Crashing Waves

20

Waking up to the sight of flowers on the side the next morning was a surprise, and even more surprisingly they were sent from Hardy.

"Delivery guy dropped 'em off a few hours ago." The nurse noticed me staring at them, smiling as I watched them bathe in sunlight.
They weren't a large bouquet, just a few carnations, but the thought was genuinely wonderful.

"Alice?" Turning my head, in a good mood, I saw a face I had never expected to see.

My dads.

"Dad." The smile that was brought to my lips as I saw him lean in for a hug dropped when he pulled back. "What are you doing here." I snapped, seeing him taken a back.

"I'm your next of kin, how the hell were you stabbed?" He asked, seeming concerned. But I knew better. Out the corner of my eye I could see Alec standing there, skulking to see if it was safe to come over.

"I don't want you here." I said, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Tough. Alice I heard you had an affair with your DI, what happened?"

"Not that." I was getting upset now, and Alec must have known because the way he stormed over here was like he was on a war path.

"Who the hell are you?" Hardy confronted my dad, had we been dating this isn't the way I would have chosen them to meet.

"Hardy this is my dad, dad this is DI Hardy, Broadchurch police. My boss."

"How does it feel to sleep with my daughter knowing she's taken? What are you, my age? You sick son of a-"

"Dad, get out, now!" I yelled, seeing security alerted and approaching. My side screamed in pain as I did so.

"Mr Walker, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises." I sat back and watched as security escorted my dad out, but I was still in shock that he had even turned up to the next of kin call.

"What the bloody hell is your dad doing here?" He asked, walking up to my bed and resting his bum on it.

"He said he got a next of kin call." I replied, shaking my head as I looked at Hardy from where my dad had just left. "He's friends with Alan." I spoke softly, seeing Hardy's hand go to hold my own.

"You haven't told him." I nodded as he opened his mouth in realisation, lifting his chin as his eyes looked down before returning to his stoic expression.

"I hadn't told anyone. And now he thinks you're the DI I was having an affair with." Shaking my head I brought my hand up, covering my eyes. "Alec you need to go and tell him." I mumbled, hearing him agree.

"This really should be coming from you." I saw him walk out, going to confront my dad who I knew would still be waiting outside, waiting for his opportunity.

"Urghh!" Pressing morphine I heard the clock chime, signalling lunch. I swear I had only been up for a few hours, but I was always happy to have food, especially with the fiasco I had just had.

"Here we go lovely, bangers and mash." Looking at the plate I must say I was a bit disappointed, I mean you couldn't call that smash proper mash potato, and the meat always looked... questionable.

"Thank you." He left me in peace, luckily the women's ward was rather quiet, and since Hardy had expressed concerns about my wellbeing, here I was.
Eating the food, luckily the bland taste and texture allowed me to actually keep it down, but feel my wound stretch as I began to eat. It was the first proper meal that I hadn't been fed through a tube in a couple of days, so of course it was going to be painful. As much as I wanted it to be, this wasn't going to be a quick healing process.

"Lunch alright for you darling? Don't forget to take it slow." Jackie was accompanied by another nurse that came around to collect my lunch tray.

"Good, but the bloat is painful with this." I pointed, letting her take a quick look at the dressing.

"Well you haven't pulled any stitches out this time, give it a few more days and they should have closed the wound enough for you to be discharged." My smile dropped at her words.

"I can't be in here for a few more days, I'm going crazy already." I tried to argue, but as Jackie updated my patient notes she wasn't having any of it.

"Don't you dare go discharging yourself again, Alice. You need rest."

"And that's exactly what she's going to get." Hardy walked back in, a slight frown as he approached the side of the bed, sitting on the chair.

"You're lucky havin' him, ya know. He hasn't left your side for more than an hour or two since you been 'ere." Hardy shook his head getting into the paper that was folded on my table, taking the liberty of starting the crossword.

"Oh no, he's just-"

"Right, I'll see you later." With that Jackie was off, and Hardy stood up.

"The window to the house is being fixed now, Mark Latimer and Nigel Slater said that they wanted to ensure you were ok."

"They know?" I said.

"I told Miller not to, but she can't keep her mouth shut." He groaned, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Anyway. If you wanted to go back there, uh, with me, the window will be fixed when we get back. You will be doing nothing but sitting on the sofa, though." Hardy explained, stern with his words, as always.

"Er, yeah. Sure." I smiled, letting Alec grab my clothes which were folded up, stepping outside the cubicle and closing the curtain.
I dosed myself up with morphine before awkwardly trying to put my underwear on, practically unable to get myself dressed out of my hospital clothes. But if I was going home, I'd want to change out of them at some point, right?

"Could I, er, borrow your coat again? Just until we get back?" I asked, hearing the curtain open as Hardy came in, staring at a pair of pants lying on the ground. "I'll get changed into a nightgown when I get back." I asked sheepishly as I tried not to blush.

"Here." Hardy took it off, handing the heavy long coat to me to put on, luckily with it being oversized it meant it covered down to my calves, and I could wrap it around myself. "I must warn you, your father's still waiting outside." He told me, helping me walk to the exit of the hospital.

"What? I thought-" I trailed off, seeing him there, smoking. Typical of my dad, trying to smoke all his problems away. "I can't talk to him, Alec." I stopped where I was, seeing him notice us. "I need time to think what I'm going to say." I knew the nurse had said I couldn't be put under stress, but with the situation I was now in, that was kind of impossible.