It's a new fic! How exciting! This is from an idea by Tonibear (thank you!) - what would have happened if Mac and Emmy had stayed together after the accident?
Hope you enjoy :)



Pain shot through Caroline’s head, weaving its way across her forehead like a rough needle and thread until her eyes watered and she moaned.

“I’m never drinking again”

There’s a light tinkling laugh and Caroline can smell Angela’s perfume as the blonde head moves above her. Bloody Angela never gets hangovers, she doesn’t understand how much it hurts. And just because she drinks a bit now and then doesn’t make Caroline an alcoholic, why can’t Perfect Angela with her Perfect Hair not understand that?

Caroline’s just about to say something pretty rude to Angela along those lines when she realises that she’s not alone in the bed, which in itself is unusual because she’s been waking up on her own far too much recently, since Mac fell into that coma. Well, she’s been waking up alone before then as well, but at least then when he knew what was going on there was the possibility of waking up with him one morning.

Anyway. She knows that moving’s going to hurt too much but she also knows that someone’s lying next to her, and she can feel the heat from their body burning into her arm where they’re touching, she can feel the little hairs on the person’s arm tickling against her skin, and even feel their pulse lightly beating against her wrist. When curiosity wins out she wishes it hadn’t and she turns her head back far too quickly, although not quickly enough to miss the look of confusion on Mac’s face.

Is it confusion as to why she’s there? Does he even remember who she is? Or is it that he remembers everything, remembers where they left off, and doesn’t understand why she hasn’t said anything to him?

Deep down though, Caroline knows, and while his words stab her right in the tender part of her chest where he seems to be stabbing her more and more often they don’t come as such a surprise as to knock her back.

“Um, I don’t want to sound rude, but who are you?”

She’s so proud of the way her voice stays steady as she says something flippant about being a hospital visitor when she wants nothing more than to curl up and rest her aching eyes and then cry until he realises who she is and knows that he loves her and he’ll kiss her lips until they stop trembling and then make her tremble in other, better places.

But he doesn’t know her, and she knows that when he asks for Emmy she’s lost him. To Mac, Caroline is some faceless, voiceless, grey area and he doesn’t want her there. He just wants the people he remembers, the people he cares about. Like Emmy and hell, the way Caroline’s day is going, Mac will probably be sticking his tongue down Sue White’s throat by the end of it.

As soon as Emmy sticks her stupid face around the door, her face lights up and why shouldn’t it? She’s been given a second chance with Mac when Caroline hasn’t even had one, and with a stab of bitterness Caroline knows that Emmy won’t tell Mac what happened, she won’t explain that she threw her drink on him because he’d sided with Caroline and she won’t tell him that he took it with a smile because he didn’t care. For her part, Caroline won’t tell him either. It wouldn’t be fair to, although she wants to tell him how he tilted her face towards him in the theatre and everything clicked into place, and she wants to tell him how he’d been going to come round her gaff and her chest had ached with happiness when he’d smiled at her.

But that was a long time ago, and now Emmy was holding his hand and he was smiling at her and asking how she’d been, and her pouty lips brushed against his and Caroline suddenly thought that if she didn’t move she would have to kill the woman, so with the most fake smile she’d ever plastered on her face she grinned at them and ambled out of the door, and she didn’t let herself cry until she got to the toilets.

:excited You have a new fic! I'm so happy, although it's making me very sad to read it (but I know you'll give it a happy Caromac ending, because you are amazing like that).

yaaaaaay new fic!! :D
but it's sad :(

You are a true Goddess! I cannot believe you have started already. :notworthy

Yeah it is a really good idea and I love the writing already but GAAAH I had forgotten how much I dislike that woman!! :angry:

aww what an awesome concept for a Fic, cant wait to here more

Are other characters going to make an apperance?

Very well written! I love it, even though it is super sad!

hurrah another fic! :D

this is a really good idea
damn Emmy :angry: :angry:

Gaah I hate sharing my name with the woman...


