It was the following week and Maria's birthday. Grace was so proud of herself for getting her mother a birthday present and wrote a card from both herself and Liam. She then picked her brother up from his childminders one day last week and together they designed another card for Maria.

Grace had gotten up early on the Monday morning. She made her mother toast and a coffee before taking it through to her bedroom. She wished that she was a better cook as she would have made the woman pancakes or something.

Grace hesitated outside Maria's room for a moment, she knew that Marcus had stayed over the night before and was reluctant to walk into the room unannounced. She knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Come in" Maria called as she sat up in the bed. Marcus did the same, they both pulled the duvet up even though they were suitably dressed. Grace and Liam burst into the room and Liam ran over to his mother with the cards and presents while Grace carried the breakfast over.

"Thank you sweetie" Maria said as she kissed the top of her daughter's head when Grace bent down to place the breakfast tray on her mother's knee. Maria patted the space beside her towards the edge of the bed encouraging Grace to sit down. Liam had already made himself comfortable in the middle of Marcus and Maria. Slowly Grace was becoming more comfortable with Marcus but still didn't have the bond Marcus and Liam had.

Maria opened her presents and her card. She was so happy and proud of Grace. She loved watching Grace and Liam's bond. It was going from strength to strength. Grace really looked out for her brother and Liam really admired his sister.

"When did you do this Liam?" Maria asked shocked to see a homemade card from her son.

"Gracie helped me. One day before, it was before tea" Liam said, and Maria laughed trying to understand what her son was saying.

"We did it together on Friday when I picked him up from Karen's" Grace explained and Maria smiled proud of her daughter.

"Grace, that was so kind" Maria said kissing the girl on the head.

"I best get ready for school now" Grace stated after a couple of minutes. She carried on with her daily routine as did Maria as she had to get to work as did Marcus and he was going to drop Liam off at his childminders.

Grace was running slightly late due to spending so much more time with her mother this morning, but she arrived at school just as the bell rang. Though she did have to run to get to her form class on time.

Grace's day went relatively quickly and she ensured that she had finished all her homework before her mother arrived home. She saw that it was now 5 o'clock, her mother would be home soon, but she wanted to help. She opted to start making tea. She wasn't the best of cooks, but she was sure she'd manage to cook pasta. She got out a punch of vegetables and chopped tomatoes and made a sauce.

Everything was going well until Grace tried to empty the water out of the pot into the sieve. She didn't realise how heavy it would be and as she turned the pot the gravity caused her to tip it more than she could control. The water splashed all over her front and up her bare arms. She screamed in pain.

Maria let herself into the building and was just walking up the stairs when she heard her daughter's scream. She ran up the stairs quickly in a state of panic.

"Grace what happened?" Maria asked as she walked into her daughter crying.

"Burn" She sobbed and Maria noticed that the front of her daughter's top was very wet and her visible skin was bright red. Everything was going well until Grace tried to empty the water out of the pan and into the sieve. She didn't realise how heavy it was and as she turned the pot a lot of water came out at once. She hadn't been expecting it and the water splashed all over her front and onto her bare arms. She screamed in pain.

Maria just happened to arrive home as this was happening. She had Liam with her and ran up the stairs hearing her daughter's voice.

"Grace what happened?" Maria asked as she walked into her daughter crying.

"Burn" She sobbed. Maria noticed that the front of her daughter's top was very wet and her skin was bright red. Maria ran into the bathroom and turned the shower on cold, not ice cold but cold.

"In the shower and take your top off" Maria instructed.

"But Marcus was there too" Grace said.

"Marcus won't come in" Maria said, and Grace agreed undoing her shirt with her mother's help. She stepped under the water and let the cold water hit against her chest.

"Mummy, I don't like this. It hurts and I don't like cold water. You know that I hate cold water" Grace sobbed.

"I know you do sweetie. I know you do but we need to get the cold water on you" Maria said as she continued to comfort the girl.

"I'm here and I'm not leaving you. It's different this time, it's not like the other times, you have me, you have your mummy" Maria whispered comfortingly.

"Let me see now" Maria said after almost 5 minutes of the girl standing under the water. Grace stepped away.

"It's stings a little but not much" Grace admitted.

"A couple more minutes and then we'll pat it dry. Then later on tonight, I'll put cream on it" Maria explained as she didn't think it looked bad enough to need to go to the hospital. Maria hoped they had caught it in time.

"What were you doing sweetie?" Maria asked.

"I wanted to make you tea because it's your birthday" Grace sobbed.

"Oh darling, you didn't need to do that" Maria said. After a few more minutes, Grace stepped away from the water and her mother patted her dry. She then wrapped a towel around her and went into her bedroom to put her jammies on.

"I've made the rest of the tea" Marcus admitted as he was just serving it as they walked out of Grace's room.

"I just had to add the sauce you had made, you've done a great job" Marcus said and Grace smiled. She was proud of herself, she just wished that she had been able to do it.

They all sat down and had a lovely chat. Marcus was really starting to join in with the rest of the family and Grace was really accepting of Marcus. It had taken her a while, but she was getting there.

They played some board games before Marcus put Liam to bed. Maria and Grace snuggled on the sofa.

