Page 6 of Prognosis Do Over

She’d missed him. Curse her hormones! She was over him, damn it.

‘Anyway, I’d better get back. Peter’s out there causing havoc, no doubt,’ she said, rising and crossing to the door like a spooked filly. She’d worked too hard to put him behind her to falter at the first real challenge.

I will not cry.

‘Wait. Lou...’

Lou stopped at the door, her hand on the knob. ‘Yes?’ she said, a tremble husking her voice, refusing to look back at him.

‘I’m sorry about before,’ he said, joining her at the door. Her body was so close, and his burned hot with memories of how good it had felt to hold her.

‘It’s fine,’ she said briskly, turning the knob and pulling before she gave in to the urge to lean back into him.

‘No,’ he said, pushing the door shut with his hand up high on the frame, keeping it there, his other hand automatically reaching for her hip. He could feel the unfamiliar flare of her abdomen where once had been the jut of bone. ‘It’s not. I was shocked. I acted like a Neanderthal.’

‘Yes, you did.’

There was a moment of silence, of stillness, full of things unsaid. His hand at what used to be her waist was burning a hole in her side.

‘Lou...’

‘Don’t,’ she begged him quietly.

Her hair smelt fantastic, as always, and he wanted to touch it so badly his fingers itched. ‘I missed you,’ he whispered. ‘I missed this,’ he said, removing his hand from her hip and giving in to the urge to feel her hair.

The skin at the nape of her neck broke out in goose bumps as his fingers lingered there a little, before moving down the length of her plait.

‘I’ve dreamt about touching it again. I’d forgotten how heavy it is. How glorious.’

She couldn’t do this. She was going to have a baby in a couple of months. It was no longer just about her. The baby deserved a stable home life. Not some male figure who had too much of his own baggage to commit to them. She had to think even harder about who she let in.

‘Let me out,’ she said, holding on to the last shred of her sanity.

Will sighed, releasing her hair, and stepped away from her.

‘Thank you,’ she said, opening the door hastily and walking out into the cool air outside.

Lydia was hovering outside, and looked relieved when Lou appeared intact. Will took a moment to collect himself, and then stepped out of Lou’s office.

‘Help! I need help in here!’ came a raised voice from one of the bays.

The voice held just the right note of panic, and they ran. Lou, Lydia, Peter and Will, with Lou reaching the bedside first. ‘What’s wrong, Kristy?’

‘I think she’s having an allergic reaction to the penicillin,’ said Kristy, her face pale.

‘Stop it the drug,’ Will ordered as he looked down at the panicked, wide-eyed child in question.

The little girl was naked but for a nappy, and had large red welts forming all over her body before their eyes. Her lips were looking very puffy, and Will didn’t need a stethoscope to hear the wheezes coming from the lungs.

Anaphylaxis.

‘I’ll get the resus trolley,’ said Peter.

‘Oxygen, adrenaline, phenergan, hydrocortisone and some ventolin,’ Will directed, as everyone sprang into action around him.

Lou drew up and administered the drugs, Lydia attached a sats probe, Peter assembled the ventolin and Kristy took care of the oxygen.

‘How old is she? What’s her diagnosis?’ Will asked.

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