"Rita! what do you think?"

"Sorry, what Robyn?" Rita looked across the bed at the young nurse who was staring expectantly up at her. Between them they were getting a woman ready to go up to the wards. She had been brought in after collapsing at work and now needed an overnight stay under observation.

"Anna has lost an earring so I thought it might be worth checking with the Dixie and Iain"

"Oh. I didn't know it was those two who brought her in" she furrowed her brow realising that she must have been in her office when that happened.

"Yeah it was definitely Iain cos he seemed to hang around for ages, I couldn't get rid of him. Maybe he, y'know…?" Robyn smiled, raised her eyebrows and gestured her head, not very subtly, towards the attractive 20-something woman that they were treating.

"Yes, thank you Robyn" said Rita a little too quickly, causing the normally cheerful red head to look momentarily a little hurt.

"I've a good mind to call the police, I bet one of those paramedics has stolen it!" interrupted Anna. She seemed impatient that she wasn't being taken seriously "It's a Tiffany diamond earring you know"

Rita peered at the lone heart-shaped item in the woman's hand and slipped immediately back into empathetic nurse mode.

"There's really no need for that Anna, I don't think it would suit either of them" she smiled sweetly "I'll tell you what, I'll go over and ask them now. See what I can do OK?"

"I don't mind going" said Robyn eagerly.

"No, no it's fine Robyn thanks.. I.. err… need to go over there anyway…" her voice trailed off.

"O. Kay" said Robyn slowly, narrowing her eyes as she took in the slight reddening of Rita's cheeks "You're the boss! See you in a bit..."

Rita grimaced, grabbed her hoody from the staffroom and set off for the ambulance station, cursing herself silently that she already had two colleagues this morning who thought she was losing the plot.

Dixie was stood by one of the ambulances when Rita arrived at the depot.

"Hi lovely. What brings you over here?" she shouted loudly, then dropping her voice as Rita approached "Like I even need to ask, hey?" Rita felt the colour returning to her cheeks again. Apart from Zoe, who'd been off on holiday for a couple of weeks, Dixie was the only one at work who knew about her and Iain. Rita had been very grateful that she'd not made too a big deal of it, though she suspected Iain would have been getting more of a ribbing from her.

"Actually I came to see if you might have found a missing earring. Anna Davies, the woman you brought in earlier?"

"I haven't love no, just finished cleaning out the back 'n' all, sorry. Iain might have noticed if she was wearing it when we picked her up? Then again he is a bloke… I'll ask him when he gets back"

"Oh" the younger woman felt her shoulders drop again "He's not here?"

"No sorry sweetheart he's doing a patient transfer to St James" The blonde paramedic peered at her friend "Thought you'd be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a good night's kip last night. Is everything alright?'

"Yeah, no, I dunno" shrugged Rita pushing her hands down into her pockets and looking down at her feet.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be nosey. He told me you wanted a night to yourself last night that's all. I only got it out of him cos he was driving me mad with his sad puppy dog eyes after he'd read your text. Jeez - I get enough of that from Little Abs at home! He cheered up when his mate invited him down the pub though"

"Oh. Right that's cool then. Glad he had a good night."

'Rita. You know he really cares about you don't you? I mean, I know he can be a bit of a plonker at times but from where I'm standing that much is obvious and..."

"And what?"

"Well just that you deserve to be happy. You do know that don't you?"

Rita shifted her weight uneasily from foot to foot.

"Come here silly" said Dixie holding her arms out wide. The pair shared a warm embrace. Rita relaxed and sighed audibly prompting Dixie to plant a little kiss on the side of her head. "Hey if you've got your break in a bit come and find me and we'll have a proper catch up over a brew. I'm sure the people of Holby can stay out of trouble for that long" she joked.

Releasing her arms from round Dixie's waist Rita turned away quickly so that her friend wouldn't see the tears that had started to well up in her eyes. "Twenty minutes' she called over her shoulder, grateful that her voice remained steady.

Dixie watched thoughtfully as the blonde nurse hurried her way back over to the hospital.