"Its going to be weird not having you around, are you sure you have to do this?" Alice said to Luke over the phone.

Today was Luke's first shift on Darwin. Elliot had asked for him to provide some cover shifts on the ward whilst Jac was on her maternity leave. Luke jumped at the chance, cardiothoracics was what Luke, along with Jac, had intended to be his first choice in specialising in but then things changed and specialised in emergency medicine but cardiothoracics still held a special place in his heart and he wasn't a permanent change.

"Yes, I'm really looking forward to it if you must know. Look this time next week, I'll be back downstairs with you were I belong. Besides its nice to get a break from you, I do see you all the time at home."

"Oi." Alice said down the phone.

Luke chuckled. "Sorry, I'm only messing. But I'm doing this for Elliot and Jac as favours for two very good friends. Look I have to go I'm supposed to be meeting Elliot any minute now for a briefing. I'll come and see you on my break maybe we can grab some lunch." Luke said to his wife.

"Ok, that does sound nice. I'll let you get on. I love you." Alice said.

"I love you too." Luke replied.

Luke ended the call and sat one of the tables in Pulses, the small hospital cafe in the reception, whilst he waited for Elliot. Luke brought a coffee each for him and Elliot. Within seconds of placing the coffees on the table he saw Elliot appear out of the lift. As Elliot waved at him, he dropped the patient files in his hands.

"Typical Elliot." Luke thought to himself.

Luke got up and went over to give him a hand picking up the files.

"Thank you." Elliot said to Luke as he handed him the files. "Excited?"

"Very. I can't wait to get back right back into it." Luke said confidently.

"Good, good. Jac said you done some cardiothoracic work whilst on your time away?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, I did. I headed up a clinic in Africa for a few months. Not only to keep the skills fresh but because I miss it too. I mean emergency medicine is my passion and it's where I enjoy being but cardiothoracics is like the elusive mistress that you shouldn't keep going back to but can't stop yourself."

Elliot chuckled as they sat back down at the table Luke had put his things at. Elliot allowed Luke to look through some patient files whilst he studied another document.

"Remarkable." Elliot said as he read the file.

"What is?" Luke asked.

"Zosia March, she's a new F1 starting with us today," Elliot said as he passed the file to Luke.

"Good job Jac isn't in today then. We all know her opinion on junior doctors." Luke chuckled.

"She does tend to forget she was one once. But there's nothing she could complain about where Dr March is concerned. Just look at grades, top of her class in every department. Her clinical excellence only matched by her quest in intellect." Elliot said.

"She is rather remarkable I must agree." Luke said agreeing with Elliot.

Elliot and Luke finished their coffees and they went up to his office. They opened the door and inside was a lady who was sorting out Elliot's desk.

"What are you doing?" Elliot asked.

"Hopefully making your life easier professor. I've placed your books in order and now I'm organising your desk." The lady replied.

Luke chuckled to himself.

"My books were in order. The good ones on the top shelf, the mediocre ones on the middle shelf and the rubbish ones on the bottom." Elliot said.

"Well next time I'll check first." The lady said.

"Next time?" Elliot queried.

"Yes, I'm Zosia your new F1. I do apologise professor I was only trying to help." Zosia said.

"Oh no, no, no. Please don't apologise." Elliot said trying to take back everything that he had just said. "Please call me Elliot."

"Well I am absolutely thrilled to be working with you Elliot." Zosia said shaking his hand.

Luke coughed to get everyone's attention.

"Oh right, yes. Zosia please meet Dr Stone. He is one of our consultants from the ED but is loaning us some of his time up here on Darwin whilst Ms Naylor is maternity leave." Elliot said introducing Luke.

"Please call me Luke." Luke said shaking Zosia's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you too Luke." Zosia said politely.

