Summary: Lily Patterson had called Summer Bay home since she was a little girl. After four years at private school, Lily returns to Summer Bay to make amends with her remaining family, but how accepting will they be of the grown up Lily and her new rebellious ways?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Home and Away or any other references to popular tv shows, songs etc. The only thing I own is Lily Patterson. No money is being made from this.
Chapter One
Lily's eyes fluttered open.
It took a few moments for her eyes to focus and when they did, she only saw the white tiles of a ceiling. The next sensation she felt was the pain that echoed through her body. The last thing the seventeen year old remembers was making the turn towards Summer Bay from Yabbie Creek when everything went black.
"Welcome back," a voice at the end of her bed. Focusing her eyes forward, she spotted a handsome looking doctor reading over her charts.
"What happened?" she asked, roaming her hand slowly up to her side where the main source of her pain was originating.
"You were in a car accident," he said, putting it down and moving around to the side of her bed. "Side on collision to your passenger side. You're lucky. You escaped with a concussion, bruising and a few cracked ribs."
"Wow," Lily said trying to take a few deep breaths. However, the pain in her side was obstructing that. The doctor was right, her ribs were definitely cracked.
"Are you in pain?" he asked, "I can increase your pain medication."
"No, I'm good," Lily said before attempting to sit up, but she suddenly felt the room spin and she fell back onto the pillows slowly.
"That's not a good idea. No matter how lucky you were, you were still in a car accident," he told her. "You need rest. Do you have family we can contact to make sure you get that? Plus, we found your drivers licence. We can't discharge you without an adult seeing as you're only seventeen."
"Yeah, that's where I was going," Lily spoke with a croaked voice. "My mum lives in Summer Bay. She didn't know I was coming. What a surprise visit, eh?"
"How about you give us her name and number and well give her a call for you."
"Yeah, her name is Leah Patterson," she said, the name catching the doctors attention. "and her number is-"
"You're Leah's daughter?" he questioned.
"Yeah, do you know her?" Lily looked up with a worried expression. Lily hadn't of been on the best of terms with her mum since she went away to school. Lily was awards a music scholarship at a private boarding school when she was twelve. Lily didn't want to leave Summer Bay, however Leah sent her to the school because it would provide the best opportunities for her. Lily got extremely mad at her and hasn't spoken to her much in the last four years. It even went as far as Lily spending her last few holidays from school with her grandmother.
"Yeah, I'll go give her a call now for you," Lily smiled at him as he exited the room. "Shit," she cursed at the mess she had gotten herself into.
Leah was fluttering around the house getting herself ready to go to work, as well as badgering on at the several teenagers that shared her home to go to their exams. Just as she was grabbing her final little bits to leave, she started to hear her phone ring.
"Good luck," she heard her fiancée Zac call to the eldest of the teenagers as they made their way out of the house. He turned to look at her, seeing the confused expression that etched her features.
"It's Nate," Leah told her, before answering the phone and holding it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Hi, Leah," Nate's voice echoed through the phone.
"What's the matter?" She questioned. "Did I have an appointment I forgot about?"
"No, no. Not that," he answered, hesitating for a second.
"Oh, right," Leah said, "I'm a bit a rush, could I call you back soon?"
"Your daughter is here at the hospital," he informed her. Leah stopped in her tracks, her eyebrows furrowing. Zac looked on, unaware of anything of what was going on in their phone conversation.
"What?" Leah was confused. Lily should have still been at school. She was, again, intending to spend the holidays with her grandmother, or that was what Stella told her anyway. She had barely seen her daughter in three years and she's spoken to her a handful of times more. When she was in hospital she paid a short visit to see if she was okay and returned to school.
"Lily was in an accident last night in Yabbie Creek and was brought here," Nate continued, leaving Leah stunned, her breath catching in the back of her throat.
"Oh my god, is she alright?"
"She has just come around, but she's lucky she only had minor injuries," he said, letting Leah breathe a sigh of relief down the phone. "She's safe to go home, as long as she gets her rest. But we can't release her without an adult."
"Yes, of course. I'll be there as soon as I can," Leah said, hanging up the phone and looking up at her fiancée. "Lily's in hospital."
"Lily? I thought she was away at school?" Zac questioned, following Leah out the door as she hurried to the car.
"So did I," Leah said getting in, Zac following her soon after.
Leah rushed out of the elevator with Zac hot on her heels. Her eyes darted around the entrance hall as she looked for Nate. Spotting him standing at the nurses stations, they hurried over.
"Nate, where is she?" Leah asked him, catching his attention. "Where's Lily?"
"It's alright, she's in here," Nate said, directing her towards the room where Lily lay sleeping. Leah looked in through the window at her teenage daughter. She had grown up so much since she last saw her; her skin was tanner and her hair was longer. She had noticeable bruising on her body and her arm was draped over her torso, gently cradling her opposite side.
"I don't understand why she was here in the first place," Leah said, turning back to face her fiancée and the doctor. "What happened?"
"As far as I know, she was in a side on collision at the turn off for Summer Bay," Nate answered. Leah's hand moved to her forehead in disbelief. "She's extremely lucky that it was on the passenger side. She only sustained a concussion, some bruising and a few cracked ribs. Other than that she's fine; once she wakes up, she'll be ready to go home."
