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f1newsandgossipofficial: Charles said Theresa's name right before his crash. he said his EX'S name right before his possible death. what the fuck guys 😭😭

tagged: charles_leclerc, theresa.murphy

liked by: oliviarodrigo and 16,290,381 others

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username1: stop im so scared

username2: THEYRE IN LOVE

username3: why did they break up in the first place???

username4: listening to stay rn 😭😭

username5: he cant die 

username6: istg if charles survives and they DONT GET BACK TOGETHER-

username7: WHY R CONAN AND OLIVIA LIKING SHIT ABOUT CHARLES AND THERESA
↳username8: I DONT KNOW BUT IM SCARED

username9: let charles survive please

username10: theresa is obvi still in love with charles if kyd is any indicator

username11: hoping and praying charles gets out of this alive

username12: 'Tell Tessie that-' THAT WHAT? TELL HER WHAT?

username13: just look how in love they are in that picture 😭😭😭

Theresa felt her heart squeeze as the cab slowed to a stop in front of the Royal Melbourne Hospital where Charles was staying. After a 22 hour flight and half an hour drive to get there, Tessa was exhausted to say the least, yet sitting in the car right now she felt like she could run a marathon.

Mainly away from the hospital.

She was scared. Fuck, she was scared. There were so many things wrong with this. She shouldn't be here. They'd been broken up for nearly five months and here she was, about to storm the hospital and demand to see him while he could potentially be dying.

Dying.

Her heart gave another squeeze, this one so overwhelming she felt like she couldn't breathe. Charles was dying, and she was sitting in this car worrying over trivial matters. How selfish was she?

She gave the driver his money and thanked him before slipping out of the car, gazing up at the hospital with barely concealed terror. What would she find in there? Before she could think too much about it she entered the hospital, immediately assaulted with loud noise and people walking to and fro. 

The amount of people there only increased her already gut wrenching anxiety, but she ignored it, walking to the front counter with purpose. There was a woman on the phone who gave Theresa a smile and gestured for her to wait a second.

Tessa nodded and glanced around, keeping her head down. She didn't want anyone to recognize her, especially not here. Because it was a hospital and because Charles was here, she knew there was strong grip on the paparazzi so she didn't have to worry about that, but everyone had access to cameras these days, and all it took was one straying gaze and excited fan before everyone knew everything.

"Hello, welcome to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. How can I help you?"

Tessa managed a smile. "Um, I'm here to visit a patient."

The woman started typing on her computer. "Sure, can I have their name please?"

Here we go.

"Charles Leclerc."

The woman's face immediately went into a frown. "Listen he is a patient here and we do not accept any fans of his trying to see him while we are attending to him-"

"No, no, you don't understand, I'm not a fan. He's my.... we're- friends." 

The woman was not convinced. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Fuck. "No please I really do know him-"

"Theresa?"

At the sound of a familiar voice Tessa turned around to find Arthur Leclerc staring at her curiously. Awkward.

They'd met once before in Monaco, when her and Charles were still together. They'd actually gotten along great, but since her and Charles were no longer seeing each other Tessa was unsure where they stood.

"Arthur, hey...."

That's it. That's all she's got.

"What are you doing here?"

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. Can she leave? Would it be weird if she left? What the fuck should she say?

Theresa opened her mouth, mind grappling for anything to say. "Um.... I was just-"

"She was trying to see your brother," the front lady said unhelpfully. "I was just about to get security to escort her out."

She was about to do what now? At Arthur's curious gaze Theresa just smiled, looking and feeling like an idiot.

"Um, that's not necessary. She's a... friend. I can take her to him."

The office lady looked put out that Theresa was not, in fact a fan, and actually had good reason to be there. Nevertheless she let Arthur link his arm with Tessa's and take her down a white hallway.

"So... you're here to see my brother?"

Tessa really wished the floor would fall beneath her feet so she could escape this conversation.

"Yeah. Is he....?"

Arthur looked away, throat bobbing. "You look like you just traveled half the world to be here." He said instead of answering her question.

She laughed humorlessly, her panic rising. "So in other words, I look like shit."

Arthur shrugged. "I just find it interesting."

