Chapter Three

I am a professional. I will not let feelings get in the way of my job. I have not let it happen in the past; I will not let it happen now.

Georgie paused beside the curtain for a split second, before letting it drop slowly as she stepped fully into the cubicle. She placed the clipboard on the table beside the bed, which was fortunately on the opposite side to where Elvis already stood.

Georgie cleared her throat before finding the courage to speak to Elvis,

Her every day job was easy putting feelings to one side for these strangers, but this time was different, they had history, recent and intimate. This wasn't going to be easy in the slightest.

Using her most neutral voice, Georgie spoke, "So, Mr Harte, can you tell me how this happened to your..?"

"My Laura…my daughter." Elvis stumbled over his words, his forehead creased with worry.

Georgie could sense that he was obviously stressed out over the injury so decided to cut him some slack, for the moment at least.

Anger and annoyance pushed to one side momentarily, Georgie turned her attention back to Laura.

"Hi Sweetie. Just look at this light for a moment." Georgie did all of the basic checks for concussion until she was satisfied, then looked over at Elvis who was texting furiously on his phone. It almost annoyed Georgie, what could possibly hold priority over his daughter's needs right now?

"So, are you able to tell me how it happened?" Georgie asked, her voice sickly sweet.

"Hmm?" Elvis looked up sharply. He noted Georgie's slightly annoyed expression and made a point of sliding his phone into his back pocket guiltily, then giving them both his full attention.

"I need to make a note of how this happened, for the Patient's records. Unless I start questioning your five year old daughter, can you shed some light on this please?" Georgie asked impatiently.

Elvis ran his fingers through his hair, "She was playing in her room and I was just setting up lunch in the kitchen when I heard this almighty crash. She had climbed up to the window by herself. Debbie's going to kill me. She always tells me to not leave the window open. Christ I'm an idiot."

Georgie glanced over at Laura, who despite being the injured party, seemed quite happy and distracted by the stethoscope dangling around Georgie's neck.

Georgie took this opportunity wisely and lifted the apparatus over her hand before handing it to Laura, "Listen sweetie, why don't you give your teddy a quick check up using my special stethoscope whilst I talk to your Daddy."

Laura's big brown eyes looked from the apparatus, to Georgie and finally rested on her Dad, staring at him hopefully. Elvis smiled gently and nodded encouragingly. "Go ahead baby girl. I'll be just over here chatting to this nice lady."

Satisfied with the distraction, Georgie walked around the bed and indicated for Elvis to follow, which he did obligingly. They stood in the corner of the cubicle, out of earshot. Who knows what a five year old would pick up on?

"I'm sorry Georgie. I'm hungover. This happened and then I see you here and my head is all over the place."

Honestly, and they say women are the drama queens!

"Hey, listen to me," Georgie said as she reached across to take his hand reassuringly, "There is a little girl over there who clearly thinks her Dad is the hero in her life. She's the Patient, not you. You're meant to be the person she can rely on in these situations. So do us all a favour and get your shit together, yeah?" She squeezed Elvis' hand one more time for emphasis and they shared a smile for a moment. "Yeah?"

Glancing down, Elvis frowned and turned Georgie's hand around in his,

"You never said you were engaged…" There was a hint of accusation and part surprise in Elvis' voice. Georgie instinctively pulled her hand away.

"You can hardly talk. You have a child and god only knows what kind of relationship with her Mother!"

Their quiet conversation had turned into quite the hushed tone exchange so when the cubicle rings clanged together as somebody whipped open the curtain to enter, Elvis and Georgie quickly jumped apart.

One of the Nurses entered, an apologetic smile on her face, followed closely by a very irate and frazzled woman with blonde hair.

"Mommy!" Laura exclaimed, confirming all Georgie needed to know as she resumed to her Patient care, quickly avoiding all eye contact with Elvis.

The remainder of her time spent with the trio was tense to say the least. Whilst Georgie tended carefully to Laura's head wound, dressing it with butterfly stitches, she tried her best to ignore the conversation exchange between Laura's parents.

It was just too hard not to overhear though, try as she might…

"Elvis, I cannot trust you with the simplest of tasks. The only reason I bloody headed out to the supermarket was because you had not done the food shop this weekend. I asked you to do one thing and we end up in A&E. You're meant to be looking after you daughter, that's what a father does!"

"I'm sorry Debbie. It was a complete accident. Ask the Docs. Listen, I'm sorry alright?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Georgie observed a tender moment as Elvis pulled Debbie into his arms as she surrendered to his embrace.

Pangs of jealousy seemed to reverberate around Georgie, surprising herself by how her emotions seemed to be taking over.

He is a stranger. Get a fucking hold of yourself, girl!

Finishing the stitches quickly, Georgie stood up and clasped her hands together, creating a clapping noise that broke the moment between Elvis and Debbie. They both turned and looked at her expectantly,

"Right, somebody is all mended now and ready to go home. I'll just get your paperwork signed off and the Doctor will return with a prescription for some extra gauze and ointment, just to be on the safe side." Georgie smiled curtly at them both and rushed out of the cubicle without a second glance.

Finally…she thought, checking the clock, absolutely certain that she could take her lunch break now.

Georgie headed straight for the door and marched to the cafeteria without a backward glance.

She spied Jamie, identifying his broad figure in an instant, sat at one of the corner tables, cradling a polystyrene cup, probably containing a flat white. He stood up as Georgie reached the table and kissed her on the cheek. Jamie gestured for her to sit down, before doing so himself.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" He said, reaching for Georgie's hand.

Georgie's gaze suddenly fell on their fingers interlinked and a guilty feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Only minutes ago she had been holding another man's hand. Somebody she had slept with just last night.

Christ, what a mess!

"Are you alright? You seem a little quiet?"

Georgie desperately tried to keep her facial expression as neutral as possible. She waved her hand in dismissal.

"I'm just hungover is all. We went pretty hard core last night for Lola's hen do."

That wasn't a lie.

"You didn't come home though right? I was dead asleep but I noticed your uniform was still hanging up on the back of the bedroom door."

Good old faithful, naive Jamie. Asking the question so innocently, genuinely concerned about Georgie's welfare. Not in the slightest bit worried about the trust between them.

Georgie shook her head.

This was going to be tricky. She wouldn't lie to Jamie, she would just avoid telling him the absolute truth.

"The prosecco went to my head, babe. Totally wrecked by about midnight so I shared a cab with ...Ariya, one of the Midwives that were out with us. She lives near the hospital so I thought it would just save money and I could get more sleep this morning. Not that it's helped."

Jamie smiled in complete understanding. Obviously.

"That makes sense. You're lucky you have friends who live so locally."

"Oh yeah, definitely." Georgie murmured, taking a sip of her coffee.

One sugar, lots of milk, ordered just the way she liked it when she was feeling like crap.

Jamie knew her so well and clearly loved her.

Oh god, I am a terrible person…

Mid week update...enjoy :) Looking forward to seeing what you think x