What You Don't Know Doctors

I always hoped this day would never come.

You must have known it would.

So, now do I tell them the truth?

I think you have to.

But which truth?

What do you mean?

Do I tell them the truth...

..or do I tell them the whole truth?

What's that?

Is this what I think it is?

Mom? That's too much. You in? Don't say anything.

We're in here.

I'll leave you to it.

What's going on?

We're going to talk about your dad.

Do you fancy a drink, Mrs Tembe?

Oh, that is very kind, but I think that I will head home.

Oh. I'm gagging.

Ooh, check you out, you dirty stop-out!

I'll have you know that I am a model of restraint.

Oh, yeah, right! Casinos, Divas.

Your life is like Ocean's Eleven at the moment.

Well, you what they say. If you've got it, flaunt it.

You won't be flaunting it for much longer if you're hanging out at casinos. Take it from me.

I hardly think a few nights at the casino is going to break the bank, do you? Goodnight, Mrs Tembe.

Goodnight.

Dr Granger, could I have a word with you before you leave?

Yeah. I'll just grab my coat.

Can I see a doctor?

I'm afraid that the surgery is closed.

Oh, what? I came all the way across town and everything.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Perhaps I could make you an appointment for tomorrow?

I'll see you next week, Miss Peterson.

Are you a doctor?

Yes.

I am sorry. I have just said...

Please, do us a favour. Please.

Yeah. Don't see why not.

Are you registered with us?

No. I'm a fresher at uni.

It's fine Mrs Tembe. I'll just do a new patient form.

I'll be happy to see, Miss...

Owens. Belle Owens.

Cheers. You're a star.

Thank you, Dr Vere.

Just make sure that you lock up and set the alarm before you leave.

Yep. No problem. Come on through.

Ready when you are. Thank you.

What's her problem?

She's just a bit of a stickler, that's all.

It is the anniversary of Mr Bellamy's death

in one month's time.

Er, yeah.

Yeah, I suppose it must be.

I'm sure you'll agree that we need to mark the occasion in a...

Well, in a suitable way.

You worried about Emma?

I am really mindful of her feelings, yes.

Want me to have a word? Would you?

We know we shouldn't have lied to you about Zaroon.

Speak for yourself. Please, just let her speak.

We just want to know about him and you've told us nothing.

Yeah, with good reason.

And we know nothing about that, do we?

All right.

OK, I'll tell you.

I'm not sorry we lied.

Cos if we hadn't

then you wouldn't be telling us anything about Dad, would you?

Would you? No, I wouldn't.

And I don't regret that for a second.

Go on, then.

I will.

This is going to be really hard for me to say

because this is going to be hard for you to hear.

Your dad...

Your dad was an alcoholic.

He was controlling and he was possessive,

especially after we got married.

Then I fell pregnant and...

he got worse. Much worse.

He started drinking every day.

When I tried to speak to my family about it,

they told me to stop moaning and to accept it.

Even my mum.

That I had to solve it within my marriage

and to not bring shame on my family.

And so it went on.

He kept drinking.

And he kept hitting me, Shak.

I had to get out. I had to.

And, eventually, I did.

And I've never been near them or Coventry again.

Mum...

Hey, babe. Come here. Come here.

Come on.

Shak?

Is that it?

Is that the best you can come up with?

Thank you.

So, how can I help you today, Belle?

It's a bit embarrassing.

Take your time.

I'm worried about my weight. Your weight?

It's not as though I've been eating any more than normal,

but I just keep getting bigger and

I wanted some tips on how to lose it. That's all.

OK. Well, how long have you been gaining weight?

I don't know. A few months maybe...

You're 18 years old? Yeah.

Do you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables? Keep sugars low?

Yeah, five a day. No chocolate or cakes.

Well, not much.

Regular periods?

I suppose.

When was your last one?

What's that got to do with it? Oh, they're just standard questions

so I can rule things out. So, your last one was...?

A couple of weeks ago, maybe?

And you're sexually active?

No! No way.

Right. OK, well, I'll need to examine you.

Can't you just give me some advice?

I should have told them sooner.

You did what you thought was best.

Anyway, it's over now. We don't have to talk about him ever again.

You don't think they'll ask any more questions?

Now they know what kind of man he is, no. No way.

What about Shak?

He's in shock.

He'll come round. They both will.

Right, I'll put the oven on.

That stuff you said before about eating right and exercise.

Would that be the same if someone wanted to get rid of baby fat?

You mean puppy fat?

No, like, after they've had a baby?

Yeah, absolutely. With the added bonus that breastfeeding

can actually help them lose weight,

as long as they watch their diet carefully.

And swollen ankles go away after they've had kids, too?

