"Kirsty, Kirsty can you hear me? It's Zoe. Kirsty?".
Kirsty's eyes flickered open and she was greeted with the sight of a concerned look on Zoe's face. That was all that she needed. Another person watching her. Slowly she sat up and propped her fragile body against the desk.
"Kirsty?" said Zoe uncertainly, not knowing how to play it, "let me have a look at your head?".
"No. It's fine".
"Kirsty, it isn't, let me have a look". Realising that she wasn't going win this one Kirsty positioned herself so that Zoe could tend to her head.
Flinching slightly at Zoe's light touch, Kirsty bit her lip. The cut on the back of her head was a lot deeper than she had realised.
"It's going to need stitches." Zoe said, "stay here, I'll go and get some."
As Zoe headed out the door Kirsty slumped back wondering what she was going to say. The questions were going to start as soon as she got back. "Somehow" thought Kirsty, "I hit it on a cupboard door just isn't going to cut it". Deciding that she couldn't face any questions, and the fact that she was already late, Kirsty got up and made towards the door. Opening it she came face to face with Zoe.
With raised eyebrows Zoe questioned, "Going somewhere?".
"I...errrm...I..."
There was a look of understanding in Zoe's eyes, "No questions. Ill just sort your head out and let you go. Told Tess you were doing some admin for me." Kirsty managed a weak smile as Zoe set about cleaning up the wound on her head.
Before Zoe had let her leave her office she had made sure Kirsty had taken some pain killers, and now with the pain in the back of her head slowly ebbing away, Kirsty opened the doors to the emergency department. Nothing unusual about the site that met her eyes. Two names on the computer flashing red, Noel carefully balancing a pile of records as he attempted to file them and a handful of patients waiting to be seen.
"Someone's been skiving this morning... it's alright for some". Jays voice reached Kirsty's ears, and she turned round to see his jolly face grinning at her. He took one look at the dark circles around her eyes, "looks like you had a heavy night". Kirsty couldn't help but let a tear roll down her cheek. "Hey, hey I was only joking Kirst." His kind words were too much and a wave of emotion overwhelmed her. Jay was quick on the up take and ushered her into the staff room. Gently clicking the door shut behind them, Jay lifted his arms and embraced Kirsty in a tight hug as her sobbing became more persistent.
"Jay..."
"Hey hey, don't worry. It's okay. A Jay hug will make everything better."
Pulling back and wiping the tears from her eyes, Kirsty looked at Jay, "I'm sorry. Bad morning. Bad week. Thanks Jay". She managed a weak smile, and Jay said, "I'm always her you know?", reaching into his pocket a producing a tissue, he handed it to Kirsty. With a reassuring squeeze of her shoulder, Jay exited and left Kirsty to tidy herself up.
"Right. What have we got?" Kirsty appeared up behind Jay.
"Suspected fractured wrist cubicle two, unexplained vomiting cubicle 6. Think I'll take cubicle two" he smiled handing a set of notes to Kirsty.
"Play you for it", Kirsty grinned.
"One. Two. Three", Kirsty's hand formed the shape of a rock, Jay's a pair of scissors.
"Cubicle six it is then", Jay said with a wink at Kirsty.
Kirsty looked up at the clock. Three hours. Three hours and she would be making her way home. Back to Warren. At that moment she raised her hand to the back of her head where her stitches were. Her hair was matted, the dried blood made it hard to the touch. Maybe tonight would be different. She could cook a nice meal for them, Nita was going to a mates so it would just be the two of them. A few DVD's and an early night.
"Right" she said pulling back the cubicle curtain, "X-Ray results are back. It is a fracture so we are going to have to put a cast on your arm. Now what colour would you like poppet?" Kirsty showed the young girl the choice of colours and smiled as the girl replied "Pink".
"My daughter would have picked pink too. Good choice".
Just as Kirsty started dressing the little girls arm, Zoe walked over.
"Everything alright?"
"Nurse Kirsty is going to give me a pink cast" grinned the girl.
"Is she? That's going to be nice." Zoe replied, gently brushing Kirsty's arm. Kirsty looked up and Zoe gave a little nod and a look that said 'everything okay?'. Kirsty nodded back. 'If only she knew' she thought.
The last three hours of her shift passed relatively quickly. Kirsty stood by the front desk, the rush of patients had now cleared and she was using the quite few minutes to take some more pain killers and dose herself up with coffee. "How's the head?". Zoe's voice was filled with genuine concern.
"Yeh its fine" Kirsty lied.
"That's why you've been knocking back the pain killers all afternoon?" Zoe looked Kirsty deep in the eyes. She could tell that there was something that she didn't know, something that was troubling Kirsty. "I'm always here you know? If you ever need someone, need a chat..."
"I know Zoe, thanks" Kirsty replied, a sudden stabbing pain in the back of her head making her vision go blurry. Grabbing the desk to steady herself, Zoe grabbed her arm. "Come on, home time. Your shifts nearly over anyway." Walking to the staffroom together Kirsty knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep her secret much longer.
After taking her bag from her locker, changing her shoes and putting her coat on Kirsty was ready to leave and almost at the door when Zoe threw her phone back into her locker and shut the door. "Men", she said, "who needs them? Keep an eye on your head, any problems come back here, the stitches should work but the wound was deep. Get an early night, Adam's back tomorrow. Let's show him the department can still function without him". A smile grew on Zoe's face, "his ego doesn't need another boost." Kirsty couldn't help but smile, partly due to Zoe's joke about Adam, but partly due to the fact that Adam would be here when she got in in the morning.
The staff room door opened and Jay popped his head round, "Kirsty, your husbands here to pick you up, said he has a surprise for you". Jay and Zoe exchanged a look as Kirsty thanked Zoe, and Jay and left the staff room. "Someone's in for a good night" Jay joked.
"So are we. 4 Hours left then pub here we come." Zoe replied, she always regretted the double shifts she agreed to.
Looking out of the window a few minutes later Zoe caught sight of Kirsty and Warren leaving. The sight that met her eyes wasn't what she had expected. Warren's hand was on Kirsty's arm, not, Zoe noted, in a loving way though. His grip seemed tight and there was something of a reluctance in the way Kirsty was walking. As they reached their car she could have sworn she saw Kirsty flinch away from him. She had no time to dwell however as a voice alerted her back to reality, it was Adam.
"So. What did I miss?..."