《 Skip a Beat 》

Here's the thing...

"Back again?"

Tina nodded, and Jacob and Queenie shifted uncomfortably on their feet.

"No advance, I'm afraid. He's lost most of his blood, so we still can't tell if he'll make it or not. You can go in, if you want."

The three of them went for the door before she'd finished her sentence. Queenie looked over her shoulder at the nurse.

"Thank you."

The nurse nodded back, a hint of a smile playing on her lips, then watched her shuffle through the door after the others.

Everything in the room looked the same, except someone had taken the form away from the little wooden desk, and there was a wheelie table with silver tools arranged neatly beside the bed.

Queenie turned her attention to Newt.

He still looked pale. He still had the bandage wrapped around his head. He still had scars across his face. And he still wasn't breathing.

The high bleeping sounds from the life support machine sounded like a countdown clock. It made Queenie feel sick thinking about what it could've been for. She heard rustling from her left, and found Tina standing next to her, at the foot of Newt's bed.

Jacob stood on Queenie's right, solemn-faced and silent. It was just the three of them today. Newt's closest friends.

A doctor strode out of the green door and over to the wheelie table next to the bed.

He rearranged a couple metal instruments and looked up at them through round, thin framed spectacles. He was quite young, around 20, with a spray of freckles across his nose and auburn hair, and he scanned them up and down through steely grey eyes.

"Nick Holden," he clarified, pulling off his glove and holding out his hand to them. They shook it, one by one, and Jacob offered him a small smile before introducing them.

"Jacob, Queenie, and Tina," he said, gesturing to each of them as he said their names.

Nick nodded, his eyes darting between the three of them, assessing their positions and stance. They settled on Tina.

"Are you his... girlfriend?" He guessed. Tina flushed red, Jacob raised his eyebrows, and Queenie couldn't help but break into a grin. Nick understood he'd guessed wrong.

"Oh, my bad. Sister?" He tried again. Tina finally found her voice.

"No... no, we're just his friends," she explained. Nick ducked his head.

"Right. Sorry." He pushed his glasses further up his nose and picked up a tiny pair of silver scissors.

"Should we leave?" Asked Queenie, eyeing Nick's pointed needles with a twinge of fear.

"Oh, it's fine, guys. You can stay. I'm only checking his cut anyway," he responded, gently snipping away the bloody bandage wrapped around Newt's head with his scissors.

None of them took their eyes off the bandage as Nick swiftly unravelled it and sent it floating to one side of the wheelie table with his wand. He then proceeded to apply some kind of salve to the cut and re-wrap it in a fresh, clean white bandage. Tina decided to speak up at that point.

"Um, Nick?"

He looked up.

"Is Newt's leg okay? It looked awful last time we saw it."

Nick pursed his lips. He cleared his materials away and pulled his gloves off.

"No. The surgeons worked on it around the clock. They still are. It's a total mess. His leg is broken in several different places. Heck, it's literally snapped in two! They're doing everything they can, but it's unlikely that he'll survive, let alone walk again."