New Girl {Poldark}

chapter 6

Ross POV

Francis lay peacefully unconscious in the hospital bed behind a glass screen, from behind which Ross and Verity, along with their Aunt Agatha, watched him anxiously. It had been two hours since they'd arrived at the hospital after finding Francis passed out on the living room floor and the doctors hadn't said when he'd wake up.

"Where was he before he came home?" Ross asked Verity.

"I have no clue," she said worriedly, "He was late home from school so I tried to call him but he didn't pick up."

The clicking of heels echoed on the tiled floor as a middle aged woman in a white coat came round the corner. She approached them with a grave face.

"Is he alright?" Verity stood up immediately. "When is he going to wake up?"

"We don't know when he'll wake up miss, but it should be soon. His condition is stable but it's still unclear as to what happened," she replied. "We've run a few tests and the results have been inconclusive so far, but we have found...I don't how to put this, traces of...illegal substances in his blood."

Verity gasped quietly. "You mean...drugs?"

The doctor nodded and Ross's stomach clenched.

"Oh my god," Verity whispered to herself, slowly sitting down again.

"Are you totally sure?" Ross asked the doctor.

"Well, -" she began.

"Just tell us."

The doctor paused as if she wanted to hold it back. "Yes, yes we're sure."

"Shit," he muttered, looking down at the floor.

"It can't be true," Verity whimpered. "Francis wouldn't, he would never..."

"It isn't true," Aunt Agatha interrupted firmly. "Francis, a Poldark, taking those nasty things? Never," she growled, waggling her walking stick at the doctor. "It's lies, I tell you, all lies, lies, lies..."

"I can assure you, ma'am..."

"You'll have to excuse my aunt," said Ross, forcing her back into her chair. "Do you know exactly which drugs he took?"

"It seems he took a large dose of ecstasy, which caused his heart to fail temporarily. He's wired up to a machine right now."

A muffled sob came from Verity, her hand in her hands. "I can't believe this is happening."

Ross tried to console her and turned to the doctor. "Tell us when he wakes up will you?"

She smiled sadly. "Of course."

Ross didn't even hear her. He was too consumed in his own shock, his mind firing thousands of questions at him. Why did he do it? How did it happen? Did someone put something in his drink? And if so, who?

*

Francis's face was grey and unreadable as Verity told him what the doctors had found. She and Ross were sitting round his bed in a modern, excessively air conditioned room, awaiting his reaction, whilst Aunt Agatha stayed in the waiting room. "He won't want a crowd" she had said. Ross observed a single tear slide down Francis's cheek as he listened to the test results. He nodded slowly, as if confirming an inner prediction.