Break

by nowseehere

Patience Mount is the senior nurse at the Nonnatus Clinic. She's also the stressed out, grouchy, bitch of the office with unhealthy coping mechanisms that everyone knows to stay the hell away from at all times. Fresh out of nursing school, Delia Busby is thrown into this mess of a woman's life, and is instantly resented. Who is this sniveling kid with her sloppy uniform and cheery

2. Chapter 2

'Busby!'

A hush fell over the nurses in the kitchen area. Everyone was gathered, chattering and saying their 'Good Morning's over steaming hot cups of tea or coffee. All eyes turned to the tall redhead glowering in the doorway, her gaze intense as she glared at the small brunette, fresh from nursing school and looking pretty terrified right about now.

'My office. Now.'

Patsy waited for Delia to follow. She watched as smaller woman looked to the other nurses for help but no one was going to throw her a lifeline. Valerie offered a tight, sympathetic smile, and plopped two more sugar cubes into Delia's tea before the brunette quickly ducked her head and scurried out of the kitchen area towards Patsy's office, the tall redhead following close behind.

Patsy closed the door behind them when they were inside, Delia clutching her tea mug tight in both hands.

'Put your tea down, Busby,' Patsy said as calm as she could.

Delia slowly did as instructed, placing the tea on Patsy's desk.

'Have a good evening?' Patsy asked, her eyes wide and attentive, a small smile forced on her face.

Delia blinked, looking rather taken back by the question, 'Oh, um, y-yes. Yourself?'

Patsy placed her hand in her hips and looked down at her shoes, chucking. Her expression was fierce when she looked back up at Delia.

'No, Busby!' Patsy shouted, and Delia flinched, which is precisely why Patsy asked her to put her tea down, 'I bloody well fucking idid not/i have a good evening because I was stuck here! Until iwell/i after midnight correcting iyour/i mistakes, redoing iyour/i work!'

Patsy reached over to her desk and picked up a file, 'Type up what's written here in the notes!' she continued, 'Was I unclear about that?!'

Delia only blinked, still looking rather terrified.

'I asked you a question, Busby,' Patsy said, practically snarling.

'N-no,' Delia choked out, hunching her shoulders, trying to make herself smaller than she already was.

Patsy took a step back, holding her hands out, 'Now I have a few more questions,' she said in a more normal, calm voice, 'just in case I'm overlooking something here.'

Delia remained silent, looking to be about on the verge of tears.

'Are you dyslexic?' Patsy asked.

Delia raised an eyebrow, but answered feebly, 'N-no.'

Patsy raised her hand and held up two fingers, 'How many fingers am I holding up?'

Delia looked thoroughly confused now, but answered, 'Two.'

Patsy took several steps back and held up her fingers again, 'How about now? Are they fuzzy?'

Delia sighed, turning red in the face, 'No.'

Patsy put her hand back down and stepped towards Delia once more, clasping her hands together, 'Alright, to recap,' Patsy said, 'My instructions iwere/i clear, you idid/i understand them, you ican/i read, and you're inot/i blind, nor do you need glasses,' Patsy blinked, 'Have I got that right? That the gist of it, yeah?'

Delia's brows furrowed and she was now glaring at Patsy, her mouth a tight line across her face as she quietly said, 'Yes.'

'Then do you mind explaining to me what the bloody hell happened?'

Delia took a deep breath, her brows still furrowed angrily, unable to meet Patsy's eye, 'I… I was… in school I was…'

'Well!?' Patsy shouted, watching Delia jump, 'Spit it out, girl, I haven't got all day!'

'I was never taught to read cursive,' Delia finally said, taking a breath and opening her eyes to gauge Patsy's reaction.

Patsy felt her jaw go slack, her eyes blinked slowly as she processed this information.

'You were never taught... are you fucking joking?'

Delia looked rather ashamed, 'No.'

Patsy brought both her hands to her mouth pressed together looking as if she were in prayer. She shook her head in disbelief and mumbled, 'Jesus fucking christ…'

She looked back at Delia with her hands on her hips, 'When… when did they stop teaching cursive in schools? Why?'

'Everyone types everything now. They stopped teaching it because nobody uses it anymore…'

'Nobody…' Patsy said in a state of disbelief, 'Nobody?!' she repeated incredulously, 'Busby, do I look like inobody/i to you!?'

'N-No…' Delia hunched her shoulders again, looking like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole.

'It didn't occur to you to come and find me and tell me this little… no, this ivastly/i important tidbit of information yesterday? Especially before you fucking left without completing the work I assigned to you?!'

Delia blinked several times, shaking her head as she sighed.

'I-I'm Sorry. Nurse Crane came in to talk to me and sent me-,' Delia's hands swayed at her sides, and she knocked over her tea mug, making a mess all over Patsy's desk and office floor.

