Kim had untangled herself from Adam's grasp much to his disappointment and reached for the remote. "You've just broken my heart, don't you do it again." He snatched it from her hand playfully as he laughed. He knew precisely what she wanted to do. He was watching this game come hell or high water, and there was only one thing that was going to make him turn it off and it was highly unlikely that was going to happen with a teenager in the house.

"Can I go and see Abbey? I want to make sure she's okay." Polly appeared back downstairs looking a little anxious. Polly wasn't stupid, she directed her question to her mother instead of her father. Adam wasn't so keen but Kim looked at Adam who was unimpressed and decided to ignore him and agree that she could go.

"Just for a few hours. I need you home by four. Antonio, Sylvie and Lucas are coming for dinner." Polly tried not to roll her eyes. Lucas Dawson was the biggest pain in the arse, basically because he was besotted with her and would hang around her like a bad smell. He was a year younger than Angus, who was annoying enough on his own let alone when Lucas was around.

She waved and was out the door before Adam could protest or have some input so he turned on Kim instead. "You were quick to let her go?"

"Hmmm." Kim slipped one hand under his shirt and tugged lightly on the hairs on his lower abdomen. She knew precisely how to get him to forget all about Polly's disappearing act. "Well, perhaps I was feeling generous."

"So generous that you are about to let me fuck you?" He had one eye on the TV and one eye on his wife and an irresistible smirk on his face.

"Such a way with words." Kim muttered but her eyes were twinkling and he was up off the couch and dragging her upstairs within seconds. Polly was gone for a few hours and Angus wasn't due home until later. He was refereeing a game this afternoon to earn some cash so they had the house to themselves for a bit and he wasn't about to waste a second of that time. Their kids, god love them for many years had cramped his style.

Adam rolled onto his back, momentarily satisfied and he hooked one hand behind his head and held Kim close to his side with the other. "Darlin' you rock my world."

"I do don't I?"

"Tell you what, give me few minutes to catch my breath and I will let you loose on my again."

"Isn't once enough?" She tried to roll away from him but Adam was having none of it.

"Surely you jest." Kim squealed as he flipped her over and held her arms above her head and started leaving a trail of kisses down her body until she stopped fighting him and just gave in to the sweet sensation.

They eventually dragged themselves out of bed, picked up their clothes, which had been hastily discarded and got dressed again. Afternoon sex hadn't been on the agenda for such a long time but as the kids got older and more independent they had the pleasure of getting lost in each other for a while more and more often.

"Are you worried about what's going on with Abbey?" Adam asked her as they straightened the bed. It may have taken him quite a few years to learn but he knew one thing Kim did not stand for was an unmade or untidy bed.

"A little. What did Polly say?"

"That she was in a bad mood and that she was drinking and vomiting." It hadn't satisfied him at the time but he did know that Polly would often tell Kim more than she did him. What she didn't figure out was that they always compared notes and pieced together the whole story. She really did forget this was what they did for a living.

"Did she say why?"

"No. And that's what worries me. Apparently Polly promised she wouldn't say anything and I hate that. How many times have we heard that?"

Kim patted him on the cheek after he handed her the last cushion. Fuck he hated these things, they seemed to multiple constantly and he would moan that it always took an hour to get into bed because of the amount of 'fluffy crap' on the bed. "Babe, please don't get carried away just yet. It was one time."

"I am not so sure." He followed Kim downstairs and into the kitchen so she could start dinner. "Anyway, I trust Polly."

Kim smacked him on the ass as he disappeared out the kitchen. "Good to know." Adam left Kim to start dinner and headed outside to mow the lawns. He didn't always love the maintenance aspect of owning a house with a yard but now he often found it gave him a chance to switch off, pop on some music and think about nothing or avoid the drama inside. Polly and Angus had gone through a stage where they fought like two rats in a sack and it did Adam's head in. He would crack the shits and go on a rampage of making them pack away whatever it was they were fighting over and ban them from using it for a week. There'd be tears and yelling and slamming of doors, all in all, good times and it fostered his love for his lawn.

They did have faith in Polly though, until she broke that trust.

It was a little after six when she finally got home and from the moment the clock ticked well past four she knew she was in trouble, by five it didn't really matter anymore. Either way she wasn't getting out of it. Polly did not know what she feared most getting reamed out the moment she stepped foot inside the door or the stony silence that greeted her right now. By the look on her father's face she knew that he was not happy and that was probably underselling it. He was furious and the anticipation of facing his wrath almost made her vomit at the dinner table.

