I had the best few days ever! Dublin is just as awesome as I remember and I cannot for the life of me recommend MGMT enough!! If you get a chance to see them or even just buy their album, you HAVE to do it! Anyway, enough ranting and onto the chapter which is dedicated especially to Pishta Hamster, my fellow "oldie" on here who keeps me constantly entertained (by the way the last few paragraphs, and believe me, you'll know which ones are just for you :D ), to Becki 2810 for her loyal and brilliant review-age and to Little Miss Bovver for flattering me way too much for my own good :) Enjoy!
Also, I just noticed that "What Could Have Been" has now had a total of 10,000 hits! Hell yeah!! :D :D
"Are you gonna answer me or what?" Pete snapped, the slight pain in his chest worsening as he pictured Natalie lying in that bed, dying without him to hold her hand or even say sorry for talking to her like a complete dick earlier.
His last words to her had been a demand to sort herself out and get the fuck out of his house…oh Jesus, please don't let her be dead.
"Miss Dunham left."
The words shocked him but he took on their meaning, letting out a loud laugh as the relief washed through him.
"She what?"
"Miss Dunham discharged herself against our advice about two hours ago," the nurse went back to surreptitiously folding the cotton blanket. "She took her medicines and left,"
Pete narrowed his eyes and gave her a hard stare.
"You let a 22 year old girl with a known heroin addiction back onto the streets with a bunch of pills?" he snorted. "Thank fuck for the NHS, right?" he spat, turning on his heel and storming down the corridor before she could say anything else. He had to find her before she did something stupid.
Pete almost laughed as he pressed the button for the elevator and glanced down at his watch.
This was Natalie he was talking about, if he wanted to stop her from doing something stupid, then that gave him all of about five minutes to track her down in the middle of London.
Allie padded sleepily towards the door, Pete's sweatshirt tugged up around her shoulders to keep out the icy chill that November brought in the evenings.
The knocking was constant although soft, so soft that she wondered how she had heard it at all.
Pulling the door open, she blinked in surprise when she saw Dave stood there, his dark eyes meeting her light ones and smiling gently.
"Alright gorgeous?" he greeted her as usual.
"Hey," she stepped aside. "Get in here before you freeze,"
He smiled his thanks and stepped into the large house, sighing as his face began to sting as the heat from the foyer banished the chill on his skin.
"The man of the house ain't home then I take it?" he smirked playfully.
"No, Lara's upstairs, I can get her for you if you want," Allie shot back, getting a laugh out of him but she could hear his heart wasn't in it. "Come on," she gestured to the kitchen. "You look like you could use come coffee,"
"If that's posh slang for vodka then count me in," he told her, rubbing his forehead tiredly as he followed her into the spacious kitchen.
She placed the baby monitor she had been carrying on the counter and Dave smiled when he heard Poppy gurgle something and then go back to snoring softy.
"Pete told me about Jake," Allie slid onto the stool across from him and shook her head. "I'm really sorry, Dave,"
"You and me both sweetheart," he snorted. "Every family 'as the problem child though, don't they? It's just whereas most of 'em wet the bed or swear too much, mine sells coke to his mates and almost kills 'em."
Allie winced at the bitter tone in his voice; of all the lads, with the exception of Pete, Dave was always the most upbeat and up for a laugh. Seeing him like this, sitting in front of her on the verge of tears looking so furious and lost was almost like looking at a stranger.
"How is he?" she asked, pouring some coffee into a mug and sliding it across to him before pouring one for herself and adding the usual three sugars.
"Jake?" Dave raised an eyebrow. "He's at home with the folks," he shook his head. "I don't know if he's told them yet or not but if he's got a single fuckin' brain cell left then he should."
"It's never as easy as that though," Allie shook her head. "If it is then none of us would be in this mess, would we?"
"Speaking of," he nodded to her. "How's the war wound?"
"Fine," she shrugged. "It doesn't even really hurt that much any more,"
"Brave girl," Dave grinned. "You know the night we met you, not long after you left, Swill took a right fuckin' tumble down the stairs at Oxford Street," he laughed at the memory. "He'd finished his own beer so he kept tryna steal Bov's and Bov being the picture of happiness that he was back then shoved him forward and the poor chubby bastard fell over his own feet and went down like a sack of shit."
