EDIT: I posted yesterday but it seems that the notification didn't get out, hopefully this time it will work

EDIT 2: it seems that now you have to opt-in to receive email alerts and notifications now, so you might want to check that's on or you won't get alerts when a new chapter is up

I see a pattern, not for the first time: it seems there are more reviews when things go bad LOL. Good to know! It seemed the last chapter caught you off guard, despite my track record eh eh.

First of all, welcome to Jcat! Glad you found this, hope you'll keep enjoying it

Fridmame; You're right: it's bad that Gillian got hurt but poor Cal too, stuck between her and Emily!

Tori: eh you know me, can't go long without some drama!

Let's pick up exactly from where we left off, shall we?

The only reason why Cal didn't pick up Gillian and took her out of that basement was that Deputy Larry beat him to it. The reason for it was probably in the extreme guilt all over the face of the young deputy, something Cal made a mental note to investigate later if he had to beat it out of him.

It was a marvel that his brain had space for that kind of forward looking thoughts in the frantic mess of the moment, but the deviation was possible because while being carried out Gillian had briefly regained consciousness and found - God that woman was something else - the focus and strength to look at him and smile briefly. It didn't last long, just enough to tame the panic he had been feeling over the past minutes, and then her eyes fluttered and she was out of it again before they could put her on a stretcher.

"Dad!"

This is my worst nightmare! Cal whined in his head, Emily's voice calling for him acting like a force pulling him back from the stretcher. It really was the worst thing that could have happened to him, the same awful situation he had gone through before: his daughter or the woman he loved. Then Cal realised he was probably in the way of the people who were there to help Gillian and opted for a half-way measure, turning around to look at Emily but keeping his ears tuned on the chattering of the EMTs. Emily was coming towards him, Toby Reed still clung on her, and with that bug eyed expression and terrified face he thought she looked like the fearful 5 years old girl who had lost her parents at the funfair many years ago.

"Em, are you ok? Are you hurt?" He asked immediately, his hands absently touching her face and head as if to look for injuries.

"I'm ok Dad, we are ok." She said then, her hand carefully caressing the back of Toby's head. Then one of the paramedics behind Cal yelled something about a scalp laceration and the need to get her to the hospital and he turned around just in time to see Gillian being loaded on the back of the ambulance. "Oh my God, is that Gillian?!"

"Let's go Em," Cal said instead of providing a direct answer, then wrapped his arm around her and guided her to a quiet corner. "Gill's ok." Was he lying to her? He honestly didn't know. "What happened in there? Why did you go in without us?"

"Deputy Larry thought-"

"Dr Lightman!"

For the love of God! Cal cursed in his mind again, this time dragged away from the conversation by the Sheriff. She was coming their way, pushing people off if necessary, with the deputy trailing behind her with that guilty expression still plastered all over his face.

"What the hell happened!" Cal barked at the Deputy, who immediately recoiled. "You were supposed to wait for us."

"I-I'm sorry. We-" Cal glared at him, daring the man to shift the blame and caring very little if he had to take it back later. "I thought it was too risky to wait."

"We'll talk about it later John," Sheriff Talbot cut in, her tone also suggesting he was in for an earful no matter what, then she looked at Emily who was glued to her father's side. "How is Toby? We should take him to the hospital."

Yeah, not just him! Cal thought, quickly glancing back at the ambulance with Gillian which still hadn't driven off. Was that a good sign? Was her condition not so serious to warrant an urgent departure? Or was she so bad that they had to stabilise her first? Then he blinked out of it and focused back on the conversation going on in front of him, where Emily was looking up at him with a lost expression not knowing what she was supposed to do. Part of him wanted to tell the Sheriff - and Deputy Larry, especially Deputy Larry - to shove her request where the sun didn't shine, but it would have been a petty and useless form of blackmail. But of course, the boy wasn't a bargain chip and after having gone missing for days he definitely needed to be looked after and reunited with his foster parents.

Eventually, with a heavy heart that maybe didn't have much to do with Toby, Cal nodded at his daughter and she let go of the boy, gently passing him to the Sheriff. Only slightly calmer, mostly for Emily's benefit, Cal was about to ask again to the Deputy what had happened when he heard car doors closing behind him and turned around, seeing that Gillian's ambulance was finally about to go.

