HOME AND AWAY

Chapter 12

As Brax rushed to the hospital, he prayed that he wouldn't have a run-in with any police as he sped down the roads desperate to be with Summer. Bianca had called him from the ambulance and told him of Summer's panic attack, she was yet to tell him about Danny standing at the fence. Very little had been said on the phone, just that Summer had had a panic attack at school and Bianca had organised for Casey to be picked up by Heath and brought to the hospital. Brax hadn't really had time to think about anything else as he parked his car carelessly in the car park and ran straight into the hospital in search of his baby sister.

"Whoa Brax, slow down." Sid called as Brax went hurtling passed him.

"Summer, where is she?" Brax asked breathlessly, panic and worry evident in his voice.

Sid put Summer's chart back behind the desk before showing Brax where Summer was recovering, "She's ok Brax. I've done some routine obs and apart from breathlessness and strange bruising on her stomach, she's fine physically. How did she come to get those bruises Brax?"

Brax looked at Sid in contemplation, could he really tell the doctor what was going on? He seemed like a decent enough bloke and he'd been so professional when he'd examined Summer several months ago. Brax sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, lolling his head back as he did so and with another deep breath he offered an explanation.

"Our mongrel of a father is hanging around." Brax snarled slightly, "You're smart doc, you know what he did to us and I'm trying my best to keep them all safe from him but we had a run in yesterday. What caused the panic attack? Was it just a response to yesterday?" Brax began to talk more frantically as he continued his explanation, desperately wanting answers.

"Brax you need to remain as calm as you can. Summer seeing you in this state is only going to make her anxiety worse." Sid tried to calm the eldest Braxton. "As for the trigger, Bianca knows the full story. Why don't you go in and see her? We can talk more later if you want."

"Thanks doc." Brax tried to smile as he composed himself and pushed the door to Summer's room open.

It felt as if time had frozen as he looked over at Summer lying in the hospital bed. She looked so small and fragile, just like the night he had to bring her in with her broken arm. Summer had an oxygen mask placed over her face as she tried to regain control of her breathing and Bianca was sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing her leg in a comforting gesture.

"Bwax" Summer's voice was muffled by the mask as she tried to greet him.
"Hey kiddo." Brax tried to smile convincingly, trying to be strong for his little sister. "Heard you just wanted to get out of P.E?" He hoped that the joke would go down the right way and not accusative.

Bianca smiled at Brax as she stood up, she walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Should we talk outside?" She asked.

Brax looked at Summer with uncertainty, all he wanted to do was hold his little sister but he also desperately wanted to know what had happened. He sighed with relief when Summer nodded for him to follow Bianca, so he did hoping to answers quickly so he could return to her.

"What happened?" Brax asked the second he had shut the door to Summer's room.

"Don't freak out, but Danny was hanging around at the school perimeter." Bianca said quietly, hoping that Brax would not over react.

"WHAT?!" Brax began to rage, the exact opposite of what Bianca wanted.

"He didn't get to her, she saw him across the playing field. She had a panic attack but she's ok Brax." Bianca tried to regain control of the situation.

Brax looked at Bianca for a moment, he could see a slight look of fear in her eye and assumed it was due to his outburst. "I'm sorry." He began slowly as he tried to take a deep breath, "I just, she was supposed to be ok at school. I knew I shouldn't have let her go. I'm supposed to protect her!"