X-Sammii-X, I'm so glad you still like it. Cal is getting treatment at the moment, but Lily's gone... can we trust him to behave himself? Dylan really feels responsible for whatever might have happened to Lofty, but maybe he'll get to him in time. Rita and Iain belong together! Everyone knows that except Iain. Thank you for your review.
Glittergirl12, thank you for your review. I'm sure Lily would say Cal needs to stay exactly where he was and let the uninjured doctors take care of Ethan, but Cal won't necessarily agree with that! Actually, if he decides not to go and look for Ethan, that will prove he has a head injury!
Bonnie Sveen Fan, you're right about Iain - it's difficult to write about as the condition is different for everyone and I haven't seen the episodes where it's mentioned, but it is supposed to be PTSD, with flashbacks to the helicopter as well as to his time in the army. Thank you for your review.
Howling2theMoon, thank you for your review - I really am pleased you're enjoying this. I hope you'll keep reading.
Tanith Panic, you should probably keep worrying about Lofty... and I haven't forgotten the baby, though she's not in this chapter. Dylan ought to know who Mr Walker is considering Zoe managed him, but we'll let him off. I think Crushed at Holby should be your next fanfiction! Would I kill Ethan...? Thank you for your review.
Dylan was sure Lofty wouldn't be in wouldn't be in the ambulance bay. He was quite friendly with Iain, but it seemed far more likely he'd go into the ED and seek out Max or Robyn first.
Or perhaps me? Dylan couldn't help thinking. He did text me…
In any case, Iain had been out on a call. Even if Lofty had gone there first, he would have come out again and gone into the hospital.
"Are you okay, Dylan?" asked Robyn very softly.
Dylan waved a hand towards the ambulance bay. "He's not in there."
Robyn didn't ask how he knew. "But someone obviously is and there aren't enough of us to search everywhere at once. Let's find whoever's trapped in here first, then we can get back to searching for Lofty."
"But he's not in there!" Dylan's voice was louder than he'd expected and several heads turned to look at him. "He's in the ED, Robyn. I know he is. And if he is in there, he must be trapped or he would have come out to help."
"But what can we do?" said Robyn. "It's not safe for us to search without help."
Dylan looked at her incredulously. "Does our safety really matter when someone we care about is in danger?"
Robyn's eyes were wide. "You do care about Lofty then?"
"Not in the way I'm almost sure you're thinking," said Dylan, who had seen that look in Robyn's eyes before.
"No. Of course not," said Robyn quickly. "That's probably for the best really as Lofty's not… and I'm sure you're not… I would like you both to be happy though."
"Then perhaps you could make me happy by helping me to look for our friend?" suggested Dylan. He paused. "It doesn't seem unlikely that Max is with him."
Rita knelt beside Iain. "It's okay. It's a siren. I expect an ambulance is going by."
Iain had his eyes closed and his hands pressed to his ears. Rita didn't know what to do. If there was one sound Iain was familiar with, it was the sound of an ambulance.
"Come on, Iain. "We need to get into the ED, okay?" said Rita. "Don't worry about the siren. If anyone needs help, they're being looked after."
Iain slowly lowered his hands and looked at Rita. "They're dead, Rita."
"Who's dead?" asked Rita quietly. If she knew, it would be easier for her to avoid saying the wrong thing.
"The pilot," said Iain. "In the helicopter."
"That's so sad," said Rita. She meant it. "But Jacob and the others can deal with it. Come on. Let's go inside. We'll be in Jacob's way out here."
Iain nodded. Rita extended her hand and Iain took it. Together, they walked around the corner.
Iain stopped walking. He stared at the helicopter. Then he looked behind him. "No. It can't be there. It was there!"
"Don't worry about that now," said Rita. "We must have gone round in circles a little bit, but we've found the right entrance now. Let's go and get you treated."
Ethan's ears were hurting from the siren (how did paramedics do it? They really were incredible), but for the first time for ages he felt a small amount of hope.
Now, all he had to go was to get into the ambulance and find some medical equipment.
Ethan stood on tiptoes and reached through the window, hissing in pain as his wrist caught on the jagged edge. He groped around inside the door, searching for the handle that opened it, but he couldn't find it.
He was too short.
Ethan gripped the edge of the window and tried to pull himself up, crying out in pain this time as the glass cut into his hands. He managed to lift himself up a short way from the ground and pushed harder on the broken glass, whimpering as the jagged edges dug in further. If he could get up just a little bit higher, he could go in headfirst. He'd probably hurt himself, but that would be nothing in comparison with how much Alicia was suffering.
Then he heard a noise.
Someone was trying to get in.
It was great news – it meant Alicia had a chance – but it also put her in danger. Their rescuers would probably push their way in and could send more debris tumbling down on top of her. Ethan would warn them to be careful, of course, but he'd have to stay close to Alicia and protect her if necessary.
