Mattie slurped the last of her milkshake through the coloured straw. "Oh my goodness, that was amazing"
Rose put her own cup down and sighed "How on earth are we going to eat dinner tonight?"
"Oh I'll be hungry again by then" Mattie laughed.
"Actually, Me too" Rose agreed smiling at her.
There was a brief moment as they smiled at each other, then Mattie quickly looked away remembering her conversation with Danny at breakfast.
"So what's on the cards for this afternoon?" Mattie asked her.
"Well, If I check in with Tynemann, providing nothings come up, I was wondering if…" Rose bit her lip "if you'd let me photograph you? For Jean and Lucien's album" she added quickly.
Mattie's eyes widened "Oh. Um, Well. I guess so, I mean… Can I go home first and fix my hair and do my makeup a bit better" She self-consciously smoothed a hand over her hair.
"Mattie, there really is no need, you're beautiful" The words left Rose's lips before she'd even thought about what she was saying "Of course, if you really want to, you can" Rose frowned inwardly at her awkward compliment.
Mattie rubbed her nose nervously "Well, what do I wear? Is this alright?" her heart had leapt at Rose's words but she still felt self-conscious.
"Really Mattie, It's perfect. I want a good mix of photos, and there's sure to be lots taken of you all tizzied up at the wedding. This is a good every day look" She laughed "I mean, it's so good, I'm pretty much wearing the same outfit"
Mattie smiled at her "Even so, just let me go back and do my hair and makeup? Please?"
"I've already told you, you look fine, but if it makes you happy, go on. Can you meet me at the park in half an hour?" She pushed her chair back and stood up "I'll go annoy Edward by 'pretending to be a reporter' as he so nicely puts it"
"Asshole" Mattie muttered. She stood up and threw her napkin at the table, disgusted at Edward's clear misogyny.
"Yeah, but he's an asshole who pays my wage, So I unfortunately can't call him that to his face" Rose laughed
Mattie joined her laughter and wondered how, in under 24 hours, this girl had managed to get under her skin so thoroughly.
"If it gets any worse, call me" Lucien's voice echoed down the hallway as he farewelled his last patient for the afternoon. He walked down to where Jean sat at the reception desk looking through his weekly diary. He walked over and kissed the top of her head as he rested his hands on her shoulders. "How are you feeling?"
Jean looked up at him raising a hand to cover the one on her shoulder. "Better" she replied "I had a lovely long soak in the bath and felt like I could face the world again"
Lucien picked up her hand and kissed it "I love you, you know"
Jean smiled "I know Lucien." She stood up and kissed his cheek "Thank you" she mumbled, her lips still against his cheek "For insisting I take the morning off" she pulled her lips from his face and rested her head against his chest as his arms wrapped around her "It's been a while since I've done something so entirely for me"
"Well my darling, You'd better get used to it. Because I have day after day of spoiling you planned for the honeymoon" he murmured as he pressed his lips to her head.
Jean smiled against his chest "And that would be to… where exactly?" she queried innocently
Lucien pulled her away from his chest and shook his head "Nuh uh. You won't get it out of me that easily." He leaned his head in to kiss her, and was interrupted by the house phone. He grinned at her apologetically "I'll get it" He strode down the hallway. Jean heard him talking briefly then the ring of the receiver being replaced.
"Jean?" Lucien called down the hallway. He appeared in the doorway, pulling on his jacket "I'm needed at the station"
"She reached up to fix his collar "You know the thing I'm looking forward to the most about wherever our honeymoon is?'
Lucien grinned saucily at her, raising his eyebrows suggestively
"Not that Lucien!" she rolled her eyes at him as he chuckled "No I mean, It will be just you and me, no phone to interrupt us, no patients to see, no borders to cook for" she ran her hands down the lapels of his jacket, resting them on his chest. "Just us"
Lucien kissed her forehead "Speaking of borders, did Matthew happen to say anything to you about what he was doing today?'
Jean looked at him curiously "Matthew? No, Why?"
