Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'll try not to let it get boring... A few of you expressed an interest in seeing Lottie's mother, I'm saving her for a few chapters time. The next chapter should be up soon as I have already written it, it's got more of the casualty regulars in :)

emily

"Adam, there's someone on the phone for you?" Alice held the receiver towards Adam.

He ignored it, "Tell them I'm saving lives." He looked up to see Alice's unamused face, "I'm serious, I've got five patients and two of them are critical."

"It's Lottie's school, Holby Grammar-"

Adam sighed, "Oh what has my darling daughter done now?" He picked up the phone, "Yes this is Adam Truman speaking, how can I help you?" He listened, "Is it really necessary for me to come in? I can talk over the phone? It's just that I'm quite busy- no I'm not saying that. I'll come in." He put the phone down, "Oh Alice, I think it might just be one of those days."

Alice looked concerned, "What's she done?"

Adam shrugged, "Apparently she flipped another girl over the table and then pushed the table over on top of her."

Alice blinked, "Wow."

Adam shook his head, "It's not really her style... I don't know." He shrugged, "Why did it have to be today?"

.

Lottie was attempting to explain to her dad her side of the events, "Okay, I might have called her stupid but she had no need to stand up in front of the rest of the class and call me a slapper. So I told her to shut up but she ran towards me and I pushed- well it was a bit more of a push, and she fell over. And then she said that mum was a drinking gypsy whore. And I don't take that shit from no one."

Adam interrupted for the first time, "No. You don't take that shit from anyone." He noted the odd look that the receptionist was giving him. "What? Grammar's important, or it used to be."

"I'm sorry you had to leave work. I thought they'd call mum but I have no idea where she's pissed off too."

Adam shook his head slowly, "Maybe you could leave the swearing to a minimum. You have just been summoned to the head's office."

"Who, the dinosaur? He'll just grumble on for a bit, fall asleep if we're lucky and then we can go."

The receptionist interrupted, "Mrs Milton will see you now."

Lottie swore again, "Oh not Milton."

"What?"

"She's the deputy head and she's going to eat me alive. And then she'll have you for desert."

.

Adam and Lottie were sitting opposite a severe looking woman with grey hair tied into a bun and a tweed jacket in an offputting shade of green. Mrs Milton tapped her desk with a single finger once and then began to speak, "Carlotta Truman-"

"It's Lottie actually."

Adam shot Lottie a warning look. "Not now."

"No seriously, I've been at this school for 5 years, she is the only teacher that insists on calling me by that name."

The grey haired woman blinked. "Carlotta is the name on your birth certificate, is it not?"

"Yes but-" Lottie gave her father a look as if to say, help me out here. Adam ignored her, turning to listen to the teacher.

Mrs Milton ignored her students protests, "Then it is the name I shall continue to call you until this is no longer the case. Carlotta Truman, today you assaulted another pupil in the middle of a lesson and then threw a table across the classroom. And I'm sure Mr Truman-"

Lottie interrupted, "He's a doctor. Dr Truman."

Milton blinked calmly. "First you interrupt my classroom and now you interrupt me. Two fine examples of your daughters impertinence. Dr Truman."

"Call me Adam." Milton glared at him. Adam nodded slowly taking in the teachers fierce glare, he added as an afterthought, "Or not."

"Your daughter has, from the beginning of term shown a remarkable inability to follow rules and a general distaste for all authority. And this is not acceptable."

Adam shrugged, "I agree. But-"

The teacher didn't seem to acknowledge that Adam had said anything at all, "I would like to suggest that it would be appropriate for Carlotta to accept a two day suspension in order for her to-"

Lottie snapped, "You're only suspending me because it's Clarissa 'My grandma's a lady' fancy pants Huntington-Whitely and you're worried her dad is going to sue."
Adam put a restraining hand on Lottie's shoulder, "Enough Lottie. You can apologise and I'm really sorry Mrs Milton but I have to get back to work so I can afford to pay the fees you are charging me so that you can suspend my daughter."

Lottie's mouth remained closed. Adam squeezed his daughter's shoulder, "Apologise."

Lottie sighed, recognising the tone of her father's voice. He didn't often insist that she did something, but when he did he was more stubborn than she could ever be. "I'm sorry."

Adam shook his head, his daughter did not sound sorry at all, but the apology seemed to be accepted by the deputy head teacher who nodded curtly. "I will expect a written letter of apology on my desk in two days time. Goodbye."

Adam stood up, almost dragging his daughter with him. As soon as the door was shut he was already admonishing her, unimpressed that he had to leave work, "You're coming to work with me. You can do filing or something. I'm not having you use your suspension as an excuse to skive."

"Oh come on Dad, there was a concert I wanted to go to."
"Is this what this was all about? Why you wound up the deputy head, so you could go to a concert? Why didn't you just pull a sickie?"

"The friend who I was going with pulled a sickie, we couldn't both do it else it would have been suspicious."

"Why did you have to be the one to get suspended?"

"Cause I got to pull the sickie last time."

Adam shook his head, "Really? You know sometimes you even surprise me."

.

Abs was in reception filing some patient notes when Lottie and Adam came in, Adam looking slightly sheepish whilst Lottie just looked sullen. Abs smiled, "Lottie Truman. The fact that your dad is dragging you by the ear into the department suggests that you haven't started behaving yourself yet."

