Chapter 29
William jerked his head awake and looked around the room and then he smiled, Buffy was softly snoring against his chest, and Joyce had pushed her relaxer chair back to a more horizontal position to rest, she too sound asleep.
He softly kissed Buffy’s hair, and she woke
“Sorry kitten, but um well…call of nature”
“Oh! Sorry!” Buffy sat up, yawned
William stood and went upstairs
She looked at the time, it was 5.40pm – she still felt full, BUT she’s spied the box of chocolates William had bought her and she couldn’t resist.
She’d popped one in her mouth and was chewing when William reappeared by her side
“Here- help yourself!”
“But I bought those for you!”
“Have one while I let you then!” Buffy said with a grin popping a nut cluster into her mouth
William grinned, perused the assortment list and chose a caramel.
“Are you bored?”
“Me – good god no! Relaxed yes, and that’s something I haven’t felt in a long time”
William raised his arm and Buffy snuggled up, and they watched TV. When the commercials came on, the first one was for a holiday………
“I can’t remember the last time I went on holiday – where I was for the Olympics in Switzerland, it was beautiful…I promised myself to go back there one day”
“I love Switzerland – best place I went for a holiday though, was the Seychelles – it was just before my finals…there was this guy, Tim – he was an absolute scream, his father was head consultant at one of the big teaching hospitals in London, anyway, he’d got this yacht, and four of us guys flew to this yacht and had a week of just sunbathing and swimming, fishing, eating what we’d caught, drinking cocktails it was sheer heaven –the water was so blue, and you could see all the coral and the fish and that...the sand was soft and white – paradise…sorry, am I boring you?”
“Absolutely not! Sounds like heaven!”
“It was. Just what I needed too – I was so calm before my exams – I’d almost got this, ‘who cares’ sort of attitude when I went into the exam room – they seemed a piece of cake after that, so if anytime I’m facing something daunting, I just remember that holiday!”
Buffy smiled
“If I’m doing a comp, doesn’t matter whether it’s heats or the final, I have this little ritual. If it gets altered, it doesn’t feel right. I do my hair first, then put on my makeup, left eye first – then I put on my costume, then my skates, always left skate first, and then I sit with Mr Gordo, he’s a papier maché pig bought for me by my mom – anyway, I sit with him on my lap, and I pull gently at his ears and sip a glucose drink and I try and empty my mind of all thoughts”
“Oh, excuse me – must be all that Champagne I’ve drank, made me tired!” they both looked at Joyce who had righted the chair and sat up
“I’m ready for a cuppa or something how about you two?” Joyce asked going to get up
“How about, if you two ladies sat here, and I make us all Irish coffee’s?
Both Buffy and Joyce beamed and readily agreed with him, Joyce getting up just to show him where everything was.
Ten minutes later, William appeared out of the kitchen with three perfect Irish coffees on a tray, and Joyce opened her chocolates…………
********************
“I’m sorry Dr Tate, Drusilla, it’s for your own good” Dru couldn’t understand why she was in the pysch ward, and they wouldn’t let her leave….
“Please, just – just let me go home and sleep it off, I’ll be fine in the morning, I swear”
Dr Gupta looked pained and said,
“Dru…it isn’t as simple as that”
“What isn’t – why not – I over-dosed on um, cough medicine, I’d taken a pain killer too, I had a bad reaction, and-“
“What about the vodka?”
Dru’s head snapped up quickly
“Vodka?”
“Don’t try to deny it, we found a bottle on your desk with about an inch left in it, and a coffee mug that you’d been drinking out of”
“So I had a little nip to…to keep the shakes away….there’s no crime in it!”
“That’s where you’re WRONG – there IS a crime in it – you can’t drink whilst on duty, and you could barely stand up!”
“I TOLD you, that-“
“Dru save it, we ran a toxicology report on your blood, you’d got nearly ¾ of a bottle of vodka inside you, and NO sign of drugs”
Dru sat on the edge of the bed, her thin fingers twisting the sodden tissue.
