Georgie sat on the floor of the containment cell for the majority of that night. Her head continued to spin. She felt dizzy and even nauseous. She wanted to cry out for help because she knew that this level of pain was not normal. There was definitely something wrong. But she also knew that she probably wouldn't get much medical help for a head related injury. The blood that had spilled from her cuts was already dried up, and she wasn't bleeding anymore. So she wasn't in any immediate danger, she told herself.

Georgie was in utter shock, she was shaking in fear for what would come next. Did these people seriously believe she had been speeding? Because she knew for a fact that she hadn't been. Or maybe she had been, but she couldn't recall correctly anymore. She was beginning to doubt herself…But no, she would never…not with her baby sister in the car.

Georgie was sure she didn't do anything wrong, so why was she in here? What evidence did they have against her that was so damning they had had to throw her in here…?

What would happen now? Would she spend the rest of her life in prison? For causing her own sister's death?

Oh my god, Mom, Dad…

She worried what was happening at home, what was going through her parents' minds at this point. Did they believe that she was guilty too? Georgie couldn't even reach out to them right now. She was stuck in this cell for who knew how long. But her parents had to know that she hadn't been speeding. They had to know she was innocent, right?

Or were her parents here, trying to get her out on bail…? Did they believe she was even worth the bail money, or would they just leave her in there, thinking she really was guilty? That she was the reason their baby was taken from them forever?

The only worse thing than being thrown into a detention centre like this one for the rest of her life was the thought of her parents and how they would cope for the rest of their lives thinking that their daughter had played a part in the death of their youngest.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head to the wall, trying to block out the noise that was coming in from the other cells and resisting the urge to cry out or punch the walls in.

Hours later, though it felt like minutes to Georgie, her cell door clanged open. Georgie jolted awake, her hand reaching out to grip the floor for balance. She craned her neck a little, trying to get a clear view of whoever was in front of her.

"Fleming-Morris?"

Georgie sat in the interview room, holding her hands together on the table in front of her, fidgeting and cracking her knuckles. She looked up as a man appeared in the doorway. He was wearing a suit, and he held a briefcase in his hands.

"You're—you're the lawyer." Georgie guessed.

He nodded. "I am." As he sat, he smiled warmly at her. "I have some good news for you."

Georgie laughed wryly, her hand travelling to the back of her head. She nervously bunched up her hair, agitated. "Good news? How can there be good news? I could be going to jail for the rest of my life."

"No, that is not going to happen."

Georgie was shocked. She wasn't sure if she had even heard him right, her ears were ringing so much. "What…? But I thought they had evidence, that they were sure—"

"Turns out the speedometer readings were off. The machines weren't working properly at the time of the accident because, as it turns out, they were undergoing unofficial testing yesterday, which the authorities were unaware of. It just so happened that…well, the timing was really bad. But as it stands now, there is no sustaining evidence against you."

Georgie stared at him in disbelief. "Wait, wait, so I'm not in trouble?"

"Well, you did nothing wrong, so no, you're not in trouble."

Georgie exhaled. "I just don't get it, though. Just last night, they were arresting me for charges of manslaughter, and they were so sure. And now—?" Georgie broke off, breathing in sharply.

"Well, they were later able to tap into the CCTV footage, and they obtained evidence that you were not, in fact, speeding."

Georgie breathed out heavily, a lump forming in her throat. She put a trembling hand to her mouth, trying to keep herself together. "I was so scared," she readily admitted as her eyes welled up.

"I can understand that, but you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You did nothing wrong."

Georgie nodded thankfully, her eyes were so filled with tears that they had begun to spill down her face. Georgie wiped her eyes. "So, so—my record is clean? Will I have to appear in court?"

"Your record is clean. You weren't speeding, and you most certainly were not responsible for anyone's death."

Georgie nodded.

"And no, you will not be appearing in court."

"Right, okay. Okay. Thank you."

The man smiled. "Just doing my job. I'll, uh—give you a few moments to yourself and then I will be back with some paperwork. Just standard stuff that you have to sign before we can get you home."

Georgie nodded. "Thank you so much."


Once Georgie was released, she walked out into the main room and saw Peter standing by the entrance. He immediately turned to hug his daughter, engulfing her frame with his own.

"Georgie, honey." Peter exhaled, relieved.

Georgie was taken aback by the hug and it took her a moment to bring her arms down to hug her father. "Oh, Dad…" she cried as she let her tense muscles relax. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Dad…"

"I know. I know, honey…It's okay, I've got you."

"Dad, I didn't—I didn't do anything wrong…"

"I know you didn't. I know you would never do something so reckless…Your mom and I both know. Okay, look. Let's just forget about all of this and try to move on, okay? We've already lost so much…"

Georgie bit down on her lip, trying to keep from crying further. "Dad."