"Where are they taking her?" He immediately asked the Sheriff, fishing in his pockets for car keys he knew he didn't have because Gillian had been driving.

"The county hospital," she explained absently while waving a hand to one of the paramedics so they could come and take Toby with the second ambulance. "I can drive you."

For some reason Cal didn't like the plan, his beef was with the Deputy but all he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts - Emily the only exception - while he drove to the hospital to see Gillian. But he didn't have the keys, not even a bloody copy and how was he supposed to -

"Dad, here." Out of nowhere, Emily stretched her hand to him pushing the car keys on his fingers. "Let's go."

Cal didn't waste time questioning what looked like a magic trick to him, he just nodded and took hold of his daughter getting them to the car, not looking behind once not even when the Sheriff told him to just follow the ambulance. Once in the car Cal glued his hands to the horn and kept at it until people understood they'd better clear the space around him or risked being run over, then when he had a clear path he started to tailgate one of the ambulances. He had lost track of which one was carrying Gillian but figured both would be going to the same place, and when the road opened up before them he made sure not to lose sight of the vehicles ahead of him. Still, every now and then he glanced at Emily at his side, curled up on the seat and hugging herself in a way that tugged at his heart in all the wrong ways.

Dammit! He thought, biting at his bottom lip and fighting back the urge to say something. He should have, he should have asked her how she was doing, if she was ok, but Cal felt that he'd better wait. Emily was scared, maybe not entirely traumatised but certainly not ok, but he had a feeling that her seemingly lost state was in big part due to Gillian being hurt. Which put them on the same spot: the first thing they needed to do was to make sure she was ok.

When the Sheriff had said 'county hospital' for some reason Cal had pictured a huge facility, miles away from Sedley; instead, it turned out to be a small medical centre only 10 minutes away from where they were, a place that in Cal's humble opinion didn't look like it could look after more than 100 patients at the same time.

More like a country hospital! He grumbled to himself as he parked the car, then he and Emily got out and made a quick way to the entrance. Once inside, he just about had the time to see Gillian's stretcher being wheeled away behind automatic doors and try to run after her until a nurse stopped him, mumbling something about restricted access. Cal was about to respond to her in a very rude way when a woman came closer, a doctor by the look of it; she spoke to the nurse and told her to let it go, then introduced herself as Dr Milton. He had the slight impression that the doctor expected him to react to her name as if it meant something to him, but it didn't ring a bell and she didn't seem to mind, and anyway Cal forgot all about it when she invited them to follow her.

Cal wasn't quite sure what stroke of luck had come to him but didn't intend to question it, so he wrapped his arm around Emily's shoulder and they followed the woman behind the doors. She explained that she didn't know anything yet since Gillian had literally just arrived, but that she was going to tell them where they could wait and find out as soon as possible. He thanked her and found somewhere they could sit, although he wasn't sure he was going to be able to do just that, and once they were settled Emily wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight.

"She'll be ok Em," Cal whispered with his mouth pressed on her forehead.

"How do you know?"

I don't. He thought. I just hope so.

"She was awake." That was only half a lie, she had been at some point. "They didn't even need to put the sirens and the light on, it means it's not that bad right?" Emily hummed something on his shoulder, maybe in agreement. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Emily let out such a long and loud sigh that Cal almost expected her not to answer, but then she pulled back just a bit, her arms still firmly around him and looked up at him.

"We just wanted to take a look, Gillian thought if we were keeping the woman busy she couldn't harm Toby." Cal's jaw clenched slightly, maybe he did owe a bit of an apology to Deputy Larry. "We had a story for her, an excuse just to get inside the house and keep an eye on things. But then the deputy said something, he asked about the bicycle outside in the front lawn and the woman just lost it." So no apology owed, good to know! "She grabbed a knife and attacked him, they were fighting and yelling and then we heard Toby scream. The woman, Tamara…when she heard the scream she tried to run but Gillian tried to stop her, that's when…the knife, Dad, I think she got Gillian with that." Cal gulped but tried not to give too much away, knowing his daughter needed his strength to carry on. "Tamara left the room and they went after her but then Toby came running from I don't know where. Gillian…she told me to stay with him and go, she threw me the car keys and….I don't know Dad, the deputy was shooting and they were yelling and then they all ran away and then you arrived and I-"

"Come here, love. Come here." He pulled her closer and hugged her as tight as he could, holding her gently and desperately and lulling both of them on the squeaky plastic chairs. "I'm sorry darling, I'm so sorry you had to be there Emily."

