Toni looked at herself in the mirror. She was finally going back to work after two years and she was nervous. She decided to switch to night shift since she hadn't slept well since James died; she also decided not to work her shifts in a row thinking that it would be better for Jamie that way. The nights that she worked her parents watched him with James' parents watching him whenever they were in town. Overall, it looked like a good set up.
Since she had been gone for so long, she had to go through the whole hospital orientation thing again, and fortunately, they had one in the evening. After this, the rest of the orientation would be during the day, which didn't exactly thrill Toni, but it was what it was.
One of the things that she dreaded the most was the sympathetic looks and pats on the arm, back or shoulder. She would have to remember that they meant well and in time, the sympathetic looks would pass. The second anniversary of James' death had just passed and her mother was still hinting that maybe she should start socializing again.
"Mom, please! I don't want or need to socialize!" Toni exclaimed one night.
Usually her father remained silent during these 'talks" but not tonight.
"Barbara." He said softly, "Let it be, when she's ready she'll do something about it."
Both Toni and Barbara looked at Ben in surprise; he only intervened in these conversations when he felt that Barbara was pushing too hard.
"Well it's true." He said as he continued eating his dinner.
That conversation occurred almost two weeks ago and her mother hadn't brought it up since something for which Toni was very grateful.
She could think and talk about James now without bursting into tears and she could watch the videos that James made of himself talking to her and sometimes Jamie with the exception of that last disc. Every night she promised herself that she would watch it and every night she backed out. She didn't understand why that last disc frightened her but it did. She also knew that sometime she was going to have to look at it but not now, she wasn't ready.
******
Mason sat on his patio sipping a long island iced tea; he was casually dressed in blue jeans and a tee shirt. He had taken Eustace's advice to heart and gone shopping and as Eustace said, the women at the store were more than willing to help him shop. As much as he had enjoyed the attention, he wasn't attracted to any of them even though they preened and posed in front of him. When he got home and unpacked his purchases, he found a slip of paper with several names and phone numbers on it. He gave it a quick glance and threw it away not giving it any further thought. He still laughed when he remembered the first time that he showed up at Eustace's and Gretchen's house dressed in blue jeans and a tee shirt. Eustace and Gretchen were flabbergasted.
"My god Mason!" Gretchen said after he did a 360. "You have one hell of an ass! Oops, sorry sweetheart." she said to Eustace who was laughing. Mason laughed with them and wondered if Eustace knew that he and Gretchen had been intimate. If left to guess, he would have to say yes, Gretchen was into full disclosure. During their time together, she had told him some things that he would rather have not known.
Mason had only seen Toni a handful of times in the past year and it was always 'accidental'. He was glad to see that she was doing better and had come to grips with James' death. Whenever he saw her, he made a point of asking about Jamie and her parents. They always parted on friendly terms but never with the "let's get together" spiel. It just hadn't felt right.
Mason did find himself thinking of Toni more and more but he wasn't at the point where he could use the word love in the same sentence with her, care was the word that came to his mind when he thought about her. He wondered from time to time if she had ever watched the last disc but suspected that she hadn't. In his hearts of hearts, he believed that whatever was on that disc would determine what would happen with them.
The one thing that he did find out from one of their meetings was that Toni was going back to work after two years. That didn't surprise him but the fact that she would be working nights did.
"I don't sleep so well at night anymore." she told him. "My parents are still with me so they can watch Jamie on the nights that I work.
That got Mason thinking again about working as a consult the hospital provided that he only worked nights. The other stipulation was one that he couldn't make known was that he only wanted to be on call the nights that Toni worked which meant that he would have to use some compulsion with the scheduler.
The day after he found out that Toni would be going back to work, Mason called the hospital and asked if they needed a psychiatrist. After talking with the Director of Medical services Mason went online and filled out the application. He was very specific in saying that he couldn't work days under any circumstances and that he would be willing to work holidays and some weekends. When he finished, he hit the send button and waited.
Mason also followed another piece of advice that Eustace gave him. He called Ethan.
Ethan listened not even trying to hide his amusement.
