Chantelle Returns

'Oh my... Zosia! Come and see this!' Arthur calls from the sofa. He's grinning his face off.

'What's up?' Zosia asks curiously, making her way to the sofa.

'Just read it,' Arthur instructs, turning the laptop so that she can see it.

'Dear Arthur,' Zosia reads, 'I'm sorry I haven't been in touch for so long, but I'm back now. I've been to so many new places: Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa,' Zosia pauses, 'that's a lot of places!' She comments, but carries on. 'In the last months, I've had a lot of fun, but I realise that it's now time to return back to my real home: Holby.

'I've talked to Mr Self, and he's agreed to let me come back to work in two weeks' time. Until then, I'm staying at my mum's house, but on Monday I'm visiting Mr Self to make a couple of final arrangements. Hopefully I'll see you on Monday! From Chantelle.'

Arthur's mouth stretches across his face. 'Isn't that THE best news?!'

Zosia studies him for a minute. 'I don't know, Arthur, is it?!' And with that, she storms off.

'Arthur!' Dominic yells from the kitchen. 'Someone on the phone wants you!'

'I'm coming, I'm coming!'

Arthur snatches the phone from his flat mate. 'Hello?'

Dom turns and walks away, trying to ignore Arthur, yet curious. He recognised the voice on the phone, but couldn't pinpoint it.

'Yes... Yeah, you know - same place as before! Yeah, that's great! No, no, I'm here... No, honestly, it's not a problem. Yep, yeah, see you soon then. Yeah, bye. Bye!'

To Dom, Arthur seemed flustered.

'Who was that, Arthur?'

Arthur pauses. 'Oh, God! It's Chantelle!'

Dominic cocks his head. 'You mean... Chantelle... Channers?' So that's where he recognised the voice from.

'Yes, I do mean Chantelle,' Arthur says. He groans. 'Dom, she's not gonna like it if you're here, so it may be best if you stay out of the way or something, you know? After what happened with... Malick...'

Dom shakes his head. 'No, can't I at least apologise?! She needs to know that I'm sorry!'

'No she doesn't; she doesn't need to know you're here,' Arthur replies, clearly agitated.

'Arthur, think. She's coming back to Holby, she is going to see me. We might as well get it over with now.'

'No.' Arthur sighs. 'No, she doesn't need to see you today.'

Suddenly the door lock clicks. Arthur grabs Dom's arm and drags him behind the sofa.

'Stay here,' he mutters through gritted teeth.

The door opens and Zosia and Chantelle walk in. Chantelle smiles.

'Arthur! Oh, I've missed you so much!' She hugs him.

'Me too,' is all he can say in reply.

Zosia smiles awkwardly. 'I'll... Wait, where's Dom?'

Chantelle looks at her. 'Who?'

'Dom, our flat mate,' Zosia replies. Arthur's eyes widen in horror - Chantelle doesn't need to know!

'Actually, you may know him - he worked at Holby a while back, but something happened with Malick and he got suspended. But he's back now!'

Arthur clenches his jaw together. Zosia has no idea what he has just done.

Chantelle looks at Arthur. 'Is she talking about Dominic Copeland? The one who... Malick... Arthur, is she?!'

Arthur nods, his lips still pursed. 'Yes. Yes, she is.'

'Why? Why are you sharing a flat with him?! Arthur, have you forgotten what he did to Malick? Malick our friend! Malick our colleague!' Chantelle's voice is calm, but Arthur sees she's angry.

He doesn't know what to say. In some ways, the whole Malick incident was so long ago that Arthur really had forgotten about it, but in other ways he was still furious with Dominic.

'I... I don't know...' he says.

Chantelle shakes her head. All she can think about is what happened between Malick and Dominic, how Malick was treated - how Dom treated Malick. He doesn't deserve to be forgiven, not ever.

Suddenly Dom sneezes from behind the sofa. There's a stifled mutter, but nothing else.

Chantelle shakes her head in fury. 'Dom, get up!'

He does as she says. Now what? Dom tries to smile kindly, but all Chantelle sees is mischief. All she sees is the Dominic who could have ruined Malick's career because of a simple lie. She hates him. So, so much.

'Hello, Channers. Long time no see, eh?'

Arthur sighs. Of all the sentances to say, Dom just said the worst one.