Recovery

Chapter 6

Seconds after Jacob had called them, the team ran in, rushing to Connie's side. Jacob was already giving her CPR, his voice growing louder and louder as he begged her to wake up.
"Come on Connie!" He said between breaths. "Don't you dare give up on me." Beads of sweat covered his forehead as a couple of tears escaped him.

"Jacob, step aside," Elle ordered but he only ignored her.
Charlie had been on his way up to check on Connie and having overheard raised voices, he made his way to her room.
"Jacob!" Elle shouted. "We need to shock her," she said, trying to make eye contact with him.
"I'm... not... leaving... her," he replied as he continued to breathlessly massage her heart.

"Jacob!" Charlie shouted, grabbing him from behind and trying to pull him away. "They need to do their job," he said, keeping his hands on Jacob's arms.
"And I need to do mine!" Jacob shouted back angrily.
"No, you need to step aside," Charlie responded calmly. "You're too invloved."
Jacob listened to Charlie and relunctantly took a step backwards, never take his eyes off Connie.

As soon as Jacob had stepped back, Elle got ready to shock her.
"Charge to 200," Elle ordered as Jacob and Charlie watched on. "Clear!" She said, placing the defibrillator on Connie's chest and shocking her.
The team turned to the machine but there was no change.

"Please don't do this, please don't do this..." Jacob whispered to himself as he watched on, praying that her rhythm would stabilize.
Charlie said a silent prayer of his own, hoping that Connie would come back to them. Seeing her like this was devastating... It was crushing him but he knew he had to stay strong for Jacob and Grace.

"Charge again to 200," Elle repeated. "Clear."
After a second shock, nothing changed. Still no output.

Jacob turned towards the wall and put a hand against it to steady himself, his head hanging down in disbelief.
Charlie placed a comforting hand on Jacob's shoulder without taking his eyes of Connie.
"How can this be happening?" Jacob sighed. "She was okay five minutes ago..."
"She's been in a huge accident, Jacob. You know how quickly people's conditions can deteriorate," he said, his voice full of sadness and regret.
Jacob rubbed his forehead with his spare hand and waited for Elle to shock her again.

"Charge to 360!" She said. "Clear."
"There's an output," Robyn pointed out after a worrying few minutes.
Jacob sighed with relief, returning to her side. Charlie smiled at Elle and nodded to tell her she'd done well. 

The beeping of the machine was music to Jacob's ears. He walk up to her and gently stroked her hair before placing a kiss on her forehead.
She still wasn't awake, but at least she was back with them for now.

Elle looked over at her friend. "Did she complain of pain anywhere while you were with her?"
"Just her ribs," Jacob replied.
Elle looked down at Connie wondering what could have caused her to arrest. As she did, Jacob remembered something.
"Her head," he said, looking up at Elle. "She kept touching her forehead."
She nodded. Yeah that was it she thought, if she had concussion, it didn't always show up on the scan straight away. The long line of stitches and bruising on her head was more than enough for them to know she must have hit her head pretty hard.

"Charlie, would you call and arrange a CT scan?" Elle asked the older man.
"I'm already on it," he smiled, leaving the room.

After she had returned from her scan, it had been confirmed that she did indeed have concussion. They didn't quite know to what extent yet, all they could do was let her rest for the time being and keep monitoring her.

Charlie and Jacob stood watching her sleep through the blides on the window.
"Why don't you go get yourself cleaned up?" Charlie suggested. "Go home, have a shower, change your clothes," he said pointing to the blood stains all over Jacob's white uniform.
"Nah," Jacob replied, "I'm not leaving her."
Charlie just nodded and smiled sadly. He knew he wouldn't be able to argue with him anyway.
"At least go to the staff room and change your uniform," he said. "I'll page you if anything happens while your gone."
Jacob hesitated for a moment, looking at Connie and then down at his uniform.
"If anything happens," Jacob repeated. "Even if she just moves, I want you to page me."
"Don't worry," Charlie smiled.

After Jacob had changed into some fresh clothes, having not been paged by Charlie, he decided to go see how Grace was doing.
As he got nearer to her room, he stopped a minute, thinking he had just heard someone shout. He listened for a second before hearing it again.
"Mum!" He heard. It was Grace.

He set off running down the corridor towards her room and slammed the door open, rushing to her side.
"Hey! Calm down," he said in a comforting voice, placing a hand on her arm.
Grace looked up at him, her forehead covered in sweat and tears running down her cheeks.
"You're safe now," he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Everything's going to be okay," he promised.

"I want my mum," she cried. The way she looked up at Jacob, her eyes red from crying, broke his heart.
"She wants to see you too," he smiled. "But first we've got to get you both better."
She grabbed hold of his hand and held it tightly. She wasn't trying to hide her fear anymore. It was written all over her face.

"Where is my mum?" She asked, having not seen her since she dragged her out of the car.
"She's here, in the hospital," he reassured her.
"How is she?" She asked, her voice shaky.
Jacob didn't want to lie to her and tell her that she was fine because he didn't know if she would be. On the other hand, he didn't want to scare her more than she already was.

"She's sleeping at the minute, we'll know more later."
Grace didn't answer, she just stared into thin air.
"But hey, you saved her life!" Jacob reminded her. "She wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you."
Grace smiled sadly and nodded. Knowing she had saved her mum's life made her feel a little bit better.

"You were so brave," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to do what you did."
"Yes you would," she replied straight away. "It's not like I did anything heroic..." she paused. "I did what anyone would've done."
"That's not true," Jacob said, smiling at her. "No one knows how you managed to pull your mum away from the car in the state you were in. It's the most heroic thing I've ever witnessed," he said. And it was. He couldn't believe how brave and strong such a young girl could be. It was incredible.

Jacob could tell she didn't really want to talk about it. He decided to change the subject.
"So," he said, "what are you going to call your puppy?" He watched as she looked at him in confusion.
"Mum said I couldn't get one," she told him.
"Well..." Jacob said, his voice full of excitement. "What if I told you I'd managed to talk her into it?" He watched as her eyes lit up and a big smile appeared on her face.
"Really?!" She asked, her voice full of hope and enthusiasm. "But how?"
Jacob laughed at her reaction. "I'll let your mum explain that part," he winked.

Grace tried to lean over to hug him but stopped herself when she felt the pain from her broken bones run through her body.
"Woah, slow down there firecraker," Jacob said, helping her lay back down.
Grace winced in pain as she lowered herself back down.
"Can I go see mum soon?" She asked again.
"We need to get you seen to first and then maybe I can have something arranged," he smiled.
Grace smiled back and nodded her head.

Although she wouldn't admit it, she was glad Jacob was there with her. Of course, she would have rather had her dad sat by her but Jacob was certainly the next best thing.