'Why do I even have to wear this stupid tie?' Cal was fumbling around his neck desperately trying to knot the tie draped around his neck. 'Ha ha! Done it!' Cal dropped the tie onto his shirt. The tie looked short and fat. And hilarious. He swore loudly, gaining the attention of Ethan.

'Sit on the chair.' Obediently he sat down and allowed Ethan to tie his tie. 'There. All done.'

'I still don't get why I have to wear a fancy suit! You're the one in court!'

'And you're the one who wanted to be my extra and drive me. Now come on else we'll be late.'

Cal sighed and grabbed his car keys off the table. He ran towards the door and stopped, turned on his heel and smirked at Ethan.

'Keep up!'

'I'm laughing uncontrollably. How are you so funny?' Sarcasm coated his voice as he hobbled to where Cal was stood. He waited for the door to be opened before hobbling to the car. Cal locked the door and followed him. The noise of his footsteps were drowned out by the constant clicking of the crutches.

'Mr Samuel Collins you are charged with the violent murder of Mr William Harttens and causing intentional grievous bodily harm to Dr Ethan Hardy, Mr Ben Chiltern and Mr Ian Dean. How do you plead?'

'Not guilty.' The entire courtroom was shocked even his lawyers looked shocked- clearly this wasn't what they were expecting or what they'd agreed.

'Today we will hear evidence from a number of Mr Collins' colleagues, staff at Holby City Hospital, staff at Holby Ambulance Service, Dr Hardy, Mr Chiltern, Mr Dean, Mr Harrtens' coroner and Mr Harrtens' widow then the jury will consider their verdict and, if applicable, a suitable sentence. The defence today are rempresented by Mrs Faye Reiss and Mr Paul Gaddy. The prosecution are represented by Miss Elizabeth Brent and Miss Suzie Young.'

Everyone took their places and sat, waiting to be called up by the lawyers and collected by the usher. Ethan glanced around Holby Crown Court. It was a beautiful building with features that were more than twice his age. He took in the faces that surrounded him- nearly half the hospital was here! There were colleagues sat with the doctors who treated them. Raf, Mo and Jonny, who had been called in despite having left the hospital, were sat next to Connie who had been the one to send out Lofty and Ethan. Mo caught Ethan's eye and smiled at him, trying to calm his nerves.

First all the people involved in the murder trial were questioned and cross-examined. Ethan sat in mute shock as it was revealed how William Harttens was killed. He felt sick to the stomach. Now it was his turn.

'I would like to call the Dr Ethan Hardy to the stand.' The usher collected him from his seat and lead him to the box where he took an oath promising to tell the truth. His heart was in his mouth as he waited for the first question.

'Dr Hardy, you work in the emergency department- correct?'

'Yes. I'm a senior registrar there.'

'And could you please explain, for the benefit of the court, the types of things you do in your job on a fairly daily basis.'

'We regularly see minor injuries and ailments who have brought themselves to the department- normally people with sprains, strains and the odd broken bone and we so deal with patients who have been brought in by ambulance- from alcoholics to patients who have been involved in RTCs. It's a wide range which varies on a daily basis. There isn't such thing as a normal day in this job.'

'Dr Hardy, again for the benefit of the court, can you please explain what an RTC is.' Ethan blushed.

'Sorry- it's a Road Traffic Collision, normally a car crash or something similar.'

'On the day in question you were sent out to join paramedics. Is this a normal occurrence?'

'Yes, it's pretty regular. Sometimes a patient needs urgent care that only a doctor can provide, so sometimes we being the hospital to them.'

'So you and Mr Chiltern were sent to assist? Why were you two in particular chosen?'

'We had both completed a special course training us in access, treatment and extraction from caves and mountains.'

'Can you please explain to us what you found when you got to the sight?'

'We found a large number of the Army who were in training, we found one of the ambulances and we saw our patient lying at the bottom of the cave.'

'And what did you do?'

'We prepared some ropes and harnesses that were in the HART car-'

'HART car?'

'Hazardous Area Response Team. We prepared some ropes and harnesses that were in the HART car and attached them to the anchor points that were already there. We lowered ourselves down to our patient.'

'Who was this patient?'

Ethan went silent. Violent images of Ian's battered face flashed in front of his eyes. He fiddled with the handles on his crutches.

'Dr Hardy? Who was this patient?'

'It was Ian Dean. He had left Holby Ambulance Service just days before. He was a friend of ours.'

'Ours?'

'Myself and Ben Chiltern, the nurse who was with me.'

'Is there any chance that the treatment you provided was impacted by your relationship with Mr Dean?'

'No. We know that the best thing we can do for someone we know is by simply doing our job- like we do every day. Emotionally medics aren't usually effective medics.'

'So you treated Mr Dean? How?'

'We secured him to a spinal board and put a neck collar on him- all of this is standard practise for someone who has fallen a significant height. We also attached a number of splints because he had broken several bones. We were about to extract him when the cave collapsed.'

'Were you told about this cave being unstable?'

'No we weren't. Not at first. Seconds before the cave collapsed we received a radio message that told us to get out but it was too late.'

'What was the weather like?'

'It was raining. We hadn't noticed it but there was around 3 inches of rain around us when the cave collapsed. The walls of the cave were very slippy.'

'So then the cave collapsed. Trapping you, Mr Dean and Mr Chiltern.' The lawyers voice was harsh and unforgiving. He spoke bluntly, yet his words still seemed to hit Ethan hard.

'Yes.'

'Were you injured?'

'Yes.'

'How?'

'I don't know exact details.'

'Who does?'

'Jane Parker.'

'And your leg?'

'Yes?' The lawyer sighed heavily.

'Your leg is currently in a plaster cast- was this caused by the cave collapse?'

'Not directly, no.' Ethan's answers had been getting shorter. He was becoming less and less useful and he knew it.

'Okay Dr Hardy- thank you for your time.' The lawyers knew that they weren't going to get anymore out of him. This was a man who had suffered enough and didn't need to be reminded of every detail of his ordeal. Ethan traipsed back to his seat where he sat for seconds before leaving the court room. It was too hot and too stuffy in the courtroom. There were too many hard states and judgmental looks. There were too many memories that overwhelmed everything.