A/N: A slightly longer chapter! I know I said this would be slow burn but I got carried away..
When Zosia arrived at work that day, the customary fifteen minutes late with the other F1's in tow, in a flurry of textbooks and Alka-Seltzer to settle tequila hangovers, she hadn't expected she'd be screaming in the face of their mentor a few short hours later. Most surprising because Zosia had worked hard to get back into Jac's favour, still set on proving herself she had almost learned to do exactly as she was told, almost. Jac had assessed her patient and Zosia simply had to order the relevant tests. The patient however displayed a symptom which Zosia believed could be linked to a condition she'd coincidentally read about in a medical journal just the night before.
"Doctor March!" Jac's harsh voice carried from the other end of the ward. Zosia screwed her eyes shut and slowly turned on her heels to face her mentor, she knew that tone far too well.
"My office. Now."
"How DARE you undermine me in front of a patient? That behaviour from a F1 of all people is wholly unacceptable." Zosia clenched her fists and took a deep breath. She was strong now, she would not be broken.
"Undermine you? Ms Naylor I was simply making the patient aware that there were other avenues we could explore."
"Why didn't you order that CT?" Jac's tone was accusatory. Her grey-blue eyes wide with the anger of a woman reasserting her authority.
"I believed the patient was presenting with symptoms that would suggest he needs an ultrasound not a CT. I did try to tell you this!" Zosia snapped, it was more than a hunch, she trusted her instincts on this one.
"You do what I tell you or I throw you off my ward. Do you understand?"
All of a sudden Jac was in her face, the neutral barrier of the desk behind them both. Jac was so close to her now, closer than the time she had bumped into her in the hall. The intensity of it all made Zosia sick.
"Do you understand, Doctor March?" Zosia stared back with her dark eyes wide. She made the mistake of lowering her vision to Jac's lips and of course the older woman noticed. The tiniest hint of a smirk curled at the corners of her mouth.
Instinctively, Zosia wet her lips with her tongue. It took less than a second for her body to react completely separately from her rational brain and close the narrow gap between her mouth and Jac's.
There was no instant hesitation on the part of either woman. It was as if Jac had been expecting it and was waiting to see if Zosia had the courage to go through with it. The smug look that had teased her lips grew into a full smirk against Zosia's hot, desperate mouth. Zosia's mind caught up with the lusty actions of her body and alarm bells sounded shrilly in her head, she was kissing her boss. She was kissing Jac Ice Queen Naylor. She should stop, but it felt so good.
Zosia was rough, she threaded her fingers into the hair at the back of Jac's neck, pulling her impossibly closer. She opened her mouth to gasp for air and returned with her tongue. Jac allowed for a moment before she lightly cupped the younger girls face and pulled away.
"Zosia, stop."
Zosia's eyes were hooded, her full pink lips were pouting at the sudden loss of contact and her chest heaved for breath. Jac swallowed deeply, dear god she was gorgeous, her palm still cupped the girls face so she quickly returned it to her side.
The alarm bells in Zosia's mind grew unbearable in the short few seconds the women stared at each other in heavy silence. She snatched up her stethoscope from Jac's desk and fled the room without a word. Shit.
Zosia didn't breathe a word about the kiss to anyone, least of all her junior doctor housemates but she had a distinct feeling that everyone knew. This was not helped by the way she suddenly encountered Jac everywhere. Beyond paranoid that her friends could hear the echo of her heartbeat that erratically increased when she saw Jac or would notice her obvious effort to avoid the consultant, hurrying away with pink tinged cheeks.
Jac on the other hand was the picture of calm. She quietly observed the adverse reaction of her junior charge to her presence first with amusement. She knew with a modest confidence that she was an attractive woman, but she'd never had this effect on anyone before though. This amusement soon turned to annoyance when Jac realised that in avoiding her, Zosia was missing crucial learning experiences that needed signing off in order for her to become the fantastic surgeon Jac knew she could be. Someone had to make the first move and regretfully it looked like it would have to be her. She was not in the habit of chasing after girls who kissed her.
"Zosia."
Jac caught the girl as she closed the curtain around a patients cubical, she curled her fingers loosely around her wrist.
"Zosia, I know you're avoiding me and it has to stop." They were in the middle of a busy ward, Zosia's eyes desperately scanned for a means of escape or any prying ears. Defeated, she finally let her eyes meet Jac's.
"If I am to continue as your mentor and sign you off on your surgical rotation then we cannot carry on like this, do you understand?"
Zosia panicked suddenly, "I didn't.. that's not why I kissed you Jac! I don't want any preferential treatment if that's what you think!"
The thought had crossed Jac's mind but Zosia's determination to avoid her since that afternoon was not the behaviour of someone out to seduce for personal favours.
"I believe you. But at work we must be professional at all times and your current behaviour towards me is ultimately detrimental to the patients and to your career Doctor March."
Zosia broke the gaze to stare awkwardly at the floor.
"Now I've noticed your portfolio is lacking in cardiothoracic experience. If you want to be as good a surgeon as me then I suggest you give your patients to one of your colleagues for today and scrub up. You assist me in theatre in twenty minutes, quick quick."
Zosia's eyes lit up, she hugged tight the files in her arms and made towards the nurse's station to offload her patients.
A/N: Jasia kisses 3 Review if you're enjoying this!