Patsy growled and saw red. She felt like she wanted to rip her hair out and scream. Instead, she left a startled Delia fussing over the mess she made while she stormed out of her office, slamming the door hard behind her as she rushed down the corridor to Nurse Cranes office, desperately fighting off the urge to show her facial tick. She clenched her teeth and glowered, preventing herself from winking.

Without warning, she flung the door to the office open to find Phyllis sitting casually at her desk, her half moon glasses perched at the end of her nose while she sipped her tea and read the morning paper.

'Top marks in her class, hmm?' Patsy said through clenched teeth, 'Certainly could have fooled me. They must just be igiving/i away degrees at whatever Uni she came from like candy,' she seethed, shutting the door behind her, 'Exactly what standards are they holding students to these days? Because so far the girl has only shown me that she is the most incompetent, useless waste of time, basically doubling my workload in the 24 hours she's been here!'

Phyllis gave an exasperated sigh, folding her paper as Patsy continued.

'Send her back, Phyllis!' Patsy demanded, her arms flailing wildly at her sides, 'Send her back and have her at least replaced with someone older! Someone with a shred of experience! Someone who wasn't still in gestation when Lady Diana was bloody fucking killed!'

'For god's sake, Patsy, you barely worked with her at all yesterday. What has she done that's so terrible,' Phyllis responded, looking rather nonplussed at Patsys tantrum.

'She can't bloody read the files, that's bloody what!' Patsy blinked, her hands at the sides of her face like she absolutely could not believe she was saying this, 'Can't read cursive! Can't read my handwriting. Was never taught it in school! Have I gone mad?! Is there a whole generation of children now who can't read historical documents? Their parents handwriting? Who will never have a signature?!'

Phyllis rolled her eyes, throwing her newspaper on the table and removing her glasses 'Nurse Mount! If you had done as I instructed yesterday and had her work alongside you, this wouldn't be a problem.'

'Oh, it bloody well is a problem for our society, that's what,' Patsy said crossing her arms.

'Oh don't be such a snob,' Phyllis sneered, 'I can barely read your chicken scratch as it is! I'm tempted to go out and buy her a cake just for attempting to translate your scribbles.'

Patsy took a deep breath through her nose and narrowed her eyes at Phyllis.

'In any case it's certainly not Nurse Busbys fault if she was never taught to read cursive. Times change. You think I wanted to spend the time learning to use a computer when they came about in the 90's? I had better things to do, but I did it because time doesn't stand still for anyone. Methods and technologies in the medical field change and improve all the time. You're going to spend the entirety of your career studying and learning new things and working hard to break old habits that become outdated. Old folks like you and I have to adapt and change with the times. That includes letting go of some things we were raised to do. Like writing in cursive.'

Patsy glowered, not appreciating being referred to as old. Or as having chicken scratch for handwriting for that matter.

'Look, Patsy, have her shadow you proper today. Let her be there to actually watch you work and interact with the patients. If she's unable to read your handwriting, make iher/i hand write the bloody files as you're examining the patients. I don't see why you're making this to be so bloody difficult.'

'I work better alone, that's why. Some bloody kid tagging along is only going to slow me down.'

'Tough!' Phyllis shouted, 'All you do is complain about being overworked, so just take the bloody time to slow down for one week to show her how it's done, for god's sake! She's a blank slate, Mount, this is your chance to mold her into someone you can actually count on to do the work to iyour/i standards!'

Patsy took several deep breaths, glaring at Phyllis. She knew she had a point but was too stubborn to admit it. She uncrossed her arms and fixed her hair, tucking back a strand that fell loose as she paced Phyllis' office.

'And you could stand to be a little nicer to the girl,' Phyllis remarked, leaning back in her desk chair with a squeak. 'She looks as if she's about to soil herself whenever you're near.'

'The dumb twat already wet her tea all over my desk,' Patsy grumbled under her breath.

'It is iNurse Busby/i, Nurse Mount!' Phyllis shouted, rising from her chair, 'You will address her as such!'

'I will address her as such when she has shown me she is worthy of the title!' Patsy snapped back.

'How can she when you haven't even given her the chance!'

Patsy clenched her teeth and growled, having had enough of being berated by Phyllis, and spun on her heel, throwing open the door to Phyllis' office and rushing back to hers where she saw Delia standing by her door, looking worried.

'I'm sorry about the tea,' she mumbled weakly, her hand rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

Patsy ignored her, rushing past her and slammed her office door. She paced her office as she breathed, rolling up her sleeve and biting deep into her arm. She held tight for several seconds until the bite throbbed, each beat of her pulse releasing an ounce of stress at a time before she was satiated.

Patsy rolled down her sleeve to her wrist, taking several deep breaths. Once she was calm, she looked around her office and saw that Delia had actually done a decent job of cleaning up her tea and stacking the files that had been on her desk in a neat pile. At least she could do something right, Patsy thought.

