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Rachel held her sister's hand, an awkward silence falling over the room now that they were alone. She could hear Melissa gasping for breath, and without thinking began to rub her thumb over her knuckles in an attempt to comfort her. The gasps were coming twice as fast as her own breaths- she didn't think that was a particularly good sign.

"Rach…"

She glanced up, realised Melissa had pulled her mask away. "Would you stop that?" she scolded, reaching out up putting it back in place. "It's there for a reason."

"Rachel. Thank you."

She heard her through the mask, held her gaze for a few moments. "You're welcome. Now stop trying to take the mask off."

Melissa smiled faintly, her eyes drifting closed again but Rachel couldn't work out what was so funny. "Wait, Mel- where did you leave the baby?" she remembered suddenly. She received an odd look. "When the nurses realised you hadn't mentioned her, it raised safeguarding concerns," she explained quickly, hoping her sister had paid attention during the mandatory training at school. "I told them everything was fine, but it would help if I had an actual location."

"Sarah…"

"And Sarah is…?"

"Girl down my street. Not in school today."

Rachel felt her stomach drop. "Not in school? How old is she?"

Melissa shrugged, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but in this conversation.

"At least tell me she has experience of some kind? Younger siblings?" Her sister's face said it all, and Rachel sighed, pulling out her phone to call Eddie. "Of course not. Jesus, Melissa."

But before she could dial, her mobile rang. "Hi," she greeted. "I know where-,"

"I've got her."

That brought her up short. "That was quick. They just handed her over?"

"The girl was fourteen," he said dryly. "And her mum wanted nothing to do with it. Nice people your sister left her newborn with."

"Thank you," she said sincerely, and his tone softened.

"No problem. Not quite sure what to do now, though. I don't have her car-seat so I can't bring her anywhere."

"Rach?" Melissa was looking anxious, the mask in her hand again and this time, Rachel wasn't nearly so gentle putting it back in place.

"Stop that!"

Eddie sounded puzzled. "Stop what?"

"Not you," she said to him. "Mel. She keeps taking her oxygen mask off- I'm starting to have flashbacks of her as an eight-year-old."

"Who?" Melissa gestured to the phone, visibly agitated and trying to rise from the bed, sending her heartrate rocketing.

"For Gods' sakes, Melissa. It's just Eddie, would you stop?" Rachel pushed her shoulder back against the bed, glancing anxiously at the monitors. Her sister's eyes had widened in shock, quickly becoming bitterly knowing. Rachel pointed at her warningly, stepping back towards the window. "Do babysitters take newborns?"

There was silence for a second. "I don't know, as a rule," Eddie admitted. "But I have the number for Michael's one- I know her, a friend recommended her and she used to take Stephen as well."

"Sounds perfect, if she'll agree." Rachel glanced at Melissa. "It'll just be for a few hours, I'll take her overnight. But I can't leave Mel right now and it's not fair to ask Phillip. What's her name?" she asked Mel, who looked angry.

"Who… is taking her?" she demanded, and Rachel realised she probably wasn't being very fair. While not perfect, Melissa was her mother. She swallowed back the snappy reply her instincts said to give, explained what Eddie had just told her, and Melissa visibly relaxed. "Okay."

"Her name?" she prompted.

"Lacey."

Rachel let that sink in for a moment- she had a niece named Lacey. "Pretty," she murmured, before relaying the information to Eddie, who promptly hung up to call the babysitter. Melissa was still watching her.

"He ran straight back to you."

Rachel felt herself tense, fingers tightening around her phone. "You really don't want to go there right now, Melissa."

She watched her gasp in a few more breaths, felt the anger fade again in the face of her distress. She sighed, tucked her phone away and moved closer. "You've slid down the bed," she murmured, and helped her to sit up straighter, uncomfortably reminded of doing this for their mother when she'd been ill. "Better?"

Melissa nodded, looking exhausted. "I didn't know."

"What?"

"Lacey. I didn't know. I really thought… she was Eddie's."

And the anger was back. "Melissa, don't."

"Rach…"

"You must have known it was possible!" she snapped, rounding on her. "You're not that dense! You knew but you still- damn, now you've got me doing it." she rubbed her face, trying to reign in her temper. "If you're going to do stuff like call me to the hospital, then we're going to have to have this out. But another day, when you're not fighting for breath in front of me. Okay?"

She nodded, swallowing thickly. "I am sorry."

But the words didn't have the effect they usually did, and Rachel just looked at her wearily. "You always are."

W.R.

