Tanith Panic, thank you for review. This isn't one of my best either... so maybe everyone will love it! It's a bit worrying having such poor judgement though! Robyn will find out Louis' surname eventually... do you know what it is?
X-Sammii-X, thank you for your review. I'm glad you like the Cal & Tilly scenes - there's one more here and one that's just Cal. Zoe isn't in this chapter, but she and Max will both be in the next one.
Applealice10, thank you for your review - I'm so happy you liked the way Cal explained things to Matilda. Cal and Matilda will be in every chapter now and I'll try to put the Dylans in as much as I can.
Elsieleo, I'm sorry I didn't update. I'm ill so I'm struggling a bit, but I will try to update again tomorrow. Thank you for your review - if things go as planned, Cal will find out more about Matilda's situation in Chapter 31.
Rita stroked Ella's arm as the young doctor cried.
"I didn't not tell you 'cause I'm ashamed of him," sobbed Ella. "I'm actually really proud of him. Everything was always a struggle, but he never gave up. He kept trying new things. He inspired me. He wanted me to be a doctor, but I didn't do it because I thought I wasn't good enough. That's the truth, Rita. It wasn't really me being rebellious. I just didn't believe I could do it."
"Sometimes it's not the right time," said Rita. "Not all of us here have always worked in a hospital and there are all kinds of reasons for that."
"But then I saw him fighting to get better and I wanted to be a fighter too," sniffled Ella. "I wanted to stop being afraid of failing. So I like, went for it."
"And you succeeded," said Rita. Over Ella's shoulder, she could see Iain signalling to her, obviously thinking Rita was just having a chat with a mate. She lifted the arm that was around Ella and signalled for Iain to give her five minutes. He nodded, blew her a kiss and disappeared. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off, Ella? Go spend some time with your dad. He's come all this way to see you."
Ella shook her head. "You need me here."
"Ethan's back now," said Rita.
"Yeah, and we come out here in the cold 'cause he's crying in the staff room with Alicia!" said Ella. She lowered her voice. "Do you know what I reckon? I reckon they're having an affair."
"Who?"
"Dr Knight and Dr Hardy!"
"Ella, they're brothers!" said Rita. She hoped she'd be accepting if an incestuous couple did come to the ED, but Cal and Ethan could barely even get in each other's personal space without cringing.
"No, Dr Knight and Dr Lily Hardy," said Ella. "What do you think? They've both disappeared and Dr Hardy's devastated!"
"I think you've been watching way too much TV," said Rita.
Matilda was having a lovely afternoon with Cal, but she knew it would have to end. Eventually, he would have to take her home and then everything would be worse than ever.
"Hey, what's up?" Cal squeezed her arm.
"I don't want to go home," admitted Matilda.
A look of concern crossed Cal's face, but he smiled. "That's fine. You can stay here with me."
"But what will Ethan and Lily say?" asked Matilda fearfully. Cal had told her it was their house. Cal was just a lodger and unpaid babysitter. At least, that was how he put it. Matilda was sure Ethan and Lily valued him very much.
"Ethan cares about you and he'll be happy for you to stay with us," said Cal. "Lily is staying with a friend at the moment, but I'm sure she'll understand."
Matilda wished she could believe that, but she couldn't. She could tell Cal liked her for now, but what would happen when he found out the truth?
"Damn!" said Cal suddenly. "Tilly, I'm so sorry, but I have to go and pick up Daisy and Alice."
"Who?" said Matilda, though she had a sinking feeling she knew already.
"My nieces," explained Cal. "Ethan and Lily's daughters. I've got a nephew too: Caleb. Named after me. They're all great kids." He smiled. "Just like you."
Honey tensed when she heard the door closing. It might be Noel, but it was a bit early. It was more likely to be that bitch he'd married.
"Honey?" called Louise in that fake sweet voice of hers. "Are you there, babe?"
Honey slouched out of her room and folded her arms. "What do you want?"
"Come and sit down and let's have a chat," said Louise.
Honey stayed where she was. "A chat about what?"
"It's about the living arrangements," said Louise. "I know Noel gave the impression you could stay as long as you liked and of course I understand that you need to stay somewhere until you… find your feet. But this is me and Noel's home, and… well, I'm sorry if this is blunt, but you can't just walk in here and expect it to be your home too."
"What's it got to do with you?" gasped Honey.
Louise's eyes flashed angrily. "Quite a lot, considering I actually live here!"
"I live here too!" said Honey. "My dad says I can live here and you can't do nothing about it!"
"I think you'll find I can do quite a lot," said Louise. "And what's more, I think you'll find your dad agrees with me. He just couldn't resist your ridiculously made-up puppy-dog eyes. But I can. Honey, you're forty years old, for God's sake! Isn't it about time you grew up and stopped scrounging off whatever man is stupid enough to let you!"
