James Campbell stood across the street, staring at the house in front of him with disgust and contempt. It was all her fault. At least it was in his twisted, grief-stricken mind. She took my daughter away, he thought, his anger building and his thirst for revenge growing stronger and stronger. He wanted answers.

He crossed the road with confidence, a defiant glare in his eye, staring blankly at the front door and concentrating fully on his goal: To make Victoria pay.

* * *

Miranda Locke stood hidden behind a wall, watching the man stride menacingly up to Victoria's house and knock angrily on the door.

He seemed familiar but she couldn't quite figure out where she had seen him before. When there was no answer at the door, he forced his way in and slammed the door behind him.

Miranda had seen Victoria leave earlier so she knew she wasn't in any danger but she knew she still had to tell some one.

* * *

"Hey, Steve" Victoria called to the charge nurse as he walked past the door to one of the side rooms she was in with a patient, "I'm supposed to be meeting someone for lunch in half an hour, any chance of a break?"

He looked around to survey the ward and thought for a moment. "I don't see why not, just don't be longer than an hour OK?"

"I left my purse at home" she said as she checked the patients monitor again and made a final note of the chart. "I've got to go and get it then I'll go straight there." She picked up her stethoscope off the table and walked out of the room, giving the nurse a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks Steve, I owe you one."

* * *

Kath sat on a bench in the car park of Holby City hospital, clutching a stone cold cup of coffee, reviewing her life and wondering where it all went wrong.

Well, not all of it, she thought, she loved her job and she loved her kids but she also loved Mike. That's the problem.

She wanted to be with him, pure and simple but, and it wasn't that she didn't want to hurt Simon, she had grown past caring for him and started to despise him, she was terrified of what he would do to her if she told him she was leaving. She knew all too well from bitter experience what he was capable of and she didn't want to find out again.

Mike was completely different. She didn't even want to compare the two. Simon wasn't worthy of being compared with such a lovely, wonderful, caring man Mike was a symbol of her future, an unknown future filled with mystery and excitement and Simon was a reminder of the past.

A past that will be left behind for good, Kath decided. I'm leaving him. And telling Mike how I feel.

* * *

Alex walked through Darwin ward to the lift with a huge smile on his face, ignoring all the suspicious stares of the rest of the staff. All he cared about now was meeting Victoria for lunch. He was about 10 minutes early but the operation had gone well and he had no other patients to see so he could afford to spend a bit more time with Victoria.

He got to the lift and pushed the call button. As he stepped into the lift he noticed Julie and Jasmine staring at him with smirks on their faces, trying to pretend they weren't watching him. He turned away, slightly embarrassed and he was thankful that the lift had arrived at that point so he could escape all the inevitable questions. He stepped in and went down to the ground floor.

"What do you think he's so happy about?" Julie asked Jasmine.

"I've got a fairly good idea" Jasmine replied, trying not to laugh, "I reckon he's getting some!"

"Jas!" Julie hit her friend playfully on the arm. "Is that all you think about?"

"Well, I saw Victoria earlier with the same cheesy grin on her face..."

"You serious?" Julie called then lowered her voice again.

"Come on Jules" Jasmine sat down on the desk and folded her arms, "You know what those two are like, they've bee flirting for ages!"

Julie just chuckled and looked down the corridor in the same direction that Alex had gone to the lift. As Mr. Barrett walked past, the two nurses coughed nonchalantly and pretended to be working.

"Come on girls" he said as he walked past, "let's keep the gossip to a minimum." He paused "I don't remember you being transferred back to Darwin, nurse Hopkins."

Jasmine rolled her eyes as Mike walked away. "See you later" she called over her shoulder to her friend and walked away.

* * *

"You're the man who left Victoria's this morning, aren't you?"

Alex turned around to see a teenage girl with blonde hair calling to him. He looked at her with scepticism and a slight hint of worry. "Who are you?" he asked warily.

The girl ignored his question and got straight to the point, despite the fact that he was slightly scared of her and how she knew Victoria and why she was there. She either didn't pick up on his discomfort of didn't pay attention to it.

"There's someone in Victoria's flat. He kicked the door down and..."

A sudden wave of nausea came over Alex at the slightest hint that Victoria could be in danger. He stared at the girl for a second, utter disbelief in his eyes and bolted for the stair well, racing up to Otter ward to warn her.

* * *

"Keri!" Alex ran through the door to the ward and nearly knocked over a parent carrying a cup of coffee.

"Oi, watch it" the woman yelled after him but he didn't hear her, he was just focused on finding Victoria.

"Where's Victoria?" he asked, urgently. The nurse looked at him, and saw the worry in his eyes, but didn't know what was wrong.

"She went home to get her purse then she was meeting someone for lunch, what's...." Keri replied with a bewildered look on her face but the senior doctor had already disappeared out the door.

"What's up with him?" Steve asked, coming up behind his colleague.

"I don't know" Keri told him, "but I hope everything's OK"

* * *

Victoria glanced at her watch and swore under her breath. She was late. She was sitting in traffic on her way home when she should be sitting in a cafe somewhere having lunch with Alex. 'It would be quicker to walk home' she thought and beeped her horn impatiently at the driver in front of her.

"This is ridiculous" she said out loud and pulled over and parked in the car park of the local shopping centre. I'll walk home and come and get my car on the way back.

* * *

"Mr. Adams."

Alex turned at the sound of his name, half in his car. "Mr. Meyer! I.. er...." His boss looked at him, very unimpressed, with a slight hint of anger evident in his demeanour. Somethin that was very rarely seen by anyone, let alone his staff.

"No excuses, Mr. Adams. But a patient needs our care. I do not aprreciate you leaving the premisses in the middle of a shift." He turned to leave. "Get back upstairs and do your job."

"I can't." Alex replied, desperate. He would never dream of arguing with Meyer usually but Victoria's life was in danger and he had to do something. Defying his boss could have dire consequences for his career but that didn't matter at the moment. He just had to leave. "Victoria's in danger, I have to leave."

He got in his car and drove away, not waiting to see the consultant's reaction. Not wanting to feel even more guilty than he already did for jepodising patients lives on a hunch.

He lent over and turned on the radio, hoping music might keep his mind of what was happening. It didn't work, he knew that it wouldn't but he didn't turn it off. At least it was prventing him from wallowing in silence.

"Traffic has come to a complete stand still on the Holby ring road" the traffic anouncer spoke over the radio, "all major roads surrounding it are full."

"Dammit!" he cursed out loud. He'd have to go the long way round.He swung left violntly, incurring the protests from fed up and angry drivers.

He began to travel the other route that led to where Victoria lived, hoping that the extra 10 minutes or so would not have any bearing on her safety.