Citylightsonthew: Aww, thank you! I'm glad that you thought so, as I wasn't sure myself. I do love caring Connie and you'll see a lot more of her in the next couple of chapters. I miss their friendship as well, I loved them so much. Thanks for your review.
HappilyCoralCasualty: Thank you! I love writing nice friendships between Connie and the younger members of staff. I hope you like this one. Thanks for your review.
Guest: More Connie to come! To be honest, I didn't actually mention it, but I'm writing it kind of around the present time if that helps at all. Thanks for your review.
casfics: Thank you, that means a lot coming from a huge Ethan and Alicia fan like yourself. Loads more to come. Thanks for your review.
Chapter Eleven
Lily let out a huge sigh of relief when Connie called to say that Alicia was at her house.
All sorts of awful, terrifying thoughts had been running through her mind. She'd been panicking so much, scared and anxious that she'd allowed her friend to end up in some kind of danger. That was the last thing that she'd wanted. She'd tried so hard to protect Alicia, to look after her, and she was determined to keep that up.
She was currently sat on the sofa in Connie's office, anxiously biting on her fingernails whilst she waited for Connie to bring Alicia into the ED. Charlie had told her to stay at home and rest, but Connie was adamant that she needed to get out and that they needed to try and sort whatever was going on with Alicia. Lily closed her eyes for a brief second as she tried to think. Would they find out about the rape? Would that be for the best? Or would it make things even worse?
She didn't even know anymore.
"Lily!" Iain's voice snapped out of her trance, and he burst into the room with Robyn close behind him. "Hey. Ethan said that you were in here. What's wrong?"
"Alicia's been found," Lily whispered. "She was at Connie's house. They should be back soon."
"Is she okay?" Robyn asked anxiously.
"She seems fine," Lily said. "I'm just waiting for them. I think they want to talk to Alicia, and she might want me there with her."
"Don't you think that you should work on your own problems first?" Iain asked, walking over to his girlfriend with his hands in his pockets. "Come on, Lils. I know that Alicia is your friend and everything, but you haven't been back long and you need to try and work on yourself a bit."
"What do you mean?" Lily frowned.
"Look," Iain sighed and exchanged glances with Robyn, before turning his attention back to Lily. "I um...I know about the pregnancy test, alright? Why didn't you tell me, Lils? I could have helped you."
"What?" Lily whispered, her eyes widening as she turned towards Robyn. "You told him?"
"I'm sorry," Robyn apologised, shaking her head. "I just thought..."
"I just don't understand, Lily," Iain cut her off straight away. "The other day, we agreed that we would share everything with each other! So you decide to hide something huge like this from me?"
"Iain, please don't," Lily whispered.
"You could have been pregnant, Lily!" Iain shouted. "With my child!"
"No, I couldn't!" Lily shouted back, standing up from the sofa.
"Yes you could!" Iain's voice grew louder. "I know the test was negative and all but..."
"No, I couldn't!" Lily repeated and her voice became quieter. "Because...Because the test wasn't mine."
"What?" Robyn's eyes widened and her voice suddenly went very high. "But you said that it was."
"You said that it was," Lily corrected her. "I just didn't disagree with you, that's all."
Robyn stayed silent, realising that that was in fact, true.
"Wait, I'm confused," Iain said. "What do you mean the test wasn't yours? If it wasn't yours, then whose was it?"
Lily didn't say anything. She'd already said too much. She had a huge habit of doing that lately.
"Robyn, could you give us a minute?" Iain asked, without looking her in the eye.
Confused and concerned, Robyn left the office in silence.
"I can't believe this," Iain sighed, as the colour drained from his face. "That test belonged to Alicia, didn't it?" Lily hung her head and still didn't mutter a word. "Lily, why didn't you just say that? Was it Ethan, or...Had she slept with someone else?"
Again, nothing.
"Lily, you need to speak to me here," Iain said. "I feel like I'm talking to Lassie." Suddenly, as he read Lily's facial expressions, realisation struck him. "Oh no," he signed, shaking his head in disbelief. "No. She...She can't have been. That's why she's been talking to you so much, isn't it? She...She's been raped, hasn't she?"
"You're not as stupid as you think," Lily whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but Alicia didn't want anybody else to know. The only reason she told me was because she knew what had happened to me."
"How did she know?" Iain asked. "I didn't think you'd told anyone."
"I was struggling at work one day, the two of us had just treated a young girl after a sexual assault," Lily told him. "I couldn't handle it and when Alicia asked me about it, I told her. I'm so sorry, Iain, but I couldn't break her trust. I needed to be there for her."
"Has this been reported to the police?" Iain asked.
Lily shook her head. "I have told her to. My biggest regret is not reporting it, but...She's so scared, Iain. She doesn't want anyone to know, not even the police."
