Dancingwithmyshadow6: Thank you, I thought it was a good way to ease into it. Enjoy this chapter.

A: I try and update as much as I possibly can. Sometimes it's hard but I manage it. Thanks for your very kind review :-)

heather curtis-rich: It was. More Iain and Lily interaction to come!

Chapter Three

Lily didn't sleep a single wink that night. Every time she closed her eyes, she was distracted at the thought of how Archie had treated her. She just thanked the fact that Iain had been walking by or she might not have made it home alive.

She knew that was an awful thing to assume, but it had been dark, and who knows who you'd bump into? The world was an awful place, anything could have happened. Lily didn't want to think about the things which could've happened.

Even if Lily did have a late start, she was still tired. Surviving on three hours sleep wasn't the best idea in the world and she knew that if she didn't have work then she would be able to grab a few more hours. Unfortunately, though, just thinking about missing work caused the guilt to rise up inside of her and she knew that she would never be able to forgive herself if she called in sick.

She examined her weary self in the mirror and ran a brush through her tangled hair. She didn't look like the normal Lily Chao, but it was nothing that a slap of make-up couldn't fix. She yawned and chucked her hairbrush onto the bed, making a quick grab for her make-up bag. She applied her lipstick carefully, slapped some foundation on and quickly coated her eyelashes with some mascara.

"That will have to do," Lily sighed, not overly happy with her appearance, but feeling conscious of time.

Checking herself in the mirror again, she grabbed her handbag and slipped on a pair of black, ankle boots. She often wore them when she wanted to feel comfortable but also look sophisticated as well. She headed into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and left for work without any breakfast.

Although hungry, breakfast was the last thing on her mind. She ended up driving to work, completely distracted by the constant rumbling of her stomach. Maybe she should have eaten something. Even so, she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Hey Lily," Ethan greeted, when she entered the ED. He was early, as usual. "We missed you at the pub yesterday."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't make it," she said, her eyes shifty. They were full of sadness and uncertainty. "Maybe next time."

"Sure," he agreed and gave her a nod. "Of course."

Ethan was her best friend and even he didn't notice that there was something wrong. Was there something wrong, though? Really, she had no reason to be upset. She had a boyfriend who she loved and he'd only been angry with her because she'd messed up in the first place, she'd been the one to let him down. She knew that she had to apologise and made sure to send him one via text before locking her belongings away for the rest of her shift. She couldn't risk Connie catching her with her phone again.

She sighed heavily and glanced at her watch, realising that she had a whole two minutes left before she actually clocked in. That was a whole two minutes to down a coffee and wake herself up. What was wrong with her today? Lily Chao did not get tired, Lily Chao did not try and waste time to get out of working. She blamed it on the lack of sleep and made her way across to the shop.

"Hi Lily," Gem greeted her, a natural smile on her face. "The usual, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lily repeated in a quiet voice. "No milk, though, please. I'll take it black."

"Are you sure?" Gem grimaced at just the thought of drinking black coffee. She'd always preferred it sweet.

"Positive," Lily said, handing over some money that she'd shoved into her pocket. "Thank you."

"How are you anyway?" Gem asked as she prepared the hot drink for Lily. "You look tired."

"Is it that noticeable?" Lily managed a small smile and sighed to herself. "Why do you think I'm having my coffee black this morning?"

"Point taken," Gem laughed, and handed the drink over to her. "Well, enjoy."

"I'll try," Lily said and had a sip, trying to ignore the fact that it did actually taste disgusting. "Have a good day, Gem," she said and walked away.

As soon as she was away from the shop, she chucked the coffee straight into the bin. How did she possibly think that it would help wake her up? It tasted awful and in fact just made her feel sick. She clutched at the stethoscope that hung around her neck and tried to take deep breaths, wondering if Archie had replied to her text yet. Would he forgive her?

Tears stung her eyes but she quickly blinked them back, making sure that her mascara wouldn't run and cause her to look like a panda. The sound of Cal shouting for help made her snap out of her trance and she quickly hurried towards his voice.

He was kneeling on the pavement outside the entrance, supporting a woman who was fitting violently on the ground.

"What happened, Doctor Knight?" Lily asked and sprung into action.

"She was complaining of stomach pains earlier," Cal informed the registrar. "I was just getting her to come back into the ED so that we could examine her, but she refused. She then collapsed and started fitting. It's been going on for a while now, almost five minutes."

"And you didn't think to grab someone sooner?" Lily snapped. "Just when I thought you were growing out of your incompetence!"

"Lily, I am still your senior and I'd rather you didn't speak to me like that," Cal argued, frowning at her before looking back at the fitting lady. "This woman needs our help so let's just focus on that, yeah?"

"I wouldn't need to speak to you like that if you weren't totally useless," Lily shouted.

Cal glanced across at Lily out of the corner of his eye. Right now the patient was their main problem but in the back of his mind, he wondered why Lily was being much ruder than usual. It was probably nothing, though, he thought.

Lily pushed open the door to the staff room and sat down on the sofa. She sighed and sniffed, whilst running her hands down her face. How could she have been so stupid? The woman looked no older than thirty, surely they could have done something to save her.

"It happens," Cal said, knowing exactly what Lily was thinking about as he followed her into the room. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over it."

"We couldn't save her," Lily whispered.

"We're doctors," Cal said, almost as if Lily needed reminding. "Sometimes we save lives, sometimes we can't manage it. We chose to do it, though, Lily. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't expect to save everyone. You should use this. Use it to make yourself a better doctor."

Lily shrugged her shoulders. She'd used that phrase before on Iain but hearing it from someone else didn't make her feel any better.

"Grab yourself a coffee," Cal said. "We all know how you get when you overwork yourself, and quite frankly you look exhausted."

"Don't you hate me?" Lily asked.

"Why would I?" Cal scoffed, frowning at her.

"Because of the way I snapped at you earlier," Lily said quietly.

"No, Lily," Cal sighed. "I don't hate you. We were both scared."

And with that, he gave her a small smile, before leaving the room. Tears stung Lily's eyes and she started to scratch at her arms anxiously without realising. She stopped and folded her arms, looking down at the long, white lines that she'd created with her nails. She sucked in a breath and thought about her mobile hidden at the very back of her locker.

Cal clearly did hate her. It was obvious, and she'd caused that because she couldn't watch her mouth. What if Archie hated her too?