With every ounce of patience she could muster in the moment, Patsy opened the door and stepped aside.

'Busby, come here.'

Delia timidly stepped into the office and stood by Patsy's desk, clasping her hands firmly in front of her to prevent a similar accident from happening.

Patsy shut the door quietly, her hand remained in the doorknob, the other hand on her hip as she looked at Delia, her gaze stern.

'Listen Busby. I don't want to train you.'

'You have made that fairly clear,' Delia quipped.

'iQuiet/i,' Patsy seethed, her nostrils flaring, 'I don't want to train you, but I'm being forced to against my will, and until I do we are stuck together for however long it takes for you to learn your job. Now, given the brief period of time you have known me, do I seem like a pleasant person to be around?'

'Not at all,' Delia mumbled, raising an eyebrow.

'Splendid. I figured we would be on the same page in that regard,' Patsy managed a small smile before scowling again, 'So here is what's going to happen,' she paused, taking another deep breath before continuing, 'While you are under my charge, you are going to do everything I ask you to. You are going to assist me with my rounds. You are going to isilently/i observe everything I do. You iwill/i pay attention to how I interact with the patients, what questions I ask, and how I record my notes,' Patsy paused, taking stock of Delia's expression, which remained blank or the most part, 'you will take over handwriting their vitals in the files and typing them up at the end of the day. That way there is no… miscommunication, so to speak. Do you understand?'

Delia nodded.

'When we are done you iwill/i sit here with me and we iwill/i go through the files together and you iwill/i record what you have written into the software correctly, and you're inot/i to leave this evening until I look it over. In fact, you're not to leave until I say, is that clear?'

Delia sadly nodded, and Patsy could see a little life die behind her eyes at this instruction.

'If I find anything is incorrect or not done properly, I'm going to make you sit here for as long as it takes to do it correctly, ten times over, until it's engraved into your brain. Do you understand?'

Again, Delia nodded, her shoulders slumped. She looked as if Patsy had finally killed her spirit and it made Patsy a little happy to be honest.

'Wonderful,' Patsy said with as little enthusiasm as possible, 'if you have the smarts Phyllis thinks you do, this shouldn't take however many weeks they think it will, and then I won't have to babysit the new kid anymore,' Patsy sighed, ignoring Delia's glare at her comment, 'Come on then, let's get started. I can already hear the shrill cries of children with ear infections in the lobby,' she remarked as she moved to open the door to her office.

Patsy paused, looking back down at Delia with a scowl.

'And for god's sake, Busby,' Patsy sighed exasperated, gesturing to Delia's scrubs, 'cuff your ifucking/i trousers, will you? You look like a stack of pancakes.'

Patsy swung open the door and walked out of her office, leaving Delia looking down at herself with a confused glance to her appearance.

hr

The course of the morning went as planned. Patsy saw her patients and Delia observed silently in the corner after a blasé introduction from the more senior nurse. For once Patsy felt grateful that the woman was so small and quiet, she was particularly good at making herself disappear and Patsy hardly knew she was there for the vast majority of her exams. Delia did as instructed and wrote down the patients information in her own handwriting so she could type it up later with little confusion. Patsy was greatful Delia's notetaking skills were up to par and she needed to make no corrections, though she figured that was because she was fresh out of school.

Patsy let Delia go for lunch, and took the hour alone to type up unfinished files from the previous evening. She was just about done before Trixie appeared in her doorway and leaned against the frame, polishing the apple in her hand against her shirt.

'So how are you getting on with Delia?' Trixie asked.

'Who?' Patsy asked, clacking away at her keyboard and not bothering to look up at Trixie.

Trixie rolled her eyes, 'Delia! The one everyone heard you yelling at first thing.'

'Oh, Busby' Patsy grimaced, not particularly caring to be reminded she would be tied at the hip with the smaller woman for the rest of the week, 'yes, well I find her particularly engaging in most matters relating to philosophy, the arts, and literature. Has a good head on her shoulders, that one.'

Trixie raised an eyebrow, 'Really?'

Patsy merely glared at Trixie and the blonde in the doorway shrugged.

'Oh, well, I'm sure she'll catch on.'

'She can't even read cursive,' Patsy mumbled.

'Patsy, nobody can read your bloody handwriting.'

'What the- Why has no one told me this before?' she asked flummoxed. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, 'You know what, never mind. Trix, why don't you take her on then? Leave me be to do my work alone with my shitty handwriting if the lot of you have a problem with it.'

'Because I'm already managing the other three you didn't want.'

'So what difference is one more going to make? They're like Pokémon. Collect them all.'

'No!' Trixie said, throwing her apple at Patsy who caught it with her right hand, 'besides, you need to learn to play well with others.'

