Bonnie Sveen Fan, I'm so glad you liked Cal and Matilda together! I could be wrong, but I think a lot of people would like to see them reunited. I think telling Alicia when she was unconscious reassured Ethan that he could talk about it - so now he needs to talk to Cal too. Thank you for your review.

Tanith Panic, I agree that Zoe and Max should be together. I love Cal, Ethan, Lily, Dylan and Sebastian more, but I find it really odd seeing Max without Zoe. Odd and sad. How do you know Lofty will have to make that decision? He might just have a relapse. That's a good question about where Cal and Matilda go from here - they've found each other, but it's not that simple. I'm not fond of Alicia either, but I have to let the story go where it wants to. Thank you for your review.

X-Sammii-X, Cal finds out about Matilda in this chapter - I hope it's not too sad. It would be amazing if Rita came back with Iain's baby. I really hope she does. Her exit was disappointing and she's such a great character. I hate what Alicia has done to Cal and Ethan. It's so sad. I love brotherly love. Thank you for your review.

20BlueRoses, thank you for your review. I don't think I could write a story where Cal didn't love Matilda! They were so lovely together. I hope he still has her toy and the photo of her. I'm really glad you like the way I've written Iain's story. I wasn't sure it would be convincing, so I'm really happy you like it.

Guest, thank you for your review. I wasn't going to include Connie and Grace as their storyline was so amazing, but I've probably gone further than the end of the episode now and I think Zoe's presence would change things. So I will definitely think about including them. Thank you for the idea. Zax scene coming up.

totti10, thank you for your review. I'm so happy you liked Rita and Iain's scene so much... I think you wrote more than I did! But it makes me so happy. I wish I could accept your challenge and make every scene that emotional, but I'm not sure I can. I'm really glad you like the way I explained Iain's behaviour. I had so much trouble thinking of a reason and I finally thought of this the day I posted it - I'm so happy and so relieved it works! I wish they'd started Chloe's exit story earlier or kept her in for a little bit longer as she and Rita deserved better, but at least they didn't kill her in the anniversary crash. That would have been awful.

Thank you to MonaLisaScotland for the follow.

Iain watched tensely as Rita's eyes moved across the scan. Tears filled her eyes and he couldn't be sure if they came from sadness or relief.

"You're okay," said Rita, hardly able to get the words out. "Your scan was clear. Well, I suppose I should really say 'inconclusive', but… oh, Iain."

"Then the problems I've been having are probably due to PTSD," said Iain.

Rita nodded, her smile fading. "I'm sorry, Iain."

"It's something I had already," said Iain. "Something I always knew was likely to come back at some point." He paused and spoke forcefully. "Something I know I can recover from."

"Yes," said Rita softly. Her eyes were full of sympathy.

Iain sighed and let his bravado crumble away. "At least… I hope I can."

"I'm sure you can," said Rita, her voice stronger now. She took his hand in hers. It was soft yet firm. "I know you can, Iain. But you don't have to go through this alone. I know I have no right to ask for anything, but I hope-" Her voice broke and she swallowed before continuing. "I hope I can still be your friend, Iain."

Iain held her hand more tightly and waited until her eyes had met his. "I don't want to be your friend, Rita."

Her eyes dropped and with them her face. "No. I understand. Of course not. Why would you?"

"Rita. I want to be so much more than just your friend."

He felt her jump in surprise and she looked up at him again, disbelief written on her features.

"I know it's not going to be easy. We both have things we need to work through. It might not work out. But I love you, Rita. Please give me another chance."

Cal was shaking. He stared at Lily and Louise and tried to speak. "Aortic… stenosis?"

Louise had tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Cal."

Lily's eyes might have been slightly misty too.

"Maybe that's why she didn't crawl for me," said Cal brokenly. "Everything she does might be delayed." He lifted Matilda so their eyes were level. "But that doesn't matter, Matilda. You're the most wonderful baby in the world and I'm going to take care of you."

To his surprise, Louise sat on the floor beside him and rubbed his back, though her eyes were on Matilda. "It is good that we discovered it. It means we can help her. And we will help her – and you too."

Cal looked at Louise in surprise. He'd never seen her look so tenderly at anyone. He realised Louise had fallen in love with Matilda too – and who could blame her?

There was a possibility the diagnosis was incorrect. It couldn't be officially made until cardiac catheterisation could be performed. As a dad, Cal wanted desperately to hold on to the hope Matilda was okay. As a doctor, he knew that the hope was small. His eyes filled with tears again. "You're the most special little girl in the world, Matilda. I have never loved anyone more than I love you. And I promise you, I am going to do everything I can to make sure I get to see you grow up." His tears began to fall. "I just hope you will grow up, Matilda. I don't know what I'd do if you didn't."

Zoe closed the door of Connie's room behind her and finally let her tears fall. She'd wanted to cry when she'd seen Max and Amira together, but how could she cry over that when she had no-one to blame but herself? She was the one who'd cheated on Max and then left him just when things were finally getting back on track.

Amira was so pretty. And she was about the right age too. Zoe was both too old for Max and too immature – a fatal combination if ever there was one.

