The Support Bauble

It was just after 5.30am when Charlie received the call. In normal circumstances he might not have been awake, but on Christmas morning, with a child in the house, he was anticipating an early start, so had already arisen and was midway through clearing out the fireplace ready to reset it when his mobile rang, and the SOS was issued.

He was quick to respond, showering and dressing before jumping in his car and heading to Holby, and into the department. It was busy, even by usual standards for the time of year, but he wasn't there to work. He had a much more specific mission to undertake. A speedy and forcible removal of their Clinical Lead.

He found her in her office, sat at her desk, her hair untidy, her scrub top filthy, and her gaze apparently fixed on her monitor although as good as looking through it. In the time they'd worked together he had seen her through some difficult times, and in some interesting states, but somehow he'd never seen her eyes look as empty as they did at that moment. She was a strong and feisty lady, but the events of the last year had taken their toll; it appeared like there was nothing left, and he knew in that instant that he had been right to come.

With no response from her, he moved to her side and gently reached out, removing her hand from its position gripping the mouse. "Come on." He whispered softly, "We're going home."

She finally acknowledged him, but it was with nothing more than a head shake. He crouched at her side and nodded firmly, "Yes, Connie. We are." She opened her mouth to argue, but no sound came out, as she found herself too exhausted to offer up any words of debate. It didn't matter. He knew what she'd have said if she had had the energy, and he was ready to contradict it all.

"You finished work 12 hours ago." He said gently, "You're not even meant to be here. Dylan is Consultant in Charge. He's completely recovered and capable. You are coming home with me. To have a Christmas."

She got to the feet then, and he couldn't help notice how unstable she seemed, stumbling towards her bag which lay discarded on the sofa. It wasn't that she'd been drinking, he was sure of that. It was just from pure exhaustion. She picked up her bag, clutching it to her chest and looking at him questioningly,

"Why did you come?"

There was more than one answer to the question, but he stuck to the safest one. He didn't want to give her any kind of excuse to wriggle out of coming home with him.

"Paul called me."

Paul Rose. A close friend of hers from her Darwin days, and possibly even before. Charlie didn't know all the details of their friendship but he knew they were close, and that Paul cared about her a great deal.

"Paul?" She sat down on the sofa, rummaging through her bag, and pulling a pink sparkly bundle from it, "He called you?"

Charlie nodded, trying to pick his words carefully and edit out anything from the phone call that Connie might not like, removing references to Jacob, and to Dylan, and the concerns that they all currently had for her.

"He said he was meant to be spending Christmas with you." He said, referring to Paul, "But that he was locked down in London last minute, and didn't want you to be on your own."

A look of understanding appeared in her eyes, but then she shook her head, "I could just work."

Charlie sat beside her, shaking his own head. "I don't think so." He took the pink item from her hands, holding it up to reveal it was a pretty sparkly knitted dress. He didn't know much about clothes, but even he could see it was expensive; he had a funny feeling he wouldn't have got much change out of a month's salary, and he wasn't exactly on the minimum wage. He glanced at Connie, "This is lovely."

She reached out and touched the soft wool. "Paul and I were going to a hotel, I was going to wear it Christmas Day, when he had to cancel I thought I'd wear it for my shift yesterday but..." she glanced down at her grubby top, "I decided I'd be too hot with it on under my PPE."

"It would also have been a waste of a beautiful dress." Charlie pointed out, "so," he handed it back to her, "You should go and shower." He lifted her make up bag from the top of her handbag, "Do whatever magic you do with this, and then, meet me in car park."

She hesitated momentarily, but then smiled weakly and nodded, disappearing out of the door and leaving Charlie alone, feeling somewhat relieved she'd agreed with so little resistance. Although, that said, he couldn't help feeling that getting her out of there was going to be the easy part and the real work was just beginning.

Picking up her bag, he left her office and locked it behind him, before he found Dylan to thank him for his part in the intervention, and then returned to his car to wait for her.

She left the hospital not too long after, but didn't come straight to him, instead diverting to the peace garden where he watched her place a poinsettia by the plaque they had put there for Noel. Once she'd placed it, she stood back, her shoulders shaking as she allowed herself a few moments of very unConnie like behaviour and let the emotion take over. It didn't come as a surprise to him to see it, although he doubted she would have let her guard down if she'd known he was watching.

It probably said a lot about the quality of her make up that when she joined him she was still beautiful made up, although her fragility and tiredness was hard to hide.

"Ready?" He asked her, wanting to give her a little control over the situation. She nodded, but made no other response, a state of affairs that continued throughout the journey back to his, as she stared out of the window, completely locked away with her own thoughts.