milali: Ahh, thank you! I'm so glad that you enjoyed them. Hopefully Lily will realise it soon, as she needs to before things get worse. I'm glad that you like the story so far. Thank you for reviewing.
Guest: I try to add as many of the characters thoughts as I possibly can. That's a very good idea, I'll try and add those in. Thank you for reviewing.
ReadingxTherapy: He is a horrible man, but I thoroughly enjoy writing about him. Is that weird? I'm sure you'll enjoy this chapter and you will soon find out why. Thank you for reviewing.
Chapter Four
Lily left Henry to sleep the next morning.
She'd woken up early so that she could have a quick shower, and she made sure to cover her face in as much foundation as possible to hide the bruise that Henry had caused. She couldn't have anyone in the ED finding out that he'd hit her, even if it had just been a one-time thing.
Li Na had already left the house so that she could open up the restaurant for breakfast, but Lily was certain that Henry would have no problem with waking up alone. He'd probably just watch an episode of Law and Order, or take himself down to the pub to watch the Football. Lily wasn't worried.
In fact, strolling into town by herself felt quite nice. The sun was out and because everyone was at school and work, it was quiet. She popped into the local café first and picked up a brownie and a cup of tea for a quick breakfast. She had a new book tucked into the top of her handbag, so she sat at a small table by the window and made a start on that.
It was a murder mystery and it gripped her straight away. She liked a good crime, something dark that got you on the edge of your seat. She read the first three chapters, before deciding to leave and make a start on shopping for her mum's party. She checked her phone as she exited the café, but there were no messages from Henry. It was 11:30am. He was either enjoying a really, really long sleep in, or he was just enjoying his time alone a bit too much.
She went into the jewellery shop first to look at a silver locket that she knew her mum had been eyeing up. It was the sort of thing that her father would have bought for her if he were still alive, so she knew that she had to do something. There it was. In the window of the shop, the sunlight bouncing off of the shiny, silver. There was just one problem. It was two hundred pounds. Of course it was though. It was real silver.
"Shit," Lily cursed under her breath, disappointment hitting her straight away.
She turned to walk through the open door of the shop, hands in the pockets of her long, brown coat, and someone was in her face straight away.
"Can I help you at all?" She asked, her voice chirpy and high-pitched.
Her name badge said Audrey.
"I was just browsing," Lily spoke slowly and gestured to the window. "I'm interested in the silver locket that's in the window."
"Let me just get that for you!" She offered and hurried over to the window, before one of her colleagues could get there first.
Lily breathed out heavily and hovered nearby, whilst Audrey collected the locket for her.
"Is this the one?" She asked, carrying it over gently.
Lily looked at it for a few seconds, and carefully took it in her fingers. It was beautiful and she knew how much her mum loved it. She'd even had the idea of putting a photo of her dad inside.
"That's the one, yes," Lily said.
"It's two hundred," Audrey informed her. "But with a twelve month warranty on it."
It was a lot of money.
"Did you want to think about it?" She asked.
"No," Lily whispered, shaking her head. "It's fine. I'll take it, thank you."
"Would you like that gift wrapped for five pounds more?" She then asked.
Lily rolled her eyes and just sighed, "Go on then."
At least she didn't have to worry about wrapping. When she was finished at the jewellery shop, she went to the local supermarket to get the food. They also did cards, so she hoped to get a nice sixtieth birthday card there as well. She assumed that Henry wouldn't have got anything separately, so she made a mental note to write his name on the card as well. He often didn't think of things.
It didn't take Lily long to finish her shop and once she was done, she shoved everything in the boot of the car and headed off in the direction of the ED.
Luckily, Iain was alone.
After finding out that he and Sam were happily dating, she didn't overly feel like talking to her. It was still a complete shock and selfishly, she hoped that it wouldn't last for long. She was more annoyed at the fact that Iain had promised her that his feelings for Sam were long gone.
Clearly, they weren't.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Iain questioned, jumping down from the ambulance.
"I had to pop into town to pick up some bits for Mum's birthday," Lily told him. "So I thought that I would come and see everyone again."
"People would have thought that you'd missed this place," Iain said.
"I have," Lily admitted. "It might seem weird, but I really enjoyed working here, and I – I may have missed you."
"Well, that isn't surprising," Iain chuckled and took a few steps towards Lily. "I am a missable person."
"Missable?" Lily raised her eyebrows. "That isn't even a word."
"It is now." He shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, you know me. I have a habit of making up words."
"Or just being grammatically incorrect and trying to cover yourself so you don't look stupid," Lily joked.
"You know me too well," Iain said, but his smile quickly turned to a frown.
He took another step towards Lily and brushed some hair out of her face. She'd covered it well, but he wasn't blind and he wasn't stupid.
"What happened?" He whispered softly.
"It doesn't matter," Lily whispered back. "Just leave it, please."
"I can't leave it, Lily," Iain hissed. "Your face is marked. What happened?"
"I – I walked into a door, okay?" Lily lied quickly.
