"Maybe you should slip him some sedatives while he's eating or something," Melodie suggested as she ate a bagel the next morning. She had settled in perfectly after the first few screams of excitement of moving in. Tamara thought it over, surprised she actually considered it for a second.

"He's turning me into a horrible person." Tamara groaned, and emptied her coffee cup into the sink. Melodie gave her a sympathetic look, finishing the bagel in one big bite.

"You always had a quick temper."

"Not helping, Mel. I'm going to have a shower and get ready." Tamara said, trudging up the stairs to her en-suite bathroom. Savouring the hot spray on her back, Tamara thought positive thoughts, excited again to go into work because no matter how frustrating Josh was, this was her dream, and she was going to live it as good as possible.

Half an hour later, she had said goodbye to Melodie and was driving towards the hospital. When she entered the staff room, Sasha and Nathan met her immediately.

"Hey, how are you today?" Sasha asked, smiling cheekily.

"I'm fine!" Tamara laughed, "I'm decided to pretend that he's not there, and that way I can't-"

"-Keep hitting him? Good choice, Jacobs." Josh smirked as he walked in behind her. Tamara wanted to cut her own tongue off. Stupid big mouth. She blamed her mother and the years of listening to Melodie gossip. She was a bad influence.

"Good luck, girl." Nathan grinned, and Tamara waved him off. After a quick brief, they split into groups again. This time, Josh led them towards the children's ward, and Tamara felt her heartstrings pluck when she saw some of the little children in the hospital beds.

"Okay, today we're working with the kids. For the next hour you'll all have a few patients, and I'm going to watch you." Josh instructed, his eyes barely catching Tamara's. That seemed to be his tactic. Ignore her unless he had an insult to give. Well she could do that too.

Tamara found herself looking at a seven year old girl who had multiple tubes coming out from every possible angle and place. Her hair was in clumps, the light brown colouring dull in the light, and her skin was pallid and white. Tamara swallowed, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Hey there, sweetie. What's your name?" She asked in a soothing voice. The little girl smiled, and her blue eyes lit up so much Tamara wondered how on earth someone like her could be so sick. She knew before even looking at her chart that she had cancer.

"I'm Grace. Nice to meet you!" She said, her voice full of cheerful innocence. Tamara smiled broadly at her positive aspect, and decided to check the tubes first.

"Are you my new nurse?" Grace asked, curious. Tamara nodded, fiddling with a tube in her arm before looking at her angelic face.

"That's me. I hope we get along great so you can get better while having fun too." She replied, and noticed what must have been her mother walking towards them slowly.

"I like you. My old nurse was mean. She pulled my hair when it fell out once. It hurt." Grace rubbed her head absently, like she was remembering but not fully aware of her movements.

Tamara smiled again, "Well I won't pull yours. I promise."

"Pinkie swear?"

"Pinkie swear."

Tamara heard a polite cough behind her as she linked her pinkie with Grace's tiny one, and when she let go and turned, the mother and Josh were standing behind her, grinning slightly.

"Hi, I'm Amanda, Grace's mum. Thank you for cheering her up, she's been crabby this morning." The older woman smiled, but Tamara didn't miss the frown lines in her face or the deep sadness in her eyes.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tamara, one of the trainees. She's so beautiful." She added softly, then panicked when Amanda's eyes welled with tears.

"My goodness! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, it's not your fault." Amanda cut in, pulling her emotions back in. "It's just hard, you know? Having her in here all the time when other children are out playing like normal."

"Yeah, I'm so sorry." Tamara answered, then turned around to face an oblivious Grace again.

"Hey, I'll be back later, okay? Tell you what, I might even bring a balloon if you're not crabby for the rest of the day, how does that sound?"

Grace nodded, wide eyed, and then waved her goodbye when Tamara walked away from the bed. She felt inspired that the little girl could be so chirpy in times like that, and it made her heart warm just to get to know her.

"Don't get too attached, Jacobs." Josh's voice said over her shoulder, and she half turned to see him standing quite a lot closer then she was used to. "There's no way to put it nicely, but she's not going to survive this."

His voice was quiet, none of the mocking or taunting or annoyed tones in it. Tamara shook her head.

"No, she can fight this. Luekemia's hard to beat, I know, but she can do it because she's so-"

"Used to the idea? Calm? Cheery?" Josh replied, and Tamara shut her mouth, dreading the next sentence. "She's terminal, Tamara."

"Have you never heard the expression never give up? Because I'm not going to." Tamara retorted, a new plan already forming in her head. Josh shook his head slowly, his eyes boring into hers.

"Do you think I'd give up on a little girl like that? No. She's only got a few months, if that left. She's been tested, and the cancer's everywhere. It's going to be hard, but at the end of the day it'll make you a better nurse experiencing something like this." His voice steady, he grabbed her elbow and directed her to the next bed.

