White lights appear unexpectedly in the eyes and I hear the Heart radio breakfast show. Where the heck am I? I then see Daddy's face leaning over me and smiling.

"Hello sleepy head! You been in the wars", he announces.

"Oh you know. Got run over, the usual", I respond cheekily. Dad laughs and looks down. "So go on then. Tell me the damage".

Picking up the clipboard from the end of the bed he reads off it. "Um, slight concussion..." he starts, but goes quiet.

"Anything else?" I ask.

"Um, no. And it says here you can go home now", he adds. Right that's all I need to know. I'm off. Wait, what about Mum? And Scruff? Oh no, he hates the vets. When he had to have his dewclaw out, he literally refused to go in. He's strong for a little thing. How he got to having to get it taken out is a mystery. Let's just say I left him tied to an ice-cream advert signpost and went into the shop. When I came out he was halfway down the street, limping, with half an ice-cream advert attached to him.

"What about Mum? And Scruff?" I ask.

"Scruff's fine. He ran away, but the firecrew found him", he laughs awkwardly, like he is about to say something bad. Oh, no. He is isn't he? Something's happened to Mum.

I quickly jump out of bed and, despite cries of, "You need to stay in bed" and, "Do you want to get any worse?" I hurry down the ward. Anxiously I wait in line for the reception desk. A humongous hairy man is standing in front of me holding his arm. God knows how that happened. I struggle to look around him and make out how many people are in the queue. Bending myself around this giant, I see four people in front of him, all looking equally pained. Hang on, isn't that Julia, my old boss. She is holding her leg up and leaning on a doctor. Man, that doctor's cute. Julia's yelling out in pain and the doctor is slowly moving away from her. She was always a drama queen. Actually, I do kind of like not being her typist. She leans back in his arms and spots me in the line in my distressed blue jeans with a massive bandage round my head. "Oh Kelly sweetie pie!" she calls sweetly. Why the sudden change? She hated my guts a few days ago and now she's calling me sweetie pie. Her shrill voice surprises the dazed doctor and he promptly drops her.

"Oh my GOD! Where did you learn your manners? A farm?" Holding her knee, she hops away with her dignity in tatters. The doctor looks embarrassed and starts staring at the ground. Aww... He shouldn't be put down like that by her. I walk up to him and he stares at me for a minute before grinning. "Hi, I'm Kelly", I exclaim.

"I'm Tom", he answers. "So I guess you saw that incident then?"

"Oh, that? Don't worry too much about it. She used to be my boss and she was a madam back then. Glad I quit that job", I reassure him. There's no need to tell him I was fired. He looks at the floor and smiles. Oh my goodness, he's cute. "Do you fancy going on a date?" I ask abruptly. Where did that come from? My mouth has a mind of its own.

"A date? I'd love to Kelly, but I'm an exchange doctor", he replies. An exchange doctor? What the heck is that?

"Um, what's that?" I enquire.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you worked here. Well, every year a doctor from a hospital in another part of the world swaps with a doctor from this hospital. You know like they do in schools. This year they swapped with Wales", he declares and his Welsh accent starts to leak through.

"You're from Wales? Dragonland!" I reply.

"What do you mean 'Dragonland'?" he asks. He lives in Wales and he doesn't know that dragons fly around his country. Maybe they sleep under the mountains in the day. That must be why there's so many hills there.

"You know. They roam free in Wales don't they?" Hang on. Maybe they don't. I start to doubt my knowledge of Wales and regret what I have said.

"No, no dragons don't actually roam free. It's just a myth", he says knowingly.

"So I better cancel that date then. If you're going back", I glumly murmur.

"I'm afraid so, but if you ever want to visit, here's the town I live in". He quickly scribbles it down on a crumpled advert and gives it to me. I wave goodbye and turn my attention to the paper.

"Glyntafon?" I say out loud and everyone turns to face me. Smiling awkwardly I look to see the line has gone down (finally!)

"Next please", a sweet voice cheerfully exclaims. A blonde girl is beaming at me from the reception desk. She looks like she's just swallowed a truck full of sugar.

"Oh, yes. Um, I'm looking for my mother. Her name's Wanda Kennington", I shyly mumble. What? I can't help it. My first date in two years and I get rejected. I can't help my dignity being slightly knocked.

"Aww... Has my little darling lost her Mummy?" she grins. Hey! I'm not that short.

"Excuse me. I'm twenty three. I don't call my mother 'Mummy' anymore. So you better get your eyes checked because you can see my ID", I yell.

"Oh, sorry miss, sorry. I will get onto your request immediately", she apologises and hurries off into the back room. Okay, now I think I'm a midget. Time to get a new pair of high heels I think. "Yes, your mother is in room thirty three C. So sorry about before. Please don't get me fired", she pleads. I thank her and walk off.

Thirty-one C, thirty-two C, aha! Thirty-three. Quietly opening the door, I see Dad sitting glumly in a chair. "So, you beat me to it, eh?" I ask, making him jump. "How's she doing?"

"Not very god, I'm afraid", he whispers. "Fractured spine, dislocated shoulder and blood pressure through the roof", he laughs, but I know he is sad. I need to tell him Mum was planning on going to Paris, but how? Um, oh, I've got it. Here goes.

"Maybe it's good she's unconscious", I say optimistically and he looks at me weirdly. "No, I mean, Mum was planning on going to Paris, bought the tickets and all, because she said she couldn't take it anymore. Well, now she can't go".

"But, Kel, she's out cold", he gestures to her. I look down and do his sad smile. Silence follows.

"Take the tickets", he mumbles. "What?" I ask. "Kelly, take the tickets your Mum was going to use. You need the break and I need to be on my own for a while. Too much is going on at the minute, so go", he says. I can't believe it. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I mean my dad's dumping me in a foreign country, but I'm going to Paris! I say goodbye to Dad and rush out. I have a big decision to make.