Twisted Fire (20 page)

“
Honey, she’ll be OK.”

“
I hope so. She’s usually so resilient.”

“
Love changes everything,” he said before he kissed her affectionately.

Charlotte managed to trudge through the day at the shop with Chelsea. Thankfully Chelsea decided to talk about everything but her heartache and Charlotte was grateful for the diversion.

As she was on call over the weekend, Charlotte decided to stay home that evening – not that she wanted to go out anyway. When she arrived home that afternoon, she plonked herself in front of the television and didn’t appear as though she was going to move. She stared at it blindly until her pager went off just after ten with an emergency at the clinic. She reluctantly dragged herself off the couch and ventured over.

Charlotte found the clinic eerily quiet and kept jumping at shadows as she set up the examination room. Mr Williams arrived with his dog, Rufus, about fifteen minutes later. Rufus had been hit by a car. He had a broken leg and other scrapes and bruises. After determining he didn’t appear to have any internal injuries, she set his broken leg. She decided Rufus had better stay so she could monitor him, which meant she would have to stay too. The clinic contained a bed and amenities set up for just this purpose. At least here Jared wasn’t everywhere, haunting her with painful memories.

After making sure Rufus was set up, she gave him a mild sedative to keep him calm. She called Chelsea to let her know she was staying and settled herself on top of the covers. Hoping she would be able to get some sleep, something she’d been having trouble with lately, she tried to get comfortable. She tossed and turned for what seemed like hours and checked on Rufus several times. Finally fatigue took over and she attempted sleep again.

Just as she began to drift off, a noise startled her. As she rose up slowly, hoping she was hearing things, Charlotte thought she heard the back door close. She was certain she’d locked up and hoped it wasn’t thieves after drugs.

She crept towards the door, groping in the dark, her ears tuned to any noise, but only the deadly silence surrounded her. She thought about calling out but didn’t want to alert anyone to her presence. As her eyes gradually accustomed to the darkness, her foot struck something hard and her ankle gave way. Charlotte felt herself falling and was unable to break it. Her head hit the floor solidly and everything went black.

* * *

It had been a slow night again and, for the first time ever, Jared hoped for a fire, at least then his mind would be occupied. Night shift was usually quiet and tended to drag on. When the bell rang just before three am, he was the first one to the truck ready for the distraction.

Jared heard the address over the radio and his blood went cold. He told himself it would be alright, it was the middle of the night and no-one would be there.

They pulled up at Dr Shaw’s clinic and Jared spotted her red sporty convertible parked out the front. Was she here? Why? He set to work organising his crew as the blaze burned fierce and hot, although didn’t appear to be spreading too quickly. They would usually have to ensure they’d started to control the blaze before entering the building. While his crew were dousing the building, Jared pulled out his phone and called her house.

“
Hello,” mumbled Lucas.

“
Lucas, its Jared.”

“
Hey, man, what’s up?”

“
Why is Charlotte’s car at the clinic?”

“
She had an emergency call out there tonight and is staying overnight to monitor the patient. Why?”

Jared cursed as the blood drained from his face. “We’ve been called to the clinic.”

He heard Lucas curse and then Chelsea ask him what was wrong.

“
She’s in there, Jared” Chelsea had come on the line. “We’re coming.”

The line went dead. Jared located Sam and told him he was going in.

“
You can’t go in yet. It’s not safe.”

“
Charlotte’s in there.”

“
Be careful.”

“
I always am.”

He hurriedly put on the remainder of his protective gear and went in through the front door. The heat was intense and the smoke thick. He searched through the surgery rooms and then a room which appeared to be set up as a place to sleep, but found it empty. He searched the examination rooms and was starting to lose hope. He headed out to the hallway leading to the back entrance and this was where he found her.

She wasn’t conscious and her left foot appeared to be bent at a strange angle. The right sleeve of her lab coat was scorched. Jared scooped her up, cradled her in his arms and went straight out the back door.

As he came around to the front of the building, he noticed the paramedics still hadn’t arrived. He placed her gently onto the ground to check her breathing and was relieved to find she was, if with some difficulty. Jared placed her in the recovery position and waited.

Chelsea and Lucas arrived at the same time as the ambulance, and while they loaded her on the gurney, Chelsea spoke to her, trying to get a response. Jared once again sought out Sam.

“
Can you take over so I can go to the hospital with Charlotte?”

“
No worries. I've got it under control. I’ll do the arson investigation when we have the fire out.”

Jared thanked him and climbed aboard the ambulance. Chelsea told him she would be following in the car with Lucas.

Chelsea and Lucas found Jared pacing in the waiting room when they rushed in.

“
They haven’t finished working on her yet,” he told them grimly.

“
She’ll be OK. She’s alive and she was breathing.”

“
Yes, but we don’t know what damage the smoke has done.”

“
She has to be OK,” Chelsea whispered.

Lucas held Chelsea to him, guided her over to a chair and sat her down. Jared continued to pace and grew progressively more troubled as each minute passed. When the doctor emerged to talk to them, Jared strode over to him and Chelsea and Lucas jumped from their seats.