“Do you remember anything at all about the emergency we had come in?”
Dru blinked and tried to think, but all that happened was she just said the word, ‘emergency’ over and over in her head………
“Well, do you?”
Dru opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, she felt the tears well out again and she shook her head no.
“We had a four-car road traffic accident come in, twelve patients, three were pronounced dead at the scene, the rest bought in here for treatment, we still have five of them, two of them have been allowed home, and two died after they got here – one of them no thanks to you to try and save her”
Dru was trying to think – flashbacks, blood on her finger, somebody shouting, William storming off, her in the office with Dr Gupta, curtains swishing back…a loud beep – oh, she was pushed back, William turning away from her…she poured more vodka into the mug and drank, banging on the door, William walking away, he said he didn’t think of her as a lover, never would…he never would…never would…
A dry sob left her throat and Dru grabbed two handfuls of hair and started sobbing
“I jus…I just want him…I………want him to l-love me!” Dr Gupta frowned and put his hand on her back
“Dr Tate, aren’t you in the slightest bit bothered about the emergency – about the girl that died – luckily we have staff here, nurses I might add, that were totally on the ball and stopped you from putting a contaminated needle into a drip feeder? That after the paramedic told you the girl’s status, you stood and did nothing until one of the nurses pulled the gurney into a cubicle and ordered blood?
“I don’t remember” Dru said quietly
“And is that going to be your tack in front of the general medical council, ‘you don’t remember, is it?’”
Dru looked up and frowned
“Medical council?”
“YES – FOR GOODNESS SAKE WOMAN – haven’t you sobered up yet – this is the SECOND time I’ve tried to tell you what’s going on! Can’t you get it into your drink-addled brain the seriousness of this, hmm? You’ve been sectioned under the mental health act for 72 hours, you’ve committed gross professional misconduct, drinking on duty, being drunk, unable to function at a basic level, I have to inform you that you’ll never practice medicine again, not I this country you won’t anyway”
“I’m sor-ry – I’m sorry!”
“Dru – listen try and keep calm, but it isn’t good, there’s no two ways of looking at this, you are in some very, VERY serious trouble. I have to go now, but I’ll come back and see you tomor-later on today – now get some sleep”
Dru lay down on the bed, bringing her legs up into the foetal position and quietly sobbed.
Dr Gupta sighed and checked his watch, it was after midnight, he’d done his shift plus five hours overtime now, still no peace for the wicked…he made his way over to the main hospital building.
*****************
“Ooh, this is LOVELY!” Joyce sipped the alcohol laden sweetened coffee through the rich whipped cream, and licked off the ‘moustache’ it left on her top lip.
“Yummy – never had one before – so how come you can make these?” Buffy asked
William smiled and said,
“Well, they used to be all the rage in the restaurants at one time but they were expensive, so as I was the one with the steadiest hand, I learned to make them!”
“I’m hooked – here have a chocolate – unless you’d like a sandwich or something?” Joyce offered her box of chocolates
“Oh goodness no thanks, not yet – ask me next week! – No seriously, I’ll have something later, I’m still rather full thanks – but I’ll have that soft caramel with hazelnut, if I may” William helped himself
“Well, don’t be shy to say” Joyce said, putting a dark chocolate mint crisp into her mouth.
“I’m surprised you father hasn’t rung, Buffy”
“Oh he did, I forgot to tell you, while you were out fetching Will…hey get this mom, Maureen said no booze with his dinner, and afterwards they’d have to go for a walk! – Long one too – and Chelsea woke him just gone 5am with that ABC screen thingy we bought her, hit him on the head with it!”
Joyce was grinning and said,
“Nice one Chelsea! Walk – your father? He used to moan if I left the car parked in the road and not on the driveway and he’d have to walk eight yards to it! – So why no alcohol, did he say?”
“Something about all the corporate dinners he goes to she said he drinks enough at those”
“Oh, shame, still cheers Hank!” Joyce held up her coffee and grinned.
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