Holby ED is a place where pressure never eases, but for Siobhan, the strain now comes from somewhere far deeper than workload or long shifts. After confiding in Flynn about her sexual assault, she makes the difficult decision to return to work — determined to prove to herself and everyone else that she’s still capable, still strong, still in control.

Flynn, however, isn’t convinced she’s ready.

Since her disclosure, he’s been quietly keeping a close eye on her, watching for the small signs others might miss: the hesitation before stepping into a cubicle, the way her shoulders tense when voices rise in reception, the flicker of panic she works hard to hide. He doesn’t hover, but he’s there — and when a member of the public starts hassling her at the front desk, Flynn steps in without hesitation, shutting the situation down before it can escalate.

To him, it’s instinct. To Siobhan, it feels like something else entirely.

She’s quick to tell him she doesn’t want special treatment. She doesn’t want to be handled differently, spoken to more gently, or shielded from the everyday realities of the job. For Siobhan, being back at work is about reclaiming normality — and anything that singles her out threatens that fragile sense of control.

But trauma has a way of rewriting the rules.

Later in the shift, while examining a patient, Siobhan is hit by something she didn’t expect and can’t stop: flashbacks. The clinical setting blurs. Sounds distort. Her breathing tightens. For a terrifying moment, she isn’t in Holby anymore — she’s back in the memory she’s been trying so hard to outrun.

It’s subtle, but it’s dangerous.

She pushes through, finishes the examination, and keeps going — but the scare lingers. The question she doesn’t want to ask starts to echo louder: has she come back too soon?

Flynn sees the change immediately. The confidence she’d been forcing begins to crack, replaced by a brittle focus that looks more like survival than stability. He’s torn between respecting her wishes and stepping in before she hurts herself — or someone else — by pretending she’s fine.

This isn’t about competence. It’s about capacity.

Siobhan’s return isn’t a failure. It’s brave. But bravery doesn’t erase trauma, and it doesn’t set a timetable for healing. The ED demands clarity, speed, and emotional control — and right now, Siobhan is fighting a battle no one else can see while trying to meet all three.

The real danger isn’t that she can’t do the job.

It’s that she might be forcing herself to do it before she’s ready.

As the pressure builds and the flashbacks threaten to break through again, Siobhan stands at a crossroads familiar to so many in Holby: keep going and risk falling apart, or stop and face the fear she’s been trying to outrun.

Either way, the next step won’t just define her recovery — it could change everything about how she moves forward, both in the ED and beyond it.