All The Little Moments (23 page)

Anna spun on her heel and started for the stairs, pulling out her phone as she moved quickly down them. As soon as she was through the door, she placed the call. “Mum. Hi,
it’s me.”

“Hey, sweetie.”

“I’m really sorry, but there’s been a huge accident and I can’t leave work
this time.”

“Oh, no. Don’t tell me about it, I don’t want
to know.”

She nodded grimly, feet pounding rhythmically on the stairs. The door on the next level swung open as Anna passed it and she saw Lane, who waved as she started down the stairs next
to Anna.

“I think I’ll be here late—as one of the senior anaesthetists, I really can’t leave. There’s going to be multiple surgeries. Can Ella and Toby stay
with you?”

“Of course. I can wash Ella’s uniform for tomorrow—I’ve got her from school already. How do I
get Toby?”

Anna relaxed slightly when she felt Lane’s hand on the small of her back as they made their way to
ground level.

“Remember, I told you? You’re on the list of people who can get him from day care, just take your
license in.”

“Okay, honey. I’ll get him in
an hour.”

“Thanks, Mum. Sorry
about this.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s what grandmas
are for.”

“Tell Ella I’m sorry. Tell her we’ll go to the movies on
the weekend.”

“She’ll be fine. I’ll keep Toby with me tomorrow. I’ll let the day care know when I pick him up. Good
luck, honey.”

“Thanks
Mum, bye.”

As she put her phone away, Anna flashed a smile at
Lane. “Hi.”

“Hey. Just got told I’m needed for a double in emergency. Ready for a
long night?”

The door that led into the emergency room finally appearing in front of them, Anna nodded and pulled it open. The place was a mess, set up for mass trauma, sirens wailing outside, the first patients already on their way in. Just before they walked through the doors, Lane’s fingers linked briefly with hers for a moment before letting go. Adrenaline already moving through her body, Anna bounced on the balls of
her feet.

“You bet.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The night was chaotic, the
noise level high. It was all hands on deck, and Anna loved it. Not that there were children and adults in a critical condition after a truck crashed into a school bus—but she was definitely loving the action, the incredibly fast pace, the thinking on her feet. Adrenaline hit her system as she was engulfed by it all. It was her job, after all. A job she was damn good at, that she had
lived for—once.

In no time at all, Anna was directed to a bed to take over guarding a patient’s airway. The boy was no more than ten, shirt cut open, an emergency doctor inserting an intercostal catheter. Eyes on the monitor, Anna saw that the boy’s heart rate was dangerously fast and his oxygen saturations were far too low. The catheter caused only a slight improvement. Anna elbowed out the intern standing at the head of the bed and checked the placement of the endotracheal tube. She tutted and glared the man down as her hands moved quickly, deflating the balloon and removing
the tube.

“You’ve been blowing air into
his stomach.”

The intern was pale. “I-I thought it was in the
correct place.”

“Check, don’t assume. Watch.” Anna inserted a new endotracheal tube, the correct size this time, and bagged the patient. The intern and Anna turned to watch his sats slowly
creep up.

“Anna, we need a patient intubated here and we have
no hands!”

Anna and the intern’s heads whipped to the bed next to theirs, where Lane knelt, performing compressions while a surgeon from trauma worked to control a lower
abdomen bleed.

“You got that one?” she asked
the intern.

He gave a nod and slipped away, off to apply what he had hopefully just learnt to
Lane’s patient.

Looking to the doctor at her patient’s chest, Anna asked, “This boy for surgery?”

The man gave a swift nod. “He’s first on the list, shattered femur and,” he pulled the blanket back for a moment, showing a penetrating injury. “We’re taking him up now he’s stable. You’re Doctor
Foster, anaesthetics?”

“That’s me, and I’m with
you guys.”

They started to move the bed out, and Anna climbed on to continue bagging. Her eyes flicked up to check the stats on her monitor before darting to the bed next
to theirs.

