Thank you for all your reviews, follows and favourites! It's been 6 years since I've written anything on this site but I'd forgotten how wonderful it felt to get reviews! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too :) Cassie x

If there was one thing that Ethan had known before he began even his most basic medical training, it was do not panic. Panicking is quite possibly the worst thing you can do in a stressful situation. It was purely common knowledge, right? It made absolute logical sense to not cloud your thoughts with paranoia when you were already in a bad situation.

But Ethan was panicking.

He was in cold, deep water. His face was in blinding pain. Even when he opened his eyes, he could only see the few inches in front of him. He tried kicking his legs furiously, but he wasn't sure if he was swimming up or down. He was nowhere near alert; he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He'd tried to inhale before he'd hit the water, but his nose was in so much pain that he'd involuntarily taken in a huge breath after his face had been enveloped and now he was finding it harder and harder to breathe. He was choking. He could feel his eyelids swelling, and any light he could have been searching for was darkening.

It was safe to say, Ethan was panicking.

The next time Cal looked up, Ethan was gone. It took a couple of seconds for the man's brain to catch up with what he was seeing, until a light shove from the paramedic next to him brought him to the present.

'Dr Knight,' he heard Dixie say, 'how's that leg doing?'

Cal's head snapped towards Dixie, then towards where Ethan had stood, and back. 'Er,' he hesitated, 'yeah, er, there's no pulse here.'

Laura let out a distressed sound and Dixie rolled her eyes. 'Alright, love,' she soothed, before turning to Cal: 'Why don't you say that a little louder? I don't think she heard you,' she said sarcastically.

'Yeah,' Cal replied absently, softly clapping Dixie on the shoulder and standing up, eyes transfixed on the water. Where was Ethan?

'Dr Knight?' Dixie looked up at her colleague. 'Cal, can you come back down please?'

How could he have disappeared? He had only looked away for two seconds. Cal's eyes darted back and forth, searching for a sign of his brother among the emergency personnel, the debris and the equipment.

'Cal?' Dixie jumped to her feet and hovered around him. 'Cal, we need you.'

'Yeah, yeah, okay,' Cal waved her away. Then he strode towards the edge of the vehicle, swung his body over and lowered himself down over the wreckage to the ground. 'Ethan?'

'Cal!' Dixie yelled after him, 'Caleb! Oh, forget it.' She sighed and returned to her position at Laura's head, as sirens announced the arrival of the next ambulance. 'Alright, sweetheart, I've got you.'

Cal was by the side of the canal in a few long, determined strides. As he approached, the man Ethan had been arguing with turned to face him. 'Are you here to help my daughter?' he demanded, though his expression was nowhere near as hard as his tone.

'Where's Ethan?' Cal replied, sparing a glance at the sobbing girl wrapped in blankets. She was breathing, alert and, albeit cold and wet, unscathed. She was staring at the water.

'Who?' the man answered, but his voice hitched in his throat.

'Ethan. Dr Hardy; he was just here. He was treating you and your daughter. Where is he?' Cal pressed, refusing to break eye contact with the man who seemed all too willing to break his.

'I-I don't know who you're talking about,' he said. 'Are you going to help her or not?' The man reached up a shaking hand to wipe his forehead and Cal caught sight of red, split knuckles.

'I need to find Dr Hardy first — what did you do to your hand?' He knew this man had been in an accident, but Cal had been on both the giving and receiving end of enough punches that he could also clock this injury a mile off. 'Did you do something to him?'

'Shouldn't your priority be my daughter?'

'Of course my priorities include your daughter, sir, but her doctor is currently missing and I'm inclined to believe—'

'You're inclined to believe what, Doctor? That I, what,' the man shook his head hurriedly, confrontationally, 'that I punched him? Is that what —?'

'Dad!'

Both Cal and the man's head snapped towards the girl questioningly. She was staring intently at her father, brow furrowed and her face red from crying. She turned her head up to Cal. 'He's in the water.'

All of the medical knowledge that had been flying around Ethan's brain had collided and confused him and he didn't know what to believe anymore. His thoughts were slowing and now he couldn't tell if he was even moving. He vaguely remembered being taught that swimming can cut your survival chances in half because it uses up your energy. Ethan didn't feel like he had much energy to start with.

He had never been someone who gave up. He was a fighter. He was trying to tell himself that but his lungs were giving out and he didn't know how to restart them. The last remnants of Ethan's cynical humour manifested itself as he started to accept what was happening to him: At least I'm not panicking anymore.

Cal's world felt like it came juddering to a halt. In the water. As in… he's helping someone in the water. That must be it. Ethan wouldn't have – he couldn't have…

His eyes swivelled towards the canal and the sheer twelve-foot drop from where he was standing to the deep water below, before his head caught up and he was standing on the canal's edge staring straight down. The water was choppy but the current wasn't strong. There were no flailing arms or legs, no screams for help. Ethan couldn't be…

Cal didn't even stop to assess how dangerous the situation was. He didn't take off his shoes, he didn't remove his extra clothing and he certainly didn't stop to check for steps before he dived straight into the water.

Cal had only watched Titanic once, with an old girlfriend. He hadn't liked it much. He'd thought it was too dramatic and ridiculous, and of course Leo could have fitted on that door as well. But there was one line that had stuck out to him, and that line could not been any more resonant right now. It was something like, 'Water that cold…it hits you like a thousand knives, stabbing you over and over'. That description was absolutely accurate.

He fought through the pain and tried to clear the dirty water in front of him. He turned his head frantically from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of his brother. The water was dark and muggy and each stroke Cal took felt like his arms were pushing through wet sand.

Where was Ethan? Had the girl been lying? Was he even in the water?

A sudden flash of green answered Cal's spinning questions. He tried to grab the collar of his brother's uniform jacket, but he could feel his chest burning and he had to swim up for air. He burst out of the water, took in a huge gulp of air, and dived back under, ignoring the voice calling his name.

When he finally reached his brother again, Cal couldn't help but notice how deathly pale Ethan was, even through the murky water. His eyes were closed and there were no signs of breathing around his face. Cal threw his arm out blindly, clasped a hold of his brother's wrist and pulled him to his body. Keeping an arm round his torso, he began to kick upwards desperately, praying and hoping someone would be there to help him when he finally reached the air.