Thank you for the lovely response to this story! I just wanted to let you know that although a lot of the storylines might be inspired by what happens to the characters in the episode, that doesn't mean the same things will happen. So it might be better not to assume that no-one will die.

Bonnie Sveen Fan, thank you for your review - I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. I know a lot of people like Zoe (and so do I), so I thought she should be one of the ones to return.

20BlueRoses, thank you for your review. I'm really glad you're enjoying this so far. This story won't necessarily follow the episode, but I hope you'll still like it. I decided to make it an ensemble cast as I kept thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong for the characters in the Series 31 opener but fortunately didn't!

X-Sammii-X, the episode was so sad and emotional! I'm really hoping the next episode will be set immediately after the last one as a lot could change in a week. It's sad Rita left, but I'm really glad she left in the way she did rather than being killed off. I really hope Tilly will come back too! Thank you for your review.

CBloom2, thank you for your review. I'm really glad you're enjoying this so far. I'm hoping to put lots of Cal and Ethan in this story - I enjoy writing about the whole cast, but those two will always be my favourites!

LittleBritishPerson, I wish more people had come back for Charlie's anniversary - it was really interesting seeing Josh as I didn't know him and it's always good to see Duffy, but do wish there had been more. Though at least it meant they all stayed safe! Thank you for your review and your congratulations. I hope I will write 50 more!

InfinityAndOne, thank you for your review and your congratulations! I'm hoping my 'anniversary' will go better than Charlie's! That's true - if they'd brought more people back, it would have been ended up being about three hours long! Though that wouldn't necessarily have been a bad thing. I really hope this lives up to your expectations.

Tanith Panic, thank you for your review and your pm. I'm sad Rita left so suddenly, but perhaps she will get the chance to build bridges, though I think she will be very busy for a while! Ethan behaving like Cal has gone on too long... you know how much I miss the old Ethan! And the differences between them are part of the fun. And yes, they're reasonably all right-looking, I suppose. I was sad too not to see a message from Lofty after all the rumours, but I hope this will help a bit.

Thank you to Gingersnaps2507, FloraXHelia4ever, X-Sammii-X, Strizzy, InfinityAndOne, and Elle A Kay for the follows and favourites.

There was something different about the ED.

Zoe didn't know what it was. It looked the same, other than some scaffolding that had been put up near the ambulance station. It sounded and smelled the same. But there was a sharp, tangible feeling in the air.

Perhaps it was nerves.

She could see a couple of figures standing by the nurse's station. One of them might have been Ethan; the other looked familiar, but Zoe couldn't place her. A movement caught her eye and she saw someone striding through the doors, a cigarette hanging from his lips and his lighter in his hand.

This person Zoe had no difficulties in recognising. He knew who she was instantly too. His feet stuttered to a halt and he stared, his cigarette dropping to the ground. His lips moved, framing her name.

They both started moving at the same time, coming to an awkward stop when they were just seconds from touching; staring at one another but not speaking.

Max…

He didn't look happy, but Zoe found she wasn't disappointed. How could she be, when he was gazing at her so intently? He still wanted her. As much as she wanted him.

"I need to talk to you," said Max.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked softly; anxiously, as she silently hoped the problem wasn't her.

Max looked at her for a moment. His mouth twitched slightly, but not with amusement. "Not here," he said at last.

Zoe nodded. If Max was taking her inside, she'd have to forego the cigarette she was beginning to crave - but Max was upset and nothing else mattered.

Lily leaned against the wall, her face turned away from the others. They weren't looking at her and probably weren't aware of her. Despite all her efforts, Lily still didn't fit in. It saddened her more than she ever wanted to admit, but there had been one consolation: Ethan. He might not want to be her husband, but at least he still wanted to be her friend.

Until now. Lily could see Ethan through the window, standing beside Alicia. Lily guessed he'd gone to comfort the locum, but she knew his feelings were far stronger than that.

She would have been upset and jealous, but right now, it didn't seem to matter and she missed Ethan only because she longed for a friend to comfort her; a friend whom she could comfort in return.

Lily had always admired Connie tremendously, as she believed they all did, and although she had no particular liking for Grace – connecting with children was even more difficult for Lily than connecting with adults – it always upset her to see a child fighting for their life. Lily would have said she had little imagination, but she had often dreamed of holding a baby in her arms, knowing that the tiny bundle of love depended upon her utterly.

Lily's eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away before anyone could notice. She didn't want to cry when it was so much worse for Connie.

She also didn't want to cry because she was afraid no-one would care.

The train finally drew into Holby Station. The delay time had been extended from twenty-two minutes to thirty-five; then forty-one, but finally, she was here. Rita had nearly given up on many occasions. More than once, she'd began the walk to the opposite platform, but something had always made her turn around.

She'd spent much of the journey wondering if this was what she really wanted. To be back with the others, who despised her. To be back with Iain, who might have brought a date. To be back in the place where it had all gone so horribly wrong.

But then she'd remembered Charlie.

