Ltfl: Thank you. I liked the little scene in the car. Going out in the car always used to calm me down as well :-)

Sallyxo: Me too but it can't carry on forever unfortunately.

Dancingwithmyshadow6: Thank you :-)

chelsea: Aww, that's so sweet of you! I don't want it to finish either but it can't carry on as I have new ideas and it's reached a finale now. I hope you give my new stories a go.

Tanith Panic: Thank you for catching up with the story and reviewing every chapter :-)

Chapter Forty-Five

Three years later

Emily Dean ran ahead of her parents and raced through the open door of the office. Connie was sat at her desk, her head in a stack of paperwork that needed to be completed by the end of the week. She had to smile when she saw the toddler though and held her arms out to her.

"Where is your mummy and daddy?" Connie asked, pulling her onto her lap.

Connie had to admit that she wasn't overly fond of small children, she was glad that Grace was eleven and pretty much independent now. Emily was cute though and Iain and Lily had brought her up well. Besides, Emily was Connie's god-daughter as well.

"Talking," Emily told the clinical lead. "I got bored."

"They're going to be wondering where you are," Connie sighed, gently bouncing her up and down on her lap. "This is a very pretty dress anyway, do they have it in my size?"

"No," Emily giggled, shaking her head. "Silly!"

Connie laughed at the small girl, just as Lily and Iain walked in with Gem following close behind. She placed Emily down on the floor and greeted the three of them with a small smile.

She was pleased to see Lily looking so well. The registrar had struggled after the birth of Emily and had stopped eating again, but she'd continued to see Mary and take her medication. She'd lost a lot of weight during that period and she still looked rather thin. Emily was now three though and Lily loved her to pieces and was starting to get back to her old self again.

"Come here princess," Lily cooed, sitting on the edge of the sofa.

Emily held her arms up and toddled over to Lily, reaching up to give her mum a kiss on the lips. Beaming happily, Lily kissed her back and tickled her stomach causing her to squeal and clap her hands together.

"She wasn't bothering you, was she?" Lily said, watching as Emily explored the office to see what kind of trouble she could get into.

"Not at all," Connie said, leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. "I love it when she comes to see me."

"Iain's just dropped me off for my shift," Lily said. "And whilst I'm at work, the two of them are going to go to the park and feed the ducks."

"That sounds nice, I bet you're jealous," Connie laughed, but she knew how pleased Lily was to be working again. "How have you been doing anyway?"

"I'm okay." Lily shrugged her shoulders and continued to watch her daughter.

Gem knelt down on the floor and took hold of Emily's hand, quietly talking to her as she walked and opened each and every one of Connie's drawers. She loved how good of an aunt Gem was and Emily seemed to adore her.

"I had a bad day yesterday," Lily admitted. "But I feel fine today."

"What brought that on?" Connie asