NOTHING FEELS THE SAME

Chapter 18

"Excuse me Miss Rigby, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room" The doctor came in surrounded by heaps of people, one nurse ran to the other side of Gary and pulled the drip out. The doctor lead her out of the room and back to the others. "I'm afraid Mr Barlow has been drugged. We believe that something was slipped into his drink. I have contacted the police and they will be here shortly to take your statements, until then can you please stay calm and i will keep you updated on Mr Barlow's progress."

Not long later a couple of uniform police officers came into the room they were waiting in. The stood in the doorway "Mr Owen, do you mind if you come down to the station with us, we have a couple of things we need you to look at and a couple of questions for you to answer" "Umm, yeah, call me if you find anything out" he kissed all 3 girls heads and went with the police.

When they arrived at the station he was escorted to a room where he sat by himself for some time. After a while he was joined by 2 male officers. "Mr Owen" "errrr, yes" "We understand that you were at the restaurant tonight with Mr Barlow?" "That's right" "And you were nearby the night that he was raped?" "Where are you trying to go with this?!" Mark was getting agitated. Were they really trying to blame him?!  "Just checking the facts Sir" "Well it doesn't sound like it!" "Please calm down, can you tell us why it was just the 2 of you out and not the rest of your bandmates?" "Having some Barlowen time?" This comment received blank responses from the officers Not fans then, Mark inwardly sighed "We're best mates alright? You know he's been through a lot and Sam wanted him to open up to someone and he wouldn't, then he told me he would, so we went out and he told me every detail of what has happened to him since that night" 

"Did you see anything tonight that you thought was out of the ordinary?" "Ummm, no one came over wanting out autographs for once, but that's about all" "Okay Mr Owen, thank you for your time. Mr Nichols will stay here with you to take your account of what happened tonight, then you will be escorted back to the hospital"

****

The doctor came out and sat next to Sam who had her head resting on Emma's shoulder while she was entertaining the baby. "We believe that Mr Barlow is now in a stable condition, we identified the drug and applied a treatment. He is sedated now, but you can sit with him if you like." "Yes please" Sam got up and followed him "You coming Em?" "No, I'll wait for Mark to get back then we'll join you".

Sam sat where she was before and once again took Gary's hand. She pulled it up to her face and kissed it. He looked much the same as last time, but now he was hooked up to many more machines, there was a constant beeping beside her, his heartbeat she guessed. This time he was asleep, and he looked peaceful. A nurse came and knelt beside her "The sedative isn't keeping him asleep, he will wake up when he wants to" She patted Sam's shoulder then walked away. "thanks"

*****

Emma had almost drifted off to sleep when Mark come back. "Hey baby, wheres Sam?" "In with Gary, what happened with the police?" "Oh, they tried to accuse me of doing this to Gary, you know, the normal" "What! How fucking thick are they!" Mark instantly covered Caroline's ears "Shhh, little ears don't need to hear bad words" "Sorry," she muttered "Lets go in and see them"

They walked into the room and saw Sam fast asleep with her head on the bed, face glancing up towards Gary. She held his hand in a death grip. Gary had his face turned and was loking at her, his green eyes quite moist. They sat in the corner unnoticed and watched the romantic scene unfold before them.