It seems this little story-arc is going to have quite a few chapters to its name…

Clara made it home around half an hour after she left her Gran's house, grateful she'd remembered to pick up her keys. She let herself in, slamming the door and chucking her bag down, picking out the bottle from it and quickly opening it, gulping down the contents. How could she have been so stupid? Why did she ever think she wouldn't be noticed? Her Gran was the most perceptive person she knew, of course she'd notice. Now there was no way she could hide anymore. Clara was ashamed, she hated herself for what she'd become and now everyone would know. She was sobbing, everything hurting, nothing could stop her now.

Danny had received a call as soon as Clara had left, but he knew he couldn't leave the twins early, they'd only panic. He'd spent the rest of their lesson trying to contact Clara but he got no answer. Then he tried the Doctor and this time he got an answer.

"Sorry, not with me, although after last time I'm not surprised. You know there's something not right with her at the moment, she was acting very strange." The Doctor explained to him.

"You're telling me…" he sighed. "Thanks anyway." Danny said, hanging up and staring at his phone. He would just have to wait now.

When the girls finally appeared from the changing rooms he grabbed them both by the hands and headed out to the car. "Right you two, let's get home." They didn't question, just skipped along beside him back and jumped in, talking between themselves about everything they'd done in the lesson.

They arrived back probably in record time, although Danny hadn't actually broken the speed limit that he'd been aware of. Chloe and Faith jumped out and before he had a chance to stop them they ran in to the house. Danny realised this meant it was unlocked and he hoped that meant Clara had come home. He grabbed the twin's bags and started heading for the door.

When Chloe and Faith reached the living room they both stopped immediately. Clara was lying on the floor completely still.

"Is she asleep…?" Faith asked, but Chloe shook her head.

"Look at her arm Fai, she's doing what I do." She pointed at Clara's twitching arm. They both stared for a moment, no idea what to do, but then circumstances changed as Clara's seizure became more pronounced. "Quick get Dad!" Chloe shouted and ran over, moving the table out of the way and grabbing cushions off the sofa. She went straight for the house phone next, dialling 999. "Please be okay Mummy…" Chloe watched her, keeping a safe distance as she knew was important all too well. She knelt down on the floor, trying hard not to cry so she could be clear on the phone.

"What service do you require?" They'd had a man in assembly at school recently and he'd told them exactly what to do if they had to ring 999. Chloe was going through it all in her mind as she spoke.

"Ambulance please," she said politely, sniffling a little and looking up as Danny ran in to the room. "Daddy you need to keep away! Don't touch…" She called before someone came back on the other end of the phone, asking what was wrong. "My Mummy's having a fit. She's really poorly she needs help." Chloe started. Danny turned to look at her then, realising what she was doing.

"Chloe darling you're a good girl, really good well done. I'll take the phone okay you go upstairs with your sister for me okay?" Chloe looked over to Faith who was curled up tight on the bottom step of the stairs and quickly handed Danny the phone to let him continue, running over to her and hugging her but not actually going upstairs. They both just sat there, waiting.

"I think she only just started, we've just come home and she was here and… no, no she's got no history of anything really I don't know why this has happened I… oh she's stopped, she's stopping now…" Danny could feel himself breathe for the first time as he saw Clara stop. The next thing he saw was Chloe running over again and putting her ear by Clara's mouth. "Her breathing? I think my daughter is… she's not conscious no…"

"She's sleeping Daddy, she's still breathing, just like me." Chloe said and started to try and reposition Clara but Danny shook his head, gripping the phone to his ear with his shoulder and putting her in to the recovery position himself. As soon as he had both Chloe and Faith lay down beside her, watching her – just as Clara would do with Chloe after her seizures. Danny didn't know what he was emotional about anymore; he was just listening to the woman on the other end of the phone telling him they weren't far away and sure enough a few moments later the paramedics arrived. As they came in he hung up the phone and moved the twins away despite their protest. He hugged one to each side of him as the paramedics started working on her.

"Hi, I'm Paul. You say you don't know what could have caused this?" One of them asked. Danny shook his head.

"She was fine this morning when we left. I dropped her at her Nan's but they had some kind of argument and she came back here that's all I know." Danny explained, trying to think of anything that might be of use to them.