Lucien waved a hand absently "Oh according to Ned, he went to a 'lunch meeting' over an hour ago and they're not sure where he is. It's not written in his diary and he didn't tell them where it was or who it was with" he shrugged. "He'll turn up." he turned and hustled to the front door where he lifted his hat off its hook "I'll swing past the morgue and pick up Alice. She's supposed to be shadowing me so she can take over my duties while we're away"
Jean followed him to the door and took his hat from his hands and placed it on his head. "Be safe Lucien"
His eyes softened as he smiled at her
"Now go!" she shooed him out the door "Elephant shoes!" she called at his retreating back.
Lucien turned and walking backwards to the car, blew her a kiss
"So what did Edward have to say?" Mattie asked as she seated herself on the park bench that Rose indicated.
Rose scoffed "Would you believe it, he wasn't even there"
"Pfft, figures" Mattie rolled her eyes. Then, glancing at Rose who was fiddling with her camera, suddenly felt self-conscious again. "So, um, what do I do?"
Rose looked up from her task "Nothing special, we'll just keep talking, I'll take some natural shots and then we can do a few posed ones... if you like?" She held the camera up "You ready?"
Mattie exhaled Why was she finding this so difficult? "Sure" she said, feeling anything but.
Rose saw the unsettled look on her face "Don't worry! Just imagine it's just you and me chatting, like we were at the milkshake bar."
"Bit hard when there's a great big camera in my face" Mattie muttered
"Ignore the camera. If it helps, look at the tree over there" Rose pointed behind her shoulder.
Mattie glanced at the tree, then back to Rose whose face was now hidden behind the camera
"Relax!" Rose sighed amusedly "Jean and Lucien don't want a picture of you looking like you're sat on a pincushion!"
This made Mattie smile
"And I'm sure you would rather not be recorded on film looking like you've seen a ghost"
At that Mattie laughed and Rose began to snap photos "Yes! See? Much better" She pulled the camera away from her face to look at Mattie who poked her tongue out at her. "Oh I wish I had snapped THAT picture!" Rose laughed as Mattie pulled another face "Now, just let's keep on talking so I can get some action shots"
"What about?"
"Anything. Tell me more about London"
Lucien banged through the morgue door "Alice, I'm needed at the station, I think that….." he trailed off as he realised he was talking to an empty room. He looked around confused for any sign of the doctor. He glanced out the door to the nurses at the desk. Striding over to them he spoke "Do any of you know where Doctor Harvey is?
One of them looked up and smiled at him "Hello Doctor Blake, Doctor Harvey went to lunch"
He scratched his cheek "What? Lunch? Outside?"
"We thought it was odd." Another nurse joined them "She often just forgets to eat lunch altogether."
Lucien stifled a smile "Yes, she can be quite single minded sometimes can't she? Well, if she comes back here, could you tell her I'm looking for her please? I'll be at the police station" he tapped the desk thoughtfully as he left. As he got back into the car, he looked around half expecting to see Alice walking through the car park, but there was no sight of her. Lucien frowned as he started the car. Where was she?
Mattie looked at Rose, perhaps she could test the waters. She cleared her throat "You know when I realised we were wearing similar outfits it reminded me of some girls back in London" she said cautiously.
"Oh really? Why?" Rose snapped away
"They, they liked to dress the same."
"What? On purpose?" Rose snorted. "Why on earth would you deliberately do that? I mean it's kinda funny when you do it by accident, but I mean, really?"
"They, uh, were together." Mattie snuck a look at Rose who was still clicking away behind her camera "They were a couple"
The finger stopped clicking
"They thought it was cute" Mattie finished as she watched Rose warily. Her mind whirred as it seemed to take forever for Rose to reply, when really it was only a matter of seconds. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest and felt sure Rose would be able to hear it too.
Rose's face appeared out from behind her camera "Oh" she said as she nodded, surprised "Well…. Good for them, I guess." She thought for a moment "But I still wouldn't deliberately choose to wear matching clothes to someone, no matter what their gender" she giggled.
Mattie let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding and ducked her head. Rose didn't seem bothered hearing about the lesbian couple and it filled her heart with hope. Her face brightened with a wide smile
"Yes, Mattie! Great smile! Just hold it like that!" came the voice that had disappeared once again behind the camera.