Allie laughed, nearly choking on her coffee.
"That explains the black eye when I saw you lot in the pub the next week," she recalled.
"Fuck me, I'm starting to feel old," Dave snorted. "You do realise that all that 'appened four years ago now?"
"It still feels like yesterday," Allie smiled, remembering the first time she had seen Pete, staring at her on the train, his blue eyes and arrogant smirk proving to be annoyingly charming as she stood on the platform of the Brixton tube station shouting at him.
"Still," he leant back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. "Who'd 'ave thought that five years later, you'd be married to Dunham with a kid?"
"Jesus, when you put it like that…" Allie laughed.
Sometimes it did strike her as being surreal; she was sure that if someone had walked up to her that night and told her that Pete Dunham would end up not only being the love of her life but the father of her child, she would have almost certainly laughed in their face.
"So is Nat still 'ere then?" Dave asked her, the question catching her completely off guard.
"What?" she frowned. "No, she's still in hospital,"
"Oh," Dave paused for a moment. "Why's her door key taped to the wall outside then?"
Allie stared at him for a moment before launching herself off of her stool, jogging upstairs and ignoring him as he called after her.
Reaching the room at the end of the long hallway, she shoved the door open and stopped dead.
The bed was neatly made; all of Natalie's belongings had vanished. It looked as though she'd never been there.
"Fuck, how long was I asleep?" she whispered to herself, checking the old clock on the fire place in the bedroom and seeing that she had been flat out for over two hours. More than enough time for Natalie to sneak in and collect her stuff.
"Shit," she hissed, running back out into the hall and down the stairs, almost crashing into Dave where he was stood at the bottom.
"She's gone," Allie panted. "So has all her stuff…there's nothing up there,"
"Fuck," Dave whispered. "Pete's gonna go mental,"
"I know," Allie shook her head. "Look, we need to find her, alright? I'll go upstairs and ask Lara to watch Poppy, then we just go out and we scour the streets,"
"You do realise how fuckin' huge London is right?" Dave laughed. "That's assuming she asn't jumped on a train or something by now,"
"We'll find her," Allie told him firmly as she started jogging back upstairs. "We have to,"
Matt slammed the front door to his flat shut behind him, eager to keep out the cold. Dropping the case of beer he had bought onto the small kitchen table, he dumped the food bags on the counter and started rifling through them until he found the pack of Oreo cookies and tore into them, shoving three into his mouth at once.
"Christ, you yanks really aren't ones for manners are you?"
The voice caught him off guard and he promptly began to choke, spitting some of the half chewed biscuit out into his hands and blinking through stinging watery eyes to the girl sat on the sofa, smirking back at him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked hoarsely.
"Whoa there," Natalie rolled her eyes. "Easy on the charm or I might not be able to stop myself,"
She watched as he quickly rinsed his hands and came to lean on the chair across from her, giving her an expectant look.
"Aren't you meant to be in hospital?" he asked her.
"Technically, yes," she nodded. "But I'm not a conventional kinda gal,"
"You checked yourself out," Matt shook his head with a brief snort.
"I'd been poked, prodded and given every 'drugs are bad' lecture under the sun," Natalie rolled her eyes. "I needed to get out of there. It was becoming detrimental to my health."
"And heroin isn't?" Matt shot back, earning himself a dark look.
"Listen Max," she put emphasis on the name, knowing it was wrong. "You're hardly in the position to judge me, ok? Didn't you get booted out of Harvard for possession?"
"It wasn't mine," he protested.
"Thought it was just the big kids being nice and selling you sherbet, did you?" she smirked.
"Fine," Matt lifted his hands I defeat. "Let's see how funny Pete thinks you're little jokes are, shall we?" he pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.
"I didn't come here to argue with you," Natalie shook her head, not in the least bit bothered by his threat. "I came here because I need help and…I dunno, it's always easier to ask a stranger isn't it?"
Matt looked at her for a moment and saw that she was serious.
"What do you need?" he asked warily.