"Get started on this little guy. He's broken his collarbone and needs to be checked up on." Josh let go, and Tamara ignored the tingly sensation left in her arm. After a few hours, they had seen to almost all of the children and were on the way to the cafeteria. When they reached the room, Dr. Samuel's directed them to the staff room with their food.

When he shut the door on them, he turned and everybody fell silent.

"As you all have probably heard by now, the hospital does a annual trip to Wyoming for a major conference with the Andrew's State Hospital, and it's one and a half months away. A few of you will be picked to go along with some of the older staff, so try hard because the ones who deserve it most will be going." He said, then left the room with a quick smile.

Nathan sat down next to me and grinned. "You want to go?"

"Yeah! It would be amazing!" Tamara replied excitedly, and caught sight of Rose stalking towards Josh again. Smirking slightly, she turned back to Nathan.

"What if I told you Josh was going too?"

"Okay, that kills the excitement slightly."

Nathan laughed. "He's not that bad. A little rough on the outside, I suppose, but he's really a good guy."

"Then why am I the only one he attacks?" Tamara muttered, and Nathan raised an eyebrow. Damn thing, she wanted to shave it off.

"Attacks?"

"Well, that was a little over the top, but you know what I mean." She grumbled, biting into her ham sandwich that she had bought from the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I get it. And trust me, he's not all bad." Nathan winked, then stood up and walked over towards the instant coffee machine.

Tamara turned and instantly caught eyes with Josh, who smirked at her slightly. She narrowed her eyes and mouthed, changing rooms are empty, before pointing discreetly at Rose. He shook his head slightly, turning away, but Tamara caught the amusement on his face.

Huh. Maybe she was over exaggerating after all.

As soon as her shift finished a few hours later, Tamara was ready to take it all back.

"You know what, maybe if you told me the exact angle to put in the needle, you wouldn't have to to tell me off in the first place!" She tried to control her temper, but josh had walked on a thin thread, and to think she was backing down?

"There supposed to teach you that in med school! Or did daddy pay for you to pass?" Josh shot back, and Tamara noticed the hallway they were currently arguing was empty, so she raised her voice a little over a hushed whisper.

"They taught me the right way, you just yelled at me for no reason! In case you've forgotten, it's only my second day, and you can't do everything perfect!"

"In my books you can."

"Well your books a load of crap, like Twilight."

"What does Twilight have to do with this?"

"What? Nothing. And my 'daddy' paying for me to pass? You arrogant son of a bitch! I made it through like everyone else did, with hard work!" Tamara could feel the anger being let out, the comment like an insult. Her father had never once bribed or dropped his name in so she could get ahead.

It was part of her plan. To make it without her father's name being involved as much as possible.

She glared at Josh, who was standing only about a foot away again, and she could see his frustration clearly. What about? She didn't know, but she wasn't about to let him walk all over her.

"You're one of the hardest people to work with, Jacobs." He ground out, his gaze intense. She lifted her chin, showing no surrender.

"You're one of the worst people I've ever dealt with, so here's our deal. You leave me alone unless you have to tell me something, and I'll do the same. That way, you can get on with it and so can I. Deal?" Tamara reasoned, and Josh nodded slightly.

"Sounds good. You don't annoy me and I don't distract you." Josh replied.

"Distract? You annoy me just as much!"

"Really? I've seen you looking at me."

Tamara's jaw dropped. "You think I was checking you out? I'm not another Rose who's here to flirt, Josh. I don't check you out. I never have." Okay, so she may have once or twice, but he was an attractive guy. "You're head must be so far up your ass to think that I do."

"Quit denying it love. Now get out of here." Josh smiled mockingly, and Tamara wanted to yell at him to come back, she wasn't finished with him, but he had already slipped through the doors to one of the rooms. Tamara sighed, rubbing her temples.

She turned, and jumped in shock. The man in the wheelchair with the rug and frog like eyes stared at her like he'd never seen another person before. She smiled quickly at him, hoping he hadn't heard half of what she said. He shook his head, muttering something like 'the children these days,' and continued on his way.

Great, now an old man thought she was a brat too.

As Tamara drove home, she thought over what they had said to each other. Sure, she'd had a good look the first night at the bar, but that was before she had officially met him. Then, maybe once or twice at work, but she wouldn't call it 'checking him out'. Merely observing. Again.

His broad shoulders and tight waist entered her mind. His arms had flexed without effort, and without the scowl, he was certainly a looker. But Tamara was sure they were on the path to hate. Nothing, other than his physical appearance she found even remotely attractive. Nothing.

Scowling herself, she banished the thoughts and drove home, ready for Melodie's lasagna and ice cream.