"Oh, here he comes again."

Astrid craned her neck in an effort to peer out the polished glass door from behind the pharmacy counter. It was her first day as a locum pharmacist in Berk Pharmacy, and while she was thankful for a quiet day to get her settled in, the lack of things to do was driving her to boredom. She was the only staff on duty besides the counter assistant Rachel-call-me-Ruffnut. Ruffnut seemed to be a passive-agressive sort of friendly and screwed a bit loosely in the head, but she was a veritable font of information about the local gossip, which helped pass the time.

The pavement outside the shop seemed empty, so she shot a questioning look at her colleague.

"Who?"

"The addict." Ruffnut nodded across the street, where the form of a tall twenty-something male was walking across the road in their direction. He had longish brown hair that seemed auburn when it caught the sun, and was well-dressed and clean shaven. A professional-looking leather satchel was slung across his shoulders. His gait was somewhat odd but surefooted enough. Overall he gave the impression of an well put-together, possibly educated young man. She wouldn't have pegged him as an addict.

"Addict?" Astrid frowned. She pictured sallow skin, dull hair, yellow fingernails and glassy eyes. "How do you -"

The bell chimed, a clear, sweet sound that announced the entry of a customer.

"Solpadeine Plus," whispered Ruffnut before she slipped out to man the counter. "Soluble, Pack of 32, 3 packs. Watch."

Ruffnut sauntered into view with her customary customer-service smile and greet.

"Hi, how can I help you today?"

The young man looked up. From her point of view half-hidden behind the dispensary shelves, she was treated to the sight of wide green eyes lighting up with the friendliest smile she'd ever seen. His voice, when he spoke, was slightly nasal and higher than she expected.

"Hi, Ruff! Great weather today, isn't it? How are you?"

Smooth, warm and open. He didn't sound like an addict. She'd imagined a husky, or perhaps even croaky, tone. Ruffnut didn't miss a beat.

"I'm good, thanks! Yeah, sun is great, too bad I'm stuck indoors. You going to the beach again later? Need some sunscreen?"

The beach? Did he spend a lot of time there? No wonder he was so tan. A smattering of freckles covered his nose and upper cheeks. It was not unattractive.

"No thanks, I'm good on that. Can I just get the Solpadeine Plus 32 pack, please? The soluble ones. As many packs as you can give me."

Ruffnut turned her head to send Astrid a smug wink. Astrid snapped out of the strange daze that had taken over her.

"Limit of 3 packs per customer, you know it, my friend."

"I can always ask."

And before Astrid could react, the sale was done, and the young man - potential addict - was walking out the pharmacy door with a large amount of potentially addictive drugs in his bag.

"Ah, always so polite." sighed Ruffnut as she watched him disappear. "And so handsome too. Why is it always the charming ones that are addicts?"

All of a sudden, the penny dropped. The potential addict had just walked out. After buying potentially addictive drugs. Addictive like cocaine addictive. On her watch. She felt like a bucket of ice had just been dumped down her back.

Gods, what had she done?!

"Ruffnut!" screeched Astrid. "How could you - what did you just - just - I - what was that?!"

"I know, right?" Ruffnut continued dreamily. "It's such a shame."

Astrid grit her teeth in disbelief. "Ruffnut," she said slowly. "You know the legal requirements for the sale of Solpadeine, right? Codeine-containing medicine, sell only under the supervision of a pharmacist? As in, me? And what about your basic questions? Who's it for, what he's using it for, how long has it been, is he on any other meds - " Astrid threw her hands up in the air. Ruffnut was supremely unconcerned.

"Oh chill out, Astrid. We know what it's for, he's using it to get high," dismissed Ruffnut flippantly. Astrid couldn't believe the sheer gall of the girl. "And he's been coming regularly for three weeks, if he was going to die of overdose or something, he'd have died already, so it's fine." Ruffnut stood and pointed at the 2 remaining packs of Solpadeine on the shelf, as if to remind Astrid that she wasn't completely daft. "Plus, 3 packs is the legal limit, that I followed, so even if he did kick the bucket, legally we're clear."

Astrid was ready to pull her hair out in frustration. How was it that Ruffnut was speaking as if - as if Ruffnut was the reasonable one?!

"And I'm supposed to be fine with that, somehow? Ruffnut, I'm the responsible pharmacist here. Do you even know what responsible means?"

Astrid was pacing the dispensary agitatedly, and Ruffnut had the gall to roll her eyes.

"Geez, Astrid, you're high strung! Come on, what did you think you were going to do? Refuse to sell? We're not the only pharmacy in town, he could've just went to another pharmacy round the corner. Why send away business?"

Why indeed. It was galling to her professional pride, but Astrid unhappily admitted to seeing the business sense. She still didn't like it.

Astrid reluctantly deflated. "I could've at least offered proper counseling. You," she jabbed a finger at Ruffnut, "didn't even remind him not to take it for more than three days!"

Ruffnut sent her gaze heavenward and decided not to dignify that with a response. The unspoken what good would it have done? hung unaddressed in the air.

Astrid didn't care. She had professional standards to uphold, damn it. She'd been hired as the responsible pharmacist, and if she needed to pull rank to act responsible, she would.

"If he comes again, you are going to ask him all the basic questions that should be asked before a sale, and you will not sell him anything until I, the pharmacist, am satisfied that there is a clear medical need for the sale. Do we understand each other?"

Ruffnut crossed her arms and glared right back.

"Well then, when he comes again this Friday," she sniffed, "You can serve him yourself!"

A/N: The "basic questions" Astrid is referring to are commonly known as WWHAM, and these are: 1)Who is it for? 2) What are the symptoms? 3)How long have the symptoms been present? 4)Has any other action been taken? and lastly, 5) Is the patient on any other medication? Technically a pharmacist needs all this information before he/she can sell a product that is legally categorized as "Pharmacy-Only." Solpadeine is one such product. It is a painkiller containing codeine and paracetamol, and can be highly addictive, so pharmacy staff tend to watch its sales carefully.

Reviews are appreciated!