Bonnie Sveen Fan, thank you for your review. It would take a lot for me to kill Ethan, but I'm certainly not ruling it out! Zoe isn't in the best situation either, but at least she and Max have each other.
Guest, I suppose it would be a bit mean of me to kill off Zoe! I can't promise anything, but I've written ahead as far as Chapter 7 and Zoe's still in it. Thank you for your review.
20BlueRoses, I'm really happy you're enjoying all the different stories. Yes, they are a little bit short of medical staff! I've addressed this in a future chapter. I bet they're all wishing Zoe was there! Thank you for your review. I'm so glad you're enjoying it and that the suspense is working.
Guest, thank you for your review. I've already planned what's going to happen to Cal, but I think there's a chance you won't be disappointed. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story.
X-Sammii-X, Max definitely still loves Zoe. I think I'll be quite disappointed if he ever gets a new long-term girlfriend. Perhaps there's hope for Iain and Rita too, though Iain would have to change his attitude! I saw Cal's first episode recently. He and Ethan really weren't very happy to see each other! Thank you for your review.
LittleBritishPerson, thank you for your review - I'm glad you're still enjoying this. It might take a while for Cal to get to Ethan and Alicia, but he's not going to give up trying!
michelle fanfic, thank you for your review. I'm really happy you're enjoying this. I really appreciate your kind words and I've sent you a pm about making a request.
Tanith Panic, all I can tell you is that Lofty isn't in this chapter! I hope some positive things will come from this story, but you'll have to wait and see what they are. This will be quite long, I think. I'm hoping Ethan is motivated by a desire to help and not just by what's in his jeans. Thank you for your review.
Guest, thank you for your review - I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far. I'm trying to update every day and I have two other chapters already written, so I'll be able to keep posting for two more days at least.
InfinityAndOne, it doesn't look good for Ethan and Alicia - Ethan only managed to get free with Alicia's help in the episode and she's really not at her most helpful just now. I'm glad you liked the last section - the chapter was too short so I needed another scene and I'm so happy and relieved it worked! Thank you for your review.
Thank you to casualty the facts, MINNIE4114, michelle fanfic for the follows and favourite.
Louise looked desperately at Lily, but Lily shook her head. They'd given four rounds of CPR and even if there was still a chance of saving the woman, they were severely limited without a defibrillator and had no way of treating the internal bleeding Lily suspected she'd suffered. The blood pooled around the abdomen told Lily that even if they could have saved the mother, there was little, if any, hope for the baby.
Lily found herself glancing towards where she would have expected the monitor to be. She'd never realised before how dependent on equipment she was, but this was no time to wish for the impossible. As usual, they would do everything in their power – and no more.
"If we're agreed…" she began. Her voice quivered.
"No, we can't stop!" said Louise. "You promised we'd save her!"
"I promised to take responsibility and I do," said Lily. "We have done everything we can. Now I am asking you to stop."
Tears fell from Louise's eyes. "It's my fault. It's always my fault."
Lily caught her by the shoulders. "No, Louise, it is not your fault. You know we can only ever do so much."
Louise was sobbing now. Lily looked at her helplessly. She knew it was like when a fear overwhelmed you and left you frozen, unable to do what you ought to do. It had happened to her today, with Alicia, when they'd treated the patient with acute orbital compartment syndrome. Lily hadn't been able to do it. She'd hardly even been able to look to see if Alicia was doing it correctly.
She could hardly be angry with Louise now.
But knowing how she felt didn't mean she knew what to say.
"No, it is my fault," wept Louise. "If we'd started sooner; if I hadn't frozen…"
"Then there is every possibility the result would have been exactly the same," said Lily. She couldn't know that, of course, but she couldn't let Louise fall apart. Lily had a feeling she was the only doctor working and she had to keep everyone else working.
Connie was seriously injured. Dylan and Elle were involved in her and Grace's treatment. There was no sign of Ethan or Alicia. Cal was in no state to help anyone. There was only Lily.
"We couldn't have stopped the bleeding," said Lily. "We can't even put a line in, though perhaps the paramedics will be able to provide us with the equipment to do that. There is very little we can do. I don't think a few more minutes would make any difference."
Tears streamed down Louise's face.
"You did well, Louise," said Lily. "If you have a phobia or a devastating memory, it is very difficult to do your job. But you did your job and did it well. Many could not have done that. Please leave the patient now. You may take a few minutes, but please get back to work after that. We need you."
Rita knelt in front of Iain. His eyes were wide and staring and he looked at her without recognition. Rita took a breath and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "Iain, it's me. It's Rita. Can you tell me what happened?"
She looked anxiously at Iain, desperate for a response, but none came. At first, she thought he was ignoring her and felt hurt, but as she looked into his empty eyes again, she realised he hadn't even heard.
Rita tapped his shoulder. "Iain, can you hear me? There's been an accident, but I'm here and I'm going to look after you."
Her eyes flickered briefly to the helicopter. She had no way of knowing Iain had come from there, but it seemed likely. There would almost certainly have been a paramedic on board. A helmet lay on the ground not far from him and she could tell from his hair that he'd been wearing some kind of headgear.
