No mean cliff hangers this time :0) Most of you will have guessed who the woman was. I wanted to follow up on what was going on in her marriage and also to show she isn't as bad as many of us thought. So, for the Rebecca fans out there... P.S. Thank you for continuing to read and review. P.S.S. Chilimt, here's the start of your adult conversations/story although I have still included bits with the children.
"Hello Rebecca," she said, putting her arms gently around her. "Come on, let's get you settled in. Are you hungry?" Rebecca shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes at the kindness, "I think I'd just like to sleep if that's okay." "Of course it is. Elvis, come and take Rebecca's bag upstairs, Charles you can help her up the stairs please and I'll get you a hot drink and come up to give you a hand." Handing Rebecca back to Charles she gave a stunned looking Elvis the eye, before heading off into the kitchen. Warm milk would probably be the best thing to help her sleep but not everybody liked that so she added chocolate to it and climbed the stairs to the second floor, meeting the men on their way down. "Sandwiches in the kitchen and wine in the snug if you're interested." With a grateful nod and a quick kiss on the cheek Charles let her past.
Knocking and waiting for permission before entering, Molly placed the hot chocolate on the bedside table and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Rebecca. Taking her gently into her arms she held her while she cried, murmuring soothing words as if dealing with one of the children. She wasn't here to ask questions, she was here to help. "You're safe now Rebecca, Charles won't let anyone hurt you like that again. Come on, let's get you in to bed and you can rest. Sam will be so happy to see you tomorrow." As she helped her undress, Molly saw the scars and bruises, some old some new, and felt the rage against that bloody bastard rise again but schooled her features to show no sign of her shock and anger to Rebecca. Easing her into bed under the sheet she held her hand. "If you need anything at all through the night, me and Charles are just downstairs and Elvis is just next door. Okay? Goodnight Rebecca."
Charles and Elvis were waiting for her in the snug, the plate of sandwiches half eaten between them and an additional wine glass on the table. "Is she okay?" asked Charles. "She hasn't said much at all on the journey down." "I'm not surprised, she must be in shock. She's covered in bruises and some of the scars look like burns. She looks like she's been fucking tortured." Elvis, having seen the plight of Rebecca for himself, looked between his two friends, "What the fuck happened? Domestic abuse? Has the shit been beating her? I thought they were in America."
It was Charles who took the task of replying. "They were until three months ago. That's when all contact with Sam stopped. Remember?" Elvis nodded and he continued. "They've been living in Scotland, in some kind of complex out in the wilds. Seems there were a few families there. Anyway, the place was raided and they found Rebecca chained up in one of the rooms, almost comatose with some kind of drug. There was no sign of Simon or the other men so they took the women in for questioning and took Rebecca to hospital. They had no idea of her identity until an ex colleague of George spotted the bulletin. He contacted George who phoned us to see if we could arrange somewhere for her to stay until he can get here. Molly suggested she come here and spend some time with Sam. None of us knew how damaged she was."
"Look, I've got a few weeks leave so I'll hang about for a bit too if that will help. I know I'm not her favourite person but at the moment I don't suppose beggars can be choosers and I can always take the kids out to give Molly a break." He gave Molly a conspiratorial wink, remembering the events of earlier. "Thanks Elvis that'd be a great help. Why don't you go on up Molly, you look done in. I'll just finish my supper and be right up." Realising that he wanted to talk privately to Elvis she agreed and went to bed, determined to find out what they were talking about later. She had ways of getting Charles talking. Deciding to check on Rebecca before getting in to bed she quietly opened the door so as not to disturb her if she was sleeping. She could see from the slit of light that the bed was empty. Glancing around in the gloom she spotted Rebecca curled in a tight ball, arms protectively round her head and knees, squeezed into the small space between the dresser and chair. She spoke quietly as she crossed the room, leaving the light off in the hope of not frightening the older woman too much. "Rebecca, it's Molly. I'm just going to help you up okay. Up onto the chair okay." As she crouched down in front of Rebecca her heart went out to this woman that she had once thought of as a rival. "Okay, I'm going to put my hands around you. It's only me, there's no one else here. You're safe. That's it. Do you think you can put your arms around my neck to help me lift you? Perfect. Right, one, two, three… heave. Bloody hell Rebecca you're nearly as heavy as Manny." She tried to break the tension with humour as she eased her onto the chair. A slight noise behind her and a flinch from Rebecca made her look over her shoulder. "It's only Manny, probably heard me say his name. Honestly that dog has got the hearing of a bat."
