Briefings in MIT were very different to AC-12. Kate had made that discovery from day one and it was no different two months later. It wasn't just the different accents- gentle Scottish compared to harsh Northern Irish. The manner of the SIO was just as different. Jo Davidson who invited lots of discussion and didn't mind the odd bit of banter, even partaking in some of it herself. Ted Hastings who stood at the front of the room and barked orders out, expecting complete obedience.
Today, was no different although Kate was quieter than normal and she was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. The whole of MIT were in the small ops room and more and more, it was feeling as if there was no air in it. Kate had woken that morning not feeling great but had made herself go into work. As the morning progressed however, she was feeling worse- hot, sweaty and nauseous and try as she might to ignore it, those feelings were getting stronger.
Acknowledging to herself she was going to imminently vomit, and preferring to do it in private rather than in front of her new colleagues who she was still getting to know, she rose from her chair quickly, the legs skidding across the lino floor with a loud screech.
Her work colleagues looked on in surprise as Kate made a quick dash out of the room, hand covering her mouth as she only just made it in to a cubicle before losing the contents of her stomach into the waiting receptacle.
She knelt there for a while until the vomiting and retching had subsided, occasionally spitting bile.
Behind her, she heard the door to the ladies room open and knew she was no longer alone. Pressing the flush, she moved herself to sit on the floor with her back against a cubicle wall and saw it was Farida who had joined her.
"How are you feeling?" The PC asked. Jo had sent her to see what was wrong with her DI. Farida was a little cautious of Kate, knowing her previously from her undercover work whilst at AC-12 and their investigation of DCI Ros Huntley. She was also a little jealous of how quickly her and Jo had developed a friendly working relationship, although Jo kept reminding her that she had no reason to be jealous.
"Awful," Kate admitted.
Wanting to assist, Farida went over to the sink and retrieved a couple of paper hand towels before putting them under the cold water. "Will this help?" She asked as she held out the wet towels to Kate, thinking they would help her feel better. She couldn't help but see Kate looked a little flushed and had sweat on her forehead.
"Cheers," Kate replied, as she gratefully took the proffered towels and placed them on her forehead.
The door to the ladies opened again, this time admitting Jo. "What's going on?" She asked concerned, in her soft Scottish lilt.
"A little touch of food poisoning, I think, Ma'am, courtesy of my son," Kate replied. "I had Josh over yesterday and he wanted to cook me a meal. I couldn't turn down his offer but I left him unsupervised and, well, it was only after eating it that I saw the chicken was out of date. I thought I had got away with it, but obviously not," Kate concluded.
"Why do children always want to make their mum's vomit?" Jo asked rhetorically. She didn't have kids herself but had many friends who did. "It it's not morning sickness it's some bug from nursery or school. Or food poisoning!".
"Occupational hazard I suppose," replied Kate. "Josh thinks he wants to be the next Gordon Ramsey at the moment and I don't want to discourage him,".
"You should go home and rest," Jo ordered. Kate nodded in agreement. "Start your weekend early,".
"Thanks," answered Kate gratefully. "I should be fine by Monday,".
You ok to drive?".
"Think so," Kate responded.
"Ok. Well I hope you're feeling better soon," Jo said kindly before disappearing, leaving Kate with just Farida as company again.
"Drink of water before you go?" Farida suggested.
"That would be good," Kate answered as she gingerly got off the floor. Establishing that she felt a little better and was not going to vomit again at the moment, she followed Farida to the kitchen area whilst her drink was retrieved. "Thanks Farida," Kate said a little while later as she finished her drink. "I think I'll head home," she said as she got her belongings and headed to her car. Traffic was light and she reached home quickly. Opening the door to her flat she headed straight to her bedroom, flung her bag on the floor and collapsed on the bed without even turning the covers back. She was asleep in minutes.
When she awoke a couple of hours later she felt much better, although didn't feel like getting up so remained on her bed. She spied her handbag and through putting her body through a series of contortions, managed to retrieve it off the floor without having to get up.
Settling down under the covers, she found her phone in her bag and looked up her list of contacts. Finding the one she wanted she hit the call button. "Hi Josh, it's mum. Just seeing how you are doing. Maybe call me when you can? Bye," she told the answer phone. Her son was either at school or too unwell to take her call. She really hoped it was the former.
Sighing, she put her phone down and wondered how she was going to spend the rest of her day now she was feeling better. She felt a bit of a fraud now she was home but she wasn't going to go back in to work now. Instead she got up and decided to brave a bit of a light meal before flopping in front of the TV on her sofa for the remainder of the day. Josh finally called back late afternoon and Kate was relieved to find that he was fine and hadn't answered earlier because he was at school. She didn't tell him about her sickness as she didn't want to make him feel bad. Feeling tired she decided on an early night so she would be rested and ready for the weekend.
Despite the early night, it was late morning when Kate awoke. For the second day in a row she felt lousy and it wasn't long before she again found herself in front of her toilet emptying the contents of her stomach from last nights meal into it.
She still felt crap once the rolls of nausea subsided so she didn't want to stray too far from the room in case the sickness returned. Reaching for a large bath towel that was nearby, she folded it a couple of times before placing it on the floor and manoeuvred herself so she was resting her head on it, taking some comfort from the cool floor tiles beneath her clammy body.
It was times like this that she hated living alone. How nice it would be to have someone look after her- fetch her a drink or anything else she wanted to ensure she was comfortable. If it had been two months ago she would have happily phoned Steve to ask him for help but she couldn't do that now. Despite saying he supported her decision to leave AC-12 it had become apparent that he didn't and they had ended up falling out. She hadn't seen him since she had left. So here she was alone.
Shifting position to get more comfortable her eyes came to rest on the small set of built-in shelves under her sink. When she had first moved in they were very neat and tidy, but now as she lay there focused on them to take her mind off the nausea, she realised they were quite cluttered. Bottles of bleach and toilet cleaner filled the bottom shelf. The middle one had all her sanitary products and the top one had spare bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, as well as toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors she had collected over the years, many of which she didn't use anymore as well as countless other bits of crap. She should really sort the shelves out she thought to herself.
Her eyes returned to the middle shelf. It was also quite full she thought, which was a little strange as it had been a while since she had restocked it. Come to think of it, when had she last had a period? Not that she wanted one now. That was all she needed with this food poisoning.
She remembered the last one she had had at AC-12. Her and Steve had spent the day in his car on a rather fruitless stake out. As her cramps had got worse so had her mood. Steve had popped out to buy them both lunch and when he returned he had also put an unrequested chocolate bar in the bag with her sausage roll and drink. Having been her partner for so long he had recognised the signs and had known what was going on. He had also known what made her feel better. Kate smiled sadly at the memory. It would be a long time before anyone at MIT knew her as well as Steve had.
Forgetting about her nausea, Kate got off the floor and headed to her bedside table where her phone was lying. Entering in her pin code she quickly found access to her period tracker app. She'd entered the date of that period and checking the calendar realised it was ten weeks ago. 'Fuck!' she thought as she sat down heavily on the bed. Had it really been that long ago? She must have had another period since then as she was usually quite regular. Try as she might, she couldn't recall having one since she she had started at MIT. Perhaps it was the stress of the new job that had thrown her cycle out she tried to reassure herself, but she was unconvinced. Deep deep down she knew the real reason.