ETWentHome, thank you so much for what you said about Charlie - I really appreciate all your comments, but it's very reassuring and a big relief to know I'm not messing it up. I have to agree with you - Honey was harsh! Thank you for your review.

Tanith Panic, I'm really happy you've found so much to enjoy! There's more Robyn, Louise and Cal in this chapter. Unfortunately, I can't get them all into every chapter, but I hope no-one will be neglected for too long! Thank you for your review.

Thank you for the new follows and favourites too. I hope you all enjoy Chapter 6!

Connie knew that what she was doing was dangerous, but she had to make sure everyone got out safely. Having assured herself that everyone but the stubborn Dylan and the far-too-conscientious Lofty had left the ground floor of the ED, she started to run up the stairs.

"Connie, what are you doing?" shouted a horrified voice from behind her.

Connie stopped and spun round to glare at the nurse. "Rita, please leave the building."

"Why should I?" said Rita. "You haven't."

"I have to make sure everyone is safe!" shouted Connie.

"Connie, all the staff here are adults," said Rita. "They're all capable of getting themselves outside in an emergency."

"I'm the clinical lead," said Connie as she began to climb the stairs again. "My job is to run this department. I wouldn't be running it if I neglected to do my job."

Rita quickly climbed the stairs, her trainers much more suited to the task than Connie's heels. "Connie, I understand why you're worried. I would be devastated if anything happened to any of our staff or our patients. But you mustn't put yourself in danger. If we knew for certain that someone was up here, maybe it would be different. But we have no reason to assume that."

Connie was listening; reluctantly seeing the sense of what Rita was saying, but then Rita made the fatal mistake of putting her hand gently on Connie's arm. Connie shook her off angrily and the nurse gave a sharp scream.

For a horrible moment, she teetered. Everything moved in slow motion, including the hand Connie reached out to grab Rita, but she wasn't in time and could do nothing but watch as Rita pitched down the stairs.

After a moment of frozen horror, Connie raced to get to her side, but her shoes weren't made for running down the stairs. She missed a step and her ankle rolled sideways, collapsing beneath her. With a cry of pain, she fell.

There were so many people.

A large crowd had gathered in the car park and it was a while before Max alighted on his first familiar face: his sister, who, to his amazement, was having a blazing row with Louise as Lily attempted to calm them down.

"Have I walked into some sort of weird parallel universe?" said Max, and was unable to suppress the hope that perhaps in this universe, Zoe hadn't cheated on him.

"This sister of yours is power crazy!" said Louise. "I made a slight mistake, a very slight mistake, and she's going on like I've killed someone."

"Louise, it was more than a slight mistake!" said Robyn. "You really hurt him."

Louise glowered at her. "Well, how was I supposed to know what had happened with his mum? If you'd actually showed me the notes instead of keeping them to yourself… but you just had to be the senior nurse, didn't you, Robyn?"

"I am the senior nurse!" said Robyn.

Lily sighed. "Can you both please calm down? You are being very immature."

Louise put her face close to Robyn's, ignoring Lily. "Actually, no, I think you'll find I have several years more experience than you."

"But you're out of practice," said Robyn.

Lily tried again. "It sounds like you've both made mistakes. That's understandable. I made a big mistake too today. But there is no point in blaming each other."

"Who else am I supposed to blame when it's her fault?" said Louise.

"How is it my fault?" said Robyn. "Okay, so I very unkindly decided to take the pressure off you by not telling you the background. That is just, like, so unforgiveable and you'd better report me to Mrs Beauchamp. But it doesn't matter what the background is: you can't go around laughing at patients for being scared!"

Lily stepped between them. "You have both made your points. There is no need to make them again. We have patients all around us who are in need of support and perhaps medical assistance. So let's all go now and do our jobs. Louise, would you like to help me?"

Max saw the grateful look on Louise's face as she agreed. He also didn't miss the furious look on Robyn's. He put his hand on his sister's arm. "Come on, Robyn. Leave it for now, yeah?"

"But she laughed at him and taunted him!" said Robyn. "How can anyone who's trained as a nurse do that?"

"Louise used to be a receptionist," said Max. "She's spend the last few years standing up for herself and not taking any crap off anybody. She's got to adapt. Give the girl a break, Robyn. She made a pretty bad mistake, but I'm sure she knows that."

He patted Robyn's shoulder to soften his words and then continued to walk around the car park.

Robyn was safe and he was glad about that. But now he needed to find Zoe.

Cal looked down at the beautiful but pale woman who lay on the trolley, crying softly. Cal gazed at her for a moment, mesmerised, then took her hand in his and squeezed it.

He felt a jolt of shock run through her body. Or perhaps it was just the chemistry that had always been between them.

She turned to look at him, her eyes widening. "Cal?" she whispered.

"Taylor," said Cal. He raised her hand to his lips.

"Steady on!" said Taylor. Her voice was faint and her attempts to pull his hand from his were weak, but the fire in her eyes was the same, despite the tears.

"I'm so glad you're okay," said Cal. He was tearful too.

Taylor looked at him in disbelief. "You're really still carrying a torch for me after all this time?"

"It looks that way," said Cal.

Taylor stared at him contemptuously, but then she began to cry again.

Cal very nearly did as well. "Taylor, baby, don't cry. You mustn't feel guilty about anything. Except the conning, maybe, but it's not your fault I still love you."

"No… Cal… help me…"

"Taylor?" Cal quickly rubbed his tears away. Taylor had gone very pale and her tears were punctuated by sobs that were almost screams. He held her hand tightly to reassure her he was there and scanned the crowds of people around them, desperately searching for a face he knew. "Can I get some help over here, please?"

"But I love you," said Ethan. His legs seemed to give away and he just about made it to the sofa.

"Ethan…" Honey took a step towards him.

"Don't come near me!" said Ethan, and began to sob.

Honey flinched away from the harshness in his voice, but she knew she deserved it. She'd hurt him. She'd been so cruel. Ethan didn't know how close she'd come to throwing herself into his arms and begging him to take her back.

Ethan was annoying at times. He was old-fashioned and shy and had very strange taste in films. He had unusual dress sense and he really couldn't dance. He also seemed to have no interest whatsoever in getting Honey into bed and she found that frustrating in more ways than one.

There had definitely been times recently when she'd wondered if she'd made a mistake; if she'd relied too much on her dreams of Ethan rather than her memories when she'd made the decision to come back to Holby and fight for the man she thought she loved.

Now she knew she'd done exactly the right thing in coming back, but it was too late.

Honey didn't know what to do. She only knew she had to get Ethan out there.

She'd give him a few minutes, she decided. Perhaps he'd pull himself together and storm out. Then everything would be all right.

But then she heard the sound of a key in the lock.