Ollie collapsed into a chair in the Nurses' Station in Darwin and sighed, covering his face in his hands. What a disaster. First Tyler's mess in theatre, then being accused if bullying. If his life couldn't get anymore difficult dealing with Anna Tyler anyway. He groaned quietly and felt two slight hands perch on his shoulder.

'Bad day at the office?' came a playful feminine voice from behind him. His frown slipped and he dropped his hands. How was it that all it took were a few words from Zosia to make his day a hundred times better? He spun on his chair and looked up at the full majesty of his fiancée. A smile took the place of a frown and he held her hands.

'Nothing a few drinks wouldn't solve,' he replied, his voice slipping to playful as well.

'That, Mr Valentine, can be arranged.' Ollie winced at the use of his title. That's all Tyler would ever call him. That and 'sir', which was, if possible, even more infuriating. 'What's the matter? Ollie?'

'Nothing.' Ollie plastered the smile back on his face. He hated the way that girl got into his head and, now, even into his relationships. Why could she not leave him well alone? 'How about it, then, Dr March? I'm off in- ooh.' He pretended to work out something, looking at his watch. 'Thirty seconds, so how about it? Albie's and then a takeaway? I won't even press my fabulous cooking on you.'

Zosia smiled and leaned forward and kissed him. He relished the touch, but as he put his hand on her ribs, he remembered something.

'Zosh- I've got a favour I need- please?'

Tyler was just finishing off her paper when the door to the Keller staffroom opened and a woman walked in. She was slight and delicate-looking with her brown hair pulled off her face. She was almost a dead ringer for Tyler, save for Tyler's glasses and extra three inches. She also smiled as soon as she walked in, which Tyler almost never did.

'Hello,' said the woman. She was a doctor at least, judging by the navy scrubs and stethoscope. 'I'm Zosia. Ollie asked me to take a look at your ribs?'

Tyler frowned. She'd come to suspect that Mr Valentine's promise was an act of unrequited chivalry. 'I'm Tyler,' she replied. 'You don't have to do this,' she added. Zosia disregarded this and shut the door behind her.

'You're Ollie's junior then?' she asked as Tyler gingerly stood up. She winced and touched her head, but the stitches were holding up fine. She nodded carefully as Zosia lifted her scrubs and t-shirt.

'You see much of him,' Tyler asked, casually. Despite this, she watched the other woman like a hawk, testing the water.

'I see a lot of him actually. We live together.' Zosia tilted her head from Tyler's side to look at her. Testing the water as well? Tyler grinned. A kindred spirit. Zosia returned the smile and pressed on the worst affected rib. Tyler restrained a cry and found herself leaning on Zosia's shoulder. She immediately pulled her hand away, embarrassed.

'Sore?' asked Zosia, a touch of humour creeping into her words. Tyler looked down at the mass of black and blue bruising over her right side and averted her eyes.

'I've had worse,' Tyler grunted, trying hard not to remember. New job, new life. She had to work hard and forget what happened before.

'Really? Well, anyway, we're going to have to do an x-ray and then see where we are.' Zosia placed the cold metal of her stethoscope against Tyler's chest. Tyler breathed in as her muscles contracted out of reflex. 'Yep, nothing unusual there. So, what happened?' she asked, as Tyler pulled her scrubs down quickly.

'Angry father,' Tyler replied. Why was everyone at this hospital so obsessed with knowing everything? That and their constant need to ask 'Are you alright?'. It seemed like sometimes Mr Valentine and her were the only sane people in the entire building.

'Not yours I hope,' Zosia laughed, then stopped as she caught sight of Tyler's frown. 'Shall we, then?'

As Tyler walked through Keller, she tried hard not to make eye contact. The memories of her collapse and subsequent journey through the hospital were patchy to say the least, but what she remembered was enough to make her cringe. She could swear she could feel the eyes of every person she passed scorching into the back of her head.

'Nurse Fletcher! Nurse Fletcher!'

Tyler could feel her body slumped to one side, but cared little about righting it. She knew that, soon enough, someone would do it for her. True to form, within seconds, oversized hands were on her shoulders, holding her upright. The words that had been shouted earlier had stopped and she could hear dull murmuring somewhere close to her head.

'She's going into shock I think...'

'We need to remove her, Nurse Fletcher, the father will be back soon...'

There was a sudden movement and Tyler's feet were back under her again. She tried, desperately, to get her feet beneath her, but found the floor simply wouldn't take her weight. The shoulder she'd been given to lean on wasn't cutting it either. Why was it always other people who let her down? Suddenly, there was no floor and her weight was entirely in someone else's arms. She could hear a grunt and a wheeze and the well-spoken voice was calling for space. Then everything faded to white.

She was being held between two men when she came around. Not a bad way to be brought back into waking, she thought blearily. Fletch, she could hear to her right, and to her left was a flash of burgundy scrubs and the same bustling walk she'd seen in AAU earlier. Tom, was it? Dom? She couldn't remember. There was another voice and a doorway flickered past before the large straight nose appeared.

'Tyler, my name's Sacha Levey. Can you hear me?' Yes, she could, but whether her mouth would let her tell him that was another matter. 'She's really badly concussed, Fletch, she needs to be admitted.'

'We can't. If that bloke finds her, we'll have more than a headache to figure out.'

There was a sofa under her and she could see people move and hear them talk, but it was all getting too much. Tyler let herself sink into blissful blackness...

'Your x-ray results are back,' came a voice smashing through Tyler's thoughts. She glanced up from her corridor seat to Zosia who was standing over her with an iPad. She smile and put her hand out for the tablet. Zosia didn't give it to her. Tyler squinted, confused.

'Zosia?' Zosia seemed to jerk awake and she looked up at Tyler.

'Yeah, you've broken your fifth rib, but I think we knew that already.' She hesitated. 'Tyler- is everything alright at home?'

Please remember to leave a quick review as it really helps me know how to progress with the story. I hope you like the direction I'm taking it in and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.

-The Nefelibata