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'And bloody difficult it's turning out to be!' he exploded, breaking the ice and making them both laugh.
¹
'Oh, Yona—what fools we are,' he said when they'd calmed down a bit.

'Pathetic, I call it,' was her opinion. 'We spend all day sorting out others and yet we can't sort out ourselves.'

'Don't you be so sure,' he warned, getting up and lumbering round the table to pull Yona to her feet.

As always, his lightest touch was enough to prompt ripples of desire. It was heavenly to be in his arms again and her response was the warmest ever after the anxiety of the past few days. 'Almost worth falling out for,' she murmured ecstatically.

'Oh, my darling...' He kissed her again, moving her towards the door.

In the bedroom he undressed her with a controlled yet eager care that drove her wild. She was ready and aching to receive him long before he judged her ready, and when he finally found his way to the place where he and only he would ever be welcome, Yona thought she would die of the joy of it. And when the storm was past and he lay spent and happy in her arms, she clutched him as tightly as ever, reluctant to let him go. He was her joy, her love, her life.

They were wakened just before midnight by the urgent ringing of the phone. Mike had to stretch across Yona to reach it. In seconds he was fully awake and out of bed, searching for his clothes.

'I didn't know you were on call,' she whispered, bewildered.

'I'm not, my darling, there's a major alert on. An air crash.' He bent down to kiss her and tell her to go back to sleep. 'I'll ring you first chance I get,' he promised. Then he grabbed a sweater and made for the door.

Yona woke next at her usual time, wondering where she was and why her body felt so relaxed and contented—until she remembered. She closed her eyes again, reliving those wonderful moments.

But where was Mike? Then she remembered too about the accident. She'd better not be late this morning—there could be repercussions even on her own unit if too many beds needed to be found.

She showered and dried herself with Mike's towels. They smelled faintly of him and she'd have liked to have stayed longer, hugging them around her. She ate cereal at the cluttered table they'd abandoned in such desperate haste the night before. It took Yona five minutes to clear the lot into the dishwasher. Then she stepped out onto the landing, just as Angie was putting out a note for the milkman.

She looked at Yona with undisguised hatred. 'This is going to break Fran's heart,' she hissed.

'If you think that then don't tell her,' retorted Yona, sounding calmer than she felt. In truth, she felt very sorry for Fran, but denying her own happiness because of Fran's unrealistic hopes made no sense. Besides, she was beginning to worry about Mike. He hadn't phoned her, as he'd said he would. Where was he? Was he all right? Sometimes the rescue and emergency teams called to major disasters were as much in danger as those directly involved.

There was an unmistakable air of drama at the hospital that morning, with more folk than usual in corridors and waiting rooms, hastily dressed and sleepless, waiting anxiously for news, while the staff—already frantically busy— rushed about with cups of tea for them.

On the rheumatic unit, Charlie had already compiled a list of patients who could, if absolutely necessary, be discharged to make room for emergencies.

'Do you know exactly what happened?' Yona asked as she scanned it.

'A plane crashlanded at the airport—they don't know Why yet. Most of the passengers and crew got out, but there were many casualties. The General Hospital got most of them being nearest, but between thirty and forty were brought here.'

'Good God—what a calamity!' Yona had never before been even remotely involved with something of this scale. She turned back to Charlie's list. 'Not Mr Davies—his back is unstable. And not Mrs Dawson—she's only just completed her four weeks' total bed rest. I suppose Mr McCarthy could go at a pinch, although we've not got all his results yet... Surely it makes more sense to delay nonurgent admissions, Charlie?'

'Sure, but general orders for major incidents say do this—so that's what I'm doing.'

Yona found a ballpoint. 'I'm starring four who could go home if absolutely necessary, but don't do anything until the profs given the OK— Oh, here you are, Ted. Have you heard the news?'

'I caught it on the car radio on the way here,' he returned. 'All the surgeons will have been called in, no doubt.'

'Yes, they have been,' Yona confirmed unguardedly. 'Two of them actually live in my block, don't forget,' she added before anybody could ask her how she knew.

