29

P.J. Hasham, the man who could stare down any and almost every
criminal in Mount Thomas, was being given a dose of his own
medicine. Pat Doyle, almost a foot shorter than P.J., was putting
him through the wringer.

"Where is my daughter, Hasham, right now, you tell me right now
where she is, or so help me, I'll go right through you, and you
won't like that, my boy! What the hell is going on here? Tom
Croydon! Tom bloody Croydon? I'm telling you now, P.J., if you don't
take me to Maggie right now – "

"I take it you're Miss Doyle's father then sir?" Carol asked calmly,
coming up beside P.J. "Detective, would you like me to show Mr Doyle
to her room?"

"That would be great Carol," P.J. said, still all to aware of the
glare of Pat's eyes.

"Mr Doyle, would you like to follow me? Detective, your colleagues
are over there, and I believe Sergeant Stewart wanted to talk to
you?" Carol said, nodding to Ben.

"Thank-you Nurse, " P.J. said. "Ah, Pat, I need to talk – "

"Don't think this is over with P.J." interrupted Pat. "Once I've
seen Maggie, I want to talk to you, and I want to know everything
that happened. You get me? Everything!" he said striding off,
calling back over his shoulder "Come on woman! Where's my daughter?"

Carol discreetly rolled her eyes, muttering "Good luck" at P.J.,
before jogging off after an extremely impatient Pat Doyle, who was
checking every room that he came to.

"Sir? Mr Doyle? You've gone too far, she's back here!" she called,
leading Pat back up the corridor, and stopping just outside Maggie's
room. Carol then underwent a change, putting herself in full Nurse
mode. "Now, there are some things you should know before you go in.
Firstly, your daughter will be fine. She has cuts and bruises, and a
broken arm. She also sustained a nasty bump to the head, but is
recovering nicely. She was unconscious for a while, and we were
worried, but she's since started to come round, and is doing fine."
She told Pat, before staring him right in the eye. "Now, those
gentlemen you were shouting at before, they are friends of hers, and
deserve to be treated as such. The detective has been very worried
about her and does not deserve to be shrieked at in the corridor,
and so you will do me the courtesy of toning down your attitude, and
making this hospital a nicer place for both patients, staff and
loved ones. Am I clear?"

Pat stared right back, this was his daughter she was talking about,
and those apes back there - and – and he would do just as he –

"Am – I – Clear?" Carol repeated, and you could feel the capital
letters in her question.

"Crystal," Pat muttered, "Now, where's Maggie?" but his tone was
much more gentle and respectful.

"Thank-you" Carol said, pushing the door open to Maggie's room. She
was only just asleep, on the cusp of dreaming and waking, and the
noise of the opening door almost brought her back to the surface.

"P.J.? Is that you?" she said softly, and Pat shook his head as he
moved over to the bed. What was it with that man? How was it that
P.J. and his daughter seemed so connected.

"Maggie, it's Dad, love. It's me."

"Dad?" Maggie shook her head slightly, trying to get rid of the
heaviness she still felt. Not a good move, she decided as she
watched the stars spin behind her eyes, willing the room to stop
spinning in tandem with them. "Sorry, just a bit spaced out here,"
she whispered. "Where's P.J.?"

"Must be the medicine, " Pat said, with a questioning look at Carol,
who nodded. Happy that the patient and her Dad were ok, Carol backed
out of the room to give them a little privacy, leaving the door ajar
in case she was needed.

"I'm ok, Dad, but where's P.J.? Is he still here?" Maggie said with a sleepy insistence.

"Maggie, it's Dad, sweetheart, I'm here now, you don't need P.J."

"Dad? Where is he?" Maggie said, moving now, trying to wake up
properly. He couldn't have gone, not now, she told herself, he
couldn't have gone, where was he, what had happened?

30

By now Maggie was beginning to get agitated, her movements causing
the monitors she was attached to, to squeal and beep alarmingly.

"Dad? What's happened, where is he?" she said, hazy from being half
awake, but needing the man she loved, craving the comfort of having
him close by.

