A/N: This is about a tidal wave. It was written some months before the sad events of boxing day 2004. I'm only uploading it because otherwise the story isn't complete. There is no disrespect intended. Please if it will upset you, don't read it. Thanks.

Episode
11/12 Take a chance on me

Review
A tidal wave hit's Elsinby!

Cast list
Robert Daws, Amy Robbins, Paul Fox, Polly Maberly, Wendy Craig, Michael Starke, Andy Wear, Zoie Kennedy, Linda Armstrong, Michelle Hardwick, Dennis Lil, Daniel Feltham and Sophie Foster

"Shush." Daniel put a finger to his lips, it was six AM and he was trying to sneak out of the nurses home without getting caught. He'd had to move out of his apartment before the new year because he couldn't afford the rent, he'd been staying with Meryl ever since. "Do you want me to get caught?" Daniel whispered, Meryl shook her head and stopped laughing for a moment, if Matron found out her life wouldn't be worth living. Suddenly Daniel stiffened, he could hear someone coming, he quickly pulled the door closed until he heard the footsteps fade away. He'd been stuck like this for the last twenty minutes. "It's no good, it's shift change. I'll have to wait a few hours till it's quietened down. Lucky I don't have a job to go to huh?"

"You'll find something soon." Meryl comforted, thinking exactly the opposite, the hospitals round here weren't like hospitals in cities, doctors didn't change jobs every couple of years, they stayed until they retired, sometimes they only worked at the one hospital, they stayed there for their entire careers, at the moment there were no jobs going and that was unlikely to change for a while. "I have to go, got to go and mind casualty." Daniel smiled.

"See you for lunch?" Meryl nodded and Daniel gave her a kiss goodbye.

A little later over at the Omerod house, the day was just beginning. The alarm clock in Charlie's bedroom went off first, it was a couple of minutes fast, Charlie slapped it hard, groaned and rolled over. A couple of minutes later the alarm clock in the master bedroom went off, Gordon turned it off and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes went to get Katy and Tom up. An hour and forty minutes later they were ready to leave, today Gordon was doing the school run. Jill got in her car, she'd meet Gordon at the hospital, even though Gordon had now got a car big enough for all of them, they had to have their own cars at work, in case of emergencies.

Halfway through morning surgery Daniel walked into reception, he was wearing civvies and Lizzy seeing him had to admit that he looked even more gorgeous in them than he did normally, a feat she hadn't thought was possible.

"Morning Lizzy." Daniel smiled.

"Morning Dr Travis, something I can do for you?" Lizzy asked, she wasn't sure why Daniel was here, he hadn't worked here in over a month.

"No, I'm here for the opening ceremony this afternoon, you know for the helicopter ambulance. I don't have a job and nothing else to do so I thought I'd come here, how's the patient load?" Daniel explained, Lizzy looked sympathetic, she'd heard from Meryl that he'd been offered many locum placements, but he wanted to stay with her, how sweet.

"Not too bad. Not many operations either, Meryl's in casualty." Daniel laughed and bit his lip.

"Thanks Lizzy, but Matron would have my guts for garters if I went and bothered her. I'll just er go on a ward round." Daniel winked and left, Lizzy shrugged, she didn't know what he was actually going to do, never mind.

"Mrs Cage." Lizzy called, "The doctor will see you now."

Daniel as he had told Lizzy went to Milner Ward, he looked in the window, he then did the same at Fawcett Ward and Cheriton Ward before heading off to the last 'ward', only called as such because Matron included it in her ward round inspections. Meryl was tidying up in trauma room one, Daniel snuck up behind her and covered her eyes with his hands.

"Guess who?" he asked, Meryl turned round a big smile on her face.

"Daniel, what are you doing here?"

"Well there's the opening ceremony this afternoon for the helicopter ambulance, I didn't have anything else to do, so I thought I'd just do a ward round." Daniel winked, "You know keep you company, it's really quiet today." Meryl nodded

"I know, I don't remember it ever being this quiet."

