Okay, I was reading through this story I wrote a while back, and I kept seeing things I could improve on, and so I decided to re-write it. I promise I will finish it this time. There's going to be around 13 chapters and maybe an epilogue. I hope you like it.

*Important!* This is set four years in the future!

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Chapter 1

Friday 1st September 2017

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The rain tumbled down the glass and Beth relaxed back into the seat. She watched the rain drops run down the window, and it was oddly mesmerising. An announcement over the intercom system caused her to look away.

"Next stop Holby City Station." Beth stood up slowly, throwing a rucksack over her shoulders, and made her way to the train doors. They hissed mechanically open. The train journey had been a short one, and Beth had a mixture of fear, excitement and dread swirling round her stomach. She was on her way to Holby City Hospital; she was the new cardiothoracic consultant.

She walked along the pavement, thinking about the hospital, and all her colleagues. She had only met two, Henrik Hanssen and Elliot Hope, and she was dreading meeting the rest.

She got off the train and made her way down St Edwards Street, and pulled her phone out of her of her pocket. She got Google maps up, and typed 'Holby City Hospital' into the search bar. A couple of seconds of loading later, a map appeared on the screen. There were two dots on the screen, one that highlighted the hospital, and one that said 'you are here'. The map told her that she was about a three minute walk from her new place of work, but she was walking in the wrong direction. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and changed her direction.

The rain was still falling out of the sky when Beth arrived at the hospital. She was wear light blue jeans and a light green t-shirt, and a light blue cardigan thrown over her shoulders. She hadn't expected it to be cold this morning or for it to rain – so she had put the wrong clothes on.

She was sodden but she didn't mind, in fact she loved the rain. She passed through some double doors and was confronted with a café, a lift, and a sign. She scanned the sign for Darwin Ward and when she saw it she made a note of the floor and climbed into the lift.

The lift doors pinged, and she walked out of the lift. She looked around the ward for a couple of seconds, searching for Professor Hope. She combed her memory for what he looked like; late fifties, scruffy beard and hair, overweight. It was a couple of seconds later that she saw him. He was talking a male nurse at the nurses' station, and Beth walked, cautiously, over to them.

Neither of them noticed her. She coughed. Professor Hope turned his attention from the nurse to her. "Ah, Miss Wilkes. Glad to see you made here on time." The nurse turned to face her after Professor Hope's words.

"Jonny Maconie." The male nurse offered a hand, and Beth took it. He had a Scottish accent.

"Beth Wilkes. Nice to meet you." She turned to Professor Hope, and spoke again. "So what should I do?" She had just finished her words when a tall red-head woman stalked over to nurses' station. Beth's mouth almost dropped open. Nurse Maconie looked at the woman who had just walked over, and then he looked back at Beth – his eyebrows knitted into a frown. "Well, what d'you know? Long-time no see, Jac." Jac turned the swivel chair she was sitting so that she could see who was talking to her.

Her face split into a smile. "Beth Wilkes." She breathed in. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Beth smiled.

She thought about it. "A good fifteen years at the least. Nice to see that you made it as a doctor, though I was sure you'd make it."

"Must have been fifteen years, then. So you did decide to be a doctor, then?" Jac asked.

"Nah, what d'you think?" Beth said, sarcastically, gesturing around her with her arms. They both laughed at that. The two men who were standing beside them were looking on bemusedly. Beth turned to them. "Jac and I are old friends." Professor Hope nodded, and Nurse Maconie did as well, before excusing himself.

Jac leaned over and handed her a blue folder. It had a name written on the flap – David Webber. "You can take him to Keller for me." Seeing the confused look on Beth's face, she elaborated. "Keller Ward, general surgery, second floor. Just go and tell him that Miss Naylor is held up in theatre and you'll be handling his referral." Beth nodded. "Bed eight, over there." Jac said, pointing to the left, where a man in his late twenties was lying on a bed, reading an out of date magazine.

Jac stood up and walked off, leaving Beth with her task. She walked purposefully towards Bed eight. The man in the bed – David Webber – looked up when she approached. "Miss Naylor has been held up in theatre, so I'll be handling your referral to Keller. Do have any questions, Mr Webber?" He shook his head. "I'll go get a porter, then." It didn't take Beth long to find a porter.

