AN: Short one. Enjoy!

Please keep reading and reviewing! Always good to hear from you.

Hey, you little prick!" Declan shouted as he arrived at his father's flat, feeling hatred for his little brother. "Where are ye?"

Cheryl, who was sitting on the sofa in the living area, looked shocked at his words. "Don't talk to your brother like that!" she cried, "he's had a traumatic experience! He needs our support!"

"Yeah right, and I'm Cheryl Cole!" he replied with maximum scorn, "get down here you little prat!"

There was the sound of hurried footsteps from upstairs, and Declan sprinted up there in time to see Padraig running for the bathroom, the only room with a lock. Dec caught up in time to stop the door closing by shoving a foot in the way, which hurt like hell and made him even angrier. "Open the door!" he shouted.

"No!" shouted Paddy back, leaning all his weight against the door, trying to get it closed.

"Open it!"

"No!" Paddy repeated, "get lost!"

"What on Earth are you doing Declan?" Cheryl had caught them up, and was trying to look strict.

"Tell her it was a lie!" Declan shouted at Paddy.

"No!"

"Tell her!"

"No!"

"He wouldn't lie about something as important as this, Declan!" Cheryl interrupted.

"They weren't even alone though, Cheryl! Lucas was with them. Ste never touched him!"

"Declan, how can you accuse…?"

"How can I? He's accused an innocent man of kiddy fiddling because of a bit of name calling!" Declan turned back to the door, "Did Granddad put you up to it?"

There was no response.

Cheryl glared at the door. "Padraig, tell Declan you've told the truth!"

There was a sob from the bathroom.

"Padraig, tell Cheryl the truth!" shouted Declan.

"Leave me alone" sobbed Paddy through the door.

"Padraig?" questioned Cheryl, doubt appearing on her face.

"Leave me alone!" Padraig repeated through his sobs.

"Did Granddad tell you to do it Padraig?" Declan asked again, more kindly this time.

More sobs were all he heard.

"Cheryl," he said softly, "please tell me you haven't told anyone else."

Cheryl shook her head. "I was waiting for Brendan, but… but it wasn't a lie, was it Paddy?"

Both had softened their voices at the sound of the sobs.

"It was, Cheryl. Granddad hates Ste, so he told Paddy what to say."

Cheryl had gone pale. "That's not right, is it Paddy? You wouldn't lie about … about something like that!"

The sobs were getting more frequent, but Paddy still wasn't letting them into the bathroom. They'd reached a kind of stalemate until he admitted the truth or tried to lie again. Declan kept his foot in the door, trying to think how he could prove Paddy a liar.

"Go check his phone," he said. Paddy didn't respond, so he probably had his phone in his pocket. "I'll go and check his bag," he said, and taking the risk, moved his foot from the door.

"No!" shouted Padraig, and Dec felt a small sense of triumph, and sprinted to their bedroom. He heard the bathroom door slam open, and expected Padraig to follow him, trying to stop him. He didn't realise he was only being followed by Cheryl until he'd tipped the entire contents of Padraig's bag all over the floor.

"Where did he go?" he asked, just before the front door slammed shut below them.

To Ste, the world seemed a detached, distant place, like it was part of a dream, barely penetrating the turmoil that reigned inside of him. It was quite a walk to the Bed and Breakfast, but he knew the way. He'd checked the paper a hundred times before he was even halfway there. It had stood out like a sore thumb to him, on the fridge, dumped so rudely over Leah and Lucas's wonderful drawings. It was a flyer, complete with address, telephone number and map, for a B & B near Chester. Ste knew who had put it there.

The worst thing was how defeated he felt. There was nothing he could do to fight. But Brady must have put the leaflet there for a reason. Maybe there was still hope.

He had no doubts that Brady was behind it all. It couldn't be anything else; the threats last night, and Paddy's lies. They all pointed him in the same way.

He'd been so sure he'd made progress with Paddy. If he hadn't been so scared, he might have been hurt that the kid could hate him so much.

The B&B looked so normal; a big house with a sign outside. He wondered if they'd let him in, but it only took a moment's thought to know that they would. The leaflet had been left for a reason.

He rang the doorbell, but realised the door was unlocked so pushed it open. A plump woman was cleaning a hallway inside, and looked up as he came in.

"You've got a guest called Brady?" he asked her.

She looked at him coldly, "I can't give out the names of our guests," she scowled.

"He's expecting me. Tell him it's Ste."

The woman scowled, and snarled "Wait here," then stomped moodily up the stairs. Ste took deep breaths to steady himself, and studied the twee and faded landscape picture on the walls. The woman wasn't long. She stamped back down the stairs less than a minute later. "First floor, second door on the right," she grumbled, clearly disappointed that she didn't get to throw him out, and started cleaning again.

Ste followed her directions until he stood in front of the closed white door. He stared at it for a moment, before walking in.

AN: Not long, will try to update quickish though.