NettieTheCarrot, thank you for your review. Ethan does want to be the one to take Alicia out, but he also wants her to be happy. Neither Cal nor Alicia are in great shape though, so the date could easily not happen. It was really difficult for Lily and I'm glad I managed to convey that.

Bonnie Sveen Fan, it must be bad enough living through everything Iain's suffered for the first time - I doubt it ever gets easier and it must be horrible knowing he could relive it. Lily did do well - though she might not recognises that. She's tougher on herself than anyone else. Thank you for your review.

X-Sammii-X, thank you for your review. Ethan is struggling - it's horrible for him seeing Cal and Alicia hurt and he's been through a horrible ordeal too. I'm sorry, but I did enjoy writing Zoe's "We need to split up" line! I'm so glad you like Iain's storyline - I hope Casualty does a PTSD story soon.

Howling2themoon, thank you for your review. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Guest, Zoe won't be getting any more Max action now they've 'split up', but she will have plenty to do in the coming chapters. Thank you for your review. I'm really happy you're enjoying it.

CBloom2, thank you for your review. I'm sorry for making you cringe! I hope it wasn't too horrible. I wanted to show what Lily was reacting to, but it's difficult sometimes to know how much is too much. I'm sure Cal will feel a bit better once he's with Ethan. That's where we like them to be - together!

Tanith Panic, I think Iain is on his way back for the moment. It was a bad choice of words from Zoe - poor Max! I hope the eyeballs weren't too gruesome - that procedure would usually be delayed, but I wanted Lily to be brave. Yes, Lofty has perished. Dylan will be devastated. Thank you for your review.

InfinityAndOne, I'm so glad you like the way I write Ethan - he is such an adorable character and it's really good to know I'm getting him 'right'. Cal isn't well - I haven't decided yet what the scan will reveal, but you know I like to make the brothers suffer! Well, kind of. It will be difficult to help Iain. Thank you for your review.

The baby seemed surprisingly happy considering her recent ordeal. Her wide eyes were fixed on Louise. There was a strange feeling inside Louise's chest: a sort of opening out. As though her heart was filling and swelling with love.

Lily said a few more consoling words to Robyn and came over to Louise. "How is she?"

"She's doing really well," said Louise, feeling almost proud.

"You are a natural," said Lily. "I hope you will have children of your own, Louise. You will be a good mother."

Louise looked at the baby, partly because she wanted to and partly to hide her emotion. She'd always wanted to be a mother, but she'd begun to fear it would never happen. Most men seemed afraid of her. Louise couldn't blame him for that. The attentions of men made her feel so vulnerable so she sought to reinforce the protective shell she'd built around her. This only pushed the men further away.

"Any word from paediatrics?" said Lily.

"They are supposed to be sending someone down," said Louise.

Lily nodded. "I'll chase it up for you. Will you remain here?"

Louise nodded, almost smiling. Nothing could have made her leave the baby now. "Do you think we should tell Cal?"

There was a pause while Lily considered the question. "The first thing we need to do is to find out whether she is Cal's Matilda. There is a very good chance she's not. We don't even know that this baby was adopted."

There was a small gasp from Robyn. "You think the baby is Matilda?"

"She looks like Matilda," said Louise.

Lily nodded. "We can't make any decisions based on that alone, but it should not be difficult to find out. Matilda was admitted to the ED, I believe with meningitis, on Ethan's birthday. As the adoption was done through the official channels, it should be in her medical records."

"But how will that prove who this baby is?" said Robyn.

Lily was about to show Robyn the card she'd found in Matilda's bag, but she realised Robyn would struggle to read it with one eye. "This baby's name, birthdate and blood group are all correct. That is all we know at present – and it's not enough to be sure. We need to find out the names of Matilda's adoptive parents – and discover whether they are among the casualties outside."

Zoe glanced through the Resus doors and saw immediately that something was wrong. Ethan was standing beside a trolley occupied by an unconscious blonde girl.

Zoe had almost recognised the girl when an urgent beeping from the third bay caught her attention. Dylan was bending anxiously over Connie.

Zoe rushed to his side. "What's happening, Dylan?"

"Pulse rate is increasing and BP is dropping," said Dylan.

"She could be going into shock," said Zoe. "What was her symptoms?"

There was a hint of exasperation in Dylan's eyes that didn't hide the deep concern. "Connie refused to allow us to make a secondary survey. She wanted to be with Grace."

"That's understandable, but we need to examine her now," said Zoe. "She was in her car, wasn't she?" She barely contained a shiver at the thought of the car plunging over the cliff.

"Yes, and she was ejected from the vehicle," said Dylan. "We don't know much more due to her refusal to be examined, but her head and neck have been cleared."

"How could it have happened?" said Zoe as she began a head-to-toe examination. "Connie does drive a bit fast at times, but not with Grace in the car."

Dylan hesitated. "We don't need to worry about that now."

"If I'm going to assist in her treatment, I'll need to know everything you know," said Zoe.

The reluctance on Dylan's face was unlike him and therefore all the more worrying. "We believe that someone ran her off the road."

Zoe gasped. Resus seemed to tilt.

"Zoe?" Dylan moved closer to her, but Zoe was back in control.

"And she wouldn't allow herself to be examined? Well, isn't that just typical of Connie? You know, in some ways, that's a relief. It's typical behaviour, Dylan. She's still our Connie. And that can only ever be a good thing. "

Rita didn't know whether to be relieved or not when Iain went with her quietly. The quicker she got him to a cubicle, the quicker he could be evaluated by a doctor, but this new, docile Iain frightened her.