Rachel walked into the waiting room, barely registering the less-than-happy crowds, crying baby and off-tune singing from someone in the corner. There wasn't a seat to be had, she noted, grateful she wasn't looking for one. There were coffee machines stood against one wall and she made a beeline, eyeing the choices unenthusiastically.

"Rach."

A hand on her arm had her yelping, spinning around in surprise. Eddie looked amused. "Sorry."

"God, Eddie." She rubbed her chest, resisting the urge to glare at him. "Don't do that."

"I did call out," he defended lightly, only to have her slide into his arms.

"What are you even doing here?"

He knew her well enough to know that the way she held on just a little too tightly meant she wasn't okay, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "I didn't want you to be alone. Wasn't sure it was a good idea to come in though."

Any other time and any other situation, she'd have melted on the spot. As it was, she stretched up, captured his lips with hers for a sweet kiss that had him looking a little dazed. "Thank you."

"Are you okay?"

She pressed her lips together. "No," she admitted. "But Melissa needs me right now. They've taken her for a chest x-ray."

"Rachel..."

"I know." She cupped his face in her hands, smiling weakly at him. "I know what she's done, everything that's happened. But she's my sister."

He sighed. "I know. I also know that when it was you in this position, she could barely bring herself to visit."

"Eddie."

He immediately looked abashed, and slightly resigned. "Sorry."

She leant against him, coffee the last thought on her mind now. "You don't have to stay here, you know. I'll be okay."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

She smiled softly at him. "And I'm grateful. But there's no point in you sitting out here for what could be hours yet."

"Do you really think I could go home knowing you're here?"

A harried looking woman approached them to use the coffee machine, forcing them to shift to the side and breaking their conversation for a moment. "Be honest," Eddie continued as they moved closer to the wall, brushing her hair back from her face. "Would you really want to be here alone?"

She hesitated for a moment, before relenting. "No. I just feel bad you're sat out here. You could come in? Mel can't breathe, it's not like she's talkative."

He snorted in laughter, but shook his head. "Trust me, bad idea. I can't see her. It wouldn't end well."

That was fair enough, she supposed, relenting. "Promise me you'll go home if you get too tired?" She touched his cheek gently, and he nodded.

"Promise."

He moved back to machines, plugging in the money to fetch them both coffee, each grimacing at the colour and slightly dreading the taste. "I should get back," she murmured, regretful at leaving him but grateful she was doing so before he attempted to discuss their parting words on the phone earlier.

Eddie nodded, tipping her head up so he could kiss her softly. She blinked, looked a bit startled. "What was that for?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"I suppose not." Now it was her turn to stretch up, brush her lips over his with a grin before she turned to make her way back into the maze of corridors, infinitely lighter hearted than before.

When she got back to Melissa's room, she almost dropped the coffee. Her sister was leant awkwardly on one arm on the trolley, tears streaming down her face. "Melissa!" She hurriedly dumped the cup and her bag on the side and flew over, helping her back. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Phone."

"For God's sake." Rachel frowned at her, grabbing the mask and putting it back over her face. "You're going to make yourself worse. Would it have killed you to wait?"

"Need to… talk to Phil…"

"I'll tell him, you'll scare the poor boy half to death if you try. Now be sensible, stay still."

She'd been hoping to avoid it, at least until she had something more definite, but school had been finished for half an hour now and Phillip couldn't very well go home to find a stranger babysitting his sister with no explanation. Before either could move further, however, the nurse from before came hurrying in. "Your sats dropped- did you do something?"

"She tried to get off the bed."

"Well, maybe don't try that again," she advised humourfully. "The doctor will be in soon- he wants to do another test."

"Another?"

She nodded. "It's called an ECHO- echocardiogram. Like an ultrasound, but for your chest. It'll give us a better picture of what's going on. I'll see if I can hurry him along."

Rachel saw Melissa touch her chest with a frown, looking worried. "I'm sure they're just being cautious."

The blonde looked at her plaintively, waved a pointed hand towards the mask and the monitor. "Point taken," Rachel conceded, retrieving her coffee and her phone at the same time, dialling Phillip easily.

He answered with a distracted hello, and she couldn't help the amused twitch of her lips. "It's me, Phil."

"Rach? What's wrong?" he instantly sounded worried, and she heard another voice in the background that had her raising an eyebrow.

"Where are you? And is that Ros?"

"Yeah it is…" he admitted sheepishly. "And we're at the park. Why?"

"I don't want you to panic, okay?" she said slowly. "But I'm at the hospital with your mother."