Belle, is it possible that the reason you came so see me today

is because you might be...

Ow! Belle, are you OK? No.

Belle?

Belle, can you hear me?

Mrs Tembe?

Anyone?

OK. OK. Here we go.

'Which service do you require?'

Ambulance, please. It's Dr Vere at the Mill Health Centre.

I've got a young lady and she's unconscious.

And...and she's pregnant.

Belle?

Belle? Can you hear me?

Where am I?

You're in St Phil's Hospital, OK? You passed out.

No. No, I can't. Not yet. Whoa. Just stay where you are.

You need to let the doctors look after you.

It's too soon.

Is there anyone I can call for you?

Your boyfriend, your mum, dad? No! Please, I'm all right.

You're not all right, Miss Owens, but you soon will be.

I'm Miss Fisher, the on-call obstetrics consultant.

How long have you been feeling unwell?

I don't know. A few days?

And how far along are you?

I'm sorry. I don't mean to be funny, but are you really the consultant?

You look very young, that's all.

Thanks. I moisturise.

I am a consultant and I'm 35.

What about you? Aren't you a bit old to be her boyfriend?

I'm not! I'm a GP. Dr Sid Vere.

She was in my surgery when she collapsed.

OK. Well, we've got her now. You can go.

No. Sid, please, stay.

It's OK. I'm not going to go anywhere.

From her elevated BP and the other symptoms she's displaying,

I think she may have pre-eclampsia.

OK. Well, we'll run a urine test to be sure

and we'll do an ultrasound to check on baby.

Back soon.

You'll be OK now.

What about my baby?

Hi, guys. Hi. Hi.

Er, Emma, could we have a word?

Yeah. If you want to talk to me, Daniel, you'll have to have a drink.

Er, I can't. Sorry.

Zara got you under the thumb?

Always.

No, I'm driving.

Right. Same again?

I won't. I've got an early start.

Oh, come on.

All right. One more, but that's it.

Sure I can't tempt you, Daniel?

No.

So, what I wanted to talk to you about,

it's a little delicate and painful.

Oh, you should see a doctor. Can I have a bottle of white wine, please?

No, it's nearly the anniversary of Howard passing

and I don't need to go into how difficult and painful

that was for you to deal with. But you're going to anyway.

So, what it was, I wanted to sound you out

as to whether we should have a small gathering of staff

to remember him.

And the baby?

Are we remembering my baby, too?

I mean, who is the gathering for?

It's not for Howard, is it? Because, well, he's dead.

He was dead yesterday,

and he's dead today and I think he'll probably be dead tomorrow.

And so will my baby.

So, do you know what?

I really don't care.

Have a gathering, don't have a gathering,

but just leave me out of it.

What was that about? Nothing. You OK?

Yeah, fine.

Well, it turns out you were right, Dr Vere.

Protein in the urine and elevated BP. Not bad.

You have fulminating pre-eclampsia, Miss Owens.

It means that your placenta isn't developing properly,

so we have to deliver baby as soon as possible. Deliver?

I'd recommend Caesarean section as your best option.

But the baby isn't ready.

Based on the ultrasound, she would be premature, yes.

It's a girl?

That's right.

I don't want it to be like this. I thought it would be different.

You have been seeing a midwife

and having antenatal appointments, right?

Ante what?

Will my baby be OK?

If we deliver her now, then she has a chance.

She could die?

Possibly. But if we don't, then there's a chance you could both die.

No. No way. She's not ready. I'm not doing it. No.

Belle, you need to listen to... She's my baby.

You can't take her out before she's ready!

Ready or not, baby can't wait and neither can you.

So, I want to call your parents and then... No!

Hang on. She's 18. You doesn't need...

18? You're kidding, right?

No, she wrote it on her registration form.

And you believed it? Belle, what year were you born?

1999?

She's stressed.

So am I and I know what year I was born.

Belle, this is really, really important, OK?

And you won't be in any trouble, I promise,

but you need to tell us the truth.

How old are you? Really?

I'm...

15.

OK, I'm calling her parents. No! Please, don't!

You're too young to make this decision on your own,

so I need their permission. No. He doesn't need to know

and I don't want the baby to be born yet!

Can I speak to her? We don't have time.

Do you honestly think she's mature enough to go through this alone?

But if she doesn't want her parents to know...

She clearly isn't Gillick aware so I need an adult's consent.

If not, I wait until she starts fitting, which she will do

if we don't do something fast, and by that time it might be too late.

Please.

Five minutes.

I suppose you knew it all, didn't you?

Your mother didn't want you to get hurt.

I could have handled it.

Abuse is very difficult to talk about.