Peter moved away from the hug and flitted his gaze up, looking at her with eyes that were filled with pain and sorrow. "And I don't know if I can stand to lose anything else."

"Dad…" Georgie cried, bringing her hands to his face. "Dad, no…we won't."

Peter nodded. "Okay, let's…we need to get you to the ER. And then afterward, we can go home to see your mom. She…"

"She didn't come."

Peter shook his head, refusing to meet Georgie's gaze.

"She's been crying this whole time, hasn't she?" Georgie asked, shifting her weight in anticipation of Peter's answer. "Is she alright?"

Peter didn't say anything.

"What…? What is it?" The fear was evidently creeping into Georgie's voice.

"She was going to come, I'm sure of it, but…"

Georgie nodded. "But what…? Is she alright?"

Peter looked up, a blank expression on his face. "Hmm?"

"Dad, is Mom okay?" Georgie repeated, pressing her voice.

Peter looked at her. "Of course. Let's just get you to the hospital."

"No! I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me! I can tell you're hiding something." Georgie stood her ground, refusing to back down.

"She…um, well, they took you away, and Jack and I were coming after you. But then all of a sudden I heard voices, so I turn back and—" Peter broke off, unsure of how to put it in words to Georgie. He knew he needed to be sensitive with this, because this was his child's mother he was talking about. He didn't want to say anything wrong and just completely throw Georgie off course.

"Dad, just come out with it, please."

"It's nothing to worry about, she's alright, but she lost consciousness—"

"Oh my god, Dad!"

"I know, I know, but—"

"What, was it momentary?"

Peter shook his head. "No. She completely blacked out once you left."

The fear settled in Georgie's heart, her breath becoming hitched in her throat. "Seriously, Dad! You should've just led with that! Is she alright? Did you guys call for help?"

"Yeah, of course. Tricia came in."

Georgie exhaled heavily. "She fell unconscious right after I left?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah." His voice came out tight.

"Right after I left…" Georgie muttered to herself in remorse. "But—but she's going to be fine?" She spoke in a louder voice this time, enough for her dad to hear.

Peter nodded. "She's okay." Peter studied Georgie, whose face held so much pain. Georgie looked so pale, her face was void of colour. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, she is fine."

"It happened because of me." Georgie choked out, biting down hard on her lip.

"Hey, it didn't. It's not your fault, and you know that."

Do I, though?

"Okay, let's take you to the ER first." Peter said, beginning to worry all over again. He started for the exit.

"What—no! Why would I go to the ER?"

Peter stared at her. "Honey, do you not see what they did to you? Your cheek is all bruised up, so is your forehead, and your cuts—they…"

Georgie laughed. "Dad, you know what? I'm fine." She declared like a typical teenager. "Can we just get home? Can we do that?"

Peter sighed. "Georgie, honey—"

"Look, I can't be in that hospital wasting my time when I could be at home with you and Mom. There's nothing the matter with me."

Peter looked at her. "You promise you'll tell me if you sense something's wrong?"

"Sure." Georgie promised half-heartedly.

Even though she could barely see five feet in front of her and her vision was spinning, she still strode ahead. She knew, though, that she had to keep close to Peter if she wanted to make it home on her feet.


It was almost nine in the morning when Peter and Georgie finally returned to Heartland.

Mitch was waiting in the living room for them, and he stood as he heard the two of them come in. "Georgie…" he looked at her with concern etched in his blue eyes.

"Mitch, is—is my mom okay?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mitch waved away her concern. "She's asleep right now. Why don't you eat something?"

Georgie shook her head. "Wait, what—?" Georgie broke off, suddenly feeling nauseous. She shifted her weight, trying to keep herself up straight. "She's still asleep?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, but I'm sure she'll be up soon. Drugs should be wearing off soon."

Georgie nodded. "Okay, can I just wait for Lou to wake up then? I'll be in my room."

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, I'll bring something up for you."

Georgie wanted to stop and ask for details, but she figured it didn't matter at this point. She nodded and headed up the steps to her room.

Once Georgie had gone into her room, Mitch turned his attention to Peter. "Hey, why don't you sit down for a bit? You look wiped out."

"Where's—where's Jack? Tim?"

"They headed out. I think they're at the hospital."

Peter put his fingers to his eyes. "Right, um, I should—I should get ready to go there as well, figure some stuff out. Apparently they still need me to sign off on some things before they can—" Peter broke off, not caring to find the words to finish that sentence.

Mitch exhaled, his breathing ragged. He didn't need to hear Peter say the words because he already understood what Peter had meant to say. "Let me come with you."

Peter looked up. "You're serious?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah. I don't want you going alone. Whatever it is that needs to be done, I'll come with you to get it done."

Peter nodded. He went quiet for a moment as his eyes welled up, and he held onto the chair at the dining table. "I, uh…" he trailed off, pausing for a little while. "Mitch, I thought I lost them both. I thought—" he broke off, looking down, trying not to fall apart.

