Bonnie Sveen Fan, thank you for your review - I'm glad you thought the chapter was cute.

Tanith Panic, I'm glad you liked the end of the chapter. I just wanted to stir things up between Lily and Alicia a little bit as we're getting towards the episode where Alicia leaves the ED. Lily's relationship with her father is sad - and there's nothing she can do about it. Thank you for your review.

westlife4ever80, it is very difficult to judge a whole phone conversation - or someone's intentions - from one overheard sentence. But it's still very easy to be hurt as a result! For me anyway. I'd love Lily to be my friend too. If I had to pick one female friend from the ED, it would be Lily. Thank you for your review.


Ethan was sitting in the living room with Matilda in his arms. He looked pale and tired to Lily, but he was almost smiling as he looked down at his little niece.

"Look who's here, Matilda!" said Cal. "It's Auntie Lily!"

Ethan obviously didn't know Lily was coming. He looked up in surprise. "Hey."

"Hey," said Lily, and sat beside him. "How are you?" She kissed Matilda's cheek, then Ethan's.

"I'm all right, thank you," said Ethan. "It really helped talking to you last night. Are you okay?"

"I'm a bit nervous… I mean, I'm very well, thank you," said Lily.

Ethan smiled. "Lily, I'm nearly your boyfriend. You can always tell me when you're nervous."

Lily looked at him uncertainly. "But you're upset."

"I'm never too upset for you, Lily." Ethan took her hand in his. "Please tell me."

Lily couldn't resist those brown eyes. "I'm a bit nervous about seeing Alicia," she admitted.

Ethan smiled. "I'm sure there's no need, but I do understand. I was always a bit nervous after spending time with a friend for the first time. I was always a bit worried I'd been so completely weird, they'd never want to speak to me again. Unfortunately, it quite often happened."

Cal started to laugh, then quickly said: "Sorry. I wasn't laughing at you. Matilda just pulled a face at me."

"Don't you dare blame anything on your lovely daughter!" said Ethan, but he didn't seem angry or upset.

"Okay. I was laughing at you. But I shouldn't have," said Cal. "I'm sure I'd be exactly the same the morning after if I actually remembered the night before. But I'm sure everything's fine with Alicia. She's a nice girl. Very sweet and easy-going."

Ethan looked at Cal, his eyebrows raised.

"Not that sweet," said Cal. "The only girl I'm interested in now is my little toad. Isn't that right, Matilda? And when it comes to women, I've always preferred 'easy' to 'easy-going'."

Lily waited for the familiar feeling of disgust, but it didn't come. To her surprise, she actually felt amused.

I think… I think I like Cal, she thought in amazement.

But not in the way I like his brother.


"Ethan seems better," Lily said on the way to work.

"You didn't see him before you got here," said Cal.

Lily tried to keep her voice from trembling. "You mean he was happier before I came?"

"No, no, of course not!" said Cal at once. "He was miserable before you came. He cried when he got up and he couldn't eat his breakfast."

"He… he cried?" said Lily, in severe danger of doing the same.

"Only a little bit," said Cal quickly. "And it might have been mostly from yawning. But he wasn't a very happy Nibbles. I stuck Matilda in his arms and that seemed to help a bit, but when he saw you, I was amazed at the difference in him." He touched Lily's arm again. "Please, Lily. Stay in my brother's life for a long time."

"That is what I want," admitted Lily.

"That's what Ethan wants too," said Cal.


Lily arrived in the staff room to find Alicia waiting for her. "Hi, Lily. Could we have a chat?"

"Of course," said Lily. "As your mentor, I am always available to answer any work-related queries."

"Oh, um, I actually wanted to talk about yesterday," said Alicia.

"There is nothing to say about yesterday," said Lily. "I had a very pleasant time in the café. But now we must work."

"I meant about the phone call," said Alicia. "What you overheard…"

"I hope you're not implying that I was eavesdropping on your phone call," said Lily acidly.

"No, of course not!" said Alicia. "I know you'd never do that. But sometimes you can't help overhearing."

"Even if I had, I would not be so rude as to mention it," said Lily. "Now. Perhaps we can get on with some work."


"Lily, are you going to the pub later?" asked Louise, when Lily arrived at the nurse's station.

Lily stared at her in surprise. "I…"

"Don't forget your textbook, will you?" said Louise, laughing. "We are going to do some serious studying!"

Lily stood frozen as Louise walked away from her.

Robyn touched her arm. "Don't let her bother you, Lily, okay?"

Lily was tempted to give a chilling reply, but she knew Ethan wouldn't like that. "Thank you. I won't."

