And the walls came tumbling down...

(This was written before seeing the 'stag do' so anything that occurred during and after that I don't know about so you might have to ignore some glaringly obvious mistakes)

"I'll be back soon, maybe we can go out for a drink tonight?" Alicia said, a smile on her face.

"Definitely, though I'm thinking more of what will happen after the drink."

"Cal!" She giggled. "You're so bad."

"But you love it." He grinned as he spoke into his mobile. "I can't wait to see you."

"I can't wait to see you either. It's been nice to catch up with me mam, but it was getting a bit much after a couple of days."

"Yeah? Well I've got a nice surprise for you when you get back."

"Oh yeah? I know what your surprises are like Cal." She said, unable to hide the smile.

"Trust me, you'll love it."

"I'm sure I will. I need to get going. I'll see you soon." Alicia said hanging up, smiling to herself. Cal stood staring into space with a smile fixed on his face as he imagined how his surprise would go tonight.

"Cal, your patient is back from their scan." Lily said curtly as she looked across to where Cal was staring into space.

"Hmm." He looked up, still deep in thought.

"Your patient." She repeated firmly, nodding towards the doors of Resus.

"Right, thanks." Cal muttered, still not really 'with it' and as he remained standing where he was, Lily sighed heavily.

"Dr Knight, go and review your patient." She snapped somewhat.

"Alright," He said, starting to walk off, muttering under his breath: "who died and made you queen of the hospital."

"Hey Lily." Ethan said, approaching her. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." She said firmly. Ethan looked a little taken aback by her tone, but knew not to push it too far. He had noticed she had seemed a little sullen since she had come back inside after taking two coffees outside.

"I wanted your opinion on this." He said suddenly, holding some blood results towards her, trying to bring her out of her slump by pretending he needed help. She glanced down and looked confused.

"They're normal." She shrugged, looking at Ethan as if he'd lost the plot.

"Oh, um, exactly." Ethan said, playing for time, trying to think on his feet and cursing himself for not being better at improvisation.

"What's the problem then?"

"The problem is that the patient is displaying all the signs of a PE, but the bloods don't point that way."

"Right, have you ordered a CTPA?"

"Well, I requested one but they couldn't fit her in until later."

"Well, maybe it's a chest infection?"

"No, her lungs are clear."

"Does she have symptoms of a previous DVT? Any risk factors?"

"Um, not really."

"Well, it sounds like you need to go back to the drawing board, Ethan." Lily said, wondering off. Ethan stared after her, confused by the behaviour of his friend.

"Any chance of doing some work today Dr Hardy?" Connie said as she walked past, peering at a scan on the tablet.

"Yes, yes of course." He rushed out and hurried off, surprised that despite the fact that Mrs Beauchamp was not currently clinical lead, she could still make him jump to it. She clearly hadn't let go of the reins in her mind yet.

Outside, Iain and Jez were climbing back into their ambulance after grabbing a quick coffee.

"What's wrong with you, old man?" Jez jibed at Iain.

"Nothing." Iain said sulkily.

"You've been off since that Lily bird came to speak to you."

"I haven't."

"You have."

"I hav- I'm not arguing with you about it." Iain huffed.

"Whatever." Jez chuckled to himself as Iain started the ignition and drove off. Moments later a call came through from control, breaking the silence that had fallen in the ambulance cab.

"Control to 3006. Multiple vehicle RTC on the industrial road, multiple casualties, no conditions known at present. HGV involved, possible chemical spill, HART team dispatched and Heli-med requested."

"3006 to control, received and mobile." Jez said, grinning at Iain. "It's gonna be a big one mate."

"It's multiple casualties and a chemical spill, not a play date with a pretty girl." Iain said as he turned the siren on and sped off. As they approached the scene, they were met with chaos and carnage. Iain parked up and both jumped out on autopilot, grabbing at their equipment and heading to the team leader who had set up a triage area for the walking wounded. The police had closed down the road and were busy diverting all traffic away. Jez whistled slowly as he surveyed the scene as the paramedic officer gave instructions. They headed off into the thick of it, where the fire crew had just cut the roof off a car and were extracting the next lot of casualties. More emergency crews rolled up and everyone was getting stuck in to clearing the scene. There was also an off-duty doctor and an emergency nurse who had stopped to help.

