^^ Banjo ^^

As soon as we enter the hospital, a nurse pulls me to the side. I think she's trying to talk to me, but I can't tear my eyes away from Banjo until he's wheeled into a side room out of my view. I shake my head and look at the nurse whose hand is resting on my shoulders.

"Are you injured?" She asks, and I look at her in confusion. She nods towards my body and I look down. I look like something out of a horror film. My arms are covered in blood up to my elbows, and there are red streaks across my belly and thighs. I try to remember how I got so covered in it, but everything is a blur. I realise the nurse is waiting for my answer and shake my head.

"It's not mine. It's all his," I say, fighting the sobs that try to break through.

The nurse gives me what I assume is meant to be a reassuring smile, but it just screams pity. "Come on," she says, leading me to a room filled with lockers. She opens one and hands me some blue scrubs. "These are mine. They should fit you okay. I'll show you where you can get cleaned up."

By the time the others arrive, I'm sitting in a chair in the waiting room, wearing the clean scrubs and holding a cup of coffee the nurse had gotten for me. My skin is stinging where I scrubbed it for what seemed like hours. No matter how hard I scrubbed, all I could see was Banjo's blood. I look up when a hand rests on my knee and see Smiler crouching in front of me.

"Oh thank god!" I say, putting my coffee down and wrapping my arms around his neck. "Where's Robin?" I ask, panicked suddenly.

"I'm here," I hear her say, and look up to see her sandwiched between Pest and Jay. I smile at her, relieved and she returns it.

"How is he?" Jay asks.

"I don't know. I'm still waiting. That's good though, right? No news is good news?" I'm answered with various murmurs of confirmation and take a deep breath. Robin sits next to me and I notice the sideways glances she keeps giving me. When I look at her face I realise she's fighting a smile. "What?" I ask her.

She clears her throat and her eyes dart to Pest before looking back at me. "You threatened to shoot the sheriff?" As soon as she finishes speaking, a giggle escapes her.

I look at Pest with a glare and he takes a step back. "She was freaked out and I was trying to distract her!"

I can't help it. Between his terrified face, and Robin's giggles that she's trying to smother with her sleeve, I have to laugh. It feels so good to have the tension broken, even if only for a minute. Our moment is broken when a doctor finally walks out of the room they took Banjo into. I jump up and everyone around me falls silent.

"I'm looking for the family of Benjamin Michaels?" He says.

"That's us," I say, motioning to the others as well.

The doctor clears his throat. "I can only give information to his immediate family," He looks at us all disapprovingly and I feel my temper rise.

"We are his immediate family. We're all he's got!" I'm yelling now and I turn when I hear my name being called. I spot the sheriff and grab him by his arm, pulling him to stand in front of the doctor. "Thank god. Sheriff, will you please tell this imbecile that we are Banjo's family?"

The sheriff rolls his eyes at me and looks back to the doctor. "I wouldn't argue with her, Jerry. This lot are the only family he's got. And unless you want this place to end up with a brawl, I suggest you treat her like she's his sister."

I ruffle the sheriff's hair and grin when he slaps my hand away. "Thanks, Bobby."

"Ms Hart, I keep telling you it's Robert or Sheriff. I'll be back to talk to you soon."

I nod and turn my attention back to the doctor, who looks totally displeased by the turn of events. He looks down at the chart in his hands before speaking. "The laceration on his abdomen was mostly superficial, it'll need a lot of stitches but no internal organs were damaged. He suffered fractures to various ribs, and his left wrist and hand were shattered. They'll need surgery before we can say if there's any permanent damage to the nerves. His biggest problem is the cerebral oedema-"

I tried to follow what he was saying, I honestly did, but it all just sounded like gibberish. I put a hand up to stop him talking. "Doc, do I look like I have a medical degree? Dumb it down for me. In English, please."

He clears his throat and I'm almost sure he just rolled his eyes. "The cut on his stomach just needs stitches. His left wrist and hand look like they were stamped on with some force. He'll need surgery to put all the bones in the right place so they can heal. He may lose some movement or feeling, but it's too soon to tell yet. His biggest problem at the minute is the swelling in his brain. We've had to put him in a coma to allow his brain to rest. The next few hours are critical. Hopefully, the swelling will go down on its own, and then we can deal with the arm once he's recovered enough to cope with surgery."

I gulp. "Okay. And what if the swelling doesn't go down, or gets worse?"

"Then he'll need surgery."

"On his brain? Like, brain surgery?" I gasp.

The doctor puts his hand on my arm and squeezes gently. "Let's just see what happens over the next few hours. He's being moved up to ICU soon, and then you can see him. Although, only two at a time, okay? He's young, fit and healthy. We just have to hope for the best."

I think I nod, but everything's fuzzy until I feel a small arm come around my waist. I look to my right and see Robin resting her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her and move back to the seat I had occupied before. It's strange how the human mind works because one minute I feel like my brain is a static mess, and the next there's clarity. I look around and realise we're missing people. "Where's Philly and Ash?"

"They're working that security up at the industrial estate," Jay reminds me.

