Ooookay...so this is my first fic...hi everyone! This isn't very funny...and all the Guy lovers will HATE me for what I do...so sorry!

Mac drew a deep breath and considered his options. He could still take Caroline away for the weekend as he planned, maybe even propose to her like he’d planned. If he was lucky, they might even get married before he died.
He could do that, and he could leave the woman he loved a widow after weeks.

Or he could hide, and hope that she forgot about him.

Exhaling, he tucked his phone back in his pocket and headed up to the locker room. Grabbing his helmet and jacket out of the locker he was halfway out of the door before he made a snap decision and turned back. Caroline’s locker hung open invitingly and he could see her stuff inside. Knowing it was his last chance, he took out her jacket and inhaled, smelling her cassoulet. It smelled of smoke and petrol with a hint of apple – her shampoo. The last time he would ever smell it.

Committing the scent to memory, he turned away, but as he did noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Four passport photos lay on top of a folder neatly inscribed with ‘Private (f*ck Off)’. Her hair was messy and she looked at the camera wide-eyed as though the flash had startled her, but it was his Caroline. Biting his lip, he tore off the bottom photo, stuffed it into his pocket, and left.

“Guy”

Guy rolled over and leered at her.

“Back for more?”

“More what?”

He winked suggestively and flicked his tongue at her. After a pause Caroline frowned and shook her head.

“Guy, we didn’t have sex”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Bollocks!”

Guy rolled onto his back pouting.

“Guy, I can’t marry you.”

The petulant look on his face morphed into shock, followed by anger and then comprehension.

“It’s Ginger-Whinger, isn’t it” he said flatly. “He’s the one you care about.”

“I can’t lead you on like this” Caroline said sadly, trying not to look into his eyes. “It’s not fair on either of us.”

“Yeah, damn right it’s not!” shouted Guy suddenly, stalking over. “I cared about you, Caro.”

She recoiled, surprised by his vehemence, and they stared at each other for a long moment. Then, shocking her, he pushed her hard against the wall.

“f*ck you” he said coldly, and left the room, slamming the door. Caroline slid slowly down the wall and rested her head on her knees, biting her lip hard against the tears which threatened. It seemed like within the space of a day she’d managed to lose two friends including the man she loved.

ohh good start!
poor mac :cry
more please!

:o wow excellent but poor caro and mac and nasty guy :angry:

I know...I'm sorry about Guy...but I couldn't think of anyone else to fill the baddy role!

Hi welcome to the Forum :thumbsup

Ohhh a bad Guy. You are going to get lynched for this you know. I however, quite like it *quickly ducks flying missiles from Caro/Guy shippers*

Sorry this is a bit short - couldn't think of anywhere else to cut it off!



The McCartneys were sitting in their living room enjoying the Sunday Paper when there was a knock on the door. Mr McCartney didn’t even look up from the Money section.

“It’ll be some bloody salesperson; leave it.”

Not needing much further persuasion she relaxed and brought the glossy magazine up to her nose again. No sooner had she found the place she’d been at, the knock came again, and a voice echoed through the letterbox.

“Mum? Dad? You in?”

They looked at each other in disbelief and shot up.

“Justin! What a lovely surprise” gushed his mother, pulling him in. He resisted her embrace and took a step back.

“There’s something I have to tell you” he said, trying not to let his voice break. “Mum, Dad…I’m dying.”


“Morning, Dr Todd”
Caroline didn’t turn around, hoping the owner of the cheery voice would go away. No such luck.

“Any news from Mac?”

“No” she said shortly, unable to contain the melodramatic sigh. Boyce wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed.

“I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon” he said reassuringly. “He’s crazy about you, everyone knows that.”

“No, he’s really not!” she exclaimed, “That would be FAR too easy”. Her voice cracked and she had to swallow against tears.
They stood in silence for a moment before Boyce leaned forward on the counter so he could see her face.

“Look, he…wow. Nice black eye.”

“Err…thanks. I was…umm…boxing.”

“Boxing? Wow. Where do you go?”

