Hi guys. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. Friday was the last day of my exams, and I was planning to update but then things kind of went a bit... topsy turvy. My parents and sister got back from holiday on Saturday so I didn't really have time to do any writing and then on Sunday I found out my nana had been taken into hospital. My mum went through to visit her and said she's going to be ok, but as you can understand I'm still pretty worried about her. So, I haven't really been focusing on writing that much, but I decided I'd finish this chapter tonight and get it up, and then hopefully I'll be able to actually put out a GOOD chapter a bit later on in the week.

The end of the story will be coming up pretty soon I think. I finally decided how to end it (with the good help of my insane freind Hollyleaf 988) which will be... well, I'll leave it as a surprise for now. Let's just say I both have and haven't been as cruel as I could have been.

Anyways, I know it's pretty rubbish, but I hope you can enjoy this chapter even just a little bit.

Days turned into weeks. Carol was still living with Alice, but Robyn had come to terms with that. As long as her sister was safe, she didn't care whether she was at home or with their Aunt. But the tension in the house was as silencing as ever, when both she and her dad were at home anyway. He regularly left for work before Robyn woke up, and stayed late most nights. Robyn usually got herself up, or woke up to Magnus texting or phoning her before leaving the house. She'd been so exhausted when she returned home, that toast and an apple became her regular evening meal before she went straight to bed.

She was learning quickly, but hadn't come across any life-threatening injuries yet – that was Kenspeckles's job. She was steered clear away from them by Jade. She spent most of her time with her female mentor, practising on regular procedures (mostly healing Clarabelle after various accidents and incidents) and a few serious ones, like broken arms and legs. Nothing spine or head related yet, but that could change.

It was Tuesday, and Robyn was in high spirits. She'd managed to find the bandages, make a skin-healing paste and apply it fairly accurately onto a patient's (Clarabelle's) hand after they had accidentally stabbed themselves with a scalpel. She was getting better, and every time Jade nodded in approval, Robyn's grin would get a little wider.

Clarabelle clenched her fist and then unclenched it, smiling.

"Thanks," she grinned, getting off the hospital bed she had been sat on and wandering off. Robyn watched her go. 'She'll be back soon enough', she thought to herself with a shake of her head, registering in the back of her mind that Clarabelle had walked in the wrong direction she had said she needed to go.

Jade watched Robyn out of the corner of her eye as her apprentice cleared away the bloodied tissues and dirty bowls. Robyn was humming slightly to herself. Despite the tension at home and the knowledge her sister didn't want to be around her, things were looking up. She was on chapter 8 of the book (Poisons and their Antidotes), and hadn't knocked anything over or nearly killed anyone with the wrong medicine. And, her shift would be over in approximately two minutes, if the clock on the wall was correct. Then it would be a quick chat with her mother before defence training. She wasn't as good at that, but she had managed to land a punch on her mother's shoulder the day before (in all fairness Valkyrie had been facing the wrong way, walking back to start again, but a punch was a punch).

The door opened and Magnus sauntered in, hands in the pockets of his jeans, hair combed back in its usual ridiculous fashion. Jade rolled her eyes.

"Are you injured or just wasting time?"

"Wasting time," he answered with a grin. Robyn tried to avoid looking at him and scrubbed the bowl clean. Kenspeckle wandered in, putting more bowls full of bloodied instruments on the side. Clarabelle would clean those up – if she didn't stab herself with them first that was. That was when Kenspeckle noticed him. His face turned sour.

"What are you doing here?"

"Picking up Robyn," Magnus answered with a shrug. Kenspeckle looked at the clock.

"There's another two minutes yet. Out. Out outoutoutout." With each 'out' he shooed Magnus away a little more, until he was out of the room and closing the door behind him.

"I'll wait out here!" Magnus's voice was muffled through the door. Robyn bit back a smile, putting the bowls away back in the cupboard.

"Teleporters in my surgery… like a playground nowadays..." Kenspeckle mumbled to himself as he wandered back away. Jade sighed to herself.

