Rachel’s husband Greg comes into resusc as Patrick is kissing Rachel’s hand. He says, “All that caring doctor stuff in there, and all the time it was you…” He starts attacking Patrick. Dillon sees what is happening and comes in to try to pull Greg off Patrick. He also hits the alarm bell, and Jack and Tony come to help. Between attacking Patrick, Greg starts tearing resusc apart. Eventually the others manage to stop him. Dillon sees to Patrick, as his nose is badly cut. The police arrive, and remove Rachel’s body for a post-mortem. After discussing Rachel’s death with Chief Constable Atkins and DI Spalding, Charlie tells them what Greg has done, and says he wants to press charges. Atkins asks why Greg attacked Patrick, and Spalding, asks for a word. They leave Charlie’s office, and when they return, Atkins tells Charlie and Jan that Rachel was seeing someone working in A&E - and it doesn’t take a genius to work out who. Atkins suggests that it wouldn’t do either the hospital or the police any good to have the story splashed over the newspapers, and that they should not press charges. Despite Charlie’s objections, Jan agrees. When Atkins and Spalding have left, Charlie asks Jan if the PR budget will cover the cost of the damage in resusc. He says he thought they had a zero tolerance policy. Jan replies that sometimes wider interests have to take priority.
After a dressing-down from Jan, Patrick is asked for a medical statement about Rachel’s death. Spalding goes over it with him, making snide comments all the time, and eventually saying that Rachel could have had the pick of the station. He walks out, leaving Patrick with WPC Newcombe. She tells him that she and Rachel were friends, and Rachel had told her all about Patrick. Hoping it will help Patrick, she says Rachel told her how much she loved him, and that she was planning to leave Greg for Patrick. They are interrupted by Spalding’s return, however.
Nikki and Comfort get a call to a pub where a man has apparently collapsed. The pub is packed with football fans as Holby City are playing Holby United this afternoon. After searching the pub for their patient, Comfort and Nikki are eventually led to the men's toilets by the landlord, as a man has locked himself in there. Comfort complains that they’re not social services. The man inside starts talking to them, and they realise it’s their old schizophrenic friend Al. They have just persuaded him to unlock the door when someone comes into the toilets - a City fan called Woody. Al immediately slams the door shut and locks it. Woody starts making comments about Nikki as well as insulting Al. He is soon joined by his mates. One of the men asks Nikki for a kiss, and when she refuses, the others start jeering. They corner her, threatening her with pool cues. Just then, Al opens the door and runs out, chased by Woody and a couple of others. The rest, however, are still threatening Nikki. Suddenly, however, there is a loud crash; the building shakes and all the lights go out. Comfort and Nikki go to find out what is going on. Comfort goes to the front of the pub and finds a lorry has crashed into it. She radios for help and she and Nikki get to work.
Al and Woody are trapped under the pool table. Al is conscious but cannot move his legs. Woody is unconscious but breathing; his chest has been pierced by a pool cue. Soon Woody becomes conscious; Comfort tells him and Al that they’d better start getting along. A medical team is called for and Patrick arrives. He does what he can for Woody but it looks impossible to get him out. Al, who has been babbling football facts (he’s a United fan) suddenly starts saying “It’s a game of two halves.” Patrick thinks he’s talking nonsense but Comfort realises that he’s talking about the cue – it unscrews into two pieces. Al holds one end of the cue while Patrick unscrews the other; it comes apart safely, releasing Woody. They are both taken to A&E. Later, when Woody is being taken up to a ward, Al sees him and goes to talk to him. Woody thanks him for what he did, and asks if he plays football, saying that the pub side have an important match soon and he probably won’t be fit. Al says he does – in goal and as an attacker – the advantages of a split personality.
In A&E, Charlie asks Philippa if they should start the major incident plan, but she says they should see how it goes. Charlie doesn’t look too happy. Reception soon fills up with both City and United supporters, who all want to know what’s happening in the match and are making a racket. Jan, who has come to help out on reception, decides to bring a TV down to the department so they can watch the match, and they all settle down more-or-less quietly to watch. When Charlie sees it, Jan says, “Yes, I know this is a hospital, not Wembley stadium, but…” “But sometimes wider interests have to take priority.” finishes Charlie.