Caroline panicked. Where did they teach boxing?

“Ohh, just a little old lady down the road” she said airily, and then kicked herself inwardly. Boyce quirked an eyebrow, looking like he was fighting off giggles.

“So a little old lady gave you a black eye when she was teaching you to box?”

“Yep, pretty much. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have patients to see.”

She tugged her fringe over the bruise as best she could and hurried off, flustered. Behind her, Boyce's smile faded and he looked consideringly at her retreating back until his concentration was broken by the pained sounds emenating from the locker room, where Guy was trying to fit Martin into a locker.

Haha its great! I love it but please don't let Mac die and PLEASE let him come back and protect Caroline from Guy. Horrid man.

:cry Its not Guys fault! He wouldnt hurt caroline! :cry

Its not fair you cant make Guy mean although i do like that he is trying to get martin in a locker!

aww :(
this is great
MOREE :D

Oh how I lub Boycie... *stokes his hair standing on pile of yellow pages*

Good fic WRITE MORE

ahh go on then, since everyone asked so nicely (and I don't like revising).

Caroline would never have had Guy down as the violent type. The only violence she’d witnessed at East Hampton had been by Mac aimed at Guy. It had been so easy to pass the first push off as an accident, Guy being angry and disappointed. God knows if she’d gotten engaged and then dumped within the space of hours she’d have been upset too.

The second push had hurt more, but she’d put it down to a long day. She’d been winding him up as well – it wasn’t really his fault.

The first punch was the one that took her by surprise though. Late one night, one false word, and suddenly he’d been coming at her, and she’d felt the impact as though it was muted. For a long moment she’d stared at him before the pain suddenly hit her, blossoming around her eye.

The first punch was when she became scared of Guy Secretan.

6 Months Later

Caroline tried to pour herself a cup of coffee but her hands were shaking too badly. Her head hurt, her shoulder hurt, her knees hurt. Her head hurt most of all though. Aside from the bruises, the memory of the previous night kept flashing across her vision. The memory of being brutally thrown to the floor and pinned down as Guy whispered things in her ear that she never wanted to hear – that Mac was probably dead, that he had never loved her anyway, that all those kisses had been a dare. A bet to see how easy the new doctor was.

Her thoughts were thankfully interrupted by someone gently prising the coffee pot out of her hand.

“It’s empty” said Boyce with a grin, pushing her gently. Despite herself she cried out, clutching the sore spot.

“Hey, what is it?” He turned her towards him and his breath hissed out. “Fucking hell. That must have been a hell of a boxing session.”

She bit her lip hard and nodded. Boyce looked at her for a second consideringly, and then took her by the hand and tugged her towards the door. She didn’t resist as he pulled her down several corridors, taking a few twists and turns. Finally he stopped and opened a door, ushering her into the dark lecture theatre where she’d kissed Mac all that time ago.

“You don’t do boxing, do you?”

She blinked back the tears that had been threatening all day.

“Now what would make you say that?” she tried innocently. Boyce shook his head, looking uncharacteristically serious.

“I’m jumping to conclusions here,” he said, “But if they’re the right conclusions then I can’t just ignore it, and neither should you.”

Caroline stared at the ground miserably.

“I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest. Did someone beat you up?”

Despite biting her lip even harder, a stifled sob escaped her and Boyce put an arm gently round her shoulders. They sat in silence, neither of them knowing what to say.

“He’s an absolute bastard, you know that?”

“At least he’s been here” she replied darkly and Boyce promised himself he’d get in touch with Mac and force the stupid man to come back and save his wife-woman-doctor.



As it turned out, things progressed so quickly that Boyce didn’t even get the chance to find Mac’s contact details.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mac lay sprawled out on the sofa, flicking channels over in the hope he’d find something worth watching. Unthinking, he drew Caroline’s photo out of his pocket and gazed at that instead, not seeing his mother approaching with a mug of tea.

