The red light had scattered across the horizon, beams of it seeping into the front window. On the floor rested two women who lay across on another, a drink in one hand and the other muffling the giggles of the other. Outside the world lay quiet and still, the birds had taken perch on the tree tops and along the electricity cables. The moon sat high in the sky, resting on its blanket of clouds. A few stars that had long ago died and now ceased to exist had the remainder of their light filling the gaps in the darkness,
Back inside the house a blanket had been removed from the settee and was now rested across the legs of those beneath it. The TV had been silenced and the bottle of wine lay empty and stranded on the other side of the room where it had rolled to and then had hit the cushion before coming to a stop. The sound of laughter rose from the floor as one of their heads hit the other woman's shoulder in an attempt to control their giggles before they became unstoppable.
The hospital doors opened and Serena stepped in, another day and another challenge. But today she could felt was going to be a long one. The piles of paperwork that would be surely waiting on her desk for her return were oh so inviting. The paperwork she could deal with, it was the people she wasn't so keen on. The time she'd had off, forced as it was, was also a welcomed break from the hustle of the hospital life. All the double shifts, the never actually getting home before dark and then having to leave before sunrise the following morning so the only daylight you'd end up seeing was from a window or if you had to go chasing after an escaped patient. All perks of the job they tell you, but it's all lies.
She made it up to AAU and walked around the corner. She opened the office door, she looked in and saw Bernie sat at a desk she could have sworn wasn't there last week. She stood still as she took in all the empty packets and cups that had just been stranded everywhere. Bernie looked up smiled and made her exit. Serena placed her belongings down on the chair before pulling a bin bag from her desk draw and adding to it all the rubbish she found to be around her. She worked with animals, actual animals. Anyone would think it was a zoo not a damn hospital.
Serena poked over at the pile of paperwork that sat on Bernie's desk, before standing up and walking over to grab it. A day in the office was all she really wanted or had the energy for. Spending time with Jason had been wonderful, and truly beneficial in their relationship but she did enjoy her time away from home when she had other things to concentrate on. Being independent of each other was just as important as spending time together. The paperwork had all been filled in and the patient notes all completed and signed off to Serena's disbelief.
Outside on the ward Bernie was always looking behind her, she wasn't sure how Serena would react to her presence on the ward. So she stayed out of the office from majority of the morning before returning for lunch. By the time Serena had been called to Hansen's office and was probably discussing important executive stuff that Bernie had little interest. What the point of playing politics when we have live's to save. That's the whole purpose of medicine right?
Serena walked back to her office, the internal enquiries were still going on, she could deal with that and they wouldn't have allowed her back if things weren't going to be okay on her part. She had a new found confidence about the whole situation. She got back to office, typed in the door code and twisted the handle. Bernie was sat at her computer eating a sandwich, she didn't remove her eyes fro the computer screen at all as Serena entered the room and sat down at her desk and began trawling through the thousands of unread and missed emails fro the past week, she has never realised she was so popular amount the staff. Budget meetings, cost cutting courses, ward improvement targets, all the boring details that came with being Hansen's little minion. One email inarticulate caught her eye, it was from the boss man himself.
'Serena, welcome back.
I hope I'm right in. Assuming your short break has been beneficial and that you are back with a clear head and your proprieties are well established. Im sure by now you've noticed the extra pre cease on the ward. I hope Bernie will be of use to you and will be able to take some of the pressure off of your back.
