Sunglasses, coffee and an IV line
Zoe rushed in to the ED, large sunglasses covered her tired, red eyes as she clutched a coffee in her right hand. Nick, looking up from a patient's notes, smiled wryly to himself before a stern look awashed his face.
"Late again Dr Hanna?"
"Yeah... sorry, traffic was murder."
"And the sunglasses... just a fashion statement?"
Pushing the glasses up on to her head she winced as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights of the ED.
"Well don't just stand there Dr Hanna, patients are waiting!"
As she walked away muttering to herself the smile returned to Mr Jordan's face, knowing full well why one of his top consultants was late and a little worse for wear, it was almost certainly due to that second bottle of champagne they'd shared the night before. He was also pretty sure that she didn't mind the grilling too much - knowing that he would no doubt summon her to his office later on in the shift to make it up to her.
Zoe had volunteered herself to cubicles today. Her fuzzy head and the high pressure atmosphere in Resus were never going to be a good mix, keeping her fingers crossed there wouldn't be a major incident she began working her way through the timewasters, sprained ankles, ingrown toenails and of course fuelled by several triple shot machiatos.
Just as she was discharging her third time-waster of the day, complaining of a very itchy arm due to an insect bite, her pager beeped urgently. Her stomach sank, if that was even possible in this hungover state, with dread of being summoned to Resus. However as she checked it a smile crept across her face, Nick was requesting her in his office urgently.
She would never admit it to anyone but Nick made her feel like no one ever had. Even in the short time it took to walk up the stairs to his office she was a nervous wreck. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering so hard she was jittery. At least he'll just think it's the hangover she though to herself.
As she approached the infamous office door she smoothed down her dark blue skirt and ran her hand through her hair before gently knocking.
"Come." was the response from inside.
"Ah, Dr Hanna, take a seat" Nick said, briefly glancing up from the case study he was reading.
The formality of the reception totally threw her and she had a bad feeling, racking her brains to try to work out what she may have done this time.
Nick placed the papers he had been reading down on to his desk and reached over to the top desk drawer. He slowly opened it and pulled out a bottle of water, a takeaway espresso cup and a packet of paracetamol and passed them across to a grinning Dr Hanna.
"I thought I was in trouble for a minute there"
"Play your cards right," he retorted with a cheeky wink as he got up to leave her to rehydrate.
"See you tonight" she called after him as she got stuck in to the refreshments. They maybe wouldn't be as effective as the saline IV she would have resorted to in her younger days but she certainly wouldn't say no.
Zoe slouched back on Nick's office chair and smiled contently. their relationship wasn't perfect, she wasn't even sure if you could call it a relationship, but she was certain that he made her the happiest anyone ever had and that she had ever been.