"It was scary Dad,"

"I know Em, and you were so brave." You shouldn't have to be, you shouldn't have been there at all. "I'm really proud of you."

"I should have tried to help Gillian."

"You did, you did what she told you and it was the right thing to do. Em, look at me." He had to force to look up at him. "You protected Toby and that was the most important thing, because nobody was looking after him. Gillian knew that, and she knew she could count on you to do that."

"Why did she have to get hurt? Dad, what if-"

Cal had to pull her back in, nearly choking her into a new hug: he didn't know how else he could stop her from voicing the thought that had been living rent free in his head since the moment he had entered the Lewton house. It was the only way he could think of to prevent her from seeing how scared he was.

They were still tangled like that a few minutes later when the Sheriff showed up. Cal spotted her coming through the door and stretched his neck, grinding his teeth and holding his breath as he waited to see if Deputy Larry would appear behind her. He didn't, Talbot was alone and as far as Cal was concerned it was better that way: he didn't want to create a scene and get himself kicked out before he could find out about Gillian. The Sheriff immediately spotted them and came closer, removing her hat and fidgeting with it while looking down and away; at least someone was sorry for that mess.

"Dr Lightman, Emily," she sighed, her voice a little shaky. "Are you two ok?"

"We will be," Cal grumbled, holding onto his daughter protectively.

"I spoke with John, Deputy Larry… He shouldn't have gone in on his own, and he knows it was wrong of him to confront Tamara like that." Cal stared at her, thinking about asking her to tell her deputy to find the guts to come tell it to his face. "I am really sorry this happened. You and Dr Foster and Emily are the reason all those kids were saved and I-" She stumbled on her own words, clearly feeling terrible and then even worse when she asked. "Do you know…any word on Dr Foster?"

Seeing the genuine concern in the woman's eyes, mixed in with guilt and a bit of rage towards her deputy, Cal suddenly realised that he didn't have enough mental and emotional energies to be mad at her, nor at anybody else for the time being. So he shook his head and sighed, but just then Dr Milton reappeared from around the corner. Cal immediately straightened up on his seat and Emily sat on the edge of hers, their hands holding onto each other, and as the doctor approached he immediately realised two things: she was smiling, which was a good sign, and it might have not been entirely only about Gillian.

"Mary, hi." Dr Milton went straight for the Sheriff with that smile. "I thought you might come around."

"Duty calls, Vittoria," the Sheriff responded with a professional smile of her own, something that, Cal felt, looked a lot like the glances he and Gillian exchanged. That was when he noticed the matching wedding bands on their fingers, and all of a sudden the familiarity with him Dr Milton had previously displayed suddenly made sense. "We're her for-"

"Gillian Foster, I know." The doctor gently cut off her spouse then looked down at Cal. "She had a concussion and we wanted to do an MRI first, to rule out any problems. It came back all clear, so nothing to worry about."

"She was bleeding," Cal mumbled, wondering why his brain was resisting what sounded like good news. "Something on her stomach."

"Only a superficial wound in the end. There was some blood loss but it wasn't as bad as it looked. But she did hurt her back when she fell so she's probably going to be a little sore."

The doctor stopped talking all of a sudden, and it took Cal a few seconds to realise that the medical update was all there. To take the next step however, to accept that it meant that Gillian was ok, seemed to be taking forever and it had to be Emily the one to step in and clarify things for him.

"So she's…Gillian is ok?" The girl asked, sharing her father's pleased shock but at least being able to investigate further. "She'll be alright?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Dr Milton was positively happy that she could be the one delivering the good news. "She's sedated now, but she should wake up soon. We will administer something for the pain and she will have to spend the night here, it's protocol for concussions, but aside from that she'll be as good as new."

Cal was hit twice, by the realisation that Gillian was indeed ok and then by Emily, who tackled him in a bear hug so impetus that it took the wind out of him. He kept looking up at Dr Milton, whose smile was steady and true, her words going through his mind like a broken record, then the synapsis of his brain finally started to work again and he asked when they'd be able to see her.

At least I left you with some good news...