Lottie grinned, "Hey Abs."

Adam frowned, "Don't smile. This is supposed to be a punishment."

"No. The punishment is that I have to miss the concert and sit in an emergency department for the afternoon."

Abs shook his head, "Adam mate, if she's deciding the punishment you've already lost." He returned Lottie's grin, "I'd ground her. For a week at least."

Adam nodded, pretending to take Abs's suggestion seriously, "Okay then, Lottie you're grounded for a week."

Lottie's mouth dropped open, "Abs, what did the hell you do that for? He's never grounded me before."

Adam laughed, giving the joke away, "As if grounding her would make any difference..." Adam turned around, "Abs, can you find me a victim, I mean patient of course, a patient admission form. Go on Lottie, do some homework in my office and don't get me into trouble-" He turned back around to find that his daughter had gone. "Abs, did you see where-" Adam patted his pockets, his car keys were missing. "Oh come on Lottie?" He did a quick scan of reception but he knew that his daughter would be long gone. Abs had missed Lottie leaving when he had turned around to look for an admissions card, so she must have been quite quick. "I'll check outside, she can't have gone far."

Adam shook his head, "No point. She took my car keys, she'll be halfway across Holby by now, she speeds like a formula one driver."

"She can drive? She's what, 16?"

"One of her mums boyfriend taught her when she was 12. She's not that bad actually. Just not legal."

"Do you want to call the police?"

Adam sighed, "What's the point- you know I wondered why she got herself suspended, she pretty much asked for it, she just wanted to get here and 'borrow' the car. One day I'll-" Adam pulled his phone out, there was no answer of course, Lottie, it's your dad, if you're listening to this I want you to pull the car over and call me. As you can probably guess from the disproving tone in my voice I'm not impressed. And I'm being serious this time. Call me.

.

Lottie enjoyed the concert, although it was slightly ruined by the nagging feeling in the bottom of the stomach. She would have to face her father at some point, she did have his car after all. She had dropped her friend off at the bus station preferring to face her father without the presence of Harvey. Harvey was her best friend, but he was also a guy, something that would only wind her father up. And she had parked the blue convertible in it's usual space, knowing that it would be unlikely that he hadn't noticed, but there was always hoping. She tried to sneak into the emergency the department without being noticed, but Abs noticed her entering and grabbed her by the arm. She smiled sheepishly, "Hi Abs, fancy seeming you here?"

"What do you think you were doing today?"

"Going to a concert. Lots of people go to concerts. It was good fun actually-"

"I'm being serious, stealing a car-"

Lottie frowned, "Borrowing. I gave it back."

"That doesn't reduce the irresponsibility of your actions today."

"I can drive better than most actually. I didn't drink or do any drugs so I would be okay to drive back. So actually quite responsible for me."

"Your dad was really worried about you-"

"About his car."

Abs shook his head, "Anything could have happened-"

Lottie rolled her eyes, "Who are you to tell me what to do, we've met, what twice?"

"We see around 3 RTC's a day here, your actions could have caused the death of innocent people in other cars, or of you and your friends? You may think you can drive, but the fact remains that you haven't passed a driving test and you haven't done the theory. Just because your dad is easygoing, doesn't mean that you can just do anything and to hell with the consequences-" Abs realised that he might have been going a bit too far. Lottie was biting her lip.

He sighed, "Sorry, it's been a long day. Your dad is in his office, he'll probably be glad to see you."

Lottie nodded, quiet for once. "Thanks Abs."

She wandered across the apartment, suddenly aware of all the patients with injuries that could have been caused by a car accident. Could have quite conceivably been caused by her stupidity. She didn't bother to knock on the office door, she just opened it and threw the car keys in. "Sorry. Bye." She shut the door and waited. The direct approach was never her forte and she was hoping that, as usual, her father would wimp out on the whole parenting thing and just pretend that it didn't happen. This time she wasn't lucky. The door opened and her father appeared, his face stony, holding his phone. "Why didn't you call?"

Lottie shrugged, pretending to ignore the certainty of a telling off, "I was busy."

That was the final straw for Adam who had spent the past six hours worried sick, expecting each casualty that came through the door to be Lottie, "What. Did. You. Think. You. Were. Doing? Oh wait, you didn't think. You never think." He was holding his phone,

"I always think. Whether it's the right thing to do or not is irrelevant."

"Your safety is not irrelevant."

"The car's fine."

Adam snapped, "I don't care about the bloody car."

"Yes you do. Of course you do. You love the image, the flash car, the flash smile and the pretty nurse. And the sulky teenage daughter kicking off doesn't fit in with that. Don't worry I'm going." Lottie turned too quickly for Adam to catch her. He would have chased her but his pager went off. "Lottie!" He looked at the screen of his pager, he had a crash call, something that he couldn't ignore. He sighed as his daughter disappeared through the E.D doors, knowing that she wouldn't come back. He jogged towards resus, resolving to call her later. That was what he always did.

.

Hey Lottie it's your dad, I'm sorry about earlier. We need to talk. I know I'm not good at being a dad, but I want to sort this out. Can you call me? I don't mind if you're busy.

Adam put his mobile back into his pocket. Lottie wouldn't call, she never did. She'd turn up in the back of an ambulance, roll in drunk in the early hours of the morning or just bounce up to him next Saturday and pretend that nothing had happened. That was her style.

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