I'm really sorry for the delay in updating again :( slaps hand But I've got a lot of problems with my family at the moment which require me to do a lot of babysitting for my cousins. Unfortunately, they have no computer, and they're 8 and 10 years old, which means I have to actually play with the spawns of Satan. The youngest one is just like Charlie it's very scary. He has now turned into my basis for Alex in this story. I've actually had this chapter ready to post for a few days now but every time I tried to upload it, it kept saying that there was an error and it was an empty document, but I've finally managed to get it on here :D Still haven't seen Phantom of the Opera, but there's a chance I might sometime this week. Maybe. If not, I'm going to buy it myself so I can finally get on with this story. Surely it's boring everyone with all this gap filling?

Also, In this chapter, you hear a bit about Charlie's past. At the end of this chapter, now having seen what happened in Charlie and Stella's past, you may think twice about wanting to read the stories about them growing up; neither are exactly rainbows and cakes. I started writing a few chapters of Charlie's story the other day, but I won't be posting it up until I have finished this story I'm afraid, because I already have enough fics to be keeping up with. 6 I think. Anyway, onto the chapter, and thank you to my wonderful fans :d Virtual cake and party hats for everyone!

Oh, could someone please review my Snatch story? It's only one chapter at the moment, and I hate asking, but I'm not getting any responses for it and I really want to know whether it's worth continuing with?

Sam
Xx

Somehow, Holly had managed to sleep that night, and whilst Alex had promised to turn his computer off at 10.30, Charlie attempted to get his other girl into bed. Stella, it seemed, had too many other things on her mind than sleeping. She sat timidly on the edge of their bed in her tank-top and shorts, which she had changed into for bed, and instead of laying down as Charlie encouraged her too, she stared at the plush carpet beneath her feet.

Charlie came and sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her drooping shoulders and pulling her close to him. She surrendered easily, but continued looking away from him. For a while, they sat unspeaking, just drawing comfort from each other. But eventually the echoing silence became unbearable for Charlie to bear.

"Stella, why didn't you tell me?" He asked her softly, his voice wasn't pressurising, just loving, assuring.

"Tell you what?" She asked, not moving her eyes from the spot of carpet she was staring at.

"What Steve said to you." He told her, still whispering. "That he threatened you."

She didn't answer for a moment, but when she did, he could tell that she regretted not telling him. "You were so worried about the kids and the security." She said quietly. "I didn't want to worry you even more." That night after Steve had broken in, Charlie had stayed up all night, just walking into different rooms, checking that everything was Ok. Several times, he stopped in the bedrooms, checking on Alex and Holly, and it was only when Stella heard him creeping around, that she had forced him to sleep, knowing that he was no use to anything if he was tired, and assuring him that Rob had taken Steve far away. It was when Charlie had fallen asleep, though, that Stella found herself unable to sleep. Part of her had wanted to wake Charlie up and have him comfort her like he had comforted the terrified children as they put them in their beds, but the more sensible part of her knew that it had drained him so much that day that to add her worries to his list was unnecessary.

"Stella, if you're scared, or worried, or upset, I want to know." He told her comfortingly. "I want you to be able to tell me anything." He added.

"It's not that I couldn't tell you." She said quickly. "I can tell you anything, Charlie, I know that, and I love that. You were worrying so much that I didn't think it was right to load my problems on top of you as well." She explained.

Charlie carefully placed his hand under her chin, and raised it, facing her towards him. They gazed into each other's eyes, and he was reminded of the time after her 'date' with Steve, when she had lain in his arms all night after he had comforted her. A/N: I will be doing a fic on this for people who are thinking 'what? she never did that!' "Stella," He said softly, caressing her cheek with his thumb, "You're my wife, and I love you." He said, even though he knew that she knew it. "Please don't keep these things from me."

"The kids come before me, Charlie." She reminded him. "They always will."

"That doesn't change anything. I love you, and I always will, no matter what. The kids might come first, but I'll always love you with all my heart, Stella." The tears were welling once again in her eyes, and he wiped the drying ones away with a finger. "I don't care how tired I am though, whether I'm half asleep or completely asleep, I want you to tell me anything that's worried you."

She nodded in understanding. "I know I should of, but I didn't know how to say it." She told him. "I could hardly say 'Steve said he's going to kill me' could I?" She said hypothically.

"It doesn't matter how you say it," Charlie assured. "As long as your not locking yourself away again, it doesn't matter what words you use."

"Could I use those words now?" She asked timidly.

