"I want you to tell me exactly how those marks got onto Robyn's back and I want the truth!" Doctor Cole bellowed storming into the relative's room and slamming the door hard behind him.

Sportacus, Kit and Robbie looked up in surprise. They'd never seen the Doctor like this and didn't know how to explain the marks to him.

Frustrated by the silence Doctor Cole broke it and in pretty much the same volume as before, "I'll tell you what I think happened. Those marks are consistent with those received when being beaten with a belt. Someone hit her and hit her hard. Who was it!"

Yet again there was no answer. Before Doctor Cole could have another whack at the three men a nurse opened the door and told him that Robyn had regained consciousness.

"I'll be back in a little while. Perhaps Robyn will be able to shed some light on the matter. No one is permitted to leave this room, do so and security will have you held in the Greentown police station before you can say go." Doctor Cole threatened and with a withering look at the three men left the room.

Robyn looked up when she heard someone enter the room. She was still groggy from her seizure but recognised Doctor Cole all the same. It was obvious from the Doctor's countenance that he had bad news.

"Hello Robyn," Doctor Cole began his voice back to its normal gentleness, "you're in hospital. The seizure you had was a Status Epilepticus. It's very different from the ones you've had before and warrants admission. We'll be keeping you in overnight and reassess you in the morning for possible discharge. Do you understand me so far?"

It took a few seconds but Robyn nodded, she didn't feel up to talking.

Doctor Cole smiled weakly and when the smile faded he resumed speaking, "Can you remember what happened before the status epilepticus? If you can I need to know what happened. Anything you say to me will be treated in the strictest confidence. You can trust me."

Robbie's head was spinning. He was still trying to take in what had happened. In his mind he tried to piece it together but there was something missing. A deep and bitter fear filled him, a fear that he'd be accused of beating Robyn. The fact he wore a belt condemned him. It felt like there was a noose around his neck and with the pull of a lever it would tighten and strangle the life out of him.

Kit and Sportacus both knew that Robbie hadn't touched Robyn. She was much too precious to him for him to ever lay so much as an angry finger on her. Kit had been filled in on Mr Snail's past actions with Robbie in minor detail. As far as Kit knew Mr Snail had never done more than beat him, the truth was much more gruesome.

"You don't think this has something to do with her gift do you? It's the only half plausible thing I can think of. Maybe it goes much deeper than being able to see ghosts and things that have happened to those that have died. Maybe it reaches to living people too." Kit thought out loud.

Sportacus nodded, "I remember when the Shadows kidnapped me I felt odd, as if someone was in my head and looking out through my eyes. It seemed like they were reading my thoughts and making sure I was alright."

"It has to be that. That's how we found you. Robyn went all weird and described the warehouse, things she heard and saw. I know it sounds freaky but maybe the marks got on her back when she blanked out after seeing Robbie's scars and seeing what happened to him. As if she absorbed something from Robbie and they were it." Kit was glad that they were starting to get somewhere.

As good as it was being able to piece things together this new edge to Robyn's gift scared Kit. The revelation that Robyn could see how a person died by picking up traces of what happened to them was bad enough. The effects seemed to be that much more powerful and there was a very real possibility that Robyn could be scarred for life. It struck Kit that perhaps as time went on Robyn's gift grew stronger and other dimensions added themselves onto it. Doctor Cole knew of Robyn's gift and Kit was sure that he could convince him that no one had touched Robyn.

After fifteen more agonising minutes Doctor Cole entered the relative's room and seemed a lot calmer than he had been the last time they saw him. The Doctor looked at each man with confusion rather than his past accusation. It appeared that his attempts to get the truth from Robyn had been fruitless.

Before Doctor Cole could speak Kit jumped in and explained to the Doctor his theory on the marks. Strangely the doctor didn't argue or protest once Kit had finished speaking. In fact the doctor said nothing at all. He was musing over the information and began to pace the room.

"I must admit," Doctor Cole began after some few moments, "that as bizarre as all this sounds it makes sense. Being a neurosurgeon among other things I had to look into the more mysterious side of the brain. There have been cases where people have drawn such anxiety from people that marks appear on their body similar to their feelings or thoughts. You might call it psychological self harming. It runs along the same lines that spontaneous combustion can run on. An interesting facet of this is that when all of the anxiety and bad feelings have been eliminated that marks can disappear as quickly as they appeared. Hopefully this may be the case for Robyn."

The idea that Robyn had done all this to herself sickened Robbie. He'd been the root cause of the problem. Robbie's mind berated him, 'What kind of stupid excuse for a father are you? You scarred your daughter. What kind of man can make a person harm themselves in such a way? You left her to stew in her own juices and this is the result. I hope you're happy.' It struck Robbie that he'd done more harm to Robyn since revealing himself to her eleven months ago than Lily could have done in a lifetime. Perhaps he'd not changed at all. Could he fix the damage he'd done this time? No matter how hard it was Robbie would strive every to attempt to get things back on an even keel with Robyn. There was nothing more she could discover that she didn't know already which would make things easier.

Robbie looked up when he realised someone had called his name.

"There you are. I thought you'd drifted off somewhere. I forgot to say that Robyn wishes to see you. If you plan on hugging her be warned that her back is very painful at the moment." Doctor Cole said.

Nodding Robbie stiffly got up and followed Doctor Cole out of the room. He was extremely apprehensive about Robyn's reaction to him after the events of the morning. His fears were washed away by a wave of relief when he entered the room and Robyn smiled weakly at him. Doctor Cole left the two alone; they had a lot to talk about.

After talking on what had happened that morning Robyn and Robbie agreed to put everything that had happened between them over the last few months behind them to start afresh. It had been nigh on fifteen years since Robbie had been able to be a proper father to Robyn and things had changed too quickly for him to find his feet in the past. Things would change though, he would be a better father than he ever had been before and would make things work.

Gently Robbie stroked some loose threads of hair from his sleeping daughter's face. The girl stirred slightly but didn't wake. Kissing Robyn on the forehead Robbie left the room and made his way back to Sportacus and Kit.

Little did Robbie notice that he'd been watched when leaving Robyn's room and little did he notice the watched enter the room he'd just left. The stranger moved through the darkness silently as if he were made of it.

Feeling a pair of lips brush her own Robyn opened her eyes slowly. When she saw that the person was a stranger she made to raise an alarm but felt the sharp blade of a scalpel pressed against her neck.

"Scream and I'll slit your throat." A sing song voice whispered malevolently.