Sorry, this has took so long to get up, to be honest, I'm losing all interest in wanting to update this. But I thought I'd need to get something up. This chapter was prompted by Casualtyfanforever81, with the prompt: Grace goes missing just as Rita's husband Mark, is released from prison. Will Connie find her daughter? Who will she hold responsible?

Not very confident on writing Connie but we shall see how this goes. Sorry, if the pace of this chapter goes too fast, I just write it because I'd not updated in ages and I wanted to see if anyone was still reading this.

As always, spelling and grammar mistakes are mine, I don't own the characters, I just write about them.

Connie: 46.

Grace: 9.

This chapter is set before Alfred's death, meaning that Connie has not been arrested.

Just a quick reminder, Zoe is clinical lead.

If you guys think I've missed any prompts, feel free to let me know.


The Life Of Casualty.

Chapter 70.

Connie Beachuamp got out of her car and sighed. She'd just picked up her daughter from the prestigious boarding school that she paid a lot of money for.

"Morning Connie " Cal said as he walked in to the ED. Late. Cal seemed to think that he could waltz in to work whenever he wanted.

Connie scowled in reply as she said. "Don't call me that"

Cal shrugged as he put his stethoscope around his neck and walked off, to treat patients.


Clinical nurse nurse Rita was on her break, she was standing outside, her hands in her NHS hoodie to bite off the cold, when her phone started to ring. With a sigh, she fished it out of her pocket and stared at the screen to see who it was, that was calling her.

"Holby City Prison"

She knew that it would be to do with Mark, and she put the phone to her ear, listening to the conversation.

Mark was in the pub, which was over the road from the hospital, he'd brought his wife a drink, knowing that the problems in their marriage, caused her to drink.

Rita sighed as she ended the call. She knew meeting Mark would be a bad idea as she knew he still had feelings for her but she no longer had them for him.

Grace, meanwhile, was getting bored of sitting alone in Zoe's office, she'd usually have her music on her iPod but her mum had confiscated it, as punishment to think about her bad behaviour in boarding school. She played truant and didn't hand in her homework.

She decided to slip out of the office and go exploring. She opened the door and walked along the corridor, her shoes barely making a sound on the marble flooring.

Rita, at first, didn't see the child go in to the pub, but Mark did when Rita was in the toilet and walked over to her.

"What's your name?" Mark asked, sounding friendly.

Grace eye - rolled him, it was a trait that drove her mum wild. "Grace"

Mark picked her up and Grace looked at him suspiciously, her mum had always taught her not to talk to strangers and well, this man seemed to be a stranger.

She cut her knee and it needed medical attention.

Mark carried her out of the pub and walked in to the department where he sat her on the reception desk and looked around for

"Mark?" Rita called her husbands name as she exited the toilets and headed to the bar where she ordered a red wine. She knew that she shouldn't be drinking on her break.

Connie looked up as she saw her daughter, she thought she was still in the office.

"Grace? Where have you been?" Connie asked, in a business type tone.

"Sorry mum" The 9 - year old - said as Connie hugged her, she wasn't big on showing her emotions to the team, but she had to admit, the idea of losing Grace, scared her.

Connie released the hug as she straightened out her clothes and took a step back. "it's ok, darling " she said, and sensing that the team, were seeing her softer side, added to them. "Get back to work!" As she walked to the staff - room with Grace.

Once Grace was safely in the staff - room, watching TV and eating a bag of crisps, with a can of cola (Connie didn't usually allow her to have fizzy drinks and crisps) Connie ordered Rita to Zoe's office. The clinical lead was in meetings all day, so Connie had free use of her office until she got back.

"Rita?" The consultant asked.

By the door, Rita stood with her arms folded as she stared back at the consulant. There was no denying that Connie wanted the younger woman out of the ED. "What?" She asked.

Rita leaned forward, and rested her hands on the desk. The consulant raised her eyebrows as she realised that the nurse was in close proximity to her. Rita raised her head and looked at Connie.

Cute Connie, she thought, considering her short brown curls, her slender frame and the way she wore elegant clothes.

Connie caught her staring at her. "Sister Freeman, what do you think you are doing?" She asked, stepping out from behind Zoe's desk with her hand on a hip.

Rita shook her head, drawing away all fantasies of her and Connie laying in bed together, making love. It was nonsense, wasn't it? She couldn't sleep with the consultant, she was still married, it would be classed as infidelity, and no matter what Mark had done, she had made a promise in the eyes of The Lord to stay faithful, but Mark had broken that promise by bedding a girl who was his student and then molesting her. She could see that Connie was still waiting for an answer from her so she sighed and then said:

"Nothing" the nurse mumbled.

Connie sighed and opened the door. Indicting she wanted the nurse to leave, to get on with her job. But she knew she couldn't as she'd been drinking and she could get struck off if anybody found out. She headed in to the staff room to have a quick freshen up. She looked in the mirror and raked her hands through the ends of her hair and she splashed some cold water against her face.


Later, that night Connie found herself ringing the buzzer to Rita's flat. She heard footsteps and Rita appeared with a towel, having clearly just stepped out of the shower around her waist and head.

She stepped aside to let the consultant in to her home, the hallway was narrow and Rita bumped in to Connie as she made her way in to the living room.

Connie followed her and was shocked to find that the coffee table had a bottle of red wine, had she been drinking?

"I don't care" Rita answered to Connie's unasked question. She knew that she was being cold towards the consulant, it stopped her thinking about the dark thoughts that ploughed her following the arrest of mark, she hadn't known what he did until one day she'd seen a newspaper with her husbands face on. She sighed, running a hand over her face.


Connie returned to her own home, it was twice the size of Rita's flat. She entered the key- code as the gates opened and she drove up the path that led to the house and turned off the engine and opened the door as she stepped out, shut the door, and then locked the car as she opened the door and walked in to the hallway

Connie walked in to her daughter's bedroom where she saw that Grace had flung her duvet off her. She picked it up and gently lay it back over her and she sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through her hair and smiling to herself as she realized that her daughter, her baby Grace was back here with her.


Not a fan of Connie and Rita together, but I did enjoy writing this.

Next chapter: Linda asks Jessica's children to look after her 1- year - old daughter, Sarah - Louise when she and Jessica are called in to work by Zoe. But will a 10 and 12 year - old cope with looking after a toddler? While their mum and step - dad are at work? Prompted by LindaAndrewsFan.