'I get excellent reviews from my patients, thanks,' Patsy said, taking a bite of Trixies apple.

'There's a difference when you're being nice to people you only have to see for 20 minutes. What's so hard about getting to know the people you work with?'

'What, engage in chit chat about another's personal life? Or worse, imy/i personal life? No thanks.'

'Patsy we all know you have no life outside the clinic,' Trixie smirked.

'Ha,' Patsy said, taking another bite, 'Speaking of which, I need to speak to Barbara. She did a shoddy job of wiping clean the instruments last night and I've half a mind to dump them on her desk and make her do it again.'

'How do you know it was her?' Trixie asked.

'Because it was iher/i name written on the board as the last person to clean them,' Patsy narrowed her eyes at Trixie, 'the one iyou/i ought to be maintaining so everyone has a rotation.'

Trixie sighed, closing her eyes to keep Patsy from seeing how far back in her head they had rolled, 'I'll… I'll talk to Barbara, alright? She's terrified of you.'

Patsy took another bite of apple and grunted, 'At any rate, I have the new girl working alongside me in complete silence and I like it that way. Makes it seem like she's not there at all.'

'Patsy, what's so bad about Delia anyway?' Trixie asked.

Patsy sighed, leaning back in her chair, 'Trixie, I just don't have the bloody patience to teach someone all this shit from scratch. I just wish the NHS could send us someone for once who could hit the ground running and help take the load off me and Phyllis instead of burdening us with new nurses who know absolutely nothing…' Patsy trailed off, shaking her head.

She grew angry again thinking about Delia, 'I just don't like her. There's something that grates me about her that I can't put my finger on. Doesn't help that her incompetence kept me here half the night correcting her work. She didn't even bother to tell me she couldn't bloody read.'

'Pats,' Trixie said.

'She's also clumsy! Made a mess of my office this morning and everything.'

'Patsy,' Trixie said again, more firm.

'And as far as I know, she still hasn't cuffed her fucking trousers!'

'Patsy, iwill/i you ishut up/i.'

Patsy finally looked over to Trixie, who was blushing a deep scarlet and looking out of the corner of her eye.

Patsy sighed, leaning back in her chair and shouted, 'Busby!'

Delia slowly appeared around the frame of the door, her cheeks flushed pink and looking down, unable to meet Patsy's eyes.

'Well, Busby,' Patsy said, her eyes narrowing as she gave the girl a once over, 'you still have the appearance of a flakey breakfast pastry,' she said as she opened a file on her desk that was written up by Delia that morning, 'but at least so far you've proved to me you're not completely useless.'

'Patsy!' Trixie scolded.

hr

Several days passed where Delia silently followed Patsy, observing her work and handwriting the vitals of the patients so she could type them up at the end of the day. Patsy was particularly thrilled to find that she could leave Delia alone for five minutes typing up her files while she escaped for the occasional fag and to make a round or two through the clinic to check up on the other nurses. More often than not she would need to loudly disperse little group chats in the back office or threaten to take someone's mobile away when there were still patients to attend or instruments to sanitize. It didn't help matters when they would scurry out like cockroaches from the back room as she approached, leaving behind a mess of crumpled up rubbish and tea and sugar spilled everywhere. Patsy was too much of a neat freak to let it go unattended for long so she cleaned it herself, grumbling the entire time about how anyone could become a medical professional without having her insatiable drive for cleanliness.

Before Patsy knew it, the weekend was upon her and she could finally have some time to herself where she could partake in her favorite hobbies of chain smoking and drinking whiskey alone in her flat, her cat George around to keep her company. She would never have the company of other people in her flat for fear they would think her peculiar for having absolutely no mirrors, save the small one by the door she used to check her hair and makeup before leaving for her shift each morning. Patsy hated looking at herself, especially unclothed as her body was riddled with scars she didn't care to see, reminding her of a time when she was weak and vulnerable and too small to fight back. The scars were mostly hidden from view on her back and hips, and despite not being able to see them in full, she still resented her body. From those early ages she was made to feel wrong. Made to feel incorrect for simply existing. Simply being. She knew this was why she didn't care about making more scars in her arm when she was stressed out. She didn't care what she was doing to her body with her poor diet, no exercise, over drinking, and chain smoking. What was the point of being kind to herself when she already knew she could take a beating. It was all she knew.

Patsy always thought she would finally have some time to get a decent night's sleep on the weekends, but it never came. The whiskey made her tired but it never knocked her out like it would a normal person after the amount she consumed. Patsy refused to take sleeping pills, either, thinking she had enough vices and didn't want to take the risk of taking on another unhealthy habit. So she lay in bed with George and did the only thing she could think of to help her relax, play her records and smoke her cigarettes. She didn't know how many she had smoked that evening, too consumed with watching the white moke bend in the moonlight filtering through her blinds as her Radiohead record hissed under the needle between songs. She willed her mind to try and turn off, but it raced with thoughts, things that had happened and things she needed to get done. Staring at the blank ceiling didn't help matters, as there was nothing to distract her mind from venturing off into the past where she desperately did not want to be.

