Eloise shuffled on her feet at the door, eyes flitting beside the country-side round woman in front her and her patient who was sat shuffling papers in the room. Eloise knew that Michael Gray wasn't to have guests who hadn't been personally vetted by Polly Gray and searched by the thugs that guarded his door. However on this occasion one of the thugs was on lunch and other in the bathroom, and Eloise let her in because the woman had a kind face.
Eloise cleared her throat, "Mr Gray?"
"Yes send him in."
She winced, not out of the impersonal manner he addressed her. As his bed-side nurse, Ellie was used to not being looked at twice by her patients. To him, she was a dispenser of pills and a scribbler of notes, nothing of interest. Instead, she winced because she knew he was expecting Thomas Shelby himself to appear any moment. Since he had been diagnosed as stable though, Michael Gray had not had a visit from Mr Shelby, something Eloise knew was deeply grieving "It's your mother."
"Oh fuck."
Yes, Eloise though, oh fuck indeed.

Eloise stepped aside as the woman entered, giving her a polite nod and holding a brown paper bag. Eloise quickly disappeared, but she couldn't help but busy herself just outside of Michael's door, staring blankly at the patient charts tacked to the wall. Not an inherently nosy person, Ellie couldn't believe how quickly she had resorted to hovering- like a dragonfly. After receiving a telegram from her Uncle, telling her to keep an eye on her new patient and to keep an ear out for any mention of Peaky Blinder business, she hovered around the well-armed guards at the door, hovered when Polly visited, and even hovered when she knew Michael was asleep. She couldn't help herself. It was an act of protection, she knew, that even when Michael was alone, he was never really alone, and if someone sought to hurt him- they would be less likely to do so with a witness. At least Eloise supposed.

Their conversation was a struggle and Michael could not have made it any clearer that he did not want the woman to be there. When she asked if he wanted her to leave and he had bluntly told her 'yes' Eloise had half a mind to storm in there and tell him to mind his manners but, thankfully, a short chuckle sounded through the door and Eloise blinked, had he made a joke?
Whatever softness Michael had shown the woman was quickly gone and Eloise frowned deeply, 'I'm expecting Tommy,' he had said. What a complete liar.
His mother said she would leave, and as the door opened, Eloise spun to give her a small smile. The woman was in tears, and Eloise realised that she cared, too deeply. In a different way to the way Polly did.
"Make sure he's being looked after," the woman said with a crack to her voice and Eloise nodded, watching as the woman padded down the corridor.

Entering the room, Eloise stared quietly at Michael, who was occupied with his hands. Eloise stepped forward and peered into the paper bag on the table.
"That was your adoptive mother?" she asked gently, "she's very pleasant…"
'Unlike the rest of the visitors you have' she mentally added.
When Michael didn't reply Eloise huffed softly and took the apples, which caught his attention.
"Shall I get rid of these before your next guest arrives?" she asked dubiously, pretty sure that Thomas Shelby was not going to be gracing the hospital with his presence.
"Yes and bring in a couple more chairs," Michael strained in reply, finally looking at her with unreadable eyes. She nodded, no emotion on her face though she calculated how many guests he was expecting, maybe the infamous Thomas Shelby would be coming after all.
"Of course," she nodded, before turning to reach for the door, but it was wrenched from her grip and Thomas filled the space, watching the pair with a blank expression. Seconds passed, and Eloise stood awkwardly, bag of apples clutched to her chest, as Thomas did not step aside to let her pass.
"Interesting," he spoke eventually, every syllable calculated, "Miss Barrow isn't it? What's that you've got there?"
Eloise froze, he had recognised her immediately. Eloise Barrow was the name Uncle Alfie had fashioned for her when she left Camden, only him and Thomas knew who she was, and no doubt his mind was already jumping to conclusions about why out of all the patients in the hospital it was her who was Michael's primary nurse.
Thomas leaned over to peer into the bag, noticing the apples, and he glanced up at Michael. "Your mother was here," he noted, before smartly stepping aside from the doorway and moving to put his briefcase on the table. Turning to Eloise he stated, "You can go, but bring.."
Eloise cut him off, "Two more chairs, I know," and she all but ran from the room.

As the meeting started, Eloise busied herself with duties which needed to be completed primarily around and by Michael's door. She listened for anything that her Uncle might find interesting, 'Especially Italians,' he had instructed, but there Eloise heard nothing of that. After an hour, when other visitors had begun to complain about the smell of cigarette smoke drifting from under his door Eloise found the nerve to stick her head into the room.
"Sorry ladies, there's no smoking in here," she tried to say with as much authority she could summon, but Michael didn't even look up and in the brief moment Eloise could only see worry etched onto his features. Polly simply pushed a finger to the door, "Yes love, we know," she replied, and shut the door in her face. With a sigh, Eloise padded down to the staff office, reaching for one of the apples out of the brown paper bag, and taking a crunch.
Dear god it was delicious, and Eloise knew that they wouldn't last long come the later afternoon shift change, so she placed one into her pinafore, they had been for Michael after all and she guessed he might want a bit of home comforts after what was going on in there.

Eloise busied herself with other patients until they left. It was only when she was sure they were all gone that she returned to his room and smiled softly, but he wasn't looking at her, only staring at his hands again.
"Catch," she said, pulling out the apple and making to toss it across the room to him. He flinched, and then winced in pain, shooting her a scathing look.
"That was cruel," he stated as she chuckled and placed the apple instead on the meeting table, which had been completely cleared- not the scattered mess it had been before.
"Oh don't be a baby," Eloise replied with an eye-roll, heading over to the medicinal cupboard and unlocking it to take out his daily medication, "if you're well enough to host a meeting you're well enough to play catch, you're practically healed." Michael watched her pour out the dosage he had before his dinner, and then took it from her with a roll of his eyes. After draining the liquid with a shudder, he finally reached for the apple, but instead of eating it, he instead put the fruit to his nose and inhaled deeply.
"They're so tasty," Eloise said with a small smile, "it makes such a change to have fresh fruit that doesn't smell like soot and muck."
Michael nodded, and took a bite of the apple, and Eloise leaned against the back of a chair, previously occupied by one of Shelby Company Limited.
"I know who you are," he said, and despite her efforts to remain calm and composed the light faded from her eyes a little, "Tommy told me."
Eloise turned her back to him, taking the medicinal cup to the sink and beginning to rinse it out.
"Now I know why you've been hanging around here so often," he tutted, and Eloise swore she could hear the hint of a taunt in his voice. She didn't turn but if she had she'd have seen him with the first smile on his face in a long time. "And I thought you were always here because you had taken a fancy to me…"
Eloise huffed, finally taking the bait, annoyed at herself that she found his cocky smirk to be annoyingly attractive.
"I worked here long before you showed up crying and filled with four bullets," she barked, "one of which would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't been here, may I remind you."

He blinked at her, surprised to see such a fiery temper.
"And I will work here long after you hobble to your feet and trot back to Thomas Shelby," placing her hands on her hips, she looked at him long and hard, "which hopefully will be very very soon."
Eloise huffed again and left the room and while she had meant to take the ashtray out with her to dispose of, it was left on the desk, and he was left in the chair. It gave Eloise some satisfaction to know that the wheeled chair was highly uncomfortable after long periods of time, and she promised herself that she would not return to his room until it was time to serve dinner, which was a further hour away.