“She’s a very unusual looking girl” said his mother, causing Mac to jump slightly. Embarrassed, he stuffed the photo away as his legs were lifted up and his mum sat down on the other end of the sofa.

“Justin, there’s no nice way of saying this” she started awkwardly, “But shouldn’t you be…well…you know… dead by now?”

He shrugged listlessly.

“I’m sure I will be soon.”

As soon the words left his mouth he regretted them – his mother’s face crumpled.

“Oh shit…I’m sorry mum. I didn’t mean it like that. Look, I’ll go to the hospital tomorrow and see what they say, okay?”

:cry
aww. poor caroline!
and mac :(

more please? :D this is really good!

:cry Poor Caroline! Poor Mac! This is really good, but please make it happy soon, or I won't be able to stop crying.

Oh this is so good! "She's an unusual looking girl!" HAHA. Loving it.

Ah well, it may get happier or it may get sadder...you'll only know if you read ;)

awww :( poor mac

no dont amke it sadder :(

"As it turned out, things progressed so quickly that Boyce didn’t even get the chance to find Mac’s contact details."


ARGH. Not liking the sound of that. :unsure:
Please let Mac come back and save Caroline from evil Guy!!

omf i love this so much!!! its incredibly well written, and as much as i love guy i do SLIGHLTY relish havin a REALLY BAD GUY in gw.

his mum's annoying, eh? it was insensitive of her in the first place to say 'shouldnt you be dead by now'!!

more please!! and make it (CAROMAC) happy!

:angry:
OHHHHHHH!!!!!
*gets out her sabre*
WERE IS HE!!!!!
IM GONNA KILL HIM!!!! (Guy)
:phwoar

The next day his father drove him to the nearest hospital where he explained his situation and was led into the neurology department for immediate tests. Lying still on the scanner bed, he closed his eyes and grasped the picture of Caroline in his hand.

I miss you. I love you. I want you.

He only wished he had the chance to tell her to her face.

Hours later, he left the hospital on shaky legs, unable to process what he’d just been told.

“We can’t find anything wrong, Dr Macartney. We’ve looked through the file from East Hampton and the results they obtained don’t show any anomalies either. To all intents and purposes, you’re completely fine.”

“Fine? As in, no malignant brain tumour?”

“Exactly. I have no idea what happened at your previous hospital but I suggest you report it to the BMC. It sounds suspiciously like your results have been tampered with in some way; I don’t need to explain to you how serious that is.”

He shook his head wordlessly and the consultant looked sympathetic.

“Actually, I don’t know if this is of any interest to you, but there’s a surgical consultancy position going at East Hampton. You’re probably still in time to apply…if you still want to go back into medicine.”

And so, bidding goodbye to his shocked parents, Dr Macartney headed back to East Hampton on his motorcycle to try and rebuild his life.

* * * * * * * * * *


Caroline rubbed her head. She’d been having headaches recently which had started out not bothering her, and then got progressively worse until her vision tunnelled in. Painkillers didn’t have any effect, but over time the pain would fade. Now, however, it came back in waves – as soon as she thought the pain was leaving it would return with twice the ferocity.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to straighten up only to find her balance completely gone, even by her clumsy standards. Trying to take a step forwards, the world tilted alarmingly to the side and she clutched onto a trolley to stabilise herself. Unfortunately the trolley didn’t have its brakes set, and simply rolled out of the door, leaving Caroline to collapse to the floor holding her head.

* * * * * * * * * *

Mac shook hands with the panel and backed out of the door, hearing their assurances of contacting him when they’d made their decision ringing in his ears. All of a sudden life seemed to be looking up – he was healthy, and it looked like he was going to get not only his old job back, but a promotion and hefty pay-rise too.

Just one thing left to do now – find Dr Todd.

Mac made slow progress through the hospital; wherever he went, someone wanted to shake his hand, hug him or in one case stick their tongue down his throat. Oddly enough, Sue White wasn’t the culprit – she’d greeted him with a pat on the back and a kiss on the cheek. His return hadn’t been any surprise to her – she’d received his application and liased with him about the interview date. Reactions from other people ranged from mild surprise to full blown hysteria.