She was grateful when a call came and interrupted her sleepiness Saturday night, a patient having gone into labor and requesting her presence in the delivery room. She was exhausted, but with sleep eluding her, assisting with the delivery would at least give her something to do. It wasn't until Sunday afternoon did she return to her flat and finally pass out in her bed, completely exhausted after almost 30 hours of no sleep.

hr

The start of a new week began and Patsy had decided that Delia had enough observing and was ready to get in on the action, checking over patients vitals herself and giving them their injections if needed.

Delia took the lead with examining patients that Monday morning while Patsy observed. She had no intention of leaping in and helping Delia, but it seemed every two seconds Delia would look to Patsy for validation that she was doing something correctly, or pause to think about something before acting on it, which confounded Patsy because the girl had just watched her go through all these same motions over the course of the last week. Additionally, the girl seemed to get on well with children but looked overwhelmingly uncomfortable handling infants. It was as if she were afraid any kind of touching or holding would break them.

Needless to say, this aggravated Patsy, and after the third or fourth examination Delia was supposed to spearhead for that day, Patsy pulled her into the hallway away from the ears of any patients that might be nearby.

'Busby, listen,' Patsy began, feeling frustrated with the new girl and struggling to keep her voice low, 'the point of this is for you to learn how to work alone.'

Delia nodded silently.

Patsy sighed through her nose, 'Well, you've watched me work all last week and you still don't seem sure of what you're doing.'

'I just… want to make sure I'm doing it exactly as you did,' Delia scratched her head, 'it's just hard sometimes because some of the questions were different from the others…'

'Busby you don't,' Patsy closed her eyes and clenched her fist in frustration, 'you don't need to examine every patient verbatim to how I did last week. Everyone is different with different needs, alright?'

'Oh,' Delia said, 'that makes sense.'

Patsy rolled her eyes, 'Busby listen, you're not in school anymore. There isn't always going to be someone right in front of you giving you instructions. You're a nurse… supposedly,' she added under her breath, 'out in the real life medical field, away from your textbooks and instructors, and you're going to have to actually iuse/i your brain now and make decisions based on your own judgement.'

Delia frowned at her.

Patsy stared at her, 'You have had to do that before, yes? Or have you had your hand held all through life letting other people make decisions for you?'

Delia remained silent, and Patsy tilted her head, her hands coming to her hips as as she looked down at Delia incredulously.

'Have you ever had a job before? Ever in your life?' Patsy continued as Delia only looked down at her hands, 'I mean anything. Anything at all. Flipping burgers? Scooping ice cream? Selling tickets at the movie theater?'

Patsys aggravation only rose within her as Delia remained silent, blushing and looking away.

'You just…'. Patsy brought her hands to her face as she felt the tension grow, her eye in the verge of succumbing to that stressed out tick again, 'This is your absolute first job,' she said more to herself than to Delia. She looked down and scowled at the kid, her hands gesturing wildly in Delia's direction, 'Everything that annoys me about young people these days is just manifested right in front of me. No wonder you're so bloody clueless and unsure of yourself. You've never had to be responsible for anything in your whole life.'

Patsy couldn't stand to look at Delia at the moment and she moved to turn and head towards another examination room where she knew a patient would be waiting. She stopped herself and turned back to Delia as a thought occurred, noting the girl was staring daggers back at Patsy, which went ignored.

'By the by,' Patsy started, 'I know they're infants, but they're not the delicate pieces of crystal you seem to think they are. You're not going to break them if you hold firm onto a wiggly limb for an injection, you understand?'

Patsy looked on for a moment as Delia blushed and nodded, but remained silent.

'You don't seem terribly comfortable around babies,' Patsy continued, 'are you sure midwifery is the path you want to take? Have you ever even held a baby before?'

Delia's face seemed to crack and Patsy watched as she tucked her bottom lip into her mouth and looked away, her eyes suddenly glazed over.

'Nurse Mount!' Valerie called, trotting over to them, 'And Nurse Busby,' she added with a smile to Delia, 'Nurse Crane has just asked me to come and fetch you. She wants to see both of you in her office'.

'I need to use the toilet, excuse me,' Delia said quickly, scurrying away before anyone could react.

Patsy looked on for a moment rather perplexed, watching her disappear around the corner.

'Was it something I said?' Valerie asked.

Patsy shook her head and gave an annoyed sigh, resolving that Delia was just being emotional.

Valerie shrugged, 'Oh, well, anyway, Nurse Crane needs ya. She wouldn't say what for though.'

