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Please note that this episode deals with relationships between 16 year olds. Please do not read any further if this subject matter troubles you.

Eve Chapter 31

I was shaking from anger as I slammed the door behind me. I didn't look back, I didn't look forward either, just down at my feet as they were being covered by the rainwater, my sweats were soaked within seconds as well. I stood crying for what must have been ten minutes before the door opened at the next house and Sharon was stood there.

"Eve, what's happened? Come in. Get here now!"

Through the tears I said I'd had a bust up with mum.

"Eve, you're soaked. Get those off and drop them on the kitchen floor. Claire, can you help Eve?"

I dropped my outer clothes on the kitchen floor. I was stood only in my damp underwear when I was helped upstairs, my feet squelching on the carpet. Claire pushed me into the shower room, she then locked the door behind her.

Claire deftly removed my bra and knickers before turning the water on. She then stepped out of all of her clothes, and joined me, holding a bottle of shampoo.

Without saying a word she both washed my matted hair and held on to me, how I don't know. She finished the washing with some shower gell and should have turned the water off but reached for me instead.

We became intimate over the next few minutes, but the electric feeling was shattered by Sharon banging on the door.

Claire helped me out, dried me and held a pink gown up for me, apparently it was Annie's. She then did the same for herself, taking a lemon gown.

I was delirious as she walked me to her room. I fell on her bed and passed out. I don't know how long I was lying there but Sharon was shaking me as I opened my eyes.

"Eve, I know there's some explaining to do, but I need you to listen to me. I went to speak to your mum, to let her know where you were but she was lying on the floor, I think she's had a siezure. I called an ambulance and she's been taken to the District Hospital, you're her next of kin right now so you need to get there too."

I nodded then tried to sit up, my borrowed gown falling open exposing my growing bust. I fumbled then gave up trying to correct this wardrobe malfunction. I saw Claire stood there, holding some of my clothes.

Sharon left the room, muttering, and closed the door. I suppose the horse really has bolted, will any household rules remain after this afternoon's happenings?

Claire helped me up, I tried to stand but fell back onto the bed pulling Claire on top of me. We both giggled, my mind temporarily distracted from the evening's fraught events.

Ten minutes later I was finally decent and went to the bathroom to brush my hair. Annie had apparently fetched my clean clothes and had left a little of my makeup with Claire, which I now applied.

A short while after I joined the girls downstairs, where I was handed my handbag. There was a strange silence, with glances from Sharon to Claire and me. Annie sat there avoiding everyone's eyes, she had a wry smile though.

Sharon drove us to the hospital in complete silence. Once parked, I ran into the A&E department and went straight to the information desk.

"You've brought my mum, Debbie Jones, here. Can I see her?"

"Your name please?"

"Eve Jones."

"I'll let the team know you're here, please take a seat."

I love that warm feeling you don't get from hospitals and today was no different to any other time in Accident & Emergency. Claire sat next to me and wrapped her arms around me.

"Eve, I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Claire, don't be," I whispered back.

"But I took advantage of you."

"Did I object?"

"No, but mum is wild with us, but she won't have a go at you right now, given the circumstances."

We barely noticed the white coat approaching.

"Miss Jones?"

"Yes, er, Doctor Majowski" I read the Doctor's ID card.

"Would you like to come with me. Do you have anyone with you?"

"My girlfriend and her mum."

"Can you get her mum?"

Sharon and Annie had seen our conversation and were heading towards us anyway. We were led to a small room off the A&E waiting area.

Sharon spoke first, "Doctor how is she?"

"Firstly, it's good that she had been found quickly. She had a burst blood vessel in her cranium and we had to operate. She's now recovering but we have her under heavy sedation."

"That's good, can we see her?" I decided I should speak.

"Not yet, you should know that we found bruising on her forehead, do you know how that happened?"

"No, she was fine when I walked out, just very upset."

"Upset?"

"Yes, we'd had an argument. I suggest she needed to see a shrink."

"Why?"

"I suggest you ask Dr Fox, the local shrink, that question."

"Are you seeing Dr Fox?"

"Yes, and now Dr Preston in the Gender Identity Clinic."

"Who found Mrs Jones?"

Sharon answered, "I did, Doctor."

"And how did she look?"

"She was fitting on the floor and there was blood on her temple. I took her pulse and found it was weak; her breathing was shallow."

"Are you a nurse?"

"I was, until these two came along," she looked at her twin daughters.

He took my contact information, as well as Sharon's and then asked if there was an adult family member who should be informed, I gave her my aunt's telephone number. He then suggested we came back in the morning, I got the feeling it would be a long day tomorrow.

By the time we got back home it was gone nine. None of us were hungry but Sharon had stopped for some southern fried chicken which we valiantly tried to finish off.

