LittleBritishPerson, I'm so relieved it's exciting - it's surprisingly difficult working from an episode and describing what's on the screen! I've used episodes before, but never as much as this. Thank you for your review.

GlitterGirl12, don't worry - I did post the chapter very late! I'm so glad you love it. I hope you'll like this chapter too. I reviewed the first few chapters of your story last night - I hope you got them as some people are having trouble with reviews at the moment. Thank you for your review.

Tato Potato, I'd actually forgotten about Cal's reckless side - there was so much else to think about - so I'm glad this has still come across! Thank you for your review - I'm so happy you're enjoying it. I hope you post more of your stories soon - I miss them.

CasualtyFan26, thank you for your review - it's really kind of you to say that and I'm so happy you're enjoying it. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

tracys dream, thank you for your review - I really appreciate your kind words and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Thank you tracys dream and xEmmaPevensieDragonx for the follows.

Cal heard Hester sobbing in the front seat. He spoke determinedly to Evie. "No, you are alive and kicking and you are coming right to the hospital with me."

"No!" said Evie.

"Yes, you are," said Cal.

"It's over, Hester. I'm done," murmured Evie, her words almost inaudible.

Cal realised she could be losing consciousness. Either that or she was giving up. Both could be dangerous, but she wasn't going to do either if he had anything to do it.

This time, he would do his job. This time, he would help her. Save her. Give her the extra time with Hester she wanted so much.

"Evie? Evie! Look at me. Focus!" Cal gently turned her head towards him. "Right. There we go." As her eyes met his, he softened his voice and tried a comforting smile. "You are not dead, dying or done. Your aneurysm hasn't ruptured yet." He smiled again and heard her laugh softly. "It can't have done. You'd be dead by now if it had."

Evie laughed some more. "You used my name…"

"It was the only way to get you to listen," said Cal.

"My pain…"

"The aneurysm's probably leaking," said Cal. He said the words calmly. He didn't want her to panic, for her own sake or his. It would make rescuing her even more difficult and he had to rescue her. He hadn't been able to save Katya and he so badly wanted to put right what he'd done wrong.

He glanced through the window and shock ran through him. The other car had caught light. It was only a short distance away and Cal knew the flames would spread quickly.

He kept his voice calm. "We need to get you out of here."

At that moment came the sound of sirens. Cal felt relief, but he knew he couldn't afford to wait for the emergency services. There was no time.

He returned to the front of the car and addressed Hester. "Okay. Can you move?"

"No, I think my leg is broken," said Hester, who was clearly in serious pain.

"Right," said Cal, feeling panic rising but quickly squashing it. They would both need help getting out of the car – but he could do it, he told himself. He could save them both and he would.

Hester heard the sirens and turned. A gasp escaped her lips and Cal knew she'd seen the flames, rising higher and higher.

The ambulance was almost there. But not close enough.

"We need to get you out of here right now," said Cal.

Hester cried aloud in pain.

"Let's go," said Cal, and reached for her seatbelt.

A voice sounded from behind Cal. "Come on, mate. Let's get you out of here."

"No, no, it's fine," said Cal urgently as he struggled with Hester's seatbelt.

The voice came again: he realised it was Iain's. "Come on: this thing could go up any moment!"

"No, wait!" said Cal, but he found himself roughly seized from behind and lifted out of the car. It was then that he panicked and began to struggle: the ambulance people needed him to help and if one was holding him, they were two medics down. He was aware that Dixie was trying to help Hester and Evie, but Cal had all the information. He could tell them what was wrong, but he needed Iain to let him go. "Iain, Iain, Iain, Iain, Iain, it's me!"

"Cal?" said Iain. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," said Cal, a bit uncertainly, aware he wasn't really all right, but that would have to wait. He put more conviction into his voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

They both looked over as Dixie's voice rose. Cal guessed she was trying to speak to Evie: she must have lost consciousness. Cal started to move again, but Iain held him back. "Wait! Dix?"

Dixie removed her head from the car and looked across at them. Her face changed. "Cal?"

Finally, Cal managed to pull away from Iain.

Dixie looked upset when she saw the state of him. It was always horrible when it was someone you knew. "What's going on, bud?"

Cal raced over to the car. "We've got a potential leaking aneurysm in the back and the seatbelt is stuck in the front." He bent over the seatbelt again, starting to cut through it with a strong pair of scissors from his bag.

"Right: we need to get them out of here sharpish," said Dixie.

"Yeah," agreed Cal.

Iain shouted to them from outside the car as another ambulance pulled up. "There's no more time. We need to go now."

"Nearly there; nearly there," said Cal. He forced himself to keep calm; to keep cutting; keep praying his hands wouldn't start to tremor when he really needed them to be steady.

"Cal, we need to get a move on!" shouted Iain.

