"Well Mister Raffit. Riff wasn't it? May I call you that?"

"Certainly."

"Well, Riff, I can see no reason why you shouldn't start working right away. Can you?"

"From now?"

"Yes."

"Certainly."

We're severely understaffed and need all the help we can get. From the test you completed I can see you're definitely qualified but since you're new, we'll start you on the disability ward. Would you care to follow me?"

"Of course."

Riff rose to his feet and followed the harried looking gentlemen out of the office and into a corridor that looked like hospital corridors anywhere; pale, sterile and vaguely chemical, reminding everyone that this was a place people often came to die. Riff found it vaguely amusing that the man, whom he remembered introducing himself as Graham-something, hadn't noticed that Riff was answering in single words. He didn't feel up to much else.

It had been depressingly simple to find a new job and somewhere to stay and even easier to explain what had happened to the woman whose address he had given Mary. She was one of the few people he would trust and he couldn't give Mary the address of some rundown hovel like the place he had found. It was surely better this way.

With every footstep he took, Riff felt a dull aching in his chest, one that hadn't gone away since the moment he had awoken. In his dreams, he had relived the moment that Cain had kissed him and somehow believed his sentiments were sincere. The aching in his chest was a yearning for that to be true, for that to even be possible. But why would someone who had the choice of almost any woman he pleased want Riff?

"Here we are." Possibly-Graham said, pushing open a heavy brown door and dispelling Riff's thoughts. "Since it's already the afternoon, you can spend the rest of today tending to Carol-Anne. You can find her in the room at the end. She needs dressing on her legs changed and just someone to talk to. She's a little crazy, you see."

Riff nodded, thanked Graham and slowly walked through the ward. It was long and lined with beds full of the elderly and infirm. They all watched him with dangerously impassive eyes as he passed. He pushed open the far door hesitantly, dreading to see a woman even worse than those outside. He was shocked when he was met by a pair of smiling brown eyes and a kind face under a short crop of bright blonde hair.

"Hello. You must be the new doctor." The woman said happily and reached out of the bed she was lying in to pat the chair beside here. "Come and sit. The clipboard type thing is next to you so you can see what's wrong with me."

He sat down warily, thrown off and intrigued by her youth and happiness. "Thank you." He said graciously, sitting down and perusing the doctor's notes. "I was told your name was Carol-Anne but here it says you're really called Caroline."

"Een. There's more than one way of saying it." She said promptly. "It's Carol-een, like Halloween but more attractive."

Riff laughed quietly to himself. "My apologies Miss Caroline."

"Accepted." She sat up further on her pillows and looked at him appraisingly. "And since you got my name wrong, I think I came all you whatever I like. I think Riffriff would suit you fine. You look so sombre and polite, something about you needs to be fun."

He frowned. "How did you know my name?" he mused.

"I heard Doctor Grainham say it." She answered quickly and Riff was so busy thinking about remembering it was Grainham, not Graham that he didn't realise there as no possible way she could have heard.

"You know what, Riffriff?" Caroline said slowly. "I think we're going to get on just fine. Now…tell me something about yourself."

"I'm sorry sir, I can't tell you that."

"I've asked you to. Of course you can tell me."

"I don't have the authorisation to-"

"Then ask someone who does!"

Cain slammed his hand down onto the reception desk and glared at the young nurse behind it. The last hospital he had tried had been pretty much the same, as had the one before and he was reaching the end of his tether.

It had been a logical assumption that Riff would have started working at a hospital. After all, he had medical training and it was easy to get hired since nowhere had anything like enough staff. So, Cain had set out to ask each of the five main hospitals in the area if Riff had signed on, or come to ask for a vacancy. It was worth a shot. The possibility that Riff had gone further a field or had chosen a different profession…Cain would think about that as and when he had to.

The nurse glared at him coldly. "That kind of behaviour is not appropriate for a hospital, sir."

"Oh, really?" Cain smiled without a trace of humour. "I have a gun under this jacket, ma'am. If you don't tell me what I want to know or ask someone to tell you what I want to know, you're going to have to find out what inappropriate behaviour really is. Do you understand me?"

The nurse paled, nodded and scuttled away. A few moments later she returned, shaking her head.

"Sorry, no one applied here today and no one has seen someone matching the description you gave me. You'll have to try somewhere else."

Cain nodded and left without a word, slamming the doors open and scaring several passers by. Only two more hospitals left to check. If Riff wasn't there, he didn't know what he was going to do.

Night had fallen. Riff stood staring into the dusty mirror above the cracked basin and reflected over the day. Caroline was nice, the job was easy and he wasn't unhappy there because of what it was, he was unhappy because it wasn't Cain. If he carried on feeling this way and never returned to Cain, Riff felt that one night his dreams would kill him. Unless he got there first.

He fingered the straight razor delicately and then ran a thumb along the scars on his wrists. He knew how to do it. And if he couldn't see Cain again then surely this would be easier than living the rest of his life in misery?

Riff wondered if Cain was feeling the same way back at the estate. He hoped not. The thought of Cain hurting that way hurt him more than anything. His mind showed him an image of Cain's face as he read in the papers that Riff's body had been found…what would he do then?

Suddenly, Riff hurled the blade across the room. No. This wasn't the way, not at all. He would keep working at the hospital, keep persuading himself to relinquish the feelings for his master or at least learn how to live with them hidden. Until then…

Riff prayed that Cain was happy and that he was looking after Mary well enough. If he had known he had been the cause of any distress in his master, Riff would have gone back in an instant.

Huge hugs and love to the people who reviewed and favourited etc. You know who you are! If you arent one of those people and are reading this, please drop y and say hi? I'd love to hear from you.

Sorryll x