* Six Months Later *

"Look who's back," Maggie smiled as she and Ethan walked in together.

"Hey, Maggie. Glad to be back," Madilyn hugged the charge nurse.

It had been six months since Madilyn came back from New York after the ordeal with Maxwell. She hadn't been able to get back to work because of her arm and shoulder. Physical therapy had been somewhat slow going. Madilyn had been anxious to get back to work at the hospital. It wasn't in her nature to be bored or sit around all day.

"I told her that she needed to take it easy and properly recover her arm and shoulder," Ethan threw his arm around her shoulders.

"And I was really stubborn and pushed it which put myself back a couple weeks," Madilyn rolled her eyes.

"I warned her and told her what happened to me after I was shot," Ethan looked at her.

"And I should've listened, but I was anxious to get back to work."

"Birds of a feather flock together. Welcome back, Dr. Carson," Ms. Goodwin smiled.

"Thank you," Madilyn smiled.

"You and Dr. Choi can take Treatment 5 once you're all set."

"Thanks, Mags."

"Sure thing."

"Oh, Madilyn, please make sure you go see Dr. Charles sometime today," Ms. Goodwin looked at her.

"Will do," Madilyn nodded.

Madilyn and Ethan walked into the Doctor's Lounge together. Ethan helped her take her jacket off and kissed her cheek. She smiled and hung her bag up. She carefully tugged on her white coat on with a smile. It felt good to be back at work.

"Just let me know if you need anything through the day," Ethan laid a hand on her arm, "and try to take it easy on your shoulder and arm."

"I'll do my best," she chuckled and kissed him quickly.

"Hey! Welcome back, Madilyn!"

Madilyn turned around and smiled at Will, "hey, Will! I've missed you."

"Didn't you just see me two days ago?"

"You know what I mean," she rolled her eyes and hugged the tall red-head.

"I do. It'll be nice to have you back."

"Thanks, Will."

"Shall we?" Ethan asked.

"Yes."

"They walked out to the nurses' station. Maggie handed them an iPad. The two of them looked it over together. Madilyn immediately had questions. When she looked at Ethan, she could tell that he had similar questions. They nodded before walking over to the room.

"Hey, I'm Dr. Choi, and this is Dr. Carson. What seems to be going on, Mr. Baxter?"

"I've just been feeling off for the last couple of months. I've had this fever for a few days, and then I fell this morning at work."

"What do you remember before you fell?" Madilyn asked.

"Uhm, I remember feeling a little warm and light headed, so I went to get some water. I guess I must've fainted a little bit."

"Did a co-worker drive you here? Doesn't look like you came by ambulance," Ethan looked at the iPad.

"Ah no. I just walked here. It was just a couple blocks."

"Okay. I'd like to run some blood tests. We'll also get you on some IV fluids," Madilyn said.

"We'd also like to get a head CT and MRI since you fell. Just to make sure you didn't suffer any head trauma," Ethan added.

"Okay, thank you," he nodded.

"Of course," Madilyn smiled, "a nurse will be in shortly."

They walked out and quickly used hand sanitiser. Madilyn began tapping on the iPad to order the tests. Ethan leaned against the desk next to her.

"I have a feeling we'll see elevated white blood cell counts," he murmured.

"I was thinking something similar. He looked a bit pale. I'm getting a rush on the blood work and scans."

"Sounds good," he nodded, "do you want to go see Dr. Charles while we wait?"

"Good idea. Page me when you hear back?"

"Absolutely," he nodded.

"Thank you, Ethan," she smiled.

"Mhm," he kissed her cheek.

She smiled and squeezed his hand. Madilyn walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. She was glad to be back at work. It was something that she had been looking forward to. Madilyn had been so bored. The door dinged open and she walked down the hall to Dr. Charles' office.

Madilyn knocked on the door that was half open, "Dr. Charles?"

"Madilyn?"

She smiled and opened the door the rest of the way, "hi!"

"Welcome back, Madilyn," Dr. Charles smiled and moved to the sofa, "come in."

She took a seat across from him, "how are you?"

"I should be asking you that," he chuckled, "I'm doing very well. How are you? How has your first day back been so far?"

"Fine. It's like I never even left."

"And your shoulder? How is it feeling?"

"Really good, thank you for asking."

"Of course. How-how have you been sleeping?"

"On and off. Still trying to get through the nights. Nightmares," she shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck, "Ethan has been trying to help. I just-I just don't know how to completely move on."

"Totally understandable. What you went through, that's incredibly traumatic. I'm here for you. I think it might be a good idea to do therapy a couple times a week. I'm happy to do it, or I can refer you to a colleague."

"I trust you, Dr. Charles," she nodded, "therapy helped me through the crash that he caused. I'm hopeful that therapy can help me through this as well."

"That's the spirit. How are your brothers and parents?"

"They're well," she nodded, "Luke was promoted last month. It was great to get out to Florida and spend some time at the beach. Mike is coming back to the US next month. I'm really excited to see him."

"That's great! Is he coming to Chicago?"

"For a couple weeks, yes," she nodded.

