"I didn't think she could get any worse…"
"Who?"
Robyn rolled her light blue eyes in disbelief. Lofty clearly had the shortest memory that anyone had ever been graced with. Minutes before the curly haired nurse had been rendered speechless by the department's clinical lead. She had all but snarled in his face before listing all the young nurses' misdemeanours and launching a character assassination. Lofty had looked like a puppy being hit with a newspaper, completely crestfallen.
"Who do you think?" Robyn hissed as the familiar sound of expensive shoes reverberated through the department, alerting everyone to the impending presence of Connie Beauchamp. Lofty visibly stiffened before grabbing a pile of patient notes and dashing off towards the sanctuary of the staffroom. Robyn inwardly groaned as she heard the clipped voice of the brunette as she rounded the corner, face one of disapproval.
"Shouldn't you be working?" She practically spat the words out before casting her gaze amongst the busy department.
"Just getting some results for Doctor Hardy" Robyn grabbed the paperwork, waving it in her hand slightly before scampering off before Connie could find something else to crack the whip about. She truly was almost ten times worse than she had been before the arrest. Whatever had happened to her whilst she had been away had clearly left her feeling sore, she was like a dog on a tin roof in summer, miserable, angry and extremely volatile.
"Connie"
"What" Even Charlie was taken aback by the consultant's frostiness. He winced at her words and almost cowered away, seeing she was clearly not in the mood for any sort of conversation. He had seen Lofty dash off in the direction of the staffroom and had assumed it would have had something to do with the confident clinical lead.
Charlie narrowed his eyes sensing that not everything was quite as it seemed. During their time in Romania the clinical lead had seemed too opened up almost, revealed her emotions and he supposed even allowed herself to open up in the romantic sense.
"Let's grab a coffee" Charlie placed his hand on the brunette shoulders and lead her through the department, only stopping briefly at the hospital coffee shop to grab two large skinny Cappuccinos, Connie's drink of choice.
As Charlie fished about in his wallet for some change, Connie suddenly came over quite queasy. She could feel the rise of bile in her throat and the familiar heat radiate from her forehead.
"Connie, have you got 50p..." Charlie looked up from his wallet, his eyes quickly looking to Connie. As soon as he saw her skin pale, and sweat bead at her forehead he firmly took her hand and guided her towards the toilets knowing full well what was about to come next.
"I'll wait here, if you need me, shout me" He spoke gently as he held open the door to the women's toilet for her and watching as she hurried inside. He had an inkling what was causing such severe moods and a sudden dislike for the only thing that could get her out of bed in the morning.
The nurse sighed as he leant back against the wall and realised that the clinical leads mood was not going to improve in the next few months, if anything it was about to worsen.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"You alright Charlie, lurking outside women's toilets now are we?"
Charlie's head snapped forward at the sound of the clinical nurse manager voice. She stood before him, a cheeky grin across her face, arms crossed against her chest.
"Very funny..." Charlie mocked, his eyes catching the time on the clock on the wall. He narrowed his eyes and looked down at his watch, eyebrows knitted with concern.
"Rita, is that clock right?" Rita glanced behind her, reading the time.
"Yeah, spot on, why, late for a date?" Rita winked. Charlie shook his head, his behaviour becoming agitated. Rita narrowed her eyes, clearly something was bugging the older nurse.
"Is everything ok?" Rita placed her hand on his shoulder, her voice laced with worry.
"Urm, yeah... Actually no. Rita, will just nip inside and check that everything's ok?" Charlie resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to ask Rita for her help. Connie had been inside the toilets for almost twenty minutes without Charlie even realising. His mind had drifted off, wondering whether Louis was ok at home on his own.
"Female patient?" Rita laughed as she pushed against the toilet door and disappeared inside. Charlie held his breath, there was a faint sound of cubicle doors being opened before clattering shut again. This was followed by a brief silence. Time felt like it stopped, his heart was hammering in his chest.
"CHARLIE!" Came the panicked shout of Rita. Charlie immediately pushed through the toilet doors, finding himself in the women's bathroom.
Rita was crouching on the floor outside the last cubicle. The door was open and as Charlie neared Connie came into view. She was deathly pale, her hair stuck to her forehead as she sat collapsed against the tiled wall. Her breathing was heavy and she looked exhausted.
"She's dehydrated" Rita spoke as soon as the male nurse arrived.
"I'll go and grab a wheelchair, she'll need some fluids. I'll order a blood test too" Charlie called as he dashed back out of the bathroom leaving Rita crouching beside her nemesis.
"Connie, can you sit forward for me?" Rita asked gently as she placed her hand against the consultants' cheek, wincing as she felt the heat radiate from Connie's skin. She was on fire.
"No, please just leave me" The clinical lead groaned as she clutched her stomach in pain, her face contorting as she struggled to hide her discomfort.
"We need to find out what's going on Connie, you are clearly in a lot of pain"
"No, no. I'm fine, please… it's nothing, it will pass" Connie spoke through gritted teeth.
"Has this happened before then?" Rita asked as she met Connie's eyes sensing there was something the dark haired consultant wasn't telling her.
Connie looked away quickly, not wanting to find out her secret, her dirty little secret.
"Connie!" Rita said sternly as she turned the older woman's face back round so that they once again faced each other. It was then the young nurse noticed tears pricking in Connie's eyes.
"I'm pregnant"
