I wanted to upload this chapter an hour ago, if you'll believe it, but with my terrible luck, the internet in my house died completely and I had to wait this long for it to start back up again! Anyway, I hope you enjoy :)

Lily was bored, despite the quickly diminishing pile of books Ethan had brought from her flat, along with a few of his own. Robyn and Lofty had dropped by with a stack of DVDs, which she was extremely grateful for once she'd asked Ethan to bring her laptop too. It had come in handy for more than just the films though: her parents were away on business in New York and had Skype called her almost every day. They apologised profusely for not being at home to come and visit, but Lily didn't feel abandoned in the slightest. Most of the department had now paid her a visit – each with their own apology for the part they supposedly played in her accident. She had lost count of the number of times she'd told people it wasn't their fault, that there wasn't anyone to blame. She'd long since come to the conclusion that there truly wasn't anyone to blame, it was more a collection of mistakes that all happened to catch up with each other at the same time. All the same, this didn't stop her feeling guilty for all the times she'd pushed away help.

There had been three people missing from Lily's endless stream of visitors. Charlie, Dylan, and strangest of all, Connie. According to Ethan, she'd been rather subdued of late, although her temper was flaring up at regular intervals, keeping them all on their toes so they knew there wasn't anything seriously wrong with her.

So Lily was extremely surprised to hear an almost meek knock at her door, followed by Connie entering the room, one sunny morning when she'd have given life itself to go out for a run. The Clinical Lead carried an elegant and colourful bouquet of flowers, but seemed paler than usual, with two pink spots on her cheeks.

"I imagine you've done this a lot, can we please get the apologies out of the way first?" she asked, looking uneasy and not nearly as level-headed as usual.

"Is there any need? I think we've established there was no-one at fault. If we really have to do this, let's do it differently. I'll go first. I'm sorry, Mrs Beauchamp, I shouldn't have lied to you," Lily said, looking away quickly and smoothing her hair. Connie sighed.

"You're right, you shouldn't have. But I should not have accepted what you told me, and above all I should never have sent you out to that trauma site. That's what I had to apologise for, I had to, because whether you choose to accept this or not, my signature authorised you to leave the premises, leaving me ultimately responsible for your welfare." Connie's voice was quite and unsure, not unlike the way Lily would usually have addressed her, but a thousand miles from her normal tone. There was an awkward silence.

"When can I come back to work?" Lily asked quickly, as though the words had escaped before she'd thought them through. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Connie almost smiled, which melted a little of the stress etched into her face.

"Lily, you can't even walk yet, I can't possibly consider -"

"I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. It's just -" Lily paused. She had wanted to ask this question for so long, but hadn't quite trusted any of the other doctors to give her a sincere answer. "Will I still be able to be a doctor?" she whispered. Connie held Lily's hand and looked her dead in the eye.

"You are an excellent doctor. There isn't a reason in the world to believe an artificial foot will change that. I will keep your post open for your return," she added reassuringly.

When Connie was gone, Lily fell asleep. Combined with all her medication, her racing thoughts and constantly being in some degree of discomfort was utterly exhausting. Even so, it was far easier to sleep knowing she would be able to return to the job she loved when this was all over.

Things were almost back to normal in the ED once Connie and Lily had cleared the air between them. The former was still a little short tempered for the staff's liking but no more so than before the accident. The latter was still reading voraciously and wishing she would be anywhere else in the world than confined to a bed in a room she'd long since fallen out of love with. Ethan visited every day with news and chocolate. He;d given up telling Lily there was no need for him to recount cases at length, because whether she could help in any form or not, medicine had always been the thing to make her tick and it never failed to capture her interest.

When Zoe broke the news that Lily could have her cannula removed to come of the IV drip, there was only one thought in her head.

"Can I go out?" she asked, sounding as though all her Christmases had come at once, at the prospect of being released.

"Do you want to go now?" Zoe asked, knowing the answer before she received a response: Lily was almost fizzing with excitement. She helped the junior doctor change into leggings and a hoodie. Lily took a deep breath before rolling the left leg of her leggings up until she could comfortable tuck it under her knee. She brushed her hair and pulled it into a French plait. As Zoe helped her shuffle into her wheelchair, there was something Lily felt she had to check.

"They all know, don't they?" she whispered.

"Yes, they all know. Connie made sure of that when you first came out of theatre." Lily nodded, it was the first and probably only time she would be glad of everyone knowing her business.

Zoe pushed the wheelchair through the doors of the ED and the pair were greeted by rapturous applause. Lily blushed ferociously, especially when Ethan leaned down to kiss her on the cheek and murmur into her ear.

"I love you," he said, squeezing her hand.