'Ouch!' Her face was pale and ghostly and he could see that she was in pain.
He picked up a torch, checked her eyes and carried on examining her, aware of Sean and Jack hovering next to him.
Finally he was satisfied that he'd checked everything. 'You'll live,' he said gruffly, wishing that the others would make themselves scarce.
There was so much he wanted to say to her, but not with an audience.
'I don't need stitches,' she said in a small voice. 'I just want to go home and take care of Max.'
'Ellie, you can't go home yet,' he reminded her gently. 'You need stitches. After that we'll talk about whether you can go home or not.'
Ellie sat in the A and E department, feeling utterly miserable. They wanted to admit her for one night's observation but the only place she wanted to spend the night was at home.
It was quite ridiculous. They'd sorted out her head arid apart from a throbbing pain she felt fine. There was absolutely no reason for her to be in hospital.
Ben had gone to sort out a bed for her and she stared thoughtfully at the half-open curtain.
Dare she?
Without wasting any more time, she hopped off the trolley.
Peeping around the curtain, she saw that the corridor was empty and quickly tiptoed towards Reception. Heather looked up in surprise.
'Aren't you supposed to be resting?'
Ellie gave her a bright smile. 'I'm going home—can you call me a taxi?'
Heather hesitated and then nodded. 'All right. Hang on there a sec. I'll give them a call.'
Ellie hovered nervously, wishing that the taxi would come. Ben would be back any minute and he'd be furious if he caught her.
'I'll wait by the door,' she told Heather finally, edging towards the entrance of A and E, but unfortunately her exit was well and truly blocked.
The first thing she saw was a pair of powerful legs and then, as she gritted her teeth and forced herself to look upwards, she clashed with a pair of furious dark eyes.
'Where the hell do you think you're going?'
She flinched at his tone. 'Home?'
Her voice was little more than a guilty squeak and Ben glared at her. 'You were knocked out, Ellie. You need to stay in for observation.'
'I'll observe myself at home,' she suggested feebly. 'If I'm worried, I'll readmit myself.'
There was a commotion behind them and Sean strode up, his face black.
'What's going on?'
'She's being her usual reckless self,' Ben said abruptly, and Ellie felt her eyes fill.
Damn.
'I just want to go home...'
There was a long silence and then finally Ben spoke.
'All right, I'll take you home.'
Ellie gave a gasp of delight and Ben lifted a hand. 'On one condition.'