess' cubicle. She was curled up in the centre of the bed, her skin nearly as white as the sheets, her hair fanned around her. The pillow was wet underneath her cheek where she had been crying so much. He took a seat next to her. "Why didn't you say anything? You know you should have told me, you shouldn't have been on that job."
Jess sniffed, wiping at her eyes, "I didn't want anyone to know. I...Dan wanted me to have an abortion. He booked me an appointment and took me there last week. I didn't know. I mean I knew about the appointment and I cancelled it, but he rebooked it without me knowing! I didn't have the abortion. He didn't know that though. So now they're going to tell him I had a miscarriage. He's going to be so angry."
Ah, so she was scared of what he might do, thought Callum angrily. She had just lost her baby yet she was thinking of what Dan could do to her.
"I'm so sorry Jess. I shouldn't have asked you to come with us. If I'd have known…" Callum said, his insides writhing with guilt.
"It's not your fault Sarge, I should have told the Inspector when I first found out. It obviously wasn't meant to be." she said, her words stuttered through crying. Callum placed his hand on the bed, and gently took Jess' hand in his, stroking it.
By the time Dan arrived just before midnight, Jess was asleep, her hand still safely in Callum's. As Callum heard Dan's voice approaching, he placed Jess' hand on the bed and stood up, stroking Jess' hair away from her face before exiting the cubicle.
"Callum, is she ok?" Dan asked frantically, but Callum couldn't help but think he was acting, waiting until he was with Jess on his own.
"Yeah, she's fine now. But she's sleeping." Callum said, not bothering to make any effort with this wife beating scum.
"What happened?" Dan asked, hovering outside the curtain to Jess' cubicle.
"We went to a house party which had gotten out of hand. Jess was trying to deal with two boys who wouldn't leave and one of them pushed her through a window. She got cut up from the glass, but they were only shallow cuts. Then when I was bringing her here to get them cleaned up, she started getting really bad pains. I didn't know it was because she was pregnant though." Callum said sadly, wishing she had said something to him.
"She had an abortion last week. How could she have had a miscarriage?" Dan said in confusion, before understanding cleared the confusion "Oh. So she can't have had the abortion. Right."
Callum saw red. He shoved Dan hard, making Dan nearly fall into the cubicle opposite Jess', "You heartless bastard. Your wife has just lost her baby, and all you care about is the fact that for once, she took a stand and didn't do what you wanted."
"Why are you so interested, Sergeant Stone? This is to do with me and my wife." Dan said, emphasis on the word wife, "Unless of course it's because she's caught your eye, and maybe more. Is that it, Sergeant Stone? You care about Jess?"
Callum gritted his teeth, knowing that perhaps there was some truth to Dan's words, but no chance would he say anything to the wife beating scumbag, "Jess is one of my officers, and she is under my care whilst at work, she is my responsibility, that is all."
"Gentleman, what is going on here?" the nurse asked sternly.
"Nothing, it's fine. Sergeant Stone was just leaving." Dan said, shooting Callum a filthy look.
"Sorry, we'll take this outside." Callum said apologetically to the nurse, who seemed satisfied so walked off.
"I have nothing more to say to you. Leave me and Jess alone." Dan hissed.
"No can do, wife beater. I'm going to make sure she sees what an asshole you really are." Callum promised, before leaving the ward, with Dan standing there staring after him.