"Perhaps it's a sign of things to come, you know the quiet before the storm." Daniel raised his eyebrows, Meryl playfully punched him, giving him an unimpressed glare.

"Don't do that, when people say things like that, it jinxes them, makes them happen."

"You don't really believe that do you?" Daniel smiled disbelievingly

"I believe in keeping an open mind. If you're here you might as well help, pass me those things over there." Daniel did a sloppy salute and did what he was told.

A couple of hours later it was lunchtime, as usual they went to the seafront and got a sandwich, this had become their place. They sat at their usual bench and ate in companionable silence. When they'd finished their lunch they walked along the seafront for a while, hand in hand. Sometimes looking out to sea but mostly at each other, they stopped when they reached a spot that was private, Daniel steered her towards the railings that formed a barrier between the seafront and the beach. He leant her against it and they started kissing passionately, after a minute Daniel could hear a roaring noise in his ears. He pulled away and opened his eyes, his jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide.

"What?" Meryl asked, looking at his shocked expression, she turned around and her eyes opened wide and she screamed. The scream woke Daniel from his shocked trance, grabbing her hand they started to run, they reached the first shop just as the wave hit.

Meanwhile back at The Royal, everything started shaking, causing patients and staff to grab the first stable thing they could. Windows broke and some things fell off shelves and smashed, a few people screamed, after a minute the tremors stopped. Gordon was the first outside, what he saw shocked him. It was a scene of utter devastation.

The parking lot was a mass of what were probably parts of the cars that were no longer there, Gordon could see other parts spread out down the road, like in some sick trail of destruction. He looked in the other direction towards the seafront, the first three houses were completely destroyed and the next five were badly damaged, Gordon looked quickly at The Royal and breathed a sigh of relief, they were far enough down the road to have escaped the worst of it.

Gordon looked back at the road, it was covered in debris and then Gordon got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not just debris, people, Gordon turned round, to see who else had followed him out here, at the moment it was just patients who had been waiting for afternoon surgery. Gordon could see that they were on the verge of panic and that was the last thing they needed right now, he thought about what his next move would be, with patients behind him and a panicked crowd in front of him, he needed help out here, luckily Mr Caldwell and Matron appeared.

"Good god." Mr Caldwell said the instant he saw the scene, Matron looked around taking everything in and immediately took stock of the situation.

"Mr Caldwell go inside and get Dr Goodwin and Dr Weatherall out here immediately and five nurses. Then get on the telephone, call . . ." Matron paused.

Gordon hearing Matron take charge turned back to the road, running to the first person he could see, he could now do his job and hopefully save some lives. Matron wasn't sure who to call, this was a crisis, a disaster. The army would no doubt be called in, the coastguard, the police, somebody needed to co-ordinate the activities, but there was no such system in place. Matron looked at the man in front of her, he looked in shock but he wasn't panicking, could he cope, she put that question out of her mind, he'd have to.

"Call the police, the coastguard, get on to the local army bases, the council, Ashfordly General and the other hospitals. Oh and get that brand new helicopter of ours up in the air, with rescue apparatus on board, no doubt some people have been washed out to sea. We need to co-ordinate activities, I'm sure the military will take over, but for the moment you're in charge. Find Ken and Alun, tell them to meet me in reception."

Mr Caldwell looked at her digesting what she'd said, he nodded to show that he'd understood and ran inside. Matron looked up the road, she could just see The Rose and Crown pub, it too looked virtually undamaged, picking the least panicked looking of the crowd in front of her she started giving him orders.

"You, take these people up to the pub there, they'll be safe and in shelter there. Tell the landlord to call . . ." Matron tried to think of someone who could take charge and organise things on the spot, someone who was good under pressure. "Tell him to call Oscar Blaketon at the Aidensfield Arms. He's to tell Oscar what's happened here and to get him over here right away. He's to look for housing for people who's homes have been destroyed, he can set up command there. We'll be sending people to him. Understand." the man nodded, he then started guiding his fellow would be patients through the debris.

