2.34 pm. The hands of the clock looked as though they had got stuck, Ange thought as she sat behind the nurse's station desk counting the minutes until the end of her shift whilst trying to look busy. She was the only consultant on AAU and it had been manic all morning, she had already performed three operations since her shift began at 8am but somehow she knew she wasn't going to be heading home at 4pm. Every time she had tried to sit down for a breather or sneak out for a puff of her vape an alarm would sound or a new admission would come through the door. And with that her thoughts were interrupted.
"Ange, we need you" Donna called, handing the doctor the case notes.
'Here we go again' Ange thought, making her way towards the bed coming through the door and not looking at the notes. "What have we got?"
"This is Mr Jefferies, 62 years old, he's been admitted with a penetrating wound to the abdomen"
"Why couldn't the ED take him?" Ange was confused.
"You think we're busy" Donna replied "They're swamped"
"Ok, bay 8 please" Ange gestured towards the bay. "Right, Mr Jefferies, I'm Ms Godard, I'll be looking after you today" she began before looking up to meet the patient's eye.
"Ahh Ms Godard, now I know I am in safe hands"
Ange's face fell, panic overcame her.
"Oh so you two know each other?" Donna asked.
"Yes we..." Mr Jefferies began but Ange interrupted him "No, we don't"
Donna was confused but knew to leave it. "Mr Jefferies, if you just lie back and I'll pop this oxygen mask on you, it'll make you a bit more comfortable" she explained as she put it on him.
"Please, call me Carl" the man smiled before putting the mask back on his face.
Ange was in a trance; panic, fear and memories all taking her concentration from her.
"Ange" Donna called. "Ange" now she had her attention. "Are you alright?"
"Fine. If we can get FBC, U & E, get him on intravenous morphine and let's cross match 12 units. We'll do an ultrasound to see if there's any internal damage before removing the knife" Ange reeled off the list absent-mindedly as Donna took notes. Still Ange didn't look up. She backed away slowly until she was out of the patient's sight before she ran towards the main doors of the ward. Donna called after her with no response. Ange either didn't hear or chose to ignore. She hit the button as if it were a person she hated and pulled so hard at the door she nearly knocked herself out. Now tears were streaming down Ange's face, her breathing becoming more and more laboured as she ran down the busy corridor, oblivious to her surroundings.
"Ange?" Fletch called, instantly worried. He span and ran after her, his long legs outpacing her. In an instant he was behind her, grabbing hold of her arms to stop her. Ange let out a little yelp as she stopped running and panic caused her whole body to tense up. She turned slowly and cautiously lifted her head to see the man in front of her.
"Fletch" she broke down in front of him, his only instinct was to pull her close to him. He had one arm around her back, holding her tightly, the other was stroking her hair, soothing her gently. After a few moments he pushed her back from him to look at her face. Never had he seen her like this and it frightened him. He wiped her tear stained cheeks and held her hands in his. "Tell me" he whispered.
"He's here" Ange whispered back, as if Fletch would know who 'he' was.
"Who's here?" he asked, confused.
"My patient..." Ange tried, but couldn't get the words out.
"Well where else would your patient be?" Fletch tried to joke to lighten the mood, all to aware he was missing the point.
"It doesn't matter" Ange backed off "I have to go" she picked up the pace and continued down the corridor but Fletch caught her in seconds.
"Ange, wait, please, Ange" she finally stopped in her tracks and turned slowly towards her boyfriend. "I know something is going on, I've never seen you like this and I'm worried about you, but I can only help you if you tell me what's going on"
"A man has just been admitted on AAU with a penetrating abdominal wound. Donna said it was Mr Jefferies and I didn't cotton on until I saw him. He recognised me straight away" the tears began to fall again.
"How do you know this man Ange?"
"I pretended I didn't know him but he knew, and so did Donna"
"Ange, you're not making any sense. How do you know this man?" Fletch asked again, not prepared for the response he was about to get.
"Thirty years ago, Carl Jefferies raped me. He's Chloe's father"