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Chapter Two

Having her aunt around made looking after the girls so much easier. The time soon came though when everything had been moved into Lily's flat, and Lily was left to look after Saffron and Courtney by herself.

Aunty Bo had given her a list of things that she should know about, like Courtney's severe peanut allergy and the fact that Saffron could only drink out of one particular cup and nothing else. The list was two pages long and Lily had to admit that it caused a huge bubble of panic to waft over her.

As soon as her aunt had left, Lily had booked the weekend off work, making up some lie to Connie about how she was going away with her mum. How much, she wished that had been true. Instead, she'd spent it settling the girls in and waiting for her aunt to text her when she was on the plane. It hadn't been the most relaxing weekend.

Then Monday came and she realised how difficult it was to get her sisters ready for school, something that Aunty Bo had failed to mention.

"Courtney!" She yelled, as she poured some cereal into a bowl for Saffron. "Courtney, breakfast!"

"Breakfast!" Saffron just repeated, shovelling a spoonful of cornflakes into her mouth.

Milk ran down her chin and landed onto her school dress. Lily sighed heavily and shook her head, grabbing a piece of kitchen roll to wipe at the mess around her mouth. She ruffled her hair and headed into the living room to check where Courtney was, her eyes diverting to the unfinished report that sat on the coffee table.

"Lily?"

She picked up the report and turned her head to see that Courtney was standing in the doorway, dressed but with no shoes on.

"There you are," Lily sighed. "We're going to be late, Courtney. Go and get your shoes on. Breakfast is on the table."

"I don't have any." Courtney shrugged her shoulders. "Shoes," she added in a small, sweet voice.

"What do you mean?" Lily frowned at her. "You don't have any school shoes?"

"Aunty was going to buy me some new ones," she said. "But she always forgot. My old ones got wet."

"Great," Lily muttered sarcastically to herself, and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, wear your trainers today. I'll come into the school with you and tell your teachers what's happened."

"Will I get into trouble?" Courtney asked.

She reminded Lily so much of her younger self, constantly worrying about getting into trouble if she did the wrong thing. It made her smile.

"You won't," she reassured her little sister and walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll talk to your teacher. Come on, come and have some breakfast."

Feeling comforted, Courtney nodded and made her way into the kitchen. She sat down next to Saffron and helped herself to cereal, whilst Lily went to make herself a coffee.

"So, you two are going to go to homework club after school," Lily told them both. "Then I'll pick you up at half past four on the dot."

"Why?" Courtney asked.

"Three o'clock," Saffron whined, feeling a little anxious at her change of routine. "Three!"

"What she means is, we always get picked up from school at three o'clock," Courtney rephrased for Lily.

Lily wondered if Courtney really was seven-years-old. She acted so mature for her age, but Aunty Bo had told her that she'd often had to step in and help Saffron with certain things when her mum was unable to. She loved how close the two of them were, how much Courtney was there for her older sister. It was a lovely sight to watch.

"I know," she sighed, joining them at the table. "But I finish work late, so you're going to have to go to homework club for me. You'll have fun."

"Will we always have to go?" Courtney asked. "Saffron has dance club on Friday's, and I have football."

"Most days," Lily answered. "But you can still do your activities, don't worry about that." Courtney nodded, and had a spoonful of her cereal. "We'll talk about it later," Lily told her. "You can't be late for school."


Lily had been so focused on making sure that the girls weren't late for school, that being late for work hadn't even crossed her mind. Until it actually happened. It was only by fifteen minutes but she knew that Connie would flip her lid anyway, she didn't tolerate lateness.

"There's my beautiful girlfriend," Iain said, as Lily passed him on the way to the ED entrance. "I was worried that you weren't going to show," he said, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a kiss. "You're never usually late. Is everything okay?"

Lily took a deep breath and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her coat. Iain had been so worried about her and she couldn't even bring herself to tell him the truth. She felt like such a terrible girlfriend.

"Things are fine," she lied quickly. "My...My alarm just didn't go off, that's all. Mrs Beauchamp's going to kill me though."

"Nah, course she won't," he said. "It's not like you're always late for work, is it? These things happen Lily, she'll understand." Lily forced a smile and shrugged her shoulders, as he continued to stroke her hair. "You know what your problem is, Chuckles?"

"What's that?" She sighed.

"You care too much about what people think," he said. "You work so hard, you offer to cover shifts and do extra hours, so you shouldn't worry so much when you're late or sick."

"I wish I had your attitude," Lily laughed.

"Come here," he said and pressed his lips against hers. "Why don't I take you out for a drink after work, eh? My treat."

Lily chewed on her lip and thought about the girls. She needed to collect from them school at half four, and there was no one else to look after them.

"I can't," she said. "I'm really sorry, I...I have a lot of work to finish."

"Okay?" He frowned, folding his arms across his chest. "Tomorrow?"

"Sorry." Lily shook her head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you free for lunch?"

"Should be," he sighed. "If that's okay with you."

"That's fine," Lily said. "I usually take my break around one o'clock. I'll come and find you, okay?"

Iain smiled at her, kissed her on the cheek and said, "that sounds perfect. I can't wait."

"Neither can I," Lily said. "Now I better go, seeing as I'm already late."

"Alright, I'll see you later," Iain said, giving her a gentle pat on the back. "Have a good shift."

Lily nodded at him and returned the kiss, before making her way through the doors of the ED. She couldn't see Connie anywhere, which was probably a good thing, but then Dylan came over to her and asked if she was able to pop by the office straight away. Lily felt physically sick.

She dropped her bag off at her locker and had a quick swig of water before walking off to see Connie. She hovered outside the door for a few seconds, but eventually built up the courage to knock.

"Come in," Connie called.

Lily opened the door and walked on in, making sure to shut it behind her.

"You wanted to see me, Mrs Beauchamp?" She asked.

"Indeed." Connie glanced up at her over her paperwork. "What time were you due to start your shift today, Doctor Chao?"

"Um...Nine," Lily answered.

"I thought so, so care to tell me why you're so late?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Beauchamp," Lily apologised. "My alarm didn't go off this morning."

"That's no excuse," Connie said. "Now I understand that you and Mr Dean are now a couple and I am very happy for you both, but you can't let your relationship distract you from your duties."

"I'm not, believe me," Lily cut in. "I really am sorry Mrs Beauchamp, and I'll make sure that it won't happen again."

"It better not," Connie said. "Now to make up for your lateness, would you be able to work a couple of extra hours today?"

Lily hesitated and the sickness returned to her stomach.

"I can't," she said. "I'm really sorry, but...I can't. I have plans."

"Whatever could you be doing, Lily?" She asked. "Working overtime has never been a problem before. Why now?"

Lily's chest tightened and she could feel herself beginning to get stressed and anxious. She shifted uncomfortably on the spot and gulped, fiddling anxiously with the sleeves of her blouse.

"I have an appointment," she lied quickly. "I've already rescheduled it so many times, I...I can't do it again."

"Right," Connie sighed, knowing how unprofessional it was to question her staff regarding appointments. Those were always so confidential and no one was forced to explain themselves if they didn't want to. "I'll let you off just this once, okay? Are you able to start a little earlier in the morning?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," Lily said. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Connie said. "I'll let you head off. I want you in resus today."

"Sure thing, I won't let you down," Lily said, putting a smile on her face before heading out of the office.

Once outside, she held a hand to her head and took some time to compose herself. It was going to be a long day.

Thank you for all of the reads, follows, favourites, and reviews on the first chapter. Here's the second, so I hope you like it :-) x