About three hours later, Charlotte woke up, she looked at her mother and noticed that she wasn't connected to the life support, she knew that her mum would be tired so she chose not to wake her, Charlie soon fell back to sleep holding on to her mother's hers hand.

Serena had been working on her computer typing up patients reports and looking at pictures of her and Bernie , as it was near her break she stepped out the office and leant against the door looking over at the bed that her partner was in seeing both Bernie and Charlotte asleep , she smiled to herself before going back into the office to look for a blanket for Charlotte.

When the brunette found one she walked out the office and over to where Bernie was and gently put the blanket over Charlotte. She picked up Bernie's folder and opened it to check if it's been filled out. After when she checked she put the folder down and sat on the opposite side of Bernie and held her hand , she held her hand softly before kissing it.

Fifteen minutes later Charlotte woke and stretched a little then got off the bed sitting back on the chair looking at Serena as she thought that she was going to say something about her being on the bed. Charlie looked at Serena then looked down at her hands knowing she needed to apologise for earlier.

"Urm… I'm sorry…" the young blond spoke still looking down

Serena was a little confused at why she was apologising at first before she clicked

"No need, I understand"

"Please just let me apologise, it's what mum would want me to do…" the young blonde lifted her head up a little so she was looking over at Serena.

Serena looked at her and smiled a little "I get it , it was the shock of hearing that your mum is hurt… I honestly would have acted the same"

"Yeah I suppose.. maybe this is my fault because me and her haven't spoken since she told us about her affair… I never meant what I said…"

"I can assure you that this isn't your fault, what did you say to her?"

"That I never wanted to see her or hear from her that she's dead to me.. but I realise now it wasn't her fault… she spent years in the closet even when everyone around her knew that she was bisexual…"

"Did she know that you didn't mean it?"

"No..I don't think she did, but I know she saw how much I hated her.. I think she tried that night to.. she tried to over dose with Alcohol and her PTSD tablets… Shane her friend from the army found her out cold on the park bench.. he tried to get me to see her… but I wasn't ready to you know, I was filled with to much hate but now I wish I had…"

Serena nodded softly and handed her a few tissues as the young blonde had tears talking about her mother.

Charlotte wiped her eyes with the tissue "she's never been good with pain or grief… she just bottles it up and pretends to be okay when she's not… and when it gets too much for her to handle she doesn't come out of her room for days or she turns to the drink…" Charlie paused looking over at her mother and sighed "I just want my mum back, I want her to know that it's okay to ask for help.."

Charlie sighed and wiped a few tears from her face as she looked back at Serena, Serena had placed her and on hers and rubbed it to show support "mum hates us doesnt she? I mean I get that the army needed her but we needed her more but she still chose the army over us.."

At this point without them realising Bernie had woken up , she was confused when she saw her daughter sitting beside her , she looked down at her hand giving a little smile , she was listening to the entire conversation before she added her input

"I could never hate you , I just didn't know how to hack it so I did what I knew best and that was to run back to the army every time it got hard…"

Hearing Bernie's response she immediately looked over and smiled "mum! Your awake! I thought I lost you!"

"Hey, hey, you'll never lose me I promise , I'm sorry" she whispered as she apologised to the pair

Serena looked At her partner "honestly it's okay, I understand"

Charlotte sighed a little as she also looked at her mother

"Why don't you talk to us? We can help?" She asked as she couldn't lie to her mother

Bernie hesitated for a few moments "because.." was all she could say as she tried to think of the next sentence until she finally thought of something

"Because… I get scared that if I tell you, you wouldn't want to help and you'll see that I'm really not the brave mum you think I am, so I bottle it up and put you first then myself.."

"Oh mum…you really need to open up to us.. I know you don't mean to bottle it up but it's not doing you any good.." Charlotte paused "that night when you told me,dad and the rest of the family about the affair that took guts.. I know the outcome of it all wasn't what you wanted but you told us and some of us like granddad and Nan helped you through it.. when the rest of us wasn't ready to, I know I said I hated you and that I never wanted to see you again I didn't think you would try it on that park bench where Shane found you unconscious… then to be told that when you came back and saw Alex again while you was Serena that you tried again , this time just with the alcohol… do you know how it feels like being told that you tried it again after you promised not to?" Charlotte ranted as tears filled her eyes again

"Char.. I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt anyone I just thought that everyone was better off without me… I'm just too messed up to be loved…"

"That's not true… I love you, Nan and granddad loves you, Cameron loves you even if he's got a funny way of showing it and Serena loves you isn't that enough?"

Bernie slowly nodded "I'm sorry, I really am…"

Charlotte couldn't hold back the tears and started crying

"Come here"

Charlotte climbed back onto the bed and cuddled into her mum "I just want my mum back… the mum that cared about all of us.. this isn't you and you know it…"

Bern put her arm around her holding her close and kissed her daughter's head "I'm here sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere I promise"