For a moment there I thought pingu was talking about me :blush

:o

aww bless! haha no i wasn't :P :hug

Whoo hooo at last a new fic from 1m248 :notworthy

Can't wait to read more, but can't understand why people are commenting that it's sad. This isn't sad, for one thing Mac isn't dying, it's only Emmy not Holly <_< and for another he will remember and get back with Caroline - I hope :unsure:

ohhh no! remember how in your last fic there was a REASONABLY happy ending and it was GREAT and everyone LOVED YOU?

it may be a cool idea to repeat that

:D

because i may just kill myself if he stayed with emmy.... i loved the bit about him smiling as she dumped him :wub:

Mac rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, thinking back to the last few hours. He was still waiting for someone to explain who the weird woman he’d woken up with was, because something about her niggled at his consciousness. She wasn’t a hospital visitor because she had used her pager to get hold of Emmy, which meant she was a doctor, but she had to be new because he didn’t recognise her.

And now there was something strange about Emmy. Only little things – she was delighted to see him, but also seemed surprised to have been called in to see him, and there was something reserved about her tone and her manner, as though they’d had some sort of fight that he didn’t know about, but gentle prodding hadn’t revealed anything. Emmy had gone back to her job now, waving and blowing kisses, and Mac was left with his own thoughts, most of which seemed to centre around that doctor.

Who was she, and what was their history together?

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

2 weeks later

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

Mac traced a finger over the shape of his skull, feeling the friction of his skin against the shiny x-ray paper. The results showed just what he’d wanted to hear – that he was fine, his brain would recover without a hitch, and he should lead a long and happy life. He could go for the new consultancy, maybe think about moving in with Emmy as she seemed so keen to do. Maybe start planning ahead and thinking about marriage and kids and spending the rest of his life with her – he had no idea how much they’d talked about before he’d fallen into his coma.

Emmy had told him about their long, slow burning relationship; how they’d danced around each other for months, always wanting and never being brave enough to reveal their feelings. She’d told him about how they had sat awake for hours planning the future, everything from the names of their children (Justin and Becca) to the colour of their carpets and the location of the house they would buy together.

It surprised Mac, to be honest. He had thought that Holly had left more of an impression on him, and that she’d scared him off the future for good. Certainly he didn’t remember being so confident around someone else that he could plan ahead to their wedding, although naming Guy as his best man didn’t surprise him as much as it might have done – even with all their ups and downs, they’d been close since they both started at the hospital.

And now it sounded like she was expecting a proposal. Mac had had to look through his house to see if he’d bought an engagement ring, she had sounded so sure of it, and it had hurt him to see the confusion and disappointment on her face.

Mac was forced out of his thoughts by the sound of something crashing loudly behind him, followed by a string of apologies in a familiar tone. He turned and smiled genuinely at Caroline, who he’d been assured he got on well with before the accident. He didn’t know much about her, except that she was a neurotic, awkward surgeon with a boy’s haircut and an extremely tempestuous relationship with Guy (he wanted to get into her pants, she wanted him to get out). Nothing of the awkwardness she’d displayed when they woke up together had stayed and it had slowly dawned on Mac that that had just been a one off – they had an uncomplicated professional relationship and Caroline was a good friend and a competent surgeon.

“Alright?” he greeted her, and her face stretched out into a smile from its worried grimace as she crouched down, picking up chips of her broken mug and yelping as she cut her finger. Mac crouched down next to her and took her hand in his, not noticing how her face suddenly froze and every muscle in her body tensed.

“That’s a nasty one” he said, squeezing lightly, and pulled her upright. “Come on, clumsy, let’s get the first aid kit.”

Every fibre of Caroline’s body wanted to run in the other direction, but she’d spent so long trying to convince Mac that everything between them was fine that she couldn’t ruin it now, and she wasn’t sure she had it in her to pull away from his warm grip. She couldn’t force a smile as he smoothed a plaster onto her finger, but he didn’t seem to notice and soon they were heading in their separate ways and she waited until she’d gone round the corner until she slumped against the wall, exhaling heavily.

“AAAAARGH!”

**********

aww poor caroline :sob

and emmy is evilllll.
and justin and becca? hollyoaks inspired ;)
great stuff as always

:cry aww caroline!! :cry

DAMN EMMY :angry: :swearing

more please!!

