A/N: Well here you have chapter two. Not a lot happens but some characters you'll be seeing more of in the future make their debut appearances. I hope you like.
p.s I would have posted this last night but the site was being a tool and not letting me log in :(
The E.D. was dead. Her heels echoed loudly on the tile as she walked. Zoe felt quite unnerved; she was used to a bustling department with the comforting backdrop of endless chatter. She spotted a young brunette woman who she guessed must be the receptionist and approached her.
"Excuse me, I'm Doctor Hanna. I'm looking for Miss Carter."
The woman smiled, "Follow me."
Zoe tried to take in the layout of the department, it wasn't dissimilar to Holby but the whole feel of the place was different. It would take some getting used to.
The woman showed her into a small office, "Miss Carter, this is Doctor Hanna."
Miss Carter looked up from her computer and smiled widely.
"Thank you, Jenny."
Jenny nodded and left the two women alone.
The older woman pushed back from her desk and came to shake Zoe's hand.
"Welcome to Appleby E.D Doctor Hanna."
"Thank you."
"I'll give you the guided tour," Miss Carter said as she ushered Zoe out of her office, "we're not a big hospital or department but we value the high level of personal care we give to every patient who comes through our doors."
Zoe nodded. "It's going to take a bit of getting used to. My old department was a lot bigger and busier."
"That's understandable but you'll find it won't take long to adjust."
Zoe laughed, "Oh I hope so."
"These are obviously cubicles; we have fifteen of them along with three additional ones which we can use for isolation and other various things."
"And what about resus?"
"That's just here," Miss Carter said as they rounded a corner. "We have the capacity for two people to be treated simultaneously and then a smaller paediatrics resus is just down that corridor there." She pointed to a door to their right.
Zoe kept in step with the woman as she headed towards a staff room that bore strong similarities to the one back in Holby. Shaking her head slightly she tried to stop herself comparing everything to Holby. She'd never settle in if she carried on like that.
You didn't really want to go though, did you? You know that. Nick didn't want you to go either. Maybe you don't want to settle in.
She willed the thoughts to go away; she couldn't dwell on the past. She chose to go away because the pain of seeing Nick Jordan every day and knowing he probably couldn't love her again as much as she still loved him was killing her. Zoe hoped that by getting herself out of the situation she'd be able to move on. No matter how difficult it might turn out to be.
Miss Carter had obviously been talking while Zoe had been thinking and all she heard was, "Well I'll leave you to settle in," before the woman disappeared.
Zoe scanned for an empty locker. She found one and swiftly claimed it as her own. Checking her watch Zoe saw it was only ten. She decided to make herself a cup of coffee and try to reacclimatise.
A scruffy young Welshman bounded into the staff room and stopped right in front of Zoe.
"Sorry love, but patients aren't allowed in here."
Zoe raised her eyebrow and gave him a challenging look.
"I'm Doctor Hanna. Zoe. I started today."
"Oh, well that explains a lot. Sorry about that." He looked down at his shoes in embarrassment before he glanced at Zoe again.
"Can I get you a drink or something? I was planning on putting the kettle on anyway."
"No thanks, I've just had one and I should be getting to work soon."
If he'd been disappointed he didn't show it, "No problem, Doc."
Zoe smiled. He had a hint of Big Mac about him. She felt comforted a little already.
"I didn't catch your name," she said to his back as he made himself a cup of tea.
"It's Rhys. I'm a porter."
"Lovely to meet you Rhys," Zoe got to her feet and headed for the door. Looking back over her shoulder she said, "Enjoy your cuppa. I'll bump into you later hopefully. See you later."
Rhys beamed, "Bye Zoe," he called. "Hopefully," he said quietly to himself.
It seemed as though Rhys was quite taken with this new Doctor.
Zoe barely had time to do anything before the red doors of the E.D. burst open and two paramedics wheeled a trolley through.
She fell into step with them, "I'm Doctor Hanna, who do we have here?"
The paramedics wheeled the teenage boy into one of the bays.
"This is Jamie, fifteen years old, GCS of fourteen, query fracture of the left seventh rib and compound fracture of the left fibula. Both the result of a collision with a car. He's had 5 of morphine and oxygen throughout."
