Legal Prejuduce 3 - Lessons In Life

Chapter 41

Sasha Ivanov looked coldly at her patient. She found this English girl intensely irritating, knowing her type, the predatory woman sucking in husbands like hers by making out they were in need of saving. Allie was babbling on about some British colleague who'd been to visit, and Sasha wondered bitterly if his wife was aware of her wiles. To make it worse in the morning session first Dr Reynolds had brought her down to the physio area, fawning all over her, and then Dr Matthews had been to watch the last part of her session, looking from the side-lines intently, whispering something that made Allie smile when they'd finished. Instead of stopping in the physio room, she veered the wheelchair towards the door to the garden area, and Allie looked confused, "Are we doing it outside this afternoon?" Rachel was busy with her own patient, and she frowned watching where they were going. Sasha wheeled Allie to the far corner of the garden area and around the corner and kept going, "Yes, I think it's time you made more progress since you keep saying you're so keen to go home. Stand up." She put the brake on the chair and passed Allie the crutches. Allie took them, struggled to her feet and said, "It's starting to rain Sasha." She looked coldly, "Better hurry up and walk back inside then." Allie felt panic run through her body as Sasha turned and headed back, "Sasha wait! I'll never make it all the way back." She started to use the crutches to help her make the painful steps forward, concentrating but struggling on the slightly uneven grass. She kept moving forward, stopping to recover some energy every few steps but she knew she was starting to stumble and to her dismay began to feel dizzy and faint. The rain had begun in earnest and she shivered in her thin hospital clothes. She decided the best option would be to get onto the ground, figuring she could really damage her still healing hip and bones if she fell. Lying on the wet ground she looked around and realised shouting would be pointless since the area was deserted and she was out of sight of the hospital windows. Helpless she curled into a ball attempting to keep warm and cried in misery and frustration. She told herself not to panic, at some point Sasha would come to look for her, realising she'd totally over estimated her abilities.

Handing her patient off to an orderly Rachel went into the staff room to grab a drink before her next one arrived. Seeing Sasha she said in shock, "Where's Allie?" Sasha shrugged, "Making her way in." Rachel gasped, "You left her outside? Jesus Sasha!" Dropping her water bottle she ran into the garden area, scanning all sides, but there was no sign of Allie. She ran back dialled the ward explaining Allie was missing then rang down to Jeremy's secretary in panic. Steph put the phone down, knocked the office door and went in without waiting for a response. Tom was with Jeremy planning for a complex case and they both looked up in confusion as she blurted out, "Allie's missing! The physio left her outside and they can't find her." The two men flew from behind the desk and Jeremy shouted back, "Call security." They ran using the stairs instead of the elevator and took opposite sides of the garden shouting her name. Allie had crawled towards the wall trying to get some shelter, but exhausted with the effort and the cold had lost consciousness. Turning the corner Tom spotted her and bawled for Jeremy. As he reached her drenched figure she stirred and said, "Not hurt, got on the floor rather than fall and hurt anything." Jeremy dropped next to her and took the hospital issue hoody he had over his scrubs off and wrapped it around her as he said, "Thank god, clever girl. Let's get you in." He scooped her up and Tom grabbed the crutches from where she'd dropped them a few feet away. Sasha had come out into the garden with security as if she was looking for Allie and said stuttering, "I thought she could make it. I didn't take her far. She should have been able to come back easily." Normally easy-going Tom was furious and he put a hand on Jeremy's back and said, "You take Allie Jem, I'll deal with this." He whirled around as soon as they'd gone and said, "What the hell were you thinking? What was she doing all that way out there alone? Who the hell is your boss, I need to speak to them right now!" Sasha shrank back in fear at the ferocity of his tone and Brian jogged in having been alerted by Steph that Allie was missing. He came and put a hand on Tom's shoulder and said urgently, "Tom, have they found Allie, what's going on?" Tom nodded his head, "Jeremy's taken her upstairs. We found her, all the way at the top of the garden, soaking wet, unconscious." He pointed at Sasha accusingly, "She left her there, all alone. Allie had the good sense to get on the ground before she fell." Brian exhaled in relief, "Tom go and see if she's okay, call Daniel if Jeremy hasn't already. I'll deal with this and I'll come up later." The younger man was breathing heavily with the rage running through him and Brian shook him slightly, "Tom. Look at me. I'll deal with it." Tom nodded and throwing a murderous look at Sasha he turned and left.