Finally, the seatbeat gave way. "I got it: let's go, go, go."

Iain ran round to grab Hester, who cried out in pain.

Cal realised he'd forgotten to give the full details of Hester's condition (forgetting: that was a symptom of Huntington's), but there was no time to berate himself. He shouted to Dixie: "Steady: we've got a query fractured right tib and fib, all right?"

Everyone was shouting at once now. Dixie and Iain got Hester out between them and half-carried her out of the car and away. Hester screamed for her partner.

Cal crawled back into the car. "Right."

Evie moaned in pain. Hester screamed her name again.

"It's okay," said Cal, and his voice was almost calm even though it wasn't all right and there was no guarantee it would be. "Right: let's try and sit you up."

He could hear Dixie and Iain telling him to get out. Cal knew the flames were high; he knew they would soon reach the car and the petrol pooled around it, but he couldn't leave Evie now. He'd already let her down once – and he knew something of what Hester would feel if she lost her. He knew what it was like to lose someone you loved.

"Look at me. Look at me," Cal told Evie. He needed to calm her. He caught Evie's face in his hands. "Look at me. Look at me. Look!" Once he'd got her attention, his voice became soft; reassuring. "We're going to get you out of here, okay? Yeah? Stay with me. Whatever you do, look at me."

"Yes," said Evie.

"Nice and calm. Stay with me." Cal started to move back slightly, though he didn't let go of her.

"I am," said Evie softly.

"That's good," said Cal.

"Yes. Yes."

Cal supported her in his arms and started to climb backwards out of the car as he helped Evie. "All right. That's it. One more." He realised with relief that Dixie was beside him. "Stay with me."

Then he heard Iain's voice. "I need you to sit here for me, please."

"There we go. We've done it," said Cal. He helped her to sit on Iain's stretcher. "Here we go."

"Now I'm going to swing your legs around," said Iain.

"Good girl. Nearly there. Nearly there," said Dixie.

Cal knew the flames were nearly there too.

Dixie was shouting. "Just go, go go!"

Iain and Dixie wheeled Evie away, but Cal knew it wasn't over yet. It couldn't be.

What if Katya was still in that car? What if…

The boot. She could be in the boot.

It was a long shot. He thought it was more likely her pimp would lead him away from Katya rather than lead Cal to wherever he was taking her, but if there was even a chance Katya was in there…

Cal ran towards it. The quickest way was past Hester and Evie's car, but he had to take the quickest way. If Katya was going to have any chance at all…

He heard an explosion. He felt himself flying through the air.

He felt nothing.

Dixie heard the explosion and spun round, but she couldn't see Cal.

At first she only saw flames, leaping into in the air. The remains of Hester and Evie's car.

Not again. Please God, not again! You can't make Ethan go through what I went through!

Then she saw him, lying sprawled on the ground. His legs were splayed unnaturally wide; his back and neck twisted. He wasn't moving.

Dixie heard Iain loading the stretcher into the ambulance. She heard explosions around her. Terror began to build up inside her. She couldn't go through this again. She couldn't.

And then she was moving; running to Cal's side and calling his name. "Cal! Cal!" She threw herself to the ground beside him. "Cal. Cal, sweetheart, talk to me." She put one hand on his shoulder and bent close to him, listening for his breathing; watching for the rise and fall of his chest. "Cal? Cal!"

He wasn't breathing.

Dixie felt the heat of the flames on her back. She opened her mouth to call for Iain, but her vocal cords were frozen. She tried to turn back to Cal so she could roll him onto his back and open his airway; give what artificial respiration she could before Iain arrived to help her, but she found she couldn't move at all.

It was happening again and she couldn't stop it. They would lose a fine young doctor who had been so brave. If he hadn't been here; hadn't been able to assess the situation, it would have taken them longer to get Hester and Evie out of the car. They probably wouldn't have had the time to save both of them. Perhaps even both of them might have been lost.

Now they could lose Cal.

Now they would lose Cal, all because Dixie had frozen and couldn't move. This was her job: the job she'd loved; the job she'd done for years and done well, but now, when it mattered to her personally as well as professionally; when it mattered to so many of the people she cared about, she could do nothing.

She was letting him down. Letting all of them down.

Letting Jeff down too because he wouldn't have done this. He would have saved Cal. He'd have carried Cal out of danger while she just sat here.

"Dixie!" Iain was there, bending down beside her. "Dixie, we've got to get him out of here… Dixie!" He shook her shoulders hard. "Dixie, look at me. You've got to look at me."

Her gaze was frozen. She saw Iain's face as he wavered between her and Cal. The young man should take precedence over the older woman; she knew that. At this point she didn't care. She had nothing left but her job, and if she couldn't do that, she didn't care that her life was in danger.