Sidestepping the last of his obstacles, he made it through to the board where the daily rota was posted. He was in luck as well; Caroline was just doing ward rounds. He checked his watch and the sheet again, and headed down to Ward 2.

Halfway down the first corridor, he ran into Martin.

“Alright Martin?” he asked, trying to sidestep the younger man. Martin went slack-jawed.

“Oh my god Mac, is that you?” he reached up and touched Mac’s jaw. “Is that really you?”

Mac blinked and pulled away.

“Yes Martin, it’s really me.”

“Woooah. I thought you were dead! Guy told me you’d been eaten by a giraffe!”

“Mmhmm. Nope, I’m still here. Still alive. Just had a nice little holiday,”

With a smile, he escaped Martin and finally made his way uninterrupted to Ward 2, where there seemed to be a bit of a commotion. Several nurses were crowded around one of the beds and as Mac stood there more arrived. Stepping forward, he saw that they were clustered around a woman lying motionless on the bed, facing away from him. A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as he looked at her – her short dark hair and doctor’s coat giving him far too many clues.

“Come on, we need to get her into surgery fast” said one of the nurses, and they crowded around the bed, pushing it towards the door. As they passed, Mac’s eyes found Caroline’s and he felt like his heart had sunk. Her face was pale and thin and contorted in pain, and smudged with bruises

“Caroline” he whispered as she was wheeled past him, and he could have sworn her head turned towards him ever so slightly. The next moment she was gone and the doors were swinging shut behind her and the phalanx of nurses, leaving Mac stunned in the ward.

:cry This is amazing - please add more, as I have to know what happens.

omf nooo!!! YOU BASTARD GUY!!!


lol at teh giraffe bit!!

col at the pale face smuged with bruises!!

ur an EXCELELNT writer

awwwwwww :( you just keep pileing on the depressing stuff dont you ..., but its such a great fic please keep going

:cry :cry
this is a great fic!
more please i need to know what happens :cry

This is good. Not many laughs, but very very good. I love the fact Mac's first name is Justin :lol:

Oooh its sooo good but I need to know what happens!!

AARRGGHHHHHH more more more - she nees to be ok and get together with Mac!!!!

Please please please make Caroline okay, and her and Mac be happy!
Grrr at Guy the :swearing

Please write more soon!

more more moreee
eeee so sad :(:(
but great writing

It will get more cheerful from here on, I promise!


Mac followed the bed numbly round corners and turns until it was wheeled into theatre and then he sank down into a plastic chair and put his head in his hands. All this time, all this angst and effort, and now the woman he loved was in emergency surgery for some mystery illness.

Footsteps tapped past and Mac willed them to carry on past him, not having the energy to deal with someone else. To his chagrin, they slowed, stopped, and reversed until he could feel the person standing over him.

“’Scuse me” said a familiar voice, the only one Mac could tolerate at this moment. He looked up and gave Boyce a tired smile which was only faintly returned.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Mac” he said, something slightly dangerous in his tone but Mac was too exhausted to pick it out.

“It has been, but I’m back now.”

Boyce sat down on the next seat.

“So where’ve you been?”

“It’s a long story, best told with many, many drinks.”

“I’m not doing anything for the rest of the day.”

Mac looked up at him.

“Slacker. Shouldn’t you be learning?”

Boyce shrugged and gestured to the theatre where Caroline currently lay.

“I was meant to be looking in on a routine hernia op, but someone’s been dragged in with a brain tumour instead and I’m just going to be in the way. So, what do you say to a drink?”

Mac swallowed hard against conflicting emotions of fear, anger and almost a bit of humour. That Caroline was in surgery for what he’d been fooled into thinking he had was incredibly ironic.

“You know, a drink does sound good” he muttered, straightening up and following Boyce down to the bar.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Mac put his head in his hands as he waited for Boyce to return with their drinks, wondering how the hell he was meant to explain everything that had happened. As it was, Boyce made things easier for him.

