LoveFiction2017, thank you for all your reviews. I'm really pleased you like the story. It's great to get a new reader after so long. I have to agree about Ethan being a cutie! Kate is very lucky. I do imagine Ethan as being very romantic when he's confident that a girl really does like him back, but it's natural that not everyone will agree with that.

Bonnie Sveen Fan, thank you for your review. I think the police did listen to Kate, but they were a bit distant and not very sympathetic, which made it more difficult for her. I'm glad you think Ethan's starting to get back to his old lovely, kind self.

Tanith Panic, I agree with you about Alicia. She's still a nice, kind girl in this story and I think that can get her into trouble! I think policemen can be like doctors - or anyone else. There will be some who find it easy to show sympathy and support and others who really don't, despite doing their job to a high standard. Thank you for your review.

InfinityAndOne, I'm really glad you like Ethan and Kate's relationship. I got the impression in the episode that she was good at accepting people and seeing the good in them, so I thought she'd understand Ethan's emotions and intentions and just feel happy to be with him. Thank you for your review.

Thank you to LoveFiction2017 farfarfaraway for the follow and favourites.


A few days later, Kate felt sufficiently recovered to hold a small party in her room. She'd been offered the use of the roof, but she knew Ethan wouldn't be comfortable up there and she really wanted Ethan to enjoy the party if that was possible. Cal was obviously invited (Kate would never say it aloud in case she terrified Ethan, but she was really starting to think of Cal as family) and so were Milly, Alicia, Lily, Louise and Robyn.

She was cuddling Ethan when the first person knocked on the door. This was quickly followed by Lily's voice. "Kate, it is Lily and Alicia. May we come in?"

"Of course you can," said Kate. She hadn't told Lily or Alicia that it always worried her when someone knocked on the door as she was afraid of who it might be, but it looked like one of them had guessed.

Lily and Alicia came into the room. Alicia was smiling. Kate was glad to see her looking so much happier. She'd seen Alicia almost every day since Alicia had confessed to being the person who'd told Judy where she was and she hadn't seemed completely herself, but she looked so much more relaxed now as she came towards Kate.

"I have cake!" said Alicia, holding out a tin for Kate to inspect.

Kate looked inside and gasped in delight. "Did you make it, Alicia? Thank you! It looks lovely. It's so sweet of you."

"And I did check with Milly that she wasn't bringing cake," said Alicia. "I'm sure her cakes are much better than mine."

"Milly does make delicious cakes, but if yours is half as good as it looks, you really don't need to worry," said Kate. She held out her arms and gave Alicia a hug. "Thank you. Doesn't it look good, Nibbles?"

Ethan nodded and smiled.

"I got you a card," said Lily, holding it out rather awkwardly.

"Oh, thank you Lily!" said Kate.

She opened it and read 祝你健康,事業,幸福和愛心最好. Underneath was written: Wishing you the very best in health, career, happiness and love.

"Thank you, Lily. That's so beautiful. Your words and the Chinese script. It's so kind of you." Kate hugged her too. "You really didn't have to, but you've made me so happy. Isn't that lovely, Nibbles?" She hoped Ethan realised she genuinely wanted to share everything with him and she wasn't just trying to make him react.

Ethan nodded and smiled again.

Louise and Robyn arrived next with a bottle of Shloer from Louise and a cuddly toy from Robyn, which Kate fell in love with instantly. "Look, his eyes are the exact same colour as Ethan's! You're so clever, Robyn." She was equally happy with the Shloer as it looked like champagne and tasted just as good and was compatible with her and Ethan's medications.

Milly made her appearance not long afterwards with a large picnic basket. She spread the blanket out on the floor and started unpacking. "Lots of nibbles to start with –I know you've got your own Nibbles, Kate, but that's the one thing I know you won't share!" She continued to lay the food out on the blanket. Kate could hardly believe she'd gone to so much trouble.

Ethan put his arms around her. "I help… sit," he said.

Kate smiled and let Ethan help her to sit down on the blanket. He kissed her, then got a couple of pillows and propped them up against the bed so she could lean against them.

Ethan sat beside her. "So good… out of bed," he said.

"This one's a keeper," said Louise. "It's not every guy who's this happy when you're not in bed."

"Louise!" said Robyn, though she couldn't quite hide her delight.

Louise looked anxiously at Ethan. "Sorry if I… you know."

"No. Compliment," said Ethan firmly.

"Yes. Definitely a compliment," agreed Kate. "And you're right. He is a keeper."

She only hoped she'd be able to keep him for a long time.

Robyn poured out drinks for everyone. "Shall we start or wait for Cal?"

"It could be a rather long wait," said Lily.

Alicia nodded. "He was in Resus this morning. It's been busy."