"Come to my room and we'll put some cream on your burns" Maria said, and Grace agreed. They settled on Maria's bed as the mother put the cream on her daughter.

"Next time wait for me to come home and I'll help you" Maria said kindly not wanting to scold her daughter for trying to do the right thing. Grace nodded.

"I just wanted to help you, I wanted to impress you" Grace admitted.

"You impress me every day. Would you like me to teach you to cook? Maybe you can help me make dinner a couple of times a week?" Maria suggested and Grace nodded excitedly. That sounded good.

"Are you remembering that Rachel is coming to see us tomorrow?" Maria reminded her daughter who nodded.

"Are you feeling okay about it?" Maria asked wanting to check on her daughter. Grace nodded.

"But you aren't getting rid of me, are you?" Grace asked nervously.

"What? Of course not, sweetie" Maria said pulling her daughter into her arms.

"Not even when I told you everything that happened" Grace said.

"Oh darling, I hope you aren't still thinking about that" Maria said, and Grace shrugged.

"Do you think counselling might be helpful?" Maria asked and Grace shrugged again. This was an improvement to a straight no.

"Mummy, I want you with me. I don't want to do it alone again" Grace whispered wiping her eyes.

"I'll speak to Rachel, you never have to be alone" Maria said kissing the girl on the head.

The following day

It was the following day and Maria checked Grace's skin before sending her to school. Luckily the girl's skin seemed fine and Maria just made a point to put cream on her skin before she got dressed.

Maria instructed Grace to return home from school quickly tonight as Rachel was coming at 4 o'clock. Grace agreed as she understood the importance of this meeting. It was important that Rachel was happy with them. Grace knew that legally she was back with her mother but all in all, it could all be reassessed if Rachel deemed necessary.

Maria went to work for the morning and Grace disappeared off to school. The school day went relatively quickly and soon Grace was on the bus home. She was starting to worry about the meeting with Rachel. What if her mother changed her mind? What if Maria told Rachel all about the issues she had had? Grace could feel her mind going into overdrive and she was torn. Did she return to her mother or do her normal run?

Grace ran up the stairs of the flat, hoping that she'd make it to her room without seeing anyone. She could sense her mother was in the living room but darted passed going into her bedroom without a second glance. Maria stopped suddenly and rushed behind the girl. She could tell something was wrong.

"Sweetie" Maria said as she opened the door that had just been slammed shut. Grace was stood with her hands on the desk and breathing deeply. Maria was right over to the girl and pulled her into her arms. Grace flopped into her mother's arms as she needed the motherly comfort.

"What's going on?" Maria asked.

"I'm scared you'll get rid of me. What if Rachel isn't happy?" Grace asked letting all her worries out.

"I will never get rid of you. I know for a fact Rachel will be so happy to see you so well settled" Maria said and Grace nodded. She allowed her mother to comfort her before she was felt able to get herself changed.

Just as Grace changed the doorbell rang signalling that Rachel was here. Maria opened the door and greeted the social worker.

"Hello, how are you?" Rachel asked.

"I'm good, really good. Grace is just coming" Maria said smiling as she invited Rachel into the living room. She got the social worker a coffee before they sat down. Grace came through.

"Hello Grace, how are you?" Rachel asked.

"I'm good. I'm really happy here" Grace explained, and Rachel nodded. They drifted into a comfortable conversation.

"Good, is there anything you'd like to do or anything you want to speak about?" Rachel asked happy with how it was going.

"Well I suppose there is one thing" Maria said nervously and Rachel nodded.

"Grace had a bit of a difficult time last week and was very emotional. We ended up having a very serious conversation about the abuse that she went through and speaking together we think it might help her to have some counselling. She feels like things are different now that she has more of an understanding about what happened to her than she did when she was a young child" Maria explained and Rachel nodded.

"Of course, I can see about her getting put on the list for counselling" Rachel said.

"I don't want to go on my own though. I want my mum with me" Grace explained.

"Okay, I will say that in the message. Don't worry, I'm sure they will let mum come in too" Rachel said and that put Grace at ease.

"It was very brave of you to tell your mum about what happened" Rachel said softly wanting to explore this more to make sure nothing had changed. Grace nodded.

"You did so well Grace, I was and still am so proud of you" Maria said and Grace smiled.

"I feel better now that I spoke to mum about it. I think the last couple of years it's gone round in my head because obviously then I didn't understand anything but as we learnt about it in school and that I thought about it more" Grace admitted.

"I'm glad you spoke to your mum but I hope you knew that you could have spoken to me about it if you needed to" Rachel said and Grace nodded.

"I know that now. Before I just thought that everyone was against me" Grace admitted.

"Never think that Grace" Rachel said putting her arm around the girl's shoulder and for the first time in the 3 years that Rachel had been Grace's social worker the girl leant into her and gave her a hug. This was massive, Grace was a completely different girl now.

"Well I best get off but I want to say Grace, I am so proud of how far you have come and you seem so happy with your mother. I will be back to see you in 3 months but its just to check in nothing to worry about" Rachel explained and Grace nodded. She then walked back to her mother just needing the comfort. Maria placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and Grace looked back and smiled.

Hope this is okay :) please let me know if you have any ideas :)