Chapter Fifteen

Ethan sat inside the Starbucks, caramel latte with the syrup in his hands. This was yet another service stop, as Lily once again rushed to the bathroom, before ordering another hot chocolate. Silently laughing to himself, Lily would have thought she learnt her lesson not to order sugary drinks at every service stop.

Although, he wasn't sure why Iain kept on driving to the service stops every time they approached one. But the second he stopped at one, Lily jumped out of the car and ran towards the ladies' room.

"Why did you not talk her out of ordering those hot chocolates?" Ethan asked him to which Iain laughs.

"It makes her happy," Iain explained, "She's my world, and I owe her everything. I have to look after her, now of all times, especially after what she's done for me."

Ethan never did figure out what Iain had meant by that.

But watching from the window, he groaned as he saw Iain and Lily gently swaying outside. Iain was drawing circles around Lily's waist with his thumbs, whilst Lily wrapped her arms around Iain's neck, resting her chin against his shoulder as she closed her eyes gently, taking in the January breeze. The sight of them said it all for Ethan.

They were happy.

They were in love.

They were together.

Ethan gently closed his eyes. Why didn't he suggest they'd get a fourth ticket for that convention? Why didn't he suggest that Alicia would have a shopping day whilst they were at the convention? Why didn't he talk Lily out of going when it wasn't really her thing?

Ethan suddenly opened his eyes, taking in the scenery. Looking down, he suddenly realised that he was holding a bunch of daisies in his hand, the one not in a sling. Turning his gaze in front of him, he suddenly saw the water walking towards him, before it once again walked away from him. Watching the sea, Ethan suddenly noticed that the clouds had covered up the land from the other side of the sea. Did that mean that it'll rain here as well as over there?

Turning to one side, Ethan suddenly noticed a sandcastle was sadly abandoned by someone. Remembering the conversation on the weekend, he immediately thought of Iain and Lily working together to build the sandcastle, with Lily using a pen lid from her bag, adding the brick detail onto one of the towers, to Iain's amusement. Ethan suddenly watched as the sea brush against the sand of the castle. The vision of Iain and Lily standing up to back away from the sea came into sight for Ethan, before seeing the two take their shoes off and let the sea brush over their toes.

There was a time last week that Ethan was annoyed that Iain and Lily were side by side throughout the whole weekend. He honesty wished that Alicia was there with them, maybe then he'd have some company.

Now, Ethan was relieved Alicia wasn't there that day. Not wanting to think what could have easily happen to her if she was there.


Jan held the eraser in her hand, still shaking as she looked at Iain's name on the board. How could she remove his name? If it weren't for some irresponsible teenager, he'd still be in work, annoying her before she had her first coffee of the day. Maybe he would have told her about the news about little baby Dean.

That's what broke her heart the most.

Iain knew that Lily was pregnant at the time of their sad deaths. Would they have waited a while before making the announcement? Would anyone had noticed any unusual signs that Lily was experiencing? Would Lily's child be a boy or a girl?

That was the horrible part of the story.

Thanks to that accident, Iain and Lily would never get the chance to become parents to that little one.

Jan was about to snap out of her thoughts when she noticed Sam looking at her phone. Something that she had been doing all morning. Normally she'd be lifting weights or doing push ups. Seeing her on her phone was a first.

"You're okay?" Jan walked over to her, "Normally, you'd be lifting weights."

"Normally Iain would be here, winding everyone up," Sam whispered, "Sorry, I've been trying to look at laws regarding funeral arrangements. Iain and Lily need to be laid to rest with each other."

"And what's stopping that?" Jan asked confused, "They were a couple madly in love with each other. They should be together."

"Try telling Lily's mum that," Sam muttered setting her phone down, "She was blaming Iain for what has happened, even though there was a second car involved."

Jan's eyes widened with this revelation! So, Iain who was dying with the love of his life, was going to be laid to rest on his own? And where was Lily's mother planning on burying her daughter, knowing it would break the hearts of so many. How could her mother consider the devastation? Was she aware that Iain was going to propose to Lily a few days ago?