"Hey!" said Honey. "I'm thirty!"
Louise gave her a disbelieving look. "Yeah, you were stripping in those clubs at fourteen, were you? Actually, you probably were!"
"And who are you calling a scrounger?" said Honey belatedly. "Everyone knows you only got with my dad because no-one else would have a moody, hard-faced bitch like you. How old are you then, Louise? Fifty? And I'm actually being kind! Haven't you heard of a face lift?"
Louise advanced on her. Honey ran for the door – just as Noel walked in.
Honey burst into tears. "Dad, she called me a scrounger and a slapper and she says I look like I'm forty and she don't want to spend another night under one roof with me, but I don't have nowhere else to go!"
It was always difficult getting a word alone with Rita at work. Even when they managed to arrange to have their breaks at the same time, something always seemed to happen. First, Rita had been comforting Ella; then Iain's radio had cracked into life just as his lips had been about to connect with Rita's.
Now, finally, they were together again. "I'm worried about Alfie," said Iain, before Rita could kiss him. Unfortunately, kissing Rita was a sure way of ensuring they were interrupted.
"Yeah," said Rita, with a sigh. She moved away from him, leaning back against his arm. "He won't talk to you either?"
"Not a word," said Iain. "But it's not just us he's not talking to. I don't know if Alicia had a word with you?"
Rita looked slightly annoyed. "How come Alicia knows more about our son than we do?"
"Rita…"
Rita sighed. "Okay. You're right. It's not important. No, she didn't talk to me, but we never got a moment alone."
"I don't know if you know, but Luke's staying at Alicia's at the moment," said Iain. "Charlie's asked a couple of times if Alfie can come over and Alicia and Sam said fine. But he's never actually gone."
Rita looked perturbed. "That's not like Alfie."
"I know," sighed Iain. "So who's going to talk to him this time? You or me?"
Dylan K sat down beside Dylan's bed. "I can't stay long. I have to get back to work and you should be resting."
"I am resting," said Dylan. "I find talking to doctors relaxing. Besides, I had an idea and I wanted to tell you about it."
"An idea?" said Dylan K suspiciously. "If this idea involves you getting out of bed…"
Dylan laughed and shook her head. "Absolutely not. I promise. I might find bed-rest boring, but I can see the benefits in this case. I was thinking about Luke."
Dylan K lowered his head and sighed. It shouldn't really have surprised him and he appreciated her concern, but he'd been trying so hard not to think about him.
"I'm sorry," said Dylan, more gently. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Dylan K could have left it at that, but he had to admit he was curious – and he was certainly out of ideas, himself. "I would actually be... grateful for any help you could give me."
"Then I'll try my best," said Dylan. "I think Luke needs to talk to someone, but he won't want to talk to you because you're family." She smiled. "Teenagers of both sexes can be funny about that: if you've ever got a normal conversation out of him, you're pretty lucky. He won't talk to Charlie or Alfie because they're teenage boys and they won't discuss anything that can't be communicated in grunts. But one type of person a teenage boy would usually fall over himself to talk to is a teenage girl."
"Are you offering to talk to him for me?" said Dylan K.
"I'd be very happy to try," said Dylan.
"Then that would be very-" Dylan K stopped. "Dylan, you don't still think Luke's accident is your fault, do you? Because it's not. Not at all."
"I still think it might be, but I'd want to help anyway," said Dylan. "Luke's a nice lad – and so are you."
Dylan K surprised himself by laughing. "Thank you. No-one's called me a lad for a long time - and I'm called 'nice' even less often."
"Just because people don't say something, it doesn't mean it isn't true," said Dylan.
Cal had never worked so hard on making his bedroom look neat. The floor was clear and there was nothing on the bedside table apart from the bedside lamp, some tissues and a spare alarm clock. He'd put a pink blanket on one side of the bed; a nightie and dressing gown belonging to Lily under the pillow and arranged some of Ethan's books on a gap on the bookshelf.
It looked good and actually more inviting than his bed usually did, but he felt there was something missing.
Once he realised what it was, he froze for a moment, unsure if it was a good idea or not, but a moment later, he was opening his wardrobe and pulling out the piles of clothes and magazines he'd hastily shoved in there to make the floor tidy for Matilda. Right at the back of the wardrobe was a tiny box.
Cal opened it and looked at what was inside, fighting back a sudden rush of tears as he usually did, but this time, they weren't entirely tears of sadness. The bootees would be of no use to Matilda now. Neither would the little bonnet. But the pink cuddly toy…
Cal carried it to the bed and placed it on top of the covers. He looked at it for a moment, then tucked it in. He didn't even know if Matilda liked cuddly toys – or even, he realised, if she liked pink – but it was hers and it seemed right that she should have it.
He put everything back in the wardrobe again and went to find Matilda and her cousins.