"So you want to attend Ethan's school of human dating do you?" Ethan asked laughing.
Mason knew that Ethan would find his request funny but he didn't mind too much. It was good to have Ethan back as a true friend.
"Alright already, if you're done cackling are you going to help me or not?" Mason asked.
"Of course, this is going to be fun!" Ethan exclaimed.
"Shit Ethan, I'm not doing this for your entertainment." Mason said mildly irritated.
"Ok." Ethan said stifling his laughter. "Tell me about her."
An hour later Mason told Ethan everything that he knew about Toni and her subsequent marriage to James because of his decision not to take Toni out for a drink.
"Damn Mason, you've got your work cut out for you but at least you're not starting out the way Katrina and I did. I think your best bet is to do what you're thinking about; getting to know her on a professional level even though, you did have some contact. Just start slow and follow her lead just like you told me to do with Katrina." Ethan replied.
"That's it? That was Ethan's school for human dating? Fuck Ethan, I could have come up with that on my own!" Mason exclaimed.
"What were you expecting? A step-by-step guide? Mason, what worked for Katrina might not work for Toni. That's part of the whole dating thing and I have to admit, I got a rush out of it, like the first time Katrina let me take her out- it gave me a whole new appreciation for what the human males go through. It's hard work but so worth it, in a way I wish we all had to meet our mates that way." Ethan said.
Mason sighed, Ethan right, there was no step-by-step instruction manual. He would have to find his own way just as Ethan and millions of human men before him.
******
Tomorrow night would be Mason's first night; he had already done the required orientation and paperwork but had compelled his way out of the day orientation. Mason found out what Toni's schedule was and signed up for the same nights. His plan was to get to know her on a professional level and then move on from there, the fact that they had met during one of the most painful times in her life was a mixed blessing. His fear was that she would be embarrassed or that she might think that he would talk about her to the other staff, the blessing being that he already had some rapport with her.
The first night was like first nights anywhere. It was a matter of finding out where things were and who to ask when you couldn't find something. Mason was paired with an attractive female doctor for the first night, it didn't take him long to figure out that she didn't like him. Not that it mattered but he wanted to know why, he had never met the woman before so they had no history; he would have remembered.
During one of their breaks, Mason decided to ask her what the problem was.
"I don't have a problem" she replied.
"Look, Joyce..."
"Dr. Evans if you please." she interrupted.
"Alright Dr. Evans." Mason said coolly. "You can tell me until you're blue in the face that we don't have a problem but I know otherwise and if we're going to be working together we'd better straighten our issues out now."
"Working together?" she asked surprised.
"Yes, I was told that I would be working with another psychiatrist." Mason replied.
"Were you now?" Joyce replied. "When did they tell you this?" she asked.
"When I interviewed a couple of weeks ago why?" Mason asked.
"You've been misled." Joyce said. "You're my replacement." she added.
"What? You're leaving?"
"Not by choice, just watch your back around here. You start complaining too much and you'll be training your own replacement like I am." Joyce said.
Mason thought back to his interview, he didn't detect any deceit but then he hadn't been looking for any either. His prime objective had been to secure a job at the hospital but he didn't want it at the expense of someone else losing his or her job.
"What kind of things did you complain about?" Mason asked.
"For one thing, they sometimes float staff to the psych unit with little or no training. It's not safe for the patients or the staff. The second thing is at night we're often short staffed which is why they float staff from the other floors instead of hiring the trained staff that we need. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the staff that they send aren't good nurses in their element and they do try but it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt."
Mason listened to Joyce's words and heard no lie.
"So they fired you for speaking your mind." Mason commented.
Joyce gave him a small smile before replying.
"It was a little bit more than that, I got the nurses riled up about it and they took it to the union."
"And..." Mason said sensing that there was more.
"I gave them my full support and wrote a letter to the hospital board voicing my concerns." Joyce added.
"You don't do anything half-assed do you?" Mason asked.
"Not when I know I'm right." Joyce replied. "I think that they're planning on you being a yes man and they're going to pair you with someone new who won't question what's going on."
"When's your last shift?" Mason asked.
