"Should we..." The woman, Carol, utters.
"No! I think you've done enough!" I spit at her. Imagine that! The nerve. Turning up here after treating her the way they did and just expecting her to understand!
"Nick, she's not fit!" I shout, choking back sobs, tears racing down my face out of pure anger towards those people and what they've done.
"I know!" He says, equally worried.
"Sorry but... What do you mean... She's not fit?" She asks.
"Not that you care, but she was shot on Tuesday!" Nick shouts.
"Oh..."
"I'm going to take the Merc out. You stay here, see if she turns up." I say to Nick.
"Okay." I run out of the house, grabbing the car keys en route. I jump into the passenger door and, just as I put it into first gear, my phone bleeps. I scramble to pick it up, praying its Amy. I open the message and see that it is.
'Mum, don't worry. I'm in the staff room with Dixie. I'm sorry. I just panicked. 3 Amy.'
Reads the message.
"Thank God!" I say out loud and immediately begin to drive. Once I get to the hospital, I run, full speed, into the staff room and burst in the door.
"Amy! Argh you gave us such a fright!" I exclaim.
"I know mum, and I'm really sorry! Please understand!" She cries, getting up to hug me. There are fresh tear stains on her face.
"I do sweetie. I do understand. Did you get here okay, chest okay, stitches in tact?" I ask her, worriedly.
"Sort of. I burst one. But Doctor Nicholls fixed it for me." She jerks her head towards the kitchen. Sam is sitting there. She waves at me.
"Thanks Sam." I say. She just nods in response.
"Besides," Amy continues. "I didn't even get to run that far. Dixie and Jeff saw me and picked me up. That's how I ended up here." She says. Smiling warmly across to Dixie.
"Well, thanks Dixie. I'd better phone and let Nick know I've got you Amy." I say, taking out my phone.
"Hello?"
"Nick, it's me. I've got her. We're in the staff room. You stay where you are. We'll be home soon."
"Okay, love you."
"Love you too, bye."
"Bye." I say, turning back around to face Amy.
"I'm going to have to face them aren't I?" She whispers.
"You don't have to..." I says. "I can tell them to shove it." I tell her. She smiles at my choice of wording.
"How did they even find me?"
"The school told her the orphanage's name, they told her to find us." I explain. She just nods.
"Well, the right thing to do is to face them. But I want you by my side the entire time... The other end of the room. Is that okay?" She asks, worriedly.
"Yes sweetheart. Come on then, lets get home." I smile. "Thanks again guys." I say, to Dixie and Sam."
"That's fine Zoe." Sam replies.
"Any time, ain't that right kiddo." Dixie says to Amy.
"You bet." Amy replies, smiling through her own tears.

I walk balk into the house, squeezing Amy's hand in attempt to offer some reassurance and confidence. She smiles back at me.
"Nick!" I shout, padding, bare foot, back into the living room.
"Hello Zoe." He says, then looks at Amy. "You scared the life out of me." He says.
"I know dad, I'm so sorry." She says, running over and hugging him. I join her again and she, willingly, takes my hand before turning to face them.
"Well, hi." She says, quietly.
"Hi." Carol replies.
"What the hell are you doing here!" Amy shouts, her anger, all of the hurt these people caused, now resurfacing and providing her with the confidence she needs.
"We missed you." Her biological father says to her.
"We love you, we wanted to see you again."
"Yeah right. If any of that guff were true, you wouldn't have dumped me."
"It wasn't like that!" They protest.
"What was it then. International stuff up the minds of your kids day? Ruin your kids life and not give a damn day? Which was it?"
"Don't talk to us like that- " She utters, but Amy cuts her off.
"DON'T CHECK ME! You gave up that right 3 years ago!" She yells. "Mum, I know I said I'd try. But I can't do this." She says, turning to me. "Can you just get rid of them. I don't ever want to see them again." She says, running to her room.
"Nick can you...?" I start.