"There's no sign of her having fallen, no other injuries." The other paramedic spoke up after having done a brief examination. "Pulse and resps are normal but pupils are a little sluggish and she's very much asleep." She told her colleague.

"Alright we need to get her in then. Are you alright to follow?" Paul asked and Danny nodded. "I know it's a shock but we need to find out what's causing this as there doesn't seem to be an immediate answer."

"Hang on," the other paramedic stopped just before they were about to pick her up and reached under the sofa. She pulled a bottle out and showed it to Paul before looking to Danny. "Does Clara drink a lot?" He didn't know what to say.

"No! No she'll have a drink the odd slightly wild night but… no! NO!" He shook his head, but he knew he couldn't explain the bottle she was holding.

"Do you know where this came from?" She asked, referring to the bottle. Danny wanted to lie, he wanted to say they'd shared it last night or it was from months ago. He wanted to say anything but what he said next.

"No. But it wasn't there last night..." Danny couldn't believe what he was seeing. Had he been missing something all this time? He thought back, trying to work it out. He hadn't noticed her drinking more, but maybe she had. She'd have a glass of wine whilst she cooked sometimes… was it always sometimes? Was it just one glass? She'd had that bottle at work recently. No. No Clara wouldn't… but then… he shook his head.

"Okay let's get her in. We'll meet you there." She said, carrying her out to the ambulance. Danny just stared in disbelief, had he really missed something so major? Was Clara really that bad? He had no answers to any of these questions.

"Daddy?" Chloe said, sniffling a little. "Is Mummy going to be okay? What was that bottle?" She asked. Danny quickly hugged them both tight.

"She'll be okay sweethearts; we just need to be really good for her okay? Don't worry about the bottle. Let's get back in the car yeah?" They both nodded, walking out the door with him following and wondering what would happen next.

Danny was sat by Clara's bed with 2 sleeping girls on him. They'd done all sorts of scans and tests but all they'd say for now was that she needed to rest and recover with observation. She hadn't woken up yet, but they said she was just asleep.

"That's quite the balancing act you've got going on there." The nurse walked in to do the observations and smiled at Danny holding both girls carefully.

"Mm they're getting a bit big for this really, but I couldn't say no today." He replied, watching as she did all the normal checks.

"I heard they were quite brave considering the situation." She was filling in the information on Clara's paperwork.

"They were brilliant, especially Chloe. She's epileptic so both girls know exactly what to do. They moved the table out the way and came and got me and phoned the ambulance… I'm very proud." He looked down to them, carefully stroking their hair without letting go of them.

"You should be." She finished and put the folder back on the end of the bed. "If, however, you do decide you need a break then they can sleep in the relative's room. We can watch them too." Danny nodded.

"Thanks, but I don't think I should leave them just now." He replied. "Is everything alright?"

"Obs are all still stable. I'll see you in 20 minutes." She smiled and left again, pulling the cubicle curtains shut and leaving Danny to his own thoughts again. He went back to watching Clara. She was so calm now, looked so peaceful, but he couldn't help but think how bad things must have got inside her head. He sighed a little, trying hard to think back to what he'd missed. Her Gran was right; Clara was so very good at hiding her problems, the best he knew, but she was so withdrawn, the clues were there, he'd been kidding himself he'd…

"Daddy?" He suddenly realised the girls were moving to sit up more. He adjusted to allow them to do so.

"Hey you two, how you feeling?"

He asked.

"Is Mummy okay?" Faith asked, neither of them answering his question. "She's still sleeping?"

"Yeah she's still asleep but she'll be okay. Listen you two I think I'm gonna give Grandad a call and get him to fetch you…." Danny started.

"NO!" They both called back, quickly jumping down from him and on to Clara's bed before he could stop them, taking place either side of her.

"Girls I know you want to stay, but your Mum will need a lot of rest and it's better if we leave her some space." Danny stood up. "If I leave you here for 2 minutes you won't touch anything? And if you're asked to move you come sit on the chair okay?" He looked to them both and they nodded sincerely. "Good. I'll let the nurse know what's happening." He left quickly, leaving the curtain slightly open and going out to make the call, quickly explaining on his way through.

Danny had already text Dave to explain and told him not to come up to the hospital; he knew Clara wouldn't want him here now. The phone call was thankfully straight forward; he told him everything he needed to know without telling the full story. Dave arrived not long after and Ciara, the nurse, came to get Danny to bring the girls out. Reluctantly the twins left Clara and were taken out to their Granddad.

