WARNING - MENTIONS OF SELF HARM

Once Kyle had unpacked the things his brothers had packed for him, he picked up Bruno and the tennis ball launcher and rope ball before walking out to one of the fields, choosing the one with no one in it so he could be alone. He sat with Bruno for a while, deciding against using the launcher and stick with the rope ball to spend more time with Bruno. After a while, Pete walked out and joined him, glad to see him and Bruno getting along well.

Kyle's POV

"Bruno really likes you." Pete smiles, sitting down in front of me and Bruno.

"What happens to him when I leave?" I ask, already feeling attached to the little puppy.

"A lot of people that stay here adopt the dog they've bonded with and take them home. For those who can't, they have to leave the dog here and we retire them for someone else to adopt." Pete says. "Which would you choose if it came to it?"

"I'd like to adopt him but Brax would never agree to it, not if it made me happy." I mutter, knowing he doesn't want to see me happy if he left me here, not even slightly bothered that he did.

"I'm sure that's not true." Pete says.

"Yeah, it is. He basically said I would steal his kid just so I fill the gap."

"What do you mean by 'fill the gap'?"

"I have a daughter, Lillie… She was taken from Marilyn, our neighbour who was babysitting for me, whilst I had a meeting at work. She was just over 5 months old then, she'll be 6 and a half months by now." I say, desperately fighting back tears at how long it had been since I saw her.

"Did you not get her back?" Pete asks, and I shake my head.

"The police couldn't find any traces of DNA to go on, they called off the search a couple weeks ago. Ricky gave birth at the same time and I tried to avoid them as much as I could cause it hurt knowing I wouldn't get that with Lillie." I say, not believing that I was opening up to a stranger, but I wanted to leave this place. "It was hard seeing them happy with their kid… And yeah maybe I stared at her too much, but she just reminded me of Lillie so much when she was that small, and I'd remember all the little things she did. Then Brax jumped to conclusions and thought I was capable of stealing his kid to make up for losing mine." I scoff, wiping away tears as I try to focus on Bruno. Brax hated me, that's the real reason I'm here, I just wish he had the guts to admit it my face instead of dumping me in some clinic.

"Is this what led to you self harming - your daughter being abducted and your brother thinking that?" Pete asks, and I nod in reply.

"I don't understand why she was taken, why no one knows where she is." I mutter, more tears rolling down my face. "The police said it was likely to be a targeted attack, that someone deliberately chose my Lillie, but I don't know who would do that. I didn't have any problems with anyone, and the one person I did had a strong alibi, being in another country when it happened!"

"She's out there somewhere, you've got to have hope." Pete says.

"What hope? The police have called off the search because they thought it was going to keep wasting their resources with nothing coming up and whoever did this is going to get away with it! I'm never going to see her again, to watch her grow up. I wish I wasn't found after I cut myself, and I'd do it again." I defiantly say, standing up as Bruno carries on chewing at the rope ball.

"That's why you're here, for us to help you through that mind set. How do you think your brothers would feel if they didn't find you in time, and they had to find you when it was too late?" Pete says, standing to face me.

"They couldn't care less." I scoff. "They've got their own families to focus on. I'm just a last thought that they never would have got to, or forgot about. I didn't feel like I had anyone to turn to after Lillie was taken because they had themselves to focus on. They never even noticed I was self harming, and it wasn't exactly hid at times."

"Did you want them to notice?" Pete asks as I sit back down, him doing the same.

"What?" I frown.

"Did you want your brothers to notice that you were self harming?"

"No, cause then they would have sent me here sooner. That's how they deal with things, by not having it around. I'm a burden on them, they just couldn't admit it to my face." I say, meaning every word.

"You're not a burden on anyone. What makes you think that?"

"The fact that they weren't there when Lillie was taken, or when I had the police telling me the search was off. They've hated me since the day I met them, and that hasn't changed, they're just better at hiding it now."

"Why do you think they hate you?"

"What's with all the questions?"

"This is a canine therapy clinic designed to help people like you who are in need of our help. Your brothers chose to put you up here so you wouldn't have to stay on a mental health hospital ward. We just want to help you, and you need to help us by letting us inside that head of yours. Then we can work through a plan that will help you recover and not have thoughts or self harm or suicide in the future, and ways to get through them if you do." Pete says as I merely stare at him before picking the tennis ball launcher up, flinging the ball into the distance for Bruno, who chases after it.

"I'm done talking." I mutter, watching Bruno pick the ball up. "And I'm done with this place. You can tell Brax to come and get me because I'm not staying here another second."

"I'm sorry, Kyle, but it's the doctors orders that you stay here until you're in a good headspace to be able to leave. That won't be until the onsite mental health team have deemed it okay for you to go." Pete says, seeing I wasn't going to back down. "I'll give you some time alone with Bruno, I'll be by the kennels if you decide you want to talk."

"I won't." I mutter, keeping his eyes on Bruno as he runs back with the ball, dropping it next to me before picking the rope ball up.

Normal POV

"Hey, did you get Kyle to the clinic okay?" Ricky asks as her husband walks in, walking straight over to the counter with a bottle of whiskey.

"Yep." Brax mutters, downing a glass of it.

"Thought you were giving that up now Emilia's born?" Ricky says, walking over to him.

"I need it."

"Did Kyle settle in well?" Ricky asks, not getting a reply. "Did he like it there?"

"Yeah, until it came to me leaving. He thinks I've abandoned him there. First Lillie's taken, then the police call off the search, now he thinks I've just dumped him with a load of strangers who are going to force him into talking to them." Brax says, about to grab the whiskey bottle again when Ricky quickly gets to it.

"Deep down he knows it's best for him. You can always visit him." Ricky says.

"Visits aren't allowed, neither are phone calls. He's not allowed contact with any of us whilst he's there." Brax says. "Pete said he'd call if anything happened, but that's it."

"Brax, they're going to help him, he needs their help." Ricky firmly says.

"No, he needs us!" Brax says, starting to pace. "I shouldn't have agreed to this… He needs us and I let him down."

"You haven't let him down." She sighs, knowing he was going to beat himself up over this.

"Yes I have. I didn't even notice that he was self harming. What sort of brother does that make me?"

"You had other things that took your attention away from Kyle. None of us knew that was happening and you can't blame yourself." Ricky says as Brax glances at her. "Go on, Emilia woke up just before you got home, some cuddles with her will do you some good." She lightly smiles, watching Brax walk over to the cot to pick his daughter up, unable to hide a smile as he looked down at her.