Bluebell140: Thank you. I felt as if they were good people to do that. I really hope she isn't gone for that long. I know I've done seven years in this chapter but it just seemed to fit.

CasualtyFanForever81: Thank you so much. More to come.

Chapter Four

Lily sat anxiously on the sofa in Connie's office.

Nia was sat on her lap, Lily's arms wrapped tighly around her waist. Having Nia there somehow made her feel better, and Nia seemed to guess that as well. She remained on her mum's lap in silence, her head resting gently against her chest. Connie sat beside them, trying her best to reassure Lily that everything was going to be fine.

Lily wasn't convinced though. Iain was bound to hate her.

The door slowly creaked open and the paramedic strolled into the room. His wide eyes set on Lily and for a moment, happiness filled him. He looked pleased to see her, surprised but pleased, and for a moment Lily thought that he was going to race over and bundle her into his arms.

Then his eyes turned to Nia and all of that happiness faded away.

"You're um...You're looking well, Lily," he whispered, unable to hide his hurt. "Seems you settled down quickly after you left. Just don't tell me that I've got to meet your high powered consultant husband and play nice."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Iain," Connie sighed.

"Iain. We need to talk," Lily said.

It was the only thing that she could say. Here he was, accusing her of ditching him for someone higher up in the profession. What did he take her for? She wasn't that kind of person and he knew that.

"You can use my office," Connie offered. "I'll take care of Nia for a little while."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked, removing her arms from Nia's waist and allowing her to slide off of her lap. "Thank you, Mrs Beauchamp."

"Come on, darling," Connie said, standing up and holding her hand out to Nia. "We can go and get a drink, alright? The cafeteria here do the best chocolate cake. You might be allowed to have a little slice."

Lily smiled weakly, as Nia skipped out of the office with Connie close behind her. She waited until the door was shut, anxiously rubbed at her arm, and gestured for Iain to take a seat.

It was best to just tell him straight away. She couldn't leave him in the dark for much longer.

"Her name is Nia," Lily whispered softly, as small tears began to prick her eyes. "And...She's actually yours."

"Mine?" Iain narrowed his eyebrows at her and ran his hands down his face.

He didn't speak for a long time. Lily wondered whether she should say something else, or whether she should wait patiently for Iain to process the information. After all, it isn't every day you find out that you're a dad."

"Mine?" He repeated, anger slowly building up inside of him. "It's been seven years, Lily! You didn't think to tell me about this; when you found out that you were pregnant, when Nia was born, when she said her first word?!"

"I couldn't," Lily choked out.

"You could have called me, Lily!" Iain shouted. "You could have picked up the phone and told me right there and then. Seven years? You have had so many opportunities, and you think that it's okay to show up seven years later and act as if everything is okay?"

"I'm sorry, Iain," Lily apologised to him. "It was hard for me. Finding out that I was pregnant was a complete shock, I...I wanted to keep the baby and I am so glad that I did. Nia is the perfect child and I thought about you every single day. There just never seemed to be a good time to return home."

"The research post was six months," Iain felt as if he had to remind her.

"They kept me on," Lily said.

"Even though you had a kid?" Iain scoffed, confused. "So, you wouldn't stay with me but you wanted to have my baby? Where is the logic in that, Lily?"

"I was scared," Lily admitted, fat tears rolling down both sides of her face. "I wasn't sure how you'd react, and even if you wanted to be a father."

"If you had bothered to tell me that you were pregnant, then I would have been there in a heartbeat," Iain said. "How much does Nia know?"

"Not much." Lily gave a weak shrug of the shoulders. "She knows that we're here to see her dad, but that's basically it. I'm really sorry, Iain. I really didn't want it to turn out like this." There was a pause between them. "Nia has the same letters as your name, you know? I...I wanted her to be named after her dad. I...I really did miss you, Iain."

Iain set his hands on his hips and looked down at the floor. He sniffed and held his hands to his face, his mind racing and causing a headache to form.

"I...I just can't do this," he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. "I need some time to think."

