A/N Welcome to my second fanfic! This story is about Holby City's Cara, escaping from an abusive marriage, taking her daughter with her. There has been no mention in the show of Cara's background or family, so I'm just using my imagination with those two extra characters. Various chapters (including this first one) will describe physical and emotional domestic violence, so if you are sensitive to this subject, please remember this when deciding whether to read or not!

If you do read, feel free to leave reviews! Thanks!

'Cara? Cara!'

She kept walking. She had set her pace fast and there was no way she was going to look back. Her pulse began to race; tears streaming hot down her face; her hair tied back but aloof...

'Cara!' The voice shouted again, and with this Cara began to run. She had no idea where she was going. She blinked away the tears forming and her breathing became unstable as she choked back on overwhelming fear.

It all came flooding back. She had arrived home from her 14 hour shift, her colleagues had lost 2 patients that day, and despite her usual upbeat nature, she was knocked by this. It was difficult to see you he families so upset, and difficult to see her colleagues agonise over whether they could have done anything differently. She arrived home, placing her coat and handbag on the stair banister as she always did. She slipped off her shoes, and sighed. She would have loved to be at Albies right now with the rest of her team on AAU, but it could never be that way.

'Where were you?' A gruff, hard voice shattered the already stone cold atmosphere. A figure stands in the living room, the only light coming from the landing where Cara's inner being was crumpling.

'I've been at work, Gabe. It's been a difficult day' she replied, honestly.

'You were supposed to be home two fucking hours ago!' He shouted, storming onto the corridor and grabbing Cara by the throat, lifting slightly. Cara tried not to cry, that only made him angrier, and tried to keep her breathing steady.

'An emergency came in, we lost two patients Gabe. Please' she tried to reason, her voice shaking. She watched as her husband's face turned poisonous and then he let her go briefly. She raised her hands to her throat to soothe the tightening of his choking grip, and the caught unawares, the back of Gabe's fist struck her face with a sharp shock, sending Cara tumbling into the wall and down onto the ground.

'Be brave Cara' she tried to tell herself, but as her husbands kicks impacted her stomach and ribs, she curled into a ball, and then he spat on her. 'You fucking liar' he snarled, before turning back into the darkness of the living room. He sat, picked up his whiskey and Cara remained on the floor, yet again a broken woman. She gathered her thoughts, now racing in her mind. 'I hope Allegra didn't see that' she panicked as she realised that her three year old daughter was upstairs. She picked herself up, peered into the living room to see that her husband was enamoured with his own anger to realise she was going upstairs. She looked into the little girls room, and sighed with relief as she saw that Allegra was asleep. She kneeled down next to the bed and stroked her hair, kissing her gently on the forehead. 'Sleep tight baby girl, I promise everything will be ok' she wept.

'Do you have any idea how long it took her to sleep?! You stupid bitch' Gabe growled, in a volcanic rage...

She doesn't really remember what happened next. All she knew was that if she didn't run, she would be in serious danger. Apart from Allegra, who was too young to understand what was happening, whom she had grabbed from her bed before running, she was alone. She would have to go back eventually. She wasn't sure what scared her more.

Cara had been with Gabriel since they were 17. School sweethearts, Gabriel Martinez was her dream man. Considerate, caring, funny, intelligent, good company, handsome. They had met at college, and when Cara moved to London to go to university to study nursing, Gabe had moved with her, getting a place at the same university to study engineering. They lived together, had the same groups of friends, and their relationship blossomed. Cara didn't even notice that he didn't like her talking to other men, and was starting to isolate her from her friends and family. She was flattered, he wanted her all to himself, she thought.

They married at 21 and had their daughter at 23, and despite Gabe being protective of his wife, Cara flourished in her work. She was popular with her colleagues, a sweet natured young lady with a heart of gold, and a banter tolerance to match. The men loved her, the women loved her. She was a totally different person at work compared to when she was at home, she was free to be herself. It was only about a year before that the physical abuse started. It started as the odd shove, slap, punch. Then when Gabe lost his job and turned to alcohol, the beatings got worse. Before today he had always avoided her face, and Cara thought that was what scared her most.

She ran to the only place she felt comfortable- Holby City Hospital.

'Mummy where are we?' Allegra yawned, tired, holding onto Cara around her neck. Cara looked at her. She looked so innocent, fragile.

'We're just going to see some of mummy's friends' Cara put on a smile, a smile she had learnt to fake. She took Allegra up to AAU and they were greeted by a very confused Fletch.

'Cara? What the-?'

'Carbon monoxide leak in my building! We had to just leave with whatever we would grab in 10 seconds! So I grabbed this little one and my bag, but no wallet, and we have nowhere to stay' Cara admitted, looking slightly embarrassed.

'Oh right, um, I didn't know you had kids-'

'Yeah, this is my little Allegra. Anyway, I was wondering, is the on call room free tonight? I didn't have a chance to grab my wallet or anything- it'll be sorted by morning, and my family are all abroad, and what with being new to the area I didn't know where else to-'

'Cara, it's fine. I'm in charge tonight, if Serena was here there might be more explaining to do, but as it happens she's not. I know it's hard when you've got kids, so just for one night, go for it' he smiled, giving her the key. 'Is it just you two?'

'Yep' Cara smiled her fake smile again. Fletch could sense something wasn't right...Cara's eyes looked slightly red, as if she'd been crying. Her cheek was a little red too, but only slightly. He couldn't mention it, it was most likely nothing, it was so faded...

'Are you ok?' He asked, deciding to be safe than sorry. 'You look a little upset'

'I'm just flustered, I'm fine' Cara tried to insist, smiling and nodding, and he smiled back.

'Ok...you two get settled, and sleep well' Fletch winked as Allegra yawned.

'Thanks Fletch' Cara smiled as she carried Allegra into the on call room and tucked her into the bed. She watched as her daughter fell asleep almost instantly and then started to cry. She was terrified. She had nowhere else to go. Tomorrow she would have to go back and face Gabe's mood again, and she was certain it wouldn't be a good one, it never was. She was thankful she had a shift the next morning, that she'd be able to get Allegra to play school, but she didn't feel safe going home.

She curled up onto the bed next to her daughter, and brushed Allegra's soft blonde waves away from her face as she lay back and tried to get some sleep. 'I love you sweetheart...I promise I'll get us out of this mess...' Cara whispered before falling into a light sleep.