Pretty soon the entirety of the ED found themselves on and endless rota in and out of hospital beds and toilets, wishing they had gas masks opposed to crinkly suits. Sam and Tom, though among the first of the doctors who were not patients to come down with the illness, found themselves to be one of the last to finish needing the toilet every five minutes.
"Ugh…" Was all Tom could say when the ordeal was over.
Zoe's allergic reaction to the medication she was on was apparently not confined to her, for though she was now sober and moody as hell there were several other nurses, including Tess, now reaping the benefits of a stack of bedpans all of their own. Fletch, on the other hand was apparently not allergic to the medication but did not get off easily as he was now the main target for all the bed pan throwers.
The decontamination squad had quarantined the entire ED, refusing to allow any new admissions and were scrubbing the place from head to foot while attempting to treat the toddlers formerly known as nurses. In a way Sam and Tom felt sorry for them, as they were forced to endure several bedpans to the head themselves, but being forced to remain in a place that smelled like a sewer and in a suit that made you sweat like there was no tomorrow was very quickly turning their sympathy into a twisted pleasure every time a bedpan met it's mark.
"Goal!" Sam exclaimed as a particularly hard throw of Tess's made one of the men in space suits stagger.
"Are you sure you're not allergic to these meds?" Zoe asked moodily after hearing her triumphant yell.
"Yes, but I think I'm allergic to being in hospital for too long."
"You work on one." Was Tom's slightly haphazard reply.
"On one?" Sam repeated, staring at him with a mixture of worry and amusement.
"Wait.. oops!" Tom exclaimed, letting out a childish giggle.
"Wonderful…" Both Zoe and Sam said simultaneously as Tom started looking around for things to throw.
The following few hours were very similar to the last few, except for the fact that the main target of the bedpan throwers, and in one case a metal kidney dish, was Sam. The men in space suits did attempt to move her into a private room but the doctors–and-nurses-turned-children squealed and bawled to the point where every person in the ED, including the sources of the noise, had a mammoth sized headache and so they were forced to move her back.
"Tom!" Sam shouted after a bedpan narrowly missed her eye.
"Hehehe!" Tom said in a way that was not unlike a 'bad guy' from a cartoon.
"This is better than Eastenders." The toilet brush man stated in a way that even the 'children' couldn't miss the sarcasm.
"HAHAHAHAHAH! Sar-castic man!" Was one of the slightly child-like nurse's reply.
"What does sar-cas-tic mean?" Said a doctor turned four year old.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA—WHOOO-HAHAHAHA!" Was Tom's response that in Sam's opinion sounded like a baby watching the teletubbies.
"Someone sedate me!" Sam exclaimed, going as far to hold her arm out as though waiting for an injection.
This turned out to be the wrong response. A few seconds after Sam put her arm down the decontamination squad came back in with a gas sedative, and began attempting to place the 'gas masks' over the patients affected by the reaction's faces. This proved a struggle, and Sam was sure many of them would have large bruises from the bedpan beating their heads were taking, but still they persisted.
After finally securing the masks around several of their faces they noticed something peculiar. The supposed knock out gas was not doing its job, but was rather turning the ED into an episode of 'Alvin and the chipmunks'. Sam assumed that the gas was instead helium, for now the patient affected by the medication, including Tom, sounded incredibly squeaky.
Unfortunately for Sam she, again, provided to be the wrong response. After once glance at Tom's bright red face as he hiccupped and snorted through bouts of squeaky laughter had her in hysterics also. Unfortunately the space suits the decontamination squad were wearing must have been making them hard of hearing, for as soon as Sam started laughing they rushed over and place a mask over her head also then scratched their plastic covered heads as her laughing grew louder to the point they could hear it.
"Helium?! What the hell!" One of the decontamination squad members exclaimed after chancing opening the visor on his helmet to get a better listen.
As Sam and Tom stared at each other Sam realized something quite important for her at least. She wasn't high on any drug, just on endorphins, and yet she felt just as happy as Tom appeared. As she then turned her gaze to the rest of the ED acknowledged that while something like this would probably never happen again the memory of this day will probably be more than enough to get everyone in fits of laughter, even Zoe who right now looked more happy than Sam had ever seen her, and generally brighten the mood around the ED. The thought of this made her laugh grow louder, although the men in space suits seemed to think she was now
…
A few hours later everyone was pretty much recovered and, with the exception of the toilet brush guy, who had some bruising in a very uncomfortable place, they were all free to go home. Tom and Sam stepped out of the ED first, blinking as the harsh morning sun hit their eyes.
"So…" Tom said awkwardly.
"Yes tubs?"
"Tubs?" Tom repeated, turning and staring at her with a frown.
"Not only did you laugh like a four year old watching the teletubbies you actually started bounding around the ED like one with the men in spacesuits chasing you around. I think you've earned the nickname." Sam said with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh. Thanks." Said Tom with more than a hint of relief.
"You sound… happy about that." Sam said in a quizzical manor.
"Well I thought you were calling me fat for a second…" He said with a grin.
"Oh so being called a teletubby is better than being fat," Sam stated, "I'll remember that."
"Dr Nicholls…." Tom said slowly, standing behind her and placing his hands around her waist.
"Yes?" Sam asked innocently.
"Before we were... interrupted… by Tess what were we doing?" He asked casually.
"You know," Sam began, turning to face him with a look of mock forgetfulness and placing a hand on his chest, "I can't remember."
"That's good." He smiled with his hands on her hips.
"It's good I'm forgetful?" Sam asked, tipping her head to one side to turn her look of forgetfulness to confusion.
"In this case yes…" He whispered, leaning close to her ear, "Because I get to spend all night reminding you."
Sam grinned up at him as he closed the gap between then and gave her a kiss, and that should have been where the story ended. However apparently the 24 hours of humour wasn't over as no sooner had their lips connected Sam had pulled back and held her nose.
"Maybe not all night because you're going to spend at least half of it in the shower washing the stink out of you."
"Maybe you could join me…"
"Not a chance."
End
…
Sorry about the late update… I've been ill for nearly two weeks and I had a chronic case of writer's block the whole time! I should (HOPEFULLY) be able to update Explosions tomorrow so long as I can actually think of a way to start the chapter between now and then!