There was a loud knock at the door. Victoria turned off the running tap and out down the tea towel and went to see who it was. Probably Alex forgotten something she thought. She removed the chain and turned the handle smiling but her expression soon changed when she opened the door fully and saw who it was. She scowled at the man on the door step and tried to shut the door again.

"Victoria, please. We have to talk." Guy stuck his foot in the door to prevent her from slamming it in her face and she reluctantly opened it again and stood there, hands on hips, waiting to see what he had to say although she was adament that it wouldn't chance anything and she was determind not to let anything spoil her good mood.

"Victoria, I'm sorry..." he continued, ignoring the expression on her face but she cut him off, mid-sentence.

"I've heard it all before Guy, I'm not interested." She turned to walk back inside but he grabbed her arm. "Get off me!" she yelled and tried to release his grip.

"Please, we need to talk about us." Victoria just looked at him with disgust, shocked that he was even saying this.

"Us? You really think I'd reconsider after you killed that child? You need help." she pulled free and stepped away from him.

He stepped back too. "Oh, you know it didn't happen like that" he told her defensively, "You know as well as I do that I was completely competent and perfectly capable of doing my job."

"Were you?" she asked with even more disgust, not believing that this man had such nerve. "You're a drug addict Guy, I can't believe I gave you the benefit of the doubt."

"You and me both!"

She turned round and looked him streight in the eye. If he was trying to win her back, he wasn't going the right way about it. Not that she'd even consider going back to him anyway but he really was making an idiot of himself. "Don't you dare throw that back at me!" she yelled angrily and grabbed his face, pushing him out the door and slammed it in his face.

Victoria walked down her hallway and slumped down on her sofa, her head resting in her hands. She sat there for a moment and took a deep breathe. She flicked her hair out of her face and stood up determinedly, not letting Guy get to her. She grabbed her keys of the coffee table and picked up her jacket which was lying on the floor.

She walked quickly down her front steps and got into her car without looking around. She didn't want ot face Gy again if he was still hanging around. She pulled out and made the turning onto the main road. She wasn't due at work for another 20 minutes and it only took 5 minutes to drive to the hospital but she couldn't stay around here. She needed to keep busy to stop the emotion of the past week, mostly bad but one good thing that kept her sane at the moment, completely taking her over and clouding her judgement.

* * *

"Kath, can I have a word?" Tash grabbed the ward sister and pulled her to one side.

"Will this take long? We're very busy."

"No, not at all. I supose you've heard aboud Mike leaving." The ward sister expression imediatly fell and Tash could tell it was a difficult subject for her but she still carried on, but tried to be a bit more sensitive.

"None of us want to see him go, but if he was leaving for the right reasons, I for one would support him but it just seems to me like he's running away, trying to avoid what happened."

Kath nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I agree, but you know what Mike's like, once he sets his mind on something..." She trailed off, not wanting to think about him leaving. She couldn't cope with it at the moment.

"Yeah, I know" Tash replied, "I just think one of us should talk to him, and I think he'd listen to you."

"You're his registrar, Tash. You work with him the most..." She knew that what Tash was saying was proberbly true but she didn't want to confront Mike, because she didn't want to face up to her feelings for him.

"That's not what I meant, Kath!" Tash smiled at her knowingly.

Kath was slighlty taken aback by this "How did you...?" she began but stopped and smiled back.

"It's fairly obvious!" Tash teased, "have you seen the way you two look at each other?"

"OK, OK" the ward sister protested, "I'll talk to him. Can I just get back to work now please?"

Tash held her hands up in defence and they both started to walk away in opposite directions but Kath turned around. "Tash?" The doctor turned around as well to face her. "You won't say anything will you? I don't want Simon to..."

"Don't worry" she told her, sincerely. "You're secret's safe with me. Just remember to talk to him, OK?"

* * *

"Alex!" Victoria called to him, as she ran down the corridor.

He turned aroud at the sound of his name and smiled broardly at her. "What are you doing up here? Nothing serious I hope."

"No, not really." She stopped out of breathe and looked around. Hs elowered her voice and said "I think it's better if we keep us to ourselves for now. I've just got so much other stuff to cope with at the moment, Guy, and..."

