Connie smiled when she felt two hands creep onto her waist from behind as she was stood at the nurses' station.
The smile slowly faded and was replaced with one of concentration again, as she returned her focus back to the patient notes in her hands. She continued to intently read through the file and raised a hand to her forehead, rubbing it in frustration. The patient's symptoms weren't adding up and she couldn't put her finger on what was wrong.
"Everything alright sweetcheeks?" Jacob asked.
Connie nodded, not really listening to Jacob. "Doesn't make sense...she's hiding something...must be..." Connie mumbled to herself and continued to stare at the notes in bewilderment.
Jacob kept his hands placed on Connie's waist and rested his chin gently on her shoulder so he could also have a read of the notes.
"Having trouble?" Jacob asked innocently, realising this was indeed a difficult case.
But Connie mistook his genuine concern, thinking he was mocking her.
She stepped away from his hands and turned to face him. "Thank you for your concern, but no, I am not having trouble. Are you suggesting I'm incompetent now, staff nurse Masters? Because I can assure you, I am perfectly capable of diagnosing patients. But by all means, feel free to take over if you think you know the answer." She glared at him as she spoke and held out the notes to him.
Just because they were together, it did not give him the right to undermine her.
Jacob looked at her blankly, unsure what had just happened. He stepped back and held up his hands. "Woah. I wasn't suggesting anything. Just looks like a difficult case, I certainly wouldn't have a clue where to start."
Connie was already regretting the way she spoke to him in the spur of the moment.
Of course he wasn't suggesting she was incapable, he just wanted to help. She sighed as she looked back over the notes. This case was irritating her and causing her to snap at him unfairly.
"Sorry" she muttered quietly.
Jacob watched her for a moment, it was clear she was still getting nowhere. "You think she's hiding something?" Jacob asked, referring to the words she had mumbled earlier.
Connie lifted her head and looked over to cubicles at the patient, while she spoke "yeah...something's not right. It just doesn't add up...".
Jacob followed Connie's gaze to the patient. "Want me to talk to her, see if I can get anything else out of her?" Jacob asked hesitantly. He really wanted to help, but didn't want her to think he was doubting her ability again.
Connie looked at him and slowly nodded her head. She couldn't deny that Jacob seemed to have a way with patients, always seemed to approach them in the right way to find answers. She really was all out of ideas now, so accepted his offer to help. "No harm in you trying I guess, good luck getting anything out of her though" she gave him a small smile as she spoke.
Connie watched as Jacob made his way over to the young girl, hoping his intervention would be successful.
Sure enough, Jacob came back with a smile on his face and relayed the information he had managed to get out of the patient. Connie shook her head in disbelief at him, as the facts he had just gained made the current notes make so much more sense.
Jacob gave her a smug smile. "What would you do without me eh sweetcheeks?"
"Don't flatter yourself Jacob, it was merely coincidence that you happened to be the one to get her to talk" but she smiled at him to let him know she appreciated it.
She picked up a pen and began to add more notes to the file.
"So, got a spare 5 minutes? My break starts right about now" Jacob asked.
Connie shook her head as she continued to write. "Can you not see that I'm just a little preoccupied right now Jacob?"
"Ok...when you're finished with this patient then?" He tried.
"Have a board meeting in half an hour" she said as she rolled her eyes and continued to write.
"After your meeting?" Jacob grinned at her.
Connie put the pen down and looked at Jacob in amusement. "Why don't you check if I'm free in a few hours, I should be finished by then"
Jacob grinned at her. "Sounds good sweetcheeks"
"No promises though, I have a pile of paperwork in my office waiting to be sorted through and-" Connie tried to add, but Jacob was already walking away. "Yeah yeah, sure. See you in a few hours" he called after him.
---
The rapid click of Connie's heels echoed through the ED as she paced back to her office. The meeting had overrun by 2 hours, and Connie still had paperwork to do before she could leave.
She exhaled deeply as she approached her office, she hated meetings as it was, never mind when they dragged on. The last thing she wanted to do today, was stay at the hospital for longer than she needed, with paperwork for company.
Jacob was already waiting for her when she entered her office. He stood up to greet her, pulling her into a hug.
"You look like you had fun" he joked.
"Well, listening to Hanssen drone on and on always brightens up my day" she lifted her head up and smiled sarcastically at him.
Jacob chuckled and watched her pull away and walk over to her desk chair, ready to sit down and get on with some paperwork.
"What are you doing?" Jacob asked her.
"It's called work Jacob, you might want to try it sometime" Connie replied without looking at him as she searched her desk for a pen.
"I thought we were leaving early today, can the work not wait?" He gave her a pleading look.
"I can't leave until I get all of this done" she gestured towards the various files and documents scattered on her desk and on the shelf.
"Fine" Jacob said as he slumped down on the sofa and pulled out his phone while he waited for Connie to finish.
Connie paused after a few minutes and looked at Jacob. "While you're waiting, you could always be useful and give me a hand with some of it?"
Jacob laughed, still engrossed on his phone. "Can't think of anything more fun" he joked.
Connie stood up, grabbed a pile of documents from the shelf and walked over to Jacob. She stood in front of him and held the files out towards him.
Jacob looked up from his phone and gave her a questioning look.
"I wasn't kidding. These need sorting" Connie said as she edged the files closer to Jacob until he took them out of her hand.
"Right..." Jacob studied her face, unsure if she was being serious, soon realising she was.
He flicked through the documents in his hands while Connie returned to her seat.
She leant on her desk and watched Jacob in amusement. "I really appreciate your offer to help" Connie said with a smirk.
Jacob looked up and gave her a sarcastic smile. "Anything for you sweetcheeks"
The pair worked in silence for a while.
But ten minutes in and Jacob was already bored of sorting the paperwork into piles. He looked across at Connie, she appeared to be deeply focussed on her work.
He reached for his pocket to pull out his phone, but stopped when he heard her voice.
"Not until you have finished sorting the files" Connie told him.
Jacob just stared at her. She hadn't even looked up from her work. He didn't think she had seen.
As if she was reading his thoughts, Connie spoke again without stopping what she was writing. "Nothing escapes me Jacob, you should know that by now"
