TW: Mild descriptions of a deceased body in the latter half of the chapter.

—-

"Arsenic or cyanide?"

"What are you talking about now?" Isaac groused, his voice thick with fatigue. He'd handed out smouldering mugs of heavily caffeinated beverages, and collapsed down upon the leather sofa, a sharp indent formulating where he sat. Caliana couldn't help but notice the grossly large space he'd left between them, opting to sit closer to Dawn than to Caliana.

Perhaps, it had been an unconscious decision on Isaac's part, but Caliana couldn't deny that she'd been consciously doing the same thing since their shift began nearly six hours earlier. Ensuring a more-than-breathable distance was always present.

Now, she held her mug at arms-length, gaping at the ceramic glass with sheer trepidation, inhaling several protracted sniffs. "What did you poison my coffee with, Doctor Rhys? Arsenic or cyanide?"

"With any luck, a couple of shots of tequila," Dawn interjected, taking a large (and rather noisy) slurp. "Damn it, not a single drop in here."

Caliana's vaseline-glossed lips converged into a weak smile, as she toiled the mug towards her open mouth, finally garnering a response from Isaac. "Frankly, I find that insinuation insulting. I'd never be that much of an amateur. I tend to go for Maitotoxin with my victims — faster acting, and far harder to prove." Caliana all but spat out the brown liquid in response.

"Isaac," Preeti warned half-heartedly, angled a few metres away from the three, eyes glued to a set of lab results on a computer in the Doctors' Mess. "What did we say about terrorising the new doctors on their very first night shift?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't recall saying anything about it."

Preeti rolled her eyes; twirling the wheeled chair around to face them and emitting a small yawn in the process. "I am sorry for what's happened tonight," she addressed all three of them, but namely the two girls. "It's a real shame, not to mention unfair that the two of you had to start your nights when we're so poorly staffed. I mean, the four of us looking after the majority of the hospital isn't right."

"It's not your fault, Doctor Chopra," Dawn replied sweetly. "It's just something that we're going to have to get used to. Little Oaks isn't the only hospital to be hit with staffing issues."

"Even so, it's not something we should have to grow accustomed to. It's wholly unsafe for our patients." Isaac differed.

The recognisable shrill sound blared, causing all four of them to peer down at Preeti's bleep which was hooked upon her scrub pocket. She exhaled an exasperated sigh, answering the call. "There's a sick patient that needs a review and a repeat arterial blood gas on Maple ward. Shall we head up now, Dawn?"

Dawn bobbed her head in agreement, before gulping the remainder of her coffee and sauntering out of the door behind Preeti.

"You remembered." Caliana teasingly uttered, consequently shattering the agonising silence that ensued after Preeti and Dawn's premature departure. She tapped a teaspoon against the ceramic mug's handle with a thwack. "You remembered I like vanilla syrup in my coffee. Although, I usually only take a dash."

"I did only put a dash of the syrup."

"Actually, this was a smidge." She replied, causing Isaac's brows to curve upwards in bemusement. "There's a subtle difference."

Caliana's bleep sounded just then, and she was almost appreciative of the interruption it offered. She clamped an index finger down on the button on the left side of the device; her chipped lavender polished fingernail fell into view. "Hi there. This is Cal—"

"Hi, is this one-o-one? There's a death on Juniper ward that needs verifying."

"Oh, right," Caliana replied slowly. "Who's the patient? And, was it an expected death or...?"

"Room twenty. I think it was an expected death— they were a palliative patient."

"O—okay. I've never verified...the deceased before." Caliana averted her gaze, catching Isaac's eyes observing her intently, their eyes locking for a brief millisecond before he dipped his gaze. "I'll be there in five."

Caliana set the phone receiver down, shifting in her chair several times before hailing herself up, and beginning to gather her cluttered belongings. She flung her stethoscope around her neck and grappled through fumbling fingers with her notebook and pen.

"Caliana, will you be okay verifying the death? You must've practised in med school, right?" Isaac spoke up.

"Yeah, I did but —" She halted, shaking her head, and pasting a small smile upon her lips. "Sure, I'm okay doing it."

"As someone wisely told me, it's perfectly fine not to comfortable doing something you've not done before." Isaac spoke softly, gazing up at her, the aquamarine hues of his irises not casting the usual frostiness of the Antarctic Oceans. "Would you like me to come with you for your first time?"

She bit her lip, considering Isaac's olive branch. "Actually, yes."