Theresa raised her eyebrows. Charles had always said Arthur was a pro in meddling, but Theresa hadn't experienced it first hand before. Until now, of course. Charles also used to tell her how Arthur would fixate on other people's lives and problems rather than his own, so this line of questioning wasn't very comforting to Tessa.

"How so?"

Arthur shrugged, still leading her past offices and patient rooms. "Charles's accident happened 24 hours ago give or take. A plane from New York to Melbourne is 22 hours and 45 minutes. Then there's the 25 minute car ride to the hospital." At Theresa's alarmed look he added, "I searched it up. That's 23 hours, which would mean in the one hour after Charles's accident you drove to the airport and got on the first flight you could to Australia."

Tessa looked away uncomfortably. "So?"

Arthur sighed. "So, what are you doing here Theresa? Why did you just spend 23 hours traveling across the world if not for my brother?"

"Of course I'm here for Charles," she snapped, then felt guilty. "Sorry, this must be fucking devastating for you-"

Arthur shook his head, a sad smile twisting his features. "Let's not talk about that."

Tessa's panic increased at that, and as Arthur brought them to a stop in front of a patient's room, multiple people milling out the front, Tessa was really considering that marathon away from here. She recognized some people, friends and family Charles had mentioned before and shown pictures of. Officially she's only met his immediate family, but they'd had plans to spend Christmas together and meet the rest of his family. Obviously that didn't happen.

At the sound of their footsteps Lorenzo looked up from where he'd been reading a book. "Arthur, I thought you were getting coffee-"

He stopped when he noticed Tessa and she tried not to cringe. While Arthur might have welcomed her, Lorenzo was known to be protective over his brothers and she didn't think he'd take kindly to her showing up here unannounced while Charles could be dying.

It was safe to say she was surprised when he stood up and wrapped her in a hug, squeezing her tightly. "Thank you for coming."

What the fuck was going on?

"I'm sorry I'm confused," she said once he pulled away. "Why are you being so nice to me? What is happening? Charles-" she broke off, unable to get herself to say anything else.

Lorenzo stared at her sympathetically. "You haven't heard?"

"Haven't heard what?" Theresa asked, terrified. 

Arthur sighed and took out his phone, showing her something. A clip. It was the end of Charles's radio, what he said before it got cut off.

"Theresa- Tell Tessie that I love her."

Tessa stared at Arthur's phone as the message replayed, unsure what to think or feel.

"We figured if the last thing he said was that he loved you, well then you should be here too."

Theresa looked at the two of them pleadingly, feeling her eyes prick with unshed tears. "What's happened? How is he? Is he-"

She couldn't finish her sentence. Couldn't do anything except hold back the tears threatening to fall.

"Tessie?"

Theresa's head whipped towards the door to the patient's room. "Is that Charles? Oh my god, Charles-"

She started towards the room only for Lorenzo to grab hold of her arm and stop her. "Theresa wait."

She looked at him incredulously. "That's Charles in there. He's asking for me, he obviously heard me-"

Arthur pressed a hand to Tessa's arm, much gentler than Lorenzo. "Just listen."

Even though Tessa's body felt like live-wire and she needed to get into that room to see Charles, something about the seriousness in their expressions, in Arthur's expression, made her listen.

"Tessie, where is she? She's hurt, I saw her, she had an accident-"

There seemed to be someone in the room with him talking to him but they were speaking so low Tessa couldn't hear them. All she could hear was Charles's confused voice asking for her, worrying for her, getting louder and louder as he panicked before finally going silent.

I looked at the two brothers. "What-?"

"Short term memory loss," Lorenzo explained gruffly. "It was supposed to get better after 24 hours but it hasn't, meaning either its just taking an unusual amount of time or the tests were wrong, they missed something, and Charles has permanent brain damage."

Arthur glared at his brother. "He doesn't."

Lorenzo stared back. "I'm just telling her what the doctors told us."

"So, he just keeps-"

"Asking for you, over and over again," Arthur finished solemnly. "The doctors say it might be because of the video, because he was thinking of you before the accident, and so he keeps thinking you were in an accident over and over and...yeah."

"That's why we haven't gone to the public and told them he's alright," Lorenzo said quietly. "Because he was supposed to be better by now, and he's not."