"I get that, but..." Iain sighed and went to pull Lily in for a gentle hug. "This is just a lot strain and pressure to put on you, sweetheart, especially because...It's happened to you. I don't want it to bring back any bad memories."
Lily opened her mouth to say something, when the office door opened. They both turned their heads and saw Connie and Elle walk in with a soaking wet and tear-stained Alicia.
"Sorry," Elle immediately apologised. "Are we interrupting something?"
"No, it's fine," Lily whispered, and gave Iain's hand a subtle and gentle squeeze. "Alicia. I...I'm so glad that you're okay."
"Me too," Connie said and perched on the arm of the sofa. "I was terrified when she turned up on my doorstep, wondering what the hell had happened." She glanced cautiously at Alicia and added, "I think we need to talk."
Lily nodded. "I understand," she said. "I'll leave you to it."
"No, you won't," Connie said. "We all need to talk. Clearly, something has happened. I don't know what, neither does Elle, but it's gone way too far now and you and Alicia need to speak up."
"Mrs Beauchamp, if they don't want to talk about it..." Iain said, shooting Alicia a comforting smile.
Alicia chewed on her lip and squinted her eyes at him. Did he know? She couldn't tell.
"I think they need to actually, Iain," Connie snapped. "Alicia wouldn't talk to me. Lily, what do you know?"
Alicia closed her eyes, suddenly feeling very faint. This wasn't fair. Lily didn't deserve to be the one stuck in the middle of her lies and issues.
"Please," she begged quietly, as she slowly opened her eyes.
Everyone was staring at her, shocked to hear her voice.
"You...You can't blame Lily for anything," she said. "It's not her fault. I...I've been asking her to keep quiet, because I am way too scared and embarrassed to talk about it. You need to know that none of this is her fault."
"What isn't, Alicia?" Elle questioned gently.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. She gasped to choke back a sob. Water dripped off the ends of her hair. She sniffed.
"I'm so sorry," she apologised, now in floods of tears. "I...I..."
"Alicia," Lily whispered, causing the young doctor to look at her through her teary eyes. "Would you like me to?"
Alicia nodded, and Iain looked towards Lily. Lily nodded at him, silently telling him that he was able to leave her to comfort Alicia. She needed him more than her right now. Iain nodded back, kissed her cheek, and slowly made his way over to Alicia. He placed a hand on her shoulder, looked her in the eye to show her that she was safe, and allowed her to take a few breaths before falling into his arms in tears. Iain gently wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her face into his chest, mentally having to tell herself that Iain wasn't going to hurt her.
"Alicia was recently assaulted," Lily quietly informed Connie and Elle. "Raped," she elaborated.
"What?" Elle gasped, and Connie just stayed silent.
They both looked close to tears. Neither of them were expecting something that bad.
"Alicia," Connie whispered and leaned out to place a hand on her shoulder. "Darling, is this true?"
Alicia just nodded against Iain. She still couldn't look anyone in the eye.
"Why didn't you tell anyone about this?" Connie asked Lily.
"She was scared," Lily then began to cry herself. "It's understandable. I...I thought that I was doing the right thing, I thought that I was protecting her, but...In fact, I just made things even worse. I'm sorry."
"Is this why you came back to Holby?" Elle asked.
Lily nodded. "Alicia rang me in tears," she said. "And...And she told me what happened. Truth is, I know exactly what she's going through, because..." She sighed and looked towards her boyfriend.
Feeling proud, he smiled and nodded, Alicia still in his arms.
"Because the same thing happened to me when I was seventeen," Lily continued. "I didn't tell anyone but Alicia and I were at work one day, and...I...I got upset and she confronted me about it. I broke down and told her the truth. That was why she told me and that was why she asked for my help."
Elle nodded at Connie, and Connie stood up from the arm of the sofa.
"Why don't you come with me, Alicia?" Elle asked. "We can give your face a wash and get you a drink."
Alicia nodded and pulled away from Iain. Iain gave her arms a comforting rub and Alicia just nodded at him to show that she was okay.
"Come on, sweetheart," Elle said and wrapped an arm around Alicia's shoulder, before guiding her out of the room.
Iain looked towards Connie, realising that she wanted to have a private chat with Lily, and walked out after them.
"Well," Lily shifted uncomfortably on the spot and forced a small smile. "I guess we should go and see if she's okay."
"No, no, no," Connie said, holding an arm out to stop her from leaving. "You and I, we're not finished."
This was an extremely emotional chapter but probably one of my favourites to write. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you Connie fans are liking the Connie scenes. She's going to be in it a lot more now. Also, there will be lots of Alicia and Ethan scenes coming up so I haven't forgot them, don't worry.
Thanks for your lovely feedback so far and there is lots more to come. Let me know what you thought of this chapter x