I phoned my aunt and told her what I knew, of course she wanted to visit straight away but I suggested we meet there at ten in the morning, the hospital would call both of us if there were any changes.

Once washed, I wondered what I should do. My home was next door, but was empty. I sat, clothed, in the lounge with Sharon, the girls were upstairs.

"Eve, I know now is not a good time and I know you weren't yourself, but I'm not impressed with what happened here earlier."

"Sharon, Claire was actually trying to help me. You know we would never take risks but you also knew there would be a physical side to our relationship eventually. I just wasn't expecting it any time soon."

"Yes, but I wasn't prepared for it either. I'd like to think I could just ask that it never happens again, but that would be stupid and futile. I just want to know one thing."

"What's that?"

"That you won't do anything to hurt Claire, and that includes doing anything against her will or doing something now that she or you will regret later."

"Like pregnancy?"

"Like pregnancy."

"Sharon, there's no way I can get aroused now, not at all. I couldn't manage intercourse even if I wanted to, and I don't. Also, earlier today a doctor told me that I may not have any sperm left. Please don't have a go at Claire for simply wanting to get closer to me, hormones took her over, I might not have been expecting it and I was hardly capable of disapproving. I love Claire dearly and I promise you I won't hurt her."

"If I can have your word?"

"You have it."

"Right, what about tonight's sleeping arrangements?"

"I was thinking of going across to my house."

"No way. Borrow some of Claire's PJ's and stay here. We only have the three rooms but I don't want to leave you on your own so you can sleep with Claire, if you want to, as she has a double bed, but no sex, understand? I'll sort this out with your mum later but right now you need support and Claire is the best one to give that, regardless of the implications."

"Yes, thank you Sharon."

I went up and told Claire the deal, she instantly found some PJ's and insisted in helping me strip before dressing me in her nightwear. Since the afternoon, and Monday's bike ride, we had little need for embarrassment.

The two of us slid back downstairs to collect some hot chocolate, which we took back up to Claire's room. Ten minutes later, after a shared expedition to the loo, we were cuddled up together. Of course the 'no sex' rule did not exactly rule out exploring each others' bodies.

We fell asleep happy, despite the night's events.

Eve Chapter 32

There had been no calls during the night so we were refreshed when we all rose at seven. Claire and Annie had school and Sharon insisted they both went. I showered then walked the short distance across to my house in a borrowed gown and grabbed some clothes for the day. I had no idea how long the day would be and did not fancy being anything other than fresh, at least to start with.

We got to the hospital carpark just before ten and found my aunt Sue in the main entrance at the enquiry desk. We were told mum was on a general ward on the third floor. I'd have happily used the stairs but Sharon and aunt Sue both wanted to ride in comfort, so we took the lift.

We met the ward sister and were taken to mum's bed. She was still unconscious and had a massive purple bruise on her forehead. We had been there for about a minute when a doctor approached, accompanied by a police officer.

"Miss Jones? This police officer would like a word with you."

Aunt Sue spoke before Sharon could, "is this necessary, my niece is only sixteen and her mother is lying unconscious in a bed."

"Madam, I'm following standard procedure. Your niece was the last person to see Mrs Jones before the incident," he turned to Sharon, "I'll need to speak to you as well, apparently you found Mrs Jones." Sharon nodded.

My aunt insisted on accompanying me to a side room with the copper.

"Ladies, I'm Detective Constable Barnaby. All I need to do is to establish what happened, I'm not here to attribute blame, just to ensure that no crime was committed."

I looked at my aunt and nodded.

"DC Barnaby, my niece has a solicitor, I'm considering calling him."

"Madam, that is your right but I'm not recording this meeting and it's not under caution, simply a fact-finding exercise."

My aunt suggested he start. The DC asked about the argument and what had happened as I went out through the door. He then asked me to recount the rest of that day. Of course my aunt was not already aware of the money or that morning's appointment with the consultant.

One thing that concerned me was that the DC repeated several of the questions in subtly different ways, as if he was trying to trip me up.

Finally he was finished and we left the room, Sharon was his next victim.

At the bedside we now had a chance to speak to the doctor. His ID card was missing so I didn't get his name.

"Why is she still not awake?"

"We are keeping her under so we can keep the painkillers to a minimum. Once she's gone for an MRI later this morning we should get an idea if there's any permanent damage. We have an EEG scheduled for this afternoon to check her brain activity."

Aunt Sue spoke, "is that necessary?"

"I believe so, there appears to be several issues here. From what you and Mrs Johnson told Dr Majowski last night, we are fairly certain that she suffered a fall as a result of a siezure. There's no evidence of a stroke although at first sight this was suspected. We conducted a CT scan last night to establish that. Why she had a siezure however is another question entirely, we hope that these tests will give us a clearer view."

