For Jan Jenning, Holby’s Emergency Department has always been a battleground — but never like this. After a shocking assault leaves Rida Amaan injured and Stevie Nash fighting for her life, Jan is forced to reckon with the horrifying truth: she couldn’t protect her team.

And for a woman like Jan, that failure cuts deeper than any wound.

A Day That Changes Everything

It started like any other shift. A flood of patients, the usual chaos, the heavy burden of keeping the ED running smoothly. Jan, ever the composed leader, thought she’d seen it all. She thought her team was safe inside these walls.

She was wrong.

The attack happens in a heartbeat — brutal, fast, and devastating. One minute, Rida is on duty. The next, she’s lying on the floor, bloodied and broken, assaulted in the place she trusted most. And then, amidst the confusion and panic, Stevie falls — dragged into the violence, her injuries catastrophic.

The alarms sound, but they come too late.

The Weight of Leadership

As paramedics swarm the scene, Jan takes control with the cold, sharp efficiency she’s known for. But inside, she’s cracking. Every siren blaring through the building feels like a personal failure. Every terrified scream echoes in her head.

Because it’s not just patients who got hurt today. It’s her people.

As Rida is rushed to surgery and Stevie is wheeled away barely clinging to life, Jan stands in the middle of the chaos, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turn white. She gives orders, reassures families, locks down the hospital. But the guilt gnaws at her with every step.

She was supposed to keep them safe. She didn’t.

A Department in Pieces

In the hours that follow, Jan watches the department she’s fought so hard to build start to crumble. Fear hangs in the air like smoke. Staff whisper in corners. Max demands answers she doesn’t have. Rash can barely meet her eyes. Faith hugs her daughter tighter that night, while Iain, ever loyal, hovers at Jan’s side, waiting for instructions she can’t bring herself to give.

Rida, awake but shattered, blames herself for Stevie’s injuries. Jan wants to shake her, scream that none of this was Rida’s fault — but she knows that guilt too well. She’s lived it.

The Personal Toll

Jan isn’t just a boss — she’s a protector. Always has been. Whether it’s pulling paramedics through impossible shifts or shielding her colleagues from hospital politics, Jan carries their burdens like armor.

But this? This slices through that armor like a knife.

Sitting alone in her office later, Jan stares at the walls covered in incident reports and hospital policies. None of them prepared her for this. None of them will undo the damage.

She thinks of Stevie, fierce and untouchable — now silent, fragile, almost lost. She thinks of Rida, always proud and strong — now drowning in guilt.

And she knows she can’t fix this with a clipboard and a protocol. This wound is deeper.

The Fight Back Begins

Jan isn’t the type to wallow for long. Guilt might threaten to paralyse her, but anger burns hotter.

She throws herself into action. New security measures. Staff counselling. Meetings with hospital executives where she doesn’t sugar-coat the truth. She demands better — more protection, more support, more vigilance.

“If it takes tearing the place apart brick by brick to keep my people safe,” she mutters to Iain, “then that’s what I’ll do.”

Because Jan Jenning doesn’t give up. Not on her team. Not ever.

Stevie’s Uncertain Future

As days pass, there’s still no guarantee Stevie will wake up. Machines keep her alive, but her spirit — the fire that made her so vital to the ED — flickers faintly, almost beyond reach.

Jan visits when she can. She doesn’t say much — she knows Stevie would hate a dramatic speech. Instead, she sits quietly at her side, a silent promise carved into every breath.

Come back to us. We’re not the same without you.

A New Chapter for the ED

The attack changes everything. Trust is harder to come by. Smiles are slower, laughter more cautious. But something else grows too — a fierce determination.

Jan sees it in Rida’s first, shaky return to work. In Dylan’s tireless vigil at Stevie’s bedside. In Faith’s brave face as she pushes through the fear.

They are wounded. But they are not broken.

And under Jan’s fierce leadership, the ED will rise again — tougher, sharper, and more united than ever before.

Because if Holby’s heart beats a little more painfully now, it also beats a little stronger.

And Jan Jenning will make damn sure of it.