"Thank you," Leah sighed, turning to Zac as Nate made it way off. "I still can't over how she's here. I want to know why she's not at school?"
"You can find that all when she's awake," Zac said, giving her a weak smile. Leah breathed a heavy sigh in response. "Do you want me to get you a coffee or anything?"
"Yes, please," she nodded, folding her arms over her chest. "I'll go in and sit with her until she does."
"Okay, I'll be back soon," he said, kissing her forehead and going to cafeteria. Leah turned around and walked into her daughters hospital room. Careful not to disturb her, Leah pulled up a check next to Lily's bed and gently ran her hand over her forehead and down into her hair. She couldn't believe it - her baby lying there in hospital. She still remembers the day her and her brother were born. It didn't feel like that long ago, but now they're grown up and it was obvious she couldn't protect them anymore like she did when they were kids.
Leah had missed a big part of her daughters life. When Lily went away to school when she was twelve it caused a lot of tension between the mother and daughter. Lily didn't speak to her mother for four months after going to school and since then, things have been frosty between them. Lily held a strong grudge.
2012
"It's not fair," Lily shouted at her mother. Leah had thought this music scholarship would be Lily's dream and she would be delighted. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Lily had been screaming and shouting for almost an hour, trying to convince her mother not to send her away to the school. "I don't wanna leave Summer Bay."
"But it's the best for you," Leah reasoned with her daughter. "This is one of the best schools in the state. You'll have your choice of uni once your older."
"What if I don't want to go to uni, Mum?" Lily questioned, tears springing in her eyes. "I'm not leaving. You can't make me go."
"This isn't easy on me either, you know," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "I don't want to send you away, but it's better for you if you go to-"
"You want this, not me," Lily spoke back, tears beginning to flow don her cheeks.
"You're going," Leah said, her voice breaking slightly. "That's final."
"I hate you," Lily screamed before storming off into her room and slamming the door behind her, leaving her mother in tears.
Rousing herself from sleep again, Lily groaned as she maneuvered her body into a more comfortable position. For a place where people are sometimes confined to their beds a majority of the time, they didn't provide the comfiest ones. It was only when she went to lift her hand to rub her eyes that she realised someone else was holding onto it. Slowly prying open her eyelids, Lily was stunned at the woman sitting by her bedside.
"Mum?" Lily croaked, watching her mother lift her head suddenly from the bed.
"Oh, Lily," Leah said, standing up and running her hand over her daughters hair. "What were you thinking?"
"Thanks Mum," Lily smiled. "No, 'Hi, how are you? How are you feeling? It wasn't like you were in a car accident'."
"Don't start," Leah's voice grew more firm. "What are you playing at driving? You can't even drive?"
"I have my learner," she voiced. Leah folded her arms over her chest.
"Which you shouldn't be using without an experienced driver," Leah told her. "Who's car was it anyway?"
"A friends," Lily said vaguely. Leah arched her eyebrow disbelievingly. "It was a friends from school. His name is Jack and he was in my year. It was a shitty car anyway, it's better off not on the road."
"Don't you know how worried I was when Nate called to say you were in an accident?" Leah questioned and Lily's face grew somber. "I thought you were seriously hurt. You're so lucky that you got away with what you have. You could have died, Lily."
"It was an accident," Lily said. "How was I supposed to know it was gonna happen?"
"Why weren't you at school?" Leah continued to question.
"I'm finished my exams," Lily replied, closing her mouth into a firm line. Leah looked at her disbelievingly. "What?"
"I don't believe you," Leah shook her head.
"I can see that. It's written all over your face."
"Tell me the truth," her mother said, more sternly.
"It is the truth," Lily confessed and looked away, not meeting her mothers eyes. "But you just may get a call from the school."
"Why?"
"To say that I've had my scholarship revoked," Lily said, raising her eyes to meet Leah's stern ones.
"What?!"
"They said that I was welcome to complete my exams with them," Lily began, "But I won't be welcomed back for another term there."
"Lily Helena Patterson.." Leah began, but never got the chance to finish when Lily peeped in.
"Mum, I was just in a car accident," Lily interrupted, "Please, save me the lecture."
"Alright," Leah said after a brief moment of silence, contemplating her daughters words. "But as soon as I get you home and rested, we are going to have a serious talk about this."
"Whatever," Lily rolled her eyes and looked down. Lily knew how disappointed her mum would be when she found out she had been kicked out of her private school. It was the rift that had come between them for so long. It was for Lily's best interest she went there and she stubbornly rejected any efforts made to reconcile with her mother over the years.
"Why were you in the Bay?" Leah asked her after a few moments of silence. "You've barely set foot in the place since you were twelve."
"I was coming to see you," Lily confessed, looking up into her mothers eyes. "Ever since the crash and your surgery, I've felt so bad about how I acted towards you. I was young and stupid, and after everything, all I wanted to do was come home for good like nothing had ever happened. I was coming home to apologize and show there was nothing standing between us anymore."
