Hello everyone! Happy Casualty day! Cal finally meets his birth mother tonight *GULP*. Can't wait for more of his storyline the winter trailer features a lot of Cal, it's about time he had a big storyline! Anyways, here's the next chapter we learn more about Cal's new family and his time spent in Australia. Thanks for the reviews so far and the suggestions for Lockie's bucket list, I've managed to get a few listed in this chapter from PMs and reviews I got but if anyone else has anymore suggestions let me know and I'll get them in. I hope you enjoy this chapter, please let me know your thoughts as always, thanks, Kayxxx :)


Home for the holidays – Chapter seven

The pantomime had ended and the three of them head home. Lachlan had not stopped babbling on about the performance since the second the curtain fell down, Ethan was just happy he'd had some contribution to the young boy's bucket list and Cal found the entire thing extremely hard to sit through having only a few hours sleep, jetlag and a pretty bad hangover that he couldn't even moan about because Lachlan was still under the impression that Cal hadn't touched a drink in his life. The second they got home Cal passed out on the couch whilst Ethan and Lachlan started up a new game of Chess, Ethan had been secretly practising and researching ways he could beat the ten year old who had won every game they had played so far.

"Peter Pan was so amazing! Thank you Ethan! Did you see the part when he flew?!" Lachlan asked excitedly.

"Didn't he fly the entirety of the performance?" Ethan asked with a smirk as he moved one of his chess pieces.

"Yeah but it was awesome!" Lachlan replied as he examined the chess board, "And the girl who played Tinkerbell was hot, I definitely believed in fairies" he grinned cheekily and moved another chess piece.

"And you defiantly take after Cal" Ethan joked.

"You've got to admit she was hot" Lockie pushed.

For a split second Ethan looked as though he was going to give straight answer before he replied with, "...look let's change the subject" and moved his next chess piece.

"You agree" Lockie replied knowingly.

"Lockie!" Ethan snapped.

"Okay sorry, I can't believe Cal kept falling asleep" Lockie huffed and looked over his shoulder at his sleeping older brother on the couch.

"Well, he didn't sleep much last night, plus his body is still getting used to the time zones, anyway it gives us a chance to get to know each other better...well you know practically everything about me but I don't know very much about you" Ethan started.

"What do you want to know?" Lockie asked with a smile.

Ethan thought for a moment, "Start with your family" he suggested.

"Okay, I live with my mum and dad and older brother" Lockie told him as he moved another piece.

"Cal" Ethan said knowingly.

"No Cal has his own apartment but he's been staying over for the last two months to be with me" Lockie explained.

"Oh right so you've got another brother?" Ethan asked, Cal had already mentioned this brother was staying in a hotel in Holby with his parents, but Lockie didn't know this so Ethan kept up his unknowing ways.

"Yep and a sister called Victoria or Vicky, but she moved to London for university a few years ago, she's 22 now. She always comes to visit though" Lockie told him; swinging his legs from the stool that was way too tall for the small boy.

"Wow so it's a big family" Ethan replied surprised, he didn't know about their sister, Ethan was used to his small family; he only had Cal and his mum growing up and now he had neither he almost couldn't imagine having three siblings and two loving parents.

"Yeah, I'm the baby" Lockie replied with a roll of his eyes.

"So who's this brother then?" Ethan asked continuing the conversation.

"Ruben, but you can't call him Ruben he'll beat the crap out of you, it's Rube. He's 18 and a complete idiot, he's always going out and getting drunk, and he smokes, he always argues with mum and dad and then disappears for days. He hates everything, mum, dad, me, life...but more than anything in the entire world he hates Cal. He came home drunk once and had a fight with him, mum was crying so was I, dad kicked Rube out after that and there was blood everywhere, both of them had to go to the hospital to get stitches, he's just an idiot. He wasn't always like that though, before I got sick he was my best friend, I'm not sure why he changed"

"Who started the fight between them?" Ethan asked in dread knowing full well what Cal is like.

"Rube did of course, he's always causing fights" Lachlan replied easily.