“So, the last I saw of you was when we set up that train for Caroline and you were planning on proposing to her. Then next Monday, when I expect to see a happy glowing Dr Todd who’s been properly shagged and engaged, I come across a heartbroken wreck because you never turned up.”

“Um. Yeah. There’s a pretty good reason for that” Mac conceded. “This is going to sound a bit unbelievable but I think the records are still upstairs so I can show you. I was on my way out when I was paged by Jeff – he had some test results to show me. To cut a long story short, a brain scan had showed that I had a huge brain tumour which gave me about 3 weeks to live.”

Boyce bit his lip, looking immediately guilty for having doubted Mac.

“I didn’t see the point in seeing Caroline. I thought she’d be better off thinking I’d abandoned her than being widowed at the age of 27. I sent Guy to the station instead, hoping he’d do as second best. Maybe that was a stupid and selfish thing to do, but I did it anyway. Since then I’ve been living with my parents.”

“Wow,” said Boyce, exhaling. “No wonder you didn’t show. I think sending Guy was a mistake though. Just one question…”

“Why am I still here?”

“Yeah.”

“My mother said pretty much the same thing and it suddenly clicked that I should have died months ago. I never was very good at timekeeping. So, to cut a long story short, I went to the local hospital where they scanned me, told me I was fit as a flea and someone had obviously messed with my results, and then told me there was a consultancy going here if I was interested.”

His face darkened and he sighed.

“I went for the interview and then thought I’d try and find Caroline. She was meant to be on ward 2, so I headed down…”

Boyce cut him off, horrified comprehension dawning.

“Ward 2 – that’s where the woman collapsed with the…”

Mac nodded grimly and took a large gulp of his pint.

“Irony sucks” he said darkly and propped his chin on his fist as Boyce stared blankly at the wall.

Thinking back at the conversation, something suddenly jarred in Mac’s mind and he straightened.

“Why was it a mistake sending Guy?” he demanded and Boyce shook his head.

“It’s not my place to tell you that” he said. “You need to talk to Caroline about all of that.”

Mac felt his chest tighten, a sure sign of anger, and turned sharply.

“She was black and blue, Boyce. And brain tumours don’t normally come out of nowhere. If you’re implying what I think you’re implying, I have someone I need to kill, if you’ll excuse me.”

He waited for denial but none came, although Boyce shifted to prevent Mac getting past.

“I don’t know anything for certain” he said quietly. “You need to talk to Caro before you just leap to a conclusion.”

Whatever Mac had been about to reply with was interrupted when his mobile rang shrilly. With a sharp look at Boyce, he stood and moved away to take the call.

OH MY GOODNESS! It HAS to get more cheerful! I am so hooked - please don't let Caro die though. Good old Boyce. Can't wait for the next bit!

LET ME KILL HIM!!!
*swings sword about manically*
i hope she lives...

:cry :cry :cry :cry omfg

aww :cry

and yes good old boyce! :)

OH MY GOD MAC PICK ME I'LL COME KILL HIM WITH YOU!!!

this is a TREMENDUSH fic and FABULOUs and UPDATE PLEASE!! and also MAKE IT HAPPY AND MAKE THE TUMOUR GO AWAY!!

This is totally and utterly amazing! You are one hell of a writer, lm248! :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

I can't believe you made Guy such a bastard but it still rules, this fic. The subject's a strong one and you're handling it brilliantly.

I adore the few little bits of humour in it, though. Martin's giraffe line had me lol. :lol:

Wow, yeah, irony that Caroline has what Mac thought he had! :o I very much hope she will live... but I know she will and she'll end up living happily ever after with Mac, right? I know you CarMacs can't resist the inevitable. ;)

BRILLIANT stuff. Please, please keep it up. You rock!

:lol: I love that line!

wow guys, thanks for the lovely reviews! I've got 18 pages of this written out and I'm still going so I hope it's all okay. Oh, and I told a little white lie...it's not all happy from now on...sorry! hehe.
Will post an extra-large update in a bit :)