"Well," she says, almost but not quite smiling, "do me the courtesy of accepting that I know what doctoring involves. I don't want you coming back to me later with an infection that could've been avoided."

She washes her hands in the sink, warm water and an anti-bacterial soap, and leans against the edge of it with an exhalation that isn't exactly a sigh; she needs a shower, when this is finally finished with, and then she thinks she might just crash out. It's been a few years since she last worked emergency medicine like this, and jumping in both feet first is tiring, even if she knows she can handle it.