"Sweetheart, he's – it's ok, I'll get him!" Pat said, quickly,
striding over to the door, only to come face to face with Carol, who
had been alerted by the monitors at the nurses station. He stood
aside and let Carol tend to his daughter, before going out into the
corridor and over to P.J. and Nick, who were talking to Ben, and
hadn't noticed Carol rush by.

Not caring if he interrupted, Pat strode up to them and grabbed
P.J.'s arm, spinning him round. P.J. was all ready to react when he
saw who it was that had hold of him. "Hasham, I don't know what the
hell you've done to my daughter, but she – Hasham! Hey! Come back
here!" he said to P.J.'s back. P.J. had taken off when he saw Carol
come out of the room and look up and down the corridor, before
finally seeing P.J. and gesturing wildly at him.

"Carol?" he said breathlessly as he skidded to a stop. "What's
happening?"

"What is it?" Pat said, coming up behind him.

"P.J., I'm sorry, but she needs you. I know what I said about
letting anyone know about you, but she needs you in there with her.
She needs to know that you are here, and - "

"And that I'm not going anywhere" P.J said softly, moving over to
the bed, pulling the chair up close and sitting down. Reaching over,
he took her hand, wrapping it tightly in both of his. "Mags, I'm
here, sweetheart. I'm here"

Pat stood at the door watching them, before he too came over and sat
on the other side of the bed. Carol stood at the head of the bed,
checking the monitors, and, finally satisfied that Maggie was fine,
she left them to it.

Pat watched as P.J. sat there, his thumbs gently tracing a pattern
across the back of Maggie's hand. And he watched as Maggie
quietened, the sedative that Carol had given her, and P.J.'s gentle
touch beginning to take effect.

"P.J." she breathed, knowing his touch, knowing it was his hands who
that held hers.

"I'm here. I'll always be here, Mags, always" he said, lifting one
hand and gently tracing down the side of her face. He sighed,
feeling Pat's eyes on him. " I love her Pat. It's as simple as that –
and as complicated as that." He finally tore his eyes away from
Maggie, and looked over at Pat.

"I know the rules, and I know the consequences, but I don't care at
the moment Pat. Maggie is the most important thing in the world to
me, and like I said, I love her."

"I can see that," Pat said with a sigh. "And how does she feel about
you?"

"She loves me too." P.J. told him, smiling as Maggie snuffled in her
sleep, moving imperceptibly closer to him. "I'm sorry, Pat"

"Why?"

"Because I know what your dreams are for Maggie, and I know how much
you want them. But I love her, and she loves me Pat. And I'm not
going to let that go. I can't, Pat. I love her too much to give her
up, and I'm pretty sure she feels the same way. We'll just have to
find a way around the rules, because this is for keeps." He said,
his gaze alternating between the woman he loved and her father.

"She loves you?"

P.J. nodded.

"She told you that?"

"Sort of," P.J. said tiredly.

"Sort of?" Pat picked up on the hesitancy, hoping that there might
be a way out of this, grasping at straws.

"Well, she wrote me a letter which I'm sorry, but I'm not going to
let you see, and she said that she wanted to see what we had between
us. That she wanted to take it further than friendship, and that she
hoped that I did too. And I do, Pat. I love her, and I told her so.
And she told me, but she was half asleep at the time – " he looked
up to see Pat's stony eyes boring into him

"She was here, Pat, she was here and had just had some painkillers!
She was stuck in this bloody bed, pumped up with painkillers! Pat,
there's no need to stare at me like that, we've done nothing wrong
here" P.J. said, irritably, exhaustion catching up with him. That
and the stress of seeing Maggie hurt. He reached up and traced a
finger across her temple, smoothing her blonde hair behind her ear,
and she curled into his hand as she slept, causing his heart to
clench with love.

"So she hasn't told you that she loves you, at least not properly,
not yet?" Pat said again, his voice invading P.J.'s thoughts, and
P.J. sighed, forced to shake his head in defeat.

"And would it be such a bad thing if she did?" Nick asked from the
doorway, having caught the last few words

31

"Ah, Ben? I know this isn't probably the best time, but when you and
Maggie were brought in, we had to get in touch with the next of kin.
It's a protocol thing, you probably have something like it in the
Police. Anyway, what I'm trying to get around to, is that your wife
is here. Sorry, your ex wife. Rachel, anyway. She's here, with the
kids." Carol said, having taken him to one side.

