Tato Potato, thank you for your review. I'm really happy you're enjoying the story so far. There are a lot of people who need to be found!
ETWentHome, thank you for your review. It's really lovely that you like so many of the storylines. Cal is getting too attached to Taylor again, but you're right that he can't expect any help from Ethan this time! I'm happy you like Dylan and Lofty's friendship too.
Tanith Panic, sometimes I wonder how Louise has kept her job, but there are lots of people in RL who are as bad or even worse! I enjoyed writing dirty Max, but now he needs to think with his brain rather than the other thing! Thank you for your review.
"Ethan!" said Honey. "You've got to go! Now!"
Ethan realised he was sitting on Honey's (well, Noel's) sofa, crying his eyes out and this wasn't at all fair on Honey. It wasn't her fault that she didn't love him. "I'm so sorry, Honey. Of course I'll go."
The door slammed. "Honey?" shouted a voice that didn't belong to Noel.
Honey grabbed Ethan's arm and dragged him into Noel's bedroom. "Get under the bed and stay there!" she hissed, and left the room.
Ethan had no idea why she wanted him to hide under Noel's bed, but there wasn't very much he wouldn't do for her. He crawled under the bed and cried quietly, thinking he might as well try to get it all out of his system while he had the chance. He would look a little bit silly, arriving back at the ED with red, puffy eyes, but it would be better to be tearstained and able to do his job than looking all right and not being able to do a thing because he was too busy trying not to cry.
"You'd better not be having second thoughts, Honey!" shouted a voice.
Ethan lifted his head and whacked it on the underside of the bed. He saw stars and could no longer hear anything at all, though that might be because Honey's visitor had stopped shouting.
Hold on, how dare he shout at Honey?
Ethan crawled out from under the bed and listened. He didn't want to interfere in Honey's new relationship, but he wasn't going to stand by and let him treat her badly.
"Too late to back out now, Honey! And even if you do, you know what will happen. You won't be able to go running to Daddy once he knows the truth, will you? And if your gran gets a shock like this, it could really finish her off this time."
There was a burst of sobbing from Honey.
Ethan jumped to his feet, all ready to charge out and rescue her. Then he remembered Honey had told him to stay hidden.
"So just get your stuff and come with me," said Honey's boyfriend.
"Why do you even want me anyway?" wept Honey. "You've made it clear you think I'm cheap as dirt and you're right. You could do so much better than-"
There was the sound of a slap. "You just do as you're told, bitch! You're right that I'm too good for you, but I'm doing you a favour: got it?"
Ethan burst into the room to see the man shaking Honey, before pushing her back against the wall. Furious, Ethan picked up a chair and crashed it against the man's head.
He gave a short cry and crumpled to the floor.
"Oh, Ethan!" Honey threw herself into his arms and cried even harder.
"It's okay," said Ethan as he hugged her. "It's okay, Honey. You're safe now."
She was safe. And he'd made her safe.
It was all quite incredible really. Not the kind of thing Ethan usually went around doing. Of course, he did save people's lives on a fairly regular basis, but CPR was usually as violent as it got.
And now, he, Dr Ethan Hardy, had hit someone over the head with a chair. And he'd deserved it too.
Cal looked down at Taylor. Her face looked pale and somehow hollow and there were tears coursing down her cheeks. Cal wiped them away with the tissue Lily had given him. "I'm sorry, Taylor. I know I said I'd go with you, but I can't. I love you more than anything – except my brother. And he could inside that building."
"Please come with me!" begged Taylor, looking terrified. "You're the only person in the world who cares about me. We can still be together. You can come and visit me. I'll phone you every week. I'll write to you. You… you were different from the others. Of course you were. You know that. Just please don't leave me!"
Cal shook his head. She was saying what he longed to hear, but he knew her words just came from fear. Even if they hadn't, he couldn't have gone to the hospital with her. "I'll come and see you later."
"No!" said Taylor. "You'll come with me now or you'll never see me at all."
"Then I'll never see you at all," said Cal sadly.
He turned and walked away.
Lily stood with her arms folded, trying to control the shaking that wracked her body.
She couldn't fall apart now. She just couldn't. People she knew; people she admired, even liked, were in that building. In danger. Unable to escape.
Lily wished she could unhear the tiny snippet she'd heard the policeman saying into his radio. It wasn't much, but she knew that there was a bomb and there were hostages. The policeman hadn't given any names, but he hadn't needed to. Connie, Zoe, Dylan and Ethan were all missing. Perhaps there were others too: Lily wasn't sure. But without Connie and Zoe, both the backbone and the heart of the ED were missing. Dylan had his problems, but he'd always tried to help Lily. And Ethan… just the thought of Ethan being in danger made Lily's heart quiver and threaten to break.
"Lily, the police want a word," said Louise.
Lily's hand flew to her mouth in panic. "With me? No. They can't talk to me. I'm only a junior doctor."
"No, you're a registrar," said Louise, confused.
"I've passed the registrar's exam," said Lily. "That doesn't mean I'm a registrar." She took a couple of shaky breaths. "They can't talk to me. I'm the wrong person to talk to."
Louise sighed impatiently. "Lily, you're the only person they can talk to. You and Cal are the only ED doctors here and Cal's too busy snivelling over that bimbo to be any use to anyone."
"But I can't," said Lily firmly. She didn't know why her voice was so calm when her thoughts were a jumbled mess, but she was grateful for that. If she had to fall apart, it was better for no-one to know.
"Look, we haven't got time for this!" Louise grasped Lily's arm and pulled her along.
Lily shook her head, still trembling. "You do it, Louise." She could hardly believe she was saying the words. She was Dr Chao: a qualified registrar, even if she didn't have a registrar's job. Louise was just a nurse and not even a very good one.
"What's wrong with you? No-one's going to listen to me!" said Louise. "I might be able to terrify them into doing what I say, but those people out there, they need someone who knows what they're doing. They need someone to take charge and lead them." Louise sighed. "Lily. You want to be like Mrs Beauchamp, right?"
"I would like to be a consultant eventually: yes," admitted Lily guardedly.
"Yeah, and that's why you've spent the last year staring at her and now you're even dressing like her," said Louise contemptuously. "This is your chance, Lily. Your chance to be Mrs Beauchamp. The department's in a mess and we need someone to take charge. We need you, Lily."
"But everything has been organised," said Lily. "The patients are being looked after. Those that need to are being sent to St James's."
"That's just procedure, Lily," said Louise. "But that's not the only thing that matters here. We know there are almost no doctors because we've done our own check, but nobody else knows that, and we also don't know who else might be missing. We need to find out who's not here and inform the police."
Lily nodded slowly. Louise was right. They needed to be organised and methodical. Lily was both. Usually.
"Are you coming or do I have to drag you by the hair?" said Louise.
"Louise?" said Lily unsteadily.
"What now?" said Louise impatiently.
"I can't do this alone," said Lily. "Even Mrs Beauchamp needs a team. You have good organisation skills too and you aren't easily upset. Please will you help me?"
For perhaps the first time since Lily had known her, Louise was completely silent for several seconds. "Me?" she said.
"You are the best person to help me," said Lily. "We need to get everyone organised and you are very good at that. You know everyone in the hospital from your reception work. We will find Noel and ask him to help us too, but mostly I need you. Please."