Courtship

Part 10

Two days later, Marina was back on duty, when the idiot as she had taken to calling him in her head, turned up to talk to Thomas. Having spotted his arrival, Marina did her best to keep a low profile, to avoid being in his line of vision. That she had decided was her best course of action. Keep a low profile. Keep her mouth shut. Do her time. Finish the rotation and ignore the bloody idiot forever! So having spotted his arrival she got on with what she was doing and pretended that he wasn't in the vicinity. The pretence and her cool façade were not to last long.

"Dr D'Sa, Mr Harlington needs you to sign for him." Gina could see reluctance written all over Dr D'Sa's face. It was going to be one of those days. Difficult.

Marina glanced across at Rafe, saw that he stood waiting at Thomas' bed. Even from this distance she could see he was not enjoying being kept waiting. Marina's automatic reply was, "I'll just finish up here." She knew she was stalling. But really, the way things were going and given he already looked pissed off, she might just push his buttons again and land herself in even more trouble.

"I can do that for you." Gina told her understanding Marina's attempt to delay the inevitable and not willing to allow it. "Go on. He doesn't bite!"

"Yeah he does." Marina thought she had murmured those words, but clearly they were loud enough for Gina to hear because Gina chuckled as Marina walked toward the idiot.

"You took your time." His words nearly had Marina snapping at him. Luckily, just in time she remembered her new rule: Keep quiet. Rafe narrowed his eyes as he waited for her retort. Unlike her to keep quiet. Still she said nothing. "I need you to sign for me." Rafe told her, waiting for her to reach him before they headed closer to the bed. He knew that her intervention the last time had made a difference to the little boy. Rafe smiled as he approached the little boy who was studying them with open concern. Typical thought Marina, so he could do nice when it suited him. Clearly being nice to her did not suit him. Thomas glanced from Rafe to Marina. She smiled and then signed and spoke a greeting to Thomas, and tried to ease his mind by explaining why she had accompanied Rafe. Rafe watched and waited as she and the little boy spoke and signed about the meal he'd just had. If she could be that polite and pleasant with a little kid why didn't she transfer that behaviour to her engagement with adults, like him? He watched the little boy's expression change as she took her time with him and helped him to relax. Then Marina nodded and stood to Rafe's side, so that Thomas could see both of them clearly. She imagined Thomas would lip read most of it, and just need to check with her for specifics.

Some fifteen minutes later Thomas smiled as he acknowledged the punch line of a particularly corny joke. Marina didn't feel like smiling at all. She waited for Rafe to tell her they were done. But instead he said, "I'd like a word. In private."

Marina stifled a groan. Now what had she done? She'd done everything he'd asked. She hadn't said a word out of place. She had translated literally. Well, almost literally. "Can it wait?" She asked, hoping to avoid it altogether, "It's just that I haven't finished..."

"Ok, finish up, I'll wait." Rafe told her. He knew he had to do this, and knew it would be difficult, given he intended to apologise. Marina hesitated, wondering if she could push him a bit further. But he looked like he was determined.

"I might be a while." She hedged and hoped an emergency came up, for either of them. Anything to avoid having to go to a private audience with the idiot. This is ridiculous, she thought as she tried to come up with an excuse to use to buy her some time.

"Fine." Rafe muttered sensing her desire to avoid having a conversation and knowing he was not about to allow her to get away with it. "I'll wait in Gina's office." He told her and without waiting for her to respond walked away, heading for the ward sister's base. He did not have time to waste. But he was not going to allow her to avoid this conversation. Clearly she did not want to talk to him. Tough.

Frustrated, Marina pivoted and headed for the bed at the end of the ward before she could give in to temptation and poke her tongue out at the man. Great. Perfect. Same place, no doubt same outcome. Five minutes later she headed for Gina's office. He met her on the way, having seen her approach. "My office." He said and didn't wait for her to challenge. The last time they had spoken and used Gina's office things had gone pear shaped. He knew the rumour mill had a field day at her expense. He was hoping to spare her that today. Assuming of course that she did not continue to try to thwart his plans. He was tempted to look over his shoulder to see if she had followed him. Marina followed him out in silence. She thought about inventing an excuse to bail, but figured it was best to just get this over with. He seemed pretty determined. They took the stairs in silence. He held the door open for her, allowed her to enter and then closed the door behind them.