Offers cover for returning nurse, showing compassion (10)
I believe the answer is:
tenderness
'compassion' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'offers cover for returning nurse' is the wordplay.
'offers' becomes 'tenders' (tendering is a kind of offering).
'cover for' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'returning nurse' becomes 'nes' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'tenders' placed around 'nes' is 'TENDERNESS'.
'showing' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tenderness that I've seen before include "Gentleness, sensitivity" , "Compassion" , "Gentle quality" , "sore?" , "Heart" .)