Antonio and Sylvie noticed the tension between them all; it was pretty hard to miss. While Kim and Sylvie were making a coffee in the kitchen after dinner Adam and Antonio stayed in the dining room while the boys disappeared into the lounge and Polly to her room. Polly couldn't get out of there quick enough.

"Adam's not impressed."

"With Polly, no. Not at all. She got home late last night with no explanation and now she's done it again. He's definitely pissed."

"He looked like he wanted to explode."

"Oh I think he will later." Kim chuckled although none of this was remotely funny. She was far from impressed with her daughter also. Adam was going to lose his shit, coupled with the fact that he'd had a couple of drinks, not that they were anywhere near drunk but it was going to get ugly for Polly and Kim wasn't in the mood to go into bat for her, she needed to explain why she had done this so soon after getting hauled over the coals about last night and it better be a damn good story.

"Polly's a good kid right?" Sylvie had to admit that she wasn't particularly looking forward to Lucas going through this stage but she was grateful that she didn't have a girl to worry about. To date, Lucas seemed to be a bit nerdy as well so she hoped that meant he never really got into the partying type scene.

"Yes, but something is going on and we are not quite sure what it is yet."

Antonio accepted his glass of scotch. "You know Ava and I were tight as and then one day I was battling this beast that just came from nowhere. It does get better though." Ava was a mother herself now and Antonio doted on his two grandsons, Leo and Max.

"Yeah, and how long did this bullshit stage last?"

A small smile tugged at Antonio's mouth. "Oh a good ten years."

"Fucking fantastic."

"Man, Ava hated me some days I swear."

"You are not really helping me here." Adam was frustrated. He hated feeling like this towards Polly, he hated the thought of not being able to trust her and something was nagging at him. It was so out of the blue and his greatest fear was that Polly would get dragged into whatever was going on with Abbey or worse still she was using Abbey for a cover for whatever she was up to.

It was easier to lay all the blame on Abbey because he couldn't stand it if Polly was the one struggling and running wild. He didn't want to think they had failed to notice the signals because what was going on, all this crap all of a sudden wasn't Polly. Blaming Abbey didn't sit well with him either because neither did he want to see her run off the rails but he had to worry about Polly first and foremost, she was his flesh and blood. If Abbey was suddenly drinking it was a short ride into drug taking and that freaked him out more than anything. In Narcotics he had seen far too many young kids lives ruined because of peer group pressure and he didn't want Polly around that.

From the moment she was placed in his arms as a newborn he worried that he wouldn't be able to protect her from all the shit in the world and it had been hard for him to loosen his grip. If there were even the slightest hint that Polly was going down a bad path he would tighten those reins so damn quick her head would spin.

"Going off half cocked doesn't help, trust me."

"Man, she was late home last night and I think I was pretty level headed. I told her it was her last chance and less than half a fucking day later she's pulling the same shit."

"If you want my opinion…" Antonio didn't really wait for Adam to say yay or nay. "..she knows she's in deep shit and it's not sitting well with her. I don't honestly think Polly is the problem." That was certainly the vibe Antonio got from Polly that evening. She looked terrified and not because she was scared of her father but because she knew she had let him down. Hell, he'd learnt that the hard way with Ava. The only positive you could take out of it was if kids were worried about letting their parents down it was far easier to deal with than those who just didn't give a toss.

"I think that worries me more. I'd like to think I can fix my own child, I don't know what I can do about someone else's kid and I fear that Polly's getting dragged further and further into it because she wants to help."

"Polly is smart."

"She is smart but she is also too easily sucked up in other people's dramas. She always wants to keep people happy and help people. She won't be able to say no. While I'd like Angus to have a little more of Kim's personality I wish Polly didn't have so much of it. She's so trusting and that worries me."

"Gotta let them figure some stuff out on their own."

"I think you need nerves of steel to be a parent to a teenager. Not sure I've got them."

"Polly." Adam bellowed up the stairs as soon as their guests had left. They had not seen hide nor hair of her since dinner. He sent Angus for a shower and asked him to give them some space to talk to his sister.

She was in tears before she even left her room. Adam pointed to the sofa where he wanted her to sit but unlike this morning when he sat on the table opposite her and bought himself down to her eye level he stayed standing and pacing back and forth. Kim was sitting in the easy chair with her arms folded and Polly knew that she was not getting any help from her mother right about now.

After leaving her sitting in silence for a few long painful moments Adam eventually spoke.

"I am going to give you one chance to explain."