20th December, 1889 — Bax's Office, The Early Hours
Baxter Keene

"Take over for a spell Mr Carmichael," Belle instructed as she glanced around the make-shift triage area that had been set up in in the entrance to her department. The patients already in residence had been moved to allow for space and every floor had dealt with a steady flow of newcomers ranging from the mildly injured - who had mostly complained about their waiting time - to those who were in no condition to do much of anything.

There had been one death. He had been dead before he'd even reached her floor and when his body was wheeled towards her Belle had known immediately that they were already too late, but she hadn't been able to spare the time to dwell on his demise for too long. Now though she had a few moments to herself and her body was far too exhausted to support her mind's whirling emotions - what she needed was an injection of sanity.

"Can I take refuge?" Belle asked, entirely rhetorically, as she knocked briefly and let herself into Baxter's office. "I think it might finally be under some kind of control downstairs. How're things up here?"

  

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Lady made me sexy <3

Honestly at this point Bax was surprised his office wasn't being used for triage. It had been close, but so far the disaster had yet to strike his own quarters at the hospital. If the Department of Mysteries did not get its shit together in the near future, Baxter was going to start filing complaints- of which he'd never done in his entire life, but in his tenure in the field, making the move from intern all the way to hospital director, he'd seen more than his fair share of disasters caused by the ministry or at the ministry and the Department of Mysteries seemed to have the most tallies against it.

Still, it didn't stop him from doing his job, even if his job was not necessarily to work directly with patients anymore. All hands on deck meant just that and he was not exempt if there was a need. It felt good to get into the thick of it again, good t be useful even if the reason was tragic.

After spending his time directing both the traffic and his staff, Baxter thought the department heads could handle it for a while and retreated to his office to write a letter home to Odira to inform her he would likely be late, or possibly not home at all until the dust settled. It pained him to do so, lest he worry her, but there was nothing to be done for it. With a glass of scotch on his desk and his sleeves still rolled up from being in the trenches, Bax sat for a moment to collect his thoughts. It was then that his door creaked open to reveal Belle standing in the entry, letting herself in as per a long-standing, unspoken agreement between him and the heads of departments. Baxter's office was always open, as long as he was in and that was that.

"Appeared that way when I was down there last," He motioned for her to take a seat wherever she liked and to the bottle of amber liquid on his desk, should she wish to partake. "The paperwork has just begun up here- or will, after I post a quick owl home." He sighed and pressed his fingers into his temple.

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I may never actually change this set by MJ

Making a beeline straight for the bottle Belle poured out two fingers of the amber liquid and knocked it back in one straight swig. It wasn’t especially ladylike, and even with some of the other heads of department Belle might have maintained her cool, but after so many years it was hardly worth bothering around Baxter – a man she had known since school and practically climbed the ranks with – and she doubted he would think any less of her for it.

“Merlin, I needed that,” she muttered reverentially, taking the seat opposite him and reaching to top up her glass, planning to nurse this one until she absolutely had to get back to work. “I hope Mrs Keene is prepared for how much of your time this place will eat up? I think Bernard was living in the office by the end.”

Which in hindsight may have contributed quite heavily to his heart attack but it didn't seem the time to make that point to the current incumbent in the position.

  

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Lady made me sexy <3

Bax chuckled when Belle effectively shot the whiskey and went back for more- to sip this time. He couldn't blame her. He was nursing a short pour himself at this point in the day. "Understandable." Truthfully if somebody didn't need a drink after today, he'd be concerned.

"I think so. Though only things like this keep me here unreasonably late. It's oddly different now." Workaholic through and through, Baxter had been much better about things since marrying Odira. It was different when he had a family waiting for him at home. "Bernard had grown children for the most part, I'll feel different when they're teenagers no doubt." His were still young yet and though they had very capable staff at home, Baxter felt guilty when he wasn't around to spend enough time with them. Jameson especially could benefit from a steady male figure in his life, the poor lad. Bax was early into the position still, he'd managed somehow. Belle had her own bevy of children too, it wasn't as if she couldn't sympathize.

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I may never actually change this set by MJ

“Oh, you think that now,” Belle said with a sympathetic chuckle, leaning her elbow on the arm of the chair so she could rest her head in the cradle of her hand. To say that she was tired would be something of an understatement and only the thought of what could happen without their intervention stopped Belle from giving in to her exhaustion.

They would get through this and tomorrow they would do it all over again because they were the fools that loved it too much to get more sensible jobs. At least they had a leader that understood that as much as anyone else. Probably better than anyone at the moment.

“Seeing Rommy tonight has made me realise for the first time that she’s a proper healer you know? Before…I don’t know, it didn’t feel real to think that she did the same things I did but there she was, helping just as many people.” She smiled softly to herself, taking a good sip of her drink. “You’ll know soon enough I'm sure.”

  

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Lady made me sexy <3

All Bax could do was shrug. He swirled the amber liquid in his glass pensively as he listened to his colleague. It would certainly be interesting to see how the children chose to occupy themselves as they grew. Though Jameson was surely set comfortably, he would likely take on some kind of occupation. As for the girls, that would be entirely up to them and his wife. She had worked previous to their marriage, so he doubted she was really against hit and he certainly was not, as long as they were safe and happy.

"I have quite some time yet, haven't even hit Hogwarts yet." That was still a few years off yet even. "She's doing a splendid job by the way, learned from the best." He added with a raise of his glass to Belle's offspring doing her part here at the hospital, and doing it well. It could be grueling work, they knew that first hand, but if the dedication to the craft was there, it was certainly rewarding.

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I may never actually change this set by MJ

Though she blushed at the compliment Belle waved it away. She had always hoped one of her children would follow her into the profession and had long since tried to instil in them a strong sense of empathy and desire to help others, but she had never given much thought to how it would actually feel to see them in action.

Rosamund had never been so beautiful to her.

“It’ll sneak up on you before you know it,” Belle muttered wearily, taking two less-than-ladylike but fortifying gulps of her drink before placing the empty glass on the corner of Baxter’s desk. A brief respite was all she had promised herself and if she stayed here any longer she was in serious danger of drinking too much and becoming insensible with lethargy. “I should get back. Less I start spouting more clichés that make me sound like my mother.”

Her mother had been referring to Vesta’s debut rather than Rommy’s impressive start in the working world but the point remained: she was starting to feel old.

Briefly a thought of Finnian entered her head – he was quite the talisman for fending off thoughts of becoming a matron.

“Oh, and the two of you must come over for dinner soon. Rommy will be thrilled and I have a feeling my father’s Christmas present will come in a bottle so it seems a shame to waste it all on me.”

With a final smile Belle excused herself from the director’s office, ready to return to battle.

  

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Lady made me sexy <3