Patsy merely gave a tired sigh and headed in the direction of her boss' office.

She cracked open the door just enough to stick her head through to see three people: Nurse Crane, Ms. Julienne, and the maintenance man Fred Buckle. All hovering over Nurse Cranes' desk.

Without moving into the room, Patsy merely raised an eyebrow and caught Nurse Crane's eye, 'You rang?'

The other two heads in the room turned to look at Patsy, Julienne smiling wide as she addressed her.

'Come in Nurse Mount! We have a wonderful opportunity for you and Nurse Busby.'

Patsy gave a sarcastic chuckle and shook her head.

'No. No you don't,' she said as she shut the door and began walking away. Talk like that led to nothing good as far as she was concerned. Especially if it also involved the new kid.

'Nurse Mount!' Patsy heard the shrill cry of her boss Nurse Crane, 'Get back here this instant!'

Patsy stopped in her tracks, taking a moment to cast her eyes to the ceiling and let out a long sigh. When she turned around she almost bumped into Delia who supposedly just returned from the toilets, her eyes looking a bit red.

'We'll go on then!' Patsy said impatiently, gesturing to the door, 'You've got more patients to get on with after this. Let's make it quick.'

Delia hunched her shoulders at Patsys harsh tone and ducked into the office. Patsy followed and slammed the door behind her, not looking forward to what the the other three in the room had in store.

'What is it?' Patsy crossed her arms, glaring at Julienne, 'What do you want?'

'Clear your schedule for the weekend!' Julienne said excitedly.

'No,' Patsy closed her eyes and shook her head.

'There's been an opening at the women's health medical conference!' Julienne continued cheerily.

'No there hasn't.' Patsy said, and began pacing the room.

'In Aberdeen!' Julienne finished, looking rather pleased at Patsys reaction to the news.

'God, ino/i! Phyllis!'

'iWill you be quiet/i, Nurse Mount!' Phyllis snapped angrily at Patsy.

'Scotland?! Really?' the redhead shouted, glaring daggers back at Phyllis, her jaw clenched tight.

'For your information,' Phyllis continued calmly, ignoring Patsys anger, 'there is a two day panel on modern midwifery at this conference and the nurse who was going to present had to drop out from the panel due to medical reasons. She has requested you iby name/i to fill her place!'

'What?! Who?' Patsy asked.

'Shelagh Turner ring a bell?' Julienne asked, and Patsy's mind flashed with recognition at the name to the modest midwife, mousy woman, soft spoken Scottish accent if she recalled correctly, with horned rimmed glasses. She seemed a bit too pius to be married in Patsy's opinion, but Patsy was there to assist in her growing brood of children.

'Good friend of mine, actually,' Julienne continued, 'a wonderful midwife herself, which is why she was on the panel. She moved back home to Aberdeen with her family after you helped delivered her daughter, actually. She was highly impressed with you, Nurse Mount. Thinks you're one of the best out there despite your age, and… temperament,' she added quietly.

Patsy scowled, 'Well what the bloody hell am I supposed to even talk about on this panel? I'm in practice, not academic research!'

'That's precisely why she will be sending you her notes, Patsy,' Julienne continued, 'she's already summarized everything she would like you to cover with the other panelists, and she feels you'll be up to the task with answering any questions from the other attendees.'

'And if I refuse to go?' Patsy looked to Phyllis with an eyebrow raised, her hands on her hips challengingly.

'It's too late Patsy,' Phyllis said, leaning back in her chair with a squeak, 'I've already volunteered your name.'

'This is inot/i volunteering!' Patsy exclaimed, 'I'm being itold/i to go! iAgainst my will/i, I might add!'

'Well in that case I'm volun-itelling/i you to attend this conference, iPatsy/i, and you iwill/i attend without a fight, or I'll sack ya!' Phyllis cried shrilly, her eyes wide and focused on the redhead.

'Phyllis for once I just wish you would follow through on that threat,' Patsy said, closing her eyes and squeezing her fists in frustration.

Julienne cleared her throat and turned to Delia, 'Nurse Busby,' she said, a strained smile on her face.

Everyone in the room looked to the small brunette who had remained silent throughout this debacle, her hand covering her mouth to conceal a smile, but there was no hiding the amusement in her eyes as she witnessed Patsy's tantrum.

Delia cleared her throat and removed her hand, crossing her arms in front of her, 'Yes, Ms. Julienne?'

'We feel accompanying Nurse Mount to this conference would be a good learning opportunity for you, along with networking with midwives from across the country. Get your feet wet in the profession, so to speak. How does that sound?'

Delia gave a spiteful side glance to Patsy, who tutted and rolled her eyes right back.

'Sounds grand,' Delia mustard with as little enthusiasm as possible.

