“Cleo, have you seen Weaver?” Dr. Malucci cam into the lounge and headed over to the coffee maker.

When he didn’t get and answer, he turned around. Cleo didn’t say anything, she just carried on staring at the wall.

“Fine, suit yourself” he said, and sauntered back out into the hallway.

* * *

“Come on Kyle. Don’t you want to come and play soccer outside with Edward?”

The cheerful woman crouched down next to the brightly coloured beanbag in the corner so her face was at the same level as his.

Kyle shook his head and tried to shuffle out of her grasp. “No thankyou” he replied politely and turned to face the wall, trying as best he could to hide his red blotchy face. Mrs. Ryan seemed to give in and headed out the back door onto the lawn outside.

He rubbed his eye, wiping a tear away. Whay had Mum not said anything? Kyle couldn’t help feeling rejected. He knew deep down that Cleo loved him but it was obvious that Peter and Reese meant a lot to her too. There must be some reason why she had kept it a secret.

Maybe she didn’t love him as much as she said after all.

His eyes welled up again. No one wanted him. His aunty Janet had left him too.

He stood up quietly, careful that no one outside would notice and walked slowly to the front door, picking up his jacket from the hook.

He didn’t want to be around anyone who didn’t want him.

* * *

“No! I will not leave it!” Cleo stood up angrily from the table in the doctor’s lounge, the phone receiver held tightly under her chin.

She tried to busy herself sorting out charts but her mind wasn’t really on it. She was far more interested in what her sister had to say.

“You leave him here, without a word until Friday… No, I know he’s my…” Cleo lowered her voice so no one would hear her. “I know he’s my son, but we agreed…”

She rested her head in her hands in exasperation. She wasn’t getting through to her sister at all.

“It’s too late to apologise. He was in tears! He thinks you don’t love him… Ho dare you… Of course I do.”

Cleo could feel tears well up in her throat, remembering the conversation she had with her son that morning. He thought Cleo didn’t love him as well.

“No!” Cleo yelled angrily to the other end of the phone line before slamming it down angrily. “I don’t want to hear it!”

She sunk back into her chair and tried again to compose herself. All morning people had been asking her what the matter was finding it harder and harder to convincingly tell them that everything was fine.

“Is everything alright?” She jumped slightly at the voice behind her. She hadn’t even heard the door open.

“Kerry, I… I was just about to get back to work.”

* * *

“Tina, your test results are back.” Cleo walked into exam 1 and stood by the bad, holding a chart and looking hard at the teenage girl sitting on the bed. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

The girl shrugged and kept reading her magazine. Cleo stepped closer and stood with her arms folded. Tina looked up and stared at the doctor blankly. “What?”

Cleo felt frustration and anger build up inside her. “Tina, you know what. This is your last chance to get something off your chest.”

Tina shook her head. “Nope.”

“Well, we had a call from toxicology. You tested positive for Cocaine. It’s a very dangerous drug, Tina. Have you any idea how serious this is?”

The girl sat up in bed and looked at Cleo. “So? Everybody does it.”

“No! They don’t!” Cleo was past angry now. It wasn’t entirely this situation that was contributing to her mood but she wasn’t ready to admit to the real reason why she had been acting strangely all day.

“Leave it, man. It’s none of your business anyway. Where are my clothes?”

“It is my business, you’re my patient, I just want to help you.”

“Well maybe I don’t want your help. Just keep out of it.”

Tina got off the bed and stormed out of the room. Cleo stood there rubbing her head, tears pricking the backs of her eyes.

“Is everything OK?” Carter came through the door and looked at Cleo with concern.

Cleo took a deep breath and fixed the collar of her shirt. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just got a bit carried away with a patient, that’s all.”

She stood up and picked the chart up off the bed. “I better go and get my patient back.”

Carter fixed his gaze on her. He was far from convinced. “Cleo…”

“Carter, really. I appreciate your concern but everything’s fine.” She began to walk out the door but the tears that had been threatening to fall all day finally came. She sat back down on the bed and rested her head in her hands.

Carter walked slowly over to her and placed a hand on his colleagues shoulder. She flinched slightly under his touch but then relaxed and allowed him to sit down next to her on the bed.

“I just…” she struggled to find the words. “I’m just messing everything up. I took Kyle to a childminders this morning. The way I left him, I couldn’t bear it. He knows about Peter and Reese. He thinks I don’t love him because I didn’t tell them I had a son.”

Cleo lifted her head and Carter could see how guilty and hurt she was feeling.

“Oh God, I’m sorry.” Cleo suddenly felt self conscious and uncomfortable. “The last thing you need is me spilling out my problems to you. I should go and find Tina.”

Carter picked up the chart that was lying next to them on the bed and gestured for Cleo to stay put. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll give it to Malucci. He needs to work on his people skills.”

Cleo gave a shallow laugh and nodded. “Ok, but I don’t want to stay here…”

“Do you want to go and talk? How about the lounge?”

Cleo nodded again and slowly stood up, smoothing out her lab coat.

“Ok, come on.” Carter looked at her sympathetically and led the way out of the door.

“It looks really busy out here” Cleo commented when they had stepped out into the hallway. “Are you sure they can spare us?”

“Yeah sure. Don’t move. I’ll just go and find someone to take care of your patient.”

Carter walked towards the admit desk in search of Malucci and Cleo stayed standing in the corridor. She idly wandered around the ER, waiting for Carter to return. Anything to take her mind off her current situation. She sighed and began walking towards the doctor’s lounge.

She caught sight of the scene in one of the Trauma rooms and gasped. She began breathing quickly and blinked a few times to try and make sense of what she saw. Her eyes welled up with tears and she struggled to stand.

“Oh my god” she gasped and rushed forward.