Thankfully, no complications arose from the accident, and the patient was delivered to The Royal and after a plaster cast, swiftly put into bed under Sister Brigid's care.

So it was only a couple of hours after she'd left the hospital, that Jill was back again and giving her patient one brief check in Milner Ward. Finishing, she flashed a smile at Sister Brigid and made her way out of the bustling ward and into the equally bustling corridor. It was there that she met Gordon with Frankie and Meryl in tow. He gestured for them to carry on and placed a hand on her back, drawing her aside.

"Can I ask you a favour Jill?" He smiled, but spoke with some urgency.

"Of course. What is it?"

"There's been a bad accident. It sounds like it's going to take some time. Could you cover for me in evening surgery?"

"No problem." She said, thinking that was it.

"Thanks. Erm, could you also stay with the kids tonight please? I picked them up from Caroline's cousins' this morning, so Adre is looking after them for the moment."

She blinked, not expecting the second request. "I'd love to. Are you sure they'd be okay with it though?"

"They should be. They know you anyway." He paused and drew a bunch of keys out of his pocket. He continued speaking while removing one from his key ring. "Set yourself up in the spare room. The kids will show you where everything is." He pressed a key into her palm. "Here's my house key. Thanks for this Jill." He then hurried away in the direction Meryl and Frankie had gone, out of the building.

Jill gazed after him for a moment, even after he had left her sight. It was only when she heard the giggles of two nurses coming towards her that she moved, and made her way towards Fawcett Ward to continue her ward rounds.

After her ward rounds, she returned to reception to beginning evening surgery, where she learned from Lizzie that Gordon had returned from the accident and was in theatre. And so, she had not only her patients and Gordon's patients to see, but also Jeff's as he was anesthetising.

Jill ushered a patient out of her office, and entered reception. She glanced at the clock behind the desk to see it was nearly eight o'clock. Picking up the phone, she began to dial the familiar number of Gordon's house, and proceeded to explain the situation to the au pair, and told her that she was going to be late. Putting down the receiver, she turned and smiled at Lizzie who was on her way out. "Bye Lizzie."

"Bye doctor. Have a nice evening." The receptionist replied in her sing-song voice.

She smiled after her, before turning to call her next patient, seeing a reception occupied only by a dozen people. She just hoped they wouldn't take too long.

This thankfully turned out to be true, as after only an hour later, she had managed to see thirteen patients, and had begun her journey to Gordon's house. She was looking forward to it, whenever she'd spent any time with Tom and Katie, they had always been sweet, well behaved children. It was unfortunate however that it was so late.

As she drew her mini up in front of Gordon's house, she saw the soft glow filtering onto the front lawn through a gap in the curtains of his living room. Slightly nervous, she gathered her bags and made her way up the path to his front door, where she slipped his key into the lock and let herself in, closing the door softly behind her. As moved to stand in the doorway of the living room and emitted a soft 'hello' so as not to make the three of them jump.

Adre looked up from her position on the settee where she'd been watching Katie and Tom play a board game. Katie and Tom also looked up and smiles spread onto their faces as they saw who it was. Adre rose and stepped over to Jill, looking up at her with a shy expression. "They're both ready for bed. It's past their bedtime but I thought I'd let them stay up so they could see you." Her voice was soft and rather melodious, her Dutch accent very apparent. "I hope that's okay."

"That's fine. Thank you." Jill smiled kindly at the young woman.

A few minutes later, she left and Jill was left with the children.

"Right you two," she addressed them, "How about we get this packed away, get upstairs and I'll read you a story."

Tom and Katie seemed pleased enough by this proposal, judging by the speed in which the game was tidied and all three of them arrived upstairs. They settled on Katie's bed, one little Ormerod on either side of Jill, and she proceeded to read from a book which Tom had handed her. It wasn't long before Tom dropped off to sleep, and Katie wasn't far off. Smiling softly, Jill picked Tom up and carried him to his bedroom where she put him to bed, without him stirring once. She then went back and tucked Katie in, and she then promptly closed her eyes, succumbing to sleep.

Making her way out of the room and closing putting the door to, she then entered Gordon's bedroom and opened his wardrobe doors. At the bottom of the tall closet was the bag she'd left that morning, under Gordon's wishes. It contained a few of her things, kept there if they made impromptu plans for her to stay the night. She retrieved it and then gathered some bed linen from the airing cupboard in the hallway.

She made the bed in the spare room and changed into her nightdress hurriedly, tiredness beginning to creep up on her, drawing her towards the bed. She climbed in-between the sheets, allowing herself to relax and sink into the soft pillow. She reached towards the lamp on the bedside table, her hand almost there, when a shattering sound pierced through the silence, gone quickly but leaving a ringing in her ears and the rapid thudding of her heart. Her hand stilled in midair, frozen, her breath held. After about half a minute, a new sound reached her ears. At first it was quiet and then it gradually got louder until she was able to identify it as crying. Her instinct taking over to protect the children, she rushed out into the hallway and into the room next to hers. The sight that met her eyes when she pushed open the door made her heart jolt. Tom was curled in a tight ball, sobbing to himself.

She felt slightly unsure of what to do, having had no experience of how to care for children. She tentatively perched on the edge of his bed and laid a hand on his shaking shoulder. His raised his head his eyes wide and frightened, then flung himself at her, sobbing her name.

"Shhh. Shhh." She murmured, lifting the young boy onto her lap. "Hey it's okay. Come on, stop crying."

His sobbing waned enough for him to speak. "What was the noise? I'm scared."

She rocked him gently. "I'll go have a look in a minute. Let's go see Katie, eh. Come on." She stood up, him still clinging to her as she carried him into his sister's bedroom.

Katie, like Tom, was curled up tightly, only she wasn't crying. Instead she gripped the duvet tightly balled up under her chin. Jill comforted her in much the same way as she did Tom, then left them in the room together, with a promise that she'd be back.

Once on the landing, she took a deep breath, and then shook her head slightly, feeling foolish. Never the less, as she descended the stairs, her hand gripped tightly onto the banister and she tried her best to make her descent as quietly as possible, cringing and pausing when she inadvertently placed her bare foot on a step which revealed her presence with a squeak. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she felt even more foolish than before; nothing seemed amiss, no sound could be heard. Just to be sure, she pushed open the door to the living room. A slight breeze reached her as she did. Furrowing her brow, she entered the room, thinking she'd left a window open. She didn't get far however, when a sharp pain shot through her, the source at the sole of her foot. She yelped and brought her foot up in reaction. The fact that it was dark prevented her from seeing the reason for the pain. She let her foot go and hopped back the way she'd come, towards the wall where she knew the light switch was. She flicked it on and light flooded the room.

She didn't even examine her foot as her eyes rested on the room. Shards of glass were scattered all over the carpet, and on some of the furniture. Broken ornaments and picture frames that had once resided on the window sill were lying on the floor. And in the middle of the floor was a large brick.

Her initial shock at seeing the scene before her quickly turned to dread and fear as she realised who the culprits probably were. No sooner had this realisation sunk in when another smash was heard, from upstairs.