Lifeline (Daniel Ricciardo)

Chapter 36: Out

Evan:

Running back down the hospital corridor in Monaco I knew that if I didn't speak to one of the nurses soon, I was going to throw a fit. So far Dan had been in there for well over an hour watching Karin sleep and I had been told to wait outside, scuffing my lack of shoes on the floor. I was wearing odd Converse for fuck's sake.

I was the main one to blame for this. I should have at least told Daniel because it was pretty damn obvious that she wasn't going to tell him off her own back. She didn't want to worry him; she loved him, and that was something which was even more obvious. Even though Evan didn't do that sort of bullshit.

"Hey, can you help me?" I grabbed the doctor's attention as one who wasn't looking too busy walked by. After a brief second I recognised him as the man who had taken her down to the assessment bay when we had first arrived. "I was wondering if you'd be able to let me in...I left my pass in the room."

Okay, this was a bit of a lie. As of yet I hadn't been given a pass at all, but I needed one. I needed to see Karin; I had to make sure that she was okay.

"Karin's partner?" The doctor responded, pulling out his pass to scan on the wall. The hospital wing was brand new, only a stone's throw away from the hotel where everything had happened.

"Yeah. " Again, not entirely another lie. Daniel could be mistaken for Karin's sibling at a distance. He and her had the same hair colouring.

"She is still asleep, a nurse just rang. She'll wake up from the anesthetic in a few hours. Please though, go and do something else for a while. She is stable and we have your mobile number to call you if anything does happen."

"Sure," I nodded, trying to process the information. Now it was daylight outside once more and I had received little over an hours' sleep.

"Here," the doctor took his pass off the pad and the door opened automatically. "You did the right thing bringing her here. She was in a very bad way."

"I know." I sighed, feeling another wave of guilt wash over me. Yes, Evan, you should have physically rescheduled her original appointment and then taken her to it, not holding back if she kicked and screamed. The thing was, she had been screaming and kicking. And now she had ended up hospitalised.

"How long has she been missing her medication for?"

"At least four days. I'm not completely sure." I felt my pocket for the packet of medication I had taken from her living room in case she decided she hadn't wanted to take her prescription anymore. I had been right about her not taking them. At least now I had handed half of what I had over to the medical team and they were doing their best.

They seemed to get that Karin's need was very individual, it wasn't the usual 'freak out' that was often induced by people drinking too much.

"I understand." the doctor spoke quietly as Dan looked at me, his eyes glazed over. He looked really knackered and confused as hell; he still didn't know what was going on. "I'll come and get you in a minute, both of you need to let her wake up alone."

I nodded and watched the doctor walk away, his white coat swinging as he went.

"Well?" Dan asked, folding his arms across his broad chest.

"Nothing new," I breathed out, not quite being able to look at the unconscious Karin. "They need us to go back to the hotel now or whatever."

"Are they serious? I'm not leaving!"

"They said that it was best. I think it's best that we go, mate." Yeah, that's right, Evan, drag him away so you don't feel so fucking bad about what happened.