Trudy tossed and turned in her bed for an hour, before realising that she probably wouldn't be able to sleep before talking things through with her little boy.

She made her way quietly out of her room and down the hall to the living room. When she got there, she was alarmed to find that he was not there, in fact, there wasn't even a bed made up. His bag and coat were still in the hall, so he couldn't have gone out, and there was no-one in the bathroom or the kitchen. Just before she began to panic, she remembered that there was one other room in the house that she had not checked yet.

She knocked gently on the door of the spare room, but did not wait for an answer before pushing the door open. As her eyes began to adjust to the light, she realised that there was two people in the bed, her son and his friend.

She reached over and flicked the main light on, 'Jeffery Goodwin get out of that bed this instant!'

Jeff's eyes snapped open and her shot out of bed. This movement meant that he threw Lucy halfway across the bed, because she had been resting on his chest. Recovering quickly, she sat up and pulled the covers round herself, waiting for Trudy's explosion.

'Mum, what are you doing in here?' Jeff asked.

'I came to talk to you about what happened tonight, but you weren't on the sofa. No, of course you weren't. Where were you? In bed with her!' she shouted, pointing at Lucy as if her finger could put a curse on her.

'Hey! Don't…' Jeff started, but Trudy cut him off.

'No wonder you weren't interested in talking to Jessica, 'Well I wont have it. I wont have some common tramp bringing my son down to her level.' She reached out to grab Lucy's hand and pull her from the bed.

'Throw her out,' Trudy commanded, holding Lucys hand in the air.

'What?' Jeff asked, still shocked.

'Son, you'll thank me for this one day. Tell her to pack her things and leave. She's no good for you.'

Lucy was silent, praying that the whole situation was nothing but a nightmare. However, the pain on her arm from where Trudy was twisting it was all too real. She watched Jeff who was no longer making eye contact with her. When he did look up, his eyes were filled with such pain and despair that her heart broke for him.

'I'm so sorry about this, Lucy,' he whispered and she felt her eyes fill with tears, 'I think you should leave first thing in the morning, mum.'

'Excuse me?' Trudy asked, incredulous, as Lucy's head snapped up in disbelief.

'I said, I think you should leave. Lucy means more to me that anything else in the world and until you came along we were doing really well. We don't need you judging us, when we haven't done anything wrong.'

'How dare you speak to me like that?'

'I'm sorry but it's true. No matter how many different names you call her, won't change the way I feel.'

Tears fell from Lucy's eyes, but of happiness and not fear. Trudy was furious, however, and suddenly whipped round to leave, forgetting that she still hand a tight grip on Lucy's arm. The younger woman was not paying attention, so when Trudy pulled on her arm, she went toppling over. Jeff reached out to grab her, but was not quick enough. She hit head on the bedside cabinet and was unconscious before she hit the ground.

'Oh my God,' Jeff murmured in shock. He suddenly forgot all his medical training and was afraid of the copious amount of blood which flowed from a gash on her head. He sunk to his knees at her side, while Trudy kicked into action, calling an ambulance and running off to get water and bandages.

'Don't worry, sweetie,' he whispered, clutching at he hand, 'The ambulance will be here soon. Just you hang on in there.'

O>

Jeff dressed quickly before leaving the house and when the three of them arrived at the hospital in the ambulance, Jill Weatherill was waiting for them. They wheeled the still unconscious Lucy into the emergency department, and Jeff tried to follow into the treatment room, but Jill stopped him.

'Jeff, perhaps it would be better if you waited out here.'

'I'm a doctor. I can help.'

'You're also very personally involved. Please, stay here. And don't worry, I'll take good care of her.' Jill walked into the room and the door swung shut behind her. Jeff watched helplessly through the window for a few moments, but soon this became too distressing, so he sat and waited in the relatives room. He tried to remember how many times he had visited family members in this room, sometimes with good news, sometimes with bad news, sometimes with no news at all. After twenty minutes or so, he was alerted by the sound of footsteps on the hard floor. Looking up, praying it was Jill with news, he was disappointed to see his mother.

'How is she?' Trudy asked, hovering in the doorway.

'Like you care,' Jeff replied, looking away from her.

'Oh, my boy. Of course I care,' she insisted, walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder.

'Don't touch me!' he shouted, shrugging her hand off and jumping up, 'It's your fault that she's in here. We were fine until you showed up and spoilt everything.'

'Jeff, please…'

'No! You put her in here, you hurt her. If anything happens to her I'll never forgive you. Never!'

'I was only trying to protect you,' Trudy argued.

'Protect me? By taking away the one person who keeps me sane? Makes me want to wake up each morning? That doesn't sound like protection to me.'

'Excuse me, but what is going on in here?' asked Matron, appearing in the doorway.

'Sorry matron,' Jeff apologised, sheepishly.

'Dr Goodwin? You're not on call tonight.'

'No matron, I came in with Dr Klein.'

'And where is she?'

'In there,' he said, pointing to the treatment room. Matron looked confused, but went to look through the window. Shock and Realisation registered in her face almost immediately, but hid it as quickly as possible.

'I see. She's been staying with you since the fire, hasn't she?' Jeff nodded, 'So why don't you tell me about what happened tonight?'

'My mother,' Jeff nodded towards Trudy, 'had been staying with me as well. Tonight, she, Lucy and I got into a fight, and Lucy fell. She hit her head on the table.'

'What was the fight about? Matron asked. Jeff looked down, unable to answer such a question from matron.

'Tell her then,' Trudy encouraged, but Jeff just looked away, 'Fine. I'll tell her then. I found them in bed together tonight. And I have a feeling it's not the first time either.'

Matrons eyebrows shot up and she looked at Jeff, 'You and Dr Klein are a couple?'

'No,' Jeff replied quickly, 'It was just, well, there wasn't enough beds for all of us. I didn't want her to leave, and she didn't want me to stay on the sofa, so we just shared. We were just sleeping, that's all.'

'Well, that sounds perfectly innocent,' Matron said, not even really believing her words, but sensing that the young doctor needed someone on his side, not his mothers.

'You don't actually believe it, do you?' Trudy asked.

Matron looked her straight in the eye, 'Mrs Goodwin, I have no reason to doubt any of my staff.'

Just then, Jill emerged from the treatment room and Jeff practically ran to her.

'How is she?' he asked.

'Well, she hasn't woken up yet, and although there was a lot of blood, the cut was relatively superficial. I don't think it's done any internal damage. All we have to do now is wait for her to come round. She also has some bruises on her arm, but they will heal soon enough.

'Thank God for that,' he said, releasing a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

'We're just going to move her to a side room, then you can go and sit with her.'

'Thank you, Jill. Thank you so much.'