"Now you will be working with Luke today Zosia, as I have a very busy schedule with the board. But be rest assured, you are in safe hands with Dr Stone, not only did he begin his time as a doctor as a CT surgeon, he also performed life saving CT surgeon whilst in the ED and during his time as a soldier and during his time away from the hospital he ran cardiothoracic clinic in Africa." Elliot assured Zosia.

"I'm happy to learn from whoever you see fit. If you trust Dr Stone, then so do I." Zosia smiled.

"Well then duty calls." Luke said as he stood up from the table that he had been sat on.

"I shall check in with you both later." Elliot said as he sat behind his desk.

Luke opened the door for Zosia as they began their rounds of the ward.

"Why the change of heart, pardon the pun, from CT to emergency medicine Dr Stone?" Zosia asked.

"I just wanted the frontline action, that's part of the reason why I became an army medic. If I hadn't had been injured, I would have still been out there saving lives and making a difference. But I can still make that difference here. CT medicine will always have a special place in my heart, and I don't need an excuse to brush up my skills or an excuse to come and do a shift up here." Luke explained.

Luke and Zosia walked through the ward to their first patient.

"Good morning, what have we got here?" Luke asked Jonny.

"This Ethan Millar, 16 years old. Ethan is here with his mum Anna." Jonny said.

"Right hello Ethan, I'm Dr Stone and this is Dr March. What bring you into to see us today?" Luke asked.

"Her." Ethan pointed at his mum whilst texting on his phone still.

"Ethan collapsed after complaining of breathlessness." Jonny said.

"Ok, we will review in five minutes. In the meantime, what do we need Dr March?" Luke asked.

"An ECG?" Zosia replied.

"Very good." Luke smiled.

Five minutes passed and Luke got the results of Ethan's ECG. He went to find Zosia to show the results.

"So, we can see signs of atrial fibrillation which we have already been made aware of but apart from that…" Luke began.

"Nothing." Zosia said finishing his sentence.

"Indeed. Come on."

Luke lead Zosia back to Ethan.

"Mrs Millar we've had the results of Ethan's ECG and there is nothing out of the ordinary I'm afraid. We'll refer him to the outpatient's clinic for a fortnights time…"

Luke was cut off by Anna. "No, you have to do something now." Anna begged.

"Let's just put things into perspective here…" Luke started but again got cut off.

"Don't send him away, what happens if he collapses again and doesn't get up." Anna said sounding very concerned.

"Ok." Luke said, he drew the curtain around Ethan's bed.

Luke took off his stethoscope from around his neck. He warmed the resonator with his hand and then placed it on Ethan's chest to listen to his heart.

"His chest is clear and he's of normal weight for a child of his age. Dr March, why don't you take Mrs Millar somewhere quiet so you can get his details whilst I run a few more tests." Luke said.

"I'd rather not leave him." Anna said defensively.

"Mum, I'm 16." Ethan argued back.

"Ok then." Anna said, she went to kiss Ethan on the cheek, but he moved away.

Zosia led Anna away and when she was out of ear shot, Luke went on the side rail of Ethan's bed.

"Ok then, tell me what really happened this morning." Luke asked knowing that there was something more going on.

"It was just as she said. I was getting up from breakfast then I got out of breath." Ethan recounted the events just as his mum had described them to Jonny.

"But you're not breathless now." Luke said.

"That's because I'm sat down. Look do you admit that I've got a dodgy heart?" Ethan asked.

"I've seen dodgier but yes I do." Luke said.

"Well my mum is worried about me and your meant to be helping me, so I suggest that you do something." Ethan said sarcastically.

"Ok, I'll be back soon." Luke smiled.

Luke had a plan he just needed some time to set it up. Once he was ready, he went back with Jonny to get Ethan and lead him to his experiment. He had set up an exercise bike in the conference room. Luke and Jonny set up him up on the heart monitor and gave him an oxygen mask.

"Ever done anything like this before?" Luke asked.

"Not sure, maybe." Ethan said.

"Basically, all you to do is pedal as hard as you for as long as you can. So, we will start you on easy mode and you can start whenever you are ready." Luke said.