The intern was looking relieved as he bagged the patient, his eyes glued to his own monitor, and Lane had paused her compressions while the surgeon monitored the screens. At his nod, Lane slid off the bed, hands immediately adjusting the
intravenous pump.

Brown eyes flicked over and caught Anna’s as the bed wheeled away. Lane gave a wink, eyes quickly going back to her patient, and it was probably inappropriate to think the thoughts Anna
was thinking.

The next few hours went quickly; at eleven, Anna wasn’t even feeling tired. When she finally found a free moment, she ducked into the surgeons’ lounge. As she turned from the sink, desperately chugging a glass of water, Lane walked into the room wearing a scrub cap. Anna could have collapsed in a grateful heap when she noticed the two coffees in
Lane’s hands.

“Oh my God, you are amazing. Thank you.” Anna took a long gulp, relishing
the taste.

“I see how this is. You’re only happy because I gave
you coffee.”

With a contented sigh, Lane settled next to Anna, leaning against the bench. They watched in amusement as a surgeon ran in, rummaged in a bag, and triumphantly pulled out an apple. Not even noticing them, he shoved it into his mouth before rushing
back out.

Taking another sip, Anna shook her head. “Not totally true. I was very happy when you walked in. Especially when I saw you in your cute little scrub cap. I was just ecstatic when I saw
the coffee.”

“I’ll accept that. Though you weren’t as happy as that guy about
his apple.”

“He probably hasn’t eaten
since three.”

Lane leant sideways to press a kiss to Anna’s lips. As she tried to end the kiss, Anna grabbed at the material of Lane’s scrub top and pulled her closer, deepening
the kiss.

They separated after a minute, Lane smiling happily. “If coffee gets me that, what does this get me?” She held up a
paper bag.

Anna literally bounced on the
spot. “Food!”

Ignoring Lane’s amused look, Anna snatched the bag and looked inside. “Microwaved pizza rolls.” She looked up at Lane again. “Where did you
find these?”

“I stole them from Tess’s locker when I was told to find twenty minutes to have a break before the union broke down
the doors.”

After shoving one in her mouth, Anna handed the bag back over. “I hadn’t even realised how hungry I was.” She took another bite, chewing quickly and swallowing. “Or how caffeine-deprived.” Anna smiled.
“Thank you.”

“My pleasure. How were
your surgeries?”

“Awesome. One of my patients started to have a temp spike, and I thought I had a reaction going on, but it turned out to be nothing exciting. What’s up with the sexy scrub cap? I thought you were
in emergency?”

“They roped me in to be instrument nurse the last
two hours.”

“Why didn’t you go into medicine,
or surgery?”

Lane rolled her eyes. “I love nursing, I do lots of hard core stuff
and
I get to speak more
with patients.”

“Just
a question.”

Lane poked her
tongue out.

“It’s going to be a
long night.”

Lane nodded. “It really is.” She eyed Anna. “Something you don’t look too
sad about.”

Anna had the sense to look a little sheepish. “I know. I can’t help it. I’ve really missed this. I haven’t done a late night in months. This kind of pressure, having them wheeled in and out, all a
little dicey.”

Lane grinned at her. “You really are a little hard core—why didn’t
you
do something more
hands on?”

“Touché. I don’t know. I enjoy that my patients don’t talk
back much.”

“If they do, you haven’t done your
job correctly.”

“You’re so funny.” Anna grinned. Lane’s hand slipped behind her neck, thumb brushing her cheek as Anna pushed back against her. When they parted, Anna pressed a final chaste kiss against Lane’s lips for good measure before resting her forehead against Lane’s. Eventually, she settled back against the bench, sipping her coffee and
watching Lane.

They didn’t take their eyes off each other until the sound of people rushing into the lounge to find food finally tore
them apart.

“I need to get back downstairs now that surgery is done. It’s chaos.” Lane winked at her. “Don’t fall asleep on
your patients.”

“You either.”

They walked out together, parting ways at
the stairs.

“And Lane?” Anna pressed her back against the door to push
it open.

