Summary: Set during Forsaking All Others Part 1: Everyone has gone off to the hen party, leaving Lily behind and totally alone. She finds herself in the comfort of someone totally unexpected though and ends up having a better night than she'd pictured.
Lily watched solemnly as the long, black limo drove away. She could hear them all screaming with excitement, none of them realising that they'd left her behind. Lily loved her job, she really did, but she just wished that she was liked by her colleagues. They never invited her to the pub or anything, and by the looks of things she hadn't been invited to the hen party. She was only harsh with people, because she wanted to impress people. She'd never had it with her parents and she just wanted to be good at what she did. She sighed heavily and shook her head, before turning to go back into the ED.
"Doctor Chao," Connie said, walking over. "What are you still doing here? Did you forget something?"
"No," Lily sighed, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Um...Is there anything that I can do? I might as well get back to work."
"Well what are you talking about?" Connie asked, shaking her head. "I thought you were going to the hen party."
"They left without me," Lily whispered and shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter. I don't even know if I'll be going to the wedding anyway, when there are lives that need saving."
"Come with me," Connie said. "Jacob can handle things. I want to have a word with you."
Lily faintly nodded and followed Connie along to the staffroom. Her heart skipped a beat when she remembered the crumpled up 'CONGRATULATIONS' banner in the bin.
"You don't have to pretend with me, Doctor Chao," Connie said, placing the notes that she'd been holding on the coffee table. "I can tell that you really wanted to go to that hen party."
"I guess I've just never been to a proper party before," Lily confessed and placed her bag on the chair. "Let alone a hen party. Face it Mrs Beauchamp, people just don't like me here. I don't mean to be rude, I...I just want to impress people."
"How'd your parents take it?" Connie asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Not too good," Lily sighed and hung her head. "They didn't approve."
"You have a real talent," Connie said. "You could be an amazing doctor in about ten, maybe five years time. Maybe even a clinical lead one day. I know it's hard but do what yo want, not what your parents want."
"Mrs Beauchamp, can I ask you a question?" Lily asked.
Connie nodded her head. "Of course."
"Why were you being so nice to me today?" Lily questioned her.
"Honestly Lily..." Connie smiled fondly at her. "You remind me of a younger version of myself. I was just like you at twenty six, constantly trying to impress people. I cared more for work than friends and no one liked me because of it."
"Hard, isn't it?" Lily giggled, raising an eyebrow.
"It can be," Connie said. "But it also doesn't matter. You have an amazing job, Lily. You don't need friends, marriage, kids, anything like that."
"Easy for you to say," Lily muttered under her breath.
"And by the way, I don't think Ethan and Honey will last," Connie said. "Just between you and I."
"What?" Lily shot her a look of confusion.
"I've seen the way you look at him, Lily," Connie said. "You like him. One day though you are going to meet an amazing man and he'll be the luckiest guy in the world." Lily smiled and nodded thankfully at her. "How about that party then, huh?"
"We've missed the limo," Lily laughed. "And it's quite clear that no one wants me there."
"Well, we can still have fun," Connie said, walking over to the bin and pulling out the 'CONGRATULATIONS' sign.
"How did you know that was there?" Lily questioned her.
"I may have seen someone throw it in there earlier," Connie said, handing it to Lily to hang up.
"But the guys took the bottle of champagne," Lily whispered.
"I may have some hidden away in here" Connie said and winked at her. She walked over to one of the cupboards and brought out a bottle, holding it in the air to show Lily. "See?"
"Why do you have that?" Lily asked.
"I was planning on throwing you a party," Connie said, grabbing two glasses. "To congratulate you on getting the job as registrar. It's tradition in this place, whoever gets promoted always has a party thrown for them. Who needs the others though, eh?"
"So I got it then?" Lily asked, knowing that everyone would hate her for it.
"Well, as I said before you need to apply for the position," Connie said, pouring the glasses. Lily nodded and walked over to the wall, placing the banner along the back of the sofa. "But I have no doubt that you'll get it." She took hold of the glasses and walked over to Lily, handing a glass to her.
"Thank you," Lily thanked her. "This is way better than the hen night."
"Cheers," Connie said, clinking glasses with her and they both had a sip. "To our own little party."
"Did you really mean it?" Lily asked. "When you said that I remind you of your younger self?"
"Course I did," Connie said. "You're exactly like me, Lily. That's what I like about you."
"Does this make us friends?" Lily asked.
"If that's what you want," Connie said, having another sip of champagne. She then held her glass up. "To the losers who care more about work than friendship."
"Yeah," Lily agreed, giggling and holding her glass up. "To the losers."
And Connie knew that Lily was going to go far in life. She may not have been popular or had parents that approved of her job role, but she was a determined hard worker and that was all she needed to be. She was the younger version of Connie Beauchamp.
Okay so as you can tell by my stories, I love Connie and Lily friendship. I think it started in Excess Baggage when Lily collapsed and stuff. I just see them as a lovely mother and daughter relationship and last night Lily was totally a younger version of Connie, and I think most people were saying that as well.
I felt so bad for Lily in last night's episode, especially when she got left behind at the end. That was when I got this idea for a one-shot, I hope you enjoyed it. It was good though, because the whole episode was Lily centred!
Don't forget as well, Casualty is on again tonight at 8pm! :D