They ambled in silence down the corridor. It was an odd atmosphere without the usual pitter-pattering of feet or the shrieks of the delirious patient; alien even, at a complete disconnect from the bustling ambience of the day. The silence wasn't a foreign concept to anyone, but the way every sound was amplified and the dead of the night poured in through the windows, it was the type of silence that could uncover every small sin.

Caliana tapped her card at the entry point of the ward, the doors of Juniper ward sliding open in response. They were greeted by a series of snores as they idled towards the nursing station. A rather alluring woman was typing away at the station. Her braided coils fell just above her shoulders and were currently restrained by a cruel elastic band, but despite that, her braided hair complimented her mocha-toned skin. She donned lime green scrubs indicating that she was one of the more senior nurses in the ward. The badge across the left side of her chest read 'Nurse Nightingale'.

Nurse Nightingale ricocheted upwards from her chair after several seconds, offering a faint simper which swiftly dissipated once her eyes travelled over to Isaac. "I wasn't expecting the two of you."

"I've just come to offer some support to Doctor Monsoon. I won't be doing the verifying." Isaac clarified rather coolly. Caliana tilted her head up towards Isaac and then back to Nurse Nightingale who was scratching the back of her neck. She wondered if half of the patients were spiking a fever because it had become oddly cool within the ward as though someone had dialled the thermostat down to zero.

"I don't think we've met before. I'm Caliana, one of the new foundation doctors. Doctor Rhys is my mentor for the year."

Nurse Nightingale slanted backwards, her body angled slightly away from the two of them. "No...I don't believe we have. I'm Reagan, or you can just call me Nurse Nightingale. I wasn't aware you were taking any more mentees, Isaac." She dropped her gaze to Caliana. "Isaac and I know each other very well. We go way back."

Isaac cleared his throat, not giving Caliana a chance to enquire further. "Where's the patient?"

"Room twenty. It's Mr Smithers." Nurse Nightingale waved a hand in the direction of the room, before all but scampering away.

Isaac handed Caliana a large wad of notes that was Mr Smithers's medical folder. "You should review his notes first. It helps understand a little more about the cause of death, and whether we need to urgently refer to the coroner." Isaac illustrated.

Caliana nodded, flickering through the pages; the crinkling sounds of the turning pages overtaking the discomfiting buzz in her ears. She could feel Isaac's presence close behind her, the juxtaposing scent of spice and woodiness of his cinnamon aftershave was oddly pacifying.

Her trudge through the notes revealed that Mr Smithers was a male in his late seventies who had been admitted with biliary tract sepsis and was not a candidate for surgical intervention owing to advanced age and multiple comorbidities. He'd been commenced on the end-of-life pathway. Despite his expressed desire to die at home, a delay in getting his pain medication meant that he'd passed away before his discharge.

"Are you ready?" Isaac whispered, his voice authoritative enough for her to glance up at him. "I can do it if you're not comfortable, Caliana."

"No, it's fine. I should do it, shouldn't I? It's literally my job." She inhaled a jagged breath, wearing an apron and a pair of gloves before entering. She instantly registered how Mr Smithers eyes were wide open. She waited — wished and prayed — for his glazed eyes to move. They didn't.

"Hello, Mr Smithers. I'm Caliana, I'm one of the doctors. I've just come to...see you." She internally cringed at herself as she spoke, evidently not knowing whether she should be speaking to a corpse or not. She palpated his carotid artery over his lateral neck for several seconds without avail. She noticed how his skin had a pallid with a dampened quality to it.

"I'm going to flash a light in your eyes just to see how your pupils respond." She oscillated the flashlight from one eye to the next and back, noting how his pupils remained fixed and dilated.

"I'm going to finish up the assessment by listening to your heart and lung sounds for a few minutes." She placed the diaphragm of her stethoscope on his chest, only hearing the frictional sounds of the fabric of his hospital gown rather than any signs of life.

She could feel her torrid breath hitching in her throat, as she tugged the white blankets up to the apex of his chest. "Goodnight, Mr Smithers. Rest well."

She hurriedly left the room, swiftly disposing of her apron, and scrubbing her hands several times, leaving her skin with a prune-like quality. She quickly documented her findings and the time of death. She didn't wait for Isaac, but she could hear him behind her, hot on her trail.

"What are you thinking, Caliana?" Isaac whispered the query after a few moments of silence. She didn't answer, staring straight ahead down the corridor as she took long tenacious strides.

