Missing [ST]

Forty Nine

The drive to the hospital was a blur.

One minute Leah was in the passenger seat of a flash Audi, staring out the window, and the next, she was following the DCI through the main entrance of a hospital. To make such a simple task worse, she had to hide her face from the clicks of cameras belonging to two insistent people from the press, because they clearly couldn't get enough of her story.

Safe, but glum with embarrassment, they were then met by a couple of officers. Familiar officers judging by how the DCI spoke with them and instructed them to deal with the issue outside.

When the minor setback was in the past, it was back to the two of them, and Leah, in her mostly silent presence, tried not to get lost with all the dizzying turns and the trek up the stairs. But, it was difficult when she saw nurses in different coloured uniforms with each ward they crossed, the waiting chairs, the constant signage, spare beds, wheelchairs and the definitive smell of cleaning products, because they were all keeping her eyes wandering around the place.

In short, hospitals were not designed to make visitors calm.

It made Leah nervous, exhibiting symptoms of clammy palms and a dry mouth, but it wasn't solely because of the setting, or that she was following a member of the police through a maze of double doors.

It was because she was seeing him.

She had been imagining the worst, wondering how long Steven had been awake and alone, and how many questions he'd asked but not received an answer too. And then she was doubting if her presence would even be something he would want, and if this whole agreement to see him was a huge mistake.

Her nerves didn't settle when she was stopped next to the last section of private rooms either, because behind a lady and two police officers, a little girl was swinging her legs over the edge of a chair with a teddy in her hands.

Leah couldn't look ahead, which meant she was left to stare at the glass pane, and from the acute reflection, the room had the outline of an occupied bed.

She couldn't see perfectly from the privacy tint, but she was so glad because it meant that Steven couldn't see her seizing up with an outrageous number of nerves.

"You can have about half an hour or so with him," DCI Parker explained, stealing her attention. "Do you want to go in first or bring Liv in with you?"

Leah felt like she'd swallowed her tongue, deciphering the expression in front of her.

"Um, I-I'll take her with me."

There was a nod, some activity passing the message along, but Leah was glued to the spot.

She was back to staring at the door with the silver looped handle, and rubbing the pads of her fingers underneath her sleeves. She was trying not to tune into the conversation that was happening just a few metres down the corridor, but a pattering of feet on the shiny floor was always going to turn her head.

Stumbling towards her was Liv and an overenthusiastic social worker reaching for her hand to keep her on her feet. It was the same lady that had been conversing with officers.

Leah didn't have a clue on a toddler's development- talking, walking, or cognitive functions, but if she could hazard a guess, she would expect this young one to be behind in all of those things, and that thought made her sympathise greatly.

Liv was whining to let go of the lady's hand that also had her teddy clutched tightly in, and as soon as she was free, she continued on her unstable mission.

Leah, in a daze, looked down when small hands wrapped around her leg.

"Up up," a small voice demanded, and it was followed by a dramatic tug on jeans and an irresistibly pleading pout.