You feel like you're the failure

and you brought it upon yourself. And speaking about it...

She doesn't take crap from no-one.

She wouldn't let that happen.

She couldn't stop it.

That's why she walked away. I don't buy it.

Shak, life is quite... Zaroon is a really genuine guy.

I asked him about it.

He didn't know anything.

She's got to be making it up.

My mum died when I was little so it's just me and my dad.

He never has any girlfriends. He never has any fun.

All he does is moan and shout at me.

I can't tell him. He'd go mental.

OK. What about the baby's father?

It was just a stupid drunk thing.

I don't want him to know either. I don't want anybody to know.

I just want to have my baby and... And then what?

Hope nobody notices?

I thought I could go away. Belle... I'm not stupid!

I want this baby to survive and if I'd told my dad

then he'd have stopped me. I'm doing this my way.

You're too young to be making these decisions on your own.

We need to call him. No. He'd kill me.

Yeah, but if you don't have this baby right now

you could die for real. I don't care. I...

Belle.

Belle. Help!

Help!

She's fitting. I told you we didn't have time!

Can I have some help here, please?

Get the on-call anaesthetist.

I think we'll need to intubate and prep her for theatre.

What are you doing? I'm trying to find her father's number.

Good. He should be here.

Will she be OK? If we work fast.

I'm sorry. It's not your fault.

Belle! What's going on?

Mr Curtis. Yeah. I'm Dr Vere. We spoke on the phone.

What's wrong with her? She needs an emergency C section.

A C section?

Mr Curtis, Belle's pregnant, and she has eclampsia.

No, no, no, she isn't. She's 15.

I'm sorry, there really is no time. We have to take her in now.

No! Mr Curtis, please.

You're not taking my little girl anywhere.

Not until I've spoken to her.

She's unconscious and prepped for theatre.

You'll be able to speak to her after she's had the baby. No, no.

Look, you have to... Hey! Call security. No, that's fine.

How long have you known she's been pregnant?

How long? Mr Curtis...

I only met her tonight and I only found out she was pregnant

when she collapsed at my surgery.

Oh, God, this can't be happening.

Belle! No, no!

You can't go, OK? They're looking after her now.

I've heard it all before, you doctors.

Tell me this isn't happening again.

So how did you meet him, then?

It was a formal dinner between the families.

So it was arranged?

No, no, it wasn't. They just thought we'd be a good match.

And you liked him?

I married him.

He must have been all right then.

He was good-looking, he was charming,

he made me laugh sometimes but it was an act.

I told you.

Would anyone like some more beans? There's plenty left.

Are either of us like him in personality?

No.

Not even a bit? I said no.

Just try not to worry.

You got kids?

No.

No. Then you don't know how I feel.

I can't believe she didn't tell me.

I think she was afraid you might overreact.

Listen, I'm sorry about earlier.

It's OK.

Mr Curtis... Terry.

Terry. I don't want to speak out of turn but she did seem

really afraid to tell you what was happening to her.

Can I ask...

are you coping raising her on your own?

What did she tell you?

Just that her mum died when she was little.

Good.

How is that good?

My wife, Belle's mum, Helen, died in childbirth.

She bled out.

Nothing they could do to stop it, they said.

One in a million chance.

I'm so sorry.

Belle doesn't know.

She'd only blame herself and I don't want her to.

MESSAGE ON TANNOY

I know I shout at her, but it's only because I want to protect her.

I know I shouldn't but I don't know what else to do.

What is it? What's going on?

I don't know.

I can't lose her as well. I can't!

You can't just refuse to not talk about him.

He's our dad and we want to know about him.

Don't we?

And I've told you about him.

Shak, please don't. She's only told us the truth.

If he's as bad as she says,

then how come Zaroon never mentioned anything about it?

He did say he was young at the time.

Yeah, but, surely he'd still know.

I don't believe this.

He's upset.

Yeah, and so am I.

You know, I give you everything, I sacrifice everything.

I put my life on the line to protect you and you don't trust me?

Look at me!

Zaroon was younger than you are now when me and Aamir got married.

He knew nothing, he saw nothing.

Yeah, right.

Look, I don't care if you don't believe me.

You are not to call him again.

You know, if it was down to me, we would have left already.

Heston persuaded me to stay.

Of course he did.

He was protecting his little love nest, wasn't he?

Shak, that's not fair.

You're afraid that if we get back in contact with Dad,

that you'll lose Mum.

That's why you never mentioned anything about him last week.

Last week?

Please don't shout at me.

I'm not shouting, love, I promise.

How do you feel?

Tired.

You've lost a lot of blood. They gave you a transfusion.

I nearly lost you.

Belle...

..who was it?

Why do you want to know?

