One Shots 'The nursery nurse'

Words of encouragement

Clodagh was early, Sorscha didn't get off work for another quarter of an hour. She entered the Nursery with Quinn in her arms. After popping into the Toddler room to say hello to Charlotte and Winter, she made her way to the office.

Marjorie and Autumn should be there. But to her surprise, they weren't there. It was someone else.

"Oh, hello."

The blonde looked up. " Yes. Can I do something for you?"

" Oh no, I just wanted to see if Autumn or Marjorie were here." Clodagh spoke, she knew who she was looking at. Siobhan, Sorscha had told her many stories.

"As you can see, neither of them are here today. Is there anything else?" Siobhan didn't seem to know who Clodagh actually was.

"No, it's all right, I'm just here to pick up Sorscha. I can wait for her in the corridor."

Now Siobhan had the dots connected. So this was Sorscha's wife. The blonde felt a slight pang of guilt. She and Sorscha never got on, but that was more or less Siobhan's fault with her poisonous remarks. " The chair here is free. You're welcome to sit down. You won't disturb me, and then you won't have to stand with a child in your arms the whole time."

Clodagh smiled gently at her. "Thank you very much." She sat down on the free office chair. Quinn stirred a little and squeaked softly, but the little girl still seemed to be fast asleep.

Siobhan looked over her PC and watched the two of them. "And what's it like being new parents?"

Clodagh grinned slightly. " Well, exhausting. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. The first two weeks were the hardest. Finding a routine, plus I had to recover from my c-section."

Siobhan listened attentively. She had imagined Sorscha's wife differently. Not so soft-spoken and compassionate. She was aware that Sorscha had certainly told her about herself. And yet Clodagh was nothing but kind and open towards her.

" I just sometimes wish that Sorscha could have stayed at home a little longer... Now, enough of that, I've heard that you're engaged. Congratulations." Clodagh looked at her, immediately seeing the worried look in Siobhan's eyes. So it was true, Clodagh had always suspected that Siobhan was anything but happy. She could just guess it from the stories that Sorscha told. On top of that, there was another person here at the Nursery that Clodagh was familiar with who seemed anything but thrilled about Siobhan's engagement.

" Thank you. I assume you'll be at the Halloween Ball, too?"

"Yes, Sorscha asked for a plus one," Clodagh now tried to subliminally encourage Siobhan in her situation. "Oh, I still remember my wedding. It wasn't an easy path. I grew up in a very strict and homophobic household. If Sorscha hadn't fought for me like that, I probably wouldn't be happily married today." She looked closely at Siobhan.

"Then it's good that Sorscha fought for you like that...."

"It wasn't all Sorscha's doing. I had to have the courage to stand up for my feelings myself. That's not always easy, but what's the other option? A life of misery? No, life is far too short to waste it like that."

Siobhan furrowed her eyebrows. It was as if a truth had been revealed to her. Before she could answer her, Sorscha came into the office.

"Hey babe." She stood next to her wife, placing one hand on the back of the chair and stroking Quinn's head with the other. She leant towards Clodagh and gave her a kiss.

Siobhan watched the family. How could she have judged such people in the past. This child would grow up in a loving and happy household. Something every child wanted, it didn't matter that it were two women who made this possible.

Sorsche noticed that Siobhan was watching them and gave her a critical look. "I hope my wife and child haven't caused you any trouble, Siobhan," she said with a serious undertone.

"Darling, it's all right, we had a nice chat. Didn't we Siobhan?" Clodagh spoke gently.

Now Sorscha looked even more sceptical.

"There's nothing to worry about, Sorscha. I'm happy for you," said Siobhan.

"Very well...", Sorscha murmured. The family left the office. When they had almost reached the exit, Agatha called after Sorscha. " Sorscha! You have to sign out!"

"Oh crap!", cursed Sorscha. "Sorry babe, I'll be right there." She quickly went back to reception.

In the meantime, Clodagh went outside. There, she ran into Vivian.

"Hello, Vivian. How are you?"

The nurse seemed to be a little lost in her thoughts. " Huh? Oh, hello Clodagh. Everything's fine, thanks."

Clodagh tilted her head a little. " How are things between you and your mystery date?"

"Not good. Things are over." Vivian mumbled.

Clodagh raised her eyebrow. " Don't give up, Viv. If Sorscha had given up, we wouldn't be married today. Fight for her."

"How do you know it's a woman?" Vivian asked in surprise.

"Just a feeling," said Clodagh with a smile. Sorscha now came out of the door.

"Hi Viv. You're early. Don't you normally pick Jamie up in 15 minutes?" asked Sorscha.

"I got off work early today," explained the nurse.

"Well, a lot can happen in 15 minutes," said Clodagh, winking at Vivian.

Sorscha looked questioningly at her wife. " Do I have to understand that now?"

" It's all right, darling. Only Vivian needs to understand."

With that, the couple left. Vivian had understood, she took a deep breath before entering the building.

Siobhan was typing on her PC when she heard a knock at the door. " Viv?"

" Hey Bon, can we talk?"

Siobhan smiled. " I'd love to."