Ethan couldn't help but be surprised, "What happened?" he asked.

"Me and Cal were watching Peter Pan one night in the living room with mum and dad and then Rube wondered in drunk, dad started shouting at him because he had college the next morning and then Rube started having a go at mum so Cal jumped in and told him to go to bed before he makes it worse and then he just jumped at Cal, but it was a fair fight. Rube is so strong he could beat the crap out of anyone, he's been doing boxing since he was like ten so he thinks he's better than everyone so Cal had to fight back, at first Cal was just trying to push him back because he didn't really want to hit him; he's his brother and mum was there but Rube wouldn't give in, he punched him right in the nose and busted it so Cal hit him back once, and Rube just hit the floor but then dad dragged him back up again and threw him out, I'd never seen Rube cry before that...Cal drove around for a bit later and found him walking around the streets, he picked him up and took him to hospital to get stitches, Rube got stitches in his lip where Cal hit him and the back of his head where he hit floor, Cal had to get stitches in his fist and he had these things in his nose to stop it bleeding they looked like tampons he sent a selfie to mum when he was in A&E" Lockie laughed as he thought back.

Ethan sighed at Cal's immaturity and continued, "Why does he hate Cal so much?" he asked.

"I don't know, he always says he'll never be a brother to him" Lockie shrugged.

"Maybe Rube feels a bit pushed aside because all the attention has been on you lately because you're poorly, maybe he feels like he's been replaced by Cal" Ethan suggested, he knew the feeling of being replaced well...

"I'd rather he got all the attention" Lockie admitted and moved another piece on the board.

"So what about Cal? Does he work?" Ethan asked examining where to make his next move.

"Cal's always busy working he works in the hospital like he used to here, he works a lot and gives mum money, she gave up working to look after me. Dad still works though, we used to have so much money, our house has a pool and everything but then mum stopped working we can't afford much anymore, Cal helps as much as he can though" Lachlan told him, "It's my fault we don't have enough money" he mumbled as held his head down.

"Don't be silly Lockie; you can't help it if you're sick now can you?" Ethan smiled reassuringly, "Cal not having a girlfriend, that one really shocked me" he announced changing the subject.

"He did for a bit, when he first came over he fell in love with one of his patients, actually, she was the first patient he ever treated. Her name was Kylie and she was really nice, and pretty, but she was poorly like me, he tried as hard as he could but Cal couldn't fix her and she died...we didn't hear from Cal for a whole month after that, we thought he'd gone back to England but then when I was really ill I had to go to hospital again and he saw me when he was in work and we got closer than ever, now he's my best friend in the world" Lockie smiled.

"...His girlfriend died?" Ethan muttered, surely he had heard that wrong?

"Yeah, she collapsed at their apartment so he took her to hospital but he wouldn't let anyone else treat her. Her heart stopped beating and he started to resuscitate her but her heart didn't beat again...he blames himself because he was treating her when she died, he came home and just cried for hours to mum, it was scary because it was the first time I'd seen Cal cry..." Lockie's voice trailed off.

"...Wow" Ethan whispered. The sudden realisation that Cal's life has been extremely far from easy suddenly hitting him...

"But he's okay now though" Lockie reassured him seeing the etched look of worry on his face.

"Is he?" Ethan thought to himself, "good" he smiled.

"Hmm what else is there? Oh! My mum was a nurse before she left work and my dad is a lawyer, Vicky is studying science in university and Rube goes to college and he plays guitar and sings when he's not fighting with people" he laughed.

"Is he any good?" Ethan asked as he made another move.

"He's great! But no one listens to him anymore, his band mates kicked him out because he would always be drunk, he busks in town and down by the beach sometimes, all the girls love him, I used to want to be like him but now I want to be like Caleb" Lockie told him.

Ethan could finally see how Cal says Lachlan is like him as he could defiantly see how Cal was like Rube after just hearing a few slight things about him, he couldn't help but feel sorry for both Cal and Rube after what Lockie had just told him.

"Hey, why don't we tick off Peter Pan on your bucket list?" Ethan suggested.