Ben looked over her shoulder, to see Rachel standing there, watching
him, with the kids standing slightly behind her. Emma was twitching,
hopping on one foot and then the other, anxious to see her daddy, to
see that he really ok, while Maddy and Sam just watched. With a
glance back at Nick, who nodded, Ben moved over to them engulfing
all four of them in a quick hug, before breaking away and kneeling
down, being hugged tightly by his kids. Rachel watched them with a
smile, noting the exact moment when Ben winced slightly, his body
still battered from the crash.

"Hey, you guys, go easy on your Dad – he has just been in a car
crash!" she said gently, unwinding her youngest daughter from her
father.

"Are you all right Daddy?" Emma asked, her blue eyes carefully going
over every inch of Ben's face, noting his stiffness as he stood up.

"I'm fine sweetie" he said, before "Ok, so maybe not fine, but I
will be. Maggie is the one who took the brunt of it"

"Maggie's hurt?" Emma's voice went up an octave as she spoke, fear
lancing through her. Maggie was supposed to be the one that Daddy
married! She knew what Maggie and Daddy had said, but she also knew
that neither of them meant it, and that they would get married
eventually, with all the things that a princess deserved.

Glancing over at Rachel again, he was surprised to see a small smile
on her face. Ben smiled back, slightly puzzled, and reached down and
took Emma's hand. "Listen, I'm starving. How about we all go and get
a burger and milkshake for dinner, and I'll tell you what's going
on" he said, leading them down and out of the hospital to the
conveniently placed cafe over the road.

Ten minutes later, the only sounds to be heard were the munching of
burgers, even if one particular muncher was doing her best to beat
the world record for burger eating.

"Come on!" Emma demanded. "We need to go back and see Maggie!"

Ben just raised his eyebrows, and was even more surprised when it
was Rachel that answered. "She still thinks she's going to be a
bridesmaid at yours and Maggie's wedding!"

"We keep telling her, but she won't have it." Maddy said, while Emma
glared at the mother and her sister.

"Mummy! You've got James for your prince" she said, referring to
Rachel's boyfriend, someone whom Ben had met and totally approved of
as a stand in Dad for his kids when he wasn't there, " And Daddy
will have Maggie as his princess!"

Ben sighed. He'd had no idea that this particular fantasy was still
running, especially as it so closely had mirrored his own ideas
until recently. But now, now he knew that the whole Ben and Maggie
thing would never happen, not while P.J. was around, and most
probably not even if he wasn't.

"Sweetheart listen. We told you this last time. Me and Maggie are
friends. Just friends."

"But you like her!" wailed Emma.

"Yes I do, " Ben said, "As my friend"

"No!" Emma said stubbornly, "Daddy!"

"Emma, now you listen to me," Ben said, in the tone that told Emma
she should stop, and she should stop right now. "Maggie is my
friend, and she is a very good friend. But I don't love her. And she
doesn't love me. Ok?"

"But – "

"OK?"

"But that P.J. man will get her, cos he loves her too!" Emma sulked,
noisily slurping her milkshake and then having to rub her head where
it hurt after a cold milkshake headache hit.

Had P.J. and Maggie been that obvious? How on earth had he not seen
it if his own six year old daughter hadn't seen it? Emma groaned
slightly, having taken another slurp of milkshake. Ben smiled at the
image, reaching over and massaging her forehead.

"I know he does, sweetie, and he loves her very much. P.J.'s her
prince, and she's his princess, Em. That's who's meant to be with
Maggie, and I'm happy for them. I'll take you up there later if they
let me, and you'll see." He promised, somehow knowing that that
would be the only way to convince his daughter. Once she saw P.J.
and Maggie together, then she'd know, then she'd understand, just
like he had.

Emma sat and sulked, not at all convinced. Maggie needed a prince,
and it SHOULD be her Dad, but seeing as Daddy asked so nicely, she
supposed she would give that P.J. man a go. And if, and it was a big
IF, he looked like he loved Maggie as much as she deserved, then
maybe she would let him have Maggie.

IF.