Night shift was never Aloisia’s favourite duty. But she was a nurse and studying to become a doctor, so she had long since come to terms with it.

On the positive side, aside from the increased pay, she was free to take breaks between her rounds and was basically only in the hospital in case of emergency. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any of those tonight. A bit boring perhaps, but there was always some idle work she could distract herself with. Or some coursework to do for her studies.

She gave a bit of a yawn, before sipping on her coffee and throwing a glance at the clock.

2am.

Six more hours. Luckily, she was not alone.

She had already prepared a second cup of coffee for her friend and fellow nurse, Linda, who was currently finishing the rounds in the other wing of the hospital.

When Linda finally arrived, she instantly lit up at the sight of the coffee. “Thanks, Sia. One of the patients needed help getting to the bathroom. They seem to be on the mend, though…”

Suddenly, a light lit up on the console, taking Aloisia out of her thoughts.

“The baby hatch.”

She gave her friend a look, letting out a sigh. “Why people have babies when they are not ready to take care of them, I will never understand,” she grumbled half-heartedly.

“You know as well as I do that there isn’t always a choice involved,” replied her friend with a grimace as they both got up and hurried towards the baby hatch.

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“True. Let’s hope the baby is fine. An anonymous adoption plan could have all sorts of reasons.”

The rest of the walk passed in somewhat tense silence.

Opening the door to the nursery, Aloisia made her way over to the baby hatch. Carefully opening the door, she took a peek at the new arrival.

A big beige blanket was wrapped around the crying baby so tightly it couldn’t move.

“Well, at least he’s warm. Let’s get him out of there and have a proper look,” commented Linda.

With a nod, Aloisia took the baby in her arms and brought her to a nursing station. With some gentle rocking, the baby soon calmed down.

“She’s pretty big for a newborn. Almost four kilograms.”

“You think it’s a girl?”

“Well, we’ll see soon enough,” Aloisia replied with a smirk towards Linda.

Setting the baby onto the padded table, she carefully unwrapped the blanket from around the baby.

“Any notes in the blanket? A name perhaps?” Linda asked from beside her, all the while busying herself with preparing some baby formula.

“Not that I can see. But look at her. Such pretty blue eyes. She looks quite healthy. Going by the redness of her skin, it must have been less than a day since she was born.”

Leaning a bit closer, Linda was quick to agree, “She’ll turn heads when she grows up, I am sure.”

Relieved to know that their new charge was healthy, they began joking around between themselves. It remained to be seen if her parents would show up in the coming month to reclaim the babe. If they did not, the hospital would have to look for someone to take her in.

Aloisia wasn’t sure whether she’d come to dread the thought of losing her new charge so soon, or be happy she wouldn’t have to clean up after her for long.

Between her studies and the work she was doing, there was little time she could spare to take care of a baby. In the meantime, at least, it’d be good practice until she was in a position to have one of her own.