Accidental Love

A Hair's Breadth....

"I'm here to see Becky - Becky Graham?" he stood at the nurses' station, pale and sweating from having virtually run from the car.  He hadn't even waited for the lift, racing up the stairs and, six flights later, almost collapsing at the door of the ward.  What WAS he thinking?  That was the trouble, he wasn't.  He'd phoned Luke on the way to the hospital and he was now on his way too - at a more respectable - and legal - speed.

"Ah yes, Mr.... Oh my!" the nurse looked up from the screen and gawped as she realised who was standing there.  Tom smiled, strained but understanding.  He was who he was, there was no escaping that. "M-Mr Hiddleston.  Come this way..." she stood and walked him along the main corridor towards a side bay.  It contained six beds, four of whom were occupied, one of whom he saw contained the prone and immobilised form of his little Pingu.  

The nurse drew the curtain between Becky and her neighbour, leaving the one at the window to the corridor drawn back so the staff could still monitor her. "I'll leave you to it, would you like a cuppa Mr Hidd..." 

"Tom, please, it's Tom and yes, that would be fantastic, I'm just back from the States about two hours - but please don't go to any trouble." he instantly felt guilty.  These poor nurses had quite enough to be doing without making him tea.

"No, honestly" she smiled, "it would be a pleasure..." she walked off and Becky, despite everything laughed a little.

"Got a new fan there Tom" she smiled "thanks for coming. I'm sorry, I was just panicking.  I've been so scared all on my own."  

He bent down and kissed her forehead softly.  "Tell me darling, tell me everything - you were ok when I left you! What happened?" He sat down next to her and gently took her hand.  His stomach lurched to see her immobilised like this.  She lay on her back, her head clamped between two blocks so that her spine was held stable.  For once, his height played to his advantage and she could still look up at him even as he sat.

"Well, a couple of days after you left, I started to get tingling in my hands.  It moved up my arms. I called the doctor and he told me to get myself up here as soon as possible.  They x-rayed me and it seems the accident has displaced a couple of vertebrae.  They're pressing on my spinal cord and it if swells much more while I'm moving about... " she couldn't finish the sentence, tears welling up "I could have been paralysed Tom.  I'd never have seen it coming.  Just a freak accident they said."

"Oh. My. God." Tom stood and walked round the room, anxiously running his hands through his hair, his face pale. "What can I do?  What can we do?  Is there a cure?  Oh darling, I'm to blame for all this.  If we hadn't been behind you..." he was rambling, not thinking logically, his only thought that he had been involved in something that could potentially change her whole life. He started to cry, silent tears of needless guilt running down his cheeks.

"Tom, please don't" she said holding up a hand to him "It's not your - or even Terry's - fault.  Tom, listen to me - come here please?" 

He stopped pacing and looked at her. Slowly he walked back to her and sat down, taking the hand she'd offered.

"Now you listen to me Tom Hiddleston" she began gently. "You are NOT going to crucify yourself over this do you hear me?  If it hadn't been your car, it would have been someone else.  Someone who, in all honesty, wouldn't have given a damn other than about their car.  Then where would I be?  Alone.  Scared.  Without you." she smiled, her own fears put aside to reassure him. "If I was going to be in this mess, who better to be in it with than you?" 

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve with his free hand. "Darling, I don't know HOW you do it.  Remain so calm and rational in all this.  I am quite simply, in awe of you Pingu!" he smiled weakly. "When are they coming to assess you again?  Can I be here?  Ask questions?" 

"Of course you can Tom.  I can't think of anyone I'd rather have by my side, although it might be a long haul I'm afraid" she sounded a little scared again and  he pressed her hand to his lips and kissed it.  

"I think we both know that this" he gestured between them "is no brief encounter don't we?"

"Yes, I think we do" she whispered back, hardly daring to hope. "I really think we do."

He never took his eyes of hers as he stood and bent over her, still holding her hand tightly. "Oh my little Pingu..." he said softly just as the curtain fluttered and the nurse walked back in with Tom's tea.

He sat down instantly and thanked her through mentally gritted teeth.  Becky laughed gently, she would have shook her head in amusement if only she could.

"The doctor will be around in about ten or fifteen minutes, he'll go over the latest information with you then. Will I leave the curtain for you meantime?"  she smiled and they both looked sheepish.  

"No, it's ok, but thank you. I need to pop out to call someone, I'll be back for the doctor love, I promise." Tom stood, taking his tea with him.  He needed to call Luke, see if he could intercept him en-route.

"Ok love, take your time, you look like you need the fresh air!" she grinned, suddenly feeling more positive than she had in a long time. He smiled and walked away.   The nurse turned to Becky and grinned.

"Oh my goodness you're a lucky woman! Almost worth being in hospital for eh?  To have Tom Hiddleston be as devoted and care for you like that!"

"Yes, yes I am lucky, aren't I?"  it wasn't till she'd walked away and Becky was left staring at the ceiling, waiting for the doctor that she fully realised what the nurse had said.  Tom...devoted to her?  That was more than even she, with her endless fangirl fantasies, had ever dared to believe would ever happen. Was there really a chance?  Even now?  No, she decided don't go there.  She wouldn't jinx it.  She would just go with the flow.  But maybe...one day...