Father First| An Alan Rickman Story

A Good Man

     "Has something happened?" Dr. Brooke came rushing in with a nurse right behind her, both of them looking very concerned.

     There hadn't been even a flicker of a smile across Alan's face in days and he was cautious to not get his hopes set too high, but he was smiling with excitement. "She's moving her hand, I think she's waking up!"

     "Let's not crowd her. If her memory hasn't improved, she'll be terrified to wake up to a crowd of people she doesn't know." Dr. Brooke let everyone take a step back.

     For a few moments, they all stood watching Ashleigh waiting for something to happen. She was perfectly still. "I think it may have just been a muscle twitch..." The doctor turned to walk away, but heard the rustling in the bed.

     Ashleigh, eyes still closed, had pulled her arm up trying to grab at the IV in the opposite arm. Dr. Brooke gently pulled her arm back down. Everyone in the room was holding their breath and finally the girl in the bed opened her eyes.

     She was still for a moment before she began to become unsettled. She started to toss in the bed and again, tried to remove her IV and the chords to the heart monitor on her chest. Dr. Brooke grabbed both of her hands. "Ashleigh, can you hear me?"

     She nodded yes. "Do you remember who I am?" She pointed to herself. This time, Ashleigh shook her head no.

     "That's ok. Do you know where you are?" Again, she shook her head no.

     "You're in the hospital. I'm Dr. Brooke. We've been caring for you since you arrived." Alan's heart sank, she doesn't remember anything. The doctor was still holding Ashleigh's hands, speaking with so much care in her voice.

     Ashleigh opened her mouth and tried to say something. She struggled to speak, her throat so dry and sore and her mind still waking up from the comatose state she'd been in. She managed to choke out, "Ow."
    
     "Are you in pain?" Ashleigh nodded yes. "I can get you some more medication to help with that." Dr. Brooke walked away to prepare more medication, leaving a young male nurse beside Ashleigh. She weakly reached up and grabbed the man's hand to get his attention. She was trying to speak again.

     "D.." was all she managed to say. She tried again. "D..d..." she was staring at the nurse desperately hoping he'd understand what she was trying to say.

     "You're doing very good, keep trying."

     "D..ad..dy..."

     "Daddy? No, I'm not your Dad. I'm nurse Walker. I'm here to help Dr. Brooke care for you."

     She huffed, frustrated and shook her head. "No... dadddy?" Her speech was more clear this time.

     "Are you asking where your Dad is?" She nodded in agreement. "Do you remember him? Can you tell me his name?"

     "Al..an.." He leapt at the sound of his name.

     He had been standing behind her where she couldn't see him. He moved closer. "I'm here, darling!"

     She reached for him and he pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're ok!" His eyes had filled with tears of joy.
   
     After giving her some more pain medicine, Dr. Brooke helped Ashleigh sit up and handed her a glass of water. Wetting her throat helped her speech. The doctor began asking her questions about herself and her life to see what she remembered. Her memory was fairly untouched. She wasn't answering the questions about what had caused her to be in the hospital, but Alan could tell she remembered and didn't want to talk about it. He urged the doctor to ask questions about anything else. After a lot of questions, she was speaking clearly.

     She waited until the doctor had left the room to finally say something to her father. "Daddy... can you do something for me?"

     "Of course, anything!"

     "Make sure my mom doesn't get in trouble."

     "Ash, she brought a man into our home and allowed him to harm you. I know you love her and wanted this to work so badly, but she is part of the reason this happened." Tears started to fall down her cheeks as he talked.

    "It's not her fault. Please dad."

     "Darling, she admitted to letting him hurt you. I can't do anything to help someone who's already confessed to what they've done. What happens next is up to the officers to decide." He couldn't tell her what he was thinking about the very woman she was asking him to defend. He was trying to gently convince her that this was for the best.

     "Don't you trust me? It wasn't her fault. She told me about him," she cried.

     "Of course I trust you. Your mother has lied before though. She may not have been honest with you this time either."

     "She tried to stop him. They had an argument and he slapped her. I asked him to stop and he came for me. She couldn't stop him, he would've hurt her too. She had bruises on her." She was looking up at him with so much hope in her eyes. She looked at him like he was a superhero who could swoop in and save the day for her.

     "You think he was abusive to her for a while?"

     "I know he was. You have to help her. She can't go to jail. Please daddy."

     He thought for a moment. Maybe she had been a woman caught in an abusive relationship. He wasn't fond of her by any means, but he couldn't bare the thought of a anyone being abused. There was clearly so much more to this situation than he knew or understood. If she truly tried to stop him, she didn't deserve to take the fall. He'd help her. If she was lying, someone would figure it out and the professionals would handle it from there.

     "I'll do what I can to get her out of this."

     She hugged his neck, "Thank you daddy!! Promise?"

      He swallowed hard, worried about what this would require of him, but he agreed to it, "I promise."