Luke and Jonny went over watched the monitor. Ethan started pedalling but he was barely turning the pedals and stopped after a minute. Jonny and Luke both looked at each other went back to Ethan.

"Why did you stop?" Luke asked.

"You know why, I'm ill." Ethan said sarcastically.

"My auntie is 86 and has just had a double hip replacement and she could pedal faster than that." Jonny told Ethan.

"I don't want to do your stupid test." Ethan argued.

"Right ok then, tell me just before you felt breathless what happened?" Luke asked.

"Me and mum were arguing." Ethan replied.

"Well, I wouldn't call that nothing. What were you arguing about?" Luke said.

"I want to go to New York with school, but she wouldn't let me because I'd just been on school trip to Italy." Ethan sighed.

"Let me get this straight, you found out that you couldn't go to New York and then you collapsed. Do you think the two events go be connected?" Luke proposed.

Ethan shrugged. "Look you said yourself I was ill. I've got FA."

Luke chuckled. "AF actually but close enough."

"You know if you lay on the floor, your mum would pay didn't you." Jonny said.

"It's not my fault I've been brought up badly." Ethan said.

Just then Anna burst into the conference room, closely followed by Zosia.

"How dare you! You asked this young woman to give me a psychiatric assessment." Anna shouted.

"I did nothing of the sort." Luke said remaining calm.

"Oh, don't play the innocent how gullible do you think that I am? You've obviously decided that I'm some hysterical old bat who suffers from iatrophobia." She continued to shout.

"Iatrophobia?" Luke questioned.

"Come on Ethan, I'm discharging you." Anna told Luke.

"You can't, because I already am." Luke replied.

Just then Ethan started to gasp as if he was struggling to catch his breath.

"Now look what you've done." Anna shouted.

"It's really very good actually." Jonny said unimpressed.

Zosia rushed over and crouched down next to him and listened to his breathing.

"No Luke, this is real." Zosia said.

Luke asked Jonny to go and get a trolley and Luke crouched down too. Jonny came back with the trolley and they loaded him on, and Luke ordered another test. The results came back, and Luke went back to see Ethan. Zosia followed.

"Mrs Millar, we have the results of Ethan's electrophysiology test and I can confirm that his atrial fibrillation has worsened, so he will need an operation. But as luck would have it, we do have a window in theatre this afternoon." Luke explained.

"Well do you know what take your window and open jump out of it and make sure follows you." Anna spat.

"Please, Dr March didn't mean to cross examine you. She's young, bright and inquisitive." Luke said.

"Standing right next to you." Zosia whispered.

"I don't care. I don't want her near me or my son." Anna said.

"I completely understand but please don't ignore my help completely. I do believe that I can help your son." Luke explained. "Ethan is that ok with you?"

Ethan nodded.

"Thank you," Luke turned to Jonny. "Can we get him prepped for theatre please."

Jonny nodded. Zosia and Luke walked away.

"I'm sorry about that. But I think it would be best if you steer clear until we get into theatre." Luke said.

"Its fine, as long as Ethan gets treated that's all that matters." Zosia said.

Luke walked towards theatre to get scrubbed in. Ethan was already lying there ready to be put under.

"I'm scared, doc." Ethan said.

Luke crouched down next to him.

"Of what?"

"Isn't it obvious, my heart's packing up. That's a pretty big deal."

"Listen, I've performed this operation countless times and I haven't lost a patient yet. The big guns are on standby as well to come in a take over if they have to." Luke assured him.

"I suppose this serves me right." Ethan said. "This is my punishment for pretending to be ill and now I really am ill and I'm going to snuff it."

"Don't talk like that. Not only will you be better your quality of life will dramatically improve as well." Luke smiled.

"You mean I'll get rich and famous and have loads of girls." Ethan laughed.

"I don't see why not." Luke said.

Just then the anaesthetist came over.

"Right see you on the other side." Luke said as he stood up patting Ethan on the shoulder.