It was the worse lie in the world though.
"Are you kidding?" Iain scoffed. "I'm a paramedic, Lily. That is the number one excuse that people usually use when they are trying to hide something. Now, I'm going to ask you again. What happened?"
"Why can't you just leave it?" Lily snapped through gritted teeth. "It isn't a big deal."
"It is actually," Iain said. "Because I care about you and I don't want you getting hurt. He did this, didn't he?"
Lily stayed silent and chewed anxiously on her lower lip.
"Did Henry hit you?" He asked quietly.
When she didn't answer again, he guessed that he was probably right.
"Lily," he choked out, small tears forming in his eyes. "You are marrying a man who doesn't appreciate how wonderful you are, how special you are."
"It's not his fault, okay?" Lily finally spoke. "We argued and I made him angry. He's never hit me before, Iain. I'm positive that it won't happen again."
"That doesn't give him an excuse to hit you though," Iain said. "It's abuse and it can't carry on."
"It's not abuse," Lily said. "You've lashed out before, haven't you?"
"But I don't hit people," Iain muttered. "It looks sore. Can I take a look?"
"You've had your look already," Lily said, moving her hair again so that it was covering her bruised cheek.
"A proper look," Iain elaborated. "Please."
Lily hesitated, before faintly nodding at him. She stuffed her hands back into her coat pockets and allowed him to run his fingers along her sore cheek. His touch made her flinch, but she stayed rooted to the spot.
"Just put some ice on it," he said. "It should heal in a few days."
"I know," Lily answered back. "I'm a doctor, aren't I?"
"You're just as argumentative as you were when you left," Iain laughed, and there was a pause before he continued. "Just as beautiful too."
"Stop it," Lily whispered, shaking her head at him.
"What?" He asked.
"It's inappropriate," she said. "I'm engaged, and you're with Sam."
She couldn't deny the fact that it was nice to hear Iain call her beautiful. Henry hardly ever complimented her, so it was nice to hear it for a change. When she was with Iain, he'd call her beautiful every single morning and she loved it. She missed it.
"I have to go," she said, realising that she was allowing things to go too far.
"Lily." He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her back.
She stumbled and fell against him, as he quickly pressed his lips against hers. He wrapped his arms around her waist, brushed her hair away from her face, and ran his tongue along the inside of her mouth. For a moment, Lily kissed back. Then after some realisation, she fought against him and pulled herself away.
"What are you doing, Iain?" She accused. "You – You can't just kiss me like that! We're in a relationship! Not with each other, but – Other people and – God! You know what I mean?"
"I'm sorry," he said quickly and held his hands to his face.
Clearing his throat to speak, he looked up and saw that his little sister was standing in the entrance of the ambulance bay. He wondered how long she'd been stood there for, and prayed that she hadn't witnessed the kiss between them. Lily obviously saw that he was staring at something, and turned to have a look.
"Gem."
"Hey stranger," she said, leaning against the wall at an angle. "A little birdie told me that you were back, and I see that you've stumbled into the arms of my brother again."
Lily gulped, unsure of what to say.
"How long have you been stood there for?" She asked nervously.
"I've only just arrived," she said, walking into the station. "It's good to see you again. You do know that my brother has now moved on though, right? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news and all."
"Well, I have as well actually," Lily mentioned.
"Really?" Gem frowned.
Lily nodded and pulled her hand out of her pocket to reveal the huge rock on her finger.
"Well, I never," Gem laughed. "Now there's a shock."
"Yes. You missed drinks last night," Lily said.
"I had a day off yesterday, and Iain didn't bother to text me," Gem said. "Knew nothing about it. I work here as a porter now."
"That's wonderful, Gemma," Lily said. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I love it," Gem said. "Trust me, I don't want to go back inside again. I'm a new person now, right Iain?"
"Right," Iain laughed, chewing on his nails anxiously.
"Well, my break is almost over," Gem said, glancing at her watch. "I just wanted to come and say hi."
"Thank you," Lily said. "We will catch up properly sometime, okay? You can meet Henry."
Gem looked confused.
"My fiancé, sorry," Lily said, realising that Gem didn't actually know his name.
"Oh. Cool," Gem said. "Yeah. See you later. Bye bro."
Iain nodded and gave a tiny wave, as Gem turned to exit the ambulance station. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Gem luckily hadn't seen the kiss, and shook his head at Lily.
"That was close," he said. "You better go, before someone else comes back. Or worse, before Sam comes back."
"What?" Lily hissed. "Are we just going to pretend that that didn't happen?"
Iain shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sounds good to me."
"Iain, we can't," Lily whined. "You just kissed me!"
"Keep your voice down, will you?" He hissed and sighed heavily. "Okay, fine. I need to get back to work though, and Sam will be back any minute."
He walked towards her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Lily tensed up, scared but also hopeful that he was going to kiss her again.
"Meet me back here after my shift," he said. "I finish at six."
The moment has finally arrived! I hope it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think.