Lily tried to stop him. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Iain just fled the office, slamming the door behind him and causing the entire room to shake on his way out.


If there was one thing that Sam hated, it was tidying out the ambulance by herself.

She wasn't quite sure where Iain had disappeared to. He'd just said that Connie needed to talk to him about a situation, but that was well over an hour ago, and he hadn't returned yet. As she turned to exit the back of the ambulance, she saw that a young girl was watching her. She glanced around but saw no adult at present.

"Um...Hello?" She greeted the youngster and jumped down from the ambulance. "You're a bit young to be wandering around by yourself, aren't you? You know, you really shouldn't be out here. It's not the sort of place for children."

"I was being looked after by someone, but I walked off," Nia sighed dramatically and shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted to find mum."

"Okay." Sam nodded awkwardly and folded her arms across her chest. "And where is your mum?"

"She's a doctor here," Nia said. "Well, not yet. I think she said that she starts on Monday, but she used to work here a long, long time ago. She used to tell me stories about it at bed time."

"What's your mum's name, sweetheart?" Sam asked.

"Lily," Nia told her. "It's a pretty name, like the flower."

Sam looked at the seven year old in disbelief and asked, "Lily's back?" She wondered if that was why Iain had to go and see Connie all of a sudden, and eyed Nia up and down carefully. "How old are you?" She asked.

"I just turned seven," Nia was quite happy to tell her. "Mum and I went shopping yesterday so I could spend my birthday money, and Alicia bought me these new shoes. Do you like them?"

She gestured to the pink and sparkly converse that were on her feet and smiled proudly to herself.

"They're very cool," Sam said. "Pink just happens to be my second favourite colour."

"What's your first?" Nia asked.

"Blue," Sam answered, causing Nia to just grin admiringly at her. "Come on. Hop into the ambulance and I'll give you a tour."

"Really?" Nia gasped.

Sam nodded and kindly lifted her up and placed her behind the wheel of the ambulance. Nia looked immediately fascinated at the amount of buttons that the dashboard had and Sam even showed her where the sirens were as well.

"Sam!"

Sam suddenly jumped at the sound of Iain yelling her name, and she just knew that things were going to get interesting. She wasn't even sure if Nia knew that Iain was her dad, or whether she'd just seen him as some random guy who worked at the department. Would Lily have shown her photos of her dad?

"You are not going to believe this!" Iain bellowed, storming into the ambulance station.

"Oh, I think I might," Sam interrupted, hopping down from the ambulance and gesturing to Nia who remained behind the wheel. "I've just met your daughter. She's adorable," she said, her voice quiet so that Nia couldn't hear her.

Iain said nothing, his eyes fixated on the small girl that just so happened to be his child.

"Where's Lily?" Sam asked. "I need to take Nia back. And mate, stop staring!"

"Sorry..." Iain gulped and snapped out of his trance. "She...She's in Connie's office."

"Stay here, yeah?" Sam said, taking a few steps back to go and retrieve Nia from the vehicle. "I'll be back in a second!"

Iain felt as if he was trapped in a constant nightmare. Well, it wasn't exactly a nightmare. He'd always wanted children, but to think that Lily had kept it from him for all those years, to think that he'd missed out on most of his daughter's childhood. It crushed him.

"Lily was fine," Sam sighed, when she arrived back to the ambulance bay empty handed. "She looked as if she'd been crying though, and she looked kind of awkward when she saw me."

Iain didn't say anything.

"You should go and see Nia," Sam advised him. "She's a lovely kid. Very mature and confident for her age."

"Lily clearly didn't think that I was father material," Iain mumbled, leaning back against the ambulance with his arms crossed.

"I don't think that's true, Iain," Sam said. "She was probably just scared. I don't agree with what she has done but this is your chance to be the father that you never had. Don't miss the boat."

So Iain finally knows! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I actually quite liked Sam in the last episode, when she was trying to get Iain and Lily together, so I thought I'd make her nice in this story. Thanks so much for the lovely response so far. More to come x