She walked alongside the bed as it was wheeled down the corridor, and to the lift. The doors pinged closed, and Beth turned to David. "Mr Webber, did Miss Naylor tell you what doctor you are being referred to?"

"Mr Williams." She froze for a second, before dismissing it as a coincidence. She nodded, and they spent the rest of the lift ride in silence. The doors pinged open, and she watched as the bed was wheeled out, and then followed it. She stood at the desk, waiting for Mr Williams or another doctor to arrive – as David Webber and his bed where slotted into a space. A voice came from behind her, and made a chill go up her spine and her blood run cold. She never did believe in coincidences. "Well, well, well. Elisabeth Wilkes. Well, well, well." His condescending tone made Beth itch to slap him. Instead, she turned around to face him. Alex Williams didn't look a day different.

"David Webber is over there." She said, sharply, pointing to him. She went to turn away, but he reached out a hand and grabbed her arm. He pulled her back. She closed her eyes and tried to control her anger. "Don't worry, Beth, they won't ever know about the past." He whispered slowly. "Neil sends his love!" He spoke sarcastically and it made her blood boil. "Nah, actually he hates you even more now, Ellie." Her face had gone bright red with anger.

"You do not call me that…" He interrupted her.

"It's what darling Neil called you, wasn't it? I think you've burned all the bridges there, Ellie." She battled to keep her anger under control, but she sensed that she was losing the battle. He could always get under her skin like no one else.

"I know he's your brother but I would have thought you'd burnt all the bridges too, dragging me down? Is brother love worth more than everything else?" She retorted, and was happy that he was scowling by the end of the sentence.

"Neil and I are not on speaking terms." He answered.

"So I should expect, Alex, after what you did to him, after you betrayed him like you did." Beth snapped back.

"After I betrayed him? What about you?" That was the trigger that sent her over the edge. Before she knew what she was doing, she reached out and had slapped him hard on the cheek. When she brought her hand away, she was shaking and there was a bright red hand mark on his cheek. Suddenly, Beth got the feeling everyone was watching them. She looked up, to see that she was right. Everyone on the ward was staring at them. A woman caught her attention. She was staring at them in disbelief. She had short, brown hair that ran to her shoulders. She was in her late forties or early fifties and from the tag on her trousers; Beth guessed she was a pretty important doctor.

"Alex and you. My office now." She had pointed at Beth when she had said you, as she didn't know her name. She followed Alex into a rather large office that had Alex's name on the door, and also Serena Campbell. She assumed that Serena Campbell was the woman who was looking daggers at her. "Serena-" Alex had started to speak but the woman – Serena – had cut him off.

"Shut up." Beth decided that she like Serena Campbell. "Who are you? Are you a patient's relative or what?"

"I'm Beth Wilkes. I'm the new cardiothoracic surgeon." Serena Campbell's eyebrows shot up at that.

"So would you care to explain why you just assaulted a member of my staff?"

Beth paused, she didn't want to air her dirty laundry in public and she knew that Alex wouldn't either. "I hate him. He got under my skin so I slapped him." Beth said, shrugging.

"Miss Wilkes, you are new to this hospital, correct?"

"It's my first day."

"Then you need to understand that assaulting another member of staff is not permitted in this hospital." She turned to Alex. "Alex, if you would like to file a complaint about this incident I'm sure you won't be short of witnesses. But first, you must tell me how you managed to provoke a woman you had never met before to hate you and then slap you, and all in a very short space of time." Serena asked, looking between the pair of them.

"Well…" He paused, and before he spoke again, he glanced over to Beth and their eyes met. "The thing is, I have met the charming Miss Wilkes before – and obviously I did not leave her with a good impression of me." Beth had to close her eyes to stop the anger rising in her again.

"How do you know her?"

"We used to work together at University Hospital of North Durham." Beth beat Alex to answer first. "And no, Alex, you didn't leave a good impression." He scowled again.

