This is a companion piece to chapter 14 of WCHB, which if you don't remember is the one where Allie gets attacked. Basically reading it back after I first posted it, I realised that even though he was trying to protect her, Pete came off as a bit of an arse for not seeing her, so this is what happened that night after he took her to the hospital. Feedback as usual, is very, very much appreciated! I'm suffering from writers block at the moment (shameful I know!) so I need some inspiration!

It's a three part arc so this is just part one…

Pete sat on the edge of his chair, staring at the young woman lying in the bed next to him; after being taken to x-ray, the doctors had told him that Allie luckily didn't have any broken bones, but she did have some severe bruising which could take up to a month to heal fully. The cut on her head had been stitched up and a white butterfly strip placed across it, the white material taking on a pinkish tint as her blood continued to seep through. The nurse had informed him that she had fallen asleep shortly before he had been allowed to come in, and although he wanted to hear her voice, to hear her tell him that she was ok, he was content watching her sleep for the time being.

Taking her hand in his, he gently kissed her fingers and leant his forehead against them, feeling the air rush out of his lungs as tears stung his eyes.

His stomach had sunk earlier when the doctors had asked him if Allie had been attacked in any other way; realising what they had been referring to, Pete had promptly run to the bathroom and thrown up until his throat was stinging and he felt like he would collapse. He'd rather die than have anything like that happen to her…his oxygen left his body in the form of a sob and Pete rested his head on top of their hands. It was all his fault…it was all his fault…

His eyes snapped open when he felt her fingers twitching under his and saw her eyes moving rapidly under her eyelids as she slept restlessly. The doctor had explained to him that given how panicked she was they had sedated her just to give her body time to rest and recover, in the mean time, he'd tried ringing Lara to let her know what was going on but it kept going straight to answer phone, so he'd rung the only other person he could think of right then.

"Pete?"

The young man turned his attention away from the bed and looked up at his brother. Stepping into the room, Steve nearly gasped at the sight of Allie lying there and tried to suppress his own anger towards his brother.

"Pete, what the fuck happened?" he demanded.

"I didn't…" Pete shook his head, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "Mate, if I could have stopped it…"

Not saying another word, Steve grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him into a hug, knowing that was what he needed right now more than anything else.

"How is she?" he asked, releasing Pete and gesturing towards the bed.

"She's…" he sighed and shook his head. "They said she got off lucky, but she should be ok. They're letting her go in a couple of days."

Allie fidgeted in her sleep and Steve watched his little brother as he became immediately alert, watching her for even the slightest movement.

"Let her rest for a bit," Steve told him. "Come on, you need some air and a cup of coffee from the looks of it,"

"Why's that?" Pete asked him, reluctantly following him down the hall.

"Because mate," Steve smiled grimly. "Right at this second, you actually look worse than she does,"

"Does Allie know?" Steve asked him as they sat on the wall outside the hospital nursing their luke warm cups of watery coffee.

"About what?" Pete frowned. "The Firm?"

"Nah Pete," He rolled his eyes. "About your history as a tap dancer…yes, about the fucking Firm,"

"She's known for a while now," he nodded. "I had to tell her, Steve. It wouldn't have been fair otherwise,"

"What did she say?"

Pete snorted, remembering the night after Bovver had very nearly succeeded in persuading Pete to break things off with Allie and he had finally come clean with her. They had gone back to his flat where Pete had pretty much told her everything about the history of the GSE, from the fact that Steve used to be the Major to what had been going on the night he had met her.

"She was fine with it," he shrugged.

Steve snorted and shook his head, downing the dregs of his rapidly cooling coffee and wondering how the hell his brother, the smart one who had graduated University could be so fucking thick.

"Pete, Allie's an amazing girl," he told him firmly. "No one's denying that, especially me, but there isn't a woman alive that would willingly accept and put up with the fact that you're involved in all this shit," he laughed. "I know that there's no way in hell Shannon would still be with me if I hadn't left all that behind,"

"Yeah well Allie's not like Shannon," Pete shot back at him. "Thank fuck,"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Steve snapped.

"Oh come on bruv," he laughed. "Just because she's not one of those birds who are on a fucking vendetta to save my soul or whatever, just because she's happy enough to take me as I am, you think that there's something wrong with us?"

"Shannon did what she had to do," Steve told him. "For our sake,"

"No, Steve," Pete shook his head. "Shannon did what she had to do for her own fucking sake, so don't stand there and make out that she's a saint."

Steve shook his head and threw his now empty cup into the bushes behind him, standing up and dusting off the back of his trousers.

"You know something mate?" he asked, looking down at Pete. "You're right, Allie's nothing like Shannon," he shrugged. "Because the difference is that Shannon would have had the brains to walk away before it came to this. And you might have to start questioning what type of man you are if you're willing to let her stick around."

Pete stood aside as the nurse left Allie's room in a hurry, rushing down the long hallway to another room and almost catching his fingers in the door as it swung shut. Cursing under his breath and stepping inside, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Allie sat up in bed, staring at the tray of food in front of her warily.