Friends Brian and Terry were also injured in the crash. Brian, who was driving the coach, is unconscious. Terry is conscious but in a lot of pain; however, he refuses morphine. They are both taken into resusc. Terry has an artificial hip; he says people said he could have been the next Ian Wright, but he threw it away; Brian sorted him out. His hip has dislocated and needs pulling back into place as it is trapping a tendon. Terry if offered morphine again, but he still says no, saying that he used to have a problem and he promised Brian never to touch it again. His hip is pulled back into place. Meanwhile, Philippa is treating Brian. He needs pacing and she tells them to take him up to cardiology. Lara and Dillon protest that there isn’t time and it needs to be done in now, but Philippa insists that they need to clear resusc. She leaves, telling them to take him upstairs. Lara tells Dillon she’s going to pace him herself. She performs the procedure successfully. Brian wakes up and asks if he was driving the coach; they tell him he was. Lara tells him his heart was beating irregularly, which probably caused him to black out. They have to tell him he crashed the coach into a pub. He is taken up to CCU, and Dillon tells Terry what they’ve done. Terry asks how he’ll cope. Dillon says he’ll need his friends and family, but Terry replies that the club’s the only family he’s got.
Sandra and Liz bring their friend Karen into A&E as she keeps vomiting. They were spending Christmas together in an isolated cottage, on a health kick, partly so that Liz, who has recently broken up with her fiancé, could avoid seeing others having a good time. Lara doesn’t know what is wrong with Karen and does some tests. Sandra and Liz are worried, and convince Karen that she’s dying. Karen asks for a word alone with Liz, and confesses that she knew Liz’s fiancé was sleeping around because it was her he’d been sleeping with. Liz angrily storms out, then starts to cry. Jack starts to comfort her, obviously trying to pull her, but he is called away. Liz picks up a bottle left by a drunk and starts drinking. Soon afterwards, she starts vomiting too. Her heartbeat is irregular but keeps correcting itself. Lara is puzzled by this. Al, who is hanging around, says that drinking made him vomit when he was on antibuse. Lara says the same chemical is found in some mushrooms, and asks if they’ve eaten any. Liz says they ate some wild mushrooms that they picked themselves. Lara checks a book and confirms that some mushrooms contain a substance similar to antibuse. Liz realises that this means Karen must have been drinking, and Karen confesses that she did, to keep warm. Lara tells them the effects will wear off in a couple of days. Karen realises she needn’t have told Liz about her fiancé. Sandra arrives to say goodbye as she’s got a date with Jack.
Lara tells Patrick that she and some friends have got a cottage for a few days and asks if he wants to join her tonight, as he might not want to be on his own. Patrick says he doesn’t feel like a party, but Lara assures him that her friends won’t get there until tomorrow. Patrick agrees. He drives them to the cottage, but isn’t concentrating on his driving. After a near-miss, he pulls over. Lara tells him to talk to her, saying he needs to get it off her chest. She says someone close to him died, and asks if he loved Rachel. Patrick says she loved him, and was having his kid. He starts crying. Lara asks again if he loved Rachel. He says he doesn’t know – he said all the words, but said them too late. He stops and gets out of the car, saying Lara had better drive. They change places. Lara says, “The tin man has a heart.” Patrick tells her not to spread it around. Lara drives them to the cottage. They go in, and Lara asks Patrick to chop some firewood while she has a bath. He goes out to an outhouse and starts chopping. Suddenly the door opens. Patrick turns round to see Greg standing there. He says he wants the truth. Patrick admits he had slept with Rachel, and Greg attacks him. After a struggle, Patrick hits Greg’s head, dazing him, and manages to run away. He gets to the door of the cottage but finds he has locked himself out. He bangs on the door, but Lara is in the bath, playing music, and doesn’t hear. Suddenly Greg appears, and Patrick runs for it. Greg chases him and eventually catches him, by a stream. He punches Patrick and kicks him into the stream. He holds Patrick underwater, then lifts his head. Patrick says, “It was over between us!” Greg calls him a liar and holds him under again. He lifts him and Patrick tells him to think about it. Greg tells him he doesn’t care about himself. He says, “My life is over, and now, so is yours.” He holds Patrick’s head under the water.