Chapter 9
A few days later…
"Morning," smiles Connie as she meets Sophia in the car park and continues to walk with her into the ED, "You're in early. Busy shift?"
"Morning," Sophia returns the cheery smile, "Who knows? No I just thought I'd catch up with some paperwork – it's not always so quiet with Robyn and Lofty about." She laughs.
"Ah, I see. After you," she extends her hand with a smile and follows Sophia in.
Since moving out of the apartment, Sophia and Connie have become quite close and while Sophia knows that she has only mellowed since seeing Grace and being with Jacob, she is determined to make the best of it. They reach Connie's office and place their things down; Sophia sets herself up to her computer while Connie grabs her stethoscope and places it in perfect position around her neck.
"I suppose I'd better go and see what my staff are up to but, listen, if you do ever want to talk," Sophia looks up to Connie and smiles, "I mean I know I'm no Zoe but I am here for you."
"Thanks Connie," starts Sophia, "but I'm fine – really."
"Okay. Well I'll see you at lunch?"
"Definitely." Smiles Sophia.
Connie heads out of the office and Sophia delves into her paperwork with a sigh. After a few minutes, the office door opens and Sophia looks up to see Dylan standing with an awkward forced smile on his face.
"Oh hi, Dylan. Come on in," Sophia sarcastically remarks, "What are you doing with your face? Trying to be the 'breezy' consultant again?" she breaks out into laughter while Dylan places his hands on his hips and looks down towards the floor.
"Uhm, no. I just, uhm, well I just wanted to see how you are." His eyes lift from the floor and he turns his stare towards Sophia with one eyebrow raised, "So…how are you?"
"Well I was okay until I saw your attempt at a smile," Sophia laughs in an attempt to make light of the situation, "No. I'm doing okay – thank you."
"Okay good. Well if there's anything-"
"I know, I know," Sophia interrupts, "I can come to you."
"No. What I was going to say was if there's anything, Charlie's door is always open."
Sophia laughs and rolls her eyes knowing that it wasn't very often Dr. Keogh showed even the slightest bit of emotion. He leaves the office and heads to Resus as Sophia returns her focus to the mountain of paperwork on her desk.
A few hours have passed and Connie re-enters the office with her hair tied up in a ponytail and the sleeves of her blouse rolled up to just below her elbows. She sits on the sofa releasing a huge sigh and closes her eyes.
"Tough one?" asks Sophia.
"Tracheostomy on a twenty two year old girl, peri-mortem C-Section and we've just lost an elderly patient with a bleeding aneurism."
"Wow."
"Yeah," replies Connie, "you've done well with the paperwork – looks like you're almost finished."
"Yeah, I guess once I get started organising things, I can't seem to stop." Sophia giggles.
"Ready to go to lunch?" asks Connie.
"Ready when you are." Smiles Sophia in response as she puts the last of the folders into the filing cabinet and picks up her bag. Connie does the same only she throws her stethoscope back into her draw and pulls the bobble from her hair.
As they make their way out of the ED, Max catches Sophia's eye and he makes his way over to them.
"Can I, erm, can I have a word?" he quietly asks.
"I'll meet you by the car in five," jumps in Connie encouraging Sophia to try and build the bridges between them back up.
"Sure." Sighs Sophia leading the way to the bench outside of the ED.
After walking in complete silence to the bench, she both sit down and stare at the floor beneath them; neither of them had really spoken since Sophia left except to ask for more medical equipment or to move a patient.
"So…" starts Sophia, "how's Zoe doing?"
"She's fine yeah. Doing really well. She moved back into the apartment last night."
Sophia nods along, "Good. That's great."
"Look, Soph, I'm really sorry about what I said. I never meant to hurt either of you – I don't know what I meant but I didn't want this to happen. I just –"
"Save it, Max. I know that somewhere deep down you meant it – you wouldn't have said it if you didn't and I guess, well, I guess I knew you were right. This baby is going to change everything for you and Zoe. It's everything she's ever wanted and I want her to be happy. If that means me moving out and moving on, then that's what I'll do."
"No…I'm sorry…please." Max, completely unsure of what he wants to say attempts to apologise once more but Sophia won't allow him to.
"Max. Save it, please. Look, I have to go. Tell Zoe I hope everything goes okay and I hope you both have every happiness in the world." Sophia stands up from the bench, brushes off her pencil skirt and heads towards the already started car.
Max calls after her, "Thank you for your gift – it's perfect!"
Sophia keeps walking attempting to shake the tears from forming in her eyes, climbs into Connie's car and speeds away.
The penultimate chapter for you! I promise this story has a happy ending, it just takes a while to get there! Thank you for all the lovely reviews and prepare yourselves for the final chapter to be posted tomorrow – might be a bit lengthy but will hopefully bring everything back to the way it should be.