Jill and Jeff then appeared, with the now familiar shocked expression taking in the scene around them, then going to help Gordon. Then the nurses arrived, Matron looked round, there wasn't anything she could do to help here, she needed to go and see Ken and Alun. They would need to find as many beds as they could, send all the patients already here that were well enough to leave to The Rose and Crown to register, then depending on whether their home was destroyed or not, they could go home. They needed as many beds as they could get, for all the patients that were coming in. Mr Harper met Matron at the entrance to reception, close to complete and utter panic.

"Did you see, did you see it?" he asked, his eyes wide open. "I . . I." Matron gently put her arm round Mr Harper and guided him into his office, she then collared a nurse.

"Nurse Bartlet, go and get a sedative please." the nurse nodded and ran off, a minute later she returned. "Thank you." Nurse Bartlet then continued outside, to help with the casualties out there. "Here you go Mr Harper, this will help." Matron expertly injected the sedative, a minute later Mr Harper was sleeping peacefully, he wouldn't wake up until tomorrow morning. Some people just couldn't handle a crisis and if that person happened to be in what they thought was an authoritive position, it could make the crisis much worse. So much the better the better if he slept through it.

Back by the seafront Daniel groaned, he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything, he started to panic before he recalled what had happened. He had to stay calm for everybody and he had to find Meryl. Daniel moved position and yelled out in pain, maybe moving wasn't such a good idea, mentally Daniel ran a check self-diagnosing himself.

He had a splitting headache but that was to be expected, he could feel blood trickling down his face, his left arm felt ok though he could barely move it, there wasn't enough room. Daniel gingerly tried to move his right arm and screamed out in pain again, that was definitely broken, probably more than once. Daniel then tried to move his legs and almost started panicking again when he couldn't move them, the he realised that he couldn't feel anything and did start panicking. He took a couple of deep breaths and regained control of himself, crush injuries and possible paralysis, he then continued his self-examination.

His breathing was laboured, that could be because he'd been hyperventilating and there wasn't much air in here, or it could be because he had a punctured lung, he definitely had several broken ribs. Well at least he didn't have to worry about not having a job now, he'd be in no condition to work for some time.

His self-diagnosis done Daniel tried with his left arm to move something, but it was no good, he was imprisoned. He concentrated on breathing shallowly because he wouldn't use as much oxygen up that way, also every time he breathed he was filling his chest cavity with air, if he wasn't rescued soon and the trapped air released, his other lung would collapse, he'd die in seconds. With nothing else to think about Daniel thought about what the situation would be like outside, Meryl and the rest of the staff at the hospital, mostly about Meryl.

Meryl wasn't far from where Daniel was although she didn't know that, when the wave had hit it had caused the shop to collapse, they'd been separated, she'd been thrown clear. Meryl did a quick self-accessment, nothing but cuts and bruises, she stood up and scanned the area for Daniel, she couldn't see him. Her eyes fell on the enormous pile of debris beside her, what had a minute ago been a shop, her heart sank, if he was in there.

Meryl turned to the hospital, she could see Jeff and Gordon attending to patients on the street, with them were some volunteers, they were lifting people onto stretchers. Suddenly she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, they weren't taking those people to casualty, but to the morgue. Meryl started running in the direction of the hospital, she was a nurse, she'd be needed in casualty. Gordon looked up when he heard her approaching, he took in her appearance silently, he knew where she'd been when the wave hit, she was lucky to be alive.

"Go and change into some dry clothes and clean up those cuts." Gordon ordered, "Then report to casualty, Matron's there, I expect she'll tell you to scrub Dr Rose is on his way, you'll be needed in surgery." Meryl nodded and turned to go to the nurses home, Gordon stopped her. "Was Daniel with you?" Meryl didn't answer, she didn't have to, the tears that came to her eyes gave Gordon his answer. "Then go to reception first, Lizzy's making a list of missing people." Without another word Meryl hurried off in the direction of reception, Gordon sighed and turned to look down the road hoping to see Daniel running towards them, he was a good doctor and a good surgeon, they needed him.

