Chapter 8

Sam sat down on the couch, feeling a lot better in her dad's arms. He whispered nonsense to her until she fell asleep, he hated seeing her like this, what could have made her loose it this badly. The Glen fiasco was bad enough, it had changed her forever. His little girl had gone and in her place was a cool calculating woman who wouldn't stand for anything. Sometimes he though it was Abi who had suffered the most because of that but most of the time he thought it was Sam. Before that she had been a happy teenager, concentrating on her school-work and hanging out with friends. She had been doing a humanity degree with intentions of helping the United Nations, but after that she had become reserved, and alcoholic. Hendon had saved her, but in some ways it had killed her. He got up and poured himself a glass of scotch then he went to bed. Hopefully he could get some sort of story out of her in the morning, instead of her clamming up like usual.

Phil, Jack, Eva and Mickey were at the hospital waiting for word on Hugh and Phil was explaining what had happened. "I talked to this informant and he said he had seen Hugh hanging around this address so I went to check it out."

"You didn't think to take back up?"

"Well yeah, but I thought that I could have a look round first, see if Hugh was about then call for back up if need be."

"I hate to have to ask you this Phil but did you have anything to do with Hugh's beating?" Mickey asked.

Phil couldn't believe his ears, he knew Mickey hated him but to accuse him of that…"No, I can't believe you would even consider that. Like I said, I found him like that."

"Ok, but we'll need your clothes for forensics anyway"

"God, are you serious?" Phil exploded.

"Phil, come on, if you were in our position it would look slightly dodgy to you wouldn't it?" Jack asked hoping he would understand and cooperate.

"Yeah, ok I admit it looks dodgy, but I didn't do it, you have to believe me."

"Ok, I believe you, but we still need to eliminate you, ok?"

Phil sighed, "Fine" he muttered. He couldn't believe what was happening, over the last few days he had lost almost all he cared about, Sam was dead, Maddie was distant, and now he could possibly lose his job and the way his luck was going he would also loose his freedom.

Sam woke up on the couch, her head was pounding she was covered in sweat and she was gasping for air. Needing to block out the memories of the last day she sat up and headed over to her dad's liquor cabinet. She found his huge, crystal bottle that was always full of scotch. She took after her dad with a love for the bittersweet drink. Pouring herself a glass then turning it round in her hands, she looked at it and slammed it back down onto the counter opting for the entire bottle instead. It was a litre or more in there, with that she could get well and truly hammered, it should do the trick. Taking a big swig Sam braced herself, shaking her head from the sudden brain freeze she smiled. Good old dad, it was double scotch, even better.

Phil sat at his desk, he was typing up a formal report of how he had found Hugh, God it was so tedious, he just wanted to get out there and do something, all this sitting around wasn't helping. He had thought that finding Sam's killer and bringing him to justice would help but it didn't, the only thing that would help was if Sam was here, mocking him for being a slow typer. Maybe he could convince Jack to let him go around on the beat tomorrow, with Steve, he needed some sort of release from this feeling of responsibility. A round on the beat was exactly what the doctor ordered, something not too taxing on the brain but taxing on the body. He was waiting for Steve to bring him some clothes to wear seeing as they'd taken his others for forensics.

Eventually Steve arrived and Phil changed, he decided to go home and get some sleep if he could, he would talk to Jack in the morning.

Sam's dad found her the next morning, passed out on the couch with an empty bottle in her hand, he didn't think even he'd be able to drink that much in one go and stay breathing. He shook her awake "God, why do I feel like I've just died?" Sam moaned, holding her head.

"Maybe because you just drank a litre and a half of double scotch and four bottles of lager" he suggested wryly.

"Ugh, don't talk too loud" Sam moaned and went to stand up. He pushed the bucket he was holding under her face just as she vomited.

"You know me too well" she muttered and vomited again. Helping her to the bathroom, and carrying the bucket wasn't so difficult the fortieth time around. George sat on the bathroom stool, laying her over his lap and holding her hair out of her face as she heaved. When she had finished he forced some painkillers down her throat and dragged her along the corridor to the spare room. She could sleep it off in there.

