"20 quid says he's forgotten his keys"

"Yeah, he's all looks and no brains eh."

I pull open the door to expect to see Stephen smiling up at me telling me he has forgotten his keys or something. Never in a million years would I have expected to see this man standing before me. He is saying something but I can't comprehend what he is saying, I can barely breathe, my heart is in my throat and it feels like my airways have been cut off. My mind suddenly fills with the nightmares from when I was eight years old. I can hear Cheryl faintly in the background squealing with excitement to see him. He barges past me, and as we touch I feel like that little child again. The child that was abused by his dad, sexually and physically.

Brendan's POV.

I am standing in the kitchen, not really sure what to do with myself. I want to hide myself away from him as I feel his eyes boring into me, but I know I can't do that, otherwise I will look like the same old frightened self I used to be, I want to show this man that I am a better person than he is, I want him to know he can't touch me anymore, but just as I am thinking that he raises himself from the table and strides over to me. He tries to look into my eyes, but I won't meet them. He grabs hold of me and pulls me into an embrace, I try to pull away but he holds me tighter, I can feel his hot breath on my neck as he whispers,

"Ah Brenda, missed me?"

I feel like I am my eight year old self trapped in a bigger body. But when I was eight I would have took whatever he said to me on the chin, not now. He is the one person that scares me other that Stephen, but for two whole different reasons, Stephen himself does not scare me, the thought of losing him scares me. This man in front of me does scare me; he terrifies the shit out of me. I closed my eyes and tried to wipe my brain of all bad memories, thought of Stephen and Dublin, and as I did I felt stronger. I whispered back into his ear,

"Not in the slightest."

I then mustered all the strength I could and pushed him away from me, as I did he had a smirk on his face, he knew that I was putting on a front. Luckily Cheryl had her back to us. I cleared my throat before announcing that I was nipping out for a bit, Cheryl tried to convince me to stay for a bit longer but nothing she would say could work. Even though I knew my Da was a sick evil man, I knew he would never hurt Cheryl she had always been his little princess. I shrugged on my coat, shoved my phone and wallet into my pockets and walked out the front door. As soon as the door shut behind me I let out a small whimper. I let the strong front I had on disappear, but only for a minute or two. I stood up straight took a deep breath and walked.

I didn't really know where to go, I just knew anywhere was better than there. I was thinking of going to Stephen's but he was with his kids and I didn't want to disturb him. I decided on the club, the office. I walked into Chez Chez and poured myself a whisky and then trotted to the office. As I was sat in there I let my thoughts take over me. What was he doing here? What am I going to do? Shall I tell him I gay? Will Cheryl already have told him? Let it slip accidently. After about an hour and three more whisky's later I decided to go to Stephens, the kids might be in bed now.

Stephens POV

"Right kids, I know I haven't been 'ere for a couple of day, but it's bedtime now. Then tomorrow I will ring up the school and check to make sure it's ok for ya to go back, yeah Leah? The same for Lucas."

Leah looked up at me with her big blue eyes, just looking at them made my heart melt "Where's Daddy Doug?"

This was going to harder than I thought, I had already told her and Lucas that 'Daddy Doug' was going away for a while, but I suppose it will be hard for her to understand, I picked her up and placed her on my lap and tried to explain what was going on in the language of a six year old

"Doug has gone to America, on his own. He is going to go for a bit, but daddy dint want to go, so we stayed here instead, now that means ya get to go back to school and see ya friends, and we can see mummy again sooner, but if we went to America then we couldn't see her as much, so is it ok?"

"Yeah, can I go school tomorrow?"

"I dunno, I will have to ring ya school, cause' you finish in three days, so they might say you 'ave to wait til the new year. But that's ok, cause' you get to help decorate this place, and you get three day's extra holiday to all ya friends."

"Ok"

"Right, anyway you two, get a drink and then it's bedtime!"

We all walked over to the kitchen where I made Leah and Lucas a drink of orange, they went to the toilet whilst I sorted their beds out, I had to put some clean covers on them quickly because I hadn't got round to doing them since we got in. Once that was done I tucked them both into bed. I leant forward and placed a kiss on Leah's forehead, as I went to lean down to kiss Lucas's there was a knock on the door. I bent down kissed Lucas said a quick goodnight and walked to the door. I wondered who it was going to be, who would be calling around mine now? Brendan was going to chat with Cheryl, and If i'm honest I didn't really have anyone else who would bother coming round here apart from them to. I looked through the peep hole to see Brendan at the door, he was leaning against the wall probably trying to look sexy. I opened the door with a goofy grin on my face, but as I took in what Brendan looked like it slowly slide from my face. He wasn't leaning against the wall because he

wanted to look sexy it was because he could barely stand, his perfect face was paper white, and he looked like he was about to throw up. "Bren? Are you ok?"

I moved towards him and wrapped my arm around his waist and pulled him inside. I placed him on the sofa and he just murmured words I didn't understand. I got him a glass of water and went to sit next to him,

"Eya' drink that. What's up Bren? What's 'appened?"

"N-nuthink 'appened Stephen, just wanted to see ya."

He lent in to kiss me, I gave him a small peck on the lips, but that's all he was getting whilst he was in this state, I was worried, he never got drunk like this unless something bad had happened.

"Seriously Bren, what's happened? If ya dunt tell me I will just ring Cheryl, im sure she knows."

I went to pick up my phone but Brendan stopped me, placing his hand on my arm and saying no.

"It-it-it's my da, he turned up just' after you left."

I was spluttering words that even I didn't understand, Brendan's dad here in Hollyoaks? Surely not. How did he even have the nerve to turn up here after what he done to Brendan, he made his life hell. I wasn't sure of the whole story behind it but I had a pretty rough idea, he used to beat Brendan when he was a kid. He was a sick man. So why the hell was he here for?

Thanks for reading. This was starting out as a one shot, but i ended up making it a fic.

I am hoping to add another chapter today, but some chapters might be added a bit late what with it being Christmas and everything.

Please, read, review and follow. It really means a lot.