"Staying with you and Ethan?"

"Absolutely. It'll be great to have him around. I was the closest to Mike out of all my brothers."

"I look forward to meeting him," Dr. Charles smiled.

"I'll make sure to bring him in. Besides, he wants to see the hospital that Jack Dayton bought."

"Big change for sure," he agreed.

"Definitely. Crockett is going to get me trained in using 2.0. I'm looking forward to that. I've heard a lot of great things about it."

"It's quite revolutionary. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thank you," she smiled, "I'm glad to see you. And I'd once again like to thank you for going to New York. It was helpful to have you to talk to while I was in the ICU."

"No need to thank me. I knew I had to, and I'm very glad I did. The more people around for support the better."

"I couldn't agree more," Madilyn nodded just before her pager went off.

"I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on. Just look at your schedule and then let me know when you'd like to talk again."

"Thank you; I will," Madilyn nodded and checked her pager. It was a message from Ethan.

She hurried back to the ED. When Madilyn arrived, she barely had time to get over to Ethan before the alarms were going off in Mr. Baxter's room.

"Code Blue."

They rushed in with Dorris and Nancy. Ethan pressed his fingers to his neck. He shook his head.

"No pulse starting chest compressions," Ethan said.

"Charge to 200," Madilyn looked at Nancy.

"Charged to 200," Nancy responded and handed her the paddles.

"Clear."

Ethan held her hands up as Madilyn shocked. He pressed his fingers against his jugular, "still no pulse. Dorris, push the epi. Nancy, charge to 200 again."

"Charged to 200."

"Clear!" Madilyn said again before shocking.

"We got a pulse," Ethan sighed, "I need to intubate."

"Here you go, Ethan," Nancy handed him the tube.

"Let's get him upstairs," Madilyn nodded, "you paged about his tests?"

"Yeah. White blood cell count came back at 18,000. Maybe an infection?" Ethan asked as he walked out of the room with her.

"Possibly. Let's also check tumour markers just to be safe."

"There you are, Madilyn," Dean walked over, "welcome back. You haven't been avoiding your testing have you?"

"No not at all. I'm ready to go to the lab when you are."

"Just what I like to hear," Dean smiled, "hard worker this one. Let's go now, so we can get you back to your patient quickly."

Madilyn nodded and followed the chief through the hospital. They made small talk on their way to the lab where the dummy was. Madilyn knew that it was important for her to pass this test so that she could operate again.

"How is your shoulder feeling today?"

"Just fine, thank you."

"Good good. Let's get you started. We'll start with chest compressions and intubation. I noticed that Ethan did it with your patient."

Madilyn nodded, "yes he was doing the chest compressions too."

"Is that because your shoulder is bothering you?"

"No. My shoulder is fine. That's just how we got there."

"Alright," Dean didn't seem convinced, but he went along with it. He pressed a couple buttons, "alright. Our patient is coding. Start chest compressions."

Madilyn nodded and immediately started on the compressions. She focused on making sure that they were deep and fast enough. She looked up at the monitor and was pleased to see that she was in the green.

"Nice nice. That looked good," Dean said, "intubation next."

Madilyn nodded and got the tray set up. She looked at Dean who nodded for her to start. Madilyn bent over and got that blade in place. She easily slipped the tube into place and grabbed that bag.

"So how'd I do?"

"Passed with flying colours. Glad to have you back, Dr. Carson."

"Thank you. Glad to be back," Madilyn smiled.

"Let's get you back to the ED. I hear Crockett is training you on 2.0?"

"Yes; we have discussed that."

"Have you had the pleasure of meeting Jack Dayton yet?"

"I have not," Madilyn shook her head.

"He's... something else," Dean looked at her.

"I saw doughnuts and a new coffee machine in the lounge. I'm guessing you're not buying it."

"We have our differences."

"I can tell that there's more to the story, but I won't press."

Dean nodded tersely as they walked back to the ED. Madilyn was anxious to hear how Mr. Baxter's tests came back. She was curious what was causing his symptoms and made him arrest.

"Dr. Carson, there you are!" Zach hurried over.

"Hi, Dr. Hudgins, what's going on?"

"Dr. Choi and Dr. Abrahams are taking Mr. Baxter to surgery."

"What why?"

"They found a brain tumour. The tumour marker tests you ran came back positive."

"Thanks for the update. Dean, page me if you need me!"

"Absolutely will," Dean nodded.

Madilyn ran towards the elevator and ran into Crockett, "oh sorry."

"No worries. What's up?"

"My patient has a brain tumour. Can we do the 2.0 training tomorrow?"

"Sure. Not a problem. Good luck, Madilyn, and welcome back."

"Thanks, Crockett."

Madilyn went up to the surgery suite. She washed her hands and walked into the observation room. There were a couple of other people in there. She spotted Ethan and walked over to him.

"Hey."

"Hey, how did it go with Dean?"

"Perfectly," she smiled, "so Mr. Baxter has a brain tumour?"

"Glad they went well. Yes; the tumour marker tests were a good idea," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she leaned into him, "what a first day back."