"Has he been hassling you?" Alex asked concerned, noticing the look on her face when she said her ex-fiancé's name.

"He came round to my house this morning, but it's nothing really."

Alex didn't quite believe her but decided not to push the subject and make her even more stressed. "I won't say anything, I promise."

She smilled at him again and he kissed her on the lips. They pulled apart just in time as Mr. Meyer appeared round the corner and looked around nervously, hoping that he hadn't seen anything. Not that he'd let us know if he had anyway, alex though but decided not to worry.

"Dr. Merrick" he greated in his usual, flat tone that would be concidered cold and detached by a stranger but they had both been around him long enough to know otherwise. "To what do we owe this honour?"

"Good morning, Mr. Meyer" she said brightly to her former boss. "I was just talking to Mr. Adams about a patient.

The consultant raised his eye brows suspiciously, but, as always, did not let them know what he was thinking. He just walked into pre-op motioning for Alex to follow. "Let's not keep our patient waiting, Mr. Adams."

"I'll see you later" Alex said, turning back to Victoria when he was sure Meyer was out of earshot "and don't worry. Do you want to meet for lunch? Let's not use the canteen though" he said with a smirk, "not if we don't want people to know."

"I'll see if I can get away" she said, doubtfully, "but with Janice away, it might not be possible." she thought for a moment and looked at her watch. "I'll try and be in the lobby at 1."

She turned towards the lift to her floor, stealing a glance at him over her shoulder, and was slightly surprised by his look of disappointment. She stepped into the lift and closed the doors, making a mental note to talk to him and make sure that he wasn't too offended by her suggestion that they keep things quiet.

* * *

"Thank God! Victoria, we're dying down here!" Keri greeted her when she walked through the double doors into the whirlwind that was pediatrics. "We've got a brother and sister involved in a car accident, mainly minor injuries though, a baby with respiratory problems, a seven year old girl with a broken arm and Thomas Weatley is driving everyone up the wall again!"

Victoria hung her coat up behind reception and let out a laugh. "I'm so glad I didn't rush in."

Keri turned her attention to the charge nurse who was running round the corner after Tom who had disapeared into a side room about a minute ago. She called after him "What did I say Steve?"

"Yeah, yeah" he said sarcastically, "save the gloats for later please. Have you seen..."

"In there" Victoria pointed, knowing what he was about to say and she couldn't help laughing at the little boy. She hadn't chosen to be transfered to this ward, she was happy in her old job and she had never wanted to work with kids but she had grown to like working here.

Steve nodded gratfully and carried on his pursuit of the hyperactive five year old. Keri left too to go and check on the RTA victims and Victoria was left to suvey the chaos. "Welcome to Otter ward" she mumbled under her breath but was glad she had so much to occupy her mind so she wouldn't have time to remeber Allison or the investigation into her death.

* * *

Kath walked nervously up to Mike's office door. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but everytime she went near him, she felt butterflies in her stomach and she got all hot and flushed like it was her first teenage crush. she couldn't remebr Simon ever making her feel like this. Not even before... No. She didn't want to think about that. She just had to get Mike to stay.

he knocked on the door and entered, even before he had replied. She was sure he would be just as pleased to see her as she was and wouldn't mind the intrusion one bit when he saw who it was. "No, me first. I don't want you to leave. I..."

"Tash put you up to this did she", he replied in a mock angry tone right before his smile reappeared to his face, but when she carried on looking down at the floor with a very serious expression on her face, he stopped in his tracks and went over and put an arm around her.

"Kath? What is it?" he asked, more concerned than ever, "Did something happen?"

"Stop it Mike" she pulled away, and sat down on a chair by the door. "Just let me say it. I..."

She was interupted by Mike's pager going off but he ignored it for a moment, concentrating on Kath and what she had to say to him that was so important.

"Mr. Barrett!" Sandy came into his office, "Mr. Jeffrys has arrested!"

Mike bolted for the door. "Sorry Kath, I have to go."

"Yeah, yeah, sure" she urged. However much she wanted to tell him how she felt before she chickened out, she didn't want to put a patients life at risk just because she couldn't sort out her personal life.

"I love you" she muttered under her breathe and slumped down on his office chair.