Phil arrived at work early the next afternoon, Jack had told him not to come in that morning so he had spent some time with Abi and Lynn. The forensics hadn't come back yet so he still wasn't allowed to do anything. Thankfully he managed to convince Jack that it would be worthwhile him going out on patrol. Unfortunately there were no spare uniforms that fit him so Jack told him to go in his civvies. Phil was stuck with Gina as a partner but he didn't mind. They drove around for a while and he found himself wandering in his thoughts. He didn't know why but he had an image of Sam standing on the end of Tanner Wharf as they drove past. A few minutes later they got as call through about a disturbance nearby. Gina turned the car around and headed back to the house. They got out of the car and Phil looked up at it. It was a red brick house set quite far back from the street, it must be old to have that much land, most houses these days were two or three story, taking up as little of the ground as possible. Most didn't have a garden at all but this one had a relatively large garden, with a well-trimmed lawn and large trees, good for climbing. He saw a young girl with blonde hair in the tree, some how he knew it was Sam when she was younger, he seemed to be seeing her everywhere today, and it wasn't helping his mood.

Gina knocked on the door and flinched as she heard a crash from inside.

George waited for Sam to calm herself down, there was no talking to her when she was like this. She took after her mother occasionally, as an angry drunk. She wasn't often violent, most of the time she was giggling hysterically or falling asleep but not this time. She was yelling at him but she though he was her brother Jordan.

"You left me, when I needed you most, took off overseas and I haven't heard from you since. How could you do that to me? I needed you, you were always there before Jordy, what happened? We always used to share things you and me, we were like that." She crossed her fingers to emphasise her point.

"I know and I'm sorry, I don't know why I did it" George apologised.

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Sam screamed and threw the ashtray towards him. Her aim normally wasn't very good but she was a good shot when she was drunk so it narrowly missed his head. He heard a knock on the door, "Police!" someone shouted. He sighed, that morning the newsreader had been saying something about Hugh Wallace, George had heard Sam muttering about him in her sleep so he had turned it up. George wasn't usually in the country and he was quite often uncontactable so he hadn't heard what was going on in England until then. "-Hugh Wallace, the man who allegedly abducted and murdered Police officer Samantha Nixon was apprehend last night…" the news read continued with details about Sam, her life and her –death. He had talked to Sam later that morning telling her she should let the police know she's alright. She had insisted on having the physical examination done first then they had gone back home so Sam could rest up a bit, he knew that she wasn't in a sate to be talking to anyone. They were going to go down to the station later today but now the police were here they would want to talk to her, he could only hope they weren't from eh station that Sam worked at.

"Sam, calm down" he said, raising his voice slightly. She took a deep breath to start arguing again but let out, deciding that vomiting was more important. When she had gotten back she had proceeded to drink a bottle of tequila three more lagers and six beers. She rushed to the bathroom while George went to answer the door.

"Hello officers, can I help you?" he asked hoping they wouldn't ask to come in.

"The neighbours reported a disturbance, we came to see if everything's alright, may we come in?" Gina asked.

George sighed, "I'd rather you didn't" he answered.

"Why is that?" Gina asked raising her eyebrows.

"It's my daughter, she's drunk. It's quite embarrassing" he answered truthfully. "What station did you say you were from?"

"Sunhill, I'm Inspector Gold and this is DS Hunter" Gina answered.

George thought for a moment, what station was Sam working in at the moment? He didn't think it was Sunhill so he decided to let them in.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" He asked politely.

"Thanks, so where's you daughter now?"

"In the bathroom, I'd better go check on her actually" George answered. The two officers followed him down to the bathroom. Sam was flopped unconscious over the side of he bath, George calmly lifter her head out of the puddle of vomit and checked she was breathing. She was which was good, he tuned the tap and made sure the water wasn't too cold. With one hand on her forehead to support her and the other on the back of her head so she didn't bump her head painfully on the tap if she woke up he guided her head under the tap, washing some of the vomit our of her hair. Gina wrinkled her nose in disgust, how could he be so calm about doing that? Phil was watching with interest. He would know that blonde head anywhere but it was impossible. He moved around Gina into the room and over to the tap. He took over holding Sam's head out of the bath and with his other hand he rinsed the vomit out of her hair. It appeared she was in a deep sleep because she didn't wake up. He glanced under her hair to check it was her, but he didn't really need to, he knew it just by her hair and the touch of her skin on his hand.

Gina watched surprised as Phil gently rinsed the vomit from this woman's hair. She had never seen this side of him before and she couldn't imagine why it would come out now.