"Well lucky for you sainthood now comes with a price tag," Natalie smiled, leaning forward on the sofa and meeting his eyes. "I need two grand," she heard his sharp intake of breath but carried on talking. Shannon and Matt were fucking minted; she knew that just from talking to Pete. Not as wealthy as Allie was but then there was no way that Natalie could ask her for the money, she'd probably sooner die than hand it over.
"So what'd you say?" she asked, biting her nails nervously. "Will you help me or not?"
Matt looked back at her for a long moment before sighing and running his hands through his already messy hair.
"Come on," he told her, jerking his head to the door. "We've got half an hour before the banks shut and drawing out two grand is going to look dodgy at the best of times so we better get out asses in gear."
Natalie smiled at him and stood up, pulling her duffel bag over her shoulder and following him out the door.
"Thanks for this Max," she told him.
"It's Matt," he grunted, locking the door behind them and leading her down the hallway.
"I know," she told him and he could hear the smirk in her voice. "But I like Max better."
Trinity Wharf looked exactly the same as it did the last time Pete Dunham had been there. The muddy sand banks did their best to pull him down while the eerie echo of lorry's and ship horns broke through the otherwise silent evening.
A shiver ran down his spine as he walked past the spot where he knew Tommy had beaten him within an inch of his life. It was strange because although he knew he was unconscious at the time, he still had the image in his head of Allie screaming as she thumped at his chest, the paramedics pulling her off him and trying to restart his heart.
Feeling more than a little ill, he turned away from it and walked over to the far bank, his breath coming out as small misty clouds as he looked over the London skyline.
He'd been to every single place he could think Natalie would be; her house, the park he used to take her to when they were kids, the Abbey. He'd checked in with all the lads, asked Terry, even got Steve to go out and start looking for her but a part of him knew it was all in vain.
Natalie Dunham was a clever girl and if she wanted to disappear, then Pete didn't have a hope in hell of finding her.
He flipped his phone open and debated calling Allie to check if she was alright but decided against it as he didn't want to risk waking her up. Sighing heavily, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and leant against the icy railing, drumming his fingers and creating a soft rhythm as his wedding ring clanged against it.
"If I was a 22 year old girl on the run with half an ounce of heroin in my veins, where would I go?" he muttered out loud, kicking some sand with his trainer.
He looked out at the Thames and took comfort in the gently rippling water, the lights reflecting off of it and making it look more like a black diamond ocean that the regular sickly looking swamp it usually resembled.
It was then that it hit him.
There was one place he hadn't checked; one place that he, Nat, Steve and Bovver had spent most of their childhoods.
"Fuckin' idiot," he spat at himself, breaking into a jog back to his car and ignoring the stiffness in his knee caused by the looming frost overhead.
He had one shot left at finding her. One shot left and not nearly enough time.
"No one's seen her," Allie shook her head as she jogged out of the ticket office at South Bank station.
"Bollocks," Dave hissed, glancing around the platform. He and Allie had been on the hunt for almost an hour now and no one they had spoken to had seen head nor tail of the pretty brunette in the photo.
"It might sound stupid but maybe we should try calling her again?" Allie offered.
"You honestly reckon she'll answer this time?" Dave raised an eyebrow.
"300th time lucky, right?" she laughed, blowing some warmth into her hands and rubbing them together.
With a 'what the hell' shrug, Dave pressed the call button on his phone again and waited as Allie turned on her heel and peered intensely into the train that had just pulled up to the platform.
"Nothing," he muttered after a moment. "What now?"
Allie opened her mouth to answer when a sudden shout of her name caused her to turn around, a confused frown marring her face when she saw Bovver, Swill, Ike, Keith and Ned strolling towards her.
"Alright, lads?" Dave frowned.
"Lemme guess," Bovver snorted. "You're on the lookout for the littlest Dunham 'n all?"
"No luck?" Allie smiled tightly.
"Mate, I dunno what Pete thinks is gonna 'appen," Ned piped up. "Unless he's hopin' for some early Christmas miracle, we ain't got a hope in hell of findin' some girl in the middle of London,"
Allie turned away from him, knowing that he was right but not wanting to let it show. She felt guilty that a part of her was almost glad Natalie was gone, after all when Allie had tried to help her at the hospital, the kid had all but told her to piss off.
