"That was...incredible!" Caliana rambled along in the female locker room. The fiery sun had risen and settled on night three of her week-long string of night shifts.

And now, Caliana's back remained relaxed away from Dawn as she towed her teal-scrub top up and over her head; the adrenaline rush from the medical emergency of night one still snaking through her vessels.

"I still can't believe we did that...that I did that. I keep replaying it in my mind." Caliana hauled the matching teal scrub trousers up and over her knees, fastening the strap at her waist. "I keep thinking, yes, I am that bitch who single-handedly inserted a chest drain successfully on my first attempt. And did you see the look on Isaac's face?" She scooped the freshly damp waves of her washed hair into a low ponytail, swivelling around when no response arose from her colleague. Behind her resided a still butt-naked Dawn on the wooden bench, air pods wedged firmly into her ears.

Having now spent three nights with Dawn so far, Caliana had discovered that whilst she may have been gifted the nickname of a voyeur, Dawn was the certified nudist. But as the latter girl had once uttered, God had blessed her with this body for a reason, and it would have been nothing short of a cardinal sin to conceal it. "Dawn, are you even listening? I was talking to you ab—" She scooted forward to remove the foreign object from the girl's left ear.

"The patient with the pneumothorax. I know. We've only had this same conversation about two thousand times." Dawn droned in response, her wrist flailing down to her Louis Vuitton bag situated on the floor, clutching her scrubs, whilst feigning an audible yawn to stress her boredom.

"Sorry. Sorry." Caliana muttered, sinking down beside Dawn in silence. But it wasn't long before the gleam re-emerged in the mahogany-coloured irises of her eyes. "But how can I ever stop talking about it?! It was the most exhilarating experience of my career so far. And even Isaa—"

"Isaac, Isaac, Isaac." Dawn parroted the words of her colleague, boosting her voice up by a few decibels in a poor endeavour to imitate Caliana. She shuffled along the bench until her lips were a mere few centromeres away from her Caliana's ear. "Tell me, Callie, have you found any polyps up there yet?"

Caliana's eyebrows bunched up in confusion. "Polyps?" She repeated. "What are you talking about, Dawn?"

Dawn emitted a sigh, finally lugging the scrub top over her head. "These past few nights, you've been kissing that man's ass so much, you've practically performed a colonoscopy on him. So, go on then, how's his colon looking?"

"I have not!" Caliana's mouth plunged wide open before she permitted a shudder to dance through her body. "And ew. That is a vile thought."

Dawn entitled her lips to slant in objection. "Callie, I went to med school in Little Oaks. Doctor Rhys has known of my existence for nearly five years, and he still can't get my name right. He called me Doctor Swan out there." She flung both her hands up and outwards with frustration. "And here, you come along. Not even able to do chest compressions properly on your first day, and you're already on a first-name basis with him. Like, what exactly did you have to do to achieve that? You been sucking him off or something?" Dawn jested, but when Caliana didn't oppose immediately, she yelped. "Oh my god! I was kidding, but don't tell me you actually are?!"

"Shh." Caliana held her index finger against Dawn's lip, the remnants of Dawn's coral-pink lip stain forming a sharp line against the pulp of Caliana's finger. She curved her head from side to side confirming that none of the surgical team were eavesdropping. Caliana wavered for several moments, contemplating over Isaac and her earlier almost-kiss situation, and wondering whether it was wise to divulge such information to her new friend. She quickly decided against it. "Has the thought occurred to you that maybe, just maybe I'm a good doctor, and he's impressed with my skills?" She addended herself before Dawn could prematurely intersect. "And no, I am not referring to my oral skills."

Dawn remained muted for a moment, attempting introspection, and subsequently failing. "No. That definitely can't be it."

Caliana pursed her lips, yanking on Dawn's forearm. "Come on! We made a great team, didn't we? Don't let Doctor God Complex come between us." Caliana resumed when Dawn didn't budge. "I couldn't have saved that patient without you, or Nurse Nightingale. I think you're great. Preeti knows you're great. Who cares what Isaac thinks?" Caliana fibbed, crossing her index and middle finger behind her back. "And if nothing else is going to make you listen to me, then just remember jealousy doesn't look good on you."

Dawn nipped at her lower lip, before swiping her tongue against the lower border of her incisors ensuring she wasn't a victim of the dreaded lipstick teeth. "It just...it just feels like..." She tapered off.

"Like what?"

Dawn shook her head, the usual brazen grin embracing her face once again. "Forget it. You're right. I am good at what I do." She ceased before adding. "Oh, and don't be silly, Callie. Everything looks good on me."

---

"So, the patient from Maple Ward. The one with the trauma-induced tension pneumothorax." Isaac commenced, as soon as Caliana and Dawn stepped food into the Doctor's Mess. "He's got septicaemia. An infection has entered his bloodstream and is causing his vital organs to shut down. He's on broad-spectrum antibiotics and antifungals, but we can't offer him the best care possible until we know exactly where the infection is, and what type of infection it is."

Caliana and Dawn shared a brief gaze before Caliana piped up. "What about his bacterial and viral culture results? Are any of them back yet?"

Preeti settled down on the couch beside Dawn, releasing a sigh, straddling one tawny-shaded thigh over the other calf. "All results have returned from the lab either negative or inconclusive. Same for the fungal and parasite infection screen."

