Chapter Five- Beginning of Change

Nothing went the way Dan imagined it. He hadn't really expected Jess to fling herself into his arms, but then again, he hadn't expected her to completely ignore him, either. He was beginning to wonder if he had imagined the hurt and jealousy in Jess's eyes. Maybe he was the one who had jumped to too many assumptions. Perhaps he was the one becoming paranoid and jealous, as his heart ached while he watched Jess, chatting animatedly with Jack or Vincent.

Even the whole Deanna- Jack thing didn't seem so funny any more. It had lost its appeal. Everything, it seemed, had lost its appeal- food, sleep, TV, even his job. He no longer felt any enthusiasm for it: all it held was heartache. Dan began to wonder if he should move to another department, or perhaps another hospital. It would be hard, but at least it would be better than seeing the girl of his dreams everyday, completely and utterly out of his reach. She wouldn't even look at him anymore, let alone talk to him. Dan thought bluntly he might as well tell her: it appeared there was no friendship there to be destroyed anymore.

It was yet another day, the morning passing with Dan desperately trying to catch Jess's eye, with her absolutely refusing to turn around. It had been fairly quiet patient wise so far. Dan looked around at his colleagues. Cate was once more back to her recent miserable self. She smiled weakly at Dan. He wasn't so sure he should ever even look at another girl when Jess was around: then again, it didn't really matter because she refused to talk to him. She basically just pretended he didn't even exist; sometimes, like he was part of the wall. If anyone else had noticed their strange behaviour, they didn't say it. Everyone was pretty preoccupied at the moment. Dan thought wistfully of a happy, energetic, enthusiastic ED who all got along great. It seemed so long ago- though as things were now, Dan began to wonder if it had ever existed. Maybe he had just imagined it.

The only cheerful staff at the moment was Jack and Deanna, and that was almost sickening. The satisfied smirk of Deanna, the mischievous guilty expression on Jack's face and their smarmy little looks at each other was enough to make Dan want to throw up. What Jack saw in her, Dan did not know. At least Terri had been part human; Deanna was like some weird alien from the Psycho Planet.

The sudden rush of trolleys through the ED doors and the frantic talking of ambos broke through his bitter reflections.

"38 year old man, injured in a workplace accident- crushed under a pole for 40 minutes. Possible broken leg. He was treated on the way for shock."

Before Dan or anyone else had time to take this in, another ambulance arrived.

"36 year old woman, injured in the same accident- she was under the pole for 60mins. Badly concussed, possible head injuries. Was unconscious at the scene."

"Dan, could you take this one?" a frazzled Deanna asked. Dan nodded solemnly. It wasn't like he had any choice in the matter anyway.

The man was wheeled into a cubicle, and he turned and grabbed Dan's arm. "Is she okay? Will Lucy be alright?" Dan followed the man's eyesight to where the woman who had also been involved in the accident was being wheeled in. She didn't look too great.

"Look mate, I can find out for you a bit later, but first of all we need to concentrate on you, all right? For the moment anyway."

When the man still looked anxiously after her, Dan tried to be some words of comfort. "Look, she's with a great team of people. She's in good hands." The man turned regretfully away to face Dan. Before he changed his mind, Dan pulled round the curtains. He started to examine him. The man still seemed really anxious, so he tried to talk to distract him.

"So mate, what happened to you? How come you're like this? They said something about a workplace accident."

The man nodded. "Yeah, we were just on our break outside when one of the buildings collapsed. Apparently the building was old and unsafe, but the company didn't have the money to repair the structure. Apparently the authorities were gonna step in soon, but they didn't bother to tell us employees." He shuffled restlessly. "Look, can I see Lucy soon?"

Dan carefully prised a bandage off the man's leg. It looked nasty. He decided to follow a hunch he'd had since he'd seen this guy.

"Hey mate, is she your girlfriend or something? You seem pretty anxious to see her."

The man gave a nervous laugh. "No way! Are you kidding? She's way too good for me! We're mates, I suppose."

Something came into the back of Dan's mind, but he refused to think about it. Instead, he turned to the man. He had a feeling he had to try to get the subject off this Lucy, as it seemed to make the patient miserable and frustrated. "Righty-o mate, I'm just going to give you something for the pain, and then I'm going to get a doctor to have a good look at you, all right?" The man nodded. Dan looked down at the file in front of him. "David, is it? Ok David, I'll be back in a moment, you just chill, okay?" The man nodded, though Dan could see him peering through the curtains and shifting impatiently.

"Just focus on yourself for the moment- she'll be absolutely fine, I swear." David continued to stare wistfully through the gap in the curtains. Dan wasn't sure if he had even heard him.