Poor Caroline! I love the direction you are taking this in and await the next installment with much anticipation. :excited

Personally id quite enjoy a big showdown between caroline and emmy. Now that would be fun. Fight! Fight!

hahaha. At least Mac's got those two sussed out.

yay bring on a massive show-down between Emmy and Caroline :D

Please post more up soon, I love your fics :wub:

evil emmy cow :swearing gggggggggggggggggahhhh

but clever mac doubting her :)

more!

Please, please update soon!!! I MAYBE even hate Emmy more than Holly...if that's possible...Holly was just sort of maniacal whereas Emmy pretends to be so sweet and sickly nice GAAAAH

yes yes yes post more this fic is immense and unfortunately theres not a lot of it as yet so more more more...please :rolleyes:

Mac frowned as he went round the corner. There was something about Caroline that didn’t quite fit, certain expressions and things she said and the way she had tensed when he touched her, and yet hadn’t pulled away. And there was something odd about the way that nobody mentioned their relationship. Guy and Boyce had teased Mac about pretty much every nurse and doctor (male and female) in the hospital, trying to convince him that he’d had a string of affairs, but in all of the banter Caroline had quite obviously been off limits, and there was only one good reason Mac could think of for that.

Not that he was thinking it, of course.

He was very carefully not thinking it, because God, there was no way he would have a thing with Caroline Todd. She was clumsy and awkward and her eyebrows were too close together and she had a very strange profile, and there was absolutely nothing attractive about her smile and her laugh and he completely and utterly 100% didn’t want to run his finger down her cheek and tangle it in her hair and kiss her senseless, pressing his nose against hers and telling her how much he loved her.

So that was good.

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

One week later

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

Guy laughed, tipping his head back and taking a long sip of his pint.

“You and Caroline?”

Mac nodded, too drunk to aim for subtlety. Guy narrowed his eyes and laid his glad down on the table with a definite thud.

“I’m not going to lie, mate. When she first started you were all over her and nobody really knows if you slept together or what, but she made it pretty clear she just wanted to be friends and it was a non-starter.”

Mac listened to the news with delight that there was no awkwardness and absolutely no disappointment or gut-wrenching pain whatsoever.

“You asked her out again and she turned you down, and that’s when you started going out with Emmy.”

Mac nodded, smiling.

“Well thank goodness I had that knock to the head then!” he exclaimed. “I can’t imagine finding her attractive.”

Guy tipped his head to one side and smiled as well albeit sadly.

“Good that it’s all worked out for the best then, hey?”

Mac nodded again, smiled again.

“Very lucky” he slurred, downing his drink in one and allowing the bar to slip painlessly away from him.

*****************
At the same time
****************

Caroline watched with a worried expression on her face as Mac swayed perilously on the bar-stool and leaned in close to talk to Guy, and would have stayed there trying to lipread if Boyce hadn’t grabbed her elbow.

“Why don’t you say something to him?”

Caroline groaned melodramatically and leaned back in her seat.

“It’s not fair. He’s in love with Emmy” she spat the name out as though it tasted bad, “and they’re going to be very happy together and I shouldn’t ruin that.”

Boyce shrugged and made a humming noise.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

Her face immediately turned to panic and she grabbed at his sleeves.

“Really? Am I? Does he?”

Boyce’s response was cut off as Mac gently slid off the back of his barstool and sat giggling on the floor as the tapping of heels on the floor heralded Sue White’s arrival. As Emmy and Sue began to fight over Mac’s prone form, Caroline groaned quietly and let her head fall to the table with a thud, wondering where it had all gone so badly wrong.

Still, judging from the shouting match going on between Statham and Clore on the next table along it could be a lot worse. On second thoughts, she realised, looking up, they weren’t fighting any more, largely due to Joanna holding Alan’s face in a plate of bouillabaisse as he writhed and spat frantically.

“Back in a second” reassured Boyce, hurrying over, and Caroline let her head drop again, wondering if she could persuade someone to drown her in the bar’s stew.

Of course he loves Caroline! This fic is amazing! Darn Guy confusing the issue again yet so Guy-like...please update soon!!!

Oh Guy,what shall we do with you.Another great part that leaves me eager for more. :D

Forgot to mention how cute in denial Mac is.

Damn Guy, he is always throwing a spanner in the works!!!

Love the fic though, so well written

This is brilliant - I love it, but I hope you do make it happier. Caroline and Mac have to be together! He loves her! He wants to

Emmy is evil.