He nodded, kissing her temple. "Anytime,"

She sighed. "Steve said he would kill me, and now he's back, I'm terrified that those are the lengths he will go to to get his revenge on you." She admitted. It felt better, having it all off her chest, but she didn't feel any less frightented by the idea of condensing all her fears into one sentance, even though every word was completely true.

"Stella," Charlie assured her, rubbing the top of her arm where he had been resting his hand. "He's not going to do anything to you. I promise."

"What if it was a choice between their lives and mine, Charlie?" She asked him. "What if you had to choose between your children and your wife?"

Charlie, although never having prepared himself for that question, came up with an answer that was so quick that it was instinct. "I'd never put any one of you into a situation like that, and if for some reason, you were in that kind of danger, I'd do anything to make sure that all three of you were safe, even if that meant my own life."

"I don't want you to have that choice either." Stella whispered. "But I couldn't do all of this without you, Charlie. I don't know what I'd do without you." She told him. "I don't want my children to die, but at the same time, I don't want to leave them alone."

"Hey!" Charlie protested. "Don't think like that. None of us are going to die. We are going to find out what Steve's up to, and put a stop to him before he even thinks about hurting any of you."

Stella didn't say anything. She knew Charlie was right, and she knew that he would go to the ends of the earth to protect them.

"Come on." Charlie whispered, pulling back the covers behind her and urging her to lay down. Once she had laid down, Charlie settled in behind her, wrapping one arm over her waist and resting the other above her head on the pillow. He kissed her, expecting her eyes to close, but she didn't close her eyes, she simply stared at the wall opposite her.

All she could think about at that moment was two things Holly had said to her a few days ago. The first was "When I see you upset, I always ask Grandad that if he is there, to let you smile, and he does." and the second was "Grandad's still there. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to you 'cause you're his little girl, and so he made sure that you got good things." As she lay there, staring into the distance, she shuffled backwards more, getting closer to Charlie, and held the hand that lay around her stomach. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed her shoulder. Holly sent John mental messages all the time, so she said, and according to her, they worked; it couldn't hurt to try, could it?

Are you out there? She thought. Are you watching? Do you know what's happening? Do you know what's threatening your grandchildren? All we wanted was to be good parents, to keep our children safe, but now that Steve's back, I can't even manage to do that. I can't be there 24/7, Dad. Me and Charlie just want them safe. We deserve that, at least, after all we've been through in life, don't we? Please look out on them, Dad, please. If you can, protect them when we can't. About to open her eyes, she settled with one final thought that if her father could hear her, then she would want him to know. I love you, Daddy. I've never forgotton the things you've taught me, and I miss you so much. Thank you for bringing Charlie into my life.

Opening her eyes, she saw Charlie gazing down at her, and she sighed. "Don't worry," He whispered to her, hearing the exhaustion in her voice. "A little sleep will help you feel much better."

Only a little sleep didn't help her feel better. If anything, it made her feel worse. She had only been awake for half an hour before running into the bathroom and throwing up. Charlie sat with her, as he had done during her morning sickness whilst she was carrying Alex and Holly, holding back her hair from her face, and rubbing her back. After that, she had showered and dressed, insisting she was fine, but really trying to slow a deafening thud in her head. Despite the way she felt, she still went downstairs and made breakfast for the kids, even though both Charlie and Alex offered to do it if she wanted to go back to bed.

After breakfast, Alex was in his room doing his homework, and Holly was in her room, practicing for the play. Even though she knew that Steve's plan of getting to her was through the play she was still determined to get through the production. Stella was in the kitchen with Charlie still, clearing away the breakfast remains.

"Are you sure you feel ok?" Charlie asked her.

"It's nothing, Charlie." She told him, amidst the pounding headache and occasional dizziness.

"Doesn't look like nothing." He remarked, observing her pale skin and eyes that weren't as bright as they were the previous day.

"Well, it feels like nothing." She replied, waving his concearn off. "I'm fine."

"You know what fine stands for, Stella." He reminded her.

"Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotional." She recited. "Yeah, I know."

"Still feel fine?" He challenged. Usually after reminding her of that little explanation, she would change her mind. Today, however was different.

"Sure do." She said.

Charlie was about to reply when the phone rang. He went over to where the handset was attached to the wall and lifted the cordless reciever. "Hello?" He answered.

"Charlie, it's Lyle. Is Holly in?"

"Yeah she's upstairs."

"Well, Mike wants to know if she wants to get together to practice this afternoon, but you know what he's like with phones."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, I know alright." Michael seemed allergic to phones. He hated answering them, or even talking on them. It seemed strange. "I'll go take the phone up to her." Walking out of the kitchen, he went upstairs with the phone, still talking to Lyle as he went. "You reckon he can bear a three minute conversation with Holly?" Charlie teased.

