I'm sorry I've been neglecting my other stories. I haven't had as much time and inspiration for updating. I've been meaning to start posting this story for weeks. It's set a few months in the future and it might contradict any spoilers you might have heard. I've heard someone's going to die - I really don't want to know who - but it is likely they'll be in this story as most of the current regulars will be.

I hope you enjoy the story.


Cal finished his cereal and gulped down the last of his coffee, leaving the breakfast things on the table as he went to call towards the bathroom. "Ethan! Hurry up! We're going to be late!"

Ethan poked his head out of the bathroom. "I'm not going to be late," he said irritably.

Cal was inclined to doubt that. Half Ethan's hair was sticking up on end and his shirt wasn't done up properly.

"I'll be five more minutes," said Ethan, his head disappearing back into the bathroom.

Cal shook his head and didn't bother to keep his voice down as he said: "You shouldn't have stayed at the pub so late last night!"

The door opened again and a very annoyed Ethan glared at him. "I didn't go to the pub last night. I was working overtime. You know I was."

"That's not like you," said Cal, pretending to be concerned. The last thing he was going to do was tell Ethan what a relief it was to see his brother acting like his usual self again.

"It is now, Caleb," said Ethan, his eyes very serious despite the fact he was squinting. "It is now."


Elin opened the rear door of the car and climbed in beside the two-year-old. She couldn't start work without spending a few more minutes with her daughter. She didn't know how she was going to cope with being away from her for several hours. She wasn't sure they'd ever been apart for that long.

She stroked the child's blonde hair and kissed her soft pink cheek. "You're going to have a lovely day today, cariad. A lovely day," Elin said to her daughter in Welsh. She tried to blink away her tears. "And I won't be far away at all. I'll come and check on you whenever I can. But you won't miss me at all. You'll be too busy having a lovely time with all your friends…" Elin reached up to wipe a tear away and tried to smile brightly. "You'll have a great time. You'll make lots of new friends and you'll have so many new toys to play with. And remember: if they don't understand Welsh, you can speak English." Elin switched to her second language. "And so should I. We are in England now, after all."


Lily walked briskly across the car park towards the ED, keeping her gaze on the entrance.

There was no reason to look anywhere else. There was no reason why she should want to look anywhere else.

And she didn't want to - not really. The last thing she needed was to see him. But it would be easier to avoid him if she knew exactly where he was. If she knew he was safely in his own part of the building, she'd know there was no chance of coming upon him unexpectedly; of him walking out of the ED at the exact moment she was about to-

Lily couldn't restrain a gasp when he did just that.

She probably should have been relieved Iain looked as horrified as she felt, but it hurt. Even now, he had the power to hurt her.

She moved to one side to let him pass, only for Iain to move to the same side. Quickly, Lily moved to the other side, only to find Iain had moved in unison with her.

They'd seemed the perfect match once. Complete opposites, of course, but opposites often did attract.

Lily tensed as a smile appeared on Iain's face. She hated the thought he might be laughing at her; that he could be reading her mind, or at least think he was.

But she also didn't like his smile because it had such an unwelcome habit of making her smile too.

"Excuse me, Mr Dean," said Lily icily.

Iain stepped aside, but his smile had widened. "Mr Dean, is it, Dr Chao? Mr Dean? Careful: you might make me feel important."

"We wouldn't want that," said Lily.

She walked quickly into the ED without looking back.

Alicia couldn't help smirking as Lily walked past her, but the registrar didn't see her, or she pretended not to. "Hey, Lily!" she called out with a big smile and a wave which she was fairly sure half the waiting room had heard, but Lily continued walking. Alicia raised her voice a bit further. "Lily!"

"Leave her," said Louise a bit uncomfortably. She seemed uncomfortable with a lot of things Alicia did lately.

Lily turned with obvious reluctance and made her way over to Alicia and Louise. "Dr Munroe., Louise. You wished to speak to me?"

Alicia considered asking Lily to talk properly, but she decided she had something more interesting to bait Lily with. She put her hand on Lily's arm and felt the registrar flinch. "I just wanted to check you were okay, Lily. I saw your little incident with Iain. I hope he didn't upset you."

Louise nodded sympathetically. "It must be so difficult, working with your ex."

"I wouldn't have said so, particularly," said Lily. "After all, there are worst things than having an ex-boyfriend who's a paramedic. For example, I could have an ex-boyfriend who's a doctor. Or even two ex-boyfriends who are doctors." She looked coldly at Alicia, then turned away.