'Well splendid!' Julienne said with a smile, 'We all think this will be a wonderful experience for the two of you. Spending time together, building comradery…' she trailed off with a large grin, only growing wider the more Patsy scowled.

'When do we fly out?' Patsy sighed, sounding defeated.

Julienne and Phyllis exchanged a look and chortled condescendingly, and Patsy suddenly felt a sick feeling deep in the pit of her stomach.

Julienne clasped her hands in front of her and turned to Fred, 'Actually, Mr. Buckle here has been kind enough to offer his time to spruce up the car for your journey-'

'Whoa,' Patsy said, holding out her hands, 'stop. Am I hearing this correctly?' she looked incredulously to Phyllis, 'ithe car/i?'

'Yes Nurse Mount,' Julienne said.

'You're having us idrive/i?' she blinked at the three surrounding the desk as they stared back at her blankly, 'to iScotland/i?'

'That's putting it plainly, yes,' Phyllis said with an exasperated sigh.

Patsy sputtered, 'Well, iwhy/i? That's at least a 12 hour journey! Why can't we take a flight?'

'I've got the car all spick and span for ya,' Fred chimed in, gripping his newsboy cap between his hands nervously, obviously intimidated by the strong personalities in the room, 'just changed the oil and antifreeze, made sure the tires were good and full of air. The heating works perfectly for the cold weather up there...'

He trailed off after catching sight of the two nurses in front of him glowering, their eyes narrowed and lips pursed in absolute revulsion that a man was speaking.

'Oh, where's your sense of adventure, Patsy?' Phyllis said, raising her arms, completely ignoring Patsy's expression, 'spend the day driving up and seeing the countryside. When's the last time you even took a trip anyway? Enjoy the ride! See the sights along the way!'

'Also it's just a little out of our budget to fly the two of you up there for the weekend,' Julienne added quietly, clearing her throat before she continued, 'but the hotel is all squared away and we will comp for any meals you pay out of pocket for.'

'You ship out bright and early Thursday,' Phyllis smiled at the two women standing before her.

Patsy rolled her eyes and shifted from one foot to the other with her hands on her hips. This whole thing sounded like it was going to be bloody terrible.

'Well, that's settled then,' Julienne said with a finality in her tone, 'I'm sure you two have patients to attend to.'

Patsy gave one last glare at Juliennes cheeky smile before turning and exiting the office. She waited for Delia to follow, who stopped in her tracks and looked at Patsy expectantly as she closed the door to the office.

'Do you even know how to drive?' Patsy asked, looking down at Delia.

'I do. Do you?' she asked with a slight quip in her tone, eyebrow raised.

Patsy was slightly taken back at her tone, 'I… I get on alright,' she said, feeling a bit self conscious suddenly, realizing it had been at least a decade since she had really driven a car, not needing to being in the city most of her life. Surely the basic mechanics hadn't changed that much, had they?

'You don't sound very confident,' Delia said, crossing her arms.

Patsy narrowed her eyes, 'I can drive,' she confirmed, her tone stern.

There was something in Delia's posture suddenly that had Patsy feeling challenged. Her arms were crossed, shoulders back, her gaze unrelenting with Patsy's. Delia was still much smaller than Patsy but the way she carried herself in that instant commanded respect and power and Patsy felt intimidated by it all of a sudden.

Patsy shook her head, wondering what had happened between their last exchange and now. The girl who had been cowering whenever Patsy was near was suddenly gone and replaced with someone that boasted an exuberant confidence, but, how? When? What happened?

Patsy was pulled from her thoughts when Trixie approached.

'Hey Patsy,' Trixie began, nodding politely to Delia, 'Nurse Busby, pardon the interruption, but I need to steal Nurse Mount away from you this afternoon.'

'Please do,' Delia quipped under her breath, just loud enough for Patsy to hear. The redhead glared at Delia, but remained silent as Trixie addressed her.

'There's been a call about a patient of yours, Mrs. Foster?' Trixie said, looking to Patsy for validation of recognition, 'Her doctor at the London said she's gone into labor and the baby is breech. He's requesting your assistance with the delivery.'

'Right,' Patsy sighed tiredly, looking to Delia, 'I think it's a bit soon for you to be shadowing me in theater. Do you think you can finish off with this afternoon's patients on your own? You can check in with Trixie if you need help with anything.'

'I think I can manage,' Delia said quietly, her tone short.

Patsy hummed an acknowledgement, not particularly interested on her response. She made to go back to her office to collect her things when she turned back, looking to Delia, 'And Busby, do remember what I said about infants.'

Delia's fierce blue eyes locked in on Patsy's and narrowed spitefully, 'Oh, I remember,' she said.