Suddenly, her eyes lifted up to his and her face instantly softened, the familiar smile she only ever wore around him stretching over her bruised face and still making her look beautiful.

"Hey stranger," she told him softly, her voice slightly raspy from the oxygen they had given her on the way in.

"You're awake," he smiled, walking further into the room and taking a seat next to her bed, careful not to touch her. "How're you feeling?"

"Peachy," Allie laughed, slowly dissolving into a coughing fit and wincing when her stomach protested.

"What's wrong?" Pete demanded, his hand coming up to rest on her face. "Does it hurt? Should I go get someone?"

"No," she shook her head. "No, its just the bruising, they said it'll be a while before…" she caught the look on his face and trailed off. He looked like he wanted to throw up.

Allie knew that he blamed himself for what happened, but it wasn't his fault; she was stupid to be strolling around London on her own at stupid hours of the morning. Whether it had been Mikey or some random kid in a hoodie, it was bound to have happened one day.

Meeting Pete's eyes, she realised that convincing him of that would be a task and a half.

"You've got that look I hate," she told him gently. "The one that says you're over-thinking something and making it worse than it actually is,"

"How can this be worse than it actually is?" Pete snorted at her. "Look at you,"

Glancing down at her bandaged hand, Allie could see the bruising already creeping up her wrist and raised an eyebrow.

"I've looked better," she pursed her lips. "But its just lucky for me that purple's the 'in' colour for this season,"

Pete shook his head and looked down at his lap, too angry at himself to look her in the eye right now.

"Pete?" she reached out and tilted his face up to hers. "I know you're angry and upset, but this isn't your fault, ok?"

"You're too good to get mixed up in all this," he whispered harshly.

"Yeah, well so are you," Allie told him, trying to ignore the sting of tears in her eyes. "Pete, I love you. I love you so, so much and its because I love you that I need you to get it through your thick bloody skull that this is not your fault, do you understand me?"

"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for-…"

"Mickey," she interrupted. "I know that, so why are you having such a hard time getting your head around it?"

"I should have been there," he hissed. "I should have protected you,"

"You're here now," she told him softly. "That's all I care about," she sighed and felt another wave of pain sweep through her body. "So can you do what you're supposed to and just kiss me and take my mind off of it for a while?"

Leaning forward, Pete kissed her gently, careful not to be too hard with her; she kissed him back, her good hand clutching the material of his sweater, clinging to him so fiercely, Pete kept expecting to hear the material rip.

"Can you stay with me?" she whispered, pulling away after a long moment and he realised for the first time how badly she was shaking. "Please?"

"Come 'ere," he whispered back, sliding onto the bed next to her and pulling her into his arms, rocking her gently and kissing her forehead. "Just go to sleep, I've got you." He ignored the lone tear which slipped out of his eye and trailed down his face. "I won't leave, I promise,"

"Pete?"

Pete opened his eyes and stared up into the deep chocolate coloured orbs of Lara Knight, the red head looking down at him with sympathy and concern, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Hey," he whispered back, gently sliding Allie away from his chest and hopping off of the bed, turning quickly to pull the covers up around her so she didn't get cold.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," she smiled. "I only just got your message and…" she shook her head and looked at her best friend. "Jesus Christ, Pete what happened to her?"

Pete fought the urge to laugh; what she really meant by that was Pete, what did you let happen to her?

"Can you stay here with her?" he asked, ignoring her earlier question.

"Of course I can," she nodded. "You should go home get some sleep and come back in the morning,"

"I can't," he shook his head, feeling almost numb.

"Pete, Allie would kill you if she knew that you weren't sleeping…"

"No," Pete interrupted her. "I mean, I can't…I can't be here with her. Not when she's like this?"

"What?" Lara hissed, her eyes narrowing. "What, so you're just going to leave her?"

"She doesn't need me here," he told her.

"Like fuck she does," the red head shot back at him, trying to keep her voice level below normal. "You're her boyfriend; it's your job to be here,"

"I need to sort this out," he walked towards the door, but Lara reached out and snagged his hand.

"No, Pete," she trained her eyes on his. "What you need is to stay here and put her first for once. Ignore the fact that you're little gang war or whatever the fuck is it has stepped up a notch and be a man."

"I don't need your advice," he snarled. "I just need you to stay with her, while I…"

"While you what?" Lara hissed. "Take a few days and sort your head out? Grow the fuck up, Dunham. She needs you here now, not later,"

"Just stay with her," Pete repeated, his voice oddly monotone as he shrugged her off and walked out into the hall, Lara hot on his heels.

"So what am I supposed to tell her when she wakes up, Pete?" she called, waiting for him to turn around and give her something to go by, some scrap of information, no matter how useless that would give her the ability to comfort the still sleeping blonde girl when she finally woke up.

She waited and waited, until the door at the end of the hall slammed behind him and the silence he left her in seemed to cave in, forcing her back into the small room where she sat next to Allie's bed and waited for her to wake up.