The knock at the door drew Nick's attention from the letter on his desk. "Come in" he answered, shuffling papers and files to cover the letter on his desk.
"You rang milord" Zoe cheekily replied, closing the door behind her. "It'll have to be quick..." she continued, sauntering towards his desk, stethoscope in hand. Nick gestured towards the seats in front of his desk,
"Sit down". He tapped his pen rapidly on the desk, the beat he followed in his head unknown to Zoe as she gave him a quizzical look. "I have something I need to tell you" Nick carried on, ignoring Zoe's worried glances. "I... I'm... What I mean is..." Nick stuttered unable to find the words to tell Zoe, the woman who had, so recently, so quickly, became his whole world.
"Nick, you're scaring me. What's wrong? Are you ok?" Zoe replied quietly. "Please, just tell me. If you're trying to end it, it was just a bit of fun and I know we were never going to get serious. I can take a hint you know." Her soft liverpudlian accent garbled on, as she rose out of the seat, straightening her blouse "I'll just go, shall I?" she continued, huffing slightly as she moved towards the door.
"No, no, no" Nick got out of seat and grabbed Zoe's arm as she reached for the door handle, placing his other hand firmly on the door to stop her leaving. He looked down at her, cupping her cheek with his hand and leaning down kissing her gently. "Please don't leave, not now just let me explain." He guided her towards the sofa under the windows in his office and held her hand as she sat down. "Here, just look at this" He handed her the letter from St James' "You'll understand, I just find it difficult to talk about." He sat down next to her, watching intently as she read the letter. The tension could be felt in the air, the only sounds heard in the office being Zoe and Nick's breathing. Zoe looked up slowly, placing the letter on the floor beside her.
"Oh, darling. You could have, should have told me." She looked straight at him, interlocking their fingers stroking his hand with her thumb "We'll get through this, together. If you want me that is..."
The sound of footsteps thundering along the corridor distracted them both. The door to the office was thrown open and Adam appeared in the doorway "Massive RTC on the way, five car pileup on the ring road. We need you now!" He called before sprinting away.
Zoe and Nick got up, fingers still locked together. Nick pressed his lips to Zoe's "We'll talk later sweetheart, don't dwell on this" He looked at her intently before giving her a sharp tug towards the ED, quickening their pace as he ran to meet the first casualty that came crashing through the door.
Nick walked with the trolley, listening to the handover before looking at Zoe as he passed and murmured to her "I will always want you" giving her a slight wink.