X-Sammii-X, thank you for your review. Iain's injury is one of the reasons why I had to bring Rita back - she's the best person to look after him. Dylan really would be devastated to lose Lofty - he was upset enough when Lofty left the ED! Cal isn't the type to settle down, but I'm not sure Alicia is either, though I haven't seen yesterday's episode yet. Zoe probably remembers Alicia, but it was a long time ago and I don't think they had much interaction - all Zoe seemed to do was follow Max around!

Bonnie Sveen Fan, Louise is so fond of Matilda herself, she might have mixed feelings about telling Cal - and she's no longer in his care so there's no reason to tell him. But I don't think there's much chance of Cal not finding out one way or another! Thank you for your review.

Tanith Panic, it's probably quite difficult to make a balanced judgement on medical staff as we usually only see them when we're ill and in pain and often all we're aware of is that they haven't made us better yet! But there probably are lots of doctors who could cope in Zoe and Dylan's situation and that's awe-inspiring. Zoe's already survived explosions, near-drowning and a partly-collapsed building, so she probably is quite tough! Thank you for your review.

20BlueRoses, when I was wondering which former characters to bring back, I had to include Matilda as she's another character who should never have left! Maybe they should make sure Cal's lying down before telling him. I'm glad Alicia's treatment sounded realistic! Thank you for your review.

InfinityAndOne, thank you for your review. That's true about Lofty... they are getting closer, but they might not be close enough! It would have hurt Ethan to be removed from Resus, but he was far too emotional to be any help and he might have made things worse - though he did manage brilliantly when she was trapped.

The hospital seemed to be swaying in front of Cal's eyes, but he didn't let go of Ethan. He was a bit surprised Dylan had allowed him to leave in his current condition, but he was grateful to him. Ethan needed to leave and Alicia needed every capable medic they could find. Neither Cal nor Ethan qualified now.

"No, I have to go back!" cried Ethan. He tried to twist away from Cal's hold and the action pulled Cal off-balance. He let go of Ethan with one hand and grabbed hold of a wall to stop him from falling, but in his current physical state, he had no chance of containing Ethan with one arm.

Ethan pulled away and started to run. Cal called out for him to stop, but he knew it would be useless. He tried to run towards his brother, but his legs felt wobbly and he knew he wouldn't be able to catch Ethan.

Then Ethan stopped. He stood still for a moment and then it was as though his bones had collapsed. He flopped down onto the floor, landing heavily and probably doing his knee no good at all, but he was seemingly unaware of physical pain. He lifted his face to the ceiling and made a sound Cal could only describe as a howl.

Cal finally reached him and sank down beside him, pulling Ethan close. "I know, Ethan. It's awful, but Zoe and Dylan are great doctors. They're doing their best for Alicia. And if Zoe's right about TRALI, Alicia has got a chance. A good chance."

Ethan continued to cry, his sobs deep and guttural and almost groans.

"I'm sure Alicia will get better," said Cal, even though he'd never have said such a thing to anyone else's relative. "She'll get better and she'll go out on a date with me… and she'll realise I'm really not all that great. And I'll tell her about you and how amazing you are and how crazy she was to prefer me to you. She might not believe me at first – I mean: I'm the Knight, aren't I? – but then she'll look at you again and she'll realise. She'll realise how great you are and then she'll want to be with you." Cal stroked Ethan's hair. "Because you're great, you are, Ethan. A great doctor; a great brother. And I'm sure you'll be a great boyfriend too."

Max watched as the rubble was cleared away from the last door. He honestly didn't know what to hope for. If Lofty was in there, then they'd have found him and he'd be able to go and have whatever treatment he needed.

But if Lofty was in there, he wasn't in good shape. The emergency services guys (policemen, fire brigade and Max didn't know what else… probably coastguard and mountain rescue for all he knew) hadn't exactly been quiet. If Lofty was awake, he would have them. They'd shouted his name and banged on the walls, hoping for a response, but there had been none.

But if Lofty wasn't in there, then where was he?

Max's mind went back to Lofty's text message. He hadn't actually seen it, but it had said he was nearly at the ED. But what did 'nearly' mean anyway? Could it have meant he was still on the train?

Max didn't think so. Lofty had sent his text to Dylan. When you talked to Dylan, it was better to be as accurate as possible when you said things. Max knew Dylan genuinely liked Lofty, but it didn't stop him from nitpicking. Lofty wouldn't tell Dylan he was nearly at the ED unless he was almost in sight of it.

Max's gaze went back to the door. Lofty had to be in there then.

Unless he'd gone running upstairs or something and slipped over and banged his head. That was possible. But Max didn't think he'd want to go running upstairs. He'd walk around the ED and surprise his friends.

I almost feel like I'm being clever, thought Max. It must be the sex. Zoe always says sex makes her think better.

He decided not to think about how she must have coped in the USA.

"We're through!"

Max looked at the door and realised it was clear. Another few seconds and he would know if his friend was dead or alive.

"Hi," said Zoe, as she looked around the door at Grace.

"Out," said Jac.

