I know Sandy attends the dance in the film of Grease, but she stays at home in the stage musical and the implication is she's ill. So that's what happens here.

Bonnie Sveen Fan, Ethan is very hard on himself. It is nerve-wracking asking someone out - unless you're Cal, of course, and you don't expect to be turned down! He won't give up quite yet though. I feel so mean splitting up Max and Zoe! Thank you for your review.

Guest, thank you for your review. I'm really sorry, but Zax won't be patching things up for a few chapters. The story is already planned and it mostly follows Grease and if they get back together too early, it will start affecting other people's storylines. I'm really sorry about that, but they will get back together at the awards dinner.

Tanith Panic, Rita and David are an unusual couple! I think David will be more uncomfortable with it than Rita, but it's probably quite close! I agree with you completely about Ethan - he just needs to be brave. It'll be so worth it! You can play 'spot the reference' with Casualty as well as Grease. Thank you for your review.

Alicia rested her head against her hands and sniffed. All day, everyone had talked of nothing but the awards dinner, the dancing and their dates. Zoe kept saying she wasn't moaning, but she really wished she hadn't agreed to go with Cal and she hoped she'd be able to sort things out with Max - not that she was going to be making any moves to sort things out herself. Max was making a point of talking about how amazing his date was whenever Zoe was nearby and looking completely miserable the rest of the time. Lily was desperately dropping hints to all available doctors that she still didn't have a date, while Ethan had approached Noel on at least ten occasions, only to tell him that whatever he wanted to talk about didn't matter and it wasn't important before hurrying away. As for David and Iain, they'd taken to looking terrified whenever they saw Rita or Louise coming.

All Alicia wanted was to go home - and not just because seeing Cal or Zoe hurt so much.

Louise stood beside her and put her hand on Alicia's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine!" Alicia sniffed again and tried to smile.

"Looking forward to the awards tonight?" asked Louise.

Alicia felt like screaming. "I think I'm going to give it a miss."

"What?" Louise stared at her in surprise. "How come?"

Because Cal will be there with Zoe.

"I really don't feel great," said Alicia, not untruthfully. "And it's raining and my hair's a mess."

Louise rubbed her shoulder. "It's just a cold, Alicia. I'm sure you'll be okay when you get there. And I'm going to be singing: you don't want to miss that, do you?"

"Of course I don't want to miss it. I know you'll be-" Alicia pulled a tissue out of her scrubs pocket and coughed into it loudly. "I'm so sorry, Louise. Excuse me."

"You'll be fine!" said Louise. "You'll be sitting down for the dinner and you weren't going to enter the dance contest anyway. I won't have anyone to talk to if you don't go. I don't suppose Iain will say two words to me when we're not dancing."

"I can't have dinner with everyone!" Alicia wiped her nose. "I'll put you all off your dinner. I don't want to do that."

"We'll get you a seat near the door so you can leave easily," said Louise. "For now, make sure you drink lots to prevent dehydration and help break up the congestion. I'll get you an OTC expectorant to help with your cough: maybe guaifenesin as that can reduce bronchial secretions. I'd usually recommend one of the weaker anti-inflammatories like paracetamol, but it might be better to go with some codeine to take with your meal: it might unsettle your stomach if you take it earlier, but it's stronger than paracetamol and it will help clear your nasal passages as well as getting rid of your headache. Stay away from caffeine as much as possible: I know it's tempting when you feel half-dead, but it'll increase your urine output and you're losing a lot of fluid already. Have you been using nasal congestants?"

Alicia was staring at her.

"What's wrong with you? Have I got something on my face?" said Louise.

Alicia shook her head. "No, I just… how do you know all that stuff?"

Louise started to look nervous. "What stuff? What are you talking about?"

"I mean, it isn't really advanced medical stuff," admitted Alicia. "Lots of people know that, or at least some of it. But you're so fluent and you're using quite technical vocabulary… have you ever worked in healthcare, Louise?"

"I'm a receptionist in a hospital," said Louise, a bit snarkily. "And I'm not stupid. I've picked up a few things."

"Oh, I didn't mean anything," said Alicia. "I was just really-" She sneezed loudly, twice.

Louise flinched. "Okay, maybe you've got a point about going home."

"I'm so sorry!" said Alicia in embarrassment as she fumbled for more tissues. "It really is best if I don't go to the awards. And I'll be even more tired after I've worked a full shift. Excuse me: I'd better go and…" She scurried off towards the loos and nearly walked into Cal.

Cal caught her arm. "Are you okay? Did someone upset you?"

"No, not at all!" said Alicia into her tissues. Don't sneeze. Don't sneeze. "Excuse me. I need to go." Don't sneeze.

She sneezed.

It could have been worse. At least she had tissues. But she'd still sneezed in front of the man she loved and it was humiliating. Tears stung her eyes.

