Slight time jump backwards with this one. The first two sections fill in the time between Cain and Marlon going to Gordon's and the police showing up there later. Last section brings us back in line. Hope it makes sense.
When they'd got back from Edna's Zak and Lisa were sat in the kitchen. Paddy supposed he should ask how they'd gotten in but they were Dingles so he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Aaron had taken one look at them and gone straight up to his room. Chas had gone to follow him but Paddy had told her to let him sleep and she'd reluctantly agreed. One kind look from Lisa and Chas had fallen into her arms sobbing while Zak had looked on with wet eyes. Paddy had made everyone a cup of tea then excused himself to go check on the animals and to reschedule his appointments for the rest of the day.
It took him longer than he expected and it wasn't because he dragged it out on purpose. It wasn't because it felt good to be doing something he knew how to do instead of feeling useless. It did feel strange in the surgery though, because nothing had changed, which was weird because he felt like the whole world had shifted two inches to the left. Everything just felt out of place and wrong.
Eventually though he couldn't put it off any longer and he went back into the main part of the house. Judging by the looks on Zak and Lisa's faces Chas had filled them in on what Aaron had told them a couple of hours earlier. He was kind of glad he missed it, he wasn't sure he could listen to it again, not when it was already on a loop inside his head.
Marlon showed up a short while later, alone.
"Where's Cain?" Paddy asked, a little nervous about what the answer would be.
"He's gone to the garage, to see if Ryan's okay" Marlon told them.
"Okay. And...?" Paddy didn't need to finish the question.
"He wasn't in" Marlon was grim faced. "We're going back later".
"Well count me in" Zak said and neither Lisa or Chas tried to argue with him.
A knock at the door startled them all. Paddy went to answer it, wondering which of the Dingles would be checking in now. Although most of them didn't bother to knock. He wasn't expecting to find two police officers standing there though.
"Mr Kirk?" the female officer asked politely when he just stood staring at them.
"That's...I mean... yes...sorry what's this about?" he knew obviously but there was always a chance it was a coincidence and they were here for some other reason, unlikely but possible. That theory went out the window with her next question though.
"Does an Aaron Livesy live here?".
"You better come in" Paddy said stepping back and letting both of them into the house.
"What's going on?" Zak asked, looking more than a little uncomfortable at the presence of the police.
"We need to speak to Aaron Livesy".
"He's upstairs but I think he's sleeping" Paddy told them, "I'll go check".
"Who rang you?" he heard Chas asking as he made his way up the stairs but he didn't hear the answer. He didn't think the police would tell her anyway but he had a good idea.
He knocked gently on Aaron's door and when there was no answer he hesitantly opened it slightly and peered in. Aaron was lying on top of his bed, staring at the ceiling but clearly not asleep.
"Is it okay if I come in?" he asked carefully. Aaron didn't answer but as that wasn't a no he decided to go in anyway. He shut the door behind him and went and stood next to the bed. He considered sitting down on the edge but wasn't sure how Aaron would feel about that.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Aaron gave a funny little huff "what do you think?".
Paddy smiled a little at the typical response from the teenager, it was nice to hear the old, surly Aaron he knew so well. But then the realization that the he now knew why Aaron acted the way he did, why he kept people away from him and hardly ever seemed happy wiped the smile off his face.
"Yeah sorry".
"What are you sorry for?" said in the same flat tone.
"I don't know...I just...The police are here" Paddy blurted out.
Aaron looked at him then, his eyebrows furrowed.
"What? You called them?" he sounded hurt.
"No, no I didn't. But I think it's a good thing they're here".
"How do you figure that?" Aaron pulled himself up so he was sitting against the headboard now.
"Well you need to talk to them at some point" Paddy tried to explain.
"No I don't" Aaron was shaking his head.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not talking to them".
"But..."
"No. I never should have said anything. It was fine".
"It wasn't though was it, not really?" Paddy said softly.
"I don't know" Aaron admitted with a slump of his shoulders. "I just...I can't talk to them. It's too big already".
"It's not going to go away though".
"I know. I know it's not. But..." he looked down at his hands again, picking at his nails.
"But what?" Paddy asked gently.
"I'm scared" Aaron said it so quietly that Paddy barely heard him. But he did hear him and it was like a punch to the stomach.
"I know" he said, sitting down on the bed now, needing to be close to him. "But I promise you, you're not alone. We're here and we'll support you, no matter what".
"Thanks" Aaron said sadly but Paddy wasn't convinced he believed it.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to" Paddy really wanted Aaron to talk to the police, to begin the process that would see that bastard pay for what he'd done but he knew it wasn't fair to push him. This had to be Aaron's decision.
"Really?" Aaron looked so young and unsure.
"Yes really. Look today has been...well awful, and you're shattered. I think you should get some sleep and see how things are tomorrow. I'll tell them you're sleeping".
"Do you think they'll believe you?".
"It doesn't matter, they can't force you to talk. You're not the one in trouble here".
"It doesn't feel like that. And it's not going to away is it?". Paddy wished he could lie to him, but he couldn't.
"No, no it's not. But it doesn't have to be today".
"Okay" Aaron said and lay back down on the bed, curling away from him.
Paddy resisted the urge to put a hand on his shoulder and stood up instead.
"Get some rest" he told him and when Aaron didn't reply he left him to it.