Patsy's heart thumped against her ribcage suddenly at the girls expression, her eyebrow raising curiously as she witnessed Delia seeth slightly at the sight of Patsy before turning and disappearing into an exam room, her expression transforming to one of pure joy at the sight of the ten month old with her father on the other side of the door.

Patsy blinked and shook her head, willing the image away from her brain as she made her way to the London, though throughout the afternoon she was unable to shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, wondering if she had crossed a line with the new kid somehow.

hr

The delivery was a complicated one and Patsy returned to the clinic after closing, well into the evening. She had only meant to pop in to collect some of the things she had left behind, her lunch bag, her thermos. She shuffled around in the kitchen area collecting her things before turning off the light, but another light left on in the corridor caught her attention. It was the light to her office.

With an impatient sigh, thinking it was Busby who had carelessly left it on before leaving, she walked back to turn it off and shut the door. Her arm reached in and her hand felt for the switch on the wall, pausing in place as Patsy heard a faint snore. She laid eyes on a figure still at her desk. It was Busby, the girl sleeping with her head in her arms, files strewn across the desk, some laying open. Patsy couldn't help but shake her head and tut at the disorganization.

'Busby,' Patsy said. The girl didn't respond. Patsy sighed and crossed her arms, leaning against the frame of the door.

'Bus… Delia.' Patsy said louder, more firm, and that did the trick. For a split second, Patsy realized that this was the first time the new kids name had ever been said out loud by her. Patsy immediately liked the way it rolled out of her mouth. It felt pleasant, how it started from the front of her mouth and ended in the back. The name itself was actually quite pretty, she thought, before blinking rapidly and pulling herself back into the moment.

Delia shot up in her seat, the chair rolling back noisily on the floor. There was a piece of paper stuck to her face as she looked around confused momentarily, gathering her bearings.

'Mm... ' Delia mumbled, blinking her eyes open, plucking the piece of paper from her face and placing it back in the file she had been sleeping on, 'Sorry,' she said tiredly.

'Busby, what are you doing here?' Patsy asked with a raised eyebrow.

Delia took a deep breath before responding, 'Your instructions were not leave until you say,' she said blithely, seemingly disinterested in meeting Patsy's eyes.

Patsy smirked, 'So what, you were just going to sleep here all night if I never came back?'

Patsy watched on as Delia reached up and let down her hair from her ponytail and fall around her shoulders. She ran her fingers through the dark strands, fluffing out her hair before pulling it back and situating it into a neat ponytail again. The sight absolutely hypnotized Patsy.

Delia was… ipretty/i. Her name was pretty. iShe/i was pretty. Patsy's gaze remained fixed on the girl, her expression mesmerized until the younger woman stood from the chair, fussing with the files on the desk.

'Sorry about the mess,' she said, ignoring Patsy's question, and she began stacking the files into a neat pile.

'Busby, just,' Patsy cleared her throat, feeling her face grow hot, 'leave it for the morning. Go home.'

Patsy felt herself sigh, exhausted. All she wanted to do was go home herself and try to get some sleep, and if the kid wasn't going to leave until she did, then she would need to force her out.

Delia paused and looked at Patsy, finally.

'Really,' Patsy insisted, 'it's fine.'

Delia stopped what she was doing and exited the office, and Patsy couldn't help but notice that the girl had cuffed her trousers as she watched her walk down the corridor to the back room.

Patsy flicked off the light and closed the door to her office, turning to follow Delia. The girl was already rummaging through her things when Patsy entered the back room.

'Listen,' Patsy began tiredly, 'since you stayed late this evening, just… take the morning off. Come in 'round 10.'

'Will you be coming in late, too?' Delia asked, moving to pull on her coat.

Patsy shook her head, 'No, I'll be in first thing.'

Delia zipped up her coat and shuffled with her rucksack, 'Then I'll be in first thing, too.'

Patsy raised an eyebrow, 'Busby, you don't-'

'It's alright Nurse Mount,' Delia said, her tone firm, 'I'll be in at 7 like everyone else.'

Patsy blinked, mildly impressed with the girls professionalism. She even thought her insistence to work long hours showed a sign of integrity and work ethic she didn't think he girl had. Patsy almost felt like she could hold a shred of respect for the kid.

Patsy looked to the back door, knowing the gloomy pitch black of the winter night was waiting for the two of them on the other side. She turned back to Delia as the girl zipped up her rucksack.

'It's late. Will you be safe… getting home?' Patsy asked.

Delia scowled at her as she hitched her rucksack over her shoulder.

'What do you care?' she said, leaving Patsy rather stunned and speechless as she turned and exited through the back without waiting for a response.

Patsy simply looked at the door as it clicked shut after her. The comment stung deep in her chest or reasons unknown to her, but the kid was right. What idid/i she care? She wanted nothing to do with her. Why should she give a fuck about her. At all.

Patsy zipped up her coat, grabbed her things, and locked up behind her.