"Stupid" she muttered, "stupid, stupid, stupid". She sat twirling the small packet between her thumb and forefinger against the edge of the table. She'd been taking the small white pill religiously, every morning since she was 14, that was over half her life, half her life in which she'd woken up, dressed, eaten her breakfast, taken her pill, cleaned her teeth and left the house. So why now, more than 18 years after she took her first pill, why on this gloomy Wednesday morning, had she just swallowed Tuesday's pill? She tried to remember not taking it, but her mind kept focusing on the night she'd spent with a colleague, a night that had started in the very room she sat in now. She was interrupted by the same colleague bursting into the staffroom, "RTA, coach vs concrete wall, eta 5 minutes." She nodded, "I'll be out in a minute" she pushed the pills back into her locker, before forcing her worries to the back of her head and stepping out onto the ward.

"Your shift finished hours ago" he told her, resting a hand on her shoulder as she hunched over a pile of notes. "It did" she told him, shrugging his handoff her, "but the patients don't treat themselves and similarly these notes don't write themselves. "I'll do them" he told her, "you go home". She shook her head, "I've almost finished" he raised an eyebrow at the pile of folders under the one she was writing on. "Come on" he told her, "I bet you're exhausted". She shook her head, "I'm fine" she told him coldly, she'd let him see a more vulnerable side to her he night she'd slept with him, and she wasn't going to let that happen again. He shrugged his shoulders, muttering something about trying to help before walking off and leaving her in peace.

She didn't look up as she felt someone walk up behind her and place something on the desk beside the files she was working on a good 20 minutes later. "Here" it was him again, "you could be here for a while if you're not going to let anyone help you, and I know you've definitely not eaten in the past..." he glanced at the clock "9 hours, and I doubt you had time to eat in the 10 minutes you had of your break". She nodded in acknowledgement, even managing a small smile, and he walked away before she had chance to reply.

She opened the brown paper bag, lifting out the greasy burger and fries she smiled before picking the packets of sugar and tiny cartons of milk from the bag, stirring them into the coffee and beginning to eat.

She managed to push her worries about her missed pill to the back of her mind, and was relieved, when 9 days after she'd noticed she'd missed a pill, she began to feel a familiar cramping in her lower back, and she settled down on her sofa with a hot water bottle, a fleecy blanket, a large pile of romcoms and a family sized bar of dairy milk.

The weeks soon passed, and she'd completely forgotten about her missed pill. She put her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes, swallowing hard as she felt her stomach churn, cursing herself for eating that chicken, she knew it had been out of the freezer for far too long, but she was too tired to cook anything else.

Feeling her stomach churn again she quickly stood from where she was sat, rushing into the ladies before throwing up neatly into the toilet. She stood to her feet once she was sure her stomach was empty, flushing the toilet and turning to wash her hands. She jumped slightly as she saw a figure stood by the door, but ignored him as she first washed her hands, and then rinsed her mouth out.

"Are you okay?" he asked, watching her pale again as she clutched onto the sink. "This is the ladies toilet" she said sharply. He nodded, "for women" she repeated, "and the last time I..." she froze, clasping a hand over her mouth, and rushing back into a cubicle. "Let me give you the once over, find out what's wrong with you" "What's wrong with me" she snapped "is that SOMEONE won't leave me alone". "For God's sake" he snapped too, "you said it's easier for you to fix other people than yourself, so let someone else take care of you for once and stop being so bloody stubborn." She sighed, "I'm fine, probably just something I ate" "Let me check you over, make sure that's all it is." She shook her head, "Really" she stood from where she'd been knelt over the toilet, "I'll be fine, you need to check on Mrs Dobbs." He nodded knowing she'd never change her mind, "I'll erm ... he gestured to the door, "let me know if you think you're getting worse" she nodded and he left her in peace.