Guest: That's a good idea. You will soon see what happens. Thank you for your review.

Guest: You'll find out in this chapter. Thank you for your review.

Cityulightsonthet: They should do. It wasn't as if she could help it, bless her. Connie is like that unfortunately and you will see a lot more of her in the story now. Thank you for your review.

Ematrix: Ah, I'm glad you realised what was about to happen. To be honest, I hadn't actually planned it. It just kind of happened as I was writing the chapter, haha. Loads more to come. Thank you for your review.

Guest: Here you go! Thank you for your review.

Chapter Fourteen

The atmosphere was tense the next morning.

Alicia hadn't managed to get much sleep at all, and Iain and Gem were hardly breathing a word to her after the stuff that had gone on last night. Lily obviously noticed as she sat down with her bowl of cereal and asked if everything was okay.

"Fine," Iain said, pouring some milk into his own bowl. "I think everyone is probably just a bit tired."

Lily nodded and glanced across at Alicia, who was spooning her cornflakes around the edge of her bowl.

"Good luck today, okay?" Lily said.

Alicia just looked wearily into her bowl.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Lily asked her.

"I got some," she whispered.

"Yeah," Gem sighed and raised her eyebrows. "You were too busy doing something else, weren't you?"

Alicia glared at her and Lily diverted her attention to Gem.

"What do you mean?" She asked, frowning in confusion at her.

Iain cleared his throat and subtly shook his head at his little sister. He knew how upset Lily would feel, and he couldn't have that.

"Nothing," Gem whispered, forcing a smile for everyone. "Nothing. I...I just heard the TV on last night, that's all."

"Okay," Lily giggled, shaking her head and turning to look back at Alicia. "You need to try and get some sleep tonight. I understand that you're worried about today, but you're going to make yourself ill."

"It's not as if I can help it, is it?" Alicia snapped and slammed down her spoon. "You know what, I'm not hungry! I'm going for a shower."

"So, why have you decided to take me out for the day?" Lily asked, as she sat in the passenger seat of Connie's car. "It's a bit weird, isn't it? Going on a day trip with my boss, I mean."

"Do you find it weird?" Connie laughed, as she indicated to turn right out of the car park.

"I'm not sure," Lily laughed back, as she checked her phone for messages from Alicia. Nothing. "I always saw you as kind of like a second mum to me, not just a boss, so this is actually quite nice. I would like to know where we're going though."

"You will soon find out," Connie sighed, but she was no longer smiling.

They drove in silence for a good few minutes until Connie pulled up outside a random row of houses. She put the car in gear, put the hand break on, turned off the engine and the radio, and turned to look at Lily.

"I'm confused," Lily said. "Mrs Beauchamp, where are we?"

"An old friend of mine lives here, at number nine," Connie told her. "And recently, we just got back in touch. She's a counsellor, has been for many years."

"So, why are we here?" Lily asked.

She could see what Connie was getting at though. She just didn't want to say the words out loud.

"I would like you to talk to her," Connie said. "One hour, that is all I'm asking. It may have been a long time ago Lily, but I can tell that it's hurting you, and you need to get it off your chest."

"What about Alicia?" Lily asked.

"Well, she obviously needs it as well," Connie said. "And we will deal with her, but her first priority is going to the police. Once that has all died now, we will discuss getting her some proper counselling in place as well."

Lily faintly nodded, her brown eyes shining with small tears.

"This isn't a punishment, darling," Connie said and reached across to rub her shoulder. "Go on. One hour. You'll be fine, eh?"

"Sure," Lily sighed. "Thank you. I may not be overly happy with the suggestion, but you're right, I suppose I do need it."

"It's okay," Connie said. "We can grab some lunch afterwards, alright?"

Lily nodded and climbed out of the car, leaving her bag and mobile phone on her seat. Connie watched as she slowly and anxiously made her way down the path towards the front door. Once she was inside, she turned the radio on and pulled a reading book out of her handbag to try and keep herself occupied for the hour. Five minutes in and Lily's phone began to rang. Connie wasn't sure whether to answer it or not, but it was a Hong Kong number.

"Hello, Lily's phone," Connie said, pressing it to her ear.

"Hello, can I speak to Miss Lily Chao please?" The voice asked.

"Um...She isn't here at the moment," Connie said. "Can I take a message at all?"

"Yes, I'm calling from the research project that she was leading in Hong Kong," he said. "I was just calling to let her know that the place is still available so if she did want to return, then we would be more than happy."

"What do you mean?" Connie asked. "My understanding was that she was just on a break."

"No, Miss Chao quit the position about a month ago," she said. "That was what she told us anyway."

"Did she?" Connie bit her lip and a small sigh escaped her. "Right. Okay, thank you. I...I'll make sure that she gets the message. Thank you."

Connie slowly hung up and lowered the phone. She couldn't believe it, and she wasn't sure how she was going to mention it to Lily.