Ted then agreed about their choice of patients, and they settled back into their usual, less demanding routine.

It was lunchtime before Yona saw Mike, and then only briefly in the corridor outside Theatre as she took a short cut to see if a rheumatic patient in Orthopaedics, recently operated on, could be discharged if necessary.

Mike looked tired and his blue cotton theatre clothes were stained and crumpled. 'Just taking a breather while waiting for clean things to arrive,' he explained. 'We've gone through the entire stock up here.'

'It must have been hectic.'

'That's putting it mildly,' he said. 'At times like this I almost wish I'd chosen medicine. Dermatology, say. There can't be many emergencies in— Coming, Sister,' he said over his shoulder when someone called out that the laundry had turned up trumps.

He bent down to kiss the top of Yona's head. 'See you as soon as I possibly can, darling,' he whispered, before disappearing again.

He's optimistic, she thought, continuing her errand. He's on call tonight. And not a word about last night but, then, how could he? Not in a busy hospital corridor...

It was well after nine o'clock before Mike rang Yona's doorbell, and by then her carefully prepared dinner was past its best.

'Oh, honey, you shouldn't have waited,' he said contritely. 'I snatched a sandwich earlier—between jobs,' he added.

'That's all right, then,' she said, thinking that surely he could have phoned...

'No, it isn't,' he denied. 'Not when you'd gone to so much trouble. I picked up the phone more than once, only to be interrupted.'

'It sounds as though you've had a truly terrible day,' said Yona, thinking now how unreasonable
she
was being.

'I can't remember anything to touch it,' he said. 'Anyway, things are more or less stable now so I thought I'd dash home and see you—if only for a minute. Besides, I badly need a shower and a change of clothes.'

'Why not shower here while I fetch you some fresh things?' she suggested.

'Darling, you are wonderful,' he said gratefully, handing over his keys.

There was no angry Angie hovering on the doorstep tonight and Yona was back home in minutes. Mike had already showered and was prowling round her flat, draped inadequately in towels which he promptly threw aside when she handed him some Y-fronts.

The sight of his magnificent naked body was almost too much for Yona. 'It's a good thing you're on call,' she murmured from under lowered lashes.

'I call it damn bad luck,' he said with a wicked grin. 'All the same—' He was cut short by the phone. 'I hope that's not for me...'

But it was. 'Your registrar has just seen a complicated fracture of tib and fib he doesn't feel up to,' she reported.

'In my experience, he doesn't feel up to anything more exacting than a sprained ankle,' growled Mike, lumbering over to take the phone from her, still almost naked.

As he listened, his expression changed. 'Sounds a real corker,' he said, then went on, 'I'm sorry, but I'll have to go, my love. Lord, what a day!

'What a twenty-four hours, come to that,' he added softly—his first reference to their magical coming together the night before. He pulled her close and kissed her fit to melt her bones. 'I'm afraid that's the best I can do for now,' he said whimsically. 'What a good thing you're not also a surgeon, my darling, or we'd have even more of a problem in front of us.'

He was dressed and away before Yona could ask what he'd meant by that. She thought she could probably guess, though—and she hoped with all her heart that she was wrong.

'We're going to have to do something about the on-call,' Mike said firmly over lunch next day when he discovered that Yona was on call that night—and for the whole weekend.

'Like what?' she said. She couldn't see how the medical registrars' rota could be made to fit in with that of the orthopaedic consultants.

'We'll think of something,' he said confidently. 'We can't have our love life upset like this.'

'Is that what you'll tell them when they ask you why you want things changed?' asked Yona, with an indulgent little smile.

'If necessary,' he insisted. 'Besides, it doesn't seem five minutes since you were on before. How is that?'

'We're a bit out of step at the moment, what with holidays and study leave,' she explained. 'It'll probably not work out quite as badly as this again.'

'I hope not for your sake, darling. All the same, you must admit it makes more sense for us both to be on call at the same time.'

'It would certainly be nicer,' she agreed. 'I just don't see how it can be arranged, though.'

'Do you realise it'll be Tuesday night now before we're both off?' he calculated, looking horrified.

