"Drink?" Rita asked, trying to raise the mood in the house as Connie sat on one sofa, trying to appear happy with their house guests, whilst Zoe and Max sat awkwardly on the other. Immediately went to reply, but then realised he'd said that he'd drive home, so sat back.
"Have one Max, I'll drive." Zoe urged, seeing the discomfort in his face when he realised that he was going to have an alcohol free afternoon with Connie Beauchamp.
"A beer please, if you have any."
"Yep, Zoe?"
"A white wine please." Zoe replied, but instantly she felt Max's gaze burning into her. "One won't hurt."
"Well actually..." Connie began but was silenced by a glare from her partner. "Never mind. So, we have a board meeting tomorrow Dr Hanna."
"Con." Rita interrupted, her tone acting as a warning. "Today is a work free zone, that means not even a conversation about work." She reminded her before sitting down beside Connie and taking her hand in hers. "It must be your anniversary soon." Rita started, causing a deliberate change of conversation.
"Yeah, it'll be two years next Saturday." Max smiled as he removed his hand from Zoe's and instead laid it on her knee.
"It's gone so quickly. How long is it that you two have been together now? It feels like ages." Zoe asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going.
"Just gone a year." Rita explained.
"It's gone so quickly but at the same time its hard to think of you not together now."
"I'm not sure I ever found out how you got together." Max thought aloud, causing the two women on the sofa opposition him to smile.
"Do you remember Mr Dlinton?" Connie asked and then searched their faces for any hint of recognition of the name. "The guy that went onto buses and stabbed everyone on there, mostly fatally, and then ran?" She asked, and instantly a look of recognition crossed their faces. Zoe had been tasked with telling families that their loved ones couldn't be saved, whilst Connie continued to treat those who were still coming in as the attacker remained on the loose. Max remembered a night without sleep as an emotional Zoe just cried whilst he held her.
"I think that's a yes darling." Rita interrupted as Zoe's eyes began to glaze over with tears at the memory.
"After you'd gone, another guy came in. He'd managed to get off one of the buses without injury with his little boy, who had been stabbed. They'd been hiding for a while, whilst the father tried to stem the bleeding. They came in once they were sure they were safe and it was Rita and I who were looking after him."
"He was okay though, right?" Max asked, as he noticed Zoe's hand shaking slightly, and immediately took it in his hand and rose it to his lips and placed a gentle kiss there. Connie ignored the interruption to her story, but from the corner Rita nodded and instantly made the married couple feel a little happier.
"Once we'd finished we sat in my office, both of us drained from the day."
"Connie had a bottle of vodka in the cupboard in her office, so we opened that." Rita began, smiling at her girlfriend at the memory, but the smile wasn't returned.
"You weren't supposed to mention that, we aren't supposed to consume alcohol on hospital premises." Connie scolded.
"It was only once and it's crucial to the story." Rita pointed out. "Anyway, they won't say anything. I'm sure that having sex on hospital premises is against the rules and yet it doesn't stop these two on a regular basis." Rita laughed, Max and Zoe joining in whilst a look of disgust rested upon the clinical lead's face.