Cal had told Kate and Ethan to start without him rather than wait. Punctuality, he'd said, really wasn't one of his top skills, and as he was working, it might not even be his fault if he couldn't get away on time.

"Let's just chat for a while and have a drink and see if Cal shows up," said Kate – and she was glad she'd waited when Cal turned up seven minutes later.

"I'm glad you lot are all here. I wouldn't want to leave Ethan and Kate alone for seven minutes!" said Cal.

Kate looked at Ethan in slight confusion.

"Bad Cal!" said Ethan.

"Very bad Cal," said Cal unrepentantly. "Look at all that food! I'm starving."

They were halfway through the food, all talking happily, when another knock came at the door.

Kate looked at Ethan, wondering who it might be. Perhaps Zoe or Rita – they were both working, but they might have found time to come up and say hello.

"I'll get it," said Cal, managing to knock his glass over in the process.

Alicia grabbed a napkin to mop up after him and poured him some more.

Cal opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"We were wondering if we might have a word with Miss Daniels."

Kate shrank back against Ethan, who put his arms protectively around her.

"We're actually having a bit of a party at the moment," said Cal. "But if it's urgent…"

"Not urgent exactly, but we think Miss Daniels would want to hear what we've got to say."

Kate lifted her head from Ethan's chest. "Who is it, Cal?"

Cal came back into the room, his face unreadable. "It's the police."


Ethan helped Kate into the chair and took another from Cal, setting it down directly beside hers and putting his arm around her. He didn't know exactly what was going on. He had no idea why the police had dragged Kate out of her party to speak to her (to be fair, everyone else had offered to give them some space, but Kate had insisted that has guests stay where they were). But he knew he wanted to be there. He wanted to help.

"Miss Daniels."

Kate smiled at them. "Please call me Kate."

"Of course, Kate. We don't want to remind you of a distressing time, but we've come by some information which we hope might give you some peace of mind. We understand that the woman who attacked you, your former boss, told you she was in a relationship with your mother."

"That's right," said Kate. "I honestly had no idea. I would never have kept them apart if I'd known."

"You did exactly the right thing. We've been speaking to some of your mother's friends. It seems Judy had a very strong interest in your mother, but your mother didn't reciprocate her feelings. Everyone we spoke to was absolutely certain your mother was not gay. Not that it would have made any difference to them if she was, but she wasn't interested in Judy and any relationship between them seems to have been entirely a figment of Judy's imagination."

"So she lied!" burst out Cal. Ethan squeezed Kate's hand tightly.

"She told Kate something that turned out not to be true," said the policeman. "That's not always the same as a deliberate lie. Judy seems to have talked herself into believing a lot of things. But there was absolutely no evidence to suggest there was anything between her and your mother, Kate – in fact, the evidence we have strongly suggests otherwise. Your mother asked a couple of her friends how to let her down gently and all those who'd met Judy felt that she tried rather too hard to get your mother's attention. So you have nothing to reproach yourself for, Kate. Your instincts were entirely correct. Your mother wouldn't have wanted Judy to see her when she was so ill."

Kate stared at the policeman in disbelief. "Really? Is that really true?"

"It's difficult to be completely sure of anything when we can speak to only one of the people in question and we can't be sure she'll tell the truth, but our information strongly suggests that Judy wasn't telling you the truth and therefore you did the right thing."

"Thank you," said Kate, beginning to cry. "I'm so sorry. I'm all right really. I'm so relieved I didn't do anything terribly wrong… but poor Judy. I can understand it, of course. My mother was beautiful and kind and intelligent and warm and just lovely. I never quite understood why she didn't have a queue of suitors outside her door. But unrequited love is always so hard and it must be horrible for Judy knowing she missed her chance to say goodbye, so I can understand why she was angry with me. Thank you so much for coming to tell me. I'm so relieved and grateful and it does give me peace of mind. It really does."

Ethan hugged her, feeling close to tears too. He wasn't surprised. Kate was so good at understanding people. Of course her instincts had been correct. But he was so glad the information had come to light and that the police had decided to tell Kate.

"You're more than welcome, Kate. Thank you for giving us your time when you're so busy. We'll see ourselves out."

"I'll show you the way," said Cal, and the three of them left the room, leaving Ethan and Kate alone.

Ethan held Kate tightly. There was so much he wanted to say, but he knew he wouldn't be able to say it. He felt so many different things, as he knew did Kate did too. He searched his mind for the most important thing to say. "I love you," he said at last. "I love you."

"I love you too," sobbed Kate.

Ethan stroked her hair. "So proud. Right thing."

"Thank you," said Kate. "I'm sorry, Ethan. I'm sure I'll stop crying in a minute."

"Don't have to," said Ethan. "Not leaving."

He didn't know how, but Kate always understood him.