"You purposely got yourself kicked out of school?" Leah questioned, figuring out what her daughter was saying.
"Mum," Lily said affectionately, steering away from the topic of her education for the time being.
"Sorry," Leah said, running her hand through her daughters dark locks - ones much like her own. "But Lily, why would you throw that all away?"
"I wanted to be home with you and Veej for good," Lily confessed, "and it would have only caused more arguments every time I had to go back."
"Oh, Lily," Leah said bending down to hug her daughter. Lily ignored the pain in her ribs and hugged her mother back. Their moment was short lived however, as there soon came a knock at the door. Zac entered holding a cup of coffee in each hand.
"Oh, sorry," he said, standing there awkwardly. "Was I interrupting something?"
"No, no, it's fine," Leah said, encouraging him to come closer to her daughters hospital bed. "Lily, this is Zac, my fiancee. Zac, this is my daughter Lily."
"I've already heard all about him from VJ," Lily said with a soft smile. Her and her twin brother were in constant contact with one another. They could never stand to be apart from each other for too long, often meeting up at weekends or at their grandmothers.
"Speaking of which, the kids will almost be out of their exams," Leah said cheerfully. "Let's see about getting you home and more comfortable." Lily smiled bright at the prospect of seeing her brother, but almost meeting Zac's niece and nephew, whom she had heard about from VJ, also. "But don't you think you're let off the hook. You're still in big trouble about getting kicked out of school."
After a series of paperwork and a long car journey home, with her mum filling her in on all the going on in Summer Bay since she left, Lily was surprised to arrive outside Summer Bay House, which stood just on the edge of the caravan park.
"I thought I was going home to rest?" Lily asked, slowly managing to get herself out of the car.
"This is home now," Zac informed her. Lily looked between him and her mum with a confused expression on her face. They had forgotten to fill her in on this development.
"Lily, the house burned down," Leah told her and Lily's face evolved from confused to saddened. Leah wrapped one arm around her daughters shoulders and placed a gentle hand on the shoulder closest to her body. "There was nothing left. We had nowhere to go, so Mr. Stewart let us stay and we've been here since. We may have to move a few of the kids around, but there is plenty of room for you here."
"How did it happen? The fire, I mean?" Lily asked as they walked into the house. Leah looked nervously at her fiancee before averting her eyes back to her daughter.
"It was just an accident," Leah told her softly, leading her over the couch. "Now you make sure you rest up. Do you want anything to eat or anything? You must be starving."
"Can I have a sandwich, please?" Lily asked, settling herself on the couch. However, as she got herself sitting, she heard commotion coming towards the back door of the house.
"Man, I'm so glad those exams are over," a male voice echoed through the room. Lily turned herself as carefully as possible to see a familiar face walk through the door with another young boy about the same age as them. "Hey Mum, what's for dinner?"
"Do I not even get a 'hello'?" Lily voiced from the couch. She watched her brothers head snap in her direction and a smile spread across his face.
"Lily?" He questioned excitedly, moving towards her. "What are you doing here?" VJ sat down on the couch beside his sister and wrapped his arms around her. Lily whimpered lowly, her injuries still paining her.
"Careful, Lily is still very sensitive after the accident," Leah warned her children.
"Mum, it's fine," Lily responded.
"Accident? What accident?" VJ started questioning, with a worried expression starting to etch his features.
"I just hit a little bump in the road on my way here," Lily said, looking down. "And by bump, I mean a van."
"You were in a car accident? Are you okay?" he questioned.
"I'm fine, I swear," Lily urged. "It was a blind corner and I wasn't watching where I was going."
"Wait, how is it you got your permit before me?" Leah watched as her children begin to bicker. Although their voices boomed through the room, it brought Leah peace knowing both her children were under her wing.
"I've a feeling its gonna get a lot louder around here," Zac said, wrapping his arm around Leah's shoulders.
"Like it was quiet before," Leah joked. "This brings me back to when they were kids."
"I'm older," Lily responded in the back and forth between her and her twin brother.
"By like ten minutes," VJ added on.
"You guys are like an old married couple," the other boy, also donned in a Summer Bay High uniform, said as he sat down in the armchair with a bottle of water.
"Oh my god, just the thought of that makes me want to spew my guts," Lily said, leaning back in her seat.
"Hunter, this is my sister, Lily," VJ explained.
"Oh, this is the infamous Lily," Hunter nodded and Lily watched a smirk spread across his face.
"What? Do you all sit around and tell your favorite Lily stories around here?" she laughed, moving her hand to her throbbing ribs.
"Yes, because we don't have anything better to do or anything," VJ joked.
"So, who's blondie?" Lily asked VJ, nodding her head towards the other young person in the room.
"Blondie can hear you," Hunter spoke up.
"Lily, that's Hunter," VJ introduced them. "He's Zac's son."
"Oh wow, I come home and gain yet another brother," Lily said in a sarcastic tone. "What did I do to deserve so much testosterone in this family?"
"So what? Are you home for good now?" VJ asked, bringing his sisters unexpected return back to the fore of their conversation.
"I think so," Lily responded. Summer Bay was her home and she was glad to be back.