Night shift - Completed

Chapter 3

Poppy's POV

"Thank you so much. I owe you a cake!" I laughed to Destiny, the receptionist who had just managed to get me an urgent X-ray in twenty minutes. "Bye!" I dropped the phone back down and rushed back to Calum's room, where I knocked on the door loudly and waited for consent to come in.

"Yeah?" I heard from the room, so I quickly opened the door and poked my head in.

"Sorry guys, I've just managed to get Calum an X-ray in twenty minutes. I'm going to get you a wheelchair and we'll get your ankle seen to." I smiled at them all.

"Ah brilliant, thank you so much!" The brown haired one grinned at me, clapping his hands together in excitement. "We're getting you fixed Cal!" I shut the door again and headed back to the phone, calling for a porter and a wheelchair to come as soon as possible. I'd asked Yvonne if I could go with him so I could diagnose it as they did it instead of waiting for hours for results, strangely she agreed - I think because she knew she had a complaint on her hands. I got my notepad and pen ready as the porter arrived and grabbed Calum's notes, placing them in the back of the wheelchair. Once again, I knocked on the door and was allowed in.

"Hello, I'm James, the porter. I'm here to take you to your X-ray." James greeted Calum with a handshake before helping him into the chair. As James began to wheel him out, Calum turned to me.

"You're coming too, right?" He asked me, showing me a sensitive side for the first time.

"Sure." I nodded, noticing him relax in the chair straight afterwards. I quickly turned to his friends. "Sorry guys, are you okay to wait here? You can go and get food or coffee or whatever but unfortunately you won't be allowed near X-ray." They nodded at me just as we left, James pushing the wheelchair quickly making it difficult for me to catch up.

"Poppy, I've gotta leave you here and deal with another call. Is that okay?" He turned to me as we turned into X-ray. He looked really stressed.

"Of course James." I smiled. "I've got it from here." He offered me a thankful smile and rushed back out, leaving me to wheel Calum into the waiting area. We got fast tracked into a smaller staff only waiting area, which was a lot quieter and calmer than the patient one. I sat down on a seat next to Calum and let out a small sigh.

"Poppy right?" He broke the silence quickly. I nodded. "I'm sorry for how I acted towards you this morning. That woman from the night shift really got to me." He hung his head in shame as he spoke, playing with his hands in his lap.

"It's fine Calum, I've dealt with a lot worse. To be honest, she'd painted a pretty bad picture of you too, but I know who to believe." I patted his knee softly.

"Yeah, well she's your colleague and all, it would make sense." Calum sighed dramatically and heavily. Suddenly he straightened and held his hands over his ribs, sucking in a sharp breath like he was in pain. "Shit. Shit shit shit!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Calum?" I stood straight up and knelt in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"Can't breathe in deeply. God it hurts." I put my arms under his to feel his ribs.

"Which side?" I quizzed quickly. He kept fidgeting like it still hurt.

"Right." He whispered as he clutched the wheelchair handles.

"Try and take slow deep breaths, sit up straighter if you can. You've possibly broken a rib too." After a few seconds, his breathing slowed down and he relaxed back into the chair, closing his eyes as he took breaths to compose himself.

"Honestly that nurse is my least favourite person right now." Calum said through slightly gritted teeth. He put his head back so it was against the wall.

"I believed you anyway." I said and Calum's gaze suddenly went on me. I could tell he had a hundred questions but as if timing was on my side, I heard someone walking down the corridor.

"Mr Hood?" Another staff member called and I quickly stood up, wheeling him into the room. We helped him on the bed and then the radiographer positioned the plate in the right place for the X-ray. We both headed out of the room as he took the xrays, checking they weren't blurry as he went. He loaded it up for me to see and I stood for a second, looking at the picture.

"A definite break. He'll need a cast for sure." The radiographer leant towards me, his large finger pointing at a perfect break on the bone.

"I was thinking the same. And he's broken a rib." I said humorously. "This puts me off drink for a while."

"I'm ready." Calum called out and we made our way back into the room, helping him back on the wheelchair. I thanked the radiographer as I pushed Calum out of the room and down the corridor. Noticing James wasn't there, I carried on to the reception.

"Hey Destiny." I waved over to her. "If you can, just let James know I'll take the patient back?" She nodded over to me with a smile.

"Done!" She shouted back as she picked up the phone. I gave her a thumbs up as I pushed the chair out of the department and back towards the ward.

"You really shouldn't be pushing this. Surely it's heavy?" Calum quizzed, trying to look round at me.

"I can handle it sweetie, don't worry." I said confidently as we sped down the corridor.

"I'm not saying you can't handle it, I'm just saying it's heavy and you're a nurse, not a porter." He shrugged. I smiled at the back of his head.

"I appreciate the concern." I noted as I pushed us back into the ward and towards the side room. I got him back into bed and let him have some rest as I went over to Yvonne to update her.

"How is he, Poppy?" Yvonne said the moment she saw me.

"He's okay. I think I've broken the hard shell. He seems to trust me." I smiled proudly. "However, he does have a broken ankle and a broken rib. He'll definitely complain about Iliana." She looked down at the floor and gave a defeated sigh.

"Damn. She really dug herself a grave with this one. She might risk losing her license! Please try your best to stop him complaining, give him anything he wants. He's a VIP." I hesitated after her response, not sure what she meant by VIP, but I nodded anyway and headed back out of the staff room and back towards Calum's file to make some notes.