InfinityAndOne, it is difficult with head injuries - there are some problems that can't be detected by a CT scan, so even if it's clear, I could still kill him off! Another doctor might have said Cal had to stay in Resus and Ethan has to go, but Zoe cares about how they're feeling too. She was a great character! Thank you for your review.
Bonnie Sveen Fan, it must be horrible for Cal and Rita seeing Ethan and Iain, whom they love, in that state. At least Ethan is accepting Cal's support - it must be really confusing and upsetting for Iain when he calls her an angel one minute, then pushes her away the next. Thank you for your review.
X-Sammii-X, thank you for your review. Luckily, the damaged part of the ED is relatively small, so it won't take days to find Lofty, but it probably feels like days to Dylan! Jac is brilliant, but I'd prefer a doctor with Zoe's compassion. Cal is being unusually unselfish, but he has just been hit on the head! No, he's lovely really.
Tanith Panic, I don't think Rita deserves the way Iain is treating her, especially not now when she's being her nurse rather than trying to be his girlfriend. But he is so confused at the moment. I'm not feeling very happy with Alicia either. Most people make a full recovery from TRALI - but not everyone! Thank you for your review.
Thank you to Starlight Inspirit for the follow and favourite.
Lily let Louise do the computer work. She liked to think she was reasonably competent in that regard, but Louise used to work on reception and was very familiar with the computer system, so she probably would work slightly more quickly and more efficiently than Lily.
Louise made a search for the baby under her current name. "Here she is. Matilda Kelly." The mouse clicked as Louise went into the medical record. "The birthdate matches the one on the card. So does the blood group. Previous admissions to the ED… just one. When did you say Ethan's birthday was?"
Lily told her.
"That was the date of her only previous admission to the ED," said Louise in an odd voice. "And she-" Her words disappeared into a gasp.
"What is it?" said Lily urgently.
Louise had a few more tries at speaking, then she pointed to the screen.
"Brought to the hospital by Dr Caleb Knight following the discovery of a rash," said Lily. She hadn't expected to see Cal's name on there, but whoever had written up the notes had clearly wanted to explain why Matilda had bypassed triage, despite not arriving by ambulance. There was clearly no need for a triage assessment when she'd already been examined by a doctor. "That could hardly be more conclusive."
"She's Cal's daughter then," said Louise in an odd voice.
"No, she's not Cal's daughter," said Lily, who liked to be accurate, particularly in medical matters. "She is the daughter of Cal's ex-girlfriend. Cal cared for her as a daughter and loved her as a daughter, but there is no biological relationship."
Louise's voice was flat. "But she's the baby he took care of and believed was his daughter."
"Yes, I believe she must be," said Lily.
The waiting seemed unbearable. Dylan knew he had to wait until the way to Lofty was cleared, but he wasn't sure if he could do it. He'd only been allowed the smallest glimpse of Lofty, but the pallor of his face was not a good sign.
"Can I go through now, please? I need to assess him," said Dylan, unable to contain himself any longer.
"Not just yet, Dr Keogh. We're still making the area safe."
Max looked surprised by Dylan's outburst, then sympathetic. "Zoe says they're always like this. It's like they care for the doctors' health more than the patients'."
"No: it's their own health they're most concerned about," said Dylan. "If anything happens to Ben, it's nothing to do with them. If anything happens to me, they're culpable."
"Yeah, I see what you mean," said Max. He tried to see into the room, but they couldn't see so much as a curl. "But if you say you're willing to risk your life…"
"…that still doesn't mean they're willing to risk their jobs," said Dylan.
"Dr Keogh?" A voice came from inside the room. "You're good to come in now."
"Is there anything I can do?" said Max. "Like, could I get some more doctors, nurses, a board, a trolley?"
"If you could wait while I examine him, I can tell you exactly what I need," said Dylan.
Cal could tell everyone was worried about him, but he was honestly more worried about Ethan. Ethan was sitting sobbing on a trolley as David examined him. Cal wanted to take Ethan in his arms again and hold him tightly, but he knew that wouldn't take Ethan's fears and unhappiness away. Only the news of Alicia's recovery could comfort him.
Zoe was standing a short distance away, frowning over a tablet that Cal guessed contained his scan results. The look on her face would have normally worried him, but he was more worried about Ethan now.
"Good news, Cal," said Zoe, as she brought the tablet over to him. "There's no sign of haemorrhage or skull fracture, or evidence of herniation. We could send you for an MRI scan, but I honestly don't think there's any need." She smiled. "Although reckless behaviour is usually a cause for concern, it's only what I'd expect from you when Ethan's in danger."
Cal knew the comment wasn't unfair. Running around with a head injury hadn't been sensible. Insisting on being the one to rescue Ethan and Alicia hadn't been sensible. But Zoe would probably have been more concerned if Cal had sit quietly and let everyone else do the work.
"I would say you have a concussion, which would explain the loss of consciousness and the vision and memory problems," said Zoe. "We'll keep you in for observation just to make sure, but I imagine there will be no further problems as long as you don't do anything else silly." She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.
Cal knew that, if the circumstances had been different, he would have been sent home in Ethan's care, but that was clearly not a possibility now.
Zoe looked over at Ethan and David. "How's he doing, David?"
