ONLY THE LONELY

Connie slants against the oak, newly varnished desk, with a pitch black, posh phone resting in her right hand. She's in her office, with the door closed and blinds folded. No natural light, only the light of a tall, expensive lamp with a bright yellow bulb dispersing enough electrical lighting to illuminate the room. A pile of paperwork which has been demolished by a side-turned, small, mesh-made pigeonhole conceals the keyboard which is connected to the computer. Connie nods her head as she listens acutely into the phone. She then speaks.

"Yes, well thank you, Raf, I'm pleased to hear Robyn's operation was a success. Any idea of when she'll be discharged?" She asks politely.

Her conversation with Raf is disturbed by a tapping on the door. Connie lifts her head suddenly. She smiles, realising it's Dylan wanting to come in. She speaks into the phone, asking Raf to hold on for a second. She then flaps her hand at Dylan, inviting him in. Dylan pushes the door handle down and with great power pushes the door open. But, the key-coded lock disallows entry, and Dylan falls back and nearly onto the floor.

"What the bloody hell are you playing at?" Asks Dylan, as he brushes himself down and looks carefully around, trying to see who had and hadn't seen his mishap. Connie drops the phone and struts faultlessly over to the door, before opening it.

She responds to him in a calm tone: "I forgot I'd locked it, sorry." She replies, before smiling at him cheekily. "What do you want, Dylan? I'm in an important conversation with regards to a patient." She continues.

"Uh, yes, can I come in?" Dylan asks straightly. Connie invites Dylan into her office.

"Excuse the mess, please. I've been preoccupied in more important matters." Connie explains to Dylan. Dylan raises an eyebrow at Connie, before panning his eyes onto the phone which is hanging by a wire from the desk onto the floor.

"Is someone on the receiving end? Or, are you trying to make yourself look busy?" Dylan asks sternly, with the very slight hint of playfulness in his tone.

"Very funny, Dylan. Pick up the phone and speak." Connie demands, providing a dirty smirk as she completes her sentence. Dylan looks at the phone, before walking over and tugging the line up.

He holds the telephone up to this ear, before saying: "This is Dylan speaking, Connie's busy smirking at me, doing nothing, can I help you?"

Connie's smirk turns to open-mouthed horror. She snatches the phone back before retaliating: "I'm sorry, Dylan's just gone to look at himself in a mirror, he's so self-obsessed I know." Connie replies, before cracking a laugh. Dylan gives her a dirty look. "So then, Raf, how is Robyn?"

After a few moments of silence, Connie speaks again: "Okay, thank you. I'll go and see her later, bye, Raf, bye." Connie delicately places the phone in it's holder. She turns to Dylan, and begins to tell him the news. 

"The final operation was a massive success. She came round about half an hour ago and she's doing fine. Raf believes she'll be out in the next week. I knew it was our hospital nurses, the strongest in our department. Not like consultants, who rely on others to satisfy their needs. Oh wait, you're a Consultant Dylan! I completely forgot, I'm so sorry." She grins, unlike Dylan, who provides a killer stare. She smirks, knowing she's deliberately degraded the Consultant.

"You're a funny one, Connie. At least I'm saving lives. And did you forget you are also a consultant in emergency medicine, like myself and Zoe?" Dylan responds sarcastically. "Anyway, we've spent enough time gossiping in here, let's go and save some lives." Dylan finishes, before walking out of the door and turning right. However, just before Dylan can traipse down the corridor Max shoves a wheelchair into the back of Dylan's legs.

"And where would you like to go, Sir?" Asks Max jokingly, before sticking his head just millimetres in front of Dylan and winking.

********************    

Outside the ED, a pink Mini parks itself perfectly. Honey rises from the leather black seat of the car, dragging a handbag behind her. She shuts the door of the Mini carefully, before walking through the ED doors. She immediately sets her eyes on the reception desk, like a vulture with its eyes fixated on the safari floor, circling it's prey. She plods over to the desk, and gives a huge, ear-to-ear smile.

"Anyone want a coffee? Tea? Biscuit? Meet your new barista!" Honey exuberantly says. Louise fails to look up at Honey. Instead, she picks up a folder withholding private medical information and walks over to Tess.

"Did she just ignore me?" Honey asks Noel softly. "I thought we were okay." Honey finishes, before walking away from the reception desk and over to the coffee shop.

"Is everything okay, Louise?" Tess wonders.

"I can't look at her in the same light anymore. I thought after coming clean to her we'd be fine, and of course now we've had the DNA test it just feels... weird. I'm struggling, Tess. I just want to feel like, I don't know, a good parent, someone who can be there for her. She's not been in my life for a long time, and now she's just come out of nowhere, it's all too much." Louise replies, with a lump in the front of her throat. Tess puts her hand on Louise, and rubs Louise's shoulder.

"It's alright. Here, let's have a drink after work tonight, we can talk about it then, yeah? I'll see you later. I finish at six." Tess finishes, before strolling off.

Louise walks back over to the reception desk. Noel looks at her. They stare at each other, but say nothing. Louise then looks away and picks up a pile of paperwork. Before she is able to walk away, Noel asks her: "What's wrong? Why are you struggling so much as to even look at her?"

Louise instantly snaps back, "You wouldn't understand, Noel." Before storming off. Noel gives a puppy-eyed look. But his view is spoiled by a patient standing in front of him. 

"I have an appointment, with Dr. Ethan Hardy." The patient claims.

"Of course, Sir. I'll let Dr. Hardy know immediately. If you'd like to take a seat over there, please." Noel replies. He points to the crowd collapsed in the seats, also waiting to be seen, the department, as overcrowded as ever. He then sits back down and begins typing on the computer, but his mind remains distracted on Honey and Louise.