"I mean, I know you only wanted to help," said Robyn kindly. "It was a really nice thought and I'm sure you helped Alicia a lot."

"That is all I wanted," said Lily.

Robyn smiled at her, but Lily couldn't smile back.

Did the whole ED know? Had Alicia told everyone?


Alicia made several more attempts to speak to Lily and actually seemed quite upset once or twice, but Lily couldn't bring herself to do more than say everything was fine and it wasn't a good time to talk now.

She didn't want to hurt Alicia, but Alicia didn't seem to have any idea of how much she'd hurt Lily.

She'd really believed, sitting in that café, that Alicia might become the best female friend she'd always dreamed of finding but never had. As she'd thrown questions across the table at Alicia, it had thrilled Lily to know she was doing her friend a real favour. As Alicia had replied with enthusiasm, Lily had really believed her friend was having a great time.

But she hadn't been. She'd been bored and irritated and repelled by Lily's complete lack of social abilities. Just like everyone else.

It was a relief when Lily's shift came to an end. She waited for Cal in reception and tried not to let her hurt show when Alicia and Louise walked past, chatting animatedly.

Louise turned to wave goodbye to Noel and caught sight of Lily. She nudged Alicia. "Got your textbook? You can't have a good night out without a bit of studying!"

"Oh, Louise, don't," said Alicia. "It was really nice of Lily to want to help me. It was just her timing that was off."

Lily looked at the floor. Her timing was always off.

"Hey, Lily, ready to… are you okay?"

Lily looked up into Cal's concerned face. "I'm okay. I'm just… thinking."

Cal put a brotherly arm around Lily's shoulders. "About Ethan?"

"About… lots of things," said Lily, unwilling to use the man she loved as an excuse.

"You know, if you want to talk…" said Cal, as they left the ED.

"Thank you, Cal, but I don't want to talk," said Lily. "I just want to forget."


Matilda was sitting on Ethan's lap, her head supported by his right arm, gazing adoringly up at her uncle.

Ethan was smiling too and it seemed like a genuine smile, but it couldn't disguise his pale cheeks and red eyes.

"Ethan? Visitor for you," said Cal.

Ethan's smile widened when he saw Lily. "Hey, Lily. I'm so glad you're here. I promise I'll try to be better company this time."

"Ethan, you're always good company," said Lily, unable to understand how Ethan could doubt himself when he was with someone as socially inept as she was. "How are you, Ethan? I am not asking you in a social way. I really want to know."

Before Ethan could answer, Cal swooped down on Matilda, lifting her in his arms. "There you are, little Tilly-willy-woos! Daddy missed you!"

Ethan couldn't help smiling. "Well, I'm certainly feeling quite entertained at the moment."

Cal glared at him, though he didn't really seem angry. "You wait till you and Lily have kids! Come on, Toad. It's bath time! Splishy-sploshy!"

"I have to put up with that every day," said Ethan,once Cal had gone. "But I like it. It's good to see him so happy. How was your day?"

Lily swallowed hard and tried to smile. "You were about to tell me how you were."

There was a slight look of concern in Ethan's eyes. "Lily, are you okay?"

"I'm worried about you," said Lily shortly.

Ethan looked guilty. "I'm sorry. I know I'm taking far too long to get over this."

Lily reached for his hand. "You can't put a time limit on it, Ethan – and it only happened yesterday. I would like you to get over it and I'm going to do everything I can to help you, but it will happen in its own time."

"Yes, you're right," said Ethan, squeezing her hand gently. "But I can't just sit around at home and wait to feel better. I need to face my fears and go back to work."

Lily's heart jumped at the thought of Ethan being at work again. She was sure it could only be easier if he was there. "When you're ready, Ethan."

"Tomorrow," said Ethan. His voice probably wasn't quite as firm as he wanted it to be.

"Are you sure?" said Lily. "I mean, I do want you to come back to work. But I don't want you to put too much pressure on yourself."

"I know and I'm so grateful for your support," said Ethan. "But I really do think I need to go back now. I already feel more nervous about going back than I did yesterday. I think the longer I leave it, the worse it's going to get."

Lily could see his point, but that didn't stop the anxiety from pounding in her chest.

It wasn't that she had any doubts about Ethan's ability. But she knew that going back too soon could end up denting his confidence even more.

"And besides," said Ethan, relaxing slightly as he smiled at her. "I miss you."

Lily couldn't understand why anyone would miss her. "If you think it is time to go back, Ethan, then I will support you."

Relief filled Ethan's face and he put his arms around her. "Thank you, Lily. Thank you."

"I will always be here for you, Ethan. For as long as you want me to be."