"We'll be fine you know"

"Will we?"

"Yeah…I lived on the streets like this before we came to your place"

"How could you do this? It's freezing out here"

"Yeah…I know"

Phil sighed heavily as he tightly wrapped an arm around me. It had been a week since we had had to leave. I was sort of used to the whole living on the streets thing but it was so obvious Phil wasn't. He was constantly worried something would happen. It was gradually turning from a decent summer to an cold autumn. Which of course meant much colder weather. We managed to stay warm enough to sleep if we all huddled together. Phil would wrap his arms around me tightly in an attempt to keep myself and Alice warm. We had one blanket that we draped over us all that helped a little bit.

The worst bit about this is I knew the worse bit was yet to come. It would be winter soon and a lot of things could happen then. I just wanted to go back to Phil's flat and continue our little happy family thing we had going on.

We couldn't though.

When we were passing an electrical store the other day they had the news on the TV in the window. I stopped for a moment, biting my lip hard as they showed pictures of Phil's apartment building announcing they had found where we had been living.

Luckily we'd covered our tracks pretty well. Staying low, living in an alleyway. Even swapping the registration plate on the car. Both Phil and I had withdrawn all money we could then moved over another two towns so they couldn't track us.

There were two things which scared me about living like this. The first being that something could happen to us. I mean, we could get caught at any time. I would be in trouble, that I could accept but I didn't want Phil to get into this. He was my second worry, Phil. I wondered how long he could do this. Sticking by us even though we were homeless and running from the law. He's a good guy. A good guy who would never do this sort of thing. I don't know if maybe I just meant a lot to him or…I don't know. It scared me none the less. He was all I had to keep me sane. Without him I don't know what I would do.

The sound of Alice beginning to whine in my arms brought me out of my thoughts. I gently rocked her, closing my eyes as I leaned into Phil's chest. I was completely exhausted. As much as I was worried about Phil, I should have been worried about myself. I hadn't slept properly in days. Sometimes I just looked at Phil and Alice and wondered if giving up was the best way forward. Maybe I could go home and let them have her. They'd probably kill me as soon as I set foot through that door though. As much as I was just sick and tired of everything I didn't want to die. I just wanted…I don't know. I wanted to be with Phil, and Alice and have a lovely little family. Just kid myself on that everything would actually be okay. That my life wasn't falling apart at the seems.

"Hey, Alice. Shhh. Please don't cry" hushed Phil as he gently stroked her cheek. Alice completely ignored him and shrieked loudly. I quickly cuddled her to my chest and stroked the back of her head while humming softly. Her cries softened slightly, becoming small whimpers.

"I think there's something wrong with her Dan…" Phil said quietly as Alice's cries came to a stop completely.

"No. She's a baby. Babies are supposed to cry"

"But-"

"She's fine"

He sighed before nodding and wrapping his arms around me once again. You'd think I would have been feeling bad that we just had a sort of argument. But no. that wasn't what I was worried about at all. I knew there was definitely something wrong with her. Maybe it was only a little cold though. She was crying more than usual but that could have been because of the temperature difference from inside to outside. I just hoped, wished, it was something simple like that.

************************************************** *******************

I was woken two nights later by Alice whimpering and squirming around in my arms. I just kept my eyes closed, used to this by now. Id just hum a little tune and stroke her head or rub her back and she'd go back to sleep. I gently ran a finger across her smooth forehead as I usually would.

That's when I opened my eyes. I looked down to see her little face was bright red. Her forehead was absolutely boiling. That's when the panic set in. there was definitely something wrong with her. She was burning up. Shit. What the hell was I even supposed to do? I nudged Phil, hoping it would wake him up enough to at least ask him for any ideas of what to do.

"Phil" I half whispered as I nudged him again.

He groaned before opening his eyes and blinking a few times. "What is it?" he groaned sleepily, resting his head on my shoulder and closing his eyes again.

"It's Alice…I…I don't know what to do…" I said softly, my voice quivering as I tried to swallow back the sobs that I knew were going to escape. He opened his eyes almost instantly and sat up slightly, casting his gaze over Alice before looking up at me.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I…I don't know"

"Well, how do you know something's wrong then?"

The tears began to drip down my cheeks as I looked into his eyes.

"She has a fever and I…I don't know" I sniffed softly "I'm scared Phil"

Phil nodded and placed a hand on her forehead then shot me a worried look.

"You're right, she does. We need to do something"

"I know…but what?"

"Hospital. We need to take her"

I just stared at him, hoping he'd realize that wasn't an option and suggest something else. When he just looked back at me with that serious expression I realized he didn't have another suggestion.

"But we can't. I mean- we'll get caught"

"What other choice to we have Dan? We can't just do nothing"

"But we-"

"But nothing. We have to take her"

"We can't!" I shouted, earning more whimpers from Alice.

"Dan. We need to" Phil said sternly.

"They'll split us up. We'll get in trouble!"

"This is for her, not us. For gods sake stop being so selfish and think about someone else for once. She could die Dan!"

I didn't have a reply to that one. I didn't know what to do. If I didn't take her she could die. But if I did, I would get in so much trouble. What the hell was I supposed to choose? I took a deep breath before nervously meeting his gaze again.

"Okay…let's go"

He gathered up our bags without saying a word to me and just walked away. I followed behind him, clutching Alice in my arms tightly as we made our way to the car.

Tonight couldn't get any worse than this.