An hour later things were Matron thought, as under control as they would ever be. The army had showed up in record time, they had three helicopters in the air, joining the coastguard's and their helicopter, in the rescue attempt. They were also coordinating with the police and the fire brigade to make safe the damaged buildings and to search the debris for survivors. Colonel Bridges was in charge of this crisis, he was with Mr Caldwell in the latter's office, where she had just been. He wanted to look at the lists Lizzy was making, so he could start working up preliminary casualty estimates, one thing was certain, they were going to be high.

So she went to reception to collect the lists Lizzy had been making, the list of the living, the list of the injured, the list of the missing and the list of the dead. It was bedlam in reception, two volunteers were there trying to calm the frightened crowd. These were the other victims of this disaster, the unhurt one's who's homes had been destroyed. Oscar Blaketon had set up a crisis centre in The Rose and Crown pub down the road, he'd phoned all the B&B's in the area, arranging rooms for the homeless, but a lot of B&B's were on the seafront and had also been destroyed, so when unhurt people appeared they sent them to Oscar, when hurt people appeared they took them to casualty or one of the doctor's offices which were now being manned by nurses as all the doctors except Lucy were in theatre. Dead people were taken straight to the morgue.

"Lizzy, can I see those lists you've been making?" Matron asked, Lizzy looked stressed and upset, her makeup was smeared where she had been crying. "Why don't you go and get a cup of tea." Matron told her kindly, "I'll stay here until you get back."

"I'm fine Matron, here are the lists." Lizzy sniffed, just the the telephone rang. "The Royal," Lizzy answered, "Yes, I'll tell him, goodbye."

"A messages for Colonel Bridges, I'll take it." Matron told her, for the first time glancing at the lists. The longest list was injured, coming not far behind tying for second place was missing and dead. Matron glanced down the missing list, her heart missed a beat when she read the name Dr Daniel Travis.

"Ok, that was helicopter one, they just pulled two women out of the water, they say they're teachers from Elsinby Primary, the whole school was on a field trip. Helping them was apparently was fourth and fifth year from Ashfordly High." Matron closed her eyes, could today get any worse, half those kids wouldn't be able to swim. Then another realisation hit her, Tom and Katy were at Elsinby Primary, Charlie was in the fifth year at Ashfordly High. Luckily it looked like Lizzy hadn't remembered that fact, she hoped it stayed that way, as much as she knew that Gordon and Jill should know, she knew that it would affect their work and they needed all the doctors they could get, she'd tell them only if she absolutely had to.

"Right I'll tell him, you keep making those lists, I'll bring these back soon so you can update them, you're doing a great job."

Meanwhile Daniel was starting to panic again, he couldn't see anything and he couldn't hear anything, there was no sounds of a rescue, the air was getting thicker which meant the oxygen was running out, his breathing was getting increasing laboured, if he wasn't found soon he'd die here like this, in agony, alone. He could feel that he was about to cry, he couldn't cry, it would make everything much worse.

Getting control of himself this time was hard, but once he had his breathing under control again he started to remember an article in a medical journal he'd recently. Someone with his injuries, had survived almost twenty-four hours before they were found. That brought a shred of comfort until he remembered that they hadn't been buried alive, they'd been in a car crash, out in the open air. I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

In desperation he started bashing against his prison with his left arm, the only thing of him that was broken, nothing gave, no burst of sunlight, no breeze of fresh air. He was entombed, he was buried alive and soon he'd be just another corpse they'd drag out of the debris in a few days time. He had to stop thinking like that, where there's life there's hope. Meryl will have reported me missing, told them my approximate location. They'll rescue me, I'll be alright. Even as his mind formed the words, he was calling himself a liar.