"I was just wondering if you needed any-"

"Okay, I'll just stop saving this child's life while I explain what we're doing, shall I?" snapped Jac.

It felt weird. This felt like Zoe's ED and yet it wasn't. She'd worked here for eight years; she'd been clinical lead here – but Jac, who'd only been drafted in to help, had more rights than Zoe.

Elle gave Zoe an apologetic smile. "Thanks, but we're good here."

"See: that's all it took," said Zoe, as she turned to leave. "Five polite words and I'm gone."

"Not quickly enough!" said Jac.

Zoe closed the door behind her. So much for trying to help.

She wanted to go and find Max. She needed to go and find Max – but that would have to wait. Dylan had gone to see how things were going with Lofty. Zoe needed to track down Cal and Ethan.

It had been a risk sending them out like that. Alicia's sudden deterioration had meant they hadn't looked at Cal's scans. The last thing he should be doing was wandering around the ED, trying to take charge of his distraught brother – who could have a head injury himself for all Zoe knew. But someone had needed to take care of Ethan. In that state, he could have done anythinge.

Zoe hurried out towards cubicles but without any hope of finding them. You couldn't expect Cal to do as he was told at the best of times.

And once more, he hadn't.

They were sitting on the floor. David was kneeling beside them, an arm around each of them. Cal's arms were around a quietly-sobbing Ethan as though he was trying to support him, but they seemed to be holding each other up. Cal's face was pale and he looked as though he was in pain.

"Oh good: you've found them," Zoe said to David. "Okay: if I take Ethan, can you look after Cal for me? We might as well get them back to Resus. It's clear now. Connie's out of surgery and she's been moved to her own room; Alicia's having treatment in… in the main part of the hospital. We can have a look at Cal's scans and Ethan…" She looked at Ethan and sighed. "Ethan's probably best off with his brother now."

Iain didn't know where he was. He was sure he ought to know where he was because Lily had said he worked here, but perhaps Lily couldn't be trusted either

"Okay: here's where you're going to have your scan," said Rita. "It's going to be fine. You just have to go in there for a little while and we'll have a look at your brain. Make sure you've got one."

Iain looked at her suspiciously. It sounded like a joke, but he already knew he couldn't trust her. Lily had said he could trust Rita and everything would be fine, but Iain knew Rita told lies.

"Iain, it's okay," said Rita's calming voice. "You're getting a bit breathless and that's completely understandable, but you need to calm down."

"I am calm!" shouted Iain. He pointed at Rita. "You needn't think I don't know what you're doing because I do."

"I'm trying to get you into the scanner so we can have a proper look at you," said Rita.

"No. You're going to tell more lies, aren't you?" said Iain. "You're going to tell lies about what it says on the scan and then you're going to get me locked up!"

Rita flinched. "No," she said in a low voice. "I would never do that, Iain. I can't lie about the scans anyway because Lily will want to see them for herself. I know I lied before and I'm really sorry, Iain. I won't do it again."

"But how do I know I can trust you?" said Iain. "What single thing have you done that proves I can trust you?"

"Well… I helped you get to Lily, didn't I?" said Rita. "Lily was the one who decided you needed the scan, not me."

"Lily…" Iain had liked Lily at first. She was not only pretty but very calm and competent. Not the sort to get carried away like Rita. Even though he had a feeling he rather liked it when Rita got carried away.

"Yes. Lily," said Rita. "She's a good doctor."

Iain wasn't so sure. "She was coming on to me," he said.

"Of course she wasn't!" said Rita, startled. "Lily's always very professional."

"She touched my face and she looked into my eyes," said Iain.

Rita nodded. "Yes, she's got to do that. She was concerned you might have a facial fracture and when someone has a head injury, you need to look at their eyes."

"She held my hand too!" said Iain.

"She was assessing the strength of your grip," said Rita. "Lily told you that was what she was doing: remember?"

"She can say anything," said Iain. "But that doesn't make it true."

Rita half-held her hand out towards him, but Iain snatched his hand away.

"Don't you start now!" he said.

"I'm sorry. It was just a reflex," said Rita. "When a patient is upset, I would usually give them some physical comfort, but I can see it's not needed in this case."

Iain could feel something. A tightening sensation over his heart. "What have you done to me?"

"I haven't done anything to you, Iain," said Rita. "It's okay. Come on. Go in the scanner."

"You really think I'd take my eyes off you?" said Iain.

Something like pain passed across Rita's face. "I'll be behind the screen here, Iain. I won't be anywhere near you. And I'll keep talking to you: then you know I'm still next to the microphone and nowhere near you. I won't go in with you. I'll let the scanner-operator do that."

"Who's the scanner-operator?" said Iain, his gaze swinging sharply around. He saw a young man and relaxed slightly. "Is it you? Okay. You're not going to let her near me, right?"

"I won't let her near you, Iain. You'll be fine. It shouldn't take too long and you'll be back in the ED soon."

Iain's eyes travelled slowly around, making sure no-one else was there in hiding. "Okay. Do it. But if she comes near me…"

Rita's eyes were shining with tears and her voice was unsteady as she replied: "I won't, Iain. I promise."