Five Little Words

Part 9

Despite the trip only being just over an hour and a half long, it still ended up being exhausting to Dec - who had barely had so much stimulation in such a small amount of time, and so by the time the crew pulled up at the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital spinal chord rehabilitation facility, he was just moments away from falling asleep.

By the time Anne rejoined her son - having been forced to follow the ambulance in her car - he was nearly settled into a room, and a nurse was reattaching his drips and wires to the various monitors.

And Dec himself looked utterly exhausted, eyes barely able to keep themselves open.

The nurse - Hilary, her name was - shared a smile with Anne as she finished re-attaching the final leads, before she wrote something on the clipboard beside the bed, and made to leave the room.

"Can I get you anything, Mrs Donnelly? Cup of tea or coffee?" she queried almost silently, kind brown eyes crinkling a bit at the edges: Anne felt herself warming to the younger woman rather quickly.

"A cup of tea certainly wouldn't go amiss, thank you" she agreed, her own smile turning grateful as Hilary nodded knowingly, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Anne turned back to face her son, and chuckled when she saw that he was clearly struggling to stay awake.

"Sleep, little one" she soothed quietly, reaching up and running a loving hand through his hair. "You've had a very big day, and you need your rest."

Dec gave a tired hum of agreement, eyes quickly falling closed and soon the only noise coming from his direction were his snuffly snores. Anne's smile widened fondly, and she settled in to keep watch over her boy.

*****

She had been offered a room in one of the apartments on-site so that she could get some rest of her own, but Anne had politely declined - reasoning that she would like to be close to her son, at least for the first night or two.

Thankfully, the staff were very understanding, and organised for another cot to be brought into Dec's room, already set up for her to sleep in. Hilary had then brought in a tray of food - looking much more appetising than other hospital meals she'd seen, Anne was impressed - and she sat with her for a good fifteen minutes, chatting amicably about their lives and getting to know each other.

Hilary had been working at the facility for nearly twenty years, and she had an air of someone's grandmother about her - even though she was only in her late fifties. Her graying hair was tied up in a loose bun, and her dark eyes were attentive and curious; keen to find out every detail that might be potentially important, but there was also a genuine friendliness about her, something that made Anne feel immediately comfortable in her presence.

Finally, after chatting for nearly half an hour more, Hilary collected the tray and bid them goodbye for now, heading out into the hall to continue her rounds. Anne - feeling much better about this whole situation now - relaxed back into her chair and closed her eyes, falling asleep barely moments later.

Only to be woken many hours later by someone shaking her shoulder.

"Mam?"

Anne's eyes opened quickly at the sound of the voice, though she was a bit surprised to see her youngest daughter and her second eldest son standing beside her.

"What are you two doing here?" she yawned curiously, although part of her was relieved to have them there.

Cam and Martin exchanged a fond look, the former sitting on the arm-rest of the chair that her mother was currently sat in.

"Ali phoned us not long after you left to tell us what was happening, and Mart and I decided to come down in case you needed an extra pair of hands" she explained, not missing the relief flashing ever so briefly in her mother's eyes.