When her phone rang she knew who it would be, it would be Ric asking her to talk about it, it being whatever made her say no to him for the first time in their 'relationship'. She deeply considered not answering the phone, but she'd then know that he would come and accost her in her office and squeeze whatever was the matter out of her and right now she couldn't face that. She knew that if she told him what was on her mind she wouldn't be laughed at, but at the same time it could ruin everything they had and that to her was what she wanted most, them. Putting her current train of thought to the back of her mind she picked up the phone, getting her air of authority back and answered it "Connie Beauchamp"

"Kannie, Kannie, Kannie..." She cringed. Michael at this moment in time was worse than Ric; he was the last person she wanted to hear, never mind the fact he sounded as if he'd just found something out, yet she kept her cool and responded. "Michael, do you have a reason in ringing me?"
"Do I need a reason Kannie?" she bit her tongue, yet stayed calm- something what right now was proving to be a challenge, "Yes actually, seeing as I'm about to go to theatre and if you're planning to just waste my time I'd like to know so I can hang up now..."
"You and Ric..." he was quick; she immediately put up her razor sharp defences, "What about Ric and I?"
"Yasee Kannie, I'm not stupid... and I've come to the conclusion that you and Ric, wellll... yanno... are iat it./i"
She was insulted, first of all, she started to get the feelings of embarrassment of people finding out and asking questions. That's when the anger kicked in and she went off on one, "Michael am I not permitted to have male friends and a social life? By the way I'm not stupid either you know, I sent Ric an email all of 2 minutes ago and I have a sneaking suspicion that once again you're using his computer and you read his mail- now, Ric and I are friends, nothing more nothing less and friends have dinner... so drop this now before I kick your little American booty all the way back over the pond." She slammed the phone down, satisfied that she covered her tracks well enough to keep Michael's suspicions at bay, for now at least.

Yet, even after convincing Michael she was still unable to convince herself that all Ric was to her was a friend with amazing benefits. So she went out onto the ward and did what she was best at, saving lives and mending hearts- it was days like this she wondered if she could ever mend her own. Playing games was all very well and good, but sometimes people got hurt, Connie wondered if maybe this time it was one of those occasions.