Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Jo or Sam. Although this time I do own the receptionist and the nurse.
Chapter 5:
The car pulled up outside St Hugh's A&E department, "Sam, I still can't believe you actually brought me here."
"I still can't believe you chose to go here instead of the FME back at the station."
"Look, I don't want everyone knowing I got injured, okay?"
"Okay." Sam sighed, "Come on then."
Sam got out of the car and went around to the passenger side; she found she had to help the brunette into the hospital, instantly adopting the same position they had on the way to the car.
When they got into the A&E department Sam walked Jo to a seat and then went to the desk to check her in.
"Hey, I've just brought in the woman over there, she's got a suspected sprain to the outside of the right ankle, her name's Joanne Masters."
"Okay, just take down a few notes. Do you know the woman?"
"Yeah she's…" Sam paused, unsure of what to say, "a colleague."
"Alright, and how did she injure her ankle?"
"Um, she fell while running down an alley."
Sam received a strange look from the receptionist.
"We're CID, she was chasing a suspect."
"Oh right. And did you say outside, right ankle?" Sam nodded. "Well that's everything I need, if you'd like to take a seat, the waiting time is approximately 2 and a half hours."
Sam sighed as she returned to Jo, "2 and a half hours."
"Oh great." Jo responded, annoyed at the prospect of a long wait.
"Oh, by the way, if anyone asks, you were chasing a suspect down the alley when you fell."
"Oh great, so now they're gonna think I'm too clumsy to do my job properly. What's Jack gonna say, eh? There was no suspect to chase, we were undercover, still are." Jo said in a hushed whisper.
"You can't seriously expect to still go later can you?"
"What? We have to Sam."
"Joanne Masters?" Came a shout from the reception desk, "the nurse can see you know."
"That was quick." Sam said with a smile as she helped Jo up an assisted her as she hopped towards the nurse."
Jo and Sam entered the small cubical they were directed to and Sam lowered Jo to the chair.
"You must be Miss Masters." The nurse addressed the brunette.
"Please, call me Jo"
"And you are?" the nurse asked as she turned to Sam.
"Samantha Nixon, I'm a…" Sam found herself unsure of what to say again, and even more nervous now that Jo could hear her answer.
Noticing her hesitation, Jo cut in, "She's a colleague of mine."
She gave Sam a smile, letting her know that it was fine to be nervous of sharing their relationship. Well, if you could even call it a relationship, they'd only had one kiss.
The nurse seemed to sense the hesitance and slight awkwardness between the two women. "Sorry, Miss Nixon, um would you be able to leave us alone for a few minutes?"
Sam was a little surprised at this, "Er, yeah, that's…"
"No, it's fine. I want her to stay." Jo said politely to the nurse.
The nurse seemed wary but could do no more with the situation. "Oh, okay, well, how did you hurt your ankle?"
"I'm a detective constable, I tripped and fell whilst chasing a suspect in an alley, turned a blind corner and there must have been something on the floor I didn't see."
"Okay." The nurse still seemed to feel there was something more to the story, but didn't press for details. "Well, if you put your foot up on here," she said while tapping the seat of a chair, "and I'll take a look at your ankle."
Jo still had no boot on her right foot from when Sam had taken it off, and the blonde didn't think it was a good idea to put it back on because it had a high stiletto heel, Jo had to agree that was the sensible option.
A few sharp intakes of breath from Jo and some 'Um's and 'Ah's from the nurse later and Jo was being told she would need an x-ray, although she didn't think it was broken, and would definitely need crutches.
As the nurse got up to take Jo down for an x-ray, Sam got up too. "Oh, um, you needn't come Miss Nixon, I can take Jo down myself."
"Oh, okay."
"You can stay in here if you like." The nurse added, pointing around at the cubicle they were in.
"Yeah, okay." Sam sat back down and watched as the nurse helped Jo out of the cubicle. She began to worry about what she had done wrong, she had sense that the nurse didn't trust her for some reason, but she couldn't work out why.