Zosia stood by the door to the office of the CEO of the hospital and the trust. She was preparing herself to knock when a receptionist walked along the silent corridor behind her so she quickly knocked so that she didn't look stupid.
"Come in." He shouted so Zosia took a deep breath before she opened the door. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, she was feeling quite sick and if she were to vomit in his is office, not only would it be embarrassing, but he would probably work out the cause of it. She closed the door behind her and then stood in front of his desk. Only when she cleared her throat, did he look up from his paperwork and see that it was his daughter.
"Zosia, what can I do for you?" He asked confusedly. F1s almost never worked on the weekends so he was wondering why she was there on a Saturday morning.
"Um, I asked professor hope about starting to do overtime but he said that I need to discuss it with you." Zosia stared civilly. How was it possible that a man who was an alcoholic for months, is now a CEO of a hospital? She thought.
"Right. Um, it's unusual for F1s to do overtime." He began, "mainly because their mentor won't be on shift with them but I suppose you could switch between Ms Naylor and Professor Hope though when she goes on maternity leave, you'll have to have Ms Effanga as a mentor too."
"That's fine." Zosia stated.
"Why do you want to do overtime?" He queried.
"For the money." Zosia replied bluntly.
"Yeah I know that, but why do you need the money?" He queried and Zosia's heart rate increased.
"Because, I want to pay off my student loan sooner rather than later." Zosia lied.
"Well I can help you, how much?" He queried as he pulled out his cheque book from his briefcase.
"No, you're my boss." Zosia stated.
"Zosia, you're my daughter." Guy stated. She had to swallow the lump in her throat to argue back.
"Well it's a bit late to say that now isn't it?" She snapped. "Please, can we just organise overtime?" She pleaded.
"Fine. How many hours do you want to do a week?" He queried. "It'll have to be less than 40 hours, and at the moment you do..." He trailed off as he grabbed a folder from behind him and flicked through. "About 35 hours if we take into account your breaks." He concluded.
"But I thought it was 48 hours you can work a week." Zosia argued.
"It is, but the law requires working over 40 hours a week requires one and a half times you're extra pay for those hours and the board won't pay that out because they don't have to." Guy explained.
"Right well, I'll do 40 hours." Zosia huffed. More pay if she worked more than 40 hours a week, that would be perfect for her but there was no point in arguing if the decision had come from the board.
They organised her hours so that she would do 9am-6pm from Monday to Friday so she would be staying an extra hour each day, that wasn't too bad if it meant she would get extra money.
"Zosia, why are you here?" Guy queried.
"To sort out overtime." Zosia replied like he asked a stupid question.
"No, I mean why're you at the hospital on a Saturday morning? Surely you could've asked about overtime at the end of your shift either yesterday or on Monday." Guy asked.
"Oh um, I had an appointment with gynae for a smear test." Zosia improvised just incase anyone had seen her down on the obs and gynae/maternity ward.
"Just routine yeah, nothing you're concerned about?" He queried.
"No. Can I go now?" Zosia asked impatiently.
"Just one more thing, since you're doing that many hours, your travel expenses will be covered by the trust. Taxis, buses and trains will be free for you, you just need to save your receipts and come and give them to me at the end of each week so I can send them off to the trust, and you'll be reimbursed." He explained.
"Does that involve personal journeys too?" Zosia queried.
"Yes, anything travel wise, just save a receipt and you'll be covered." Guy replied.
"Right, thanks." Zosia said before she headed for the door.
"Zosia," Guy began and she stopped in the doorway. "You know I'm always here for you, you know that right?"
"Goodbye Guy." Zosia said before she left his office, still carrying the holdall. As she headed towards the lift, she decided to go shopping for the day so that she could look around at baby products and maybe even some maternity clothes. She didn't plan on buying anything just yet, but the thought made her smile. She couldn't go home incase Arthur was there because she was meant to be out the entire day so she pressed the button in the lift for Darwin so that she could put her holdall in the locker room.
The bag didn't fit in her locker so she put it under the bench and just as she exited the room, Jonny tiptoed past with two coffees, presumably for himself and Mo and he was probably hiding them from the pregnant ginger consultant. The smell only aggravated her morning sickness so she legged it to the toilets barged into the ladies and just made it to a cubicle as she vomited into the toilet bowl.
Unfortunately Jac Naylor was washing her hands by the sinks, probably after emptying her bladder once she had awoken from her nap. Mo had been talking to the consultant, bugging her about maternity leave so she was there too. Jac dried her hands, folded her arms across her chest and stood outside the open cubicle door where the F1 was on her knees.