'That's the way the cookie crumbles,' agreed Yona, eyeing the canteen clock. 'But I have to go now—a class of first-year nurses.'

'Couldn't you manage to sound a bit more upset?' grumbled Mike. 'I'm beginning to think that you don't fancy me as much as I fancy you.'

Yona sent him an intimate smile, if you can think that then you must have a very short memory,' she said softly, to be thrilled by the spark of fire her words evoked in his deep-set, expressive eyes. 'Dear one,' she went on, 'I'm as fed up as you are about this, but there's nothing we can do about it. Of course, if I were a consultant like you, I could be on call at home too.'

That made good sense to Yona, but she soon realised she'd said the wrong thing, judging by the way his mouth tightened. But she didn't have the time to try and put things right now.

'Darling, I have to go—eighteen eager young nurses are waiting to hear my words of wisdom. I'll phone you any spare second I get tonight—promise.' She kissed her fingertips and brushed his cheek with them in passing. 'You be a good boy, now,' she whispered.

'What choice do I have?' he asked glumly.

They didn't meet again until the combined clinic on Monday, and then, of course, Ted was there too—not to mention all the patients.

Karen was among them. Yona had already explained why she was there so Ted wasted no time in reinforcing what she'd heard from Mike the week before. 'We've done our bit and now it's up to you whether or not your new hip is a success,' he wound up. 'I hope you understand that, my girl?'

Karen said of course she did and she intended to be sensible. 'Do you want me to sign something?' she asked, sounding more like her usual perky self.

'That won't be necessary as we've got this conversation on tape,' said Ted, as he switched off the contraption on his desk.

'Well, I never,' breathed Karen. 'When you said you'd be recording our conversation, I thought you meant you were writing it down—like a police statement. See you at the wedding, then. You're still coming, aren't you?' she pleaded.

'Try and stop me,' said Ted, smiling.

When she'd gone Mike said thoughtfully, 'If a bright girl like that can misunderstand, we'd better revise our way of putting things—make sure that every patient understands clearly that all important conversations will be taped.'

Ted agreed and delivered one of his speeches about how
awful these modern times were when patients were encouraged on all sides to sue on the slimmest of grounds— and he really didn't know what the world was coming to!

'A full stop—-just like this clinic will, if we don't get on with it,' said Mike with a grin. 'Yona, be a love and tell them to send in the next customer.'

Because I'm the junior or because I'm a woman? she wondered. Probably the latter. After all, the director of nursing had recently taken away a nurse from this clinic— because one of the doctors was a woman and would do as a chaperone!

It was a longer clinic than usual and Mike, being orthopaedic consultant on standby,
Was
called away twice, stretching it out even more. Add on four new patients for Yona afterwards—all needing lengthy assessments—and she was very late getting home.

With Mike being on call that night, she had volunteered to cook supper. She went straight to the kitchen to rustle up something quick and easy.

He arrived before it was quite ready and lounged in the kitchen doorway, watching her at work. 'I love to see your domestic side,' he told her.

'And why is that?' she asked.

'Because there was a time when I was afraid you hadn't got one.'

'That's silly,' she told him. 'There are certain things everybody has to do for themselves if they're not to starve— or live like a pig.'

'I couldn't agree more in general, but right now you really seem to be enjoying yourself.'

'Why wouldn't I? After all, I'm cooking for the man I— who's tops with me right now.' She'd almost said the man I love, but she didn't mean to make such an admission before he did.

'So I'm on trial, then, am I?' he asked, sounding rattled.

'No more than I am, I guess. Taste this and tell me if it needs more salt.' She held out a spoonful of spaghetti sauce.

'It tastes wonderful,' he said. 'What's for pudding?'

'Some early strawberries, jazzed up with a spot of something out of a bottle.'

'And here was I hoping for apple pie,' he pretended jokingly. 'But, then, she'll be wanting to keep me wide awake and at peak performance...'

'What she doesn't want to do is to put him to sleep with too heavy a meal when he's on call.'

'Ah—but he isn't,' he said, advancing and embracing her from behind as she stood at the stove.