12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The three car convoy drew many gazes as it passed under the hospital car park barrier and approached the main drop off zone. People probably thought it was a celebrity or a member of the royal family and they didn't try to hide their curiosity as the doors on the front and the back car opened and half a dozen men in suits with earpieces stepped out and converged on the middle car.
Behind the tinted window Jasmine had learnt to wait for the door to be opened for her from the outside so as she waited she turned and smiled reassuringly down at Safia. Her hands were clasped nervously in her lap as her long legs stretched out in front of her.

"It's going to be okay," Jasmine reassured her and Safia just nodded her head before turning to look back out the window. Jasmine smiled sadly at the scared young girl and tried to understand what it felt like to be taken from everything and everyone you'd ever known. The foster system had given her new clothes, hot meals and shelter helping to add weight to her emaciated body but Jasmine knew she needed more than that, she needed love and that is what she hoped to get her today.

Soon the doors of the car were opened from the outside and they all stepped out. Safia and her social worker Mrs Neetham, a woman in her mid-forties with bangs and a shoulder-length bob who looked like she didn't have a maternal bone in her body, walked around the back of the car and they all walked into the hospital together. She rather reminded Jasmine of one of those old school matrons whose job it was to make your life miserable. Jasmine didn't miss how the people around them quickly moved on and put their camera phones away when they realised that it wasn't a celebrity in the car.

"Mrs Neetham I think you are going to really love-" Jasmine started to speak as they waited for the elevator when the straight-backed social worker interrupted her.

"-There is no need for that," Mrs Neetham reassured her, "This is just a short introduction."

"Yes of course but their parents have already been caring for Safia and Safia likes them," Jasmine reached out and gently squeezed the girl's shoulder, "She told me so and if you'd seen them-"

"-There is a lot more to consider than just if they like one another. Trust me ma'am, I've been doing this for years," The social worker shut down her attempts to speak when the elevator pinged and the doors opened before them, "Shall we?" She held her arm out. Jasmine let Safia go first before she followed her in and then Mrs Neetham and a single bodyguard. The walk to the hospital room where Lieutenant Langdale was being kept felt like it took years but soon they were stood outside the door and Jasmine could hear laughter on the other side which made her smile as she thought about the last time she saw them when nothing was certain. Raising her hand she knocked and waited a few seconds before a laughing voice told her to enter. Opening the door a little she poked her head around where she saw Marc propped up in bed and Jules sat at the bottom by his feet before she turned her head to see who it was and her lips parted in surprise.

"I've brought someone to see you," Jasmine smiled before she opened the door fully to reveal Safia stood in the doorway, her hands still clasped together and her eyes moving around the room hesitantly. Jules slowly stood up, her eyes wide as she carefully walked around the bed as if afraid that she would scare the small girl if she made any sudden movements. The room was silent as everyone watched Jules kneel on the floor a few feet in front of Safia, her eyes sparkling.

"Safia?" Jules whispered as she tried to catch the young girl's gaze with her own, "Do you remember me?" Julia couldn't get over how different she looked. Her skin was clean and seemed to be glowing, her hair was smooth and combed and her cheeks held some colour to them. Her heart was racing, unsure of how Safia was going to respond, when she looked at her and realised who she was. Jules's heart nearly burst out of her chest when Safia cried her name and ran straight into her arms. Wrapping her arms around her tiny body Jules pressed her face into the crook of her neck and breathed her in.