"How are you feeling?" Elle asked, as she and Alicia stopped outside the police station. "Are you still sure that you don't want to report it? I'm not here to force you into anything that you don't want to do, Alicia. I did tell you that we could turn round and go back if you didn't want to say anything."

"Mrs Beauchamp would kill me though, wouldn't she?" Alicia whispered, slowly lifting her head. "And so would Lily."

"But at the end of the day, it's your choice," Elle said.

Alicia didn't say anything, but her body was trembling.

"What are you thinking?" Elle asked.

"I'm not sure," she began to cry, and ran a hand through her tangled hair. "I know that it's the right thing to do, I know that I should report it, but I'm just so scared. What if it makes things worse?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"What if he doesn't get found?" Alicia asked. "What if he does, but doesn't get arrested? He'll be so angry at me for telling, he...He might...Try again."

"I understand your concerns," Elle said. "But with enough evidence, the police will need to arrest him! They can't allow him to wander free after what he has done to you."

Alicia nodded and said, "Lily said that she regrets not reporting it. I...I guess I have to, for her. For other women who have gone through it."

"Are you sure?" Elle asked quietly and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure," she replied.

"Come on then," Elle encouraged with a small smile. "I am going to be with you every step of the way."

Alicia smiled thankfully, as the two of them walked themselves into the police station. Alicia felt her body tense up as soon as she stepped inside. There were policemen walking everywhere, people on the waiting chairs in handcuffs, and the whole atmosphere just terrified her. She wished that she could turn back, but it was too late.

She'd already made up her mind.

"Can I help you?" The officer asked them straight away, as they approached the desk.

"Alicia," Elle whispered and gave her an encouraging nod.

"Um..." Alicia cleared her throat and nodded faintly at the office, tears trickling down her cheeks. "Yes. I...I'd like to report a sexual assault, please."

"How did it go then?" Connie took a sip of her tea and glanced at Lily over the rim of her cup.

They were sat in an Italian restaurant in the middle of town, and neither of them had said a single word since Lily came out of her session. Lily clearly didn't want to talk about it, and Connie had been waiting for the best time to ask.

"It was okay," she whispered.

"Just okay?" Connie asked.

"She seems nice." She shrugged her shoulders awkwardly. "She was lovely actually. She didn't force me to talk, she didn't force me to do anything, but...Well...I was surprised at how much I had to say. You were right. I needed to talk to someone."

"I was?" Connie asked, eyebrows raised.

"I just didn't realise how much I'd bottled up over the years," Lily said. "I've never spoken to anyone about what happened to me, and it actually felt quite good."

"I'm glad you found it useful," Connie said. "Would you go again?"

"I think so," Lily whispered. "Alicia should speak to her. I think she'd find it useful as well."

Connie nodded in agreement, as the waiter came over to their table to take their order. Lily ordered pasta, whilst Connie went for a pepperoni pizza. They ordered a couple more drinks, and the waiter then left them to it. Silence fell over them, as Connie thought back to the phone call earlier.

"Lily, I need to talk to you about something," Connie sighed and set her cup down onto the table. "Whilst you were in the counselling session, your phone rang."

"Did you answer it?" Lily asked, and Connie nodded. "Who was it?"

"I didn't get his name, but it was someone from Hong Kong," Connie told her. "It was about the research project."

Lily gulped and she suddenly looked incredibly nervous.

"He told me that you'd quit," Connie said. "Lily, what happened? You...You said that you were on a break. I thought you were enjoying it there."

"I don't know." She fidgeted in her seat and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm really sorry."

"Sweetheart, you don't need to apologise," Connie said. "You should have just told us that you were unhappy."

"I was really excited about it," Lily said. "I thought that I would like it, but...It was just different. The people weren't the nicest, I...I found it really stressful, and I was up most nights with worry. I was making myself ill, Mrs Beauchamp."

"Connie, please," she said.

"Connie," Lily corrected herself. "This sounds awful but when Alicia rang me and told me what had happened, I...I saw it as the perfect excuse to come back to Holby and I quit. I wanted to come home all along, but I was embarrassed and scared, and I didn't want to look like a failure."

"You wouldn't have looked like a failure, not at all," she told her. "Especially not in my eyes. You have a talent, Lily. You didn't have to carry on with the project, not if you didn't want to. You have enough talent and determination to become a clinical lead one of these days and if you wanted to come back to Holby, then you would have been allowed to. I told you that your job will always be there, didn't I?"

"Did you really mean that?" She asked.

"Of course," Connie said.

Lily nodded faintly and said, "So, can I? Can I have my job back?"

Connie smirked and winked at her. "I thought you'd never ask."

I have a few twists coming up in this story, so stay tuned!

Also, I hope it was okay that I didn't write the actual counselling session into this chapter. They're usually all the same when I write them and I had lots going on anyway, it would have just seemed a bit too much.