Serena looked at them again and then shook her head. "There is something between you, which I accept you are going to keep between yourselves at this moment in time. I will just offer you one word of warning – Alex, I'm sure you already know this – but secrets don't stay secret in Holby for long. You can go now." Beth looked at Serena and wondered how she had realised that they were hiding something. Admittedly, they hadn't given the best answers to why the incident on the ward had occurred, but still, it was a large leap of logic to get to where Serena had.

She walked out of the office, Alex right behind her. She glanced back at him, and saw that her hand print was still imprinted on his face. She winced at the sight, but then told herself that he had deserved it. She shivered when she felt a hand on her back. "You heard what Miss Campbell said, secrets don't keep secret here for long." Alex whispered in to her ear. Beth gave him a light push and he moved away.

She walked to the lift quickly. She stood waiting for the lift for a long time, and every so often she glanced over her shoulder to see where Alex was. Most of the time he was either with a patient or she couldn't see him. After an age the doors pinged open and Beth entered. The only person in the lift was Jac. Beth realised that she had been missing from the ward for quite some time, what with the incident with Alex and then the dressing down by Serena Campbell. "I was looking for you."

"What did you want?" Beth snapped, she wasn't in the mood to be cooperative or use manners for that matter. Alex had made her put her defences up.

"I picked up the phone to hear that you slapped a senior GS consultant."

"Let me guess; Serena Campbell?" Jac nodded.

After a pause, Jac spoke. "Why?"

"Why what?" Beth knew exactly what Jac was asking but she didn't really what to answer – as she didn't want to lie to her friend or talk about the past.

"Don't be stupid, Beth, it doesn't suit you. Why did you slap a random GS consultant?"

"He wasn't random and he deserved it."

"And why wasn't he random and how did he deserve it?"

"I know him from a while ago. We used to work together, and believe me he deserved it. I should have done it a long time ago."

"What happened, then?" Jac inquired.

It's just we….used to work together and, well, something happened and well, you know what I'm like with grudges." They both laughed at the last part. Jac nodded.

"But what did he do, steal the last bourbon, steal a surgery, steal…?" Jac said, incredulously, but before she could list any more Beth interrupted her.

"He didn't steal anything! It's, well, complicated and I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Jac nodded, she knew that she couldn't pry any further.

Jac walked to the other side of the lift but, as she did so, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. Beth reached it first and picked it up. It was a photograph of a man who was, Beth guessed, about the same age as her and Jac, and had short brown hair. He was wearing a light blue jumper and he was smiling slightly, but Beth noted that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes – there was something upsetting him. There was also a baby in the picture who looked very similar to the man, too similar for just a coincidence; he must be the baby's father. And finally, there was a small puppy lying on the grass next to the man.

She turned it over and there were three words scrawled on the back, 'Where's the wife?' Beth frowned at the words. She turned it around, again. "Who's he?"

Beth looked at Jac at that moment and for a second she could see hurt flash across her expression. "He's just… gone. He used to work here but he's gone now." Beth nodded.

"So why do you still have a photo of him?"

"I don't know why."

"What do the words mean? Wife – you – I didn't have you down as the marrying type, Jac. He must have been something special."

Jac smiled, slightly. "Oh yeah, he was special." She paused, and took a breath. "I just wish I realised that before it was too late." She looked up at Beth and their eyes met. To her surprise, Beth saw that Jac was fighting tears.

"What happened, Jac?" Beth asked, softly and quietly.

"I hurt him," She smiled, lost in a memory. "Which was the biggest mistake of my life." She paused. "And then he forgave me." Her smile turned into a frown. "Then I made the second biggest mistake of my life. I let him go. He asked me to go with him and I said no. All for a stupid job, Beth." Jac said as she pulled the photo from Beth grip.

She walked the doors of the lift, and waited. "I hurt him so much, Beth, and it nearly killed me. So one little tip, Beth; love is more important than anything else. Don't make my mistakes because if you do; love hurts a hell of a lot." The lift doors pinged, Jac left and Beth was left alone.

"Thanks for the warning, Jac, but I think I've already made your mistakes." Beth said, to the empty lift, before following her friend.

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And chapter one is finished! I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be published next Monday.