But then at the same time, she knew that if this was 18 years in the future and it was Poppy who needed help, Allie would sooner throw herself in front of an oncoming train than give up on her.
"So I'm thinking we just get on and try the next stop," she told them. "We've got more chance of finding her that way than we have just ambling around the streets,"
"Yeah," Swill smiled at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to warm her up. "Come on, before that prick with the ticket machine comes round and fines me again. Fucker charged me £40 last time,"
"Serves you right for not buying a ticket you bell-end," Ike told him sternly.
"I told you, I only 'ad a fiver on me and I aven't ad anything since breakfast so I bought a KFC," Swill shot back. "If you lot weren't so fuckin' tight you would 'ave lent me the money,"
"Shut up, will ya?" Bovver shook his head. "You're doin' my nut at the moment,"
They piled into the train, not bothering to find seats. Allie pressed her forehead against the thick plastic window and sighed, her hot breath fogging her view.
There were a total of 43 tube stations in central London and so far they'd come as far as Edgware Road which meant they still had a good 39 to go.
And there wasn't even a guarantee that Natalie Dunham would be at any of them.
"Shit!"
Natalie hissed as she dipped her feet into the freezing cold water, rolling her eyes when she realised how naïve she had been to assume that somewhere as cheap as the Benson Road lido would have a heated water system.
The best memories of her childhood came from this crummy little place; the pool heaving with school kids on a hot Friday afternoon, Steve sneaking around the back of the miniature golf course with his mates for a quick fag, Pete and Bovver playing football on the man-made sandbank, their friends shouting and swearing inevitably drawing unimpressed stares from nearby parents.
She liked it here because it never changed. The water was still pungent, the almost ungodly level of chlorine in it choking her as soon as she had stepped through the gates. The bright orange plastic chairs were stacked up at the side, waiting patiently for summer to roll round and she knew that if she could be bothered to get up and walk over to the old ice cream stand that hers and Pete's names were still scratched into the back of it along with a lewd drawing that Bovver had left, seeing no sense in writing his name and getting his arse kicked by his old man.
Staring down at her feet as they swept back and forth in the icy water, she considered that given her current health taking a dip in an outdoor pool in the middle of November was probably not the best of ideas but then at the same time, what did she have to lose?
Suddenly the gate creaked open and she froze. It had to be security or the police; who else would be coming into an abandoned kids swimming pool at night? Her stomach tensed and she realised that she probably didn't want to know the answer to that question.
The lights around her were dim so she couldn't make out who the mysterious intruder was and prayed that they were too far away to see her as well.
Their footsteps stopped and she panted nervously, knowing they had seen her.
"It's a good thing you went to the shallow end," Pete's voice echoed across the pool and she blinked in surprise. "If you was down at the deep end, I might be too tempted to drown ya,"
He came to a stop next to her and with one strong hand reached down and yanked her feet out of the water, placing her so she was standing.
"Get up." he grunted.
"Oi, I'm not Bovver," she snapped. "You can't boss me about,"
"If you were Bov, I'd be punching you in the fuckin' face for what you've just put me through," he hissed back. "I went to the hospital and you weren't in the room, I thought you'd died!"
"Jeez," Natalie rolled her eyes. "You've been hanging out with little miss glitter and the red head for too long, its not like you to be so dramatic,"
"Oi," Pete shouted, grabbing her arm as she went to walk around him. "You don't get to make this into a joke, alright? Do you even give a shit about what you're doing?"
"No," she shook her head. "But then why should I? You sure as hell don't,"
Pete knew that she was referring to what he had said to her back at the hospital and sighed. He should have known that with someone like Nat this was going to be harder than he thought.
"I ain't sayin' sorry for any of that," he told her, walking over to the sandbank and flopping down on it. "I meant everything I said. You've fucked up royally and I ain't letting you shrug it off this time,"
"So what?" Natalie sighed, sitting next to him. "Should I say a few Hail Mary's and buy Allie a bunch of flowers?"
Pete shook his head and stared out over the water, apparently not willing to talk anymore.