Closing her eyes, Jan suddenly remembered Ffion's sister Eva. The pain that Eva went through when her daughter Millie was killed in a road traffic collision. Jan remembered Eva having a go at Millie's best friend as she was driving the car. That was until it was revealed that the person in the second car had been texting behind the wheel whilst she was driving. Even with that, Eva never apologised to Millie's best friend.

The words to Jan still haunted her.

It was always easier to blame anyone for what had happened.

That was what Lily's mother was doing. Blaming Iain for the accident, since she didn't know exactly who was driving that second car. With Iain being gone, and at the driver's seat, it would be easy to lay the blame on him. Jan wondered if the teenager responsible gets found out, would Lily's mother still blame Iain for what had happened? Or would her anger get directed at the girl responsible?

Jan still remembered Eva explaining to her that Millie's death was caused by someone not paying attention, all because they were on their phone.


This morning, Ethan vowed to walk it to the seaside. Alicia didn't even know he was here, but he knew he needed to be here to set up a memorial for them.

He didn't think laying the flowers outside the ED was a good idea. Iain and Lily were both still alive when they were brought in. Even though it was the place where the two of them first met, it was also the place where the two of them breathed their last breath. It was too much being there. Not to mention, it will be a matter of time before someone removes the memorial. It might have already been removed.

Going to the sight at Harrington Road was out of the question as well. Ethan wouldn't have been able to drive to the site with a broken arm, plus he didn't think he would step into a car ever again. Being in Alicia's car brought the memories of the accident back. The memory of Iain slamming the brakes as hard as he could, not realising that the car driving into them was doing so at a fast pace.

Ethan's memory of that afternoon became clearer after every night. Last night, he remembered that the pillar where Lily's seat belt was fixed, caved in. It rendered Lily's seatbelt to be useless, meaning that she wasn't fully protected against the impact. The night before, he remembered the roof being crushed as the car rolled onto the top of the car, smashing the front window, covering both Iain and Lily with broken shards.

There was no way he'd want to go back to Harrington Road. He couldn't. The vision of what happened to Iain and Lily was too much for Ethan to cope with. There were times that he was in shock to hear about their deaths, that Ethan had almost forgotten that he was in the car himself.

But he wanted to set a memorial somewhere. Somewhere where there were no bad memories, or sad memories, or scary memories.

The seaside was the ideal location. It was twenty minutes away from Iain and Lily's flat, so Ethan remembered the two often talking about going there for an ice-cream by the shore, or that they were going to sit down on the sand to relax after a stressful day at work, or to just walk along the sea front, holding their shoes in the hand not holding each other's. This was the place Iain and Lily were at their happiest moments together.

So, it was only fitting for Ethan to place the daisies here.

"You're okay?" Ethan's thoughts were brought back to the present when he heard a voice.

Turning to his left, he found a young woman standing in front of him. The wind wasn't strong enough to blow her plaited blonde hair, clearly set up too tight. Her big, black, square-frame glasses surrounded her eyes, Ethan suddenly noticed that one eye was a slightly greener colour than her other eye. Her yellow jumper was also complimented by her black, puffy sleeveless overcoat, matching her navy jeans. She didn't seem cold considering it was nearing the end of January.


"There has to be a way," Sam exclaimed to Jan, "If Lily's mum gets her way, then Iain will be all alone. What friend would I be if I let that happen to him? What friend would I be to everyone? Iain and Lily, we need to remember them when they're together."

"I wished there was something," Jan mentioned, "But maybe there is. Did Iain and Lily name an executor for their will? It's then that person's responsibility."

"We think Lily had named Iain to be executor," Sam answered, keeping her eyes on her phone to find anyway of overturning Mrs Chao's decision.

"Except she didn't."

Jan and Sam looked up to find Ruby standing at the doorframe. Neither of them realised how long she was standing there for, and how much of the conversation she had heard.

"How much of that have you've heard?" Sam asked her.

"Enough to know that Lily's mother had no right to make the final decision," Ruby explained, walking to the sofa, "Do you remember the time Lily was locked in the room with that woman, I think her name was Allison? She was hell-bent on murdering Lily because she unfairly blamed her for her son's death."

