The Locker Room

"Raf, what happened?" Cara asked after surgery, she saw how he was struggling with a simple procedure.

"Sorry, I've got to go." He tried to end the conversation there and then, but Cara wasn't satisfied with that.

"No, no, no, no! You were really struggling in there. What's going on?"

"Cara, I'm asking you to let it go." He asked politely.

He groaned and immediately regretted it, as it made Cara even more suspicious.

He whimpered as she lifted his shirt to reveal the damage her husband had done.

"Oh, my God!" she stumbled over her own words. "Was this Jed?"

Raf didn't answer and he started to look around the room at anything but Cara. He didn't need to answer because Cara already knew before she even asked and his body language only confirmed her suspicions.

They both knew that a matter like that was to be discussed privately, the last thing they needed was more people involved. That was how they both got into this mess in the first place.

"He's lost it, hasn't he? He's completely lost it." She said as more of a statement than a question as Raf made his way over to his locker as he listened to Cara.

"Oh, I can't do this anymore. I can't allow this," she gestures to Raf "to happen."

He groans once again while opening his locker.

"I have to call his bosses. This has to stop." She says.

"No! No, you can't do that." He responds, clearly in pain while trying to take off his scrub top. "It's gone too far. Ow!" Cara helps his take off his top, so that she could get a better look at his injuries.

"That's exactly why I have to. Look at what he's done." She said looking over the bruises Jed had made.

"No, you were right earlier. You don't know what damage it could do. It's too dangerous." He paused for a moment "I don't want anything to happen to you."

They smile at each other.

Cara was starting to get a bit emotional, but no tears "I can't stand that this has happened to you. I've got to stand away from you." Raf tried to speak at this stage but Cara continued anyway. "I won't ever, ever let this happen to you again, Raf. Don't worry. I'm going to keep far, far away."

"Are you done?" He sarcastically asked. While she gave him a sceptical look, not having a clue what he could possibly have to say. Comments like that were not like Raf, he was fun but never daft and sarcastic especially about this kind of thing.

"I don't want you to do that, Cara. This doesn't have to change anything between us. None of this is your fault. Like Serena said we're a good team." Seeing the doubt in her eyes "Please, Cara, no one knows and no one needs to. This could put you in harm's way and I couldn't live with that."

"Raf, do you know what the worst part about all of this is?" Raf looks slightly confused "My husband, the man who swore to protect me and love me is the one that is hurting me and my friends the most. Look at yourself, Raf. Are you telling me, that no one else is going to notice, the bruises?"

"No, you are the only one with the pleasure of seeing my bare chest" he smirks, but then soon after winces as the pain.

"Keep the ice pack on, this isn't a joke, Raf. You're in pain and if I never went to you for help in the first place, this never would have happened." Cara's voice started to shake as she finished speaking.

"No, no. I won't let you do this to yourself. Jed was upset about me touching you, I think he thinks that you dumped him for me."

"The sooner I get away from him, the better. I'm just surprised most guys Jed beats up, don't get up without help or medical attention. You're a pretty tough guy, I admire you for that."

"And I admire you for picking up on everything I've said except the fact that Jed thinks you have a crush on me. Where would he get that kind of idea?"

"Look, Di Lucca if you want to know something just say it. You don't need to be a tease."

"Do you like me?" he asks slowly, as if he was nervous.

"Of course, I do, you're a great friend."

"You and I both know that, that is not what I mean."

"Look Raf, answering this question isn't easy you know, this will change our friendsh…"

She was interrupted by Raf's lips on her own. It started slow, like Raf was giving her a chance to pull away, if she didn't want it. When he felt her kiss back, things started to get more passionate.

It was like nothing either of them had felt before. They had both been in love before and had their hearts broken. Raf's ex-wife Amy, slept with another colleague (and friend), who got her pregnant, even though she had been trying with Raf for a while before that. Cara's marriage was different. Although Cara was married longer than Raf was before they broke up, it had never really felt like a marriage. To be honest, it was more like an obligation, she had to wait around for Jed and hardly ever saw him. When she did see him, he was undercover and the father of another woman's child. They had both had similar experiences with marriage and had a good understanding about what the other went though.

"I think it's a bit late to think about our friendship, that's already been ruined." He chuckled and groaned in pain. He ignored Cara trying to look after him and just wanted answers. "Now, I've made myself clear about how I feel, do you feel the same or have I lost you altogether?"

Cara smiled and Raf took this as a good sign. She leaned in and kissed him again. This kiss was even more heated than the first because there was no hesitation and it didn't end until they needed to come up for air.

"From the first day I met you, I liked you. It hurt to know that I didn't have a chance because you were already happily married. Well no happily it seems."

"No, losing the handcuffs and being free for once is the best feeling in the world and being with you." She shyly smiled.

"Raf, you got me through this and I don't know how I could ever repay you?" Cara said beaming. "Can I start by taking you for a drink, on me?"

He thought about it for a moment "Actually, I was wondering if I could take you to that nice new Italian up the road."

"Like a date?" she asked wanting to watch him squirm.

"If that's what you want to call it, sure. It's a date."

"All this from me getting a beating off your soon to be ex-husband." He smiled through the pain and received a smile back before they headed back on to the ward.