"She's the only person he'll talk to on the phone." Lyle laughed. "He won't even talk to me if I ring his cellphone."

"Why does he have a cellphone if he never talks on it?" Charlie asked him.

"So he can talk to Holly." They both laughed.

Charlie knocked on Holly's door before entering her bedroom, finding her laying on her front on the bed, following the lyrics to whatever song was playing. She paused the CD when Charlie came in.

"Hi Dad." She said, sounding a lot more cheerful then she had done yesterday.

"Mike's on the phone." He said. She raised an eyebrow.

"Michael is on the phone?" She asked.

"Well, Lyle's on the phone, but Mike wants to talk to you." He passed the handset over to her and sat on the edge of her bed, looking through the lyrics she was reading.

"Michael, hi!" She said. "Yeah, I'll just ask." She put the handset down. "Dad, can Michael come round this afternoon?"

Charlie gave her a confused look. "Holly, him and the others practically live here anyway, why are you even asking?"

She laughed and lifted the phone again. "Yeah, thats fine. What time? ... Ok...I've got all the lyrics here...all right...yeah...see you then!" She hung up and gave the phone back to Charlie. "Uncle Lyle's going to bring him round after lunch."

"Alright," Charlie nodded. "How's the practicing coming?" He asked, making conversation.

"I already know all the songs, it's just the stage actions I have to remember. At least mine are pretty easy compared to Michael's."

"What does he have to do?" Charlie asked.

"A swordfight with Patrick." She said with a laugh. "The way that all the boys hate him though it might turn out to be a real one."

Charlie suddenly felt a lot more compelled to go and see this play for the action in it rather than just because Holly was in it.

"Dad, do I have to go to school tomorrow?" She begged.

"Yes." Charlie said simply, she pouted.

"But-"

"No buts, school is important." Charlie reminded her.

"You never went to school and you turned out fine." She pointed out.

That silenced Charlie for a moment, and he remembered his own childhood. It was nothing of the luxury his children had. Him and his sisters, Laura and Hannah, had been terrified of their father to the point of Charlie moving out as soon as he could, but he hated leaving his younger sisters with their Dad. So he had come to their rescue and they had gone to live with him. Hannah had only been a year old when their mother died, leaving Charlie alone to defend his sisters from their violent father, and that was when he had moved out. Although being an adult herself now, Hannah still saw him as more of a father than a brother, seeing as it had been him and Laura that had brought her up. Laura was still, in her eyes, her sister, as they did all the girly things together like shopping, but Charlie was always the protector, the one that made sure that she went to school, he made sure that no matter what, there was always food on the table to eat. Hannah was too young to remember, but Laura knew especially that Charlie was every bit the father that their real father, Jack, hadn't been. If it wasn't for Charlie, social services would have taken them all away and split them up, but when he knew that they were investigating them, he began covering up for Jack, sneaking food into the house so they were able to have three meals a day, he paid the bills out of money craftily stolen from their father, and he made sure that every one of them went to school every day and that their grades were reasonable. Eventually, the social had given up, and it was then that Charlie took them all away from Jack. It had been John Bridger, once Jack's greatest friend, that had helped him find a place to live, and had even given him work in his lock and safe shop once he had been sacked from his part time job as a delivery boy. John had also introduced him to the world of stealing, which he was already experienced enough in.

"Yes, but that's different." Charlie told Holly. "I didn't have any of this, I didn't even have parents that loved me like you have, and I done a lot of stupid things."

"But you did a lot of great things as well." She reminded him. "You might have saved your sister's lives."

"I know." He said. "But you don't have anyone's life to save."

"I have my own." She reminded him.

"Holly, nothing it going to happen to you."

"He scares me." She said softly. "I don't like knowing that he's there."

Charlie knew straight away that she meant Steve. "I know, baby, it's hard for me to know as well. But remember the plan. Stay with the boys, they'll look after you when me and your Mom can't, even though we want to." She nodded again. "Believe me, Holly, I'd like nothing better than to come in with you tomorrow and kill him with my bare hands for everything his done to you, Alex and your Mom, but I can't."

Holly smiled at Charlie. "I know, Dad, I want you to as well." She said. "But I know that as long as your here I'm safe."

Her confidence gave him a new spring in his step when he went back downstairs; a spring that disappeared when he found Stella sitting on the kitchen floor, her back leaning up against the cupboard behind her and a broken plate shattered across the floor tiles. She had her eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. Charlie knelt beside her, carefully putting his hand on her shoulder, not wanting to startle her.

"Stella?" No response. "Stella!"

