Hours after he had left, Doctor Cole returned to his office. His discussion with Robyn had been a long and taxing one. He couldn't deny that Doctor Malone had been an enormous help and that he wouldn't have been able to carry through with their agreement had it not been for him. As he sat down at his desk he looked at the four men watching him, questions on their faces.

"How did it go?" Kit asked at last.

Doctor Cole yawned, "She wasn't happy but she understood. I've made the arrangements with the clinic and they'll collect her in the morning. She's fit enough to be discharged into their care and they can monitor her with the medical team they have there. Langford wasn't best pleased and I waited for half an hour while he cleared it with his superiors. His division head called me personally; he's a very nice man. He spoke to Robyn as well, they've agreed on some things and he said that he would confirm the security arrangements with the clinic."

"If she's going away for a while she's going to need some stuff packed up, clothes and the like." Robbie thought out loud, sad that he wouldn't be able to see Robyn but confident that she would get the specialist help she so desperately needed.

"I wouldn't worry about that Robbie; Robyn spoke to Trixie who's going to bring a bag up for her shortly. She wouldn't ask any of you men to go rifling through her unmentionables let alone pick out outfits for her. Lord knows what you'd come up with between you, I've never seen a more eclectically dressed bunch of people as you. It's bad enough that most of her clothes are too big for her at the moment until she puts on some weight."

Kit nodded before something sparked in his head and he reached over to grab the phone off of Doctor Cole's desk. He swiftly dialled a number and smiled when the phone the other side was picked up.

"Hi Trixie, it's me. See if you can find my bag, wherever Skip's dragged it this time. There should be some clothes in there amongst all the other rubbish, they're too small for me now but they might fit Robs. They'll be better than nothing until she's fixed up. Cool, we'll see you soon. Cheery bye bye."

Kit hung up the phone before smiling sheepishly at Doctor Cole. He'd caught Trixie just before she'd left and she'd seemed relieved that he'd told her about his clothes. He was sure she'd find something in there that would be ok for Robyn.

"Are we able to see Robyn before she goes?" Nine asked of Doctor Cole, eager to try and right some of his wrongs against her.

Doctor Cole shook his head but then noticed the look on Nine's face, "I wasn't going to allow her any visitors but you can have five minutes. She needs to rest. Her blood pressure was sky high when we got her back to her room after what happened in the elevator and then your battle royal in the cafeteria. I won't have her upset any further today. I'm sure you can find your way to her room? Go out of here and turn right, at the end of the corridor go through the double doors and you'll be back near the stairwell. Go up two floors and turn left out of the stairwell door into the corridor marked 'general surgery unit'. You'll come up to some double doors, go through them and head to the Nurses' station. Kathleen is up there, the young lady that brought the chairs in and she'll show you where to find Robyn. I'll phone ahead and tell her to look out for you, I'll also tell her to keep a close ear and the minute she hears even a hint of a raised voice or your time is up that she's to show you to the exit."

Nine nodded as he stood up. Having memorised the Doctor's directions he left the room and walked to Robyn's ward, all the time trying to turn around what he'd say to her in his head. Before he knew it he was standing at the Nurses' station with Kathleen looking up at him.

"She's expecting you." She said gently as she stood up from her chair and walked around the counter to stand next to Nine.

He followed her as she stopped in front of a door that she knocked on briefly and opened for him to pass through. She smiled reassuringly at his reluctance to enter and eventually he entered the room, the door closing softly behind him.

Robyn's eyes were low as her grandfather approached, fixed on something beyond his vision. He knew his time with her was short and he wanted to make the most of the opportunity he had been given to speak with her before she went away. He had to try and smooth things over and couldn't allow them to remain as they were.

Remembering what Kit had told him, his voice was soft when he spoke. "I'm sorry, Robyn. I didn't understand, I didn't want to understand what has been happening here. I know I have made a mess of things and continued being a stupid old man embittered by one stupid mistake that I've been too stubborn to accept. After all of our harsh words I will understand if you choose to have nothing to do with me but I won't be absent from your life any longer."

Kit's advice seemed to work as Robyn shifted her head to look at him. Her eyes seemed to search him while her mind formulated a response.

"We're both at fault," Robyn said when she spoke at last, stunning Nine. "You were only trying to help. You have my best interests at heart and I understand that, I do, but you can't make up for twenty one years in just a day. I know more about you than you knew about me when we first met, Sportacus told me about you often. You're a painfully proud man, your values implanted in you so deeply that when everything else is gone they're all you have to cling onto. I know you were scared to acknowledge me, to acknowledge that your daughter had bore me. You're not the first person to be scared that I might be like her or become like her and I know that you're only over protective and angry because you want to stop me turning as she did. You're overcompensating for the things that you've missed out on and you can't help it, this need you have to set things right is consuming you and is stopping you from thinking straight. It was unreasonable of me to speak to you the way I did earlier, you can't help how Lily turned out any more than you could have stopped what happened between her and Sportacus. I'm sorry for my disrespect towards you."

Nine's jaw set but not with anger, he struggled to reign in his emotions and keep the tears stinging his eyes from falling. He closed his eyes, opening them again sharply when he felt a hand entwine itself with one of his. Robyn was smiling softly at him. He lifted his other hand softly, brushing her cheek with it gently before he stood and released her hand.

Robyn sat up as Nine wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She smiled against the nook of his shoulder as she felt him release the emotion he had pent up inside him. She felt a presence approach and shifted gently so that her grandfather released her. As the door opened he quickly brushed away the tears on his cheeks and turned to face Kathleen.

"I'm sorry, time's up." She apologised.

There was so much more he wanted to say to his granddaughter but he knew that there was time for that when they saw each other again. He turned to kiss her gently on the forehead and began to walk away, Robyn calling after him stopped him as he was about to close the door. He pushed it open so she could speak to him.

"I know you know I kept all the letters I sent you. Maybe when I'm back home we can sit and read them together?"

"I'd like that very much!" Nine agreed smiling broadly before he closed the door and followed Kathleen back to the stairs.

After his mediation with his son and the argument they'd had the following morning before he'd demanded to be taken to see Robyn he'd completely forgotten about Bessie and the sheet of paper he'd been about to read.

As Bessie sat at her desk once again in the Town Hall she read and reread the results in her hands. Word had spread that Robyn wasn't coming home; she was going somewhere where the needs of her mind and body could be treated. They were going to try and piece together the shattered girl that sat in the photograph smiling up at her.

She still couldn't bring herself to destroy the sheet of paper nor could she confess to her beloved Milford what she knew. Folding the paper once more she opened one her desk drawers and concealed it inside.

As she pushed the drawer shut she shivered, her secret was one she knew she couldn't keep forever.