bronny9, Cal really has upset Alicia! Cal can be really lovely, but he's really not on his best behaviour in this story so far. Thank you for your review.

Bonnie Sveen Fan, thank you for your review. Alicia and Sebastian really aren't very healthy at the moment - it's a good thing so many of their friends are doctors!

Tanith Panic, Alicia still has pink hair, so she doesn't deserve the way Cal is treating her. Medical torches are very bright! My dad was playing with mine and he switched it on with the light pointed at his eyes and he screamed! I'm glad you like Louise and Dylan together - it wouldn't normally work! Thank you for your review.

Dylan thought about what Louise was saying and then nodded. She was right. He did care about Sebastian. Not in the way Sebastian seemed to want him to care, but he did care about him. Sebastian had a lot of promise if only he could learn to keep calm and Dylan knew from experience the effect a critical father could have.

He frowned slightly as he remembered Archie.

"What's wrong?" asked Louise. Her voice was often hard and grating, but right now it was very gentle.

"Mrs Beauchamp asked me to inform Sebastian's father?" said Dylan.

Louise shuddered. "Oh God no. You don't want to inform him. He's not going to help Sebastian at all."

"I agree," said Dylan. "And I know it's not what Sebastian would want. But it would be usual in these circumstances to inform his family and we can't deviate from that unless we have evidence to prove it's not what Sebastian would want."

Louise thought for a moment. "We could check his records. He might not have listed Dr Grayling as his next-of-kin."

Dylan looked at her in surprise, then he nodded. "Yes: that would be quite in order. We shouldn't make any assumptions about Sebastian's wishes without checking the records."

"Exactly," said Louise with a smile that showed she thought she'd been rather clever.

Dylan was inclined to agree. "And once we've done that, then perhaps we can talk."

Louise stopped smiling. "About.."

"About why you're wasting your nursing qualifications," said Dylan.

Lily frowned slightly. "Can you hear anything?"

"I heard some people leaving," said David. "And now…" He frowned. "I can hear somebody crying."

Lily had been hoping she was wrong about that. If someone was crying, then they needed comfort and she knew she wasn't the best person to provide it.

"I'll go and see who it is," said David. "I know you're… preoccupied."

"Thank you," said Lily gratefully. It was such a shame David wasn't a doctor. He was so lovely in every other way.

Lovely? Do I think David is lovely?

David put his hand on Lily's shoulder. It should have felt like an imposition, but it didn't. It felt… nice. "I'll come and look for you later."

"I… I'll come with you," said Lily.

David showed no surprise. He merely smiled slightly and waited as she stood up. A moment later, they heard the sound of a loud sneeze followed by violent coughing. Lily instinctively quickened her steps; David was right at her side.

"Alicia!?" said Lily in shock as she saw her mentee sitting on the ground. "What are you doing here?"

Alicia stopped coughing and went back to sobbing. She was holding a tissue to her nose and there were several more on her lap. Lily looked at them in distaste.

David crouched on the ground beside Alicia and put his arm around her. "I think you need to go home, Alicia. You're really not very well, are you?"

Alicia got another tissue from her bag and blew her nose with what Lily considered to be unnecessary volume. "I really shouldn't have come out tonight."

"Come on," said David. "I'll take you home."

Lily noted the gentleness of his voice. She was rather less pleased with the fact he had his arm around Alicia.

"You don't have to," croaked Alicia tearfully. "You're probably having a good time."

"I wouldn't quite say that," said David. "I'd actually be more than happy to leave." He glanced at Lily. "Lily and I were just saying that we'd much rather be somewhere else."

Lily felt she ought to say something. "Yes. We were." She looked at Alicia for a moment. She really didn't look well at all. A doctor really should have had more sense.

But she wasn't sure David would like it if she said that.

Not that Lily really cared what David thought.

"Alicia. Is it just the cold that's the problem?" asked Lily. If so, they would take her home, but if her symptoms had worsened, they should probably check it really was a cold.

"Cal went home with some woman!" Alicia started sobbing again.

"But your concerns are emotional, not medical?" said Lily.

Alicia gave her a reproachful look and David frowned.

"Alicia, it is not my intention to be unfeeling," said Lily. "I understand you're upset and I am… sorry for your… situation. If you have any further physical issues, we need to address them. But if not, we can concentrate entirely on your emotional wellbeing."

David's face relaxed. "Lily is right, Alicia."

"I have no further physical issues," said Alicia. She wiped her nose, then got another tissue to dry her eyes. "And I know I'm being silly. I'm not the first person to have their heart broken. I'm not the first person to cry over a guy. But I love him so much and I don't know how to stop."

Jez frowned slightly as Jack opened the door and looked around the room. "Who are you looking for?"