"What about that bruising?"

"That would be consistent with her hitting her head as she fell."

"So how long will she be here?"

"To be honest, even when the physical aspects have been dealt with, and we have a better idea about the siezure, the duty psychiatrist has indicated he would like one of his team to talk to her."

"So how long?"

"I don't know. Perhaps a couple of days, perhaps longer."

"When will you allow her to wake?"

"Once we've conducted the EEG this afternoon we'll wake her gradually. We will want to do another EEG tomorrow when she's fully awake."

The doctor left us at the bed as he went to speak to the duty nurse.

Mum hadn't moved when Sharon returned from her interrogation, DC Barnaby followed her.

"Thank you ladies, I'm satisfied that this was an accident. My work is done." Then he left.

We stood there for a minute not knowing what to say, and no-one being willing to say it. In the end, my phone rang.

"Miss Jones?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Oh, sorry, This is John Dixon. I've just been informed by the hospital that your mother is there."

"Yes Mr Dixon, but how did they know? I was about to call you myself to let you know."

"They have my contact information on file, given the recent events, and thought I should be called, especially as you are still technically a minor."

"I understand. Now, is there something that we need to do?"

"Not as yet, do you have somewhere safe to stay?"

"Yes, Mrs Johnson insisted I stayed with her last night but my aunt is also here. She lives across town."

"Right, I think we need to be careful. Although you're sixteen you cannot stay at home on your own. Social services would take a dim view of that. I'd like you to make arrangements and let me know, that way we can prevent any abrupt action by social services."

"Would they have to become involved?"

"Not if there are satisfactory arrangements in place."

"Right."

"Now, there's the question of finances."

"I've got money, remember?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm referring to. If your mother remains in hospital for a week or more then I may have to review your care arrangements, although your aunt would seem to be the best placed person but I'd have to speak to her. I'll call you early next week unless there are any changes in the meantime."

"My aunt is here if you want to speak to her now."

I handed the phone over and was about to sit down next to mum when I heard a familiar voice. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Dr Fox approaching.

"Hello Eve. I understand you mentioned my name in A&E last night."

"Yes, it seemed appropriate."

"Thank you for telling Dr Majowski that you were my patient as that meant I was told straight away. I won't however be speaking to your mum, I'll pass that responsibility to a colleague, Dr Masters."

"Is it necessary? I mean I told her she needed to see a shrink but I was angry."

"Eve, it's alright. Look, can we talk somewhere more private?"

I spoke to my aunt who had just finished talking to Mr Dixon. I retrieved my phone from her and made certain she had her phone with her before I followed Dr Fox to her familiar office a few floors down and along a connecting corridor. She organised a coffee before sitting down. I got the feeling this was not going to be a five minute chat.

"Eve, firstly how do you feel?"

"I don't know. I mean we had an argument and I said some harsh things but I didn't mean for her to get hurt. I don't know if it was my fault."

"Don't feel that, the doctors don't believe it was your fault, although the stress of the argument might have contributed. It may simply have been a matter of time before this happened."

"I suppose so, but they are still doing tests and mum's still unconscious."

"Yes, and I'll find out the results of those tests when you do. Can you tell me what caused the argument."

I repeated what I'd told the police officer but in a more detailed way. Of course Dr Fox knew alot of the background and didn't seem too surprised at the accusations I'd thrown at mum last night.

"That's to be expected, Eve. You have come a long way in a very short time and at some point your fuse was going to blow, you have alot of resentment despite your calm exterior."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'll monitor you but you should keep your appointments, particularly Dr Preston tomorrow. I understand you are also due an MRI."

"Yes, at 10am. I don't have a time for Dr Preston though."

"That's at 2pm, didn't he tell you?"

"No, he simply said it was Friday afternoon. He might have told mum, but she never told me."

"Never mind, at least you know. You have a busy day tomorrow, how about you see me on Monday if your mum's still here. How about 1pm in the cafeteria? I lunch there every Monday and I've other got a full schedule right now."

"I suppose so."

"Eve, I'm only concerned for your safety, despite what you might think."

"But what about mum?"

"That's for Dr Masters to determine, although obviously he'll want to talk to you and access your medical records."

"Do I have to give permission?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Don't worry Eve, it's all quite legal."

"If you say so."

"I do, look hadn't you best call your aunt?"

I looked at my phone, there was a text from Sharon saying that they'd all left the hospital. I left Dr Fox and caught a bus home, via the town.

Once indoors we ate and I slumbered with Claire again. My life had taken a new twist and once again I wasn't in control, just a passenger. This passenger however was snuggled in bed with my girlfriend, and content.