Luke scrubbed in for theatre and went through. Luke began the operation and it was going well but then the monitors started to beep.

"He's in VF." Zosia told Luke.

"Paddles, charge to 100." Luke said. "Ok charging…clear…shocking."

"Still in VF." Zosia said.

"Again." Luke told the theatre nurse.

They shocked Ethan again. Still nothing.

"Ok prepare internal fibrillation." Luke said to Zosia.

Luke tried one round of internal fibrillation and got nothing but on the second attempt…

"Output." Zosia sighed.

"Ok everyone thank you. Let's get this over with quickly." Luke told the theatre team.

The rest of the operation went by without a hitch. Luke and Zosia were walking through the ward to give them the good news.

"Well you passed the audition Dr March." Luke said.

"I've never seen someone die before, I thought Ethan was going to be my first." Zosia replied.

"Well you'll need to get used to losing patients if you are going to specialise in heart surgery." Luke assured her.

"Oh, I'm not. I hope to specialize in psychiatric medicine." Zosia told Luke.

"Zosia, I'm going to ask you a question and I want a straight and honest answer. Where you trying to analyse Mrs Millar?" Luke asked.

Zosia didn't say anything for a moment then spoke. "The woman clearly has unresolved anger issues."

Luke let out a deep sigh. "Zosia were supposed to be treating her son, now I am going to have to apologise for your completely inappropriate behaviour."

Luke walked away from Zosia leaving her standing in the middle of the corridor. Luke found Ethan back on the ward.

"Hey doc. I'm still alive." Ethan said happily.

"I did promise you. Now, your breathing should hopefully be a lot easier and hopefully you won't be needing any more operations any time soon. Now I'm saying your going to become an Olympic athlete anytime soon, but you'll definitely find something a lot easier." Luke said. "Mrs Millar, I also owe you an apology, in fact several apologies. All of your suspicions about your son were accurate and based off of what you had accurately observed as a loving mother. I am also genuinely sorry, if my student asked you inappropriate questions. I will ensure that she is sufficiently reprimanded."

"No apology can excuse her actions. She is your student and you are meant to be her mentor, so you have clearly failed in your duty." Anna said to Luke.

"But he did save your son's life today." Jonny said in Luke's defence.

"Well I suppose he did." Anna said not really sure how to argue with that.

"I'll let you get some rest and come check on you in the morning. Jonny will look after you until the night shift arrive." Luke said as he left HDU.

Luke finished his shift and gathered his things from the staff room. When he left Alice was sat at the nurse's station waiting for him.

"What happened to lunch?" She asked.

"Oh Alice, I'm really sorry." Luke apologised.

Alice reached out and put a finger to his lips to get him to be quiet.

"Jonny tells me you were in theatre saving a young boy's life so I guess you can be forgiven for that. You can just make up to me by taking me out for dinner. My mum is picking up Lilia, so we don't have to worry about her." Alice said.

"Did you actually do any work today?" Luke asked with Alice's finger still over his mouth.

"Yes, you cheeky sod." Alice said as lightly gabbed his stomach. "This is what happens when you get stood up for lunch. Italian sounds nice though."

Luke let Alice stand up and took hold of her hand as they walked towards the lift. As they got there, Zosia stood next to them as they waited for the lift. They stood in awkward silence whilst they waited they then got in the lift when Zosia broke the silence.

"Aren't you going to introduce us Dr Stone." Zosia said clearly talking about Alice.

"Alice, this is Zosia March, a new F1 on Darwin. Zosia, this is Alice Stone. My expectant wife."

"Pleasure." Zosia said shaking Alice's hand.

"Likewise." Alice replied.

Just then lift reached the bottom floor and the doors opened.

"See you in the morning Dr Stone." Zosia smiled.

"You too Dr March." He smiled back.

They watched as Zosia walked off.

"She seemed nice." Alice said.

"Just needs a bit of fine tuning." Luke replied.