Sean missed the comparative simplicity of planning a reconnaissance raid against insurgents.

At four the next morning, he was woken up by the communications officer who had the good grace to look chagrined as he handed over the expanded itinerary that had just arrived from Ottawa.

“It’s the middle of the night,” Sean grumbled as he pulled on his shirt.

“Not back home.”

Sean sighed as he scanned the document. More media were on the plane than originally anticipated, and they all wanted their own angle on the story. Sean’s job had just gone from keeping an eye on things to actively mediating four different competing interests.

“So now there will be a camera crew visiting the hospital with the PM right after breakfast? Has anyone given the clinic staff a heads up about that?”

“As you say, it’s the middle of the night. You were my first stop.”

Sean resisted the urge to point out that he was barely attached to this mission and to the best of this guy’s knowledge had no reason to be the person best suited to delivering this news. Except he knew Jenna, so…fine.

He glanced at his watch. “Two hours until the PM arrives.” One hour after that for him to meet with the camp administrators over breakfast, which meant in three hours, the hospital would have the eyes of a nation on it. “I think the hospital staff would appreciate being informed of the change before he’s on the ground. Excuse me.”

He grabbed a headlamp and headed for the door.

* * *

Jenna made it through the night without an urgent page, but she still woke up at an insanely early hour. She lay in the dark for a few minutes, willing herself to go back to sleep, but the combination of seeing Sean again—she should have kissed him last night, damn it—and the professional stress of having a political delegation at the camp today made for a lot of complicated, very awake feelings.

It was never too early to review cases, though.

At the hospital, she found she wasn’t the only one up. Sami, the Egyptian-Canadian medical director, was already in the office.

He didn’t look up from the charts he was working on. “Sabaah al-khair.” Good morning. He must think she was one of the local staff.

“Sabaah an-noor,” she replied carefully, proud of herself for remembering the appropriate response.

He jerked his head up and laughed. “Morning, Jenna. That sounded pretty good.”

She laughed. She hadn’t picked up much of the language yet, to her frustration. The women she saw either spoke English—and were eager to practice it—or turned immediately to the translator. Nobody was keen for her to struggle through a medical conversation in a language she spoke like a toddler, and she didn’t blame them.

Plus almost everyone in this camp was resigned to the reality they wouldn’t be returning home, and their future almost certainly lay in a far-away, English-speaking country like Canada.

“You’re up early,” she said, going to the hot plate to make herself some coffee.

“Couldn’t sleep. I’ll be happy to get today over with.”

“Mmm.” She yawned. Maybe she should have given sleep more of a chance before coming in. “Are you nervous about meeting the prime minister?”

He wrinkled his nose. “Nervous isn’t the right word. I want to say all the things that need to be said. I guess I’m worried I won’t get a real chance to speak to him.”

She nodded. “I’ve met—”

A loud knock interrupted them. The staff office was just inside the entrance to the trailer complex, and Jenna had locked the door behind her.

Sami was on his feet and running to the door before Jenna put down the coffee pot, but it wasn’t a medical emergency. Milly must have hustled from the other direction, because the next thing Jenna heard was, “Hey, mate! We’re closed, you know? Don’t be banging on the door like that. Patients are sleeping.”

Jenna grinned. Milly was bad-ass. The wards were on the other side of the clinical space, so the knocking surely didn’t wake them, but whoever the offender was, they’d think twice next time. The veteran nurse didn’t take bullshit from anyone, from doctors to military personnel to patients. But under all her gruff bark, the woman had a heart of gold.

Jenna wanted to be Milly when she grew up.

“My apologies,” said a familiar voice, and now Jenna was running, because oh my God, it was Sean.

She skidded to a halt in the doorway.

He was in uniform already, although his hair was sticking out at funny angles from under his beret. “Captain Foster of the Canadian Armed Forces. I’m looking for the clinic staff.”

Sami introduced himself with a quick handshake. “Sami Bahar, medical director, and this is Milly Anderson, a senior nurse.”

“Who is going back to take care of patients, if you’ve got this,” Milly said, sniffing to make it clear she didn’t care for the interruption, she didn’t care who Sean was.

