Break

Chapter 12

"Only an hour early today?" the receptionist greets Shayne with a smile and a raised eyebrow when he arrives just before 8am.

"Well, I know they won't let me in early today, but Courtney's doctor was intentionally mistreating her and we found out yesterday it's because he believed made up bullshit about us from the internet and she now doesn't feel safe being here so the least I can do is try," Shayne answers, terse, immediately walking to sit heavily into one of the waiting room chairs. The receptionist doesn't say anything else, but she purses her lips and picks up her phone, dialling a number and bringing the phone to her ear.

"Good morning, I've got Shayne Topp here again-" she starts, pausing for a moment. "Yes, I know, but- do you know what happened yesterday? ... I don't want to say how I know, he's-"

"You can say you've seen the video," Shayne speaks, tone remaining terse, as the receptionist glances over at him almost apologetically for a moment before turning her attention back to her phone call. He should be nicer to her, she's clearly trying to convince them to let him up, but he's still running on anger and fear and the guilt of having to ask Damien to drive him back to the hospital this morning because he went to call an Uber and realised he didn't want to risk anyone knowing which hospital Courtney was at.

"Well, how about you talk to the nurse manager? Or the nurse in charge of that part of the ward at the moment?" the receptionist continues, "okay, I'll hold."

She pulls the phone away from her ear, for a moment, turning back to Shayne.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to-"

"I know. Sorry I'm being like this. This whole thing is insane," he tells her, a little apologetic, but she shakes her head.

"It's fine. It is insa- oh, hi, yes, still here," she quickly switches back to talking into the phone, pausing for another, longer moment, until her face breaks into a smile and she looks back at Shayne, gesturing to the lifts, "okay, yes, thank you, he'll be up soon."

"Thanks," Shayne mumbles, not needing to be told twice as he rushes to the lifts. He jabs aggressively at the button for her floor when he steps inside, and when he gets into the ward, he paces quickly towards her room, glad the nurses give him space.

He goes to open the door, but quickly remembers her fear at people coming into the room.

"Court, it's me-" he starts.

"Shayne-" her responding call is desperate and muffled through the wood of the door but he takes it for what he knows it is, immediately wrenching the door open to step inside and race to her side.

"I'm here, love, I'm here," he tells her, his tone turning gentle as he immediately sits himself up on the bed and pulls her into his arms, his own tears stinging at his eyes as he feels her immediately burst into tears, face buried against his chest. Her tears aren't as angry, this time – they're tired, frustrated, relieved and scared, and they make him press a series of soft kisses into her hair.

"I love you, Courtney, darling. I love you so much, and I'm going to keep you safe, and I'm not letting the new doctor leave today and I'm not letting go of you until we have a plan and a pathway to get you out of here and get you home, okay?" he tells her, pushing every ounce of strong reassurance he can into his tone.

"Okay," she mumbles, against him, sniffling through her tears, "I love you so much, Shayne, last night was hell and everything made me panic and I didn't sleep and I'm so exhausted I just-"

"Do you want to sleep now, darling? I promise I'll stay awake. I'll make sure no one touches you or comes near you, you can sleep, it's going to be okay. You'll be okay. You're safe," he tells her.