"Okay thank you." Zoe and the paramedics who she would later find out are called Ben and Suki stepped into position along with a female nurse and a second doctor.
"On my count folks, one, two and three."
Jamie was lifted onto the bed in resus. "Hiya Jamie, I'm Doctor Hanna, you're in Appleby hospital. Can you give my hand a squeeze?" She felt his fingers grip hers tightly, "good man. Now apart from the pain in your chest and leg, is there anywhere else that hurts?"
Jamie groaned but answered with a whispered no.
"Okay ladies and gents can someone get ortho on the phone, he's going to need surgery for this leg. I need a mobile chest x-ray and another five of morphine."
"Jamie, is there anyone we can call for you?"
"My mum," he managed to croak out. He tapped his trouser pocket; his mobile phone was inside.
"Okay, I'll get one of the nurses to give her a ring for you."
He gave her a weak smile before letting his eyes rest shut.
The second doctor was stood back observing her. Another nurse appeared in resus and began helping the one that had been there for the hand over.
Zoe approached the man.
"Doctor Zoe Hanna and you are?"
"Doctor Craig McLeish," he answered with a hint of a Scottish twang. She immediately conjured up an image of Lenny in her mind and smiled.
"Nice to meet you."
"Yes you too. I have to say, that was quite remarkable. I've not seen anyone that fast in a good while."
"Well, the E.D. I was last at would have counted that as average. I can work faster when I have to."
He smirked, "I think I'm going to like working with you Doctor Hanna."
She smiled back at him.
"Doctor Hanna?" One of the nurses called her.
"Yeah?"
"Ortho say they're ready when we are."
"Okay great. Get this mobile x-ray sorted then we can deal with the transfer upstairs."
The nurse nodded and went back to helping her colleague.
Zoe wandered back to where Craig was standing, "So, do we have anyone in cubicles who needs looking at?"
"Keen too. Actually no, not for the moment. There's nothing the nurses can't handle. I think Sister Davis knows more than me sometimes."
Zoe looked confused, she hadn't met Tess' equivalent yet.
"Ah, you've not met her have you? I'll give you some advice, don't cross her. The result is never pretty. She's a damn clever woman though. It's the experience that sways it; she's been in nursing for nearly thirty years. I don't think she'll ever retire."
"She sounds great. I might have to go and hunt her down and introduce myself."
Craig smiled. "She'd probably like that. Beryl's a fan of the head strong woman."
"I'll bet she is. Oh looks like that chest X-ray's done. I'll catch you later."
Craig nodded and left the newest addition to their team too it. Zoe had impressed him and that hardly ever happened.
"Jamie, we've got your X-rays back. The good news is that you haven't broken any ribs, but the bad news is that the bruising is still pretty severe. It's going to hurt like hell for a while but you'll be okay."
The boy nodded, "What about my leg?"
"You're going to need surgery but it's nothing overly serious. You'll be right as rain in no time."
He reached out for her hand, "Thanks Doc."
She squeezed his hand, "Anytime."
"Jamie!" A petite woman wearing a cream coat came rushing into the room, "Oh Jamie what happened?"
"Nothing mum, I just didn't look properly. The doc says I'll be better in no time."
Zoe nodded, "Jamie's going to need surgery on his leg to repair the fracture and his ribs are pretty badly bruised but there shouldn't be any long term damage."
She saw the wave of relief wash over the woman's face. "Are there any forms I need to sign?"
"I was just about to ask you to sign this."
Zoe handed her the clipboard with the consent form attached and the woman signed it swiftly.
"When will he be going up?"
"The orthopaedic surgeons are ready and waiting."
"Okay."
Zoe left to poke her head out of resus, "Rhys?" She called.
The Welshman appeared barely a second later.
"Doctor Hanna," he said with a lopsided grin.
"Would you take Jamie up to Ortho for me?"
"Not a problem doc."
"Thank you."
Zoe turned to give one last look towards Jamie and his mum before heading off in search of another cup of coffee.
As first days go, Zoe was rather proud of this one.
A/N: It's quite fun inventing all of these new characters … who knows what they'll be capable of. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it :)