Ethan lowered himself back to the ground, jarring his knee and making himself cry out again. Both his hands were bleeding, as well as his wrist, and the cuts stung, but there was nothing he could do about that. He momentarily considered stopping the siren so they'd be able to hear better, but he decided there wasn't time. Ethan dropped to his hands and knees, gasping every time a hand or his injured knee touched the floor, but he didn't stop. He couldn't afford to. He heard more crashes and thought he might have heard shouting and knew at any moment, Alicia could become buried.
He couldn't allow that to happen.
He almost cried with relief when he was back at Alicia's side. She looked white and unconscious, but she still had a pulse. Cal had told him once that as long as a woman still had a pulse, the date couldn't be too much of a disaster. Ethan had thought that attitude explained why Cal had such a high opinion of his success with women – but right now, discovering Alicia had a pulse was the most incredible feeling in the world.
"Can you hear that?" said Ethan as he removed his shirt. "I put the siren on. And some people heard it and they're trying to fight their way through to us." Ethan tried to tear the sleeves off his shirt, but he wasn't strong enough, so he wrapped the sleeves around the cuts on his hands and wrists and tried to put pressure on the worst ones. "It might not be very much fun, but I'll do everything I can to keep you safe. You're going to be okay, Alicia. You're going to go on your date with Cal and have a wonderful time. And so will he."
Cal waited until he was sure Lily wasn't coming back, then he slowly got to his feet.
It wasn't an easy task. His head was still pounding and his vision had gone blurry again.
He knew that what he was doing wasn't sensible. He clearly did have some sort of head injury: there was all sorts of evidence for that.
But his little brother was injured and Cal was almost sure he was in the ambulance bay.
He was also sure the little flashes of memory he kept getting of Ethan talking to Alicia near the ambulance bay were recent. Alicia had only returned today and Ethan's jeans were new.
Cal thought it would take a lot more than a head injury to forget how Ethan looked in those.
Cal felt himself stumble slightly and staggered quickly over to the wall, leaning on it as he made his way out of the ED. When he got outside, the light seemed almost blinding, but that was probably because of the darkness inside the ED. Squinting, he looked over at the ambulance bay. He saw a crowd of people standing around it. Forgetting his own health issues, he let go of the wall and ran towards him. "Ethan?"
"Cal?" came a little voice from inside.
"Ethan, we're coming!" called Cal. "Hang on in there, okay?"
Lily marched up to him. "Dr Knight, please return to your cubicle immediately."
"Not without my brother," said Cal.
Lily's glare intensified, but she seemed to realise Cal wasn't going to back down. "I need to go in there and treat Alicia. Ethan says she's going into shock. We need to get some fluids into her before we think about moving her."
"I'll go," said Cal. "You go and find Alicia's file and organise a transfusion. Sorry to pull rank, but I'm the more experienced doctor here and I'll have Ethan to help me."
"But you have a head injury!" said Lily. "You're not fit to treat anyone. Besides, Dylan is-" She stopped and looked around. "Where is he?"
"It doesn't matter," said Cal. "Alicia's our main priority – followed by Ethan. Please do as I say, Dr Chao."
Lily hesitated, then handed him the bag she was holding.
"Thank you, Lily," said Cal, and touched her on the arm before running over to the entrance. "I'm Dr Knight. Have we got a clear way through to the casualties?"
"We're working on it, doctor."
Cal thought they were probably working quickly, but it seemed to take forever. He felt another wave of dizziness and the world seemed to turn grey around him, but he fought the feeling. Ethan needed help – and he would be devastated if anything happened to Alicia.
Cal had to stay conscious and do his job,
"Okay, Dr Knight. We've found them. Can you get through that gap?"
It would have been easier for Lily, but Cal liked to think he had considerable experience of squeezing body parts into tight places. "Ethan, it's Cal. I'm on my way," he said as he crawled along the tiny path. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," said Ethan unsteadily. "But Alicia needs help."
"I'm coming," said Cal, just as he saw them. Alicia was lying on the ground. She really didn't look like she was alive. Ethan was sitting in front of her. He was wearing nothing but his boxers for some reason, but Cal didn't care about that now. Ethan's face was dirty and tearstained, though he'd somehow managed not to lose his glasses.
"Are you okay?" asked Ethan.
Cal decided this would have to be one of the many occasions when he lied to Ethan. "I'm okay now I've found you." He frowned slightly. He hadn't meant to say something that soppy, but never mind. He had more important things to worry about. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm so glad you're here," said Ethan. "Please help Alicia."
Cal pushed through the last of the tunnel that had been created for him and hauled his bag from his shoulder. "I need to get a line in."
"We can't actually get to her arms," said Ethan.
Cal got what he needed out of his bag. "What kind of doctor would I be if I couldn't perform external jugular vein cannulation? Don't worry, Ethan. I'm going to help her."