The only thought that kept him sane at that moment was that Meryl had already been through the pain of losing someone she loved, he couldn't do it to her again. With renewed desperation Daniel resumed bashing against his prison, perhaps someone would hear him, he couldn't just do nothing.

Over in theatre Meryl was struggling to concentrate, she'd reported Daniel missing and given his last known position to Lizzy, why hadn't they found him yet. Or had they, had they found him a broken and shattered corpse and decided not to tell her, thinking it was best in the current situation, she would if she was them.

"Scalpel." Dr Rose held out his hand, trying to push all thoughts of the outside world to the back of her mind, Meryl handed it to him. Gordon could see her pain, it was the not knowing that was the worst. He had never been religious, but at that moment he prayed. He prayed for Daniel's safety and for the safety of everyone else, he prayed that he wouldn't have to declare anybody else DOA, he prayed that never again, should anything so terrible happen again.

Four hours after the wave hit Dr Rose peeled off his gloves for what he thought was the last time today, everybody in the town was now on one list or another and the list of the missing were slowly getting added to the dead. His services were no longer needed as a surgeon, instead he was going to help in casualty, tending to minor injuries, like a GP. Gordon and Jill joined him, Gordon gave Jill a quick visual examination. He hadn't seen her since just after the wave hit, she looked exhausted and stressed, that wouldn't be good for the baby, but what could he do, patients were still pouring in, they needed every doctor they could get.

Jeff headed to reception where Lucy already was, they were checking the lists that Lizzy had made and filling in essential forms, though most of Mr Harpers paperwork had got out the window, Jeff suddenly wondered where Mr Harper was, he would have expected him to be rushing around panicking, so much the better that he wasn't, though he hoped he wasn't hurt. Jeff spied Lucy across reception, she was with an elderly lady, he'd done a lot of thinking in theatre, there was something he had to do.

Jeff took a deep breath, he hadn't wanted it to be like this, he'd had a whole romantic evening planned, but life wasn't like that and right here right now was better than not at all, besides he couldn't wait any longer.

"Dr Klein." he called across a packed reception area, Lucy heard him and looked up from the form she was filling out for an elderly lady. A minute later she arrived at Jeff's side.

"Jeff, what is it, we're kind of in the middle of a disaster here?" Lucy asked him, running her fingers distractedly through her hair.

"Come with me." Jeff took her hand and led her through the crowd down the corridor to his office, which mercifully was empty, the nurse who had manned it had run out of patients and had gone to help in casualty. "Lucy, I realised something tonight, I realised that I'd never really told you how I feel about you, and that if something like today happened again and one of us was right there, that you wouldn't know how much I love you. Marry me?" Lucy opened her mouth in shock, now was not the time for this, however.

"I know, it scared me to. I don't know what I'd do without you Jeff. I'd love to marry you." For the first time since the wave hit Jeff smiled, he leant forward and they shared a brief kiss.

"I left the ring at home, I'd intended on asking you tonight, but I don't know when we're going to get out of here. We should get back." Lucy nodded and holding hands they made their way back to reception.

Five hours after the wave hit Meryl was starting to panic slightly, there was still no sign of Daniel. She went to reception, Lizzy was there, she was on the phone and crying silently.

"Yes, I'll let him know." Lizzy told the person at the other end, hanging up. She then started sobbing, putting her own worries and fears aside, Meryl hugged her.

"What's the matter Lizzy?" Meryl asked when the sobs stopped.

"That was the coastguard, they found out the reason for the tidal wave." Lizzy paused, having trouble forming the words.

"And . ." Meryl prompted her.

"It was an explosion on a north sea oil rig. Massive explosion, blew the whole rig out of the water." Lizzy started crying again. "It was Dave's rig." she sobbed. Meryl closed her eyes, an explosion that caused a tidal wave like they'd had wouldn't leave any survivors.

"Do you want me to go and tell Colonel Bridges?" Lizzy shook her head, now she'd said it once, she could say it again.

