Chapter 1

I've wanted to write a Charlie/Duffy story for a while now and with her returning to the show pretty soon, I thought, why not? I don't really know where this is going right now and it will probably take me ages to update chapters because of exams but I will try, hope you enjoy...

The ED was busy as usual, the reception was full of people either sitting and waiting patiently to be seen, then the odd few who were drunk and loud and then there were the complainers, the ones who always slate the NHS yet here they were, waiting in an Emergency Department. Charlie shook his head and smiled to himself as he walked past the large group of people and headed towards the office he shared with Rita.

When he opened the door he could see her sitting at her desk, her head in her hand, he could feel his smile falling. He always hated seeing his friends upset. He knew that it was either Connie stressing her out with all the paperwork or it was just one of those days. He moved and carefully sat down at the desk opposite to hers.

"Is everything okay Rita?" Charlie let out quietly, in an attempt not to startle her.

Rita slowly lifted her head to look at him, her fingers rubbing at her eyes, "Yeah, just tired that's all," she yawned.

"Are you sure that's it?" he asked her, making sure she was definitely okay before changing the subject to work related jargon.

Rita sighed heavily, "Mark was here the other week."

"Right," Charlie nodded, not taking his eyes off Rita. "Do you think you should be in today?"

"The department wouldn't survive without me Charlie," Rita could feel the tears forming in her eyes, from exhaustion and fear of Mark; she had been constantly looking over her shoulder since he had come back. "If I go everything will just go wrong and I've got to get all this paperwork done, fo…" she could barely get her words out as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Charlie stood up from his desk and walked round to her, "Come here," he signalled for her to hug him, she too stood up and Charlie took her in his arms as she began to sob. He had never seen her like this before, of course he had seen her broken and in a really bad place in the past. But, she never cried. She never made herself look weak, never.

He held on to her tightly until she calmed down and pulled away from him.

"Sorry," she wiped at her eyes.

"Shh, it's okay," he whispered. "I'll always be here for you, if you just need someone to rant to about Connie or some random stupid patient that should know better, then, I will be here," he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

Rita closed her eyes and took a deep breath, returning back to her nurse mode, "Okay, we have a few agency nurses in today as Robyn is ill and it's David's day off," she turned to read off her paperwork as Charlie returned to his own chair. "Erm, we've got Amelia Simpson and Lisa Duffin."

Charlie's head snapped up and he felt his heart drop suddenly at the mention of her name, "Can you say that again please?"

Rita looked at him suspiciously, "Amelia Simpson and Lisa Duffin are our agency nurses for today, why?"

A smile emerged on Charlie's face as her name rang through his head, Duffy was back. But what was she doing here?

"Charlie?" Rita spoke, trying to get his attention. "What's wrong?"

"Duffy's back!" he almost said to himself, he then looked up to Rita again, "When are they going to be here?"

Rita checked the clock on her wall, "Well, I should be briefing them in about ten minutes," she paused. "Who's Duffy?"

Charlie shook his head in amazement, "She's one of my…" he paused, unable to really take any of it in. "It doesn't matter."

"Right, okay then?" Rita eyed him up curiously.

Charlie nodded, grinning to himself. He couldn't get his head around it all. He hadn't seen her in so long, the night he nearly died was so exhausting that he really couldn't remember what even happened that well, he remembered seeing Duffy but she never returned after her last visit to him. She must've moved to a different hospital but now she was back. They could finally have that catch up that they both so desperately needed and he could find out what she was still doing in the UK again.

"Well I'm going to see what the chaos is like out there, don't be too long, will you?" Rita questioned him; frankly, she was getting frustrated as he kept slipping in and out of a day dream. "Charlie! Oh forget it, I'll find out soon enough anyway," she rolled her eyes and began to leave the office but as she turned the door handle, Charlie snapped out of his little dream and called out to Rita.

"Yes?" she looked at him, one hand on her hip.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Charlie asked her once again.

Rita couldn't help but smile; she honestly didn't know what she'd do without Charlie looking out for her. She was certainly grateful for him, that's for sure.

"I'll be fine Charlie, thank you for asking," she breathed. "And how about you, are you okay?"

"You don't need to worry about me but I'm doing just fine," he nodded his head slowly.

"I best be off, I'll see you later," Rita spoke turning to leave.

Charlie sat at the desk in his office. He still couldn't get over the fact that Duffy, one his oldest friends, was going to be setting foot in this hospital again. He had so many questions, what was he going to say to her? Is she going to stay? How is she? How are the boys? And, more importantly, what was she doing here and why isn't she in New Zealand? He thought she was happy there, well, the last time he visited her she was. But, what had made her come back to this place and why didn't he know? There was one thing he did know though, he was going to get those answers and very soon.