Chapter Twenty One

Ethan had just finished the last book in the Hunger Games series. It was Lily's favourite book series of all time. She'd leant all three books to him ages ago but he'd only just finished them and thought that it was time to give them back. She was probably so bored being back in hospital and a good book was just what she needed. Even if she had read The Hunger Games tonnes of times before.

"Ethan!" Alicia called and hurried after the young registrar. "Hi. Um...Mrs Beauchamp wants me to shadow you today if that's okay."

"I'm actually on my break at the moment," Ethan said.

"Oh." Alicia nodded and peered over his shoulder. "Ah, The Hunger Games. Such a great read. What did you think?"

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Yeah. They...They were good. I enjoyed them."

"Totally. So where are you off to anyway?" Alicia curiously asked him.

"I'm going to visit Lily," Ethan whispered and rubbed at the back of his neck, as he headed up the stairs towards the ward that Lily was on. "Do you have to follow me?" He asked Alicia, sighing.

"Maybe I could visit Lily as well," Alicia said. "If I'm taking her place, I might as well introduce myself to her."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Ethan said. "And let's get this straight, you haven't replaced Lily. She's still a junior doctor in the ED and she always will be. She's not well at the moment Alicia, so it's probably best not to go in there with that huge, beaming smile that you have right now."

"What do you mean?" Alicia frowned at her in confusion.

"Our colleague is seriously sick and she could die," Ethan said. "And you're strolling around this department, all jolly and happy."

"I'm sorry," Alicia apologised, giving him a small shrug of the shoulders. "I'm sorry. I...I don't know Lily, though, do I?"

"But we do," Ethan snapped. "So maybe it's about time that you realise that."

The two of them reached Lily's private room in silence. Ethan stopped outside and squirted the gel onto his hands, before rubbing them together and encouraging Alicia to do the same.

"She's open to infections," Ethan said.

Ethan shoved the door open with his arm and the two of them made their way inside. Lily looked so weak, she was lying on her side with the stuffed bear clutched to her chest. Flowers and cards surrounded her and it reminded Ethan of the time when she was first diagnosed, only down she'd gone completely downhill. An empty tray sat on the chair beside her bed, indicating signs that she had at least managed something to eat.

"Lils," Ethan whispered and stroked her hair. "Hey."

Lily smiled and groaned, wincing in pain as she rolled over. She spotted Ethan and then spotted Alicia soon after.

"Who's that?" She asked, gesturing to the new doctor.

"This is Alicia Munroe," Ethan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "She followed me in. She's um...The new junior doctor. You'll be working alongside her, once you're feeling better."

Lily smiled weakly at him, knowing that that might not ever happen and even if it did it wouldn't be for a long time. She wasn't quite sure what to make of Alicia. She was very slim and she had dyed the tips of her hair pink. She was grinning from ear to ear as well, because she wasn't the one who was slowly dying in a hospital bed. She hated that.

"It's nice to see you, Miss Chao," Alicia said. "I um...I hope you're...You're okay."

Alicia didn't know what else to say but clearly by Ethan's facial expression, that had been the wrong thing.

"I brought these back for you," Ethan said, handing the books out to her. "I thought you might want them."

"What did you think?" A smile suddenly appeared on Lily's face.

"I loved them," Ethan replied. "They were actually amazing, one of the best things I've ever read. I can't believe that Prim died, though. Why did they do that to us?"

"I told you that there was a sad scene at the end of the third book," Lily laughed. "And you wouldn't believe me. Next stop is the films, the films are good but the books are so much better."

"The films would be good," Ethan said. "Jennifer Lawrence is in those and I love her."

"Fancy her more like?" Lily joked, laughing and nudging Ethan's arm. "Thanks for bringing these back though, and I'm glad that you enjoyed them."

Alicia shifted awkwardly on the spot, seeing how different Ethan was with Lily. She obviously didn't fit in and she wasn't wanted there. She was going to make an excuse to leave but instead, decided to leave in total silence.

"So everyone is going bowling tonight," Ethan sighed, crossing his arms over the railing of Lily's bed.

"Really?" Lily's smile faded. "Good for them, I guess."

"I'm not going," Ethan told her. "I told Mrs Beauchamp that I would stay here with you. It doesn't seem right, to go out and have fun whilst you're stuck in here."

"You didn't have to," Lily said.

"Well, I want to," Ethan said and gave her hair another stroke. "So it looks as if you're stuck with me."

"Okay, everyone," Zoe called, ushering everybody towards lane two and three. "So I thought that we can have a bit of fun. We can either do boys versus girls or doctor's versus nurses."

There was a mixture of muffled voices, as everyone removed their coats. Zoe sighed and Connie went to stand beside her, as they noticed how miserable their staff actually looked.

"Come on everyone," Charlie sighed and clapped his hands together. "This is supposed to be fun. Time away from work, hmm?"

"How can we actually have fun when Lily couldn't even join us?" Robyn asked. "It doesn't seem fair."

"Ethan is taking care of Lily," Connie said. "Come on, this is supposed to be for you guys."

"Hey. I'll go first, yeah?" Alicia offered and skipped up to the lane, reaching for one of the lighter balls on the rack.

"Can someone please shut her up?" Louise snapped, placing her head in her hands. "Why is she always so chirpy? It isn't really appropriate in these kind of situations, is it?"

Alicia sighed heavily, looking around at the solemn faces. She glanced over at Connie, Zoe and Charlie and gently set the ball down.

"I'm going to go and get a drink," she said, and headed off to the bar.

"Guys, be nice to Alicia please," Zoe said, as soon as she was out of sight. "She's new and she's not been here through all of this, has she? She doesn't understand what we're going through and she's just trying to cheer everyone up."

"Well if she doesn't understand, then she shouldn't bother," Louise said.

Connie sighed and ran a hand through her hair, just as her mobile started ringing. "I'm going to have to answer this," she said to Zoe and gestured to her ringing phone. "Try and get them to start at least one game."

Zoe gave her a promising nod and Connie left the bowling alley altogether, going to stand outside so that she'd be able to hear her conversation over the loud music that was playing from inside.

"Connie, it's Jac," the familiar voice said on the other end of the phone. "How's it going?"

"Um...It's been better," Connie said, with a small sigh. "What's wrong? Is it Lily?"

"I have good news," Jac told her. "We've found a match."

"What?" Connie's eyes widened and she pressed the phone harder to her ear. "Seriously?"

"Yep," Jac replied. "It's Cal."

So Cal is a match? I'm pretty sure everybody could see that coming though, haha. Another update anyway, I am doing well. Enjoy, that will be the last update for today :-) x