"Okay!" Lockie called excitedly and ran to get it straight away from his room.

He placed a ragged and crumpled piece of paper on the table covered in childlike handwriting and doodles. It brought a tear to Ethan's eye; he had to look away.

"Tick" Lockie grinned as he did so.

"Can I have a Lockie?" Ethan asked sheepishly.

"Of course! This is only one page though there's another in my bag" Lachlan told him and handed over his bucket list.

Ethan held it carefully in his hands and read each word on the page; he decided to focus on the top few as they were obviously the ones which were closest to the boy's heart. Ethan felt his heart shatter when he saw "Meet Ethan (my English brother)" right at the top as his number one.

"Oh Lockie" he sighed sadly as he continued to read the completely selfless things the boy had come up with...

"1. Meet Ethan (my English brother) - DONE!
2. See Peter Pan - DONE!
3. Raise money for
lukemia Leukaemia.
4. See real snow – DONE!
5. Make a real snowman.
6. Have a real Christmas (decorate a tree).
7. Find someone who can beat me at chess.
8. Make Rube happy.
9. Make mum and dad happy.
10. Make Caleb happy.
11. Go to England – DONE!
12. Try real fish and chips
13. See a shooting star.
14. Get drunk (just to see what all the fuss is about).
15. Get better KICK CANCER'S BUTT!
16. Write letters to everyone in case I don't.
17. Come back as a ghost and haunt Rube to annoy him.
18. Build a den.
19. Be a grown up.
20. Make my mum proud.
21. Sneak out of hospital to have fun – DONE!
22. Get Cal a new girlfriend.
23. Break a bone – DONE!
24. Sit out in the rain without needing my big jumper, hat, scarf and coat.
25. Make a video every day until I die.
26. Show people that you shouldn't be scared of cancer (even though it can be really really scary sometimes).
27. Get a pet snake.
28. Spend more time with dad – DONE!
29. Tell everyone I love them.
30. Give loads of hugs! – DONE!
31. Smile more.
32. Not cry as much.
33. Get a girlfriend
34. Not be forgotten (make an impact).
35. Stay up all night watching movies.
36. Make Rube feel important.
37. HAVE THE BEST LIFE EVER!
38. Go back to school.
39. Go to university.
40. Get Ethan and Honey back together."

Ethan wiped the tears from his eyes and then had to double take when he read number forty, "Does that say get me and Honey back together?" Ethan asked with a sniff.

"Yep" Lockie smiled, "Cal has told me loads about you and her, I want you to be happy" he explained.

"Lachlan that's really thoughtful but I am happy. When Honey and I broke up we both agreed it would be for the best, we had nothing in common at all" Ethan explained.

"But-" Ethan cut him off.

"Anyway, she's moved back to Manchester now and I think she's got a new boyfriend" he told him.

"Oh..." Lockie sighed disappointedly and put a cross through number forty on his bucket list.

"But I know at least...five that I can help make happen tonight" Ethan told him as he took another look at the list, this time with dry eyes.

"What? Really?!" Lockie asked excitedly.

"Yeah, right we're going to put up the tree, build a den, eat fish and chips and then stay up all night watching movies" Ethan planned.

"Are you being serious?!" Lachlan asked amazed.

Ethan pulled out his phone, pressed a few buttons and held it to his ear, "Hello, can I place an order for a delivery please? Can I have three portions of your finest fish and chips? Great! Thank you!" he put the phone down.

"Wooo fish and chips!" Lockie cheered and looked down at his bucket list again, "wait...you said we can do five things tonight, you only listed four?" he asked confused.

"Oh really?" Ethan asked acting as if he didn't know, "right looks like I'll have to do this then" he stated.

"Do what?" Lockie asked confused.

Ethan moved one more piece on the board and looked back up at Lockie, "Checkmate." he smiled proudly.

"What?!" Lachlan asked in amazement and examined the board.

"I believe that is number seven ticked off" Ethan grinned, "Now, let's get started on the other four" he announced.

"Let's do it!" Lockie cheered and ticked off number seven on his bucket list.