Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews – normally I write Jac/Joseph stuff (God I hate Faye), but I can see Maddy/Linden, and they would be soooo sweet together!
Linden was watching Maddy as she defended both her actions, and Liam Harris' death to Jayne Grayson. She had great potential as a surgeon – he could not just let her knock it all down for him. He began to talk, cover for her, but Maddy did not let more than one syllable leave his mouth. Normally he would not stand for that – he would haul her out of view and then reprimand her. However, considering that Jayne was both her and his superior, it would be unacceptable to do that here. So he waited, letting Maddy talk, watching Mrs Grayson's reactions. This lady was defending him with all she had to offer. True, he was a good doctor, but he would not have rated himself as being this good. Nor would he have betted that he was liked this much by anyone – they all seemed to ignore him, only noticing if he did something unusual, or was in a bad mood. And all those times he had spoken harshly to Dr Young, that should have been an incentive to do the opposite of what she was doing at this precise moment.
20 minutes later, they were allowed to leave. At which point, Linden told Maddy he wanted to see her in his office in 10 minutes. Both she and Mark Williams – who had been waiting for her – were shocked.
There was a tentative knock on the door, and Dr Maddy Young entered. She had got changed from her work clothes, and was now standing in the entrance to his office.
"Shut the door and come in." Linden himself was not sitting down, preferring to stand and watch everything happening around the hospital.
"So, what did you want to see me about?" asked Maddy, standing 2 feet away from him and next to the door, ready to leave when told to.
"What you did, was both stupid and irresponsible. We're lucky she hasn't got time to go further into it. I never want to hear of you doing something like that again; understood?"
"Yes. I was only doing it for you though. Suspending you was unfair. Liam Harris' death wasn't your fault – you shouldn't have been punished for the lack of awareness the anaesthetist has for the patients."
"Life is unfair Dr Young." Mr Cullen's voice grew in volume. "Do you think it's fair for three people to be involved in a car crash, but the only one to survive unhurt is the driver? What about all those starving people out there with no access to water, or even basic medical care? Is that fair?"
"No, it's just… No. It's not fair. I'm sorry for what I did, it won't happen again."
Maddy's eyes flicked to the floor, and stayed focused down there. Despite that, Linden could still see the hurt in them, the pain behind them. It wasn't her fault that his wife had died or that his daughter was as good as dead, to him anyway. She had only been trying to help.
"No, Dr Young, I'm sorry. I do appreciate what you did for me." He moved closer, putting one hand to her cheek, tilting her head up to face him properly. "I just have a lot of baggage, with lots that hit raw nerves. How about a drink in the bar seeing as the shift is over?" He saw surprise replace the hurt and the pain.
"Sure, sounds good to me."
"Okay, I'll see you down there in a few minutes then."
Maddy left the office, and Linden watched her retreating figure. He did not know if this was the normal, or the right thing to do, but he definitely needed a drink. And it would make a nice change to sitting alone in his house.
Reviews would be nice :-)