A Tough Choice

Chapter Five

The following morning I wandered into the staff room. I found myself hoping that today would be a more average day. I quickly changed into my scrubs and grabbed my scissors. I glanced up as Connie strutted into the room. I quickly left the room, the last thing I wanted was to speak to her unless I had too.

I glanced at the rota on the wall and saw that I was on cubicles with Caleb.

"Morning." I smiled as I eventually found him.

"Hey, I've had a handover already so we'll start the round now." he told me.

I nodded and followed him.

As I carried out the ward round with Caleb, I couldn't help but notice that he was a really good doctor. He had an excellent skill set and all the patients seemed to warm to him. I couldn't help but admire him.

Eventually we finished the ward round. I fetched some linen from the cupboard for Robyn.

"Excuse me!" one of the patients from the cubicles called as I walked past.

"Can I help you?" I asked as I walked over to her.

"I think there is something wrong with my IV." she told me.

I looked at her hand and saw that she was right. It was puffy and swollen.

"It's slipped out of the vein." I said almost to myself as I quickly switched the fluids off.

"I'll speak to Dr Knight about what he wants me to do." I reassured her as I quickly left and pulled the curtain.

I checked all the cubicles and wandered around the hospital, but couldn't see him anywhere.

"Robyn, have you seen Caleb?" I called as I walked past.

"No I haven't sorry!" she called back.

I ran my hands through my hair as the stress finally got to me. I'd looked everywhere, where the hell could he be.

"Ethan!" I called as he walked past.

"Yes." he said as he turned around and walked back towards me.

"Have you seen Caleb, I can't find him anywhere." I asked desperately.

He shook his head slowly.

"I don't know what to do." I admitted.

"He's always disappearing." he told me.

"What do you need him for?" he added.

"I need a patient's IV checked." I answered.
"Lead on then." he grinned as he gestured for me to take him to the patient.

I did as he said and smiled at him as he walked with me.

"It's blown and is going superficial, I've switched the fluids off but I wanted to check if you want the line taken out and put into the other arm." I told him as we walked.

"Hi, I'm Dr Hardy, I just need to take a look at your arm." he told the patient as we reached the cubicle.

He quickly picked up her arm and examined it.

"Yeah you're right, this line needs to come out and we'll put a line in the other hand." he said as he slowly pulled the old line out.

"Are you happy to put the line in?" he asked me as he handed me a cannula.

"I guess." I said as my hands started to shake.

I don't know why I was feeling like this lately. I had been qualified for a couple of years, placing a cannula should be second nature to me. Admittedly I was a bit rusty after being redundant for a while, but I couldn't help being frustrated with myself. Ethan seemed to notice my nerves as he stayed with me.

The patient flinched as I introduced the cannula. I cursed silently as I tried to advance it, but it wouldn't go.

"You okay?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, it just won't advance." I said slightly embarrassed.

"Take a deep breath." he said.

I took a few seconds, I needed to focus.

"Now pull back a little." he told me.

"That's it, now go more superficial." he said as he placed his hand against mine and adjusted the angle of the cannula. I blushed and looked up at him, I smiled slightly when I noticed that he was blushing too.

"Right now advance it." he said quietly.

I breathed a sigh of relief as blood began to flow into the bung.

"Well done." he said uncomfortably as he quickly moved his hand away.

I smiled at him and quickly taped the cannula in place. I glanced back at him as I heard a buzzing noise. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen.

"I need to take this." he said.

"Won't you get into trouble?" I asked.

"Nope I'm allowed to take calls, you okay for a bit?" he asked.

I nodded and watched as he walked away. I was confused, why was he allowed to take calls when the rest of us weren't even allowed our phones on. It seemed a bit strange. I pushed it from my mind and carried on with my work.

The end of my shift eventually arrived and I still hadn't seen Ethan. I couldn't help but worry about him.

Lofty smiled at me as I put on my jacket and grabbed my keys.

"Have you seen Ethan since this morning?" I asked him.

"No, he went home." he answered.

"Why?" I asked.

He shrugged and walked away. As I walked to the train station, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.