"Yeah, I got it." He finishes
"Okay. You heard her. Just leave her. Like she so rightly pointed out, you've ruined her life enough already. Goodbye." I say coldly, opening the front door for them to leave. They don't.
"You don't understand!" She pleads. "We had a reason for doing what we did!" I literally have no idea what to think. I'm struggling to digest what she has just dared to throw in my face.
"There is no reason to justify what you did. The fact that you can't see that proves that it's true."
"No, please! Just hear us out. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. We didn't want to put Amelia- "
"Amy." I correct. "Her name is Amy." She sighs, but obliges.
"We didn't want to put Amy through that, watching me die! We didn't want to subject her to the pain of dealing with that! She was so young!" She says. "Thankfully the chemo worked, they told us it wouldn't though. We thought I was dying and we didn't want Amy to watch that!" I just sigh and put my face in my hands.
"You still don't get it do you!" I shout, exasperated. "Instead of whatever pain shed have experienced dealing with you and your cancer, you forced her to deal with another grief. The grief of losing her parents by force. She had to suffer the loss of both of her parents, knowing that they had chosen to get rid of her. She would have felt grief if you'd died, but you didn't! So she went through all of that for nothing! Had you allowed her to stay, it would have been hard for her at the time, but you would all have pulled through. Instead, she's scarred for life by your actions. And, just to add insult to injury, her teachers were cruel to her and she was bullied by the other kids. Aged twelve, that poor little girl turned to self harm. You cannot justify that. Cancer or no cancer. You do not deserve her sympathy. You never did. Gosh! You didn't deserve the twelve years that you got with her! Now you really have lost her. She has told you, she doesn't want to know you. Now, could you please leave myself, my husband and our daughter alone. Thank you." I say, as patiently as I can, even though on the inside I want to cease them both and slap them as hard as I can. Repeatedly. And never stop. Finally, they take the hint and go quietly. "Thank you." I think out loud, after shutting the door. I head up stairs to find out what's going on. Upon walking into Amy's bedroom, I find her curled up in the foetal position, Michael's arms around her, sobbing her eyes out into his chest. Her fingers are gripping onto his shirt so tightly that her knuckles are white. As though the second she lets go, the security goes to and she doesn't look like she could cope with that. She looks up at me and utters one single word.
"Why?"
"I don't know sweetheart, I really don't."
"Why couldn't they have just left me alone now. They got rid of me, why couldn't they just leave me alone. Let me have my chance at happiness and stay away from me? No! They had to come and try to ruin me all over again!" She says.
"Sweetheart, they never ruined you in the first place. They hurt you, yes. I'm not denying that. But I promise, they haven't ruined you. You're beautiful, inside and out. Not ruined." She just sobs again. I sit down beside them, place a comforting hand on her back and rub it reassuringly.
"Sh sweetheart. It's okay." Nick whispers.
"I just want to live my life with you and dad and forget about them. I don't care how hard they try. I don't want them in my life and I certainly don't want to be in theirs. I'm not thick. They are though. I've always known about her cancer. I'd have coped more with that than I did with what they did to me. You know what though?"
"What baby?" I say, softly.
"I'm sort of glad now, because if they hadn't done what they did, I've never have gotten you two as parents. To be quite frank, I don't know what I'd have done without you two. Can we just get back to our lives and forget that that ever happened?" She asks me.
"Of course we can. Lets go out for lunch, I'm perfectly starved."
"That's a good idea, I'm completely ravenous." Nick agrees.
"Yes. I'd like that." Amy whispers, releasing her grip on Nick's shirt.
"Brilliant. Where would you like to go Amy, it's your choice." She sits up, deliberating over the many lunching options that Holby provides.
"Can we go to 'Pizza Hut'?" She asks, finally.
"Of course. Come on, grab your coat and we'll go." She gets up off of the bed, walks over to her wardrobe and puts on her grey, woollen coat. I look across at Nick, who catches my look and winks at me. I love it when he does that. I love our little family.