"That comes to £27.55 then please," the uninterested young man behind the counter at the hospital store addressed Allie, breaking out of her reverie.

"Sorry," she smiled at him, handing him £30 and picking up her bag which was stuffed with all of Pete's favourite foods and magazines. Accepting her change, she smiled at him once more and turned away from the counter, heading back towards the elevators and up to the 7th floor where Pete was staying.

The doors opened with a soft hum and she stepped onto the ward, waving at the nurses and doctors who had come to know her over the past few weeks; turning the corner to Pete's room, she smiled through the window when she saw him staring into space and looking extremely bored, absentmindedly twirling the silver ring on his finger. He was in a world of his own right now, but then so was she. She still hadn't mentioned to him that she was pregnant…she didn't know if that was what he wanted to hear. They weren't even married yet and everything was so up in the air, the last thing the poor guy probably needed was her bursting into the room with 'Hey Pete, nice to have you back in the world of the living, by the way, I'm pregnant!' Yeah, that would go down so well.

"Hey gorgeous," she said happily as she entered the room. He turned to face her and she felt a smile break out across her face as he smiled at her. He looked so much better, there was colour in his face again and his eyes were alive, not gaunt and sunken as they had been.

"Hey babe," he reached out and snagged her hand, pulling her over to the bed where she leant down and kissed him thoughroughly before pulling away with a huge grin on her face.

"I come bearing gifts," she told him, opening the bag and starting to unpack. Placing the fresh fruit, coffee, muffins, magazines, books, cartons of pineapple juice and box of chocolates in front of him, she giggled as his eyes lit up and he looked at her in wonder. "Tell me you don't love me," she laughed when he pulled her down to the bed again and kissed her.

"Oh no," he shook his head. "I love you, I just want to go home." He shook his head and reached for the coffee that she had brought him. "I can't stand being locked up in here."

"Yeah, well I asked Ilsa and she said it should only be for another few days," Allie opened the box of chocolates and offered him one, before attacking them, picking out all of the caramels and pushing them to one side, ignoring the roll of his eyes. "They just want to get your Physio sessions sorted and then you're all mine again."

"Anyway, I'd have thought you'd love it in here," Allie told him, licking a glob of caramel off of her finger. "All these sexy ladies in nurses uniforms at your beck and call," she wriggled her eyebrows. "Every school boys dream, surely?"

Grinning at her, Pete shook his head. "Not unless you fancy being my nurse for a day?"

"You are in no fit state to handle me yet," she joked.

"Yeah I know," Pete told her, suddenly feeling very hot as he watched her dip her finger into the caramel cup and then lick it off. Far too slowly. "And just so you know, you licking that caramel off of your finger like that isn't exactly helping my…. condition."

Pausing, Allie realised what he meant and started giggling, shaking her head, she put down the chocolates and opted for a banana muffin, a seemingly much more innocent snack.

"So what did the doctors have to say this morning?" she enquired, taking a sip of her rapidly cooling Macchiato.

"Just the usual bollocks," Pete shrugged. "No contact sport, no running…blah, blah, blah," he shook his head and laughed. "I'll be fine, wait and see."

Nodding, although not quite convinced, Allie glanced out of the window and wrinkled her nose at the rain. Damn British weather, she thought.

"Has Bovver…"

"I can't see him yet, Allie," Pete interrupted "Not after everything that's happened."

"I know you don't want to hear this but I think that you should see him," Allie caught the look of outrage on his face and held up her hands. "I'm just saying, he's a mess, ok? He keeps calling me and asking how you are…"

"You're talking to him?" Pete spat.

"He's talking to me," Allie replied calmly. "He cares about you, he's not ringing to prove a point or look like a hero, he's ringing because his best mate, let's face it his brother, is in hospital and refusing to talk to him."

"Are you forgetting that he put Steve in the fucking ICU?" Pete almost shouted.

"No," Allie shook her head vehemently. "I'm not saying that what he did was right, in fact it was pretty messed up, but he's sorry." She gently touched his face. "That's all. No ulterior motive, I promise you. If you want me to stop talking to him, then I will, but I just thought that you would want to know that he's been asking about you."

Pete turned and looked at her as she picked at the muffin she was eating, or not eating as the case may be; he had noticed that she had lost weight; she was so petite as she was, and yet she was getting smaller, because he was stressing her out. Shaking his head, he felt disgusted with himself and reached out, taking her hand in his.

"You're right," he told her quietly. "Bovver…he's a fucking idiot, but…I don't know, I could use him when I get out of here anyway." He seemed to be talking more to himself now, Allie noticed, almost thinking aloud. "I mean when we set up with Hatcher again, we're going to need all the people we can get."

