Er Doc's Forever Gift. Sue MacKay

hand was tugging at her sleeve. Drawing in air and shutting out Harry, she turned to her patient. ‘Hey, Fliss, I hear you took seawater on board. That won’t make your lungs happy.’

      The face mask was snatched away and words spewed out. ‘It’s not fair. I worked so hard to go on the trip. It’s the first time Mum’s let me go away without her and now I’ll be a prisoner in my own home again.’

      ‘Put this back on.’ As the lift jerked downward Sienna slipped the mask over Felicity’s face.

      It was promptly torn off. ‘Why bother? I don’t have a life anyway. Not one I like.’ Tears were tracking down her sallow cheeks as she gasped in tight lungfuls of air. Short, sharp gasps that wouldn’t give her anywhere near enough oxygen. ‘What happens if I don’t get home for Christmas, huh?’

      To run with the physical problem, or the real issue behind this? Like other children with cystic fibrosis, Felicity had missed out on a lot over the years. ‘Your mum only wants what’s best for you.’ Sienna drew a breath. Yvonne Little also had a son with the same condition and was raising the children on her own, her husband having thrown in the towel saying he couldn’t cope. As if Yvonne cruised through everything. ‘I know you want more than anything to be doing what your friends are, but we both understand that’s not always possible.’

      ‘Doesn’t mean I have to like it.’

      ‘No, it doesn’t. As for Christmas, you’ll be home well before then.’ Fliss could also be back in here with yet another of the massive chest infections she was prone to, but Sienna wasn’t bringing up that subject. The girl knew it as well as she did.

      ‘My grandparents are coming in two weeks. I don’t want to be in here then.’

      This discussion could go round and round endlessly. Sienna gave her a smile. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up, and start monitoring your obs. If everything’s all right, you should be able to go home tomorrow.’ She’d been about to say ‘go back to Great Barrier Island’ but realised in the nick of time it wasn’t her place, that Yvonne didn’t need her adding to her problems.

      ‘Whatever.’ Felicity tugged the mask back over her face, closed her eyes and turned her shoulder towards Sienna.

      Sienna made a mental note to talk to the children’s clinical psychologist before leaving at the end of the day. Felicity needed help beyond her scope.

      Early that afternoon Sienna hung seven-year-old Andrew Dixon’s file on the hook at the end of his bed and turned to his parents. ‘Andrew’s responded well to his surgery. His bloods are back to normal, indicating there’s no more infection.’ The burst appendix had temporarily knocked the boy for six. ‘As for his appetite, it’s coming on in leaps and bounds.’

      ‘When can we take him home?’ asked his exhausted father.

      Sienna smiled. ‘Tomorrow morning after I’ve checked to make sure everything’s still going how it should.’ She loved giving out the good news.

      Andrew’s mother was on the verge of tears. ‘Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. I hate to think what would’ve happened if we hadn’t got him here in time.’

      ‘Don’t torture yourself with that. You did get him here, and soon he’ll be creating mayhem at home and you’ll be trying to shush him up.’

      ‘Thank goodness for the rescue helicopter. The pilot’s great and the doctor awesome. He was so calm even when it was so serious.’

      Sienna’s heart leapt. ‘Who was your doctor?’

      ‘Harry someone. I’m going to write to the head of the rescue base saying how good he was.’

      ‘That’s always a nice thing to do.’ Harry won people over so easily, no doubt his charm and smile coming into play. He hadn’t won her over. No, but she’d hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all week. Sienna studied these two in front of her. ‘Andrew’s going to sleep for a while. Why don’t you take a break?’ They’d sat at his bedside most of the past two days and nights. ‘Go to a café and have a decent meal. Not a hospital one that’s unrecognisable. I’ll be here and the nurses will keep a close eye on your boy.’

      ‘But what if he wakes and asks for us?’

      ‘Your phone numbers are on file.’ And the nurses were adept at calming upset children. ‘Go on. Get out of here and have some couple time.’

      ‘Couple time? What’s that?’

       Don’t ask me.

      ‘Remember you’re about to return home to three boisterous kids,’ Sienna said. She’d met Andrew’s siblings yesterday, and the ward hadn’t been quite the quiet haven it was supposed to be while they were here. ‘Time to yourselves is what you both need.’ Sienna all but shooed them out of the room.

      Andrew’s father nodded as he passed her. ‘You’re right. A short spell to ourselves will do wonders. We’ll be at that café on the corner if anything changes.’

      ‘It’s not going to.’ Sienna watched the couple walk away and for a moment wished there was someone special in her life to go have a meal and coffee with, to help her let go of all the hang-ups from a normal day on a children’s ward. Someone like Harry? Definitely not. He was too sure of himself for her liking. So if she wasn’t liking him, why this sensation of slipping on ice whenever she was near him? She’d seen first-hand how caring a doctor he was with Fliss, and that always scored points with her. He just wasn’t such a caring neighbour. Was that a big deal? They might’ve got off on the wrong foot, and a simple conversation could correct that. Did she want to fix it? She was single for a reason, wasn’t prepared to risk the hurt of being dumped again. Her life was contained, probably too contained, but it was comfortable. Safe. Boring?

      ‘Go home, Sienna. Take time out for yourself.’ Dale appeared in front of her, refocusing her errant brain.

      ‘It’s just gone two. I’ve got hours to go. Anyway, I told Andrew’s parents I’d be here while they take a much needed break.’

      ‘I’ve got it covered.’ The head of Paediatrics was studying her as if he’d never seen her before. ‘You’ve put in ridiculously long hours this week, as always.’

      ‘That’s how the job goes.’

      ‘Most of us have a life outside these four walls that we actively try to participate in with family and friends, not spend our energy avoiding.’

      But she didn’t have family close by.

       You do have friends in town.

      Who were equally tied up with work as she was.

       ‘Spread those wings, Si. Lighten up a bit.’

       Yes, Dad.

      ‘Take the whole weekend off. I’ve got your patients covered,’ Dale remonstrated like a harassed parent. ‘You’re not doing yourself or anyone else any favours working all these ridiculous hours.’

       I need to make sure I’m busy all the time.

      But he was right. She had put in uncountable hours throughout the week, and even for her she was overtired. It was time to relax. And honestly, not to have to think about medications and results and children in pain sounded like bliss. It’d be a rare treat—if only she knew what to do with it. ‘I’m out of here.’

      Walking off the ward in the middle of the afternoon should’ve been exciting. Instead it was...worrying. Hours stretched ahead. Her father was right: she was far too ensconced in her life of all work and no play. But how to change? Where to start?

      At home, standing on her narrow deck, Sienna couldn’t come up with anything to do with this precious time out. It felt alien. The sun was still in the sky. The birds still tweeting. Had she really become so rigid in how she lived that she couldn’t think outside