Consequences

Chapter 25

A week later, Grace was back at school, having been dropped off by Connie, and Connie was heading for a check up with Zoe; she had refused from day one that anyone else would be involved in her treatment except for Zoe and Charlie. Heading into the department, she went to the office but there was no sign of Zoe so she decided to find Charlie; she'd just made it to his office when an annoying voice popped up.

"Ah sweetcheeks, nice to see you up and about"

"It's Mrs Beauchamp Staff Nurse Masters" she retorted as she looked through the window and saw the office empty.

"When you coming back?" He asked as he followed through the department.

"Why? Need enough time to learn my name?!" She quipped.

"Or maybe i'm just missing your pretty face" he smiled before been called into Resus by Rita.

She let out a little smirk before realising Charlie was standing behind her.

"Someone is definately back to normal" he grinned, as she followed him into the office.

"Dont know what you mean Mr Fairhead"

"Course you dont" he smiled again. "Zoe got caught up in a meeting upstairs; she'll be down as soon as she can. She did request an xray though so we can do that while you wait..."

"Seriously? I'm fine; i need to come back to work"

"I dont think so; Zoe and i spoke to Grace last night. She told us you're still getting the coughing spasms"

"Oh Grace" she whispered as she took a seat. "I wish she would stop worrying about me so much..."

"She loves you and you're her mom; she's bound to worry" he said, taking a seat next to her.

"I know" she sighed. "And the spasms are far and few between; only when i've been talking a lot or my throat gets dry."

"I would still like an xray" Zoe said, standing in the doorway. "I'm not going to sign you fit for work otherwise"

Connie sighed as Charlie left the room; she put her head in her hands as Zoe sat next to her.

"How's Grace doing?" Zoe asked.

"She's getting there; she opened up quite a lot over the last week." She said, looking up at her colleague. "I'll pick her up this afternoon and see how her first day back went; she was a little apprehensive about it"

"How about i get you sorted and we'll grab a spot of lunch? We havent had a proper catch up for weeks..." she offered.

"I'm not gonna be able to say no, am i?"

"Not a chance; Charlie's got your paperwork so it wont look suspicious and i'll meet you back here afterwards to check the results and you over"

"Fine" she relented, leaving the office to find Charlie.

With the x-ray over with, she headed back down to her office where she sat with a coffee on the side as Zoe listened to her chest, waiting for the results to come through.

"That definately sounds a lot clearer; how often are the spasms?"

"Down to about 2 a day, 3 on a bad one"

"Any breathlessness?" She asked as she sat back on the sofa, allowing Connie to drink her coffee.

"Not really; i've been moving around the house more and i've been out today"

"But...?" She asked, sensing she had something to add.

"I'm exhausted" she admitted.

"Your body still needs to rest; i'm not happy to sign you off yet but hopefully, you should be back by start of October, part time at least"

Connie sighed.

"Not what you wanted to hear, i know but...your body has been through a lot and you still need to rest" she said, checking the xrays on her tablet. "Well, everything looks clear; infection seems to have cleared up so how about we grab lunch and i'll drop you home?"

"I...would you mind just dropping me off home? I'm sure i could make us a sandwich or something; maybe you're right, i do need to rest before i pick Grace up"

"Make you a deal; i will take you home, we'll have lunch and i'll pick Grace up for you""

"You have work" she protested.

"I'm sure Dylan and Charlie can hold the fort for couple of hours; give me 10 and we'll go"

Connie nodded and carried on drinking her coffee as Zoe left the office; half hour later, they were sat up to the dining table with a sandwich each.