Mitch moved ahead, putting a reassuring hand to his shoulder. "I know, but you got Georgie back. It was all just a mistake. A stupid mistake."

"And to think that I believed what they were saying, even for a second."

"No, anyone could've been thrown off by what they said. They said they had evidence—they were so sure about everything. Until they weren't."

Peter nodded. "But I thought my daughter was wrong—" he broke off, a wounded sob escaping his lips. "My daughter." Peter gestured to himself as his chest went in and out, his breathing heavy.

Mitch paused a moment. "I know, but she wasn't wrong. It was just a mistake, and now we can move on, focus on what we need to."

Peter nodded again, wordless.

"Come here." Mitch said. He brought Peter close to him, and wrapped an arm around the man's shoulder. "Everything is going to work itself out. And you're not alone, you hear me?"

Peter was so grateful and yet he couldn't find the words to say to Mitch, he couldn't even speak. It was as if he were paralyzed, the words refused to come out.

"I've got you." Mitch reassured, bringing his other arm around to hold onto Peter even tighter.


Georgie lay in bed, awake. She had tried going to sleep, but her mind wouldn't stop racing. So she rested her head on her pillow and tried to keep her eyes closed. She didn't want this concussion to get any worse, not because she cared of the consequences to herself, but because she didn't have the energy to focus on herself, to care if there was something the matter with her. All she wanted was to take care of Lou, to be there for Peter…make sure they knew she did nothing wrong…

Georgie's heart ached, and she felt empty inside. An angry sense of desperation and helplessness consumed her. She couldn't stop thinking of her sister.

Katie, baby…

Georgie shut her eyes tight, trying to block everything out in a vain attempt to forget, to pretend everything was fine. But she suddenly heard voices from downstairs, which were rising in volume. She was sure it was Lou's voice, she couldn't mistake it. What was going on? Georgie bolted out of bed, slipping into her shoes and running down the steps.

Georgie reached the landing, and for some reason, seeing Lou, seeing how absolutely alone and afraid she looked made Georgie's heart drop down into her stomach. "Mom!"

Lou spun around, and the way her expression changed made it seem like a huge metal weight had just been lifted from her chest. She exhaled heavily, walking toward the steps, reaching for the handrail. Georgie's presence brought a sense of peace and calmness to Lou's heart and she was now suddenly able to breathe.

"Georgie…" Lou had so much she wanted to and needed to say, but she could barely get any of the words out. "Honey…"

Georgie quickly came down and stopped on the first step.

Without giving her the chance to speak, Lou quickly brought her daughter against her and hugged her as tight as her weak frame would allow her at this time. "What did they do to you? Did—did they hurt you?" Lou could barely speak, her voice came out so quiet.

"No, why would they?" Georgie shrugged everything off as if she hadn't been utterly terrified in the past twelve or so hours.

"Last night, in front of me, they slammed you down to the ground…twice."

Georgie's jaw clenched up, and she sucked in her breath. She wanted to be surprised that Lou had noticed what they did both times, but Georgie knew better than to think her mother's eyes hadn't been glued to the scene the entire time.

Lou moved back and reached her hand out and stroked Georgie's forehead with her thumb. "Are you okay?"

Georgie brought Lou's hand down from where it rested on her face and she kissed it. "Let's get you inside. You shouldn't even be standing."

"Georgie—" Lou tried to get her to stop and listen to her.

But Georgie wouldn't listen. She led her mother by the hand back toward her room.

Once Georgie was sure Lou was comfortable, she sat down at her mom's bedside. But Lou seemed anxious, agitated. "Hey, what is it?"

Lou held onto Georgie's hand. "They're going to take you away from me, and—and I can't let them. I can't lose you too. Not now, not after—"

"Mom, they dropped the charges." She said quickly, cutting Lou off before she could go even further.

Lou stopped and looked at her, holding her breath. "You're serious?"

Georgie nodded.

She exhaled, her breathing coming out all jagged. "They—they dropped the charges…"

"You're not going to ask why?"

"I've got you back, that's all I care about…" Lou let out, her voice barely a whisper.

Georgie wrapped Lou in a loving embrace, planting a kiss on her mother's hair.

"I really thought I had lost you." Lou shook against Georgie, sobbing soundlessly.

That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, Georgie wanted to blurt out, but she held her tongue. Georgie wrapped her arms tighter around Lou, trying to put the broken pieces back together, but in vain, because she knew…she knew she could never fix this, no matter how hard she tried.


A/N: Hopefully this third instalment wasn't too shabby ;) Thank you for the lovely reviews, they really do make me smile! And yes, Georgie was innocent! There is always more to see than what meets the eye...

I'm actually super excited about this story. You may or may not have noticed that the pacing and the narrative is a little different from my other story's, so I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but I think so far so good...fingers crossed :D