David turned his concerned face to Zoe. "I think he has a distal radial fracture. There's swelling and deformity. But he says he isn't feeling very much pain."
"Ethan, why didn't you say something!" gasped Cal.
Iain looked like he was in a dream. He stumbled towards Rita and she automatically went to catch him in her arms. As soon as she'd done it, she braced herself for the inevitable rejection, but it didn't come.
She didn't know if that was a good thing or not. It was likely to mean Iain was trapped in his past again, which wasn't good, but at least this time, he didn't seem too unhappy or frightened.
"Come on, Iain," said Rita, settling her arms more firmly around him. "Let's get you into bed."
A smile from the scanner operator made her realise what she'd said, but Rita's warning glare ensured that he made no comment. Apart from the fact it was slightly embarrassing, she didn't want anything to happen that might worry Iain.
"Are you an angel?" asked Iain woozily as they made their way along the corridors.
Rita felt warmth flow through her at his words, but she knew she couldn't take them seriously. She also knew they were a worrying sign. "I'm afraid I'm anything but an angel. But I'll do what I can to help you, Iain."
Louise looked upset. She turned quickly away from the computer, her eyes brimming with tears.
Lily looked at her in confusion. "Isn't that good news? Matilda has probably lost her adoptive parents, which is tragic, but she still has Cal."
"Yes," said Louise, very unconvincingly. "It is good news." She was silent for a moment, then she said with slight hope: "But Cal did give Matilda up for adoption. He might not want her back."
"I think Cal regrets giving up Matilda very much," said Lily.
Louise gave her a wary look. "How can you know that? Has he told you? Or has Ethan?"
"Not exactly," said Lily hesitantly.
"Then you can't know that," said Louise. "No offence, Lily, but you're not the best at knowing what people are thinking."
Lily was tempted to respond: And you are? But she called the words back. It would not be professional and it would not help the situation in any way.
Besides, she believed she understood not only Cal's feelings but Louise's. Louise loved Matilda and wanted to care for her. If Cal adopted Matilda, Louise couldn't. They were hardly what you might call good friends.
"Louise, we need to contact Matilda's next of kin," said Lily quietly. "Would you do that for me, please?"
"You're Matilda's doctor," said Louise.
Lily frowned, but decided not to reprimand Louise on her attitude. She had a point in any case: a lot of people did prefer to speak to a doctor and Lily wasn't convinced Louise was sufficiently calm.
Louise found the name and number for Lily, but there was no answer on the landline. Lily left a message, then tried the mobile. It rang before going to voicemail. She left another message. "We must try to find someone else. Can we look at the next of kin's record, please?"
Matilda's next of kin named her husband as her own next of kin. The phone number was identical. The mobile went to voicemail. Lily left another message.
"What now?" said Louise.
"We go through the official channels," said Lily. "We notify social services."
Louise looked as though she was in pain. "But if there are people willing to care for her…"
"It still needs to be done officially," said Lily. Hesitantly, she touched Louise's arm. "I'm sorry, Louise. But you know this is the only way. I don't want you and Cal to get into any trouble. If either of you wants to adopt a baby, you don't want a blemished record."
"Who says I want to adopt Matilda?" said Louise defensively.
"The look in your eyes," replied Lily.
Louise didn't deny it.
Dylan made his way carefully through the route that had been cleared for him and knelt down beside Lofty. He heard a sound behind him and turned to see Max.
"I thought I could help," said Max.
"Right: if you could support Ben's head for me. Do you know how to do that?"
Max nodded and knelt with his knees pointing towards Lofty's head. Carefully, he took Lofty's head in his hands.
"That's good," said Dylan. "Ben, can you hear me? Lofty?" After establishing that there was no response, Dylan opened his airway and felt for Lofty's carotid pulse. It was regular, if rather weak. "Max, do you know if Zoe still has the same phone number?"
Max looked slightly embarrassed. "We didn't quite get to the stage of exchanging phone numbers."
Dylan could tell from the look on his face exactly which stage they had reached.
"Cal, stay on the trolley, please," said Zoe firmly, grasping hold of him.
"I fainted in your arms and everything!" continued Cal as Zoe prevented him from standing up. "You should have said something. You might have hurt yourself even more! Why didn't you say, Ethan?"
"I forgot," sobbed Ethan.
"How can you forget you broke your wrist?" said Cal.
"Probably the same way you forgot you'd hit your head!" said Zoe. "I know it's worrying, Cal, but in some ways, you and Ethan are pretty similar. When it matters most, you put each other first."
David rubbed Ethan's uninjured arm. "It's all right, Ethan. You had other things on your mind. The important thing is we know now."
"You'd better get him an x-ray," said Cal. "And a CT scan too if he's not feeling pain."
"Okay: continue with your examination, please, David, and we'll check there are no more problems," said Zoe. She turned back to Cal. "Cal, I know it's worrying, but you're living proof that sometimes your anxieties about someone you care about can outweigh physical pain."
Cal looked over at his brother again. "Can I sit with Ethan? He needs me."
"Sure-" began Zoe, but she stopped as her phone rang. She looked like she was going to ignore it, but then she pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. She answered immediately. "Dylan? Have you found him?"