Chapter three

Dylan was awoken by the beeping of his phone. He opened one eye to see where the noise was coming from. Realising this wasn't his boat house he shot straight up, taking in his surroundings he concluded he had stayed at Zoe's for the night. She would have been a hazard to herself if she had stayed here alone. He clocked his phone on the coffee table; he had fallen asleep on the sofa after putting Zoe in her own bed. She had begged him to join her, but he passed up the offer knowing it could never work.

Reaching for his now silent phone, he slid is finger along the bottom and the iPhone made its usual 'I'm unlocked' sound. He scanned through his missed called and messages. "Can't they let a man sleep?" he muttered under his breath.

In her bedroom, Zoe was just beginning to wake up. She began to massage her throbbing temples with her index fingers. What happened last night? Kicking her covers off she looked down to find she was still in her dress. Muttering something she sat up, stopped massaging her temples and pulled open the oak wood drawer that was next to her double bed. "There you are." She said as she grabbed a pack of ibuprofen. Popping out two of the white pills she palmed them and dry swallowed.

Allowing herself time to recuperate, she slid out of bed and put on her fluffy slippers which were next to her bed. Walking over to the door she grabbed her dressing gown from the back of it and wrapped it tightly around her.

Dylan was still sat on the sofa with his elbows on his knees and his head buried in his hands. He was thinking about something.

Walking out into her open plan living space, Zoe headed for the kitchen. Her black counter tops and modern cooking equipment added class to the area. She put the kettle on and opened the dishwasher. Taking out a clean mug she placed it on the small island that was situated in the middle of her kitchen.

Once the kettle had come to a boil she picked it up and walked over to the island, resting her left hand on the counter top she began to pour out the hot liquid into her mug. She was startled when the man on her sofa sat up straight. Her instincts made her jerk backwards and the boiling water spilled out of the kettle onto her left hand.

When Zoe let out a yelp of pain, Dylan turned around to see pain all over her scrunched up face. "What, what is it?" he asked, as he rushed over to her.

Once he caught sight of her hand he knew it was a burn, no doubt about it. Turning on her tap he made her put her hand under the cold water. Zoe let out a sigh of relief. "You startled me. What are you even doing here?"

"No thank you Dylan? I see how it is." His tone was sarcastic. After taking a breath he continued, "… You called me last night, complaining about having no car keys and that you needed a ride. I told you OK and drove to the club you were at. You were a mess. Could barely articulate a simple sentence, let alone drive. I brought you back here, put you to bed and stayed the night making sure you were alright." He made sure he left out the part about her throwing herself at him.

Glancing down at her hand, he pulled a face. "You need to get that seen to."

She shot an 'I'm not an idiot' look at him, "Thank you captain obvious. So glad you're here."

Grabbing a tea towel, Dylan ran it under the cold water and then gently wrapped it over her red and blistering hand. "Well then, let's go."

Once in his old jeep Zoe asked, "Didn't you once say you had to really like a girl before letting her ride in this thing?"

"Yeah, well, there was a rule change." He said, trying to deflect the real reason.

They didn't talk for the whole journey to Holby. Jumping out of the car, Dylan walked round to the passenger side and opened the door for Zoe. Once she was out, he locked the car and they headed for the A&E entrance.

Charlie raised his eyebrow at Zoe as he walked past the pair. She was still in her dressing gown and slippers. This caused quite a few eyes to glance their way. Noel looked up from reception and wolf whistled at them, "Get in there Dr Hanna." Big Mac joined in with Noel's childish remarks.

Dylan kept his head down and led Zoe to a free cubicle. Once in, he pulled the curtains shut and grabbed a stool, he seated himself on it. This earned him a confused look from Zoe. "What?" he asked impatiently.

"This is unlike you. You're not really a people person."

"Considering this was, sort of, my fault I made an exception."

Zoe shrugged and placed her hand on the tray. Flinching as Dylan removed the tea towel. Some skin came away with the towel and he threw the whole thing in the waste bin.

"Hey! I might have wanted that."

Judging by the lack of anger in her voice he knew she didn't really want it.

"I'll clean the area, judge the extent of the burn and then decide whether or not you need a skin graft. If you don't, I'll patch you up."

"I do know the drill. I think you're forgetting I am a doctor as well." Zoe stated.

"Oh sorry, do you want to do this yourself?" there was no answer, "No. Well I didn't think you would."

Taking the syringe that was filled with saline, he squirted it over her burnt hand. Next he judged the burn was probably a 2nd degree burn and would not require a skin graft. "It's a 2nd degree burn, shouldn't leave too much scarring." He said as he began to dress her hand.

"Dylan?" she asked, waiting for him to meet her gaze, "Did we… You know, do anything?"

"No." He dropped her gaze, but I wish we had.