"Mrs Ellison. I heard her son killed Ethan's brother," Jan mentioned, "We were all worried for Lily."

"Yeah," Ruby mentioned, "I overheard a conversation after the ordeal was taken care of. It was between Lily and Iain. Lily had asked Iain to be the executor of her will should anything happen to her. But Iain declined to do so."

"Why?" Sam asked her.

"He didn't want to picture a future without her in it," Ruby recalled, "He even told Lily, that if one of them was to die before the other, he'd rather it was him as he didn't want to go on without her. Iain told Lily he couldn't be the executor, because he couldn't bear the thought of losing her."

Jan brought both her hands to her mouth, unable to fathom what she was hearing. If Iain wasn't the executor to begin with, then what can they do to have the two stay together?

"Lily told Iain not to think like that," Ruby began to choke up, "She then said something to him. I'll never forget what she said to him, but it's too painful to echo those words. It was at that moment, Iain suggested to Lily that they name someone to be the executor for both their wills and Lily agreed to it, knowing that the executor they chose will take each other's wishes to their consideration."

Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing. Lily never named Iain as her executor and vice versa. Then that means, whoever it was must have already spoken to Lily and Iain's solicitors. They may have already started making plans about the funerals.

"Ruby," Sam whispered, "Do you know who they named as the executor?"


Ethan settled himself onto the bench, the woman with the plait sitting on the other side. She tilted her glasses up, resting them on the top of her head instead of on her ears. The only sounds that the two could hear was not only the wind, but each other's breathing as not one of them spoken a single word.

The young woman took a deep breath, inhaling then exhaling.

"You've brought daisies for someone special?" she asked.

"Two close friends of mine," Ethan answered, "He was planning on proposing to her on Monday."

"What's happened?" she sighed, wiping a tear from her eye, "Did things change?"

"There was," Ethan couldn't even bring himself to say the words, "Something happened. I was there when it happened. The day before, he told me he was going to propose to her. Later that day, I saw them all loved up. She didn't even know what was going to happen the day after. Now she'll, she'll."

The young woman suddenly choked up. This man must have been talking about the crash at Harrington Road…the crash that killed her two neighbours and closest friends.

Now Sally McVay was hearing that the two were loved two, Lily must have told Iain that she knew about the proposal. She must have done. Why else would they have been so happy and in love?

"There's more to the story," Sally asked him, "Wasn't there?"

"Yeah," Ethan mentioned, "I hated the weekend away. They were so happy and in love. He pulled me to one side, normally it would be tradition to ask the father for his daughter's hand in marriage. But her father died three years ago, so he asked me instead for permission to marry her," Ethan turned to face her, "He even had the ring, promised me that he was going to hide somewhere where she'd never find it. During the journey back, he pulled up at every service stop. She got out straight away, even went as far as to buy hot chocolates every single time. But when I was taking my time, I kept watching them through the window, arms wrapped around each other, kissing, laughing. A part of me wondered if she knew he was planning to propose to her. I felt so annoyed with the two of them. It's never fun being a third wheel, I wished I'd brought my girlfriend with me. I'm glad I didn't know."

"You weren't to know what was going to happen," Sally reassured him, "It wasn't your fault."

"Why do I feel like it?" Ethan sobbed to her, "Why do I sleep with visions of it happening? I can hear them shouting each other's names, grabbing each other's hand, looking at each other. I grabbed onto the handle of the car, pushing myself away from the window. My only concern was if I was going to die. Their concern was would the other be okay. How selfish am I?"

"You're not selfish," Sally whispered, taking his hand, "You're still in shock after what's happened. No one could have seen what was going to happen," she suddenly closed her eyes, "Did you manage to talk to anyone about what happened?"

"I did," Ethan whispered, "But it was before I've found out that they didn't pull through. I mentioned about the person I reckon was responsible, but that was all. I don't want to be a bother, everyone at work are all devastated and in shock with what happened."

"Yeah," Sally sighed, "She was a good doctor."

