chelsea: Thank you. I do like dramatic chapters :-)

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Ltfl: Thank you. Enjoy the next chapter :-)

Dancingwithmyshadow6: It is. Poor Lily.

Chapter Twenty

It took long enough but Lily eventually found the strength to get herself up from the floor. She wiped away her tears with her sleeves and slid her hood over the top of her head, in case anyone was to see her marked face. She had to get out of the staffroom, she wanted to talk to Iain. Just as she was in the middle of composing herself, the door clicked open and Connie walked in, with Charlie close behind.

"My office, now!" She said sternly. "You do not just walk out in the middle of having a conversation. I was not done."

"Leave me alone," Lily said, clenching her teeth together. "I didn't steal Cal's stupid phone."

"Okay, fine," Connie said, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, we can talk about that in my office. You were doing so well earlier Lily, I was so proud and then you go and ruin it. It's about time that you realise we are only trying to help."

"Connie," Charlie whispered from behind her. "This isn't the best way to speak to someone like Lily."

Connie's eyes diverted to the knife on the floor and she sighed heavily, stepping further into the room. She picked it up and slammed it down on the counter, before turning to the registrar.

"You didn't?" Connie asked.

Lily shook her head, eyes on the floor, her hands hidden in her sleeves. She wasn't going to mention the fact that she was going to cut, before Archie came in and hit her.

"Show me your arms," she ordered, but Lily turned away from her and folded her arms across her chest. "Lily, What have you done to yourself?"

"Nothing!" Lily shouted, feeling herself fill up with rage. She just wanted Connie and Charlie to leave, the only person she wanted to see was Iain, and they clearly weren't letting her leave any time soon. "I haven't done anything. I just want to be left alone."

Connie sighed impatiently and said, "If you didn't take Cal's phone, fine, but we still need to talk about it."

"I just want to take a walk," Lily whispered, keeping her gaze away from Connie.

Connie watched her cautiously, and her eyes moved slowly to the knife that she'd just picked up. It didn't look as if it had been used to mark Lily's skin, but how was she supposed to know? She hadn't been here and Lily had gone back to her closed up, defensive self all of a sudden.

"Connie," Charlie whispered to his colleague. "Let's leave her alone for ten minutes at least, let her get her head straight, and then we can talk."

"I'm not having her in here," Connie said, without turning to face Charlie. There were knives and many other sharp objects, but she wasn't going to mention that fact in front of Lily. She knew better.

"We can't constantly watch her," Charlie said. "She's a grown woman."

Lily had had enough of hearing them talk about her when she was in the room. She turned on her heel and stormed towards the door in a rage, pushing Charlie to one side so that she could walk out. Her chest felt continiously tight as she exited the ED altogether, scared that she would bump into Archie at some point. She'd seen enough of him already.

She arrived at the ambulance bay and peered around the side, hoping that Iain would be around. Sure enough, there he was. He was stood in the back of the ambulance with Jez, tidying some bits up, when he turned and spotted her hovering.

"Hey Chuckles," he greeted, smiling across at her. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Tears stung Lily's eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She hadn't necessarily wanted to talk to Iain, but she did just want to see his face. For some reason it brought comfort to her.

"Jez, could you give us a minute?" Iain asked the other paramedic. "Take a break or something. I just need to speak to Lily."

Jez nodded and glanced across at Lily who remained in the entrance of the ambulance bay. He gave Iain a pat on the shoulder and jumped down from the ambulance before walking out. Lily flinched and stepped back with her arms crossed, hoping that Jez wouldn't talk to her. He didn't.

"Come on," Iain sighed, sitting himself down on the edge of the ambulance. "What's happened?"

Lily said nothing but walked over to him anyway. She remained standing and he placed an arm around her shoulder, gently pulling her in for a hug.

"You're getting as bad as Gem," he joked. "There's always something going on. Why did you lie to Mrs Beauchamp, eh? You and I both know that you didn't eat anything this morning."

She remained silent, scared to lock eyes with him in case he saw her face. Then again, would telling him be such a bad thing? At the end of the day, Archie would get caught but she also didn't want to look weak and vulnerable.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" He asked. "You came here to see me, didn't you?"

