westlife4ever4, thank you for your review - I'm so glad you're enjoying this so far. I'm afraid you're not in this chapter either, but you are in various people's thoughts.

Tanith Panic, and you've ensured I won't spend my money on a Val McDermid... it's never a bad idea to spend less money! You'll have to wait and see which doctor Angela likes best. I think she's already decided! Thank you for your review.

X-Sammii-X, I think Ethan is quite enjoying the sibling rivalry for once! I didn't mean for Cal to seem like a stalker. There's no guarantee if meeting her unless he seeks her out. Dylan definitely loves his Dervla best! For now, at least. Thank you for your review.

Guest, thank you for your review - I'm so glad you like this, even though there's no Lofty. I'm not sure it would enter Cal's head to back off and let Dylan have a chance with Angela, but maybe Ethan can keep him under control! Thank you for your review.

LoveFiction2016, thank you for your review - I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Thank you to Gingersnaps2507 for the follow.

Dylan knew who it was at once. Only one person of his acquaintance would be out at such a ridiculous time.

The only surprise was that she hadn't phoned him first.

Dylan sighed and got out of bed with Dervla at his heels. He opened the door of the houseboat and looked critically at a tearful and intoxicated Zoe. "The last time you showed up on my boat in this state, it exploded."

"I wasn't drunk then," said Zoe. She was definitely drunk now. She was slurring her words and using the houseboat to prop herself upright. "I'm not really very drunk now." She gave a sob. "I tried to call you, but your phone was switched off! Unless I called your old phone again."

Dylan had to admit that either was possible. "Come in. I'll make tea, shall I? Then I suppose you'd better tell me what's wrong."

"Thanks, Dylan." Zoe tripped over the step and Dylan steadied her. "Sorry. Stupid shoes!"

Dylan knew she must be very upset if she was saying things like that. "Sit down and don't move unless you're going to vomit, in which case I recommend moving very quickly to the bathroom."

"I don't need to. I did it outside," said Zoe. "Not right outside. Kind of to the left."

"Thank you for that piece of information," said Dylan. He went to the kitchen and switched the kettle on. "What happened?"

"Max!" wailed Zoe.

"Ah." Dylan had guessed Zoe's husband might be something to do with it. He waited for Zoe to continue, but she didn't. "Are you going to give me any more details? Or are you going to leave me to imagine them?"

Zoe slumped in an armchair. "He was kissing a girl! Not just kissing. Really kissing. She was pushing herself right up against him and she had one leg wrapped around his waist and his hands were-"

"I don't think I need any more detail than that," said Dylan. "Just tell me what you did and we'll go from there."

"What do you think I did?" said Zoe. "I grabbed hold of her and told her to keep her dirty paws off my husband!"

Dylan wasn't shocked. He knew Zoe well and would have been more surprised if she'd gone off and left them to it. "And how did Max take this?"

"I think he was a bit shocked," said Zoe, sniffling. "But she had the cheek to ask if I actually meant my son. Can you believe it? I'm not anything like old enough to be Max's mum and I don't look it either."

Dylan poured boiling water into two mugs.

"Do I, Dylan?"

"Do you what?"

"Do I look old enough to be Max's mum?"

"No, of course you don't," said Dylan, with only half his attention. "Nothing like. What happened next?"

"Well, you might have said it with a bit more conviction!" snapped Zoe.

Dylan turned to find her lying lengthways across the armchair with her head hanging down and her arms brushing the floor. "Zoe. You don't look anything like old enough to be Max's mother. Now sit up properly and I'll give you your tea."

"Forget me being Max's mother. You're starting to sound like mine," said Zoe.

Dylan averted his eyes as she wriggled round into a more conventional sitting pattern, then he handed her her tea. "What happened next?"

"Where was I?" said Zoe.

"The girl made an inappropriate comment about your age."

"I slapped her," said Zoe, looking slightly more cheerful. "Max grabbed my arm and took me outside. I was quite happy with that, but I still pulled away from him and I asked what he thought he was doing. You can't just let a man drag you around like that even if you do like it. Can you?"

"It's certainly not something I'd allow to happen," said Dylan.

Zoe's smile faded. "Then Max told me to mind my own business and I'd forfeited any right to object on my hen night and then he went back into the pub!"

Dylan decided not to mention that Max had a point. He watched, trying to hide his sympathy as Zoe started to cry again. "Is there anything you'd like me to do?"

"Let me stay here for the night?" pleaded Zoe.

"Of course," said Dylan. "I'm not about to let you go anywhere alone in that state and if you thought I'd be willing to leave my nice warm boat to take you home, you'd be sadly mistaken."

"Why do I always do this?" wailed Zoe.