Allie stopped and felt her blood run cold; Oh Jesus, oh no, she must have heard him wrong. Clearing her throat, she turned to him with a weak smile on her face and shook her head.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "You can't seriously be thinking about…." She lowered her voice. "You can't be thinking of fighting again."

Pete looked at her in shock and frowned.

"Hatcher can't get away with this," Pete told her firmly. "Keith was saying that one of the Millwall lads was talking about Tommy down the pub, saying how he would have killed me if he'd had the chance," Pete snorted. "I'd fucking love to see him try."

Shaking her head, Allie couldn't believe what she was hearing; he wanted to fight again. She thought that this would have scared him; it would have shown him that he wasn't invincible and that he could lose everything.

"He did try, Pete," she hissed. "And he very nearly fucking succeeded, or has that just slipped your mind?"

Standing up so suddenly that her coffee cup fell to the floor, Allie shook her head again, staring at him in confusion.

"What the fuck are you doing, Pete?" she demanded in a whisper. "Have you got any idea how close you came to dying?" she shook her head and angrily wiped the tears away. "This man, this psycho beat you within an inch of your life. You had internal bleeding for fuck sake Pete." She sobbed again and stood up, pacing the room. "They said to me that there was a chance that you might not wake up, do you have any idea how that felt? To sit here watching you everyday not knowing if I was ever going to speak to you, or hold you or kiss you ever again." She wiped her face with her hands and then shoved them into her jean pockets, rocking nervously on the balls of her feet.

"You can't go after him again," she told him. "Promise me,"

"I have to, Allie, can't you fucking understand…"

"No!" she shouted at him. "Obviously I can't; the only thing that I understand is that this man almost killed you and your brother in a space of 48 hours without so much as blinking a fucking eyelid so explain to me, Pete. Give me one solid reason as to why you should fight him again and I swear to God I'll let it drop."

"He tried to kill Steve," Pete spoke through gritted teeth.

"So call the police!" Allie shouted at him. "Do what normal people do, Pete and let them deal with it. Because if you hunt Tommy down, you have two options the way I see it: kill him and go to prison or be killed." She laughed bitterly and shook her head. "How is it worth either of those risks? I mean do you honestly think that you're the only victim here Pete?" she snapped, her patience finally disintegrating into nothing. "Or does it not matter that your mum has sat here every day for four weeks going back and forth between yours and Steve's rooms wondering which of her sons is going to die first. Does it not matter that as much as you hate him Bovver looks like he's about to fucking keel over. Or that Ben might have lost both his Dad and his Uncle before he even turns three." Allie sobbed, but forced herself to carry on yelling, knowing that if she did there was a chance it might sink into to his brain. "And I suppose it didn't matter that I had to sit here day after day, waiting for the doctors to throw me another useless scrap of information, with one half of my brain planning our wedding and the other half thinking about your funeral!"

She practically screamed the last word and Pete felt his heart sink. Shit, he honestly hadn't thought about that.

"I can't let this go," Pete shouted back at her. "My Dad used to tell me to stand my ground and fight."

"And look where it got him, Pete!" she screamed. "He drank himself into oblivion and got stabbed for the sake of a fucking football match! You said to me once that you would never ever end up like that," she felt tears pouring down her face. "You're better than this and you know it." She looked into his eyes, searching for any sign that what she was saying was sinking in, but she couldn't read him and it sent a chill through her. "You've got so much going for you Pete," she begged. "You've almost lost it once, don't do it again." She looked into his eyes and could barely see him, she was crying so hard. "Please," she whispered, walking towards him and leaning down to kiss him. "Please, baby." She begged, leaning her forehead against his.

"After this, it'll all be over," he promised her.

"What'll be over exactly, Pete?" she scoffed, pulling away from him and looking at him in disgust. "You're life? The GSE? How about us?"

Pete's head snapped up and he stared at her hard, praying to God he had just misheard her.

"Us?" Pete laughed bitterly. "So what, you want to break up now?"

"When did I fucking say that? I have stood by you through everything, ok? Every stupid bloody fight, I have stood there and played the good girlfriend role and I'm getting fucking sick of it!" Allie shouted at him. "I'm not the one doing this to us, you are!"

"I'm not doing anything to us, alright, Allie," he shook his head. "For fuck sake, I love you, I'm marrying you,"

"And you think that's enough?" She demanded. "You think slipping a ring on my finger is going to make me ignore the fact that you go out and get the shit beaten out of you every weekend?"

"I've never gotten you involved," Pete snapped. "I've always kept you safe,"

"For fuck sake Pete, I'm marrying you! That kind of makes me involved whether you like it or not!" she shouted angrily. "And you know something else? It's not just about me anymore, ok?"