"Sorry sounds shit when you say it out loud," she told him. "But its all I've got right now,"
"I didn't come 'ere for that," he told her earnestly. "I came 'ere to make sure you're ok,"
"How did you even know I'd be here?" she asked him.
"Same way you knew to come 'ere in the first place," Pete shrugged. "This is where we grew up pretty much...I remember when Steve broke his wrist doing a backflip off the stack of chairs," he laughed. "And when you pulled Bov's trunks down when he was tryna chat up that bird,"
Even Natalie laughed at that, recalling the horror on the poor things face as she had run off giggling with her friends, leaving Bovver to pick up Natalie and throw her into the water with impressive force.
"Not to mention I got to third base with Rachel Donahue behind that windmill," he smirked and pointed to the miniature golf course.
"Ugh," Natalie wrinkled her nose. "That's disgusting,"
They say in silence for a moment remembering before Pete cleared his throat.
"You know I'm 'ere to take you back into hospital, don't you?" he asked her quietly, feeling her tense up next to him.
"Yeah," she answered softly. "But I'm not going this time,"
Pete stared at her, opening his mouth to speak but she shook her head and dug about in her bag for a moment, pulling out a booklet and handing it to him.
"What's this?" he frowned.
"It's called Hanley Ranch," she breathed. "Its down in Cornwall, it cost a pretty penny but I got the number off some woman at the hospital. She said they're really sound down there,"
Pete looked at her in shock, his hands still gripping the brochure.
"It's a rehab?" he frowned.
"Yeah, but I doubt I'll be seeing Amy Winehouse and Robert Downy Jr in group therapy," she laughed. "Its for people between 18 and 30; we can all sit around the electric campfire with non fat, non sugar marshmallows and talk about where it all went wrong."
"You did this on your own?" Pete gulped.
"I 'ad to," she shrugged, talking the brochure back from him and shoving it into her bag. He looked guilty for a moment and she shook her head. "Oi, that wasn't a dig at you or nothin'. If you hadn't told me where to go earlier chances are I wouldn't 'ave 'ad the balls to do anything,"
"How long are you going for?" Pete stuttered.
"I dunno," she shrugged. "Fuck know how these places work but it sounds alright. As long as they don't start asking me to colour in pretty pictures and describe my happy place, they I should be fine. There isn't enough heroin in the world to make me sit through ten weeks of that bollocks."
Pete laughed quietly and reached out, pulling her to him and keeping his arm around her shoulders.
"I can go down there with you if you want," he offered. "Just while you check in and…"
He trailed off when she shook her head.
"I need to do this on my own," she rolled her eyes. "Otherwise I'll end up right back where I was." she felt tears sting her eyes slightly and swallowed hard. "I really am sorry for all the shit I caused," she told him shakily. "With Allie and everything…that night that she told me to kill myself,"
Pete tensed up next to her and she could almost feel his anger.
"Yeah?" he shook his head.
"I um…" Natalie closed her eyes. "I lied to you about that."
Pete looked down at her in shock and she resisted meeting his eyes.
"I went after her that night," she nodded. "And I mean big time, I shredded her to pieces, called her all the names under the sun. She finally snapped and she tried to say sorry but I wouldn't listen, instead I just smashed up half the kitchen and ran out on 'er." She looked up shyly. "That was when I ran and found you,"
"But…" Pete frowned. "You told me…I treated her like shit for that,"
"I know," Natalie nodded. "But there's more,"
"Mate, I ain't sure I wanna hear it," Pete shook his head.
"The reason Allie started locking the medicine cabinet," she paused. "I stole your pain medication, the really strong shit you had in there for your knee." She gulped. "I took it,"
Pete dropped his head into his hands and took a deep breath; all he could hear was himself shouting at Allie, telling her that she was wrong.
What a twat, he thought bitterly.
"So now you know," Natalie spoke loudly. "I really am as fucked up as everyone says. But I shouldn't 'ave taken it out on any of you, not even Allie."
She stared at him for a moment and bit her lip.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
"I'm thinking…" Pete let out a deep breath. "I'm thinking that last time I was 'ere I was 17 and getting' a hand job from Rachel Donahue," he laughed. "Fast forward nine fuckin' years and I'm married, with a kid and talking to the one person I thought would land on their feet about whether or not they want me to drive them to rehab."