“
I’m Dr Lewis,” he said. “Charlotte is still unconscious but breathing well with oxygen. I’m unsure as to the extent of damage the smoke may have caused and I’ll know when I receive the test results. Her left ankle is broken and is being set as we speak. Her right arm has second degree burns which will be quite painful if she wakes up.”

“
What do you mean if?” Chelsea asked him in a weak voice.

“
She sustained a heavy blow to the head and I’m going to do a scan once her ankle is set to see the extent of the damage. As I said, I also don’t know the extent of smoke damage. Once I have the blood gas results I’ll know more. In the meantime, I’m hoping she doesn’t go into respiratory stress.”

“
Oh God,” Chelsea squeaked.

“
What are her chances, Dr Lewis?” Lucas asked.

“
We are considering her critical until she regains consciousness. That’s about all I can tell you at the moment. When I have the results from the tests, I’ll let you know.”

Dr Lewis left and Jared began pacing again. Chelsea looked up at Jared and realised he hadn’t said a word.

“
Jared, are you ok?”

“
No, this doesn’t look good. I’ve seen this before and that was when someone was exposed for less time than her.” His face contorted in pain. Lowering his eyes to the floor he stood for a moment before beginning his pacing once more.

Chelsea sobbed and Lucas escorted her back to a chair.

Jared spent the next hour pacing the floor, waiting for the doctor to return, his heart in his throat and his mind tormented with images of her. Everything that occurred didn’t matter now; all that mattered was her survival. He loved her and hadn’t listened to her. Instead he’d been stubborn and pushed her away. When she pulled through he needed to tell her how much he loved her.

The doctor returned to informed them he was pleased with her results. “The CT shows no bleeding or bruising and there are no fractures on her skull, so this is good. What concerns me though is she hasn’t regained consciousness yet. We’ll monitor her and repeat the test in a few hours if she doesn’t wake up. Her blood test shows her chemical levels aren’t life threatening at this stage. It’s now a waiting game.”

“
Can we see her?” Chelsea asked.

“
Yes, one at a time for short periods.”

Chelsea followed the doctor to Charlotte’s room.

“
That’s good news, Jared.” Lucas said.

“
Yes, but she’s not awake yet. I’ll feel better when she is.”

When Chelsea returned, she looked grave but hopeful and asked Jared to talk to her as it might help. She directed him to her room and he strode quickly in that direction.

At the doorway he paused. She was deathly pale, her foot and lower leg were in a cast, her arm was bandaged, a purplish bruise coloured one side of her face near her temple and she was incubated. She appeared so vulnerable and he couldn’t recall ever feeling so helpless, so useless. He sat in the chair beside the bed and held her hand.

“
Charlotte, honey, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you or believe you. Please stay with me. You’re the most beautiful, incredible woman I’ve ever met and I can’t believe I was going to throw it all away. I don’t want to lose you, babe. Please wake up. I love you.”

He placed his forehead on the bed next to their clasped hands in anguish.

* * *

Charlotte heard his voice and thought she was dreaming. Her head felt like lead and ached severely. Her lungs felt tight. There was something in her throat and her leg and arm hurt.

She attempted to open her eyes but found them too heavy. When she did manage to briefly, the room spun. She tried to talk but couldn’t manage that either. There was something in her hand so she squeezed it.

“
Charlotte?” She heard his voice again.

Blinking several times, Charlotte forced her eyes to focus. Through the haze she saw his wonderful face and thought she must be dreaming.

“
Oh, honey, you’re awake, oh God … ” he broke off. “I’ll find the doctor, I’ll be right back.”

Doctor? Why am I in the hospital again? What is that in my throat?

He returned moments later with a relieved looking Chelsea and a man of medium height with a strong build, kind brown eyes and salty hair.

“
Charlotte, I’m Dr Lewis. I’m going to remove the tube from your throat. I need you to breathe out while I do it, OK?”

Charlotte nodded and once he’d removed the tube she began to cough relentlessly. He covered her mouth with an oxygen mask which helped her coughing to subside and her breathing became easier.

“
Do you remember what happened?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“
There was a fire at the clinic and you were found inside, unconscious. You have no apparent head injury but we will repeat the scan to be sure. Your blood gas levels are good therefore the smoke exposure hasn’t caused any serious damage but you will need to be in the hospital for a few days.”

“
OK,” she rasped.

“
Not too long,” he told Chelsea and Jared. “I want her to rest.”

“
Charlotte, you had us so worried,” Chelsea said giving her a careful hug. “You don’t remember anything?”

Once again she shook her head.

“
All I can say is how fortunate it was that Jared was working, otherwise no-one would have known you were in there. Because of him you’re alive.”

“
I don’t know about that,” he said modestly. “It would have only been a few more minutes before we were clear to enter.”

Charlotte turned to him, took his hand and stared into the ocean blue eyes of the man she loved.

“
Thank you,” she rasped.

“
Shh, don’t talk.”

“
Anyway, we should go and let you sleep,” Chelsea said.

Charlotte’s eyes felt heavy again. She nodded and watched them leave. How did this happen? She’d been in a fire. It was beyond comprehension. Jared had rescued her and was still at the hospital. Did she really hear him say he loved her when she was emerging out of the fog or was it a dream again?

Chapter 23