"What? Are you talking about Bov again, because I told you that's not fucking happening," he shouted.

"No it's not about Bovver!" she shrieked. "It's about me being pregnant, you giant fucking idiot!"

Pete's eyes widened and for the longest moment, nothing was said. Realising that she had said the last part out loud, Allie fell into the chair at the end of the bed and dropped her head into her hands. Why the hell did she need to go and shout her mouth off like that? Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Pete who was still staring at her, his blue eyes wide as saucers.

"You're pregnant?" he repeated slowly.

She didn't respond, she didn't even look up at him.

"Allie?" he tried again, more firmly this time.

"What?" she snapped as she ran a hand through her hair and gulped. "Look, its not my fault ok? I only found out yesterday, I was getting really sick so Lara made me take a test." Tears filled her eyes again and she slammed her hands down onto the leather seat, pushing herself up and glaring at him angrily. "And when I say sick, I mean I was on the verge of making puking a fucking Olympic sport. And all because you couldn't keep it in your pants," she clapped sarcastically. "Well done, Pete. You knock me up and then you go and get yourself beaten into a coma and then you have the God damn audacity to sit there yelling at me-…"

Glancing up at him, she frowned and stopped pacing.

"Why are you smiling?" she demanded.

Smiling would be an understatement; Pete Dunham was…beaming at her.

"When you said you're pregnant, you mean as in we're having a baby," he shook his head. "Like a baby baby?"

"No Pete," she rolled her eyes. "In nine months I'm actually going to give birth to an orange," She snorted. "What do you think?"

"Smart arse," he shot at her.

"Oh, piss off," she snapped defensively.

"Allie," he laughed. "Come 'ere," he held out his hand to her and grinned when she practically ran at him. Pete instantly sat up straighter and pulled her mouth down to his, kissing her so deeply that Allie had to bite back a moan, forcing her body to remember that the poor man was barely out of a coma and all the ideas that she had running through her head right now were more than a little inappropriate. Feeling one of his hands hand's slide down to gently rest on her stomach, Allie smiled against his mouth and pulled away, trying to get her breath back.

Pulling her on top of him, Pete smirked when she squealed and tried to pull away, but he held onto her tighter, placing her so that she was sitting above him on her knees, legs either side of his. He hated himself for putting her through all of that, the past few weeks she had been pregnant and alone and so scared…all because of him.Pushing her sweater up to reveal her still flat stomach, Pete placed his palm against the soft warm skin and shook his head in amazement, knowing that there was a tiny little thing in there, and they had made it. It was crazy, but fucking hell was it exciting.

"It's not just me who's going to worry about you now," she told him, placing her hand over his on her stomach. "Yesterday when I took that test and it said positive, Jesus Pete, I can't even begin to tell you how scared I was, knowing that there was a chance you might never wake up and I'd be alone with this…" she looked down at her stomach. "I love you," she whispered. "I love you so, so much, and I know how much the GSE means to you…but I can't put a child through it," she looked at him in the eye and felt something rip in her chest. "I won't."

Sighing, Allie looked down at their hands for a long moment, swallowing the lump in her throat and trying her best not to start crying again.

"Pete, you were eleven when your Dad died," she explained, watching his eyes darken at the memory. "Do you really want this baby to go through that? Do you really want me to have to go through that? You know I would never ask you to give up the GSE, I promised you when we first met that I would never do that. And I'm not planning on doing it now, but at the same time, if you can't see that that's what you need to do, then…"

Allie trailed off, jumping slightly when Pete grabbed her face and tilted it up so that she was looking him in the eye; gasping when she saw the tears rolling down his face, Allie reached out subconsciously and started wiping them away, biting her lip when he gently kissed the inside of her palm.

"You'll never have to ask me," Pete told her firmly. "Because there's never been a choice, not when it comes to you. It's you, Allie. It's always been you."

Dropping her head down onto her chest, Allie sobbed, unable to keep it together any longer as Pete's arms held her closer, neither of them speaking for a long moment. Bashfully wiping his eyes, Pete pulled back from Allie and stared up at her, still trying to get his head around the fact that she was pregnant. She was having his baby…the girl who he'd met on the underground all those years ago, the girl that no one thought he would ever have a shot with was not only marrying him, but she was going to have his baby. Glancing to the ironically placed crucifix over his bed which he had no doubt his mother had put there, he grinned, knowing that someone up there must like him.

"Fuck, it's a good thing I gave you this isn't it?" He held up her engagement ring and laughed. "Do you have any idea what my mum would say if she knew you were pregnant?"