Natalie laughed and tucked her hair behind her ears.
"We Dunham's don't do things by half, do we?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Nah," Pete smirked. "Apparently not."
He nudged her gently.
"So how much is this place costing ya?" he nodded to the leaflet sticking out of her bag.
"Two grand," she told him, laughing when his eyes widened.
"Fuck me," he whistled.
"Oi, you live in Kensington now," Natalie joked. "Two grand is pocket change for the likes of you,"
"Piss off," he laughed. "Nah, seriously, where are you getting' the money from?"
"The yank," she told him.
"Matt?" Pete raised an eyebrow. "Matt Buckner gave you two grand?"
"Yep," she nodded.
"Cheeky little cunt didn't give me so much as a tenner when he was living with me," Pete snorted.
"You didn't have a heroin problem though, did you?" she pointed out. "But then you were dating Allie at the time, and it takes more than money to get rid of the trauma that comes with dating a fuckin' Sloaner,"
Pete shook his head but laughed nonetheless.
"She's not that bad," he told her.
"I know," Natalie conceded, shocking him to the core. "I owe 'er one actually, she's half the reason I went and spoke to that nurse. Partly to prove her wrong though," she narrowed her eyes and Pete and jabbed her finger into his arm. "Don't you fuckin' go back there and tell 'er I like 'er or nothin'. If her head gets any bigger she won't be able to fit it into her Barbie-mobile."
Pete smirked at her, knowing that as far as liking Allie went, that was probably the biggest confession Natalie could have made.
"If you say so," he told her with a wink.
"I should get going soon," she told him. "My train takes like seven hours and I'm supposed to check in at 9am so…"
"Right," Pete stood up with her and pulled her to her feet, seeing that she was still weak from the events of the past 48 hours. "Let's get you to the station, kid,"
She nodded and followed him around the pool, the only sound around them coming from the gently ripple of the water as it brushed the tiled sides.
"So you were the kid who got the hand job behind the ice cream shack?" Natalie asked, making Pete laugh loudly.
"Sounds like a fuckin' scenario from Cluedo," he snorted.
"May as well have been," she cocked her head. "You were an urban legend for years…I can't believe it was you…I can't believe I used to get ice cream from there all the time…oh God, its sick!"
Pete only laughed louder as they exited the pool, their figures disappearing into the darkness of the evening as the gate swung shut behind them with a pained creak, leaving their youth where neither of them wanted it to be but where they both knew it belonged: firmly in the past.
"You aren't seriously expecting to find her here are you?" Ned asked, glancing about the upper platform of Whitechapel station, watching as a group of posh looking school kids tumbled out of the carriage and veered around them, chattering loudly about something called 'Polo'. Wasn't that a disease?
"We're just following the train lines," Dave sighed tiredly as he watched Allie talking to the conductor and showing him Natalie's photo, her body going limp when he shook his head.
"Fuck it," he whispered.
"Mate, can we grab some food or somethin' at the next stop?" Swill groaned. "I'm fuckin' starving,"
"You 'ad a KFC!" Ike frowned.
"Yeah, three hours ago!" Swill shot back. "Come on, I can't be the only one,"
"Nothing?" Bovver nodded to Allie as she walked over, a defeated look marring her pretty features.
"Nope," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her shoulder was starting to hurt and the not so gentle rumble of her stomach kept reminding her that she hadn't eaten since her measly slice of toast this morning.
"I take it we're going on to Victoria now then?" Ike asked, stubbing out his cigarette on the wall.
"We may as well, you never know for whatever reason she might 'ave gone back to the house." Allie shrugged. "I'll try calling Pete again when we get there," she stepped onto the waiting train and moved aside so the boys could get on behind her. The ride was mostly silent, a sure sign that there were all tired, hungry and on the verge of getting royally pissed off.
They reached the station after a minute or so and poured out onto the platform along with the other passengers, Dave reaching out and wrapping his arm around Allie's waist when a man reading his newspaper smacked into her hard and caused her to yelp as her shoulder jolted from the force.