"Now who has the 'urge to make babies'?" Jac said smugly. Zosia huffed before she got up, flushed the toilet and then splashed her face with cool, refreshing water by the sinks.
"I'd rather you didn't go broadcasting that around the ward." Zosia stated.
"We won't, don't worry." Mo smiled.
"So you are pregnant?" Jac queried. "Mm, I was just guessing." Jac smiled. "How far gone?" Jac asked.
"8 weeks." Zosia replied reluctantly as she dried her face with paper towels. "I don't suppose you're aware that Nurse Maconie has just snuck onto the ward with two coffees?" Zosia said the Jac to see if she would leave her alone and Jac's face turned livid.
"That bloody Scottish idiot." Jac muttered as she waddled out of the bathroom to the two women's amusement.
"You alright?" Mo queried as she rubbed Zosia's back.
"Yeah fine." Zosia replied. "I um, I'd better get going." Zosia said, she didn't like the situation she was in so she went to leave.
"Zosia, I've had a baby and Jac's pregnant, so- well she probably won't help but if you ever wanna talk or ask anything, I'm happy to help." Mo said kindly.
"You've had a baby?" Zosia queried.
"Yeah, just over a year ago, I was a surrogate." Mo explained awkwardly.
"Oh, well thanks for the offer." Zosia smiled gratefully before she left the toilets and left the hospital to go to the shopping centre, she felt much better now that she had vomited. So she decided to take advantage of her new benefit -free travel- so she called a taxi and headed for Holby City Shopping centre.
5pm
Zosia returned home after spending a day at the shopping centre. She had spent almost two hours sitting in the top floor of Starbucks where thankfully, it was almost empty and there was no smell of coffee- only the smell of the hot chocolate with whipped cream in front of her. She had gotten a notepad from WHSmith and began writing notes about her finances, and some of the decisions she had to make.
Seeing as she had the free travel for now, she decided against buying her first car so save money. She had taken driving lessons as a present for her 18th birthday and she had taken her test in her mother's car so she had her license, she just hadn't yet got a car because she went straight to university where the main travel methods were bikes and walking.
She had also decided, for definite, that she wasn't going to tell Arthur about the baby- well she was going to tell him that she was pregnant eventually, but she wasn't going to tell him that he was the father. She was merely going to tell him that she was only 7 weeks pregnant, that way the baby couldn't possibly be his.
And as for her career, she was going to talk to her mentors on Monday, Jac, Elliot and Mo. Two of whom already knew she was pregnant so a third wouldn't hurt.
She loved walking around mothercare looking at all the items you could buy for a baby, though the price tags weren't appealing. Neither was the aisle in boots dedicated to items for pregnant women and new mums such as incontinence pads, stretch mark creams, maternity pads, breast pads, nipple creams and so much more.
She put her hand bag in her bedroom and put the personal notepad under her pillow- she knew that Arthur would never go into her room, but hiding it put her at ease slightly- before she went into the kitchen to cook something for dinner. She and Arthur had decided not to share a meal like they did most nights because she wasn't sure what time she would get home after her abortion earlier. Eventually, she decided on a cheese and ham toastie made on their small George Foreman grill, along with a side salad to make it a bit healthier.
After eating the satisfying meal, she ran herself a warm, relaxing bath for her to unwind after the days events. Whilst lying in the bath, she smoothed her hands through the water on her soft, flat stomach. It didn't seem real that she was carrying her first son or daughter. Apart from the nausea, there wasn't anything else that signalled pregnant, that and the fact that she couldn't feel anything- she knew once she would start to feel her baby moving, she would believe that it was happening and it would make things seem real to her, but she'd had to wait weeks for her first movement which was slightly annoying.
Running her hands over her stomach, time and time again, as she tried to visualise a bump of a similar size to Jac Naylor's in front of her was a hard thing to do. But it was nothing, compared to the challenge she was yet to face: she still had to tell her father, that she was pregnant with his first grandchild.
She laid in the bath a little longer before she decided that it was time she got out and settled down into bed so she pulled the plug, drained the water and dried herself with a bath towel. She hadn't gotten her hair wet so she pulled on her nightwear, turned the light off and got comfortable in the middle of her double bed.
She was going to be a mum. Zosia March, was going to be a mum and she was going to make her mother so proud. Then she begun to wonder if she would have a boy or girl. Obviously she would love it either way... But if she had to choose, she'd prefer a daughter. Soon, she drifted off in her daydream and she was fast asleep.