It Must Be Love - Jacob and Connie

Chapter Nine

Connie was beginning to regret her decision of leaving Jacob last night, as the hospital had been overrun since the word go. She'd been there since seven, even though her shift didn't officially begin until eight, but she wanted a chance to make up for some of the paperwork she missed out on last night. She walked in, and the first person she saw was Zoe.

"Connie, so glad you're here. We've been rushed off our feet all morning. We need staff."

"Oh, great, so what have we got?"

"One man complaining of acid burns, another claiming he was hit by a motorcycle but no serious injury, and a girl in resus has a broken leg and is struggling to breathe. Which one?" She had all the files in her hands, and they were walking quickly down the corridor. Connie replied quickly to ensure Zoe didn't drop any documents, because, going by the look on her face, it had been a long morning, and the last thing she needed was getting her documents mixed up.

"First one."

"Thought you'd say that. And as much as I hate to admit it, you're a life safer Connie." Zoe passed over the file, and Connie vaguely heard her go over to Charlie and request he took another.

She opened the cubicle curtain, to find an empty bed. She sighed inwardly, but she saw a rucksack in the corner, so she knew he'd probably just gone to the toilet, or to get some tea. She perched on the edge of the bed, with her head in her hands. A few minutes later, the cubicle curtain opened and her patient had returned.

"Who are you? What are you doing? Nurse? Nurse!"

"Oh, be quiet for Heavens sake, I'm Mrs Beauchamp, and I'll be treating you today, so if you could get back in to bed then I'd be extremely grateful."

The rest of her day progressed in the same tiring manner, and by nine o clock, she was ready to turn her back on the ED and just run for the hills. She saw Zoe stood by reception, looking completely run down, and approached her before she was called out to another patient.

"Doctor Hanna, I've got a ton of paperwork to do. If you need me, then you know where to find me. Please tell the other staff not to bother me unless it's urgent." Zoe rolled her eyes, and Connie admitted that she should be helping in cubicles, but the paperwork needed doing too, so Zoe would just need to suck it up.

Once sat in her office, she sat peacefully working for two or three hours, before she heard a loud bang. She jumped up immediately, and rushed out, locking her office door behind her. There was a patient on the floor directly opposite her, being treated by new nurse Amy, and Doctor Chao.

"He's just fainted, it's okay. Give him some space. Just the shock of the gunshot." Lily ordered the new nurse around, in the same manner as usual.

It took a while for Connie to process what Lily had said. Gunshot? She was just about to go vigilante like usual, when Zoe came around the corner, and forced her to abide by the rules and leave the building.

"Come on, Connie, we need to evacuate!"

"What about the patients?" She couldn't understand what was going on - why had there been a gunshot in the middle of the day, on a seemingly normal Tuesday?

"Most of theatre's been cleared. Cubicles are empty. It's just resus that they're still getting people out of now."

Connie was dragged outside, and she couldn't put her finger on it, but she had a feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't long before an officer came up to her and distracted her from her thoughts.

"Name and position?" His tone was clipped, and it angered Connie.

"Mrs Constance Beauchamp, ED Clinical Lead." The officer seemed taken aback with her abruptness, and she smirked to herself, knowing that that was the last time he was going to seem ignorant around her. The officer turned and spoke to his walkie which was attached to the top of his shirt.

"6005 to Control Room, all evacuated, Sir."

Connie took this opportunity to get herself some answers, so she called to the officer once again.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me when you think my department will be running again? You see, we have patients out here in the cold, and we were extremely busy to begin with."

"I'm sorry ma'am but unless you think your patients would rather be caught in the middle of an extremist attack, then it's probably best they stay out here."

"An extremist attack?"

"CCTV footage shows two men dragging a woman in to the board room. We have officers going up there now, ma'am."

Connie was speechless. Her hospital was a base, and they were sending dozens of armed soldiers up in to the board room. When she didn't think things could get any worse, another gunshot boomed through the walls.

Five minutes ago, in the board room
"There's no reason for you to be doing this!" he called. Jacob had been left behind in the hospital while helping an elderly woman, who was later taken by the Muslim attackers. There was another woman, tied to a chair, that was being recorded while reading a speech, admitting the corruption of her government.

"You treat these women." One of the other men whispered, almost accusingly.

"And I honour it," Jacob replied coolly. The elderly woman was stood by Jacob, looking extremely frail and scared. Jacob appeared to be the opposite, but inside he was willing himself to be outside, away from the action. Next to Connie. She was all he could think about - oh, what he wouldn't give to be outside with that gorgeous, flirtatious doctor right now. His thoughts were interrupted by muffled noises downstairs, and the attackers began to speak in their own language, which of course he understood. Jacob wondered momentarily if they were going to hold him hostage too, but he didn't have much time to think before the officers charged in to the room. Jacob's only thought was to protect his elderly patient, so he stood in front of her so there was no chance of her being caught in the crossfire, and grabbed one of the guns from the cabinet to protect himself if an attacker did have to turn on him. The attackers shot once at the police, and the police shot back. Another two officers came in, and it was the one on the left that did it. He must've thought Jacob was attacking the old woman, because as soon as the two men saw each other... Bang. Jacob fell to the floor, clutching his right arm in pain. He vaguely noticed the attackers being taken away, and the woman was escorted to safety, but none of that was really on his mind; it was just Miss Constance Beauchamp. If these were his last moments, and he prayed they weren't, but if they were, he wanted to spend them with a smile on his face. The way she smiled at him came in to his mind, and he groaned externally as his eyes rebelled against everything his body was saying, and closed.