Manny pushed his way past Molly, knocking her onto her backside and after giving Rebecca a good sniffing settled down at her side, his big head in her lap. "Do you want to try for the bed next?" Molly asked from her position on the floor. "I'm not allowed on the bed" It was spoken so quietly, Molly wasn't sure she'd heard right. Only when Rebecca repeated it did she begin to understand. She'd seen the marks on Rebecca's wrists earlier but hadn't really acknowledged them, being too overwhelmed with the bruising and scars as a whole. The only part of Rebecca left unmarked was her face which was currently looking worn and haggard from all that she'd been through. "It's okay, sweetie, you're allowed on the beds in this house. You're home now. You're safe. He can't hurt you here." She saw Rebecca flinch when 'he' was mentioned. What the fuck had he done to her to change that beautiful, self-assured, even sometimes arrogant, woman into this. He had completely broken her spirit. "Well fuck you Simon; we're going to help her get that woman back!" Molly thought to herself.
She managed to persuade Rebecca back into bed, pulling the covers over her, sitting on the side and stroking her hair like she did with the children after a bad dream. She didn't sing. Nobody deserved that level of punishment. She was surprised to see Manny jump up on to the bed and settle himself in next to Rebecca, her hand coming from under the covers to clutch his fur. Smiling Molly stood and headed to the door. "I'll leave you with your body guard then. Goodnight Rebecca. I'll leave the door open a bit for you, shall I" Backing out and pulling the door almost closed she walked slowly down to her own room. As expected, Charles was still downstairs talking to Elvis. Feeling suddenly very tired, Molly undressed and climbed into her own bed, I'll be asleep before the springs hit the floor she thought to herself.
Downstairs in the snug, Charles had retrieved a couple of beers from the utility room for them and they were in deep discussion of strategy. Rebecca wasn't just the victim of domestic abuse, there was more to it. When he'd got to the hospital, there was an armed police officer outside her door and a female officer in the room with her. He'd asked to speak to the person in charge and was put through to the head of the MIT. They told him they had been watching the group for some time. Simon and one of the other men were known to have links with Daesh and had been seen with other suspected terrorists on several occasions. Simon had been on MI5s radar for a while but had disappeared three years ago. "They picked him up again eighteen months ago. He'd changed his name when he married Rebecca and had been working underground raising funds for a cell based in the north. They think he got word that they were watching him again and skipped over to the US only coming back when he thought it was safe. Rebecca was being watched too but they were 99% certain she wasn't aware what or who her husband was." "Shit Charles, thank Christ you got Sam out of there." "I'm thinking Rebecca gave him to me deliberately to save him. It looks like he's been abusing her for a while. I just don't understand why she didn't ask for help." It pained him to think she'd been going through that and didn't feel she could ask for his help. "What has Rebecca said about it all?" Elvis didn't like what he was hearing. He was worried that her being here might put the James family at risk, especially as Charlie was military.
"That's just it, she hasn't really spoken. The doctor that assessed her in Glasgow says she's suffering a kind of PTSD and whoever had been holding her in Scotland has kept her quite heavily sedated." "How long did the authorities have her before George phoned you?" "She'd been there sixteen days being questioned so no wonder she didn't feel like talking to me. The other three women have been moved to a detention centre apparently. This is big Elvis. They wouldn't give me any details only to say they'd posed a significant threat. As far as they are aware Simon is still in the country but they have no idea where. Which is where you come in. I don't know if any attempt to get Rebecca back or hurt her will be made but I need someone watching her, Molly and the kids 24/7." "I can certainly help with that but you know what Molly will say if she thinks you've got someone guarding her. Perhaps it would be best not to tell her. I could get one of the lads to do undercover surveillance." " On your own head mate. Much as I want my wife kept safe by any means, I am not keeping secrets from her. Too bloody risky. She'd cut my balls off. It wouldn't be a bad idea to set up a meeting with some of your lot though. I could get in touch with a couple of the lads from two section, set up our own protection team, maybe more. Good idea that Elvis." He said, patting Elvis on the back. "Now I don't know about you mate but I'm knackered and my lovely wife is waiting for me upstairs. So good night." Rising he was half way out of the door when he turned back "Don't say anything about the lads coming until I've had chance to work out how to tell Molly okay? Great. Turn the lights out before you go up." And turning on his heel he went quickly up the stairs looking forward to cuddling, and maybe more, with Molly. Unfortunately Lady Luck had deserted him. Molly lay fast asleep, curled up on her side of the bed.
Elvis was equally unlucky. His bed also contained a warm curled up female only this time it was of the feline variety and she showed her pleasure at his presence by giving him a massage with all four sets of claws uncurled. "Stop using me as a bloody scratching post, cat or you can find some other buggers bed to sleep in"
