Claire was finishing up a health report on a patient. The E.D. was a concert of crying, doctor's voices, clinking of tools onto metal tray, the constant beeping of machines.
She still had about 6 hours of work to do, before she could leave, and she could feel Charlotte's eyes on her like a hawk. Almost all of the patients had been either extremely violent or a complete mess. It was so draining; Claire could barely keep herself together. Every now and then, when she would walk past some of the other staff, they'd engage in small talk, pointless yabber. How nice they were, the kindness of them all. It nearly brought her to tears. It was all she could do to not break down and start sobbing in front of the whole staff.
"Hey there," Claire heard from the side. Turning, she saw Gabrielle standing a few steps away, looking at her with a concerned expression on her face. "What's up?" Gabby asked, handing her a tissue. With a wave of mortification, Claire realized that a few tears had finally slipped out of her tear ducts and run down her cheek.
"Oh, hey, Gabby," Claire replied, horrified when her voice came out as an anguished croak. Clearing her throat, she said, "not much, really, I'm just really tired, is all."
Gabrielle gave her an unconvinced look, but Claire smiled weakly, and said "Well, I kind of need to get back to work, so I'll talk again soon, I guess. Bart needs me with Amy."
Before Gabrielle could reply, Claire walked off, leaving her behind with a slightly stunned look. Gabrielle walked back over to Charlotte, shaking her head.
"I'm so worried about her, Charlotte," she sighed, looking back over her shoulder.
"I know," Charlotte said, "I am too…you just have to look after her, okay?"
"Yeah, of course!" Gabrielle replied. "I just…don't know what to do…"
Charlotte smiled, put a hand on her shoulder. "Just do your best. That's all she's asking."
"Yeah…yeah, sure." Gabrielle nodded before walking back to the office to check for more work from Frank.
Charlotte watched Claire for a few more minutes. She seemed so fragile, which wasn't surprising. Charlotte felt a sudden wave of compassion for the girl, wishing she could do more to help, despite what she'd told Gabby.
Amy walked over from the patient she'd been handling with Bart, looking behind her at Claire who had joined them. "What's up, Charlotte?" She smiled a little; Charlotte hadn't had much experience with the girl recently, only hearing how troublesome she'd been for the first few weeks of her stay, then leaving for a while, then coming back. Despite what she seemed to have been, the girl appeared to be nicer now, kinder.
"Hello, Amy," Charlotte said, "not a lot, really. Did you have anything you wanted to ask?"
"Yeah, I did, actually," Amy rubbed her neck. "I'm just wondering, is Claire okay? She seems a bit down, if you know what I mean."
Charlotte pursed her lips thoughtfully. "She's alright. Just not having a good time of the month, it seems."
Amy nodded in sympathy, but Charlotte thought she caught a flash of disbelief in Amy's sharp eyes. "Well, I better go back and help them then. Have a good one, Charlotte." She walked quickly back to Claire and Bart, who were deep in conversation about the patient's symptoms.
"BEAUMONT!" Charlotte heard Frank yell from halfway across the E.D. "Get OVER HERE!" Rolling her eyes, Charlotte took a final look at Claire, the torn, innocent girl who had so much ahead of her.
"BEAUMONT!!! IF I HAVE TO CALL YOU ONCE MORE..." She sighed, then walked over to where Frank was standing impatiently, to help him with what he could not do.