"Oi," Dave snapped, making the slightly older man look around uninterestedly. "D'you wanna watch where you're going, mate?"
The man glared at him before walking off though at a slightly quicker pace than before.
"You alright, sweetheart?" he asked her gently.
"Yeah," she winced, pulling the collar of her grey hooded sweater to one side and examined the small bandaged, seeing a little more blood than had been on it before but not enough for her to worry. "Why don't you guys have a look around while I go talk to the nice people behind the glass?"
She gestured to a stern looking woman with a whistle in her mouth, her posture and pristine white shirt alerting everyone to the fact that she took her job way too seriously.
"Ok, love," Dave nodded. "We'll just be over 'ere."
He watched her go over to the woman and start talking before he strolled back over to the boys who were flopped back against the wall.
"Mate, this is ridiculous," Bovver shook his head and fumbled with his cigarettes. "We ain't gonna find 'er here or anywhere. She's not a kid, if she's gone then she probably doesn't wanna be found,"
"I know," Dave sighed. "But Allie wants to do this,"
"Right, so I've gotta sacrifice my entire evening just because the Sloaner is one some guilt trip?" he shot back.
Unwilling to argue, Dave simply shrugged and leant next to Swill who he saw with a laugh was playing Tetris on his phone.
"I'm up to level 17," he grinned proudly. "Its getting proper fuckin' difficult though,"
"You scare me," Dave told him seriously, causing the younger man to look up from his phone with a scowl on his face.
"Aye, aye," he smirked, looking past Dave. "Careful now lads, its one of them hooligans I keep seein' on Crimewatch,"
The rest of the boys looked up just as Pete got to the end of the stairs, frowning when he spotted them lined up like some kind of circus act.
"Alright, boys?" he laughed. "What you lot doin' 'ere?"
"What d'you think?" Bovver snorted. "We're on a Dunham family treasure hunt. I think we only get ten points for finding you though, so why don't you fuck off back where you came from?"
Pete grinned and slapped the back of his head playfully.
"Nat's fine," he told them. "I found 'er,"
"You what?" Dave breathed. "When?"
"I dunno," Pete checked his phone. "Two maybe three hours ago?"
"You dick, why didn't you call us?" he sighed. "Mate, we've been trolling the underground like a pack of dirty gypsies,"
"Well, where's she at now?" Bovver frowned, glancing behind the tall blonde and failing to see any sign of Natalie.
"Probably on a train to Devon," Pete rubbed the back of his neck and smirked at the confused looks he received. "Long story…one that requires at least three beers,"
"Count me in," Dave snorted.
"Throw in some food and I'm there 'n all," Swill called to them, his focus still on his phone.
Pete nodded and turned to leave but Dave whistled at him and made him stop.
"Oi, there's still one member of the A team missing," he called. "We might want to hang around for a minute,"
Pete frowned, wondering who Dave was talking about. He knew that Matt wasn't there but he'd learned from Natalie that that was because he was back at the flat.
"Nothing," he heard Allie call over the crowds and turned to face her. "I swear to God this girl is-…"
She stopped dead, wondering if between her earlier blood loss and tiredness she was being driven to hallucination.
"Pete?" she frowned.
"What the hell is she doing out of bed?" Pete snapped, ignoring her and turning back to Dave.
"Give the girl credit, Dunham," his friend replied. "As if we could keep her away. You know what birds are like with drama," he rolled his eyes. "It's like a moth to a flame,"
"What's going on?" Allie asked, coming to stand behind Pete. "Why are you here?"
"Same reason you are," he told her, turning around and running his eyes over her body, doing a quick check to see if she was ok.
"We can't find her," Allie bit her lip. "Pete, we've been to every damn station this side of the Thames and-…"
"She's gone," Pete interrupted, watching as her emerald eyes bugged out of her head.
"What?" she whispered.
"Nat checked herself out of hospital and she's gone back home…" he figured that would do for the time being. His body ached and his stomach was craving food so he didn't have the energy to go into all the ins and outs right then and there.
