Nobody's Daughter
All hospitals were based around the same design but Joseph felt uncomfortably alien walking corridors that did not belong to Holby General. At some undefined moment in time his place of work had become more of a home than the place he slept. But he would obsess over identifying the exact moment that had happened at a later hour, or an earlier hour as a glance at his watch confirmed it was already past midnight.
He had been stopped at a nurse's station and thoroughly interrogated. On informing the willowy, dark woman his identity and his reason for visiting she had rolled her eyes and murmured something about 'how of course there are more of you'.
Joseph had found himself stuttering over an apology and tried not to cringe internally at just how ingrained his good manners were. After informing the sceptical woman that he was not part of an invasion she had pointed him in the direction to a private room in a secluded corner of the ward.
The walk to the closed door had taken only a few minuets but it was still enough time for him to fret. He took a deep breath studying the scratches and flaws in the wood panelling of the door, absently wondering about the daily tasks that caused the damage. The blinds were drawn so he would have to enter the room to find some sort of peace. It was the same old unshakable connection to a woman he thought he would never be able to forgive that forced him forwards.
He had phoned his allusive colleague regarding the test results of one of Michael's patients, the details now seemed trivial now, to find the Director of Surgery distracted. It had not taken much prompting to get the other man to reveal that he was sitting in a car in Bath of all places waiting to drag Jac Naylor to the nearest hospital before she went into septic shock.
Michael had hung up abruptly and there had been something in the American's tone that told Joseph this was not part of an elaborate joke. The haze of surprise and disbelief had passes slowly. The last he had heard Jac was home recovering from surgery and perhaps rebuilding some sort of relationship with her mother, something that made him feel strangely hopeful. For the rest of his shift all he could think about was the woman he could not seem able to untangle from his life. With a single-mindedness he normally reserved for his work he had made a few more calls and tracked the pair down. And as soon as his shift had ended he jumped in his car and drove.
Only now he questioned his reasons for his visit, if he was wanted. He had not been asked to come, from reading in between the lines Michael had already acted as the knight in shining armour but still he knew he would not rest till he entered the room.
The handle creaked as he pulled it and he suddenly feels awfully loud in the semi quiet and offish. He steps inside the room and shuts the door as smoothly as possible behind himself. Inside he finds Jac pale and asleep surrounded by pink bedding he knew she would hate. Michael sits sprawled on a chair by the bed side, a newspaper loosely gripped in one hand. While he is glad Jac has not been on her own Joseph can not deny the stab of jealousy that the other man had stayed while she slept. Feeling even more redundant he cleared his throat and smoothed a crease in his coat.
Michael's sleep could not have been deep because he jerks awake at the intrusion. The newspaper falls to the floor forgotten and Joseph finds himself apologising again.
"Sorry, I don't mean to intrude. I just…I just wanted to make sure she was okay."