Coraline Murphy

46.

"I'm at the office, Grace," he lied into the phone, wanting to spend as little time on it as possible. "No, I won't be home tonight. Give Charlie a goodnight kiss from me." 

Several hours had passed since Coraline had been wheeled away from them, through the white double doors that he was not permitted to breach. A nurse had come to talk to them about an hour ago, explaining that they were still trying to stabilise her, but she couldn't give them the comfort that the Shelby brothers needed. "We are doing what we can," she'd said, when Arthur had asked what the outlook for his friend was. 

"Tommy!" Arthur was calling for him down the corridor; John had headed home after the first couple of hours, exhausted and shaken, and suddenly desperate to get home and take his wife and children in his arms, and not let them go. He'd promised to call Polly and Ada to fill them in, and check on Finn and Isiah. 

He turned to head back to the corridor where he and Arthur had been sat for so long, finding Arthur standing talking to a doctor. "Tommy, the doctor is here."

"Doctor?" Tommy could barely bring himself to ask. "How is she?"

The doctor looked nervous. "She's stable for now, but in a critical condition."

Tommy swallowed. 

"It's not clear what's happened to her, but from a medical point of view, it looks like she's been tortured and starved for several months. Her body is extremely frail - she's so malnourished that her heart is struggling, and her body is starting to shut down. She was hypothermic when she came in - probably something to do with her being wet through when she arrived. We've managed to get that under control for now. In terms of injuries, I'm not really sure where to start..."

Tommy and Arthur listened in horror as the doctor started to list of the injuries; burns, cuts and bruises, both wrists broken, four fingers, three toes, six ribs, one collarbone, a fractured cheekbone and left ankle, the extensive internal bleeding and the concussion.

"Fucking hell," breathed Arthur, running his fingers through his hair. "How is she still alive?"

"It's very touch and go," the doctor admitted. "I'm afraid you can't go and see her yet - we've got a team in place in case her heart stops again. My recommendation is that you go home and come back in the morning. We'll know more about her chances of recovery if she makes it through the night."

"If she makes it through the night?" Tommy hissed at the doctor, who's eyes widened in fear. "You'll let me see her right now, by order of the Peaky fucking Blinders." 

The doctor swallowed thickly, looking from Tommy's seething face to Arthur's, who looked about ready to punch something. "Very well, Sir, though I warn you that she's in a critical condition, and I strongly recommend that she does not have any visitors yet."

Tommy had turned to Arthur. "I'm going to stay here, Arthur. I'll call if anything changes."

"Alrigh', Tommy." Arthur nodded. "I'll be back for you tomorrow."

Tommy turned back to the doctor. "Take me to her." 

It was all the great Tommy Shelby could do not to burst into tears at the sight of his Coraline. Her frail body was bundled in blankets, numerous wires protruding from the folds and connected to multiple machines which beeped and buzzed around her bed. A nurse was bustling around the room, checking machines and noting down numbers on a clip board. 

Tommy approached the bedside slowly, noting the bruising on Coraline's small face, the casts and bandages around her arms, and the tubes in her mouth and nose. He sat heavily in the chair next to the bed, lost for words. 

"I'll be back in 15 minutes to check on her." The nurse's voice made Tommy jump, and he grunted some sort of acknowledgement at her words. 

"Fucking hell, Cora," he whispered, carefully lifting one of her hands, noting the cast that wrapped around the gap between her thumb and fingers, and carried on up her wrists, and the two fingers on that hand there were splinted to keep them straight. He gently stroked her unbroken fingers, wondering at how small they were compared to his own. "What happened to you, my love?" 

The 15 minutes passed quickly, and before he knew it, the nurse was back in the room, accompanied by the doctor, who straight away put his stethoscope in his ears, and listened to Coraline's heart. 

"Hmm, sounding better," the doctor muttered to the nurse, who smiled, pleased. "How's her temperature looking?" 

"It's stable, I will start to reduce the blankets as the night progresses, Doctor."

"Very good." A few more checks and the doctor was on his way, sparing Tommy a tight smile and a nod of the head, leaving just him and the nurse.

"She's doing better, Sir." The nurse was folding the blanket she'd removed from Rory. "Her temperature is holding which is good."

Tommy cleared his throat, his voice croaking from lack of use. "Right, er. What... what's the tube in her mouth? And her nose?" 

The nurse smiled at him. "The tube into Miss Murphy's nose is delivering nutrients to her - it's feeding her. The one in her mouth is breathing for her."

"For her?" 

"Yes Sir, she stopped breathing not long after you arrived with her, and as we were unable to keep her breathing by herself, the machine is breathing for her. It will take the pressure off her body whilst she tries to heal."

"She... she can't breathe by herself?" Tommy felt like crying. "What's happened to her?"

"The doctor seemed to think that her body is shutting down because she's so malnourished, sir. When the body isn't fed, it burns through fat, and when that fat is gone, the muscles will start to waste away."

Tommy nodded, remembering how the soldiers, including himself, had lost weight and muscle over the course of the war. 

"Of course, the heart is a muscle, and in Miss Murphy's condition, it's struggling to keep going."

Tommy ran his hand through his hair, his other hand never leaving Coraline's. "That's why it kept stopping on the way here?"

"I would suppose so, Sir. It seems like you found her just in the nick of time."

He felt a bit sick at the thought of what may have happened had Finn and Isiah not found her. 

"Will... will she be okay?"

"I don't know, Sir. We are doing what we can, but it's up to her now."

Tommy nodded, looking back at Coraline, whose face, though pale, looked peaceful.