"Shit!" Allie's eyes widened and she clapped her hand over her mouth. "My dad…I forgot about my dad." She looked at Pete and shook her head. "You can kiss you manhood goodbye, Dunham. When he finds out you've violated his little girl out of wedlock-…"

"Oi!" he laughed. "If I remember correctly, you were never exactly pushing me away,"

"Not the point," Allie shook her head. "The point is, I'm a Roman Catholic,"

"Aren't you lot against birth control?" Pete frowned. "So to be honest, we've only done what God asked,"

"Oh, well, I'm sure once I explain it to my Dad that way," she giggled, turning serious after a moment. "Are you ok with this?"

"What?" Pete frowned.

"Oh, gee, I don't know," she laughed. "Giving up the GSE, marrying me, having this baby?"

Pete stared at her for a moment and stopped breathing; she honestly thought that he didn't want this? Did she actually think that he could ever want anything ever than to be with her every day for the rest of his life?

Reaching up, her pulled her down to him and covered her mouth with his, kissing her with every ounce of strength he had in him, needing her to know that she was all he wanted.

"I love you," Pete whispered against her mouth, tucking her hair behind her ears and smiling at her. "And I can promise you that there is nothing else in this world that I want more than I want you and this baby." He shook his head. "You're stuck with me, Harding."

"You promise?" She smiled down at him, her green eyes sparkling as she bit her lip.

"Cross my heart and hope to-…" he stopped and caught the look Allie gave him. "We're not at the point where we can joke yet are we?" he winced.

"I'm not sure there's a point when a three week coma ever really falls into the category of funny," Allie told him, shaking her head. Jesus, men could be so dense sometimes…

"Well maybe if-…" Pete frowned as he slid his hands around her hips, feeling something wet under his fingertips. Pulling away, he wrinkled his nose at the brown goo on his hand. "Allie, what the fuck?"

"What?" She looked down at his hand and then at her jeans. "Shit!" she hopped off of the bed and reached into her pocket, pulling out a completely melted bar of Bounty. "Oh my God! These were £300 jeans!"

Unable to help himself, Pete started laughing at her as she dug the melted chocolate out of her pocket and shook her head, muttering a few choice words under her breath.

"Since when did you become fucking Willy Wonka?" he asked her, still choking.

"It's not…" she laughed. "I'm addicted to Bounty bars; I have to carry them around with me all the time." She raised her eyebrows when he laughed even harder. "It's not funny! Yesterday in the car park there was a woman eating one and I thought I was going to end up mugging her."

Shaking her head, Allie gave up and flopped back down onto the bed next to him, laying her head next to his and turning to face him. She had almost forgotten how blue his eyes were and how easily he could make her heart stop beating with just a smile…who was she kidding about walking away from him? When it came to Pete Dunham, she had been a goner a long time ago…

"Laugh it up, pretty boy," she smirked. "From what I hear the cravings are only going to get weirder."

"Yeah, well I reckon I can handle it," Pete told her, ignoring the pain in his shoulder when he reached up and began stroking her hair. "Once I'm out of here, everything will change, you'll see," he promised her. "I've got you," he reasoned. "I don't need anything else,"

Allie smiled at him and leant in to kiss him gently, careful not to knock any of the tubes and wires that were strapped to his body. Closing her eyes and revelling in the feel of his mouth on hers, his fingers dancing over her skin, Allie pushed the last three weeks to the back of her mind and focused only on the future.

"Are you sure?"

The older man looked up from where he was hunched over the filthy desk, his hands clasped together as though in prayer as he looked up at the harsh white light above his head trying to put a face to the voice.

"I'm positive," Lee Esdon leant down and met his eyes, trying not to let his fear show as he watched the monster before him crack his knuckles menacingly on the battered wooden surface.

"Well then," the older man smiled sickly, the long scar marring the side of his face making him look almost demonic as he turned to the group of men sat behind him. "If my little friend Lee here is telling me the truth and Petey Dunham is alive then we have something of a problem, don't we boys?"

"What do want us to do?"

"Nothing," he replied. "You lot do fucking nothing. I started it and it's up to me to finish it,"

Reaching under his desk, Tommy Hatcher pulled out a long, jagged blade and turned it over in his fingers as he grinned up at Lee.

"And I plan to do just that." He placed the knife on the table and it glinted menacingly in the fluorescent lighting. "And don't worry little Lee, this time, I'll be much more thorough."

Oooh, I feel so evil right now! Come on, don't tell me you thought it was going to be all sunshine and rainbows from here on out...I'm far to twisted for any of that :D ...I'm in the process of writing the final chapter and I'm finding it sooo difficult! But chillax boys and girls, we have a little way to go before I throw that one at you ;) enjoy...