hey guys. thank you so much for your reviews. they have inspired me and so has rewatching the film like a gazillion times. hopefully updates should be more regular and i really want to finish this story! a couple of you asked to know what happened to Baby Frances and i will tell you but that comes in at the end, you'll just have to bear with me. please please review!

Chapter 10

All through the morning my thoughts were revolving around the events of yesterday. So much had happened. What could I do about any of it. Penny had worked it out. She knew exactly what had happened and if I was being honest so did I. I don't know why but I couldn't cope with the idea of me and Baby having a little, or not so little, girl. After lunch I was getting ready for a lesson when Johnny ran in to the room.

'John you've got to help me. It's Baby.'

'What about Baby?'

'She's missing.'

'Missing? She's probably in her cabin.'

'She isn't. She never went back to her cabin last night. And she hasn't turned up today either. Mrs. Houseman has been looking everywhere for her and is really worried that Baby might be hurt.'

He seemed unnecessarily worried about a girl he hardly knew. But I knew that we couldn't just leave her out there. Most likely she'd taken a wrong turn and gotten lost.

'Let's give her a couple more hours and if she hasn't turned up by dinnertime then we can go looking for her.'

'I'm gonna go look for her now.'

And with that he ran out the door. After my lesson I had the rest of the day free. I decided the first thing to do was visit Marge Houseman. I went up to the cabin and found her sitting in the rocking chair by the door. She looked up eagerly as she heard me approach but only looked disappointed when she saw who it was. She was expecting Baby.

'Has Baby turned up yet?'

'How do you know…'

'Johnny told me.'

'Oh. Yes. Johnny. I don't know where she could be. She's never been one for disappearing or running away. I just want her to come home. Well not home but back. Where is she? Can you help look for her? Please?'

Marge was desperate and obviously out of her mind with worry. I had to help them out. So I grabbed a quick meal and went to all the places around the staff cabins and the dance studio. It was late afternoon when I met Johnny down by the lake.

'Do you think she might have gone down to the other end of the lake?'

'Why would she do that?'

'I dunno. But where else have we got to go?'

I couldn't think of anything else. By the time we made it to the far end of the lake it would be getting dark and we'd need torches. So I went up to reception to grab a few, weirdly enough nobody questioned this, and made my way back down to the lake. Johnny was keen to get off so he went ahead.

After about 45 minutes we made our way to the far end of the lake. I decided that if she was around here she would have gone into the trees for shelter and to make sure that nobody could see her. There was no way of knowing how far in she would have gone. We split up and agreed to meet up again in half an hour. Johnny ran straight ahead and I went to the left where the path continued up to the rocks that looked down over the lake.

As I made my way along I could hear Johnny shouting out for Baby. After about twenty minutes he stopped. Either that or he got too far away for me to hear him. Ten minutes later and I'd still found no trace of anyone there. I remembered that we had agreed to meet up back down at the lake. I ran back down the path and made it there in fifteen minutes. There was no one there. He'd probably started making his was back. I walked back down the path and had just reached the usual side of the lake back where the cabins were when I heard someone shouting my name. it must be Johnny. Who else was down there. It was to dark for me to see him so I slowly started to make my way back down the path I had just been coming along and after about ten minutes I met him. He was holding Baby in his arms. Why was he holding her?

'She's unconscious.' he answered my unspoken question.

'She probably hasn't had anything the eat or drink all day.' that made sense unless she'd known she was gonna disappear and had gotten supplies.

'Come on, lets get her back to my cabin, we can get her sorted out there.'

Johnny was probably tired after carrying her all that way so I reached out and took her out of his arms. She was so tiny. She had a dancers body, slim but strong. Having her in my arms didn't slow me down much and we were back in my cabin in fifteen minutes. A quick look at my clock told me that it was eight thirty. If he hurried Johnny could make it to the main house and grab us all some dinner before it closed down for the night. He seemed reluctant to go but hurried off to get the food.

I laid Baby out on the bed. She still hadn't regained consciousness. Unfortunately I had no way of knowing how long she'd been like this and no knowledge of what to do even if I did know the timings. I grabbed a clean cup and filled it with water. I held her up and tipped the contents of it slowly into her mouth. She drunk it as if she'd just spent a week in the desert. She blinked slowly and looked around her.

'Where am I?' Her voice was coarse and exhausted.

'Don't worry your safe now.' I reassured her. She looked up at me. Her soft hazel eyes looked so innocent and sad. I realised I still had my arm around her. I didn't want to risk her falling back if I released her so I merely repositioned her so she was more comfortable.

'What happened?'

'We don't know. You disappeared, and then Johnny found you.'

'Johnny? He was here?'

'Yes. He went to find us some food. Do you have any idea how worried everyone was about you. Your poor grandmother was out of her mind with worry.'

'Nana?' Baby looked extremely guilty. 'Is she alright? I never meant to worry her. I was angry so I went to be by myself, but then I got lost and I couldn't find my way back.'

'Calm down. She'll be fine. As soon as you've eaten you can go back, and you will apologise to her for causing her all this worry. You got that?'

'Yes dad.' and with that she let out a yawn and fell asleep again, leaning on my chest. She just called me dad. I don't know whether it was because she was delirious from hunger and lack of sleep or because she really believed that. But neither of them were any excuse for the pure joy I felt at having her call me that. It was completely irrational but then what love is rational.

I just sat there in a state of shock, with her steady breathing and the constant tick tocking of the clock the only sounds in the room. We were still like that when Johnny came back with the food. There wasn't much of it but it would be enough. I gently woke Baby up and made her eat the food.

'You can go back to sleep when you've eaten this.' She did as I told her and gently fell back to sleep. There was no reason for me to keep her here any longer. She needed to be with her family. Her proper family. I sent Johnny back to his cabin and told him we could visit her in the morning when she'd had a chance to sleep.

I carried her back to the Houseman cabin. Marge was still up. She was sitting in the living area staring into space. I knocked gently on the door. When she opened the door, it was clear the relief on her face when she saw Baby safe and well in my arms.

'Come in, come in. Is she alright?'

'She's gonna be fine. She's asleep right now though so if you tell me where her bed is I'll put her down.'

'Oh, right.'

Marge jumped into action, leading me through to one of the bedrooms and pulling down the quilt of one of the beds. 'Just here,' I laid Baby down gently on the bed. I tried to unwind her arms from around my neck but they seemed to tighten their hold. I chuckled softly and pulled a little bit harder. Almost reluctantly she released me and rolled onto her side, deep in sleep.

I followed Marge back into the living room.

'Thank you so much for bringing her back here. How can we ever thank you?'

'Don't thank me, it was Johnny who found her. You should be thanking him. I think he wants to come round and pay her a visit tomorrow, you know make sure she's alright.'

'Oh but of course. He can come round any time he wants.'

'Well, I'll leave you to get your sleep. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight John.'

With that I turned and left the room.