OK well somehow chapter three replaced this chapter

I realised when I was browsing the story months after i;ve posted it, and when I was posting, this chapter was chapter 2, confusing? Yes!

Anyway, I highly doubt anyone is reading this so long after its published but i'm fixing it anyway!

If you are reading please review, it'll make my day! I welcome constructive criticism, but would rather not get any flames, thank you!

Chapter 2: I'll just call you Irwin

Pulling my hair into a high ponytail and stifling a yawn, I made my way onto the ward for another long shift. I may have just moved here, but I'd had the same job before this and things were always the same; my husband had said the move was for a fresh start, but life is always the same.

"Morning Ashley" greeted Jane, Jane was one of the nicer nurses on the ward, I smiled weakly as I sat with her, ready for handover; nearly four years on from when I'd gotten married, and I still despised being called Ashley.

"So, bed 1a is empty" explained Kelly, the nurse handing over from the previous night shift "In bed 1b is twenty-two year old Zack Slater, young male that came into us yesterday after a road traffic accident, fracture of the right proximal humerus-"

"Sorry, what is that again?" I interrupted; I was now on a trauma-orthopaedic ward, my previous ward being a respiratory ward, so I was struggling to come to terms with the terminology.

"A particularly nasty fracture to the right shoulder" Jane whispered to me as Kelly continued. "He's on this afternoon's theatre list for surgery, he'll be having open reduction with internal fixation, where they'll pin the shoulder together to fix it. He also has a fracture to his left radius" "That's the larger of the two bones in the bottom of the arm" Jane whispered quietly to me. "Along with this, Mr Slater has a fracture to his right Tipula which he'll also be having surgery on" continued Kelly glancing irritably as Jane whispered to me again. "that's the larger bone in the top of his leg" "Along with this, he is undergoing a new trail treatment for chemical burns to his face and left shoulder. I believe the damage to his face isn't too bad and the treatment is just preventative, but we haven't seen this, as the bandages are on. The burns on his shoulder however, are reported to be worse. Finally Mr Slater is suffering with hyponatremia and hyperkalemia as a result of the burns which he sustained, so he is currently having intravenous fluids to treat this"

"Sorry" I interrupted again "I get these mixed up, what are they again is hyponatremia the one that means low sodium?"

"Yes" replied Kelly stiffly "and if you must also know hyperkalemia is the raised levels of potassium in the blood, although why you'd need to know this is beyond me"

I zoned out a little, as Kelly continued to handover, I was only aware of my daydreams as Kelly stood up and walked away.

"Don't mind her" said Jane with a smile "She can be a little bit irritable after a night shift, I've been qualified for a year now, but when I first started on here, she'd go mad if I'd ask anything! She's nice enough, but tends to get a bit funny when you keep asking what things mean"

"I was really only curious, that poor man in bed 1b, it sounds like that crash was awful" I replied.

"It was, he was involved in that huge accident yesterday with the big chemical spillage, that's how he got the burns"

"Man, that crash was awful, Lawson and I must have passed there minutes before it happened"

"You call your husband by his surname?" asked Jane curiously.

"Yes" I said with a smile "It's something we always used to have in common, we both hated our first name; his name is Irwin you see"

"Ah, Yes I can see that" replied Jane with a grin "But Ashley is a lovely name, I have noticed you don't really like to be called that though"

"Yeah, well I can hardly have everyone calling me Lawson can I?" I laughed "It'd get a little confusing"

"This is true, and I don't think we'd want to call you Irwin either!" replied Jane, we both laughed for a while, I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed so hard. I'd drifted away from my friends and family after I graduated high school and got married. My parents couldn't afford for me to go to college, so I moved away to where Lawson was attending college, moved in with him and enrolled in community college. However, one thing led to another, and I wound up dropping out and getting a job as a health care assistant in the local hospital. I drew my attentions back to the current situation looking at Jane as she continued "So, what did everyone call you before?"

"Spinelli" I replied "My surname used to be Spinelli, but Lawson doesn't like the idea of me being calling myself by my maiden name. He says I'm not Spinelli now, as I'm married, so I'm going by Ashley"

"I'd have told him where to stick it to be honest, and you don't strike me as someone that takes any crap" replied Jane "But I'll tell you what, if Spinelli won't work as a name, Lawson won't work, and you hate the name Ashley, I'll just call you Irwin?"

"Deal" I said laughing.

"Oh crap" said Jane checking the watch that was pinned to her uniform "Look at the time, I better start my drugs round, are you ok to start the obs?"

I nodded, and made my way to the patient in bed 1b, Zack Slater. As I approached the bed, I saw him shifting around, clearly in the middle of the bad dream.

"Mr Slater, Mr Slater, wake up" I whispered, gently shaking him, I spoke a little louder "Mr Slater, wake up, you're having a bad dream"

He turned slightly, his face covered in bandages, but as he opened his eyes, I could see they were a piercing blue; there was something familiar about them, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After a moment or so, I realised that I'd been looking deeply into his eyes, and he'd been staring intently back at me.

"Mr Slater?" I asked.

"Uh, yes, yes that's me, just call me Zack" he replied, breaking his intent gaze.

"Hello Zack, my name is Ashley, I'll be the health care assistant looking after you today" I explained, smiling at him and trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach "It's time for your routine observations, could I please take your blood pressure?"

"Uh, yeah, sure" he replied, he seemed to be studying me "You look familiar, what's your surname?"

"Lawson" I said, as I wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm "Ashley Lawson-"

"Lawson?" he interrupted, his blue eyes widening, I couldn't read the expression on his face.

"Yes, I'm not sure if you'd know me or my husband Irwin Lawson tough" I replied as I inflated the cuff around his arm "We've just moved here for his work. Maybe you went to college with him?"

"You look familiar" he replied, looking at me with hope in his eyes "Do I look familiar?"

"I can't say so" I said as I put the ear pieces of the stethoscope in my ears. Even when I said this, I couldn't deny that he there was something familiar about his eyes, and the butterfly-like feeling in my stomach just confused me, I'd only felt this once; back in the fourth grade when I kissed my best friend TJ Detweiler. I missed him, and thought about him every day. I'd never felt this way with Lawson, but I'm sure i've just eaten something funny, trying to advert my confusion, I continued with a joke "But I've got to say, I don't meet many people with bandages covering their face"

"Oh, of course"

"Well you seem to be all in order" I explained "Breakfast will be along in a while, then I'll be back to help you have a wash"