Dylan sighed and sat in the armchair near her. He hesitated before moving it slightly closer to hers. "Why do any of us keep making the same mistakes over and over?" He put an awkward hand on her shoulder and sat silently until Zoe had stopped crying. "Feel better now?"

"Actually, yeah," said Zoe. "You should try it some time."

"Perhaps I will, in my next lifetime," said Dylan.

Zoe sighed. "I'm tired, Dylan."

"You can sleep in my bed if you like," said Dylan.

Zoe's eyes widened. "What? Seriously?"

"Seriously," said Dylan. He took the cup from her. "Of course, it goes without saying that if you sleep there, I won't."

"Oh, Dylan. What would I do without you?"

"I really wouldn't like to think," said Dylan.

Dylan was woken the next day by someone screaming.

It was very muffled screaming, but it was enough to get Dylan out of bed and send him running into his bedroom.

Zoe was screaming into the bedclothes, but the stopped and rolled over when she heard Dylan. "Oh, Dylan. I did it again, didn't I?"

"Even without knowing quite what you mean, I'm inclined to say yes," said Dylan.

"Got drunk again; went after Max again; left you a drunk voicemail again; expected you to clear up my mess again; woke up in another man's bed ag… actually, scrap the last part. Just the drink, Max, voicemails and mess. It keeps on happening. I keep telling myself 'never again', but I don't listen to myself, Dylan."

Dylan shrugged. "We've all done it."

Zoe's eyes widened. "Have you? You never told me that!"

"Well, only the first one," admitted Dylan. "And that wasn't very recently and only because you spiked my drink."

"Dylan, you have absolutely no proof that I spiked your drink," said Zoe. "I have no memory whatsoever of spiking your drink or even thinking about it."

"Yes, well, that clears the matter up entirely," said Dylan.

Zoe groaned. "What's wrong with me, Dylan? I need my head examined." Zoe massaged her forehead. "You might as well refer me to the psych ward and have done with it."

Dylan was surprised to find he wasn't completely against that idea. "I think they're very nice on the psych ward."

Zoe took her hand away from her face and stared at him. "Did you really just say that?"

Dylan had a horrible feeling that he had.

"So basically, you agree I need a psych referral?" said Zoe. "Thanks a lot, Dylan."

"No, I didn't exactly mean..." Dylan stopped. "But perhaps it would help you to talk to someone."

Zoe laughed "Do you even know anyone on the psych ward? Name one person who's on the psych ward."

Dylan knew she was referring to a certain difficulty he sometimes had with remembering names. He wavered between not mentioning Angela and proving Zoe wrong. The second instinct won. "Angela."

Zoe pointed at him, a triumphant look on her face. "I knew it! I knew you'd get her name wrong. It's Andrea, not Angela."

"No, it isn't," said Dylan irritably. "Perhaps there's an Andrea too. I wouldn't know. But there's definitely an Angela. I've met her."

"Like to tell me more?" said Zoe, a curious look on her face. She sat up, then immediately thought better of it. "Why don't you tell me more after you've done something about my head?"

Dylan was more than happy with that idea. "How does a glass of water, a cup of strong coffee and some toast sound?"

"Like a dream come true," admitted Zoe. "Except that my dreams sometimes have Max in too. No. I didn't say that."

Dylan turned to leave the bedroom. "I think you did."

Last night hadn't exactly been the best night of Cal's life. He'd planned to spend it with Angela, but instead, he'd spent it with Ethan.

Ethan had actually been very kind and he'd done everything he could for Cal's fictional headache. At first, Cal had thought Ethan was toying with him and the stress of waiting for Ethan to drop the act and hit him with the lecture almost caused Cal to develop a headache for real, but Ethan had remained calm and supportive.

If he had seemed a bit more cheerful than Cal would have expected, perhaps he'd simply had a very good day.

This morning had been the same. Ethan had made Cal breakfast and let him lie in for just the right amount of time, giving Cal as much sleep as he could whilst leaving him ample time to get ready for work. When Cal had got out of the shower, breakfast had been waiting on the table for him, along with a glass of water and some paracetamol: "Just in case you're still feeling rotten."

Cal had felt almost guilty then. He usually enjoyed pulling the wool over Ethan's eyes (on the rare occasions when he managed it), but they'd been closer recently and Cal didn't much like the idea of deceiving him.

But now they were at the ED and as Cal got closer to Angela, the guilt became a distant memory. "I think I'll just have a quick walk before my shift," he said as casually as he could.

Ethan looked concerned. "Is your head bad again? Maybe you should have stayed at home."

"No, it's fine," said Cal. "But you know what it's like being cooped up in there all day. I thought getting some fresh air before my shift might help."

Ethan looked at him with just a hint of suspicion, but then he smiled and checked his watch. "That's a good idea actually, Cal. I'll walk with you if you don't mind. I think it would do us both some good."