Bonnie Sveen Fan, I think Lofty does need to apologise - he's really upset Robyn and no wonder! It would be nice if Zax's wedding turned out differently from their wedding on the show. Grease is all happy endings, but maybe they'll end up with different people! Thank you for your review.

Guest, thank you for your review. I'm glad you're enjoying this fanfic. I'll try to put Zax in every chapter as I know they're popular (and no wonder: they were the perfect couple and I'm still not used to seeing Max on his own), but there are so many characters and storylines in this!

Tanith Panic, that's an interesting question about Lofty! You'll find out what he meant in this chapter. Lofty would be adorable on a naughty step! We're only about ten minutes into Act 2 at the moment, so there's lots of time for Rita and Iain. Zax are definitely meant to be together! Thank you for your review.

bronny9, thank you for your review. I'm really pleased you're enjoying this story. I'll be writing some scenes later on where Ethan comforts Cal. I won't say why, but I will say he's going to need it!

Jack was standing in a corner of the room with his arms folded and his nose in the air. It would usually have made Jez smile, but right now, he only felt guilty. He knew Jack wasn't doing this for comic effect. He really was upset and disappointed about the dance contest.

They'd had no chance of winning, of course. Jack was good, but Cal and Taylor were outstanding. There hadn't even been much chance of Jack and Jez beating Zoe and Max into second, though Jez had been hoping they might do some tasteless or vulgar moves and been disqualified.

But Jez had dropped Jack and there had been only one possible outcome.

Jez sighed and walked over to Jack.

Jack looked over Jez's shoulder.

"Jack, I'm sorry," said Jez. "It's all my fault. You're a brilliant dancer and you deserve so much better then third place. If I wasn't such a clumsy idiot, we might still be dancing now."

Jack's eyes softened slightly.

"Please will you forgive me?" said Jez. "I'll do anything to make it up to you. Anything."

A smile came to Jack's face. His eyes met Jez's. "Will you take me out on a date?"

Jez hadn't expected that. He'd thought the most he was likely to get out of Jack was a few casual hook-ups. He stared at Jack in delight. "I'd love to."

Dylan wasn't particularly surprised Connie had taken over. It what she did – and no-one did it better.

But it did seem a little bit unfair. She hadn't even appeared on the scene until she'd heard the paramedics arriving and now she was acting as though she'd witnessed the whole incident and was personally responsible for the fact Sebastian hadn't gone into shock.

Not that she'd actually said so, but it was clear Connie was seen as the heroine of the hour.

Of course, it wasn't as though Louise could have taken control. Whatever might lie in her past, she now worked as a receptionist, but it seemed rather unfair that Connie should get the plaudits.

"Elle, with me, please," said Connie, as they reached Resus. "Not you, Dylan. You're too close to him."

"He's not my relative," said Dylan, rather surprised, before having an even worse thought. What if Connie had seen Sebastian's attempt to kiss him and assumed it was mutual?

"He's your mentee," said Connie. "Please go to the relatives' room and notify his father."

Dylan felt the last thing Sebastian needed was Archie making a nuisance of himself, but he nodded reluctantly and went off to the relatives' room with Louise. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Fine," said Louise with bright determination.

Dylan wasn't convinced, but he appreciated her attempts to appear strong. He wished a few more people were prepared to try it.

Louise looked at him for a moment, then asked: "Are you all right?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" asked Dylan.

"As Mrs Beauchamp said, he is your mentee," said Louise. There was a look of concern on her face.

Dylan didn't think he'd ever seen her look concerned before. "Well… I do obviously hope his injuries aren't serious. He has potential as a doctor and if it is my fault-" He broke off, but the damage was done.

Louise reached for his hand. "Dylan, why would you think it's your fault?"

Jamie wished he knew what to say. He knew Lofty had really been really interested in becoming a bereavement counsellor, but it didn't surprise him to hear he was struggling with the course. Lofty was the most empathic person he knew, but he loved the happy endings in nursing. They reminded him why he did the job and balanced out the sadness. Jamie could completely understand why Lofty was finding bereavement counselling a bit too heavy for him. As a nurse, he could bring people back from the dead, so to speak. As a bereavement counsellor, he could not.

"I'm going to stick it out till the end of term," said Lofty. "But I'm really not sure it's the right job for me."

"That's true. It might get easier," said Jamie. "But if it doesn't, you're still a brilliant nurse."

Lofty smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks."

"And it's not like it's been a waste of time," went on Jamie. "Anything you're learning on your course could be useful with nursing too."

Lofty nodded in agreement. "I don't think you can ever learn too many ways to help people."

"So it's good you've done it," said Jamie. "You are getting something out of it and if you hadn't done it, you'd always be wondering, wouldn't you?"