"Caliana, wait." He jumped in front of her, stopping her in her tracks as he placed his strong hands upon her shoulders, squeezing the tight muscles to centre her. "Just breathe. It's okay."

"I hated doing that." She winced. "How am I supposed to continue tonight's shift after that? It's so unfair, Doctor Rhys." She swung her head back, glaring at the ceiling, before resuming. "He died in a room on his own. Nobody was with him in his final moments."

"I know."

"I don't — That was the first dead body I've seen." She whimpered, desperately endeavouring to fetter her tears. "As a doctor, I mean. It's different to seeing parts of a cadaver in medical school."

"I know how awful verifying the dead can be." He stated, the heat from his hands exuding into her being, settling into her bones. "In a way, you're lucky that the first death you witnessed wasn't someone you cared for, or even knew. I don't mean that what you've just experienced isn't awful. You're still entitled to feel sad or angry for a while."

She soughed, sliding herself from away him, and permitting herself to sit against a wall in the corridor. She was surprised to feel him sidle down beside her, his knees narrowly missing hers as he splayed his legs open. "Do you remember your first death?"

He had his arms draped over his knees, his brawny forearms exposed from where his scrubs ended just before his elbows. He tipped his head against the wall for a few seconds, his eyes tightly closed. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"Does it get better with time?"

"Would it make you feel better if I said it did?" He positioned his head against the wall, tipping his head to the side, meeting her gaze once again.

She gulped, nodding her head slowly.

"Then yes, Caliana. It'll get better. Everything gets better with time."

It was a lie. And not a particularly credible one, yet hearing it from his lips relieved the pensive feelings brewing within her chest. Dissolving the feelings of dread away quicker than the final tangerine rays of the sunset could be replaced by the twilight night beckoning the stars.

"You know, we — doctors — are lucky. I know it doesn't feel that way right now, at three a.m. when we've been running around all night, and having to verify deaths. But what other career allows us to play a part in every facet of human life? We're who people come to at their most vulnerable, and we help to try and make things right for them again." He explained softly, his eyes boring into hers as he spoke. "I don't know about you, but I think that is worth the difficulties that come with the job."

"I guess you're right." She swivelled to face him; her sleep-deprived body lunging against the hardened wall, and her eyes drooping to half their usual size. "Bad break up, was it?"

"What?" His lips curved into a half-smile, already half-aware of what Caliana was alluding to.

"You and Nurse Nightingale? It was so obvious." She teased. "You never heard the rule about mixing business with pleasure?"

"Reagan's the last person I want to talk about right now."

"Who would you like to talk about, Doctor Rhys?" She whispered; the sound little more than a raspy scratch emerging from her throat. If she nestled her head only a fraction further, it would be pressed flat against Isaac's.

"Why don't you take a guess, Caliana?" He challenged, leaning forward ever so slightly. He reached a hand out toward her face, his palms hovering in the air for several seconds as though he were actively debating his actions, and deciding against touching her as his hand found residence upon his lap once again. He settled his palm over his groin, and Caliana wondered (and perhaps, hoped) it was an attempt to poorly hide his desire for her.

She tugged her lower lip into her mouth, almost completely sucking at the taut skin. She squeezed her thighs shut, trying to ignore the incessant pulsating within the area. "And, what will you give me if I guess right, Doctor Rhys?"

"Isaac." He demanded. "Call me Isaac."

"Isaac." She breathed out. His name on her lips must've functioned as an aphrodisiac, because less than a second later, the two were reaching for one another. Their movements were slow, restricted by lethargy, and carnal desire as though they were swimming in black treacle. Lips so close, and so hungry, they could almost taste one another despite the lack of physical contact.

*Cardiac arrest call to the main entrance of the hospital. Cardiac arrest to the main entrance*

Isaac hauled away first in response to the blaring bleep, eyes widened, and several flashes of regret evident within his orbs. "Come on, we should go." But he was stopped in his tracks as a second bleep went off.

*There is a second cardiac arrest call to Juniper Ward. This is a second cardiac arrest call to the Juniper ward.*

The two halted in place. "It's okay, don't panic. We'll go to the one outside. Doctor Chopra was already in Juniper ward with Dawn, so she can handle the second one."

*Medical emergency call on Maple ward. This a medical emergency call to Maple ward*.

As a third emergency call went out within the time span of less than a minute, the two stared at each other, both at a loss of words of what they should do next.