Back at the ED, Elle had called the teams together to warn them of the inbound casualties, a high volume were imminently expected. She had asked for cubicles to be cleared and the patients that could be moved had been. She advised that extra theatre capacity had been cleared and AAU was on standby to receive overspill, along with the major trauma unit. Everyone was on standby waiting for the influx, just the first casualties were brought in. The department descended into a hive of activity. Resus was full with the critical being stabilised and cubicles soon filled with walking wounded. Duffy was manning a see and treat area for minor injuries with Robyn to assist her, while Dylan and Lily with Charlie and Louise, co-ordinated cubicles along with some of the other staff. Elle and Connie were keeping control of the serious cases in Resus with Cal and Ethan heading between the two wherever the need was greatest. The team worked like a well-oiled machine and Elle felt proud of them. However, she was oblivious to the bristling tension building up again between Cal and Ethan.

"Ethan, you need to get some of these patients discharged." Cal said surveying the board. Over half of them are yours and some near to breaching."

"Yes, I know, I'm working on it." Ethan replied curtly, picking up a set of notes firmly. "We can't just chuck patient's out because we need the space."

"No, but we can diagnose and treat them more efficiently to keep things moving." Cal snapped back.

"Who died and made you the clinical lead." Ethan huffed and walked away.

"Still frosty between you both then?" Charlie asked Cal, watching Ethan walk off.

"Mm-hmm." Cal nodded. "On the plus side, that's the most we've spoken in weeks." Cal shrugged and walked off.

Out in the field, Iain and Jez were working on getting out a young woman who had been trapped in her vehicle which was severely crushed in the wreckage of cars. The fire crew were working on getting her out, but Iain has had to find a way to get nearer and cannulate her to get fluids and pain relief in. It had been tricky but with the help of one of the off-duty nurses, they had kept the woman calm while the fire crew were working on getting her out.

"It's ok Sarah, we'll have you out in a bit then get you to hospital, ok?" Iain tried to reassure her as he gave her a bolus of IV morphine into the cannula, then connected the fluids.

"It hurts." Sarah breathed.

"Sarah, you just keep looking at me." The nurse said. "My name is Sam and I'm an emergency nurse at St James' Hospital. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere, ok? The paramedic has just given you some strong pain relief, and the fire crew are going to get you out now, right, and I'll be right here with you, ok?" Sam smiled reassuringly at the frightened woman.

"You should move back now." Came the voice of a fireman.

"No, I'm staying with her, I promised I'd be here." Sam said firmly.

"Right, then you should put this on." Iain said, handing her a spare high visibility jacket and helmet to protect her. The nurse did as he requested and moved back towards Sarah so she could see she was still there. Iain and Jez had the trolley on standby ready to go.

"Hey Iain, that's Alicia over there isn't it?" Jez said suddenly, catching site of her moving through the site.

"Yeah, it is." Iain squinted, protecting his eyes from the blinding wintery sun.

"She must be the off duty doctor." Jez said, waving his hand. "Alicia! Alicia, over here!" Jez called. She looked up and broke out into a slow run to make her way over.

"What is it?" She asked urgently.

"We didn't know you were here." Jez smiled.

"Is that it? I thought you needed me." Alicia huffed slightly, shaking her head.

"Nah, we're good, we're waiting to take this girl in next." Jez shrugged. "I think they might need you over there though." Jez pointed as the fire crew waved her over.

"Catch you later?" She said over her shoulder as she left, "I think drinks will be needed."

"Definitely." He grinned and turned back to Sarah who was nearly out. When she was free they scooped her into the waiting ambulance, accompanied by Sam, who was assisting Iain by maintaining firm pressure on a large leg wound, trying to limit blood loss. Sarah had insisted that Sam came with them, and she was becoming less alert and starting to panic more. Sam had also sustained a laceration across her eyebrow and was hiding a sprained wrist along with a few bumps and bruising to her ribs, adrenaline enabling her to continue to treat Sarah.

"Which hospital are we heading to?" Sam asked Iain as they continued to treat Sarah.