Sean gave her a bashful smile that went a long way, Jenna was sure, then pulled a rolled up piece of paper from his pocket and held it out to Sami. “There’s a revised itinerary for the PM’s visit today. It’s more extensive than previously understood.”

Jenna groaned, and Sean swivelled towards her. “Morning,” she said with an apologetic grimace to Sami for interrupting. “A change in the itinerary?”

Sean nodded. “Sorry to be the bearer of unexpected news.”

Sami finished reading it over, then handed it to her without saying a word.

That wasn’t a good sign.

She took it and skimmed the page. She didn’t have Sami’s tact. “Seriously?”

When she glanced up, Sean gave her a rueful smile. “I thought it might be worth a middle of the night visit.”

Instead of a quick stop at a clinic in the camp mid-afternoon, the Prime Minister of Canada was now bringing reporters and a camera crew to her hospital. Right after breakfast.

“Thank you.” Sami glanced back toward the rear trailer. “I need to go prep the nursing staff.”

“Is there anything I can do to facilitate this?”

Jenna shook her head at the same time Sami held out his hand. “No, but I appreciate the heads up,” he said. “We’ll manage with the visit however it pleases the delegation.”

Sean waited until Sami left then he stuffed his hands in his pockets. He’d done the same thing the night before, and again she was struck with the urge to tug them out and weave their fingers together. “Will there be any problems with the media? Anything I should know? If anyone might be uncomfortable on camera. Patients, maybe?”

“Sami knows how to manage that. We’ll pick a couple of cases who don’t mind being interviewed.”

Sean nodded. “And if you need anything, just give the secret signal.”

She laughed. “We don’t have a secret signal.”

“We should definitely come up with one.” He winked, which did dangerous things to her insides. He was both funny and kind, trying to ease this change in plans for the hospital staff, but also her individually.

She gave him an appreciative smile as she reached for the door handle. “Go away. I need to brush my hair and find a nicer shirt.”

He let her herd him out of the hospital in the chill early dawn.

It was extra brr this morning. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to the weather heating up since it would quickly get to oppressive and sticky, but the few days that it would be balmy and spring-like would be nice. Right now she was grateful for the worn hoodie she had on over her scrubs.

“Tap your forefinger to your thumb.”

“Sean, we’ll be fine.”

“I know.” He hopped off the steps and into the hard packed dust. “And your hair is perfect, by the way.”

She’d braided her hair before bed, so she left it like that when she woke up. It was a mess. But the way he looked at her didn’t feel polite. “Thanks,” she whispered.

She needed to go see her patients. No more flirting.

Why weren’t her feet moving?

He took a few steps backward, a grin growing on his handsome face. Square jaw, bright eyes. She could lose herself in him if she weren’t careful. “I’ll see you later, Jenna.”

She lifted the paper he’d handed her in the air, something eager bouncing in her chest. “In an hour and a half, in fact.”

He flashed her another brilliant grin before nodding and turning on his heel. His uniform pulled tight across his shoulders and narrowed to his hips in an exaggerated V shape that woke her up better than coffee. Hello again, Captain Hottie. What nice long legs you’ve got.

She dragged in a shuddering breath before shutting and locking the clinic door.

“Are you done flirting with the handsome young man?” Milly asked as they scrubbed up.

Done? She’d barely started. “For now,” she said with a smile. “He’s transiting through. Leaving tomorrow.”

“Heading into Iraq?”

Jenna’s grin stretched so wide it hurt her cheeks. “To Italy, actually. He’s on leave for the next eighteen days.”

“Is that a fact?” Milly chuckled. “Any chance you’re going to meet up with him when you take your own flight out of here?”

“Maybe.”

“You sly hussy!”

Yep. Her cheeks were aching. “It just sort of…happened.”

“I bet it did. That one’s a looker, he is.”

She sighed happily. And in a few days, he’d be all hers.

“But—”

She held up her hand, cutting Milly off. “I know. Be careful. We’re just having fun.”

That was true, although there was more to it than that. Fun didn’t really encapsulate all that Sean promised.