"You're not well," said Cal. He looked concerned.

Alicia tried to laugh. "I can see you've been to medical school! Excuse me."

"Come into a cubicle and I'll take a look at you," said Cal, pulling at her arm.

"Oh, no. I really am fine. Please let me go, Cal." Alicia turned away from him and tried to dab her nose discreetly, but he just walked around so he was standing in front of her again.

Cal actually looked worried. "You're really ill, Alicia. You've obviously got this flu bug that's been going around."

"It's not flu. It's just a cold." Alicia sneezed again. "I'm so sorry. Please let me go."

"It looks like more than a cold to me," said Cal.

Alicia sniffed as quietly as she could. "Of course it does. You're a man," she said, holding her tissues tightly against her nose. "When a man has a cold, it's always flu." But she couldn't help feeling slightly flattered. Men usually only upgraded their own illnesses.

Cal looked at her for a moment. "You can blow your nose, you know. It's only me."

"It's embarrassing," whispered Alicia, close to tears again.

"You didn't mind when I took you to that soppy romcom." Cal smiled reminiscently. "You even let me do it for you."

Alicia didn't know how to tell him this was different. She'd believed he loved her then. Now she knew he didn't.

"You looked so hot," said Cal. "Your eyes were all wide and red; your nose was red; then you were so embarrassed, your cheeks got pink too..."

"Please let me go, Cal," said Alicia as she tried not to remember that moment. He'd been so kind. He'd held her in his arms and brushed her tears away so tenderly and told her it showed how caring and loving he was and he was so lucky to have a girlfriend like her.

All lies, of course. Like almost everything else he'd told her.

Cal sighed. "I'll only let you go if you promise me you'll go home. I know I haven't always treated you well, Alicia, but I do care about you and if it wasn't completely obvious that a late night is the last thing you need, I'd be begging you to go to the awards with me."

Alicia sniffed. "Then perhaps I'm glad I'm ill," she said in a shaking voice. "I don't want you to do that to Zoe. I know how it feels."

"Alicia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Cal sighed. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why I always treat you so badly. When we were in Barbados, it all seemed so easy. It was just you and me and nothing else mattered. But now we're here and everyone else is here and I can't be the guy I was then."

"You said if I promised to go home, you'd let me go," said Alicia. She paused. "I promise I'll go home."

Cal looked at her helplessly for a moment, then he let go of her and moved out of her way. Alicia fled to the bathroom and cried.

Rita looked at the brooch Freddy had sent her and wondered what to do.

She knew it was perfect for her dress. When she'd taken the dress to work to show her friends, Alicia had even said that a brooch in that colour would look perfect. And now, miraculously, Freddy had sent her one that was just right.

It really was a remarkable coincidence. Although Rita had sent Freddy a photo of herself in her dress, there was no way it could have got to him before he'd sent her the brooch. The mail system for the army was very complicated. It all had to go to a PO Box number in Holby first and from there it was taken to a private airport by special courier and then flown out to Freddy's top-secret location.

And that meant Rita was in two minds about wearing it. She knew Louise would say something about how this proved Freddy was messing her around because it was too much of a coincidence that he'd bought the perfect brooch – and where would he be able to buy something like that anyway?

Rita really wanted to wear it. She loved it. But she didn't want Louise tearing her romantic dreams apart.

Iain walked over to Max. "Have you sorted me out a date then?"

Max looked at him in surprise. "I thought you were going with Louise."

"Yeah," said Iain awkwardly. "But she obviously doesn't really want to, so I thought maybe if I got a better offer…"

"That's really not fair on Louise," said Max. "I'd also say it was pretty dangerous getting on the wrong side of her."

Iain thought about that and seemed to agree. "Yeah, maybe you're right. I'll get through tonight, then I'll see what I can do about Rita."

Max frowned slightly. "Rita has a boyfriend."

"Yeah." Iain looked even more awkward. "Anyway, tell me about your date. You said she was hot?"

"She's beautiful," said Max. He still wasn't quite able to believe he'd managed to get the attention of a girl like Taylor. Of course, getting Zoe's attention had been even more incredible, but even so, Taylor was quite something. "She works at St James'. She's an F3."

Iain frowned. "An F3? Isn't that a doctor who isn't clever enough to do their MCEM yet?"

Max glared at him. "She's ready to do her MCEM. She's just got to wait for the next sitting. They only have them twice a year. And even then, you don't just become a registrar. You have to apply for a position."

"Sounds like you know a lot about it," said Iain.

"I've talked to Taylor a lot," said Max defensively. "She's very intelligent and very nice."

"And obviously prepared to go out with a porter," said Iain. "I never thought there'd be two doctors like that."

Max looked away. "Well, technically, she doesn't actually know I'm a porter. And technically, she also thinks I'm Cal…"