Chapter 28

Elspeth sat, nerously, picking at the fabric of her skirt as the group of patients around them slowly whittled down and down.

"Did you want drink?" she turned to Brianna, seeing the slight grin there. "What?"

"You've only asked me that about once every five minutes... relax, it'll be fine."

"You can look smug now, you were the one that wasn't talking to me over this, remember." She pointed out, returning to gnawing gently at her cheek.

"I know... I'm sorry."

"You said." Elspeth muttered, a little more harshly than she felt. "About once every five minutes..." They shared a gentle laugh, and then both stared around realising this probably wasn't the place for humour, but no-one seemed to have noticed, wrapped up in their own concerns and cares.

"So, what are we doing this weekend?" Brianna leant in, gently, resting her head on Elspeth's shoulder. It wasn't usually that way round, which just brought home to her how worried Bri must be — she was always the strong one, Elspeth leant on her, not the other way round.

"I'd... I hadn't really thought much beyond today, to be honest." She admitted, leaning her own head down to press on Brianna's.

"Me neither. Either way we need to do something."

"To celebrate."

"Or commiserate."

"To celebrate!" Elspeth said, a little more firmly. "We'll have a look this afternoon, see if there isn't somewhere we can take you."

"Who's we?"

"Me, myself and I."

"Brianna Richardson." They both jerked upright as the nurse called. Brianna took a deep breath and stood up, Elspeth hesitantly followed.

"You sure you want me with you?" she whispered, and Brianna's grip on her hand told her she'd better be prepared to lose a limb to find out. "OK..."

The little office was still as cold, old-fashioned and sterile as it had been six months before, and Brianna jumped a little as Elspeth pushed the door closed behind them.

"Come on in, sit down." The little Doctor smiled, gently. "It's not like you haven't done this before."

"I know." Brianna stared at the chair for a moment until Elspeth nudged her in the back, gently.

"How was the mammogram this morning?" she continued, casually, as Elspeth eased Brianna into the chair, and sat down beside her, feeling just as sick.

"Just as cold and embarrassing as it always is." Brianna muttered, leaning forward, arms wrapped around her waist. Elspeth just stroked a hand up and down her back, feeling at a loose end, as the Doctor went through pages in the file and held various pictures up in front of the light-box on the wall.

"If you could just pop your top off, then, Brianna, I'll do a quick examination." Brianna just nodded, squeezing her eyes shut against the tears as Elspeth helped her shaking hands with the buttons. Brianna tried to carry on, but Elspeth pushed her hands away.

"I've done this before, Bri. I can handle it." She muttered, quietly. Brianna tilted her towards the Doctor, who was chuckling gently.

"At least you're getting to take this one home with you afterward, dear." She pointed out, pulling on a pair of thin gloves.

"You knew?" Brianna stepped into place, behind the screen.

"You can see it when the pair of you look at each other." She confirmed with a nod, chatting quietly as she went to work. "You learn to recognise the looks, in here. The situation tends to bring things to the fore, people are more open here than they usually are. Even that nice young man you brought the last time, you could just tell he was a friend and nothing more."

"Marcus, yeah... he's a good friend." Elspeth nodded her agreement as the Doctor stepped back and stripped the gloves off.

"I'm afraid I won't get to see him again, though." The Doctor sat quietly, rearranging the notes into a neat pile. "Get dressed, have a seat."

"Hey, you'll never guess... what... I've..." Hope slowed to a halt in the sitting area, taking in the collection of solemn faces slowly. "Am I missing something here?"

"It's Friday." Lorraine pointed out, rubbing Tony's arm gently as he shifted in the seat.

"We don't like Fridays?" Behind her, Marcus closed the door, quietly, and headed for the kitchen.

"Brianna's check-up." Shawna whispered, quietly, as Marcus returned with cups of tea and coffee and a large plate of biscuits.

"Oh, god, of course." She spun to stare at Brianna and Elspeth sharing a seat. "How did it... It was this morning, wasn't it?" Brianna nodded, and Hope swallowed hard. "Come on, someone tell me something..."

"They discharged me." Brianna whispered, quietly, and it took Hope a second to pick out the words from the tone.

"You're clear?"

"YEAH!" Brianna's cheer broke the joke, and the smiles spread rapidly as Marcus poured and Hope hugged Brianna and Elspeth and back to Brianna, sharing the happiness.

"That was just mean!" she pointed out, finally, drying her eyes gently.

"You were the one that didn't turn up." Tony pointed out. "We e-mailed you especially."

"When? I read them yesterday."

"Well... last night, admittedly." Shawna muttered, with a half-apologetic shrug. "How come you didn't read them this morning?"

"Oh, I've not been ba... on-line yet, today."

"Back on-line, huh?" Lorraine picked up on it, as Hope flushed.

"So what are we going to do this weekend?" Elspeth finally asked, as they all stared at the flustered Hope. "We wanted to celebrate."

"And you want us to join in?" Shawna leered. "Kinky!"

"Ewww!" Lorraine poked a tongue out.

"And Shawna sinks to a new low!" Brianna announced. "Just... we wanted to do something. You guys were all there in the car-park — those that could be" she acknowledged Hope's absence, gently, "so we wanted you to help us celebrate."

"Damn." Hope muttered, with a shrug. "I was hoping to start practicing this weekend."

"For what?" Elspeth asked.

"Battle of the Bands!" she pulled a flyer out of her pocket, unfolding it and waving it around too quickly for any of them to read it. "Next month, three-song sets. I thought you, me, Shawna and Marcus could have a go."

"Not me!" Elspeth blurted, waving her hands in horror, and Marcus nodded his agreement.

"Sounds great!" Shawna enthused, grabbing the flyer and reading it over. "You could do this, Bullfro... Sorry, Marcus... you could though. We'd be good."

"I can't get a handle on you and singing." Lorraine said. "One minute you hate it, next minute you love it... what is it?"

"Singing? I don't..."

"She doesn't like to sing, she likes to perform." Marcus cut in, as she stumbled to explain. "For just us she'd be hesitant, we might judge her. For people she doesn't know, that's fine she just gets the adulation."

"It's not like that." Shawna shot back, indignantly. Hope, Marcus and Brianna all turned a stare on her for a minute. "Alright, it probably is..." she admitted. "It doesn't make it bad, though."

"No-one said it did, Princess." Marcus settled down on the arm of the couch beside her, kissing her head gently.

"So what do you say?" Hope almost begged, staring around at them. "Please?"

"I'm up for it." Shawna nodded, with a broad smile. "So's he." She pointed at Marcus with one hand, blocking his mouth with the other as he started to protest. "Or at least, he will be." He shook his head, she nodded hers, and Hope just threw her arms up in exasperation.