Chapter 6

…

Connie walked in to the ED just after 9:30am, the reception area was buzzing, not unlike every other day.

"Morning everyone." She smiled.

"Ahh morning Mrs Beauchamp, Tess was looking for you earlier." Louise smiled.

"Oh, good thank you. I'll get her later."

Connie walked into the office she shared with Zoe to see her busy on the phone. She placed her handbag on her desk and removed her coat before taking a seat just as Zoe hung up her phone.

"You're late." Was all Zoe said.

"Yes, sorry about that…terrible traffic."

"Really, it was fine when I left. I managed to get here on time."

"First time for everything then." Connie muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me."

"Oh nothing, so what's on the agenda today then?"

"Mr Self would like you to pop upstairs when you have a spare minute, we have a reception full of patients who need be attended too and oh yes…Tess is looking for you. Some reports you neglected to sign before you left last night, must have been in too much of a rush to get to your date."

"I hardly think that's any of your concern Zoe."

"No, when you date a patient from this ED then yes, it is my concern. Speaking of which, how did it go last night?"

"It went very well, thank you for asking."

"It'll end in disaster, you do know that don't you?"

"Actually no, I don't. I'd like to say I at least tried, if it doesn't work out then so be it. I'd appreciate it if you kept your opinions to yourself okay; it's not interfering with my work that I can see anyway. Perhaps you could concentrate on your own love life…or lack there of." She smiled, walking out of the office.

…

Connie found Tess in one of the cubicles attending to a small child with a gash on her forehead.

"Tess…."

"Dr Beauchamp, morning."

"Dr Hanna said you were looking for me."

"Yes, just a few patient files you forgot to sign off on last night, it's nothing serious…not rush."

"Are you a Doctor?" The young girl asked.

"Dr Beauchamp this is Ellie, she fell of her swing this morning, cut her head. Her Mummy's away to get her some juice."

"Hello Ellie, I am a Doctor, my names Connie."

"My sister has a friend called Connie."

"Does she, that's nice. Is your Sister at school today or is she with your Mum?"

"Em doesn't go to school anymore; she's just finished university…Mummy says she's going places."

Connie stood staring at the young girl when the curtain was pulled back, she turned around to see Em standing in front of her.

"Em…."

"Connie, I mean Dr Beauchamp…hi."

"Em…" Ellie smiled.

"Hey you, how are you doing huh." She smiled, hugging the small child.

"My head hurts."

"Oh sweetie."

"She'll be fine, just a little cut…nothing serious." Tess smiled.

"Thank god."

"Em…."

"Mum."

Em got up and hugged her Mother before the older woman took a seat beside Ellie.

"Thank you for coming darling, she was asking for you."

"Oh no of course."

"Hello, I'm Jennifer Dare, this is my Daughter Em and Ellie of course." She smiled as Connie.

"Hello, I'm Dr Beauchamp."

"She's called Connie too Mummy, just like Em's friend."

Connie and Em stood awkwardly staring at each other as Tess finished applying a plaster to Ellie's head.

"Mum, I'm going to go grab some water okay."

"Okay sweetheart, we'll meet you outside."

Em left, Connie said her goodbyes before following Em outside. Em stood just outside the Hospital just as Connie turned the corner to find her.

"Em…."

"I am so sorry about that, I didn't know what to do." Em began, panic in her voice.

"Em…it's alright. It was just a surprise to see you, I didn't know you had a Sister, especially one so young."

"I guess we haven't really talked about our families, well I mean you have. It's complicated, it my Mum finds out about us…she's not very open minded about…you know."

"I see."

"And the fact that you're also older well…"

"I'm older than your Mother Em."

"Only by about 5 years."

"Still."

"Look, I will tell her about us…I just need to pick my moment."

Connie moved closer to Em, looking around her before placing a small kiss to her lips.

"I don't want you to do something that could ruin your relationship with your Mother…I don't want to be the cause of that."

"I know you don't; I've just never felt like this about anyone before. They way I feel when I'm with you…I've literally never been this happy and I don't want to stop seeing you. I will tell her and if she can't accept us then, she obviously doesn't love me as much as I thought."

"When you tell her, let me be there with you alright…whatever you do, never shut her out of your life because you'll regret it."

"Okay, I promise." She smiled.

"You should get back in there, are you still on for dinner tonight?"

"I'd love too."

"I'll cook."

"Or I could just bring over a takeaway." Em smiled.

"We had that last night."

"So, hopefully I don't plan on eating that much…not food anyway." Em grinned.

"You're torture, do you know that."

"I'll see you tonight."

"See you later."

…

Connie was just about to go into her office when her mobile buzzed; she looked at the screen to see a text from Guy asking to see her immediately. She rolled her eyes before making her way up the stairs to his office; she knocked twice before hearing his voice telling her to enter. She stepped inside to see him standing in front of his desk, clearly waiting for her.

"You asked to see me?"

"I did, an hour ago."

"My apologies, I got caught up at home."

"Yes, I've been made aware."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Connie, we're friends and the last thing I want to do is interfere in your personal life…."

"But you're going to anyway."

"It's been brought to my attention that you have been socializing outside of work with a patient."

"Brought to your attention?"

"Connie I…."

"Let me guess, Dr Hanna."

"Connie…"

"You know what, don't even try alright. What I do outside of the ED is my own business; I do not appreciate having my personal life gossiped about by my colleagues."

"The young woman in question is still on file as being your patient."

"For one more week and then I'm finished treating her."

"But for now she's still your patient."

"Go to hell, if you would prefer someone else to take over her treatment for one week then by all means, go ahead but I will not stop seeing her."

"Why her Connie?"

"What."

"She's a young woman, old enough to be your Daughter…what on earth do you two see in each other."

"We get along, we have similar interests…we connected on a personal level. We like each other and that's all there is to it, we don't know if it will work out but we want to at least see. I'd appreciate it if you backed off."

…

Connie stormed out of his office and down the stairs to see Zoe at the reception desk talking to Louise, as soon as she saw her…the anger built up inside her.

"How dare you." Connie seethed.

"Excuse me."

"You know what I'm talking about, how dare you go to Guy about my relationship with Em."

"Connie, I was concerned about the effect it could have on….."

"Don't even try to justify your actions, you did it purely and simply to get at me because you knew he wouldn't approve of it."

"You're wrong."

"No, I'm not. You might want to concentrate on your own life before meddling in mine. You have issues about my dating a patient, soon to be ex patient. People might want to question your previous relationships, how many Doctors have you slept with, not to mention current Porters."

Before Connie knew what had happened, Zoe slapped her hard in the face, everyone around them watching, the small gasps of shock escaping peoples mouths.

"The truth hurts doesn't it Dr Hanna."

Connie looked around her before storming off into the office, the door slamming behind her.

…

To Be Continued…