"Jamie," said Jack.

"What do you want him for?" asked Jez guardedly.

Jack turned to him and laughed. "So I can't talk to another gay man now?"

"Of course you can!" said Jez impatiently. "I know you wouldn't…" But then he stopped because he didn't know anything. It was usually impossible to know what Jack was thinking. He was too busy laughing and flirting to say how he really felt.

Is that really what I want? thought Jez. If I just want something casual, Jack's a good choice. But if I actually want something a bit more permanent…

Jack was looking confused. "Half the ED's gone. I can't see Jamie, Sebastian, Cal, Ethan, Dylan, David, Jacob, Noel…"

Jez thought jealously that he hadn't mentioned any girls, even though it was obvious to Jez that Lily, Connie, Alicia, Honey, Rita, Robyn and Louise were also missing.

"Iain, what's going on?" asked Jack.

Iain looked grim. "Sebastian had an accident. He's gone to the ED."

"Oh, that explains where half the staff have gone," said Jack. "Is Sebastian okay?"

"I think the fact he went to the ED should answer that," said Iain, and turned away.

Jez grabbed him by the shoulder. "No need to be so rude! Jack just asked you a question."

"Ooh, look at my knight in shining armour!" said Jack in delight.

"And I answered his question," said Iain shortly.

"Answer it more politely next time, yeah?" said Jez, deliciously aware of all the adoring looks Jack was giving him.

Iain looked at him in irritation. "Don't forget I'm your senior."

"No, I haven't forgotten you're a senior citizen," said Jez. He feigned surprise at the murderous look on Iain's face. "What's wrong? You said you were my senior and you're a citizen of Holby so you're a senior citizen, aren't you?" He patted him on the shoulder and led Jack away.

"You told him!" said Jack happily as he wrapped his arms around Jez's waist.

"Yeah, I did," said Jez, not very modestly.

"But I do hope Sebastian's okay," said Jack.

"Yeah," said Jez. "Me too."

"So, here's my plan," said Jacob. "You and me are going to start spending a lot more time together."

The horrified look on Rita's face was far from flattering. "Jacob. That's very, um… kind of you, but I don't think I want to get into another relationship at the moment."

"Neither do I," said Jacob. "Don't you get it, Rita? It's just a game. You want to prove to Iain that you really don't care that this Freddy wasn't really writing to you. I want to prove to Connie that I can get on perfectly well without her. And nothing shows someone what they're missing like seeing their ex with someone else."

"And then what?" said Rita. "Connie comes crawling back to you – not that I can really imagine that – and then I end up dumped again? Sorry, Jacob, but you're not really selling this."

Zoe looked round at her downcast friends. None of them felt like eating. None of them felt like doing anything. "Maybe we should tell them," she said.

Max looked at her doubtfully.

"Don't you want to tell them?" asked Zoe with a flash of irritation.

"Course I do!" said Max. He took Zoe's hand and looked into her eyes. "Zoe, there's nothing I'd like more than to tell our friends we're getting married. But it just seems a bit insensitive to announce it now."

"It might cheer everyone up a bit," said Zoe.

Max said nothing.

"I mean, obviously we won't actually get married till Sebastian's better," said Zoe. "But it might cheer him up too. Gay men love weddings."

"I'm think the only thing that's true of 'all gay men' is fancying men," said Max mildly.

"Well, who can blame them for that?" said Zoe. She moved her hand up and down his arm. "Come on, Max. Let's tell them. We'll save the actual engagement party till Sebastian can come, but I think everyone could do with a bit of good news."

Connie checked Sebastian's readings and allowed herself a small but silent sigh of relief. The early signs were good. Sebastian looked set to make a full recovery – and fairly quickly too.

"Good work," she told her team. "Keep monitoring him, please, and we'll see how he does. Tess, could you inform Dylan, Louise and Sebastian's father if he's arrived?"

"Of course," said Tess. "I'll just be a minute."

"Thank you." Connie gave a brief smile and left Resus. She'd have rather liked to tell Dylan, Louise and Archie herself, but there was something she needed to do first. She took her phone out of her pocket and walked along the corridor until she had full reception and relative privacy. She called Jacob.

It took him a while to answer. Connie was just expecting it to go to voicemail when the ringing stopped.

"Hi, Connie. This is Rita."

"And what," said Connie in a dangerous voice, "are you doing answering my partner's phone?"

"He's just popped up to the loo," said Rita. "He'll be back soon."

"So, you're clearly not still at the party if the bathroom is now on a different floor from you," said Connie icily. "Neither would that be the case if you'd decided to come to the hospital. So perhaps you'd like to tell me where you and Jacob are, Rita. Now."

She heard Rita gulp slightly. "We're at my flat, Connie."