"Holby are receiving the main bulk." Iain said, injecting another dose of pain relief into Sarah.

"Right," she nodded, "I suppose we are nearer to them here."

"So, you work at St James'?"

"Yeah, I've been there for a couple of years now."

"I might have seen you in there before?"

"I doubt it, you'd have remembered me." Sam smiled, her eyes shining with humour.

"I suppose I would have." He grinned back.

"You're doing really well, Sarah, we're nearly there." Sam reassured the girl, who was slipping further towards unconsciousness. Sam looked towards Iain with increasing concern. "Her blood loss is too much, if we don't replace it soon she won't make it." Sam added with a whisper.

Soon they were heading through to resus with Sarah on a trolley, Sam maintaining pressure on her leg wound and Iain giving a thorough hand over.

"And who is this?" Connie asked, motioning to Sam.

"Off-duty Nurse from St James', she helped out at the scene."

"Right, well thank you, we've got it from here, you should get yourself booked in to be checked out."

"Oh no, I'm fine really." Sam said, but Connie gave her a look that said it wasn't up for discussion. Sam smiled as Cal took over the pressure on the wound and Connie took control of the situation. She slowly walked back out into the ED, heading towards the external doors.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Iain said as he and Jez wheeled their trolley back out towards the ambulance. "You should get that head wound seen to."

"Oh, this? It's fine." Sam said, wincing slightly as she touched the cut on her forehead.

"No, go on, inside." Iain said, pointing her back towards Noel at the reception desk.

"Ooh, doesn't he get masterful." Jez laughed.

"Shut it." Iain gave him a look as they continued back out to the ambulance.

"Right, we've got the blood running through the rapid infuser, but I think this wound is going to need surgery." Cal said to Connie.

"Let me see." She said, peering over. Cal barely let up the pressure and the wound spurted.

"I think you're right. Keep it packed and I'll phone the vascular surgeons. Keep that blood running and let's try and stabilise her quickly." Connie said as she snatched up the phone in resus. Cal nodded and set to work trying to gain control.

"I think we need to intubate, her GCS is dropping, she's barely responsive now." Cal said looking seriously towards Duffy, who had come in to lend a hand.

"Right, let me get set up for you then I'll take that wound pressure over." Duffy nodded, quickly gathering the equipment for Cal.

"Thanks Duffy." Cal smiled as she took the pressure and he washed his hands in preparation to intubate Sarah. Just as he was completing the procedure, Connie slammed the phone down.

"The on-call consultant is still tied up in the previous case we sent up and may not be out of theatre for another hour. I think I'm going to have to try and suture here, at least to hold it off for a bit."

"I think that sounds like a good idea." Duffy agreed and Cal nodded.

Iain and Jez got back into the ambulance and were sent straight back out to the site to evacuate more casualties. Iain was just approaching the site in the ambulance when there was an almighty boom, as a huge explosion sounded, sending flames into the air and debris soaring across the site. Iain slammed on the ambulance brakes and Jez instinctively ducked for cover, and both sat shell-shocked for just a split second before diving out of the vehicle to assess the situation.

"What's happened? What's going on?" Iain shouted, but the fire officer ushered them away again as his men moved in to douse the flames.

"Stay back until we clear the scene." The fire officer said firmly.

"Iain look!" Jez shouted suddenly, pointing across the road. "I think that's Alicia!" He instinctively started to run towards the figure slumped on the roadside.

"I said wait!" The fire officer shouted but it was too late and Iain sped off after Jez towards the motionless figure. They approached Alicia, Jez reaching her first, trying desperately to rouse her, but it was clear she must have been thrown some distance by the explosion and had been caught in the crossfire of debris. She was in a terrible way. Iain raced back to the ambulance and grabbed the kit, relieved they were far enough from the last of the flames to hopefully be able to get in and save her.

"Alicia, Alicia, it's Jez, can you hear me?" Jez said, listening to see if he could hear her breathing. He could just about make out some ragged breath sounds and a small whimper, but she slipped into a state of unconscious before Iain could get back with the kit.

"Alicia, stay with us, we'll get you in as soon as possible." Jez was saying. Iain and Jez worked quickly and efficiently, loading her into the ambulance to take her back to the ED.