George regarded Phil curiously, did he know Sam? One look at him told him he did, he was in love with her that much was obvious. In a moment of clarity it came to George that this man was the only one who could sympathise with how he was feeling. He looked into his eyes and told him silently Don't let your boss know it's Sam. Phil agreed without question, after all he had to have a reason, he wouldn't want to harm her. He was her father. George, seeing that Phil had it under control, extracted himself from under Sam's body and showed Gina through to the dining room.

Phil continued to wash the vomit out of Sam's hair. It hurt to see her like this, knowing that somehow it was his fault. He should have protected her. He felt her move under his hand and he drew her head our from under the tap.

"Come on, hold onto the side" he told her. She did so and he grabbed a towel and began drying her hair.

Sam felt numb, she couldn't remember how she'd got here, her head was pounding and she was aware of only one other thing. Phil was in the room with her, what was he doing here? She wondered. She flinched a little as she felt his hand on her neck, how could he bear to touch her after what that monster had done? Deep deep down Sam knew this wasn't her fault, but admitting that would mean admitting that she didn't have total control and to Sam, that was the worse thing that could possibly happen. Phil helped Sam to sit on the chair, she pointed groggily to the medicine cabinet which was mounted on the wall. He opened it and found the painkillers, popping two from their bubbles he handed them to her with a glass of water. Sam took them gratefully and swallowed them. He waited a moment, then took the glass from her. When he turned around Sam was holding out her hand, he took it and pulled her to her feet. Sam flinched but didn't move away, she just slung her arm over his shoulders and stumbled out the room. She didn't know whether it was the alcohol or something deeper, but no matter how much she dreaded being touched she could handle it from Phil, while she was drunk anyway. Phil assumed she knew where she was going so he let her lead, just supporting her as she went. Sam stumbled down the corridor to the spare room and flopped down on the bed. Phil pulled the covers out from under her and tucked her in. "Phil" she whispered, he jumped hearing hear her say his name.

"Yeah?" he asked gently.

"What are you doing here?"

"Gina and I were called to a disturbance here"

"Gina's here?"

"Yeah, she'd in the other room talking to your dad"

"Can you…stop Gina from leaving, give me ten minutes then I want to talk to her" Sam murmured.

"Sure" Phil agreed and left the room as she rolled over onto her side. He closed the door and walked down the hall in search of Gina. He found her sipping a cup of coffee looking at some bottles impressed. "What are they?" he asked.

"That's how much she drank" Gina said indicating a large crystal bottle which smelt like scotch, no, double scotch, a tequila bottle, seven larger bottles and six beer bottles. Phil whistled impressed, "I don't reckon even I could drink that much" he commented.

"That's coz you're a lightweight" Gina muttered, "But I do admit that even I couldn't drink that much."

"You could if you put your mind to it" George remarked grimly. "Believe me, that's not the worst of it, she used to drink a lot more."

"Oh, well did she regain consciousness Phil?" Gina asked.

"Yeah, for a minute or two, I gave her a couple of painkillers and she should be ready to talk in a few minutes" he answered.

George looked at him warningly, "No, I don't think that's necessary, you two'd better be going, look at the time."

Phil shook his head, "No, she specifically asked to speak to Gina" he told George.

George sighed, "Ok, just give her a few more minutes."

Phil nodded.

"Is there something you know that I don't? Do you know that woman?" Gina asked confused.

"Yeah, I do" Phil answered vaguely. To avoid answering anymore awkward questions he left the room, instead going to check on Sam. She was lying on the bed looking so peaceful.

Sam sensed Phil watching her and opened her eyes a crack, her heart started beating faster but with it came a great sense of disappointment. She knew Phil wouldn't want to even look at her once he knew what Hugh had done to her.

"Phil" she murmured sitting up then flopping back down when her head started to pound.

"What?" he asked her gently.

Sam smiled up at him, her skin crawled at the thought of touching him but it crawled worse at the thought of not. She knew this was Hugh's doing. Taking a deep breath Sam tried to allow herself to admit that it wasn't her fault, that she had no control over the situation but she couldn't.

"Is Gina still here?" she asked.

"Yeah" Phil answered sitting on a chair and the foot of her bed.

"Does she know it's me in here?"

"No, not yet, do you want me to tell her?"

"Umm, yeah, please" Sam muttered and closed her eyes again.