"She was," Ethan smiled, before his eyes widened, "How did you know she was a doctor?"

Sally wiped her eyes, "Because she was my friend too," now she started to cry, "Lily was the first person I met when I moved into my flat. When I found out she was a doctor, we found a common bond, talking and discussing our working lives."

Ethan suddenly remembered Lily had bought an Eevee plushie for someone. A GP who lived next door to her and Iain, who quickly became fast friends with the couple. Lily had even suggested she joined them for a study session to help Ethan revise for his consultancy exams, with some knowledge for the human body, having seen a lot in General Practice.

"I'm so sorry," Ethan apologised to her, "I didn't realise."

"Don't apologise," she turned to him, "You've done nothing wrong."

"Then why do I feel like it?" Ethan sighed.

"Have you've been to see someone about this?" Sally asked him, concerned, "A GP? Or a counsellor?"

"I don't like to talk about my feelings," Ethan mentioned, "I know what's caused them."

"But they can delve deeper for you," Sally assured him, taking out a card for him, "This is the counselling services, they have counsellors specially trained in grief counselling. You don't have to give them a call, but I think it may help you. But please note, you are not alone in this."

Ethan took the card from her, placing it in his pocket.

Would it be right that he would be able to move on from what had happened?

After all, Lily and Iain can't.


"When we were at Iain's flat, we met this young woman," Ruby explained, "Her name's Sally. Iain and Lily had friends outside the ED, Sally was their neighbour and close friend. She was devastated when she heard what happened, and she let us take what we needed. I think Iain and Lily named her as the executor."

"I've heard about her," Sam mentioned, "She works as a GP down West Holby Medical Practice. I've only met her walking past, but Lily was often at hers and she was often at Lily and Iain's. It wouldn't past me if Iain and Lily named her as executor. She seemed like the ideal choice."

"I'm going back with Gem next week," Ruby explained, "They've given her three months to clear out the flat on compassionate grounds."

"No need," Sam mentioned, "We need to ask her before Mrs Chao makes any arrangements. Next week is too long."

Sam didn't want to cause upset to Sally, knowing that she was a trustworthy friend to both Lily and Iain. But it would be too painful for everyone to have Lily and Iain separated at their final resting place. Even if Sally wasn't the executor of their wills, she may have some information over who is. But the longer they held it off, the sooner Mrs Chao will already have decided.

"Ruby," Sam whispered, "I know this would sound painful, but what did you hear Lily tell Iain?"

Ruby knew these words would sound painful. She remembered just walking into the ambulance station when she saw Iain stroking Lily's hair as they rested on the floor of the ambulance station. It seemed rude to had overhear them, but she knew how scared Iain was when Lily was in there with Mrs Ellison, alone. Her words to Iain now, seemed to be more hurtful than comforting. Ruby even knew that neither Iain nor Lily were aware of her being there.

"She told Iain," Ruby explained, knowing that she needed to get her words out of her chest, "I'd rather die with you, than live the rest of my life without you."


Ethan and Sally knelt onto the sand, laying each daisy onto the wet sand, knowing that the waves would carry them into the sea. This was the ideal location to set the memorial, knowing that Iain and Lily would love nothing more than to see how far they could go before giving up and walking back to shore.

Ethan was thankful Sally was there, even grateful that she supported him in standing up when he realised that it was so difficult to pick himself up with one hand. It made everything seem a bit easier.

The two later heard screams of delight, however. Turning around, Ethan suddenly noticed a man on one knee, sliding a ring on the finger of a young woman, before standing up to lift her up in his arms and kiss her. Closing his eyes, then opening them, he suddenly saw Iain swing Lily around in the air, before pulling her in for a kiss. After blinking for a second time, it was that young couple again.

"Sally," Ethan whispered, "Do you think Lily would have said yes?"

"Ethan," Sally whispered back, "She was definitely going to say yes."


I don't know why, but I felt as if this chapter's a bit too messy. I've had a busy few months so I felt as if this chapter had been rushed. I am going to involve Connie and Grace for the next chapter as I have been debating on Grace's fate.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know it's not the best chapter.