LillyMayFlower: I thought you would like that. That's good, I'm glad he was in character. I did use to struggle for Iain, but I've got used to him a bit more now. Thanks for your lovely reviews and messages.

Scarlett: Thank you. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Clear."

"Shocking."

Connie stood back with her arms folded across her chest, looking up at the reading above Darren's bed. She sighed heavily, ran a hand through her hair, and pondered on what to do. They'd been going through the same process for at least five minutes now, and nothing seemed to be working.

"Do we agree?" She whispered.

Everyone nodded solemnly. Despite everything that he'd put Lily through, it was still upsetting when a patient died on them. However, Darren hadn't woken up once, and he'd taken an awful lot of pills, so there was nothing that they could do.

"Time of death, 10:52am," Cal announced in a quiet voice.

"Where's the girlfriend?" Connie asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Relatives room," Cal sighed, walking over to stand beside her. "Do you want me to tell her?"

"If you could," Connie said, before turning to everyone else who was in the room. "And Lily?"

No one spoke. They'd completely forgot about Lily, and the fact that Darren had been the one to rape her. They felt so bad for her, and prayed that she hadn't gone and done anything stupid. Ethan had gone after her though, so surely she was safe.

Connie knew what she had to do. She swiftly left resus, and made her way towards the office where she'd left Iain to calm himself down. He was sat on the sofa with his head in his hands.

"Could you come with me please?" She whispered to him.

"What have I done now?" He snapped.

"Nothing," she sighed. "You haven't done anything, but I want you to come with me to find Lily."

Iain nodded and dragged himself towards the door. He was too scared to ask Connie what had happened to Darren, and he knew that she was bound to tell Lily anyway when they eventually tracked her down. They soon managed to find her in an empty cubicle, and luckily Ethan was still with her.

"Is everything alright?" She asked gently, placing a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder.

Lily flinched and fiddled anxiously with her sleeves, pulling her body away from Connie.

"She...She's been a bit upset," Ethan informed Connie, forcing a smile for Lily's sake. "You're alright now though, aren't you Lils?"

Lily nodded weakly at her best friend. Although she was still anxious and scared about seeing her attacker up close, Ethan had been great help and his words and just his company had really comforted her.

"Lily, can I talk to you?" Connie asked. She knew that piling a load of information onto Lily without warning, might make her anxiety worse. "You don't have to say anything," she added.

Lily smiled at her and allowed Connie to perch on the bed on the other side of her. She caught Iain watching, and gave him a smile also, letting him know silently that things were okay between them. Iain was grateful for that. He wondered if Lily was angry at him, for not telling her straight away about Darren.

"Listen, it's okay," Connie said. "Darren, um...The man who...you know? Well, he's gone, sweetheart."

"What?" Iain ran his hands down his face and his eyes went wide. "Really?"

Connie turned to address him briefly and nodded, before looking back to Lily.

"We did try to save him," she said. "But he was long gone, alright?"

"I'm glad he's dead," Iain muttered to himself, whilst leaning back against the wall.

"Iain," Connie hissed. "I know what he did was awful, but we can't say stuff like that about our patients, or about anyone really."

"So, what happens now?" Ethan asked, gulping nervously. "With the police investigation and everything?"

"I'll have to contact the police, and inform them of the matter," Connie said. "But we will have to go from there. I mean, Lily's made it clear that he is definitely the guy and the tattoo and the earring help a lot as well, so they will probably just end the investigation."

"Hey," Ethan soothed and gave Lily's back a comforting rub. "I told you it was over, didn't I? You're safe now, Lily. He's gone."

Lily nodded at his words, and a single tear rolled down one side of her face.

"It's not completely over though, is it?" Iain scoffed.

"What do you mean?" Connie asked him.

"Lily's still got to live with this, hasn't she?" Iain asked. "She'll never forget what that scumbag did to her, never! No amount of therapy and medication is going to help, I'm afraid."

Connie felt Lily tense up beside her.

"Not now, Iain," Connie whispered, shaking her head as a warning. "Now isn't the time to talk about that, alright? Let's try and focus on the positives; she isn't pregnant, she doesn't have any infections or life threatening injuries from the attack, and he isn't even here anymore."

"Even so, she's still scarred for life," Iain scoffed. "He deserves to be dead, and I'm not the only one who thinks that either."

There was an awkward silence.

"Believe me Mrs Beauchamp, if you hadn't pulled me out of resus," Iain said to Connie. "I would have seriously killed that man myself."

Connie gave Lily's shoulder a gentle squeeze and forced a smile for her. Lily said nothing and just rested her head against Connie's shoulder, something that she usually did when she was upset or anxious.

Connie allowed it, and just gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

She slowly entered the car park, the sound of her heels echoing in the wind. The sun shone down on her, as if the whole of Holby was greeting her with welcoming arms. A loud, happy sigh escaped her lips, and she took a small puff of her cigarette.

Moving her handbag to her other shoulder, she walked through the double doors of the ED. Charlie was the first person who she saw, and a smile spread across his face immediately.

"Hello," he greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi Charlie." Zoe smiled back at him. "Is Connie around?"

Cliffhanger! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was mainly a bit of a filler chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed it.