Playing with fire

Bedside

She sat with her back against the cold hospital wall. Rita and Charlie sat beside her, Rita sleeping but still holding her hand. Charlie handed her a cup of tea and she found she just about managed to have a sip before her hands were shaking too much,

"It's my fault," she whispered, "all of this... It's all my fault,"

"It isn't," Charlie told her firmly, "it's your husbands fault... Not yours,"

"If I hadn't confided in him... If I hadn't allowed him to love me... I should never have... Oh god..."

Charlie squeezed her hand, "you have to believe he will get through this... He will get through this."

"I haven't even told him why I love him," she admitted, "he once asked me why someone like me would want someone like him and I said id tell him one day... I never have,"

"I believe he loves you too much to leave you," Charlie smiled, "that man has loved you since the day he set eyes on you,"

The three of them woke up a few hours later as they heard a trolley wheeled from theatre,

Dylan nodded at them and Rita kissed Connie's cheek before allowing Charlie to lead her down how corridor,

"Dylan?" Connie asked, relieved as she saw Jacob still sleeping, the amount of wires surrounding him making her heart skip,

"He's a fighter that's for sure, were taking him up to ITU,"

Connie nodded, hesitating before taking a seat next to where Jacob lay,

"I should have known," she uttered, "when he didn't come reply to my message... I should have known,"

Dylan shook his head, "hold his hand and sit with him... He needs you now,"

Connie nodded, "thank you,"

She sat beside him for days. The only time she left was when Charlie took her home to shower or persuaded her to eat. She was shocked at just how empty her life felt without him. She was shocked by just how much he'd managed to make her fall so deeply on love with him.

Brain scans had come back negative and whilst she was relived she couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't waking up.

She ran her fingertips across the back of his cheek, looking for a reaction from him, anything to show her he was still in there.

"So, it turns out that sleeping without you is even worse than I thought," she told him. "The thing is, you're the person I tell when things go wrong..." She smiled fondly, "and even if you don't know how to fix them, telling you and curling up to seems to make everything okay again,"

She kissed his cheek gently, "come on staff nurse masters," she whispered, "I miss you so much."