Is it still okay for me to come over? X

Lily nibbled her lip lightly as she read Iain's text. It was just after 1pm, and Lily had spent the morning giving her flat a good spring clean. Every surface was now gleaming. She hadn't gone back to bed after Iain's middle of the night visit, and being so active for so long had tired her out. However, she was looking forward to seeing him, even though she knew that he would want to talk about what had happened.

The urge to see him outweighed that fear, though, and so she quickly replied to him. Almost straight away, her phone beeped with a reply.

On my way, see you in ten minutes x

Lily grabbed her phone as soon as it started ringing, accepting the call and uttering a greeting as soon as she saw Iain's name flash up on her screen.

"Hi Lily, I'm just coming up to your floor now, I'll be with you in a few seconds."

"Okay, I'll unlock the door," she replied, slowly walking over to the door and hanging up the phone. She reached her hand out to undo the locks, but froze when she heard footsteps.

It's just Iain, don't be ridiculous, she told herself, but the other part of her started wondering, what if it isn't?

She could sense the person on the other side of the door waiting, and although logically she knew that it would be Iain, she realised that she just couldn't take the risk.

Thankfully, the person on the other side of the door decided to break to stalemate.

"Hey, Chuckles, I thought you were opening the door?"

Sighing in relief, Lily quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open, stepping back to let Iain in. She closed the door behind him and refastened the locks.

"Sorry," she said quietly. "I, erm,"

Iain waited as she trailed off, but when he realised that she wasn't intending to finish her sentence, he gestured towards the living room and raised an eyebrow in question. Lily nodded and led the way. She sat down at one end of the sofa, waited for Iain to sit down, and then patted the seat next to her when he made no indication that he was going to choose for himself.

Iain hesitantly sat down next to her on the sofa, turning his body towards her as she tucked her feet underneath her as she curled into the corner of her end of the sofa.

"So," Lily said, swallowing nervously as she broke the silence, "How was the rest of the night shift?"

"Not too bad," Iain replied, smiling at the effort Lily was making to diffuse the tension that had unexplainably arisen since they had sat down. "The call out Jez called me to when I was here was for a woman who had gone into labour at home but was losing blood as well. We managed to stabilise her and get her to the hospital. She had a beautiful baby boy who she named Joseph. Joey for short."

"So, a 'Friends' fan, then?" Lily asked, a slight smile appearing on her face.

"Exactly," Iain said, letting out a laugh. "After that, we had a couple of drunken injuries, but nothing serious."

Lily nodded, aware that a silence was falling over them once again.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" she asked, interrupting Iain when he opened his mouth to ask a question.

Iain smiled softly. "I'm okay, thanks, but you go ahead if you want one."

Shaking her head, Lily shuffled backwards, almost as if she were hoping to be swallowed up by the black cushions surrounding the sofa.

"So, do you want to talk about the nightmare that had you awake at 2am this morning?"

Iain's voice cut through the silence that had fallen once again. He watched as Lily gnawed on her lip – a nervous habit that she had adopted recently – before taking a breath to answer him.

"It was about what happened," she stated, looking up at him through her lashes to see if he would say anything. When he didn't she looked back down and continued. "It was about the worst parts."

"The worst parts?" Iain echoed, a worried look in his eyes. What happened that meant that she could rate how bad separate components of it were?

Tears welled up in Lily's eyes, and he could see that she was struggling to maintain her composure.

"Actually, I will take that cuppa if it's still on offer."

Iain watched Lily visibly relax in front of him as he made the request. She stood up quickly, trying to hide a wince as her hand ghosted over her stomach, and then she quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

"Does he know where you live?"

The question surprised Lily. Of everything that she had prepared herself to be asked, this wasn't something she had considered. She frowned, confused, and Iain nodded before explaining himself.

"It's just because you won't open the door unless you know who's on the other side of it, you have three deadbolts as well as a Yale lock, and you panicked when I suggested getting a takeaway delivered the other day."

"You're very observant," Lily stated. When he didn't reply, she realised that she would have to answer his original question. "I'm not sure. He went through my bag, but nothing was missing. My driving licence was in my purse, but I don't know if he saw it."

"And you feel safe being here on your own?" Iain asked incredulously.

"No," she whispered, "But I feel safer here than if I had to go somewhere else. At least here I can lock all my doors and windows."

"But how do you relax?"

"I don't!" she exclaimed tearfully. "I never relax! I constantly think about him raping me, and holding me down, and covering my mouth so I can't scream, and cutting me so I always have a reminder!"

Iain watched as she dissolved into tears, but couldn't stop himself from reaching out to pull her into his arms.

But Lily quickly pushed him away, got up off the sofa and disappeared into her bedroom.

Swearing under his breath, Iain quickly followed her, resting his forehead against the door that had been closed in his face.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm so sorry Lily. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have reached for you like that, and I shouldn't have pushed you to talk about it when you weren't ready."

Unbeknownst to him, Lily had adopted exactly the same position on the other side of the door.

"I shouldn't have run," she said softly, reaching up a hand to touch the door. She wanted to open the door but, at this moment, she couldn't.

"It isn't your fault," Iain stated. "None of this is your fault. You told me not to touch you, and I did it. I had no right to do that. I'm so sorry. Please tell me how I can make it right?"

Iain stepped back as Lily slowly opened the door. He watched as she looked into his eyes, swallowed nervously and lifted her left hand.

She gently ran her fingers over the back of Iain's clenched fist, waiting as he relaxed, and then withdrew, gesturing back towards the sofa, where they adopted their former positions.

"What would you like to know?" she asked.

A/N: Sorry, I'm ending it there! I'm going on holiday this weekend so I won't be updating for at least two weeks, but I wanted to leave you with something to tide you over! Please leave me lots of reviews to read when I get back to England! See you soon!