"No, I'll do it, can you stay here." Meryl nodded.

"Sure." Lizzy weakly smiled her thanks and left. Meryl picked up the lists, checking the missing first, there were eleven names, Daniel's was one of them. Meryl scanned the rest of the list, her heart skipped a beat when she read the three names that had been scribbled on at the bottom. Tom, Katy and Charlie Omerod, Gordon and Jill didn't know, perhaps it was better that way, they'd be spared the anguish of not knowing that she was going through. Meryl sighed, so many lives, so many families torn apart by today's tragedy. Would Elsinby ever be able to recover?

Six hours after the wave hit everything had pretty much stopped. No more patients were coming in, only bodies. Colonel Bridges came into casualty accompanied by an unsmiling sergeant.

"Staff Nurse Taylor." Colonel Bridges called, Meryl froze and turned to face him.

"Yes."

"You reported Dr Travis missing I understand." Meryl nodded, he's going to me isn't he, that they've found him and he's dead. "I also understand that your a good friend of his." Meryl nodded again. "Right, he's still on the missing list but we suspect he's buried deep under a pile of rubble, the chances of him still being alive, are a million to one. I understand he's not from round here, do you know if he has any next of kin, we need to notify them?" Meryl breathed deeply, if the chances were a million to one, there was still a chance, she couldn't admit to herself that he was dead. Suddenly a soldier appeared, Colonel Bridges moved a short distance away, the soldier whispered something in his ear, there was what looked like a mini argument to Meryl before Colonel Bridges came back over.

"Our rescue teams have reported hearing banging from inside that pile of rubble I was telling you about, now there's no guarantee it's him, but someone's alive under there."

Meanwhile Daniel was about to give up, he'd been banging for hours, his energy was almost spent, it was now with just sheer dogged determination that he kept going. Suddenly his arm stopped, he couldn't make it keep going, will power wasn't enough. Unable to stop it anymore he broke down and sobbed, he was in unimaginable pain, weak from the hours of endurance, he couldn't stand it any longer. The air was all but spent, it was getting harder and harder to breathe, the pressure in his chest was telling him that his chest cavity was almost completely full up with air, that his other lung would soon collapse. He couldn't fight it any longer, he was going to die, he closed his eyes and stopped fighting, falling into an oblivion that was a little like death.

Five minutes later, the pieces of rubble covering Daniel were removed, the fireman looked at him, he looked dead, his face was white, the blood and other dirt covering it emphasizing the fact. He leant in to check for a pulse, convinced it was a lost cause. There was a pulse, it was very faint and almost painfully slow but it was there.

"He's alive, get a doctor." the fireman yelled, one of his team ran off towards The Royal, while the rest redoubled their efforts to completely uncover him. A minute later Gordon and Meryl appeared. The fireman moved aside to let them through.

"Oh my god." Gordon swore upon seeing him, he looked like death itself, he knelt down beside him checking his pulse to make sure the fireman hadn't made a mistake. Meryl just looked at him in shock, she'd imagined him as a shattered corpse, but he looked even worse than what she'd imagined, he couldn't still be alive. Just then Daniel rejoined the world, he could hear noise all around him, they were coming to rescue him, he opened his eyes, gasping in pain as the bright sunlight hurt his eyes after so long in the dark. Blinking hard he could see Gordon leaning over him.