Because I'm going to wring his bloody neck, that's why!

You said you wouldn't shout. What do you expect me to do, eh?

I can't believe you would do this, not tell me about it

and then think you could go through it alone.

I knew you'd be angry.

Yeah, well, of course I'm angry!

I'm keeping her, you know.

You're not taking her away from me.

There is absolutely no way! You are 15 years old!

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hi.

How are you doing?

I don't want to talk to you.

I said I didn't want you to call him and you did.

I didn't want to upset you.

I thought it would blow over.

You knew they wouldn't accept it and move on.

Well, no-one would be naive enough to think they'd do that.

Naive? I'm naive, am I? Great.

So, what do I do now?

You tell us the truth.

I have told you. Why don't you just believe me?

Cos it's all bull.

Stop with the drama!

He wouldn't hurt us. How do you know that?!

How does everybody know much better than I do all of a sudden?

I've had enough of this.

Mum, don't. No!

You just leave me alone and you can just sort this out yourself.

I'm not sorry, Belle. You need him here.

Yeah, right, so he can shout at me some more.

Go away.

OK, I will. I just thought you'd like to know...

My baby! Is she...? She's fine.

I mean, she's very early so she can't breathe on her own yet

but she's healthy.

She's in an incubator in the baby unit.

You can see her later, if you like.

You can't keep her.

You're too young

and I can't cope. Then I'll leave.

No, you won't. You can't stop me!

Oh, you just you watch me!

I can't believe we're having this conversation!

See? Now look what you've done.

I had it all worked out and you stuck your nose in and ruined it.

You and the baby are still alive.

I'd call that a success.

Yeah, but he hates me now, even more than he did before.

Belle...

look at him.

He doesn't hate you.

Dad?

Why are you crying?

Do you know what I think?

I think you should tell her what you told me before.

The more you try and protect her,

the more you end up driving her away.

Look, I think she'll understand.

And I think that you need her just as much as she needs you.

Tell me what?

Dad?

Are you not coming up?

I thought telling them would be enough.

I don't know what to do any more.

Maybe you should tell them the whole truth.

Mum?

Can we talk?

Yeah, of course.

It all worked out in the end.

Yeah, thanks to you.

Sometimes it takes experience to make the tough calls.

Sorry if I was a bit brusque.

These long shifts really take the edge off my politeness.

That's OK.

You knew she was underage from the moment you saw her.

Of course. Yeah, but how?

Experience.

No, I mean, she convinced me.

What did you see that I didn't?

You know, you remind me of my son.

Really?

He's passionate, idealistic, naive.

How old is he?

He's 21.

Go on. Do the maths.

That means you must have been...

Very young.

See?

Experience.

You did well tonight. Now go home.

Some of us have got work to do.

She never knew me?

Never touched me?

Darling, it wasn't your fault.

That must have been horrible for you.

No wonder you get angry with me.

I love you. You make my life worth living.

I make it rubbish.

That is not true.

Look, I miss your mum. God, I miss her so much.

But you give me a reason to go on living without her.

I know I shout and I moan at you

but it's only because I don't ever want you to get hurt.

It's not working, Dad.

I still want to keep her.

I know you do, darling, I know.

But look at me.

I can't cope with raising a daughter.

I certainly can't cope with a granddaughter too.

You won't be doing it on your own. Belle... No, listen.

She could be the thing that helps us.

She could be a new start for us, Dad, couldn't she?

What about school? What about my job?

I don't know.

We'll work it out.

We can talk about it.

That's brilliant!

No, no. I am not making any promises, not yet. OK.

I do know one thing.

What?

Her name.

Helen.

After Mum.

I still want to meet him.

Oh, Shak.

No, look.

Listen, you might not believe me

but I've been wanting to know more about him for ages now, years.

Sometimes I can't bear it, not knowing who he is.

I mean, who am I, you know?

Do you feel the same?

He's our dad.

Did you not hear anything that I said earlier?

He's violent.

He put me in hospital. He's dangerous.

He could have changed.

OK.

OK.

What's this? Have a look.

It's a broken leg.

Are you saying...

Did he do this to you?

Have a look at the size of the bones.

That is a baby.

That is a baby boy.

Now do you understand?

We put this behind us and we move on.

OK?

Why should I believe you?!

What?

You've been lying to me now for 16 years!

And now you want me to trust you?!

Well, I don't!

I'm going to meet him and you can't stop me!

He's my dad!

Our dad! And I said no!

Even if she's incompetent, negligent or a criminal,

we will still have to put up with her.

How about "annoying"?

Where is he now?

Is your husband something to do with this?

Will he be worried about you?

If you don't deal with this, Shak will.