"Is he okay?" Chas asked as soon as he entered the kitchen.
"He's sleeping" Paddy said.
"You were up there a long time" Marlon had to open his big gob. Paddy glared at him.
"Look we understand that this is a difficult situation" the same officer who spoke before said. "We will be continuing our investigation with or without Mr Livesy's statement. But it will be better if we can talk to him".
"I know" Paddy sighed. "I just don't think he's ready". He saw the way everyone was looking at him sadly.
"What now?" Lisa asked.
"We will be looking into the allegations" Paddy's jaw clenched at the word, "and we'll need to speak to most of you at some point. This will probably be a long process" the other officer explained.
"What about Gordon?" Zak asked.
"He'll be brought in for questioning".
"You're not going to arrest him?" Chas screeched.
"Not yet, but I want to assure you this is being taken very seriously. We will investigate this fully" the female officer tried to reassure them.
"We'll be in touch and if in the meantime Aaron changes his mind please either come into the station or give us a call".
"Thank you" Paddy said and then showed them out. Before he shut the door he noticed a couple of villagers glancing over as they got in their patrol car and drove away, well that was going to help the situation.
"What now?" Zak was asking when he walked back into the kitchen.
"Well you'd better call Cain off" Marlon said. "Now the police are involved it's going look really suspicious if something happens to Gordon".
"Yeah you're right" Lisa agreed. "Shame though".
"Maybe this is for the best" Paddy said. "We couldn't just leave it and at least this way no one get's in trouble".
"Not as satisfying though is it?" Zak said gruffly. "Who rang them do you think?"
"Could have been anyone, it's not like it's that big a secret anymore is it?" Marlon answered.
He was right but Paddy could only think of one person who would have done it. He wanted to be angry at her but he understood why she'd done it. It was her way of helping, he only hoped Aaron would see it that way eventually as well.
The pub was busy, it was a Friday night after all. Edna took one look inside and almost changed her mind but she found she didn't want to be alone anymore. She had seen the police car pull up at Paddy's earlier but they hadn't stayed long. She was worried that she'd done the wrong thing, maybe she should have just stayed out of it. But she had to do something, she knew Cain Dingle and she couldn't just stand by while he'd gone on the warpath. Part of her couldn't help thinking that Aaron's father deserved it but anything Cain might have done would just have brought more trouble and that was the last thing Aaron needed. No she had done the right thing.
Looking around the pub she couldn't help noticing that none of the Dingles were present, although obviously she knew why. She did see her friends sat at their usual table though, she made her way through the crowd to join them.
"So did you see the police were at Paddy's earlier?" Betty was saying as she walked up.
"Yes, although you don't need two guesses to figure out why" Pearl answered.
"I know. That Aaron boy is more trouble than he's worth" Betty replied sanctimoniously.
"Well we don't know that is was Aaron, they could have been there for all sorts of reasons" Ashley tried to be the voice of reason.
"Come off it Ashley" Viv said from the side. "That boy's nothing but trouble, I don't know why Paddy still bothers with him to be honest".
Edna couldn't bare to hear anymore. All she could picture was that poor boy, sat on her sofa, sobbing his heart out earlier. How dare these people sit here in judgement.
"STOP IT" the whole pub seemed to still at the sound of her angry shout.
"Edna" Ashley looked shocked at her outburst. "What on Earth's the matter?"
"You, all of you. Sitting in here, judging, while that poor boy..." she knew she was making a scene but she couldn't help herself. She had spent all afternoon sat by herself, worrying and to hear them talking like that it just set something off inside her.
"I don't understand" Alan said looking at her with concern.
"No none of you do. You just assume the worst. You sit in here and even though you have no idea of what's happened you think the worst of him".
"Well we're just going off past behaviour?" Pearl defended herself. "He's always been a trouble maker".
"Yes and not one of us ever stopped to think why he was like that, did we? Maybe if we hadn't have been so quick to pick fault, to think the worst of him then he might have been able to talk to someone sooner. He might have asked for help" she had tears streaming down her face and any other time she might have hated the fact that she was showing herself up like this, but right now she didn't care.
"Why does he need help?" Laurel asked.
"I've said too much" Edna felt terrible, she was just making everything worse. "I've got to go" she didn't give anyone chance to stop her. She just left them sitting there in shocked silence at her outburst. Coming here had been a terrible mistake.
It was really late when Gordon finally got out of the police station. It had been a complete waste of time. Lots of pointless questions that did nothing other than prove that they didn't know anything. He wasn't sure what Aaron was playing at but he was going to find out.
When the taxi pulled up outside his house he wasn't surprised to see that the lights were off, it was gone midnight after all, he didn't think Sandra would be waiting up.
What he wasn't expecting was for her to be gone though. The second he walked in the empty bedroom and saw the open wardrobe door he knew. He looked inside anyway and when he saw the empty side where his wife's clothes normally hung he slammed the door shut in anger.
How dare she leave, without even speaking to him, without letting him explain himself. This better be one of her silly hissy fits. She'd come running back with her tail between her legs in a couple of days. She had better.
This was all Aaron's fault. He couldn't believe his son had done this, after everything he'd done for him, everything he'd sacrificed. He'd only ever acted out of love and for Aaron to throw that back in his face like this, well that was unforgivable.
If he ended up losing his family and everything he'd worked for because of Aaron he would never forgive him, never.
