Charlie has to bring Louis into work as his childminder has let him down again. He asks Spencer to look after him. Spencer is called to break up a fight in reception, so he leaves Louis alone in Charlie's office. He is asked to do one job after another, until he forgets about Louis. Charlie sees Spencer and asks who's taking care of Louis. Charlie goes back to his office to find Dan playing with Louis. He apologises for bringing in Louis again. Dan says he wants a word but says he'll come back later when Charlie's less busy. They chat later on. Charlie is angry with the way Dan handled the situation with Adam, feeling that Dan forced him into resigning. Dan says that Charlie's overreacting, that he was just trying to do his job. He says that it wouldn't have done any good to have a national scandal caused by having an HIV nurse working in the department, and that all he did was suggest Adam moved into a different area of nursing. He says they have to be realistic. Charlie asks if he's questioning the way he does his job; Dan says he wouldn't do that, unless he prevented him from doing his.
Teenager Emily Shields goes out to a pub with her friend Joe Coleman. They meet up with Weasel, a friend of theirs who works in a tattoo parlour. He has offered to pierce Emily's tongue (although his work involves little more than sweeping up) and she is going along with it despite Joe's protests. It goes wrong and Joe takes her to Holby A&E. Joe calls Emily's father Martin - her mum left them. He comes in, and goes to see Emily. He blames Joe for letting her do it. Joe replies that Emily's Martin's responsibility, and says that with the way Martin sits around all day feeling sorry for himself, it's no wonder Emily's mum took off. Martin sarcastically tells Joe he's really helping, and walks out. Joe follows him. He has a go at Martin, saying he's never there for Emily, and she needs him, especially now her mum's not around. Martin realises Joe is right. He goes back in to see Emily, armed with a notepad and pen. He admits he's been useless, thinking she could look after herself, and feeling sorry for himself all the time. He says she's got his attention now. Emily writes on it that she misses her mum, and hugs Martin. Martin tells her she's not the first rebel in the family, and starts telling her tales of his own youth.
Collette, saying she's not good at long-term relationships, asks Duffy what the secret is. Duffy says the answer is patience, a sense of humour, and an element of surprise - she says that Andrew's taking her away for the weekend. Charlie overhears and asks more about it. Duffy asks if he's jealous. He says not in the least - he's never had the slightest desire to spend a dirty weekend with her husband.
Rob Kennedy is doing a stand-up routine in a pub, joking about drug users. He finishes, and goes out to his car to set off to do another gig. Walking to his car, he slips on a banana skin and falls on his backside. His mate Paul finds him and drives him to Holby A&E. In his cubicle, once he has been treated, he starts to prepare a line. He is about to take it when Max opens the curtains. He sees what Rob is up to and yells at him to get out of the hospital. Rob goes, but Paul refuses to give him a lift back. Outside, Rob is trying to get a cab when Paul drives by. He slows down and hands Rob a paper bag, saying "Food for thought." He drives off, and Rob opens the bag. Inside is a banana skin.
Max sees that Holly is tired. He tells her that it's not her fault that Adam left. Holly says she feels responsible for it. Max says she's feeling guilty and is throwing herself into her work to stop her thinking about it and feeling guilty - it's making her tired, and that's when she's likely to make mistakes. He tells her she's not to blame for all the woes in the world.
Sofia and Bekim Goral have just arrived from the Czech republic with their daughter Marisa, seeking asylum. Marisa realises she has left her toy on the coach, and goes back to it. One of the airport staff sees her and shouts. Marisa runs away - straight into the path of an airport truck. Josh and Penny are called to the scene. Bekim won't move from Marisa's side throughout the journey, and when they arrive at A&E Patrick complains to the paramedics that they haven't made Bekim move. Later, Josh tells Patrick he should come out with them for a shift, to see how the other half live - to learn about people. Patrick scornfully agrees. In resusc, Marisa deteriorates but Max promises Sofia and Bekim that she'll be OK. Bekim agrees to leave Marisa with them but collapses in the corridor. He and Sofia tell Max that they had to flee their country after suffering violence at the hands of skinheads. Their son stood up to the skinheads once but they weren't happy; their son knew they'd come after him so he went into hiding. The skinheads turned on Bekim, and beat him up, which is why they left. Max offers to get them help to find their son and bring him to England. Bekim refuses; he tells Sofia that their son is dead. He confesses that a gang of skinheads came and tortured him, saying they would only let him live if he told them where his son was. He gave in, and they found and killed his son in front of him. Sofia can't forgive Bekim for killing their son. Max talks to her, saying he know how it feels to lose a son. He tells him there are many people to blame for her son's death, but Bekim isn't one of them. Sofia goes back to see Bekim and kisses him. A social worker arrives to see them; she tells Max they're likely to be sent back if their appeal for asylum is turned down. Max offers to write a report giving medical evidence to support their application. He asks her to let him know how they get on. As Bakim is wheeled past, Max asks him how he's feeling. He replies that in his body he's still not feeling so good. Max promises that his body will heal. Bakim says that's all he asks, and says thank you to Max. Max wishes him and Sofia good luck. They go. Charlie, who has overheard this, says they picked the right man for the job. Max tells him that some things are down to training, and some to experience. Charlie asks which it was with Bakim and Sofia. Max replies, "Experience. Definitely experience."