Seeing Grace fighting for her life and then seeing Connie and knowing she could be losing her little girl right at that moment had made Zoe wanted to cry again, but she'd held the tears back, just in case Connie should awake.

But now Zoe was out of the room and all alone, the need to cry overwhelmed her.

So much was wrong and even though she was an experienced and more than competent consultant, there was nothing she could do to put any of it right. She couldn't save Grace. Connie could lose her little girl; she could already have lost her. And Zoe could do nothing.

Zoe sensed rather than heard someone coming closer and quickly turned away, but then she heard her name and two arms she knew so well were gently wrapping themselves around her and holding her close.

"I'm here, Zoe," said Max. "I'm here."

And I'm here, thought Zoe as she cried. And this time, I don't want to leave you.

But you've already moved on. So I have no choice but to let you go.

"I'm really sorry about Connie and Grace," said Max.

"It's so unfair," sobbed Zoe. "What did they do to deserve that?"

"They didn't deserve it," said Max. "Sometimes bad things happen to good people." He held her gently away from him. "And sometimes good people do bad things. But that doesn't mean they're not good people."

Zoe pulled away from him and wiped the tears from her face.

"Zoe, what's happened to Connie and Grace and everyone is so terrible and I wish so much it hadn't happened and if I had the chance, I would stop this from happening every time."

"I know," said Zoe, wondering where he was going with this.

"But bad things can sometimes lead to good things because they can make you realise what's really important," continued Max. "And now I know the most important thing in my life is you."

"What?" whispered Zoe.

"I love you, Zoe," said Max, his gaze intense but also warm. "I never stopped. The only thing I regret is that I didn't get on that plane with you."

"But… but… what about Amira?" stuttered Zoe.

Max looked startled, then guilty. "Zoe, I'm so sorry. I was still in love with you, but I hadn't heard from you for months. I'd been waiting for the feelings to go away and they hadn't and I thought maybe if I had a bit of fun with another girl, I would start to get over you. But Amira turned me down and I'm so glad she did because a couple of hours later, I saw you and I knew I could never love anyone else."

Zoe looked at him in confusion. "But you were with Amira just now."

A smile came to Max's face. "That was a different conversation. That was Amira realising I'm not as idiotic as she thought and me telling her I'm not interested because I love my wife."

Ethan had thought she seemed different when she'd come back to the ED. He'd wondered if that was only because he hadn't really seen her until now; too heartbroken over Honey to notice another girl. But Alicia seemed harder now. More brittle.

When they'd treated the child patient together and played with their gloves, she'd seemed like the gentle, sweet Alicia she always had been. And he'd realised he had noticed her even then, though his heart had been too bruised for love.

She'd been abrasive in the pub, though admittedly, his attempts to talk to her had been clumsy and rather unfortunately-phrased. He'd seen a hint more of the old Alicia when she'd confided her fears about someone in the accident, only to turn snappy again when he'd mistakenly thought she'd meant Connie rather than Grace.

But it wasn't up to Ethan to make guesses. He'd told Alicia far more than he'd ever meant to and now it was his turn to listen. "Would you like to tell me why you're running away?"

Alicia was silent, but he knew she was thinking and not ignoring him. "When I left here, Ethan, I felt so low. It was the most horrible day of my life. I couldn't take Lily's bullying anymore. I didn't want anyone ever to treat me like that again."

"Alicia, I'm not in any way excusing Lily's behaviour, but she was fragile and hurting," said Ethan. "Your feelings are understandable, but Lily wasn't herself then. I'm sure you'll work together more easily now. Friendship is something else and I'm not going to presume to suggest it, but I'm sure she won't treat you like that again. She might be a bit cool and distant – that's the way Lily likes to work. But she's not a bully. Not now." He paused, looking into her eyes. "But I interrupted you. I'm sorry. Please, continue."

Alicia had tensed when he'd first started speaking, but as he continued, her expression had softened. "I thought I needed to toughen up. Fake it till you make it. I thought I was quite good at it. I stood up for myself and no-one walked all over me. I never let anyone see what I felt like inside." She paused, her mouth twisting with pain. "But I never made it, Ethan. I'm still faking it even now. In the pub, I thought you were making fun of me and I couldn't let that happen. But I know now you weren't. I know you're not like that. You're a good man, Ethan. A kind man. A brave man. I'm so sorry for the things I said to you."

"You said nothing wrong," said Ethan firmly. "I was the one who got in a complete muddle and said the wrong thing. Your response was natural. But in the pub, that wasn't me and it wasn't you. I think we haven't been ourselves for a long time and although it seemed like the only thing we could do, there does eventually come a time when you need to stop - and for me, the time is here." He thought for a moment. "I've never realised it before, but I think sometimes being yourself can take more courage than faking it." He took her and in his and squeezed it gently. "So now I'm going to be myself. I'm Dr Ethan Hardy and I have Huntington's and I'm so scared of wasting my life, I've ended up doing things I've never wanted to do."

"I'm Dr Alicia Munroe and I was bullied out of my ED rotation and I'm so scared of being bullied again, I've been pretending I was someone else and I don't even know if I can remember how to be me."