The last four months had drained Jenna's emotional well. A trip to Spain with Sean would be both adventure and attention, a chance to take two weeks to refill her soul. Yes, there was a little voice in her in the back of her mind that warned her, again, that she could lose herself in this man. That it might become more than adventure and she needed to be careful about that.

If there was any lesson she’d learned growing up, it was that she needed to be careful around men—and that her future would be of her own making.

Her mother had been dealt a bad hand. Eve Kowalczyk found herself pregnant and alone at eighteen, then again at twenty-seven when she was just starting to get ahead a bit. Two ex-boyfriends who didn’t want to be fathers. A host of others who weren’t interested in being step-dads too.

Jenna’s mother didn’t get a partner in life, but she did get two dependents, and not a lot of opportunity handed to her to make their life comfortable.

Jenna had been adamant she wouldn’t fall into the same trap. She wouldn’t want too much, and she wouldn’t get carried away by impossible dreams. She could have adventure, as long as it fit inside her responsible career.

She hadn’t been prepared for how draining the placement would be. So yes, she was going to have some fun. Reset her expectations so when she returned, she could do the job that was needed. Give herself a good shake.

And that was all that would happen in Spain, no matter what.

* * *

If Sean had worried about the hospital staff’s ability to be camera-ready in an hour, his fear was misplaced. When he escorted the prime minister and the Canadian delegation to the hospital after breakfast with the camp administrators, Sami and Jenna were both waiting. They both wore broad smiles, their statements smooth and rehearsed.

The PM had clearly prepped well for this, asking smart, pointed questions of both Canadian practitioners. The conversation flowed smoothly, and cameras clicked steadily. Sean was startled to feel a stab of irrational jealousy at the way Jenna looked at the handsome, young prime minister. The leader of their country had a magnetism that was…well, at the moment it was annoying.

But once the initial meet and greet ended, she slid Sean a quick look that was entirely different. A look that had nothing to do with work, and everything to do with anticipating the next two weeks.

He didn’t have any reason to be jealous of another man.

For the next part of the tour, the prime minister went with the medical director, and Sean let the comms officer follow them so he could go with the camera crew that joined Jenna for a walk through the maternity ward.

She introduced them to a slight woman, her face covered with a niqab, who had delivered a new baby the day before. “This is Assala, and her son. Adnan is her fifth child, and they’re both recovering well from the birth.” She paused for the translator, then continued. “Adnan has a bit of jaundice, so we’ll watch him for the next day, but he’s already feeding well, isn’t he, Assala?”

After pictures with the well-baby care package Assala would take home once Adnan was discharged, the tour continued. Jenna didn’t stop to talk with any other patients, and when she arrived in the medical office near the entrance again, she explained that Assala was the only patient who consented to be interviewed.

The reporters led her through a wide range of questions, first about Assala, then women’s health in general.

Jenna leaned in to each question, giving them clear, to-the-point answers, then adding more context and shading around that. She talked about the need for increased education around birth control, but also praised the community’s response to their outreach efforts. “When I arrived, we did maybe one or two IUD insertions a week. One of the key tasks assigned to me by the medical director was to work with the local Turkish staff to share the benefits of family planning, and we’ve worked really hard to do that in a way that makes sense to this population. Now we’re averaging a dozen insertions a week most of the time, and word is spreading. We want to support families, and we understand how they value children. Babies are our future, their future. But too many, too close together…it’s not healthy for women. You need to protect mothers if they’re going to have all the children they want, that’s what we tell them.”

“It sounds like you’re directing that message at the community at large,” one reporter noticed.

Jenna nodded. “And probably more so than in Canada, although we always start from what they want. I’m careful that the caution isn’t coming from me, but from someone who shares their culture. It’s the only way to have the conversation. I can only offer medical care they want. In Canada, the midwifery model is one of informed choice versus informed consent. I follow the same principles here. Sometimes it requires more conversations to ensure my patients are as informed as possible.”

“Can you speak to the differences in care?”

“Of course.” Jenna launched into an explanation about how she did more general emergent care here than she had previously in Canada.

The conversation wrapped up when they heard the prime minister’s group return to the front hallway of the hospital, and everyone started to pack up their stuff.

Sean casually shot Jenna a glance, and did a double take when he found her tapping her fingers together, a small smile playing across her lips.