Her eyes groggilly opened and she smiled weakly at him. "Hi Charlie." She whispered.

"What's happened? Are you all right?" He asked her quickly. He had been upstairs less than five minutes with Holly, and she had been reasonably well then, hadn't she?

"I was putting the plate away, and then I woke up on the floor." She told him.

"You probably blacked out." He told her. He checked her all over. "Did you cut yourself?"

"A little." She said, showing him her hand. It had a long cut on the inside of her palm which was rather deep, but not seriously deep. It wasn't bleeding profously, and wouldn't require stitches, but Charlie grabbed a cloth that was on the floor behind him and wrapped it tightly around her hand, making sure that it applied pressure. She winced and hissed through her teeth when it came into contact with the wound, but didn't fight it off.

"How do you feel?" He asked, keeping his hands applying the soft pressure to her hand.

"Strange." She said. "Dizzy and ... drifty."

"Headache?" Charlie asked.

"Massive." She said with a weak laugh. Even Charlie returned the smile at her ability to grin through almost everything. "The back of my head mostly." She said, raising her unharmed hand to press the tender space. "I think I hit it when I fell."

Charlie had a feeling that she might have done, and reached to where she was indicating. Sure enough, there was a small lump forming, and she moaned a little when he touched it. "Sorry." He said, not meaning to hurt her. If she had stayed in bed like he knew that she wanted to rather than pretending to be OK, it wouldn't have happened. "That's the last time I let you play hero." He told her.

She smiled weakly again. "You always say that." She reminded him. "It never works."

"Come on, back to bed." He ordered. She started to climb to her feet, but before she had even made it a few inches of the ground he had lifted her up in his arms, and proceeded to carry her upstairs. When he got to their room, he put her back into bed and drew the covers over her, despite her protests that it was too warm for that. When she had said it though, he put his hand over her forehead and she sighed. That was how he always caught her out. "You're burning up." Charlie told her. "How long have you felt like this?" He asked her curiously.

"Just this morning." She told him.

"And.." Charlie said.

"Honestly." She protested.

"Nice try. How long?"

She waited a few seconds and then pouted. "No keeping anything from you." She surrendered. "A while."

"A few days, a while? Or a few weeks a while?"

"A few days." She said truthfully. Having been together for so long now, they knew exactly when the other person was lying. "I didn't think to much of it because I thought that working would distract me from it." She told him.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that tomorrow." He said with his cheeky grin.

"No because my work will distract me." She agreed.

"No," He diverted. "Because you're not getting out of bed until your fever's gone." He told her in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Oh really?" She challenged. For someone who was sick, she still put up a fight. Charlie's sentences of bed rest were like the biblical plagues; or at least, the house looked like it had a visit from a few of them once she had gotten better.

"Yes, really." He told her.

"You and what army?"

"The army of spies I have dotted around the house." He said with a wink. "Tomorrow, I happen to have the guys running in and out all day sorting stuff out, so there's always gonna be someone to see you trying to do work this time." Last time, she had made it all the way to the office during her bed rest before collapsing again. Charlie hadn't been very amused, particularly because she had been driving through the city centre like a maniac (as per usual) whilst dizzy and could have been in an accident. "Now, go back to sleep."

"Charlie, I'm not tired." She protested, even though her eyelids had already started drooping.

"Of course you're not." He agreed falsly.

"Who's going to make the kid's lunches?" She asked. She still did it even though they were quite old enough to be making their own.

"I think I can manage a few sandwiches." Charlie assured her.

"Do the housework?"

"We dont make that much mess, Alex and Holly can help out." That was a plain lie just to make her feel better. Charlie knew that they would make a lot of mess. They normally did, but they always tried to keep the place tidy.

"Go down to my office and talk to a very important client I have visiting tomorrow morning?" She challenged, knowing that this was one thing he definately couldn't do.

"He'll have to wait." Charlie said stubbornly, after a few seconds.

Stella sighed. She wasn't going to get out of this. "One day." She said finally.

"Two days." Charlie retorted. "Today and tomorrow."

"Charlie-" She complained.

"Stella-" He said in the same voice, but smiling. "Come on, two days, a bit of rest, you'll be fine."

"One and a half." She tried to settle, but Charlie shook his head. "I can't lie in bed for two days." She protested.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Charlie grinned, and leaned down to kiss her. Not having any desire to be sick himself, he planted his lips on her forehead rather than her lips.

"In that case," Stella began, giving in finally. "Can you bring me up a drink?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yeah." He answered. He left the room, shaking his head at her stubborness. When he had gone back upstairs, however, she was already asleep. Setting her glass of water down on the bedside table, he went back downstairs quietly.