"I walked off," Lily whispered to him. "When Connie was trying to talk to me."

"Why?" Iain questioned her. "That probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, was it?"

Lily didn't answer.

"Lily?"

He took hold of her hood and removed it so that he could look at her face properly. Lily tried to stop him, but it was too late. His eyes widened at the red, bruised side of her face and although it was quite a subtle mark, he obviously seemed to notice it.

"Lily, what happened to your face?" He questioned her.

"It...It's fine," Lily stammered, determined not to burst into tears again. "Just leave it."

"Lily, it looks sore," Iain said, gently running his thumb over her cheek. "It looks as if you've been hit," he muttered under his breath, before asking the question that Lily had been dreading. "Lily, did Archie do this to you?"

"J...Just leave it," Lily said, shaking uncontrollably as Iain examined her.

"He did, didn't he?" Iain said. "Lily, for goodness sake. Mrs Beauchamp and I both asked you about Archie, why didn't you tell us?" Lily shrugged, unable to get any words out. She wiped away her tears and turned her body away from Iain, so that he couldn't see her cry. "Come here," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her from behind. "Hey. I'm really glad that you came to see me."

Lily faintly nodded, sniffing, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"What's he been doing to you, Lils?" He asked. "Be honest with me. Has he hit you before?"

"Y...Yes." Lily nodded and turned round so that she was stood facing Iain. He remained perched on the edge of the ambulance, and gently took her hands in his. "He just gets angry easily. Everything I do just isn't good enough for him."

She said everything in a really quiet whisper.

"Like what?" He asked, leaning in so that he could hear her.

"I'm trying to lose weight," she mentioned. "But he still says that I'm ugly and fat. He...He caught me throwing up and it disgusted him. When I have to work, he hates it, and he doesn't even want me to see anyone without his permission."

"You're trying to lose weight for him?" Iain raised his eyebrows. "Screw him, Lily! You're beautiful and if he can't see that, then he isn't worth it." He paused before continuing. "This is going to seem like a really difficult question for you to answer, but why are you still with him?"

"I...I love him," she answered.

"Do you really though?" He asked, squeezing her hands tightly.

"He loves me though," she cried. "He's said it before. I'm the one who makes him angry, it's my fault that he gets like that. I'm crazy."

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"I...I thought I'd turned the taps off," Lily said. "At my flat, but I hadn't. He arrived and saw that the place had flooded. Now Cal's mobile has ended up in my bag and I can't even remember putting it there."

"So he was randomly at your flat when it flooded?" He asked. "And where was your bag at the point when Cal's phone went missing?"

"I...I left it outside Mrs Beauchamp's office," Lily told him.

Iain sighed and shook his head. It was obviously Archie that had done those things. He'd turned the taps on and left them running, he'd taken Cal's phone and planted it in Lily's bag to try and frame her.

"That's him, Lily," he whispered. "Not you. Believe me, he was doing those things to make you think that you were going crazy."

"Or maybe I am going crazy," she sobbed. "You don't know that, Iain."

Iain sighed wordlessly and shook his head. He couldn't believe the stuff that he was hearing.

"I'm never going to meet anyone ever again, Iain," Lily said. "Archie was my only hope."

"You'll meet someone," Iain said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Hey, the man of your dreams could be right in front of your eyes. You just haven't realised it." Lily smiled weakly at him and he said, "you can't stay with him, Lily. One of these days he could seriously injure you, and you've started to harm yourself as well."

"I...I guess," Lily replied.

"This isn't right, what he's doing to you," Iain said. "And we need to tell Mrs Beauchamp about it." Lily shook her head, scared as to what Connie would think of her. "We need to," Iain said. "Hey. I'll come with you, yeah? I won't allow you to do this on your own."

"He does love me, Iain," Lily whispered, shrugging her shoulders. "Like I said, I just make him angry."

"Hey, Chuckles," Iain breathed and let go of her hands. He wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her in for a hug, so that she was stood between his legs with her face buried into his chest. "You could never make anybody angry."

I loved writing this chapter and had already written it in advance. I thought I'd post it seeing as I'd already received a couple of reviews on the other chapter. I hope you liked it, and I hope the Lily and Iain scene was worth it :-) x