Detective Matthews was waiting anxiously in the hospital corridor waiting for some news. He'd received a phone call not long ago that Rosie North had been rushed back into theatre after complications. The doctors were not sure how these developments could have arisen as she'd been fine and making good progress that morning. Matthews one the other hand was more suspicious and was watching the North parents, who stood huddled on the other side of the corridor, carefully.

"Do you know what happened?" Matthews asked the parents

"No" Mr North replied "She was fine when we left her…"

"…You were here this morning?" The detective cut in

Mr North tensed suddenly "Yes of course, I wanted to see how my daughter was doing"

"I see" the Detective nodded slowly "It's just that you haven't been around for Rosie for a while, the doctors and nurses were getting worried. But the other day, I could have sworn I saw you outside her door…" He let his sentence trail off and he could see he had touched a nerve

However before he had time to probe them further, one of the doctors walked up to the group running a hand through his hair as he removed the surgical head covering

"Rosie's out of surgery now, we've stabilised the bleeding and we're certain no permanent damage was caused"

"Thank goodness doctor" Mr North said with a smile on his face, Matthews studied his carefully and was sure that smile was more emphasised than necessary

"Can we see her?" Mr North asked

"Umm…" the doctor began and shifted his gaze towards the detective "She's asked to speak to Detective Matthews alone"

"I see" Mr North said sitting back down next to his wife who hadn't spoken or moved since Matthews had gotten to the hospital. She sat there with the same stoicism that Matthews was always made suspicious by

The detective followed the doctor down the corridor and as soon as they were out of earshot of the North parents, he turned to the doctor and asked "What went wrong?"

"You mean why did we have to rush her into surgery?" Matthews nodded "Well one of the nurses was doing routinely obs. on Rosie and when she came into the room she found Rosie unconscious and unresponsive. Her stomach wounds were bleeding profusely and the surgical incision had been reopened. We managed to stop the bleeding and luckily not too much damage was done but she lost an awful amount of blood and had to have several transfusions during surgery"

Matthews tried to steady himself as he took in what the doctor was telling him "Do you think someone did this too her?"

The doctor nodded "She couldn't have done this by herself, she was much too weak. There was also some finger tip bruising forming on her arms when we took her in, this time it was fresh"

"I see" the detective nodded making a note in his notepad

"I think she knows who did this to her" the doctor said glancing around like he didn't want anyone to overhear what he had to say "As soon as she started to come round from surgery she started to ask for you. We tried to persuade her to rest first but she was pretty insistent and was getting stressed. I don't need to tell you how dangerous that is in a condition like hers. The only way we could calm her down was to get you down here as soon as possible"

"I'm glad you did" Matthews nodded his thanks at the doctor as they entered a hospital room off the corridor

"She a bit groggy from the anaesthetic but she should be able to talk for a while." The doctor informed him and Matthews sighed as he looked across at the young girl.

She was lying in a bed plugged into to various different monitors; there were wires and tubes coming out of her left, right and centre. He could see the lumpy outline of fresh bandages pressing against the sheet covers. He also noticed there were fresh dressings for her arms and head wound. Rosie was hooked up to various drips, one was full of blood, the other full of morphine. She blearily glanced up at him as he walked over to the bed. She tried to push herself up but was immediately stopped by the doctor

"Rosie, you've just gone through major surgery, you're in no state to sit up" the doctor warned her and helped the young girl lay back down

"I want to tell you the truth" Rosie said sounding very groggy from the medication

"I'm listening" Matthews said sitting down on the chair next to the bed

"I'm sick of playing games" Rosie sighed and he could hear the exhaustion in her voice

"I know…" Matthews sympathised

"I don't want to be their pawn anymore. James died trying to protect me; I'm not going to let them hurt anyone else. They've changed the rules too many times but I'm in control now" Matthews could hear the sheer determination in the young girl's voice

"Who did this to you Rosie?" he asked gently "All I need is a name"

Rosie shook her head "It's not that simple" she wheezed and pressed the oxygen mask to her face "You can't jump in at the middle of a story because it won't make sense. All stories have a beginning and that's where you have to start. You have to start 'once upon a time…."