Something tugged at Rita's heart, but she ignored it. She hit Iain's shoulder with slightly more force but not too much. It was possible he'd injured his shoulder when he was flung from the helicopter – if that was what had happened. He gave no signs of pain but no signs of anything else either.
"Iain!" She caught his head in her hands. "Iain, listen to me."
Something changed in his eyes. They seemed to focus. "Get away from me!" he shouted.
Cal knew the patients around him were injured and upset and wouldn't know Ethan anyway, but he still asked them. He asked everyone he saw. "Have you seen my brother? He's short with blond hair and glasses and he's wearing stupid jeans." No-one had seen him, but Cal knew that might be because of how shocked they were. He kept asking; kept looking around him. He hadn't seen any other doctor apart from Lily.
He heard someone shouting and his head whipped around. The action made him dizzy, but only for a moment. He realised Iain was the one shouting. Rita was telling him to calm down.
"Have you seen Ethan?" asked Cal. He was trembling hard and the pain in his head was increasing, but it didn't matter. He had to find Ethan. He might have gone into the hospital or he might be treating casualties in the pub, but Cal didn't think so.
Something had happened to Ethan. Whatever it was remained locked in his brain – if he had ever known it - but he knew Ethan had to be found.
If a disaster like this happened, Ethan would always help. If he wasn't helping, then something was preventing him and considering Cal had been caught up in the accident, it wasn't unlikely that Ethan had been too.
"No, sorry: I haven't seen him," said Rita. "He might have gone into the ED. Sit down, Cal, and I'll see to you in a minute."
Cal couldn't smile at idea of Rita 'seeing to him'. He didn't know if he would ever smile again. So many lives had been torn apart today.
He stopped and frowned, wondering who he meant. It seemed likely that everyone who'd been caught up in the accident had had their lives torn apart, but he didn't think he'd meant that.
He felt something tremble in the corner of his mind, but then it was gone.
Cal stumbled on, his disorientated gaze sweeping the area. He couldn't remember who he'd asked now. Those two people sitting down, holding on to each other: had he already spoken to them? He didn't know. He heard someone call his name. Robyn put his arm around him and tried to get him to sit down.
"I've got to find Ethan!" said Cal, but his body felt weak. He half-fell to the ground with Robyn supporting him.
"You need to sit down for a bit, Cal." Robyn looked concerned. "You really don't look good."
"Would you look good if it was Max who was missing?" snapped Cal.
Robyn stared at him, the colour draining from her face as she started to shake. "I haven't seen him. I haven't seen Max! How could I not have…" Her lip trembled, her eyes full of unshed tears.
"We've had a shock," said Cal. "I didn't know Ethan was missing till you said his name. But he is missing and… oh God. Oh, Ethan."
A tear slipped down Robyn's cheek, but she wiped it away and gripped Cal's hand. "We'll find them, Cal. We'll find them. It's difficult to know anything much at the moment. They could be in the pub; in the hospital; on the other side of the helicopter. But we'll find them. We've just got to keep telling ourselves they're okay."
Zoe could hear his voice. Begging her.
She smiled to herself. She liked it when Max begged and she was very good at making it happen.
But… something was different.
The fact she ached all over meant nothing. She quite often did ache all over after a night with Max.
But she and Max weren't a couple anymore and Max sounded more upset than excited.
And aren't we in different countries anyway?
Zoe dragged her eyes open and looked up into his distraught face.
"Zoe!" he gasped. "Zoe, please tell me you're all right."
Zoe looked at him in concern, about to ask what was wrong, but then she remembered.
The noise. The room shaking. Falling to the floor. And then…
Max took her hands. "Zoe, are you okay?"
"I think I'm a bit bruised," said Zoe. "All over. But…" She sat up slowly, testing her arms and legs, and looked around the room in shock. She wasn't surprised to find herself here – there weren't many rooms in the ED she and Max hadn't spent time in. Another memory flashed into her mind and she looked at Max in horror. "Oh God. It was the helicopter, wasn't it? Grace's helicopter."
"I don't know," said Max. "It could have been any helicopter and it wasn't necessarily the helicopter that crashed…"
Zoe looked at him sadly. "Oh, Max, what else could it have been?" She got to her feet, wincing slightly but not really caring about the pain. Anyone with her taste in footwear had a pretty high tolerance to pain. "I've got to go to Connie. Things were bad enough before, but now…"
She broke off as she saw the door.
Or the very little of the door that was still visible.
Max saw the look on her face and turned. He sighed and put his arm around Zoe's shoulders. It felt natural and right, especially when she leaned against him. "I really can't see us getting through that."
Zoe looked at the pile of rubble and had to agree. "We might be able to clear it away. I'm stronger than I look and you're a porter…"
"We'll try the window," said Max, patting her shoulder.
Zoe nodded and smiled, feeling some of her shock fade at Max's support. "Okay."
They hurried towards it, only for Zoe to gasp and haul Max away as she heard a crack above them. The ceiling creaked and groaned and then shattered and once more, the room was showered with plaster.