Lofty looked at him in gratitude. "Yes. I would. Thanks, Jamie."

"I'm always here if you want to talk. " Jamie looked around. "Sorry. I'm not getting bored or anything. We can talk as much as you want. I'm just wondering where Sebastian is. I hope he hasn't gone after Dylan again."

"Let's go and look for him," said Lofty with a smile.

"Unless you want to talk more?" said Jamie.

"No. I'm fine." Lofty smiled at him again.

The first people they saw were Cal and Ethan.

"Have you seen Sebastian?" asked Jamie.

Ethan looked at him in concern. "Haven't you heard?"

"Five pounds please," said the taxi driver.

Alicia was confused. "But the metre says seven."

"Don't worry about that, love. Five will do."

Alicia reached inside her purse, then she had to drop it on her lap and grab a tissue as she sneezed again.

"Unless you'd like me to take you back home again," said the taxi driver.

"No, thank you," Alicia said indistinctly. "That's kind of you, but I really am fine." She dabbed her nose, sniffed a couple of times and turned back to the taxi driver, trying to smile. She handed him a ten pound note. "Please keep the change."

He protested, of course, and Alicia felt ashamed when he managed to persuade her to accept four pounds in change, but her head was pounding and her nose was starting to run and she didn't think she could cope with an argument. She stepped out of the taxi and gave the driver a quick wave before turning her back on the taxi so she could blow her nose in relative privacy.

She knew she wasn't well enough to be out if bed, much less out of the house, but she needed to see Cal.

Rita dabbed her eyes again and tried to persuade herself she wasn't going to cry anymore. It was good she knew the truth now. Iain Dean couldn't be trusted and she would do well to remember that.

She walked out of the loos and almost walked straight into Jacob.

"Rita? What's wrong?" he asked, clearly concerned.

"I'm fine," said Rita quietly. "I've just got a bit of a headache."

"You want me to take you home?" asked Jacob.

Rita looked at him in surprise. He seemed almost as though he wanted to take her home – but not in the way that guys usually did. She would have said he was as desperate to get out of here as she was.

She wondered for a moment if he'd argued with Connie, but then she remembered his attempts at public speaking earlier and guessed Connie had been less than sympathetic. "Thanks, but I'll be okay. It hasn't been a great evening, but I'm sure it'll get better now."

"I don't think any of us are in the mood to be celebrating now," said Jacob. "Sebastian's hurt. No idea how, but Connie's rushed him off to hospital. Elle, Dylan and Louise went too."

Rita was confused. "Louise? Why did Louise go? She's not seeing Sebastian, is she?"

Jacob laughed. "No. Louise really isn't Sebastian's type – and I don't think he's hers." He looked at Rita, surprise filling his face. "You've got no idea, have you?"

"About what?" asked Rita.

"Louise."

"What about her? Are you saying she's a lesbian? I didn't know that, but I don't see what difference it makes."

Jacob laughed softly. "Louise isn't a lesbian. But she is a trained nurse."

Rita started to laugh. "Oh, yeah. I believe you, Jacob." She touched his arm. "But thanks for making me laugh."

Zoe was quite annoyed with Sebastian. It wasn't his fault he'd done whatever it was his done (or maybe it was: some people were complete idiots), but it did mean it was completely the wrong time for her and Max to make their announcement.

"Do you want a long engagement?" asked Max. "Because I'd really like to marry you as soon as possible."

Zoe looked at him in amazement. She still had trouble believing sometimes that Max actually liked her. She could accept that he found her attractive – she had curves and she wasn't afraid to show them off. A lot of men looked. Even Dylan on occasion. But the idea he could actually love her; much less that he could actually want to marry her…

"But we will wait if that's what you want," said Max quickly.

"No. No, I can't see any reason to wait," admitted Zoe. She looked at Max and a shivery feeling ran all over her body. She was so lucky. Marriage meant commitment and Zoe had never been any good at that, but much as it scared her, she wanted to commit to Max. More than anything.

"So we'll get married soon?" said Max.

"We should see how Sebastian is before we start thinking about sending out the invitations," said Zoe, and Max nodded in agreement. "But after that…"

Max smiled. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look so happy outside the bedroom.

Except in the various places they'd used as a bedroom.

"Do you want to make it a big wedding? Or just close friends and family?" asked Max. "Not that I've got much of a family. Just Robyn. And I suppose my mum will want to come."

"I think Dylan will be my only family," admitted Zoe.

Max stared at her. "You're related to Dylan? I never knew that."

"No, we're not, but sometimes water is thicker than blood," said Zoe.

Max smiled. "Well, you should know about blood. You're a doctor!"