Her mild reassurance didn't work. "What's wrong? Is it Lacey?"

"No, Lacey's fine. She's with a babysitter." She took a deep breath, tossed Mel a reassuring smile and began to explain to the boy what was happening, glad that at least Ros was there to help keep him calm.

"She'll be alright though?" he asked anxiously.

"The doctors and nurses are looking after her," she soothed. "And I'm going to stay with her."

"Even though…?" he trailed off awkwardly, and she felt her lips twist.

"Even though."

He was silent for a long time. "Thank you."

Before she could say anything else, the door opened and the doctor they'd seen earlier came in, wheeling a machine. "Phil, the doctor's here, I've got to go. I'll be at yours later, okay?"

She hung up, watched worriedly as the doctor introduced himself and explained the test to Melissa, all the while setting up the machine. Rachel turned her eyes away as he undid her gown, but couldn't help look at the screen. She had no idea what she was looking at, couldn't at all decipher the varying shades of grey that had his face going carefully blank.

"Well?"

"I need to talk to consult with a colleague, but I'll be back soon."

That wasn't good, Rachel thought, glancing over to her sister, who somehow looked even more frightened than before.

W.R.

"Melissa, we believe you have a condition called peripartum cardiomyopathy- PPCM, for short." The doctor was back, looking sombre and Melissa clutched at Rachel's hand. "It's a rare complication of pregnancy, in which your heart enlarges and can no longer pump effectively, leading to further complications such as the fluid around your lungs and the swollen ankles."

He nodded towards Melissa's feet, which until then Rachel hadn't even noticed were swollen and puffy. Melissa's grip tightened even more. "How bad?"

He hesitated. "I won't lie to you- it's very serious," he admitted. "You need immediate treatment, we're sending you straight up to the cardiac ward and they may decide to transfer you to a more specialised hospital."

He carried on talking, explaining and Rachel knew she should be trying to listen, to take in the information her sister undoubtably wouldn't be, but all she could think about was what was going to happen next? Who was going to look after Lacey and Phillip while Melissa was in hospital? Phillip was one thing, but she had to work, what was she going to do with a newborn?

She could practically feel the migraine starting behind her eyes.

The doctor left, and her sister was laying pale and terrified, lips tinged with a hint of blue as she looked over to Rachel, who gave her a faint smile. "Only you could get the rare complication weeks after actually giving birth," she joked weakly. Melissa blinked at her.

"Lacey…"

"I know. I'm working on it." The room was too small, too stifling and she surged to her feet, shooting her sister a vaguely apologetic look. "I'll be right back."

She didn't look back as she fled, barely conscious of anything but the burning desire to get away, away from the smells and the sounds and the suddenly overwhelming responsibility that should never have been hers in the first place.

The air outside wasn't a whole lot better, tinged with cigarette smoke from the small group that were stood huddled by the doors. She veered away from them, stumbling down the path to a set of railings that she managed to catch herself on, burying her face in her hands.

"Rachel?" Worried hands slid around her, one on her back while the other rested on her arm. She turned blindly in Eddie's arms, burying herself against him.

"It's not fair. This shouldn't be on me. I don't want this."

"What happened?" The pure concern in his voice did nothing to help the tears escaping her, soaking into his shirt.

"Mel has some rare form of heart failure, caused by pregnancy. She's going to have to stay in for a little while, and need at least some care when she comes out. And she won't be able to care for Lacey or Phil, and it's going to have to be me and I know I'm being selfish but I don't want to!"

"Rach…"

"I know. I know I'm being unbelievably self-centred, Mel's sick and it's not her fault." She pulled away, blinked back fresh tears. "But after everything that happened, I don't want to see her, let alone care for her and her children!"

"You don't have to."

"Yes, I do! I'm her big sister, she doesn't have anyone else!"

He wrapped her in a hug, and she sank into him, hiding her face in his shoulder. "I don't think you're being selfish," he murmured, dropping a kiss onto her head. "I think you're being human."

Her voice came out muffled. "A fairly awful one, right now."

"No, Rach. You're allowed to be hurt. Melissa lied to you, did things she knew would cause you pain but did them anyway- you're allowed to be angry at that."

"There's a part of me that wishes I could walk away and let her try and cope." She sounded exhausted, turning her head so that she was no longer talking into his chest. "I never would, I couldn't be that vindictive for the kids' sake, if nothing else. But I kind of wish I could."

He tightened his grip around her. "I know. That's what makes you, you."

She closed her eyes, and simply remained where she was in his arms, trying her best to pretend for a few minutes that everything was okay.