"Oh," Allie nodded. "Ok…was she ok? I mean, you just let her go, what if she collapses or something,"
"Trust me," Pete smiled. "She's fine, alright? I made sure of it," he cocked his head. "And so did the yank apparently."
Before Allie could ask any more questions, Swill pushed himself away from the wall and grinned at her.
"That's all the closure I needed," he winked. "Now can we please for the love of fuck go and get some food?"
"Let's go," Bovver nodded, leading the way up the stairs to the upper platform.
"Oi," Pete nudged Allie who was still staring into space with a worried look on her face. "Come 'ere,"
He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing the side of her neck as he led them up the stairs, his tall frame towering over her and keeping her sheltered from the cold.
"I owe you an apology," he whispered in her ear.
"What?" she frowned, craning her head back to see him. "Why?"
"Nat told me everything," he saw the light dawn in her eyes and held her tighter. "And I mean everything,"
"Oh," she nodded. "Right,"
"So it turns out I don't just owe you a beer," he smirked. "I owe you an entire fuckin' pub,"
Allie laughed and leant back into him, trying to get closer to his warmth as they stepped out into the open air, the frost already glistening on tops of cars and on the roads, making the tar look as though it was covered in diamonds.
"Ere, Wagamama's is still open," Ike pointed out. "I'm well up for that,"
"Fuckin' ponce," Bovver grumbled. "I hate eatin' with chopsticks,"
"Then ask for a fork, you retard," Ike shot back, shoving him across the pedestrian crossing.
"I still ain't got no money," Swill told them all after searching his pockets. "Oi, Sloane Ranger,"
Allie looked up from where she was talking to Pete and met his eyes.
"What?" she smirked.
"How d'you fancy payin' for and handsome and still growing young man such as myself to have some much needed dinner?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Cheeky git," she shook her head. "No way,"
"Alright," Swill nodded, holding out his hands. "I'll make you a deal, if I can make you laugh before we get to the doors, you 'ave to cover me,"
"Fine," she nodded. "Bring it on,"
"Right," Swill turned back to the lads and rubbed his hands together. "Give me the most un-politically correct joke you've got,"
"How do you make a blonde get dizzy?" Ike asked. "Put her in a circular room and tell her to go stand in the corner,"
The lads all started laughing but Allie shook her head.
"Appalling,"
"Right, I got one…" Ned grinned. "Why did the woman cross the road?"
Everyone looked at him.
"Wait," he continued. "Better question…what the fuck is she doing out of the kitchen to begin with?"
"Oh my God," Allie shook her head, elbowing Pete when she felt him laughing behind her.
"How many men does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" Bovver asked while taking a drag of his cigarette. "None," he answered. "Let the bitch cook in the dark,"
Pete burst out laughing, pressing his face into Allie's shoulder and making her body shake.
"You're all such bastards," she told them with a smirk.
"Ere, what'd you say to a woman with two black eyes?" Ike piped up. "Nothing, she's been told twice already,"
"Why don't women need driver's licences?" Pete asked, backing away from Allie slightly to avoid any physical reaction. "Because there's no road between the bedroom and the kitchen,"
Again the boys started laughing and against her will, Allie giggled, clapping her hand over her mouth as soon as the sound escaped.
"Yes!" Swill shouted triumphantly. "Not only did you laugh, you laughed at a joke that offends your own sex…just for that, you get to pay for all of us."
"Sod off," she giggled turning and shoving Pete with her good arm when he playfully slapped her arse. "Enough!"
The argument continued as they entered the restaurant, the warmth and the smell of food greeting them and luring them back into a sense of normality whilst somewhere, a few miles from where they say, a girl with long dark hair stared out of the train window bound for Devon, her fingers curled around the photo Pete had given her from his wallet of himself, Allie, Poppy and the boys.
For the first time in years she felt completely at peace with everything as she watched the scenery zooming past her, she wasn't seeing it as leaving on her own, but knowing that when she was ready, she had a family to come back to. And it was with that thought in her head that she soon fell asleep with a gentle smile playing on her lips.
Aw...so as much as I hated the little skank, I didn't have the heart to kill her in the end. Fancy another time jump? If it sweetens the deal, it means to get to meet a brand new Dunham... ;) Make way for bambino #2.