"Gordon." Daniel wheezed, Gordon jumped when he heard it and looked down at Daniel;s face in shock, he hadn't been sure he was still alive, but conscious. Daniel feeling the pressure in his chest almost reaching peak level knew there wasn't time for Gordon to examine him. "Lung punctured . . . need to insert . . chest tube." Daniel gasped, Gordon nodded and turned to Meryl, she handed them to him. Gordon inserted the tube, Daniel who had thought the pain couldn't get any worse had been wrong, he'd almost bitten through his lip by the time the procedure was finished. But instantly the pressure in his chest lifted, it became much easier to breathe. "Crush injuries . . . you need to start . . an IV line of normal saline with . . . with 50 mEq/L of sodium bicarbonate . . . infused at a rate of l.5 liters per hour. . . Several broken ribs . . . and possible . . . possible paralysis. . . . Right arm's broke . . . more than once . . . a compound fracture . . . for sure. . . and bad . . . head injury . . . concussion possible . . . fracture of the . . . skull." Daniel finished, Gordon smiled despite himself. Daniel had self-diagnosised himself brilliantly, not leaving anything out, hardly needed him at all.

"Alright, let's get the back board in. Be very careful." Gordon ordered the waiting firemen. With great care, they got Daniel on a stretcher and rushed him back to The Royal, where Dr Rose and Jeff were scrubbing ready to go, Daniel needed emergency surgery.

When they got there Gordon and Meryl tried to follow Daniel into the OR, they wanted to get scrubbed, so that in some way they could help, Colonel Bridges stopped them.

"I don't think that's a good idea do you?" he asked them, he guided them to Mr Caldwell's office where Jill was waiting, the unsmiling sergeant had asked her to come here, she didn't know why.

"Gordon?" she asked, when she saw him, without answering her, he moved over and hugged her, thanking every god he knew that she wasn't hurt, that she wasn't the on lying on that operating table. Meryl sat in the corner, numbness and shock enveloping her, Matron sensing this went and comforted her, remembering when she'd had to do that before and hoping against hope that she wouldn't again. Colonel Bridges sat down in Mr Caldwell's chair, Gordon and Jill sat down in the chairs opposite, uncertain as to why they were here. Colonel Bridges didn't know where to begin.

"Dr Omerod, Dr Weatherall, I don't want recriminations, I made the decision not to tell you, I believe it was the right decision under the circumstances."

"Wait a minute, what are you saying?" Gordon interrupted, paling slightly.

"There was a school trip today . ."

"Oh god no." Gordon closed his eyes and put his arm round Jill.

"The whole of Elsinby Primary were on the beach, as was the fourth and fifth year of Ashfordly High, to help out. All the children except three have now been recovered." Colonel Bridges paused, not adding that some of them hadn't made it. "Those three are the only names still on the missing list. Thomas, Katherine and Charlotte Omerod. Now as they're all missing together, I'm hopeful we'll find them."

"Tom can't swim." Gordon whispered, his voice cracking.

"Yes well I'm hopeful, all five choppers are still up and are canvassing the area, as are search teams along the beach, we'll find them." Gordon held Jill close, and they sat there, not moving, not knowing what to do. Colonel Bridges for his part had never felt so bad, today was the worst day of his life so far, he'd had to countless people that their loved ones were dead, he'd have to tell many more before it was over. It was all such a tragic accident, an accident that had claimed approximately five hundred lives so far and would probably claim more.

Colonel Bridges left Mr Caldwell's office, he'd asked his sergeant to gather the rest of the staff together in casualty, he had to give them some words of comfort, there wouldn't be a person there that didn't know someone that had died or was gravely injured. Walking in he looked at them all, they looked tired, not just in body but in spirit, he could see some of them had been crying.

"I don't know if all of you know who I am. I'm Colonel Bridges, commander of the local army base. I've been in command of this crisis. First of all I want to congratulate you all on a job well done, you did your jobs under the most difficult of circumstances and saved many lives. The three lists are pretty complete, the list of the living, the list of the injured and the list of the dead. We have just three missing people left now, we're hopeful that they will soon be recovered alive. What happened today . . ."

Seven hours after the wave hit Charlie was starting to panic, she'd been walking with Tom and Katy when it had hit. She'd managed to keep hold of them when they'd been washed out to sea, when they'd finally surfaced she couldn't see land or any other people. She'd got Katy to tread water and had taught Tom how, all the while listening for the sound of a helicopter. Darkness had started to set in four hours ago, which she knew would impede the search for them.