"Could we put him through the CT scanner?" Dawn proposed. "Maybe he's got a big collection of pus hidden somewhere that we can't find easily, but the scanner might be able to visualise it?"

"Bingo." Isaac acknowledged Dawn's words. Caliana couldn't help but note Dawn's face lighting up with sheer glee from the seal of approval. "But we unfortunately have a rather big problem with that."

Dawn and Caliana averted their gaze to share another uncertain glance, already beginning to dread the trajectory that the conversation was heading. Caliana crossed a begrudging arm across her chest. "This isn't the time, nor the place for fatphobia, Doctor Rhys."

Isaac's lips pressed in a firm line. "I'm not fatphobic, but this hospital clearly is," Isaac replied, unphased by her words. "The fact of the matter is that the CT scanner here isn't large enough to accommodate his weight. It takes weights to a maximum of two hundred kilograms. He's about thirty more."

"Right." Dawn stretched the word. "As much as I would love to dig out my hammer and saw and start working on the expansion of our scanner at 3. a.m. I think I might have to skip out on this one."

Preeti exhaled a small laugh. "Give it up, Isaac. If we haven't been able to find a solution to the CT scanner problem, it's unrealistic to expect Dawn or Callie too. We'll just have to find an alternative way to source the infection."

"These two are part of the next generation of budding doctors." Isaac retorted. "They're much more creative and innovative than we are."

Preeti waved away Isaac's words. "Anyway, that issue aside for now. Given that he's one of the sickest patients in the hospital, we're going to need one of you to help assess him periodically throughout the night. I'm talking regular blood gases, chasing up results. We're likely going to have to perform an emergency bronchoscopy overnight, which is where we insert a tube down into the lungs, to manually see if there are any pus cells there that we can send to the lab for analysis. Which one of you—?"

"Me! Me! I call dibs!" Dawn rushed out, before clearing her throat, turning to Caliana, and correcting herself. "I mean...I mean, I would like to volunteer myself for this opportunity. I think it's only fair because Caliana did the chest drain the other night. It would be beneficial for my professional growth to be involved in the next procedure. That's fair...right, Callie? You don't mind, do you?"

Caliana hesitated but soon bobbed her head in agreement. Dawn's ego had already born a bruising from Isaac and Preeti's lack of acknowledgement. Perhaps, this is just what she needed to give her a nudge in the correct direction. "Sure. I don't really mind." She offered a faint smile, despite her mild irritation at the situation.

"Well, that settles that then." Preeti stood up, with Dawn hot on her heels. She plucked at the remnants of the golden-crusted crumbs of the flapjacks she'd just feasted on that had somewhat found themselves seeded within her nylon tights before heading for the exit of the Doctor's Mess.

"You two have fun manning the rest of the hospital," Dawn uttered over her shoulder, before reducing her voice to a mere whisper and hovering closer to Caliana. "But not too much fun. Things move fast in this place, you're on first-name basis now. Next thing I know, I'll be down here in the morning finding out you're taking his last name too."

Caliana shot Dawn a death stare as she left, waiting until Dawn was completely out of earshot before turning towards Isaac's direction. "So...erm, any special tasks for me to get on with, tonight?"

Isaac cleared his throat, emitting a small cough, his pupils dancing around, occupied by everything and anything in the room but Caliana. "Ah, yes. As we've discussed, I'd like you to source a bariatric scanner for our patient."

"Hold on." She gaped up at him. "I thought we'd already established that that is a literally impossible task. I mean, realistically, how does one even source a CT scanner? Would you like me to whip out an extra-large scanner from my asshole?"

Isaac inched his head back, jaw lifted in amusement, and lips curving into a brief smirk. "That's not quite what I was thinking. But should you be capable of such an act, colour me impressed."

"Isaac, please. Be reasonable here." Caliana noticed how the muscles of his jaw and neck clenched in response to her using his forename. "How will this even help me develop as a doctor?"

Isaac took a small sip from the coffee carton situated on the tea table in front of him; small splatters of murky brown stairs from what appeared to be decade-old spillages of caffeinated liquids decorated the table. Isaac's countenance forged into one straighter than that of a poker player. "Being a doctor isn't all about the fun stuff. Every night isn't chest drains, cardiac arrests, and bronchoscopies. If we don't find a source of infection for him, there is a good chance that he won't make it. Should an innocent man really die because we don't have the resources to accommodate his needs?"

Caliana reeled from the insinuation. "Well, no. That's not what I'm saying but—"

"No buts." Isaac cut her short. "I make the orders, and you follow them. That's how this works." He held her gaze for a moment, a smirk hidden between his words. "Yes, I might have said I'd be more patient with you, but that doesn't mean you take advantage. I give you a task, you do it. No questions asked. Capiche?"

Caliana's mouth twitched, nostrils flaring slightly. She was caught off-guard by Isaac's words, but if this was his way of attempting to re-establish boundaries between the two of them, she could play ball. At least for tonight. "Of course, Doctor Rhys. Consider it done."

---

AN: Hey all, hope everyone's doing well. I'm so sorry for the sporadic updates. Having a baby is actually hard work (who knew?!)

I have the next few chapters written so hopefully, the next update won't be too too delayed. Hoping to update every other week. Let me know what you think so far <3