Rofl. I can picture that exactly! Keep up the good work :)

awww guys so sympathetic!!! and lol at this bit

:wub: cute, very very cute. I must read more :wiggle

eee guy!!! <_<

mac loves caro end of

Guy is so bad :angry:

I love this bit as well - has to be a classic case of a man in denial :lol:

Please, please, please post more soon.

Guy :angry: <_<
more more more please! :)

One week later
*************

Caroline took deep steadying breaths as she scrubbed at her hands. Despite the fact that she’d done hundreds of operations now, the feeling of having blood on her hands always unnerved her. Not that the blood was even on her hands, there was a layer of latex between the other person’s blood and her skin, but it still unnerved her and it was force of habit to scrub at her hands with alcohol for at least 5 minutes after the operation had finished.

It was while she was doing this that Mac stepped up behind her, and she knew it was him immediately from the lightness of his footsteps and the delicate smell of his aftershave.

“Dr Todd, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour?”

She half turned and saw a genuine nervousness in his eyes, and smiled reassuringly.

“Of course.”

“Well, if you have the afternoon off, I was wondering if you’d come shopping with me. I need to pick something out for Emmy.”

She bit down hard on her resentment and smiled.

“Sure. Something special?”

Mac shifted slightly, wondering why he’d thought this was a good idea. She’s only a friend, for goodness’ sake!

“Yeah, pretty special actually. I’m looking for an engagement ring.”

Thinking back on it, Caroline would later realise that that was the moment that her heart seemed to fall out of her chest. As she made the arrangements to meet him after work and go into town, the hollow feeling in her chest grew until she could barely breathe for it, until she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a corner and die.

Mac was getting married.

********************
2 hours later
******************

Mac didn’t feel well. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it absolutely had to be a physical issue rather than a psychological one, because a psychological issue would indicate that he wasn’t happy with something and he was, he was over the moon. He was getting married to a woman who loved him and he loved her back, and one of his friends had helped him pick out a beautiful ring for her, they were going for a meal tonight and he would propose to her then.

Maybe he was coming down with what Caroline had, he thought. She’d been pale and ill looking all afternoon. That must be it, some sort of bug, and absolutely nothing mental or psychological.

Clutching the ring box between his fingers, he took a deep breath and headed back to the hospital, ignoring the sticky feeling of guilt and worry and general wrong-ness nestling in his stomach. He told himself that he’d been in love with Emmy for months, and now he was doing the right thing to make her happy and offering her the chance to settle down.

And speaking of which, Emmy was skipping happily down the corridor towards him and pecked him on the cheek with a wide smile. She was always so happy to see him, and it confused and cheered him in equal measures; it was like having a dog who loved you unconditionally, and yet he wasn’t sure that a dog was what he wanted.

Still, he thought tiredly, they were together now and that was all that mattered.

Wasn’t it?

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

Boyce winced as Caroline burst into a fresh wave of sobs and squeezed her shoulder gently.

“Look, maybe you should just tell him how you feel.”

She raised her head to give him a look, a look which said ‘we’ve been through this and I’m not going to’ and then slumped back onto the table.

“I love him” she mumbled into the pile of papers her head was resting on, and Boyce pulled a sympathetic face but didn’t know what to say.

There was nothing he could say, because the man Caroline loved was currently walking through the car-park hand in hand with a woman he didn’t love, and he was on his way to ask her to marry him.

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

Awww!! I do love how this is written!

The angst is so delicious! I cannot imagine where this is going to go next.Brilliant. :excited

GAH GAH GAHHHH
just GAAAAAAAAH basically!

more please!!

*starts to beat mac over the head*

REMEMBER HER DAMNIIT!!!!!
:phwoar

MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!!!

Come on, someone say GAFF quickly so he will remeber her!!

OH GOD NO THIS IS AWFUL!! he asked her to help him choose it tats SO WRONG

listen to the sticky feeling mac...

superb writing!

Love the bit of comparing Emmy to having a dog :lol:

Waits patiently for Mac to come to his senses and realise that he's not in love with the dog :)

AGH I don't believe he asked Caroline to help him CHOOSE THE RING! Gaah to Emmy and her evil conniving ways...