Saving Z // Richard Madden Fanfiction

Chapter One

Zoe was very late. The last minute call from an important client at the end of her work day had made her very late to get home. She had lived with and cared for her disabled brother on her own now for 8 years since she was 22 and her brother was 16. She worked hard and had managed to progress herself to a high end job in marketing but most of her wages were spent on her brother. So that they were able to afford to live she had to work but during the day she had to pay for carers to look after her brother.

At the age of 22 she was in a car accident with her family and although her and her parents had been left unscathed her brother had unfortunately not. He had been left brain damaged and was now unable to care for himself or be left alone at anytime. Whenever Zoe wasn't at work she was home caring for her brother. She never had a social life. Her old friends she used to have had long since gone as she was never available to see them. It was just her and her brother Daniel.

Running through Greenwich to catch the DLR back towards her home in Woolwich she had to swerve in and around all the tourists and general rush hour of people leaving work. She already paid a daily rate for the carers for her brother but if she was late and they had to stay longer they started to charge an extra overtime rate and Zoe really couldn't afford that. They were only just able to scrape by every month as it was. She saw the DLR station approaching on the other side of the road and without thinking in her panicked state she ran across the road without looking and that was when the silver Audi hit her. She was flung onto the bonnet of the vehicle and then dropped onto the ground motionless.

***

Zoe's eyes slowly opened to the bright fluorescent light above her. Her head was pounding and she felt aches all across her body. As her eyes began to focus she slowly looked around the room and realised she appeared to be in a hospital room and then she remembered. She had been rushing home to her brother. What time was it now? How long had she been lying here for? She was really late and had to get home to him. Without really thinking she sat up in bed and started to pull against all the wires and tubes connected to her.

"Whoa what are you doing?" Asked a concerned male Scottish voice. She looked up and realised there had been a guy sat at the end of her bed. How she hadn't noticed him she didn't know. It appeared that he had been reading a book but he threw this to the floor as he dashed round to the side of her bed to stop her.

"I need to go" she said desperation in her voice. "I need to get home".

"No you need to rest and let a doctor see you now that you are awake" the man said. "You took quite a hit out there".

"I need my phone it's urgent" she pleaded.

"Umm I think it got smashed in the accident" the man mumbled "but i can call your family if you want and explain what has happened if you know there number"

"No I really need to do it" she pleaded the pain in her head starting to intensify.

He reluctantly handed her his unlocked phone and she dialed the number of the carers team who cared for her brother.

"Hello, it's Zoe Dillon, you care for my brother Daniel" she said. She explained to them what had happened and how she wouldn't get to home to Daniel just yet.

"You do realise we will have to charge you the 24hour rate until you return Miss Dillon" the lady on the phone explained.

"Yes I understand" she replied. She had no idea where the money was going to come from but she knew she had to get out of here as fast as she could. As she ended the call she handed the phone back to the man she slumped back into bed and tried to hold the tears back.

"Are you ok?" The man asked, the look of concern on his face.

"Not really" she replied.

"You said on your phone that your brother was in care" he said.

"Yes my brother needs 24 hour care. I can only just afford to pay for carers whilst I work to keep a roof above our heads and now I will have to pay for more care while I am in here." She sobbed.

"Don't worry about that now you need to get better" the man said.

"How can I not worry," she shouted "I still need to pay that bill." She began to dig her finger nails into her hands with anxiety. The man before her noticing this and being careful to avoid the needles going into the back of her hands from the lines going into her he took both hand in his to stop her.

"Seriously" the man said "you really don't need to worry about that. I will sort that out. You just need to focus on getting better."

"I don't know what you mean" Zoe said, "I don't even know who you are."

"I'm sorry where are my manners, I'm Richard and I was the person driving the car that hit you when you ran out into the road." He said. "I really don't want you to worry about any extra costs you have for your brother right now as I will pay for them. I just want you to focus on getting better."

"But that was all my fault" she said.  "I ran out in front of you without looking, why would you offer to help me? It should be me paying for any damage I did to your car."

"Really don't worry about my car and don't worry about the cost of your brothers care whilst you are here. That is not for you to worry about. I was so concerned when I hit you that I had to come to hospital with you and stay till I knew that you are alright. I have had to lie and tell the nurses that I am your brother for them to allow me to stay" Richard laughed. "I'm glad I did now as I can see you are distressed and I want to help."

Richard thought back to the moment Zoe had ran out into the road in front of him and shuddered. It had been such a shock for him too but he had instantly tried to push that to the back of his mind and help this girl. As he had got out of his car he had instantly called for an ambulance. As he had knelt down to feel for her pulse even through all the cuts on her face he could see how beautiful she was. When the ambulance had taken her away he knew that he couldn't just leave it like that so he had followed on to the hospital and lied that he was her brother just so he could sit with her. He had found her ID in her bag the she had been carrying so he had been able to tell the hospital who she was and sound like he actually knew her.

Zoe leant back in her bed the tears still streaming down her face. Who was this Richard? Nobody ever wanted to help her. It was just her and Daniel since her Gran died 5 years ago and apart from the carers who were paid to help it was just her.

"Thank you" she whispered but she knew that he had heard as he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Now you just lie there" he said smiling at her "I'll just go and grab a doctor to check you over."