Chloe had had a confusing day. She'd recently found out she had a bother she knew nothing about! She liked Dom, before he was her brother but now her mum seemed to be spending a lot of her time with Dom. The baby she loved and was forced to give away rather than the baby conceived by rape she was forced to keep.

Chloe decided to go for a walk, she didn't fancy going to her boyfriend Evans place, he'd want her to talk about it, and she really wasn't in the mood for that. She'd had a panic attack at work and blurted it out to him so he was kind of aware of the situation. Being out on a walk helped Chloe, to clear her head, to see the bigger picture, to get some fresh air. Chloe sat on a bench in the park. She saw a cute little dog running over to her, some kind of spaniel. "Hi gorgeous." She coo'd at the little dog. "Your just gorgeous aren't you, just like Bracken." She thought of her Gran's old dog. Bracken had died when Chloe was a teenager and she'd been distraught, Gran had got a new dog now, a Labrador named Rosie but although she was lovely she didn't have the same sweet personality as Bracken. "I'm so sorry," the dogs owner came running over, "I wanted to let Boris of his lead."

"Oh he's fine," Chloe said "don't apologise I love dogs."

"Do you have one?" Boris' owner asked

"No I'm a doctor, it wouldn't be fair the long hours I work. My gran had a dog, Bracken, who looked like your Boris while I was growing up."

"He really likes you" the lady said. "I'd best be off," she clipped Boris' lead back on. "My daughters are at ballet class and I need to take Boris home then go and pick them up."

Extra curricular fun. Chloe thought. She didn't do much of that. She'd done gymnastics for a few months but was terrible at it although she'd done a fair bit of horse riding but mum wanted her to focus on her schoolwork, so she could be a doctor, just like her mum. So Gran was always the one picking her up, making her tea and all the other usual mother things. Gran and Grandpa came to most of the primary school shows and parents evenings. Chloe had lived with Gran and grandpa until she was 5 when Ange was at medical school, and she went over at least 3 times a week for her tea even when she lived with her mum. Chloe's darling gran was one of the most wonderful people. She'd even moved up to Aberdeen with them. She not only welcomed Chloe into her home whenever but also Fiona, Eilidh, Sophie or any of Chloe's other friends with open arms. In fact Fiona called Chloe's Grandmother Granny Goddard. Chloe thought of her gran and pulled her phone out to text her about the dog she'd seen but then she had a thought. Gran must have known about Dom, surely Ange couldn't have hidden a pregnancy surely. Chloe knew if she went to Evans he wouldn't let her FaceTime Gran so she went to a coffee shop bought a cappuccino and found a quiet corner which was easy since the coffee shop wasn't too busy. She put her headphones and pressed Grans FaceTime.

"Chloe, I cant see you can you see me?"

"No Gran you have to press the camera button." Chloe smiled, she FaceTimed gran often but she still hadn't learned how to use it.

"Can you see me now?"

"Just your eye gran, move away from the iPad. That's it, hi Gran."

"Hello Chloe dear. How are you?"

"Gran, can I ask you something?" Chloe asked tentatively

"Are you ok, of course you can asked me anything"

"Gran," Chloe swallowed "Gran did you know I had a brother?"

"Oh Chloe, Angel finally told you."

"No my brothers other mother beat her to it. I thought we had no lies Gran. That's what you always said!" Chloe was getting angry.

"You met Carole? I'm sorry Chloe, I always said that we should tell you." Gran said

"Yeah but you didn't tell me did you Gran, you let me believe i was an only child. How's that fair? So i had to work alongside my brother for months not even knowing he was related to me." Chloe was shouting by now and hung up on her grandmother. She was so angry. Gran always told her that there was no secrets between them. Chloe had kept her self harm secret for a while but Gran had kept this secret Chloe's whole life. She left her half drank coffee and went into the cafe bathrooms. She locked herself in the disabled loo. She could feel a panic attack coming on. Come on Chloe you idiot breathe she told herself it wasn't working she tipped the content of her bag onto the tiled floor scrambling to pick up the make up bag she kept her tampons in she pulled it open and pulled out the craft knife she kept in there she sat down on the lid of the toilet seat and moved her trousers down a few inches and drew the blade over her hips. Seeing the blood instantly calmed her. She did it again and again. She put a sheet toilet roll on her hip, held in place by her underwear pulled up her trousers and walked out like nothing had happened.

She let herself into the flat. "Where have you been, Ive been worried. Especially after everything that happened today."

"Sorry I should have texted. I went for a walk and for a coffee." Chloe said and Evan hugged her. The pressure on the front of her hip made her wince. Evan noticed and held her at arms length. "Chloe?" He asked "Chloe what happened?"

"Nothing." She lied

"Chloe I know you better than that, what's happened?"

"I FaceTimed my gran. She knew about Dom, obviously, she started saying how she always wanted to tell me and I got angry and started panicking and..."

"Show me." Evan interrupted "show me your hip." She shook her head and backed away from him.

"Hey Chloe, it's okay, I'm not angry with yo. I hate to see you suffer like this and I want to check you're okay. Let me see and I can treat them medically. I'll get the first aid kit. He got it from the bathroom of the flat and Chloe reluctantly showed him her cuts. "Oh Chloe," he said seeing some newly healing cuts as well as the ones she'd made today. "Why didn't you say. I know this whole thing with Dom has rocked you, you were doing so well. I think you should try and stay away from that so called family of yours. Just for a while to keep you on track." Evan was saying as he put steri strips across her cuts. "How did you hurt yourself Chloe." He asked.

"Scissors" She lied, she did keep nail scissors in her bag. She fished them out and gave them to Evan. She knew she needed the craft knife. Although she worked in a hospital, sharp hints weren't hard to come by. "Sorry."

"Hey it's ok. I'll keep these scissors for you. You must have been really distressed to cut this deep with these scissors. Next time you feel like this you need to tell me Chloe. If we're at work page me if you need to. I'm here for you always."