Lane looked at
her. “Yeah?”

“I owe you one for
that coffee.”

Lane seemed incapable of wiping the grin from
her face.

It was three in the morning when Anna finally left her last surgery. They were done, every staff member wiped, all surgeries that needed to be completed, finished. She had secretly hoped that she would end up in a surgery with Lane at some point, but even though Lane was technically casual pool, she seemed to spend most of her time
in emergency.

Now they all gathered in the emergency room’s meeting office; nurses, surgeons and doctors standing shoulder to shoulder as the emergency coordinator gave them a speech. “That was great work. I want you all to go home unless you were actually rostered on tonight. Those doing doubles, leave. Your pay will be sorted out, don’t worry.” He grinned, and everyone gave a tired laugh. “Those rostered on to start this morning, sleep. I’ll see you at noon. The night staff that came on at eleven tonight can stay late. You all
need it.”

Anna stood between Tess and Lane, her hands buried in her pockets. She gave a sigh of relief, happy she wouldn’t have to start until twelve the next day after such a
long shift.

Tess looked sideways at them both. “Well, I’m going home immediately. No nookie in the hospital,
you two.”

“Aren’t you rostered
on tonight?”

At Anna’s words, her face fell. “Oh. Yeah.” And with a wave she
was gone.

“I suppose you should get home to the ki—” Lane stopped suddenly, a wicked grin creeping over her lips. “Ella and Toby are at
your mum’s.”

The realisation dawned slowly on Anna, too. “Yeah, they are. My house
is empty.”

“I have tomorrow off. Need some company?” Lane stepped backwards, eyes wide with fake innocence even as she led the way to
the exit.

Not hesitating, Anna followed. “I think
I do.”

“That does
 
not
 
mean I have more relationship experience
than you.”

Laughing at the indignant tone in Lane’s voice, Anna held the door open for her to walk through. “Please, Lane, you were
 
married
.
Totally does.”

Lane shook her head, hanging her jacket up and following Anna down the hall into the kitchen. “I wasn’t
married
. We had a civil partnership and a cat.” Lane paused. “Okay, fine, in the lesbian world that’s married. But I was young and naive. How long were you in your last
relationship for?”

“Over three years.” Anna peered into her fridge.
“Beer okay?”

“As long as it’s cold, great. I’d take anything
right now.”

Anna wriggled her eyebrows as she fished out
two beers.

“Okay, I could have worded that better.” Lane shrugged. “See. Three years! That’s commitment. We were only living together
for two.”

The sound of the beer opening made Anna happier than she was willing to admit. “Yeah, but you had a cat. That’s like, having children.” She paused. “Actually, since acquiring two children, I can safely say that no, having a cat is not the same. Still, though, it all adds up to count as more experience
than mine.”

Lane shook her head. “Nope—my ex ran off with the woman who was painting our front porch and gave me emotional scars.” Lane winked.
“Doesn’t count.”

She hadn’t known Lane’s ex had had an
affair. “Really?”

Nonchalantly, Lane blew a raspberry. “It was a long time ago. That part’s not important. Your relationship wins.
Three years.”

“Civil union.”

Lane looked thoughtful for a moment. “Okay. Maybe. Maybe it adds up to more experience. But three years
is major.”

Sipping her beer, Anna slid Lane’s to her and took a seat. If her ex had cheated on her, she probably wouldn’t be so relaxed. But Lane already seemed to be focussed back on what they were
talking about.

“I suppose. It was my first real relationship, though, besides the odd longer thing
in college.”

“Seriously?” Lane put the bottle on the table and blatantly looked Anna up and
down. “
How?
”

Anna rolled her eyes. “I was so focussed on work and my career. I was happy, doing that. I didn’t
want commitment.”

The suspicion in Lane’s eyes made Anna
uncomfortable. “What?”

“You were a bit of a player,
weren’t you?”

“What?” At that moment, Anna hated how her voice tended to go high when she lied.
“What? No.”