"He's just like his father you know," she said to Robyn with a gesture of her head towards the door "they both just love getting on Kenspeckle's nerves."

"They're not that bad." Jade raised an eyebrow as if to say 'you don't know the half of it', and Robyn smiled.

"You're lucky he has a soft spot for Valkyrie otherwise you'd be getting the same treatment." Jade commented, and Robyn didn't know whether to smile of frown. She knew Kenspeckle had a soft spot for Valkyrie. She didn't know exactly why, but she knew he did. The fact that he would have hated her if he didn't like Valkyrie was something Robyn wasn't entirely sure she was happy with.

She shrugged and smiled at Jade, pushing her thoughts aside. Jade sighed.

"Go on then, get going, before my son manages to annoy anyone else," Robyn grinned, nodding and hurried to the door, waving.

Magnus was waiting, as he'd said he would. He grinned at her.

"Shall we?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes, already walking. He appeared next to her and walked alongside her, humming an annoying tune to himself, smiling and occasionally glancing across to her to see if she was getting annoyed with him yet. Her expression remained steady for the whole walk, which made him raise his eyebrow for a few moments as his hum turned to a whistle. The door to the training room approached far too quickly.

"I'll call you later," he said, and she nodded with a slight smile.

"See you later Magnus,"

"Say hi to Valkyrie for me."
"I will." She opened the door and then closed it behind her with a small smile on her face. Then she turned around, and realised that it hadn't been such a good day for some people.

Valkyrie was pacing the room quickly, brooding, hand to her chin in thought, eyes dark.

"Hi," Robyn said awkwardly, stepping slightly further into the room. Valkyrie paused and looked at her, hand still poised at her chin.

"Robyn… sorry, I'd forgotten you were coming."

"I've been coming for the past 3 weeks," Robyn said, slightly disbelievingly as her mum started pacing again.

"Sorry, I've just been busy," Valkyrie muttered.

"You're stuck?" Valkyrie scowled.

"I am not."

"You are," Robyn grinned, and then immediately withdrew it as Valkyrie glared at her. "What is it?"

"It's just a case."

"What kind of case?"

"It's none of your business."

"Maybe I can help." Valkyrie barked a laugh.

"What do you know about being a detective?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Robyn said, her tone turning angry.

"You wouldn't be able to help anyway," Valkyrie said, ignoring her. "You might as well go home. I'm sure you've earned an early finish."

"I might be able to help," Robyn said defensively. Valkyrie shook her head.

"No. It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. Go on now. Get Magnus to drop you off home. Watch a movie or something. Have fun." Valkyrie paused and glanced to her "But not too much fun. I could pop in at any time."
"Mum," Robyn groaned. Valkyrie raised an eyebrow before she resumed pacing. Robyn groaned again and walked out.

She and Magnus watched Misery. With a surprisingly groggy feeling Robyn remembered it had been the very film she and Abigail had planned to watch the day she was supposed to sleep over – the day the Sanctuary was revealed to her. It was also the day she had met Magnus for the first time. It all seemed so long ago.

Robyn snuggled up to Magnus under a blanket as they watched the film. Surprisingly enough (for someone's whose mum worked around gory injuries practically every day) Magnus wasn't too keen on the sledgehammer scene. Robyn wasn't bothered – she'd seen it a hundred times or more.

Magnus shuddered slightly.

"Um, hey, Robyn?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I ask you something?"

"Yeah sure."

"Well, I was just wondering-" The sound of a key in the door lock interrupted him.

"Shit," Robyn muttered, looking towards the sound.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Magnus said quickly, and then he was gone. Disappeared into thin air. 'Just in time', Robyn thought (not without a sad sigh either – they hadn't even reach the end of the movie!). John opened the door a moment later and looked at her as he closed the door and took his shoes off.

"How was work?" She asked.

"Fine." He replied shortly "Yours?"

"It was ok." She replied, and that was the end of their conversation. Robyn turned back to the movie as John left for the kitchen as stared down a little sadly at the bowl of popcorn she and Magnus had been sharing before she sighed and shrugged.

"Oh well," she muttered "more popcorn for me."