Sara quickly drifted off to sleep, her body almost demanding the rest. Catherine lay next to her, her hand rubbing gently across Sara's arm, helping Sara to settle again quickly when the dreams threatened to pull her out of the edges of sleep.

Eventually Catherine drifted off too, as the next thing she was aware of was Lindsey almost slamming the door as she returned from school. Catherine groaned, rubbed her eyes and then looked at her watch, surprised to see that it was 4 o'clock already. Carefully she pulled herself out of bed, so as not to disturb Sara and went to see how her daughter's school day had been.

'Hey Linds' Catherine greeted with a smile

Lindsey sighed, rolled her eyes and grabbed a drink from the fridge

'How was your day?'

Shutting the fridge, Lindsey leant against it 'I had to get the bus'

'Oh… I know, I'm sorry Linds… we fall asleep'

'We?' Lindsey raised her eyebrow again 'You mean you and Sara?'

'Yeah, you know she's going through a rough time right now…'

'Actually, no I don't' Lindsey snapped back 'She hasn't said a single word too me since she got here, she's not even spoken to you, and what, now your sleeping with her?'

'It's not like that…'

'No? Then what is it like? I have no idea why she's here Mom' Lindsey spat out, moving to sit at the table

'It's complicated Lindsey…'

'I'm not a kid anymore more' Lindsey protest, her voice beginning to rise

'Please Linds, don't shout, Sara's sleeping…'

'Then tell me, what's going on mom?'

Catherine sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose 'Ok' moving further into the kitchen, she put the kettle on 'How about you get in your PJ's, and I'll make us some hot chocolate ok, then I'll tell you?'

Lindsey looked at her mum for a moment, wondering if she really would hear the real reason to Sara's visit, but decided not to argue at this point. 'Ok mom'

Xxx

Catherine walked into the living room, two steaming mugs of hot cocoa in hand, expecting to see Lindsey. Instead she was faced with Sara.

'Hey…' she greeted, setting the mugs down 'I thought you were sleeping?'

Sara shrugged 'Don't sleep much'

Catherine raised an eyebrow slightly, but didn't question it further, knowing that her conversation with Lindsey probably played a part in it.

'Lindsey's back from school…'

'Yea…' Sara looked around, wrapping her arms around her body.

'She's asking questions Sara'

'Oh' Shuffling further into the room, she sat down in the far corner, her back against the wall. 'Thought she knew'

'No…' Catherine admitted

Just then Lindsey walked back into the room, dragging her blanket along with her 'Mom?' she questioned, looking between the two women.

'You're not going to tell me are you?' she huffed

'Linds…' Catherine sighed

'No mom, don't 'Linds' me, you could tell me when she was asleep, but now she's awake you won't? Why? This is my house too!'

'Linds…' Catherine tried again

'It's ok' Sara spoke up 'She's right… it's her house too'

Catherine nodded, and moved to sit on the sofa, holding her arms out, hoping that Lindsey would sit with her, whilst Sara stayed sat on the floor in the corner.

Once Lindsey was settled, Catherine started to speak

'You know Sara was in the hospital right?'

'Yeah' Lindsey nodded, glancing over at Sara quickly before turning back to her mom. 'She got hurt, and slept a lot, I came to see her a couple of times…' Lindsey frowned 'but she was always sleeping'

'That's not the whole story sweetheart'

'I know' Lindsey acknowledged, reaching for her mug of cocoa. She was 9, she wasn't stupid.

'Ok…' Catherine took a deep breath, looking between Sara and Lindsey 'Sara's been struggling lately, someone who was supposed to be close to her was very… mean… they hurt her Lindsey, and they made Sara feel very bad. That person, Sara's brother, died recently, and it upset Sara very much, and now she's finding things even more difficult and hard to cope with, she's not eating very well, which is making her worse, so she needs to stay with someone for a little bit' Catherine tried her best to explain, without making Sara feel too exposed or Lindsey getting to scared by the information.

'How did he die?' Lindsey questioned. She hadn't known many people die in her 9 years, but she knew when her father had died in that accident she had felt a confused mix of sad, angry and almost relieved.

'Ummmm…' Catherine faltered, closing her eyes. The one question that she hoped her daughter wouldn't ask, she had.

'I hurt him, and he died because of it' Sara mumbled into the quiet room, burying her head into her legs

'But it was an accident, right?' Lindsey asked, looking at how Sara curled around herself even more, and how her mom closed her eyes tightly 'Right?' she asked again after a minute of silence

'No Lindsey, it wasn't an accident, I knew what I was doing' Sara admitted to the young Willows woman.

'Oh…' Lindsey took the words in, trying to process what they meant. 'But… he, he hurt you first, right?'

'Yeah' Sara mumbled quietly

'Why?' Lindsey questioned

'Why what?' Catherine asked

'Why would Sara's brother hurt her? I don't hurt Jeremy and he's my cousin, and you don't hurt Aunt Nancy, your always telling me not to argue with him… and that's not hurting, not really…'

'It's complicated sweetheart' Catherine spoke softly, pulling Lindsey into her arms.

Lindsey twisted around in Catherine's arms, and whispered into her ear.

Catherine couldn't help the smile that broke over her face at her daughter's words 'Good idea baby, why don't you ask her?' Catherine nodded in encouragement, and watched as Lindsey walked over to Sara, sitting on the floor in front of her.

'Wanna help me make some bread? We don't have to eat it, but making dough is fun, we learnt at school last week, and we made some fun shapes… it kinda tasted funny, but it was fun to make anyways…'

Sara sat quietly for a moment or two, thinking how to let Lindsey down gently, she was still tired and had opened up enough for one day, and now she just wanted to be left alone again, before she could respond, Lindsey spoke up again.

'Come on, please, if all you do is sit and think about it you won't ever feel better… please Sara? It's scientific you know… baking, you've got to be so precise to get it just right… think of it as an experiment rather than cooking, and then you can go back to being all miserable'

Sara, despite herself, couldn't help but raise her head and smirk a little at Lindsey's words.

'Ok… but only if your mom helps too?' she reasoned.

Xxx

A/N A very talkative chapter, but I think it worked. Hope I wrote Lindsey well enough. Reviews would be appreciated?

Keep safe, Emz xx