Tom had collapsed with exhaustion three hours ago, Katy an hour ago, she didn't how long she could keep treading water for, particularly now she was supporting both Katy and Tom. She knew they couldn't survive out here much longer, the north sea in the summer was cold enough, but in February spending longer than an hour in the water meant a risk of hypothermia. Charlie couldn't feel how cold she was because what it did was lower your internal body temperature, it was deceptive, you'd think you were warm but you weren't. They couldn't survive the night that was for sure. Charlie thought of Jill and Gordon and hoped they were ok, that The Royal was alright.

"Come on you two, let's er, let's talk." Charlie said, she could see that Tom was close to losing consciousness, if he did was like a death sentence.

"What about Charlie?" Katy asked faintly.

"I don't know um, we need to keep our spirits up. We could sing, it would be out of tune but who cares, there's nobody around to hear us." Charlie wracked her brain for a song they'd know, only probably it was slow and sluggish, it didn't want to work. "Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew. . ." Charlie started off, they loved the candyman film, Tom smiled weakly.

"cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two." he added

"All together now." Charlie smiled encouragingly.

"the Candyman can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good..." Help better get here soon, Charlie thought darkly.

Ten hours after the wave hit, Daniel was wheeled out of surgery towards a side ward. Meryl had been sitting outside the operating room for the last two hours with Matron. Gordon and Jill were in Gordon's office, waiting for news. The helicopters were still up, still searching, stopping only to land refuel and change crews, everything humanly possible was being done to find them, but Gordon couldn't kid himself. They would have been in the water coming up on ten hours now, survival rates for that, weren't great.

"Dr Rose?" Meryl stood up, Dr Rose came over lighting his pipe up.

"I'm not going to lie to you Staff, he's in pretty bad shape. He made it through surgery but beyond that I can't say, his injuries were extensive. The next twenty-four hours will tell." Dr Rose clapped a hand on her shoulder, wishing he could give her better news, she'd already been through this once, twice wasn't fair, it just wasn't cricket.

"Can I sit with him?" Meryl asked.

"Of course." Dr Rose replied, he then left, he'd had a very long and exhausting day, tomorrow would be better. Matron followed Meryl to the side ward, she was going to sit with her, she couldn't let her sit alone.

Meanwhile in the north sea Charlie was close to giving up, she'd managed to keep Katy and Tom awake for as long as she could, they'd both lost consciousness about ten minutes ago. She could feel her own eyelids threaten to close, she started going under, then in the distance she could hear the sound of a helicopter, it was coming this way, it had a searchlight.

"Over here." Charlie shouted, "Over here." it was useless, they couldn't hear her, they were turning away and leaving. "Hey over here." Charlie yelled, then the searchlight turned and suddenly it was on them.

"This is the coastguard. Don't worry, we're going to winch you up." a voice said over the loudspeaker, Charlie could have wept with relief.

'Ring ring. Ring, ring.' the phone at The Royal rang. Jill and Gordon could hear it, it's noise reverberating around the corridors, they stiffened and sat their waiting as they had for the last four hours. Then they heard a knock at the door, Colonel Bridges entered, he was smiling.

"All three of them have just been picked up. They're suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and exposure, but Dr Alway tells me he think's they'll be fine, they're on their way back now. There's someone who want's to talk to you on line one." Hearing this good news Jill broke down and sobbed with relief, Gordon held her close and picked up the phone.

"Gordon Omerod" he answered, tension in his voice.

"Dad, it's great to your voice." Charlie told him, Gordon smiled, she'd never called him dad before.

"And yours." he replied, his voice husky, he knew he was on the verge of crying.

"We're twenty minutes out so break out the hot chocolate huh."

"Will do." Gordon promised.

"Thanks dad."

The End. In next weeks episode . . .

12/12 Someday

A tragedy occurs and Daniel and Meryl's future is undecided. The last in the series of the rural medical drama.