His hand was in hers as he looked around the hospital with bewildered eyes. Rita had seen it in patients before and knew it was partly because of the hospital's unfamiliarity, but it shouldn't be unfamiliar to Iain. There were parts of the hospital – even parts of the ED – he'd probably never visited, but it was still unquestionably part of the ED he'd worked at for nearly three years.T"

They approached cubicles and discovered several of the beds were already occupied. A woman Rita didn't know was speaking gently to a young boy. Rita pressed lightly on Iain's hand. "Stop a minute, Iain. Hi, my name's Rita and I used to be clinical nursing manager here. Are you being helped?"

"Yeah, I'm a nurse," said the woman. "Amira. This young man's had an asthma attack and a bit of a shock, but I've got it under control."

"Okay, let me know if you need any help, Amira," said Rita. She turned to Iain and her voice gentled. "Come on, Iain. This way. It's okay."

A bit further on, she found Lily and Louise gazing with startling sentimentality at a baby while Robyn sat on the next-door bed with a nasty-looking eye injury.

"Lily, glad I found you," said Rita. "I'm very concerned about Iain. As well as a head injury, he's been having flashbacks – both to the crash and to something that happened when he was in the army. I'm wondering about PTSD."

Lily turned away from the baby and pushed back the curtains of the next-door cubicle. "Right: if you come here, Iain, I'll examine you and see what I can do."

Iain looked blankly at Rita.

"Iain, this is Lily," said Rita. "Dr Chao. She's one of the doctors here."

"Pretty," said Iain, looking at Lily.

Rita remembered when he'd said that – and more – to her. She tried to fight back her jealousy and sadness. "Yes, she's very pretty, isn't she?"

Lily looked almost pleased by the compliment.

Max didn't want to leave Zoe. She'd told him not to enter Resus and he had no intention of disobeying just yet, but he was worried about her. She was back at the ED after a long absence; back in a place that was now as full of bad memories as it was good ones.

He stood at the doors of Resus, listening to the faint sound of her voice and not wanting to leave in case she needed him.

With great reluctance, he decided he had to go. Zoe was his wife, but Robyn was his sister and Lofty was his best mate. There must be a reason why Robyn had stopped looking for Lofty.

Giving Zoe one last look, he went to cubicles and found Robyn. The sight of her filled him with fear and he rushed to her side. "Robyn, what's happened?"

"It was my fault," said Robyn, trying to smile. "I was clearing a way to one of the doors and I got a bit angry with Dylan and stopped paying attention to what I was doing." She indicated her eye. "This was the result. Aren't I going to look great when Owen takes me out tomorrow?"

Max gave her a hug. "Are you sure you shouldn't be in Resus?"

"No, I'm okay really," said Robyn, trying to smile. "The only concern is the increased pressure in my eye, but Lily has given me some meds to help reduce it. Apart from that, it's just relax and wait for the blood to clear and keep monitoring, but Lily says I should be able to go home."

Max hugged Robyn more tightly. He could tell she was shaken - and who wouldn't be? "What's happening about Lofty?"

"I don't know," said Robyn. "I was hoping Lily would go back and look for him – I'm not allowed – but Rita brought Iain in and he doesn't look good."

"Rita?!" said Max, confused. "Tell me if I'm going crazy, but hasn't she left?"

Shock came to Robyn's face – or rather to part of her face. Her injured eye didn't really show emotion. "Of course she has! I didn't even realise!"

Max smiled. "Don't worry. It's been a funny sort of day and Charlie's old mates are all over the place."

Rita overheard. "Oi, you. Less of the 'old', please."

"Only old people get sensitive about their age!" said Max teasingly. He became serious. "But it's good to see you back, Rita."

When he saw Rita's grateful smile, he was very glad he'd said it.

"But we've got to do something about Lofty," said Robyn. "The fire brigade were helping, but they got distracted by Ethan and Alicia. We've got to find him, Max. Dylan was so worried. We all are!"

"Ethan and Alicia are in Resus now," said Max. "Alicia doesn't look good and Ethan looks ready to fall over, but at least he's standing up."

"Oh, Max, it's so terrible!" Robyn's uninjured eye was full of tears.

"I know," said Max. "But we're all here and we're going to get through this, yeah? We're Holby ED and we always do."

Cal was still breathing hard as he was wheeled back to Resus. As the doors were held open, he heard running footsteps and Ethan was there. "Are you okay, Cal?"

"I don't know," said Cal. He was trembling. "It was… the walls were closing in, Ethan." He heard his voice wobble, but he didn't feel embarrassed. He needed Ethan.

Ethan took Cal's hand. "I know. Those scanners are horrible, aren't they? They terrify me."

Cal gave Ethan a grateful smile. "I'm okay, but…"

"I know," said Ethan gently. He squeezed Cal's hand. "I've been telling Alicia about your date."

"Got it all planned out, have you?" said Cal with a weak attempt at a laugh.

"No, but I told her to think about where she'd like to go," said Ethan. "I do rather hope she can't hear me though. I tried to say that she... that she probably has a lot of admirers because she's so beautiful, but I actually implied that she was... that she was extremely receptive to her many admirers."

Cal's laugh was genuine this time. It hurt his head, but he was so glad to be back with his brother. "Oh, Nibbles."

"I know," sighed Ethan. "I'm hopeless! No wonder she prefers you."