"Hey you two!" Dave smiled as they came over and hugged him. "Just the two then?" He looked to Danny who nodded.

"Paige's Mum is taking Ellie back to hers. Thank you, I'll keep you updated obviously." Danny bent down to the twins. "You two be good okay? Grandad's going to take you back home first and you can get your work and some things to take with you. You've been wonderful and very brave girls, I'm proud of you both." He kissed both their heads gently and stood back up, smiling briefly as Dave walked off before returning back to the cubicle, but as he walked in things were not as calm as when he'd left. They were wheeling Clara out and it looked like she was fitting again.

"We're going to resus." Ciara explained as they went passed and Danny followed. They took her in but Ciara stayed out with him. "She's had another seizure; we think this one might be withdrawal." Ciara looked through as they managed to stop the fit. "The next few days are going to be difficult, we can treat the symptoms as much as possible but she'll definitely need to stay in." Danny nodded, appreciating her honesty. There was a short pause before Ciara spoke again. "The doctors also want to know if you know why she's got like this? As far as we can tell Clara's not had a long term problem?" She asked.

"I guess…" Danny started, not able to look away from what he could see through the doors. "… it's probably been a few weeks… maybe 2 months? I don't know why… she had a hard time around her mother's birthday, she died when Clara was young, but it never has affected her this much in the past. I didn't notice it I didn't see any of it… all the clues were there but…" He shook his head, getting closer to the door.

"Danny from my experience people in Clara's position find ways to hide these things. They're pretty good at it too. But from everything you and the girls have said about her I think something must really have got to her for things to get this bad. Once she's come round we're going to need to find out what that is to help her through this. It's not going to be easy for either of you, but we'll have plenty of support." She smiled and Danny looked over just to give her a brief nod.

"Thank you, you've been very kind." He replied. "Can I go in yet?" Ciara looked through again.

"I think so, come on." She pushed the door open and let him in. Danny rushed over and immediately took Clara's hand.

"Whatever this is, I'm not going anywhere until it's sorted." He said.

She didn't wake up until that evening, by which time they'd transferred her up to a ward and in to a side room so she had a little privacy and Danny could stay with her. He hadn't moved since they got up, occasionally being bought in a cup of tea and there was a sandwich sat on the side that had appeared a while back. He sat by her side, leaning on the edge of the bed and holding her hand, watching her breathing so peacefully.

"I'm sorry Clara. I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't talk to me, or anyone, I'm sorry you felt so bad you had to do this, I'm sorry I…" Danny kissed her hand gently. "Clara I nearly lost you today, I mean really nearly lost you. If we hadn't come home then anything could have happened, I don't even want to think about… I can't think about that." He quickly wiped away a tear. "I don't know how we got to this, I don't understand it all. I feel like you've always been the strong one, everyone has just taken that for granted maybe that includes me too."

"I don't deserve you…" Clara spoke very quietly. He hadn't noticed her wake, only looking up to her face as she spoke. He heard her, and he could see how she meant it too.

"Oh no no don't say that, don't, you deserve everything Clara, what you don't deserve is this mess that you've ended up in. I should have realised sooner…" Danny put a hand on her cheek, gently rubbing it with his thumb.

"I would never have told you… I just kept going… kept hiding… lying… hurting everyone…" Clara spoke through struggled breaths – she was still weak. "Go Danny, go home to the girls. Leave me." She looked straight at him – she really meant it.

"I'm going nowhere. We are getting through this together now; I'm not letting you suffer alone." He told her directly, but her reaction was not what he expected.

"GO! I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!" Clara shouted and as she did a nurse came running in. "Make him leave!" Clara turned away from Danny, hiding her face in the pillow. Danny went to speak to her, moving forward, but the nurse stopped him.

"I think it best you go for now. Call in the morning and we'll see how she's doing. Don't worry, she's in safe hands." Danny nodded slowly, eventually starting to leave. He heard the nurse turn back to see to Clara as he went. Just when he turned the corner she started shouting again, he couldn't make it out. She pulled her drip out. Danny turned back but the nurse made it plain he should go. He stepped away, watching the woman he loved slowly break down. He watched as the doctor ran in, he watched as they gave her what he could only assume was a sedative. He watched as she finally settled. And then he left.