Alex lay awake in this new, strange, yet completely familiar and comfortable bed, woken up by the bright morning sunshine streaming through the gap in the curtains. It illuminated the woman sleeping next o him, showing her full, natural beauty, instantly reminding him exactly what he was attracted to when he first saw her. He had been working with her for quite some time but only really saw Victoria the way he saw her now, last night, on a spur-of-the-moment whim that lead to the best night of his life.

He looked across at her, smiling and leant over, kissing her lightly on the cheek. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head, trying to savour the last moments of sleep she had left before she had to get up to go to work.

Janice had called in sick and she had to go in on what should have been her day off. Fantastic, she thought. Although it might be just what she needed to keep her mind off Allison and Guy.

She stopped mid thought, as it finally occurred to her what had happened last night. She rolled over with a smile on her face to see Alex sitting on the side of the bed reaching for his shirt on the floor.

She grabbed his waist, making him flinch and pulled him back into bed. He grinned at her and started kissing her neck then thought better of it.

"We really need to get up..." he said reluctantly and tried half-heartily to pull away. Victoria wasn't fazed and pulled him closer to her.

Alex grimaced, debating weather to stay in bed with this gorgeous woman or avoid the wrath of Mr. Meyer. He pulled away and Victoria giggled, loving watching him squirm.

"If we start again now, we'll never get to work" he said and leapt out of bed.

"Oh, that doesn't bother me" she replied cheekily, "my boss is off sick."

He rolled his eyes, leaned over and gave Victoria a quick kiss on the lips. "Now, now, Dr. Merrick. Behave." He pulled his trousers on a walked out of the room. "Breakfast?"

* * *

"So, how are my wonderful nursing staff this morning?" Mike walked enthusiastically through the entrance to Keller ward, in a sickeningly good mood for this time in the morning.

"Jasmine groaned and stood up from behind the desk. "Morning Mr. Barrett" she grumbled and yawned, looking distinctly fed up. Mike chuckled at her and headed down the corridor to his office.

Sandy walked round the corner and dumped her bag down on the desk. "Why's he in such a good mood?" she asked, watching Mike disappear into his office.

Jasmine yawned again and rubbed her head, Sandy sat down on the chair at the computer and looked at her friend quizzically. "Hangover?" she asked, highly amused by her friend's obvious discomfort.

Jasmine looked at her. "What do you think?"

"I told you to take it easy." Sandy said, smirking and was very thankful she had decided to have an early night.

"Don't start with me Sandy. I feel bad enough as it is."

Sandy sighed and got to work checking on the patients. The last thing she needed was Julie on her back.

* * *

Mike walked into his office and closed the door. He sat down on his chair and picked the freash pile of mail off his desk and started to absentmindedly it. He was waiting for one letter in particularly.He had recieved a job offer from New Zealand and was waiting for another letter to confrm his position.

He hadn't thought about it much at the time, but when he thought about it now, there didn't seem much point in staying. After being in Holby for all these years, he was starting to feel like a change in scenery and the one reason he could think of to stay belonged to another.The woman he loved, he could never have.

At the mere thought of her, his mind drifted away and he was lost in dreams that he knew could never come true.

He coughed and shook his head to snap himself back to reality. Her couldn't let himself get lost in such fantasies and it wasn't healthy to dwell on somethinng that would never come true and he was sick of having to pretend to his staff that everything was fine.

There was a knock at the door and Jasmine entered. "Mr. Jefferys is asking for you" she told him, "he wants more information about his operation this afternoon."

Mike grunted that he would be there in a minute and the nurse left, giving him ample time to compose himself before facing the world. He wasn't overly happy about having to deal with a patient when he had only just arrived but in some ways he was grateful for the much needed distraction, forcing his mind to focus on something other than Kath.

* * *

"Coffee?"

alex emerged hurriedly out of the bedroom, trying to put a tie around his neck with his jacket slung over one shoulder.

"Er... No thanks, I'm already running late. Have you seen my car keys?"

Victoria reached into his jacket pocket, which he had now put on and pulled out the keys with a cheeky grin.

"Just slow down will you" she told him, concerned, "any one would think you were trying to get away from me."

Alex stopped and looked streight into her eyes. He slid his arms around her waist and pulled har into an embrace. Just having her near, touching her, made him smile. He never wanted to get away from her. "Of course I don't" he said sincerely, picking up on her insecurity and her need to be reasured, "I had a great time last night, I want to keep seeing you."

Victoria smiled back at him and met his lips with hers. He was momentarily under her spell but then he pulled away.

"I've really got to get to work."

She finally gave in and motioned to him to leave. He disappeared out of sight for a moment then poked his head back round the door. "You sure you don't want a lift?"

"Yes!" she said for the tenth time this morning, "My shift doesn't start for an hour and I've got some laundry to do. Go!"

Victoria breathed out, shaking her head, as she heard the front door slamed and she went back to making the coffee. She needed it, even if he didn't. She didn't get much sleep last night.

* * *

Keri walked up to the reception desk and dumped a pile of boxes down on the counter. "Steve, where's Janice? Isn't she supposed to be on duty?"

"Umm" steve looked up from the patient file he was reading through and turned to his collegue. "She called in sick last night, Victoria's covering." H looked up at the clock on the wall. "She should be here in about half an hour."

"Half an hour?" Keri asked, "how are we meant to cope until then?"

"Oh, come on Keri. Of course we can cope. It's quiet, there have been no new admissions since last night and all the patients are stable." He smiled at her and shook his head. "Stop worrying!"

Keri opened her mouth to protest but then thought better of it. She picked up the boxes again to take to the stor cupboard. "Calm before the storm, Steve" she shot at him over her shoulder as she walked away, "you just see."