Xmas Special

Caroline turned around once, then twice, and then raised a hand to her mouth. She had to admit to herself, she did look gorgeous. She picked up the white swathes of material, and hopped off the stool, nearly falling over. This was the dress.

Mac sat on a bench, his head in his hands. The headaches were getting worse and worse, and the medication wasn't helping anymore. It seemed a different sort of pain to before; kind of spasming and widespread, rather than like a knife. Suddenly he leant forwards and keeled over onto the floor.

Martin shuffled slowly into the room. Why had they asked him of all people to do this? There were people that worked with her every day – anyone could identify her. He sat down next to the doctor, who saw his face and placed a caring hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he said quietly.

"Yeah, I… I think so."

"Were you two close?"

Guy sat at home, watching the television; a can of beer in his hand, the other arm stretched over the back of the sofa. The front door opened, and Caroline walked in. He could hear her dropping her keys into the bowl, and taking her coat off. He felt a slight excitement about seeing her again. It seemed that since she had left the hospital, and he couldn't see her every day all the time, it had made the days longer. He couldn't wait until he came home every day to see her.

She walked into the room, and he looked up at her and smiled. She breathed a smile and then sat down on the sofa next to Guy, snuggling up into him. He took his arm off the back of the sofa and wrapped it round her arms, kissing the top of her head.

She looked up at him, and stroked the side of his face with her hand. He leant in slowly, capturing her lips in his. She breathed in sharply and brought her arm round to the back of his head, running her fingers through his hair.

As Martin walked out of the office, he looked through the large window on his way past, and saw them zip up the bag again. He felt a slight pang of loss in his heart, and had to wipe away a small tear as he walked on more briskly.

Mac groggily opened his eyes and raised his hand to his head. He felt a dull pain build slightly as he gained more consciousness.

"Mac?" He recognised that voice, "Mac, I was on my way to the hospital, and I found you. They had to operate, but they have some good news for you."

"Hi Angela, when did you get back?"

"Just now actually. Ran into Holly, she told me what happened, and said her job was free again!"

"Right. Hi then."

Guy deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms closer around Caroline, drawing her into him, savouring every little thing about her. She ran her fingers through his hair, and snuggled tighter into him. She turned around slightly so that she was fully facing him, and then leant over, so that he was lying on the sofa. She could feel Guy smiling slightly as he kissed her. She slowly ran her hands from his hair to his face, and then to his chest. She traced his muscles slightly, and then proceeded to undo the buttons of his shirt slightly. Guy ran his hands up Caroline's back and then round her waist, then copying her movements. Guy had to sit up slightly for her to pull his shirt off, and she then proceeded to clumsily throw her own top off. Guy then looked into her eyes for a split-second, enough to relish that look on her face just for a moment, before running his arm down her back and laying her gently on the sofa. She pulled him into her, kissing him with renewed passion, simply wanting to feel his skin against her own.

The office man walked towards the photocopier, to load it with more pieces of paper. As he was doing this, he heard a moaning coming from the office. This was punctuated by slight screams – he recognised these as Rachel's. He leant back slightly to see Kim and Rachel close together. They were holding hands, linking the ends of their fingertips so that they formed an S-shape, one hand on top of the other. They appeared to be digging their fingernails into each others' hands. Occasionally, they would clench their teeth or look away, until finally Rachel screamed "Mercy!"

Martin sat in the pub, a half pint of Guinness in his hand. He was turning the glass around on the table, staring at it as he did so. He looked at the seat next to him, and felt a strange awareness of the empty space that Karen had once filled.