They say that revenge only hurts the one who administers it… well, sometimes that might be true. But when you mix revenge and romance, there are no rules. Nothing is as simple as it looks.

 

*~*~*

 

Anita glared down at the piece of paper in her hand. Stupid, stupid thing! Why had she ever become a psychologist? Damn people and their problems. Why couldn’t they just sort their own troubles out? It was Friday afternoon and she had to stay on because someone was running late. She glanced down at the page. What was his name? ALEX ADAMS. Well, she hoped that he was just slightly screwed-up. She couldn’t be bothered to deal with anything more.

 

The plus side of being a psychologist, she thought, was that she was never expected to talk. She just had to listen. And listening was quite easy… it just got monotonous. It had got to the stage where she didn’t really care any more.  Everyone had problems. No one seemed happy any more. No one in Holby, anyhow.

 

Oh wait. There were two happy people in Holby. Tom Campbell-Gore and Diane Lloyd. Anita would have given anything for those two not to be happy. Tom was old enough to be Diane’s father, for Christ’s sake, Anita thought, conveniently ignoring the fact that Diane was more-or-less her own age. In Anita’s mind, there was one woman that Tom should be with, and her name was not Diane. Tom was just doing it to get at her, she tried to convince herself. He was just trying to aggravate her. He was obviously crazy about her.

 

When she realised that she was shredding her patients’ notes, Anita stopped wallowing in self-pity, and started looking for Sellotape. She swore under her breath as she dropped it, and, as she bent under the desk to pick it up, hit her head.

 

“Are you alright?” asked a voice.

 

“Fine,” she replied, straightening up and rubbing the bump on her head. Stupid, stupid metal-edged desk! And what a way to meet a new patient. Shows great things about the therapist, if she can’t even pick up a roll of Sellotape properly. And when she drops the Sellotape the moment she sees her patient… Well, she told herself, it wasn’t like she did that whenever she saw any patient. Just the cute ones… and he was gorgeous! She’d seen him before, of course – she’d used him to try and split up Tom and Diane. But she’d never seen him close to. Wow…

 

“Are you Dr Forbes?” Alex asked, looking shocked.

 

Anita just stared at him for a moment, before realising that he’d asked her a question. “Sorry, what?”

 

“Are you Dr Forbes?”

 

“Yeah. Anita Forbes.” She sighed and sat down. “You thought I’d be an old man, didn’t you?”

 

“I didn’t say that.” Alex looked embarrassed. How did she know?

 

“It’s happened before. Sit down.” She gestured to the chair. “So… why are you here?”

 

He looked uncomfortable, and, gorgeous or not, Anita had to restrain herself from shouting at him. “I…” he began. “I have Parkinson’s. My neurologist doesn’t think I’m coping too well… he thought I should see a therapist.”

 

“And do you think you should see a therapist?” she probed. Suddenly she didn’t care that it was Friday afternoon and she’d wanted to get home quickly. She was perfectly content to stay in a room with Alex Adams for an hour or so.

 

The session went quickly. Anita was shocked when she looked at the clock and saw that it read seven o’clock. “Time’s up,” she announced. “It was nice meeting you,” she added, as Alex got up.

 

“Yeah, you too,” Alex replied. As Anita went to open the door, he noticed the red mark on her head, where she’d bumped it. “That looks painful.”

 

“It is.” She rubbed it and turned away, conscious of the fact that Alex was staring at her.

 

“So, have you got any plans for the evening?” Alex asked, casually.

 

Sure, a Marks and Spencer microwave-able ready meal for one, eating my body weight in chocolate, slumping in front of the TV, perfecting my voodoo skills with my niece’s Barbie doll that I’ve named Diane, going to bed at the oh-so respectable hour of ten… Anita didn’t think any of those were suitable answers. She settled for a simple, “Nah. You?”

 

“No… was planning on going out, drinking myself into a stupor,” he replied. She laughed politely. “Wanna join me?” he added.

 

Anita was glad that she wasn’t facing him. She could go as red as she liked. Was he asking her out? As his therapist, or as a date? Was she allowed to do this? It would be the best opportunity to make Diane jealous, of course, but still… But as she turned around and saw his face, she didn’t have any answer other than, “Sure. Sounds great. I enjoy drinking myself into a stupor…”

 

“Okay… you got any more patients, or can you come now?” Alex queried.

 

“I’m free as a bird,” she replied, cursing herself for the silly giggle that slipped out. Stupid…

 

“Let’s go, then,” Alex said, as Anita picked up her bag. “Nice shoes,” he added, catching sight of the scarlet heels she was wearing.

 

“These old things?” she asked, glancing down at them. “They’re ancient.”

 

“They’re nice… very, erm, red,” he replied, smiling at the stupidity of his comment.

 

“Thanks.” She enjoyed the looks that they were getting as they walked through the hospital. And when they arrived at the bar, she was almost walking on air as she caught sight of Diane’s jealous look. Seemed as though Diane wasn’t satisfied with Tom, she thought jubilantly.

 

“What do you want to drink?” Alex inquired.

 

“Oh, ah, white wine,” Anita replied, flustered. She’d been distracted by thinking about Diane and Tom. As Alex handed her a drink, she stuck her tongue out at Diane. And then… Tom appeared. He kissed Diane on the cheek, and sat down. When he wasn’t looking, Diane stuck her tongue out at Anita.

 

“Do you know Diane?” Alex queried.

 

Anita didn’t notice that Alex had been looking. “Not really.”

 

“Why did she stick her tongue out at you?” he persisted.

 

“Oh, I don’t know. Just joking, I suppose,” Anita lied.

 

“She looked pretty serious.”

 

“Do we have to talk about Diane Lloyd?” Anita asked, realising the moment that the words were out of her mouth that she’d been too snappy. “Sorry.”

 

“No, it’s okay… So, tell me about yourself,” Alex suggested. They spent a few hours discussing each other – Anita tried not to be too therapist-ish – and, after a few hours (and a few drinks), it felt perfectly natural that they were sitting very close together – so close together that their heads were almost touching. Anita, on glancing up a few times, almost choked on her drink as she saw Diane’s expression. Ahh… revenge was sweet!

 

But when Diane leant in to kiss Tom – all the while making sure that Anita was watching – it was perfectly clear that she was thinking the same thing. Anita could cheerfully have killed Diane at that moment – it was so unfair! Anita had a fleeting thought that it was ridiculous, it would have been so much easier just to swap partners there and then, but the thought quickly disappeared as Alex kissed her. That neatly swept all thoughts of Tom from her mind.

 

As Diane got up to go to the bar, she shot Anita a glare – that did it. How dare Diane firstly take the man that Anita wanted, and then try and judge her for dating another man? Who was she to say whom Anita could or couldn’t see? Taking a deep breath, for it wasn’t the thing she normally did, Anita spoke. “Fancy coming back to mine?” she asked Alex, as Diane passed them. Diane paused to listen.

 

Alex was surprised – Anita didn’t seem to be that sort. But he barely hesitated before saying yes.

 

*~*~*

 

And somewhere along the line, Anita found that Tom mattered less and less. When she’d planned to get revenge, she hadn’t planned on falling in love with Alex. But she had. It hadn’t all gone to plan, but still… revenge was sweet. Revenge had given her Alex. If it hadn’t been for Diane, she’d never have found the man of her dreams. She told Diane that, one day. Diane’s only response was to turn around and walk off in the other direction. Anita found out the next day that Tom had found someone else.

 

Revenge was truly sweet.