Alicia felt the barb, but she tossed her hair and tried to show the world it didn't hurt. "Keep trying, Lily!" Alicia called after her. "I'm sure you'll get to pull a doctor one day. But probably not two. You have to be pretty special to get two of them!"


Cal was wrong, as usual. Ethan wasn't late for work – not quite. He knew he'd spent a little bit longer in the bathroom than he usually would, but he'd had little choice in the matter when he'd discovered the plughole was full of Cal's hair and then he'd noticed a big puddle of Cal's hair gel (or rather Ethan's hair gel, as it had turned out to be), so he'd had to clean the bathroom floor before he could think about cleaning himself.

Ethan hadn't neglected to mention this small point to Cal when he'd finally emerged.

He walked towards reception, smiling at Noel as he passed, only to hear a thump behind him followed by a gasp of dismay. Ethan turned to see a girl with light brown hair holding a baby carrier. On the floor were two bags, one of which was spilling its contents on the waiting room floor. As Ethan watched, she shifted the carrier into her right hand and slowly started to bend down.

Ethan hurried over to her. "Please let me help you."

She looked at him in gratitude, causing a strange sensation in his chest. "You don't have to, but that would be really kind."

"It's no trouble," Ethan assured her. He glanced around the waiting room and saw an available seat. "Why don't you sit down?"

She hesitated, then smiled and did as she was told. Ethan got down onto his hands and knees and stuffed nappies, spare baby clothes and toys back into the bag. It didn't take long and soon he was carrying both bags towards their owner.

"Here you are. Nothing was broken. Would you like me to look after your daughter while you check in?"

She looked at him uncertainly.

"Oh, I'm sorry: I should have introduced myself," said Ethan. "I'm Dr Hardy. I'm one of the doctors here." Well done, Ethan. She really couldn't have guessed that from the 'Dr Hardy' part. "I've had all the relevant checks and I've been certified." Certified? That's really going to reassure her. "Certified to be safe with children, I mean."

She smiled, clearly relieved. "It's nice to meet you, Dr Hardy. I'm Elin Rhys-Jones. I'm the new receptionist."

"Oh gosh!" said Ethan. He awkwardly moved the bag in his right hand to his left so he could shake hands. "I'm Dr Hardy." He cringed. "I'm so sorry: I've already told you that. But you can call me Ethan. If you want to. Um, okay, as you're working here, I don't think you really need to check in. But you'll be fine with Noel. You're lucky Louise doesn't work on reception anymore. She was there on my first day and she made me go and wait at the back of the queue. I was terrified! But luckily, Dr Hanna arrived and then everything was all right. I'm sorry. I'm babbling. Perhaps it would be best if I was just a little bit more Cal." And now I'm not just babbling, I'm producing nonsensical babble. I'm so glad Cal's not working today.

Elin smiled. "I don't want to cause any trouble, Ethan, but if you could point me in the direction of the crèche, that would be a really big help."

"Oh, yes. Of course!" said Ethan. "I'll show you the way." He waited for her to stand up and walked with her past the reception desk.

Elin glanced nervously towards the reception desk. "Do you think I should let Mr Garcia know I'm here first?"

"I can do that," said Ethan. "I'll show you the way, then I'll come back here and tell Noel. That's no trouble at all." They started walking. "So… um… is this your first day?" Of course it's her first day, Ethan! If it wasn't her first day, she'd know she didn't need to be scared of Noel and she'd know where the crèche was, wouldn't she?

"Yes, it is," said Elin, as though he hadn't asked a stupid question. "I hope I'll like it here."

"I'm sure you will," said Ethan. "We're quite busy this morning – lots of the people who get ill over the weekend wait until Monday so they can spend some of their working hours here rather than cutting into their leisure time – but they're usually relatively quiet on a Monday morning."

He winced as this statement was almost immediately disproved by some very blue language coming from the direction of the waiting room.

"Well… it's mostly relatively quiet," said Ethan.

"Don't worry," said Elin. "I'm used to noise. I have a two year old. She likes talking about her bodily functions in a loud voice too. Don't you, cariad?"

Ethan laughed and was thinking what a pretty name Cariad was when he realised they'd almost missed the turning. "Oh… it's this way. Sorry. There you are." He walked with her to the crèche entrance. "Will you be all right now? I'll go and let Noel you're here."

"Thank you so much, Ethan," said Elin gratefully. "I couldn't have managed without you."

"I was very happy to help," said Ethan. He smiled. "I'll probably see you soon. I'm afraid doctors can be very annoying. We're always writing our notes on the reception desk or asking you to move so we can use your computers."

Elin smiled. "If that's the worst I have to look forward to, I feel very reassured. I'll see you soon, Ethan. Thank you again."