I nod. "Okay. Pest, Skids, I need a favour."

"What's up, love?" Skids asks.

"I need you to take my old bed from the clubhouse, and the drawers, and set them up in the spare room at mine for Robin,"

She argues almost immediately. "I can just crash on the couch or something,"

I frown at her. "You're not crashing on the couch!"

Smiler agrees. "Definitely not. It'll only take these guys half an hour, okay? You need a proper room."

If I didn't love him already, I'd fall in love with him just from the way he's accepted her and is looking out for her.

"Okay, but I don't really need drawers or anything. I only have my backpack," she says.

"For now. We'll get you some stuff, don't worry." I know she's going to argue again so I interrupt her. "You can do some odd jobs for us to earn it if you'd prefer? It won't be charity." She nods again and I look back to Pest and Skids. "Do you mind?"

They both shake their heads. "Course not, love. You just let us know as soon as you hear anything, okay?"

I nod, and we all say our goodbyes. A few minutes after they leave, I hear Smiler and Jay chuckling and turn around. Robin has spotted the sheriff standing with his back to us and is currently making shooting motions with her fingers towards him. I stifle a laugh and dig my elbow into her ribs, which just makes the boys laugh even more. I'm surrounded by children.

***

I have to put a fist against my mouth to stop the sobs when we enter Banjo's room later. They had dressed him in a hospital gown, and he looks so fragile laying there. His hair has been cleaned, although you can still see some tinges of red where the blood has stained his fringe. His cheekbones are swollen, and both his eyes are black. The tube in his throat covers the bottom half of his face, and he just looks so broken. A nurse is fiddling with one of the machines next to his bed and turns when she hears me and Smiler enter.

"Hi. He's doing okay at the minute," she says quietly. She must spot me looking at all the machines and wires 'cos she starts explaining them. "This is just monitoring his pulse and oxygen levels. That big noisy one there is the ventilator, which is helping him breathe. We're giving him pain relief and fluids through this line here," She points to his right hand where the line enters. "We're giving him some drugs to help with the swelling, too. He's stable at the minute. The orthopaedic surgeon is just looking at the scans and x-rays of his arm, so he'll talk to you soon." I nod and thank her before moving to sit next to him, holding the fingers of his right hand gently. "You can talk to him. We like to think they can hear us even when they're sleeping."

I smile again, grateful she didn't say coma. Smiler comes to stand behind me, and I feel him squeeze my shoulders. "Okay, Banjo. You need to wake up soon. I need to say I told you so. You should all know by now that I'm always right!" My words cut off with a sob, and I rest my head on the bed next to his arm. I've just managed to sort myself out and stop crying again when we're joined by a tall man in a white coat. His dark hair is going grey around the ears and he has glasses perched on his head as he smiles warmly at us all.

"I'm Dr Ryan. I'm the orthopaedic surgeon here. I've just been looking at the pictures of his hand and wrist. They're in quite a mess." He gives us a sympathetic smile and looks at his chart again. "Both bones in his wrist are broken, and there are multiple fractures and dislocations of the small bones in his hand. My biggest concern though is the nerve damage. He's a biker, right?" I nod and he smiles again. "Me too." I grin at him and see Smiler nod at him from the corner of my eye. "I know how important hands are to bikers, so I really want to get in there quickly and relieve some of the pressure on his nerve before there's permanent damage."

"But they said they have to wait because of his brain?" I ask.

"If we were going to give him a general anaesthetic, we would. But as he's already in a coma, I'd like to do a nerve block of his left arm. He's unlikely to feel any pain under the sedation anyway, but I'll numb his arm just in case. Then I can do the repair while he's monitored closely, and hopefully, prevent any permanent damage. We'll take him down to theatre in a couple of hours providing he remains stable. Any questions?"

"When you say permanent damage, what do you mean?" I ask.

"If the pressure on the nerve isn't relieved, he could lose sensation and movement in his thumb and first two fingers. He wouldn't be able to ride again."

I nod frantically. "Okay, do it. Riding is his life."

Dr Ryan smiles again. "I'll do everything in my power to get him back on a bike. I'm pretty good at my job,"

I can't help but smile back. At least Banjo has a doctor who understands bikers. Now it's just back to playing the waiting game. Smiler and I leave the room to let Jay come in, and Robin leans her head on my shoulder as soon as I sit down. I turn my head to look at her.

"So, this isn't exactly how I wanted your first day with us to go," I start, pausing when she chuckles. "How you doing?"

She shrugs. "I'm okay. It's a lot. I just want to help, somehow."

Smiler stands and stretches. "Why don't you guys head home for an hour? Show Robin her room, grab some food and make sure the guys haven't trashed the house. You'll be back here before they take him down to do his arm. I brought the car when we came. Although this one wanted to ride on the back of Pest's bike," He nods at Robin and she grins, shrugging again.

I nod and stand up, stretching too. "Remind me to threaten Pest's testicles if he doesn't keep his hands off her." Smiler grins and Robin shoves me from behind, laughing. "Come on, trouble. Let's get out of here. Call me if there's any news. And I mean any!" Smiler nods and kisses me, before shoving me in the direction of the door. I'm starting to feel a bit like a pinball between these two.

***

When Robin and I enter the house, we're met by Pest and Skids standing with their hands behind their backs, and what I assume are supposed to be innocent smiles on their faces. Sammy sits next to them, looking at us all as he wags his tail happily.

I frown at them "What have you done?"

"Nothing!" They both protest.

I drop my bag on the table near the door, not taking my eyes off them. I see Pest wink at Robin, who is standing behind me, and glare at him. "Forget the fact that she's jailbait; if you so much as think about touching her, I will remove your testicles slowly, and make you watch as Sammy eats them. Understood?" I see him gulp and hear Robin try and fail to stifle a laugh. I walk past them warily and slowly open the door to the spare room. It had previously been filled with boxes of bike bits and just general junk. I gasp and turn to look at them with tears in my eyes. Robin comes to stand behind me and goes up on tiptoes to look over my shoulder. I hear her mumbled 'wow' and can't help but agree.

In the short time they've had, they've removed all the boxes and put the bed and drawers in. They've put new purple curtains up and made the bed with purple bedding. The drawers have candles and a vase of fake flowers on the top, and they've somehow managed to find a stunning canvas of the New York skyline at night, which sits on the wall above the drawers. I look at the floor and see that they've placed a fluffy rug next to the bed, and a bedside table that has a lamp and a stereo on it.

I squeal and run up to Skids, jumping into his arms and squeezing him tight, before doing the same to Pest. "You guys are amazing! How the hell did you manage this?" I ask, still completely shocked.

"We had some help. We did all the heavy lifting, then Mel and Shelby came over with the finishing touches," Skids tells me. "They figured purple was a safe colour. Not too girly, but warm and comforting, or something. That's what Shelby said anyway."

I hear a sniffle behind me and turn in shock to see Robin with her hands covering her face. I walk to her and gently pull her hands away. "Hey. What's all this about?"

"Shelby as in Shelby's café?" She asks, shaking her head when I nod. "I stole from her and she does this for me. You've all been so great. I just don't get it," She shrugs and sobs again and I wrap her into a hug, both of us laughing when Pest and Skids come over to join in. When we all pull away Robin speaks again. "This room is perfect. Thank you. I just don't want to be in the way or take advantage or whatever,"

This time, it's Skids who speaks. "Hey now love. You're not in the way at all. You're more than welcome with us. The girls have been moaning for ages that they're outnumbered, so you're actually doing us all a favour. And as for taking advantage, how can you be when you've asked for nothing and been grateful for everything you've received?"

"Oh god, you're gonna make me cry again," Robin laughs, which becomes louder when she hears me sniffle.

"This isn't everything," Pest says, before moving to the drawers. As he opens them, we see they are almost full of clothes. He sees the shocked looks on our faces and shrugs. "Mel brought a load of her clothes from before she got pregnant. She said it just depresses her looking at them, so Robin may as well make some use of them. Hopefully, they'll be about the right size. Obviously, there's no underwear or anything, but I can help you shop for that," He looks at Robin and winks again.

I punch his shoulder hard, satisfied when I see him pale. "Out. Now." I tell him, shaking my head. I turn to see Robin doubled over with laughter, and Skids not faring much better. "Oh, don't bloody encourage him, you two! Robin, you like the room then?"

She recovers herself and straightens up, nodding. "It's perfect."

"Obviously you can make it your own, get some pictures or posters or whatever. As soon as Banjo's more stable, I'll take you shopping for whatever you need. Then I'll put you to work if you still want to," I say with a wink, knowing she needs to feel like she's earning this stuff.

She nods. "I mean, I can cook and clean. I can walk the dog. Whatever you need," she shrugs.

"One day soon, not today but one day, we're gonna have a serious talk about everything; school, home, everything. But get settled first. We won't force you into anything, okay?"

She rolls her eyes but nods, and I leave her to get settled in, joining the guys in the kitchen. I fill them in on everything the doctors said while making a sandwich and eating as fast as I can. Robin joins us and I tell her to help herself to whatever food she wants. She begins pottering around the kitchen while we talk, only looking up when she hears her name.

"Skids, can you stay with Robin while I'm there? Either me or Smiler will come back later so you can go up and see him,"

"I don't need a babysitter, you know," Robin interrupts. "I'm seventeen."

I raise my eyebrows. "Good to know. But he's staying anyway. Just with everything going on, I need to know you're safe, okay?" She rolls her eyes but nods.

"I've got some brilliant stories about Lenni you should hear anyway," Skids tell her, and I groan, dropping my head onto the kitchen table. "Like this time when she was fifteen-"

"Oh god, okay I'm going. Don't traumatise the poor girl. And both of you behave!" I motion to Skids and Pest, who both grin and nod. I stand and drop a quick kiss on Robin's head, before going to change out of these scrubs. I rush through getting dressed and yell a quick goodbye as I dash out of the house again.