Charlie, the one person who hadn't wanted her to go; who'd even asked her to promise to come back.

He was the reason she had to do this, no matter how much she might get hurt.

Cal suspected not much time had passed. It felt like hours but had probably been minutes. Cal felt exhausted and overwrought. Almost almost every ounce of his energy was focused on keeping himself calm and upright; stopping himself from collapsing onto the floor in helpless tears.

It was supposed to be such a special day.

Cal looked at Ethan in desperate hope that he would finish talking to Alicia and come inside, but he hadn't moved. Cal felt a yearning for his brother so powerful he almost ran out after him, but something held him back.

Fear.

Ethan was so different now. All he ever thought about was drinking and girls and dancing and whilst all of those activities were very high on Cal's list of favourite things to do and he'd always longed to share his interests with his brother, the reality was heartbreaking.

Cal had fun with Ethan, but despite all the time they spent together, he felt they were drifting apart. Being Ethan was like looking into a mirror (or not quite like that as Cal usually enjoyed looking into mirrors) and sometimes Cal couldn't see the real Ethan at all. Just an imitation of himself - and not a terribly good one.

He wanted to be with Ethan now. He wanted to hear Ethan's voice, telling him everything would be okay and they would get through it together. Or even telling Cal to stop thinking about himself and think of Connie and Grace: Cal would even welcome that because at least it would be Ethan.

I need you, Ethan…

But it really doesn't look like you need me.

Lofty didn't think he'd been away for that long. Less than six months, he was sure. But looking around the ED waiting room, he didn't know anyone.

He didn't know the man sitting at reception. He didn't know the shy-looking man in scrubs who spoke softly and hesitantly to the receptionist, though it did cross his mind that it could be David. Robyn talked about David quite a lot.

The conversation between the possible David and the receptionist looked like it could continue for some time. Lofty decided not to interrupt. He knew his way around, after all. He could find Dylan on his own.

Or could he?

Lofty was halfway down a corridor when it hit him.

He hadn't heard anything about Dylan for some time.

Robyn's texts and phone calls, at one time nothing but the latest gossip, were too full of David and Glen to make room for anyone else. Max alternated between talking about Zoe and talking about lots of girls who weren't Zoe, just to prove how over Zoe he was.

Now Lofty and Zoe had gone, no-one was close to Dylan. If he'd left the department, would anyone even have mentioned it?

There had been a very large turnover of staff this year. Zoe, Rita, Big Mac, Jack and Dixie had all gone, as well as Lofty himself, with a lot of new people replacing them. It would have been easy to forget someone and perhaps Robyn had. Perhaps Dylan had also gone.

Perhaps Lofty had left it too late to try to make it up to him.

Iain checked on Grace again – not that he'd really stopped checking on her. Her stats were fairly stable but not at all what Iain wanted them to be; what Connie needed them to be. Iain spoke to Grace reassuringly, telling her they'd be there soon and she'd see her mum, but he was just talking rubbish really. It was true they'd be there soon, but he'd seen the state Connie was in.

He'd seen the state Grace was in too.

"Not far to go now, Grace," he said awkwardly. Jez was much better with little kids than he was, perhaps because Jez had a similar mental age to most of them, but Jez had gone in the ambulance with Connie. "You've done really well, okay? Your mum's going to be proud. And so's your dad. And Jacob."

He glanced out of the window and saw, to his surprise, that they really were nearly there. The hospital lay below them. Looking at it gave Iain a sense of comfort. It was the place where Grace would finally receive the treatment she needed, but it was also the place where Iain had finally been able to relax and find himself again.

"I can see the hospital," he told Grace. "It looks pretty good. Apart from the scaffolding that Jez keeps nearly walking into because he's a dozy little..." He broke off and substituted the word in his mind with something more appropriate. "…idiot." Iain checked Grace's stats again and saw they'd improved, just a little.

Iain allowed some of the tension to drain from his shoulders.

They were so nearly there and Grace was still with them. Perhaps everything would be all right.

Alicia just wanted him to leave.

She'd been grateful at first. Grateful that one person had cared enough to follow her, but now she wanted him to go. He confused her. He was so different from the Ethan she remembered. The old Ethan had barely spoken to her at all. She'd only met him again a few hours ago and he'd hardly stopped talking! And who on earth had told him those jeans were a good idea?

She didn't know what to make of him. She wasn't sure if he was making a genuine attempt at flirting or if he was making fun of her in some way. If he was making fun of her, he could get lost as far as she was concerned. But if he did have genuine feelings for her, she didn't want to hurt him and that was a worry she didn't need. She felt so devastated by what had happened to Grace and she really thought she might cry in a minute. Ethan would probably hug her if she cried and then she'd have the choice of keeping her arms by her sides, which would embarrass and hurt him, or hugging him back and risk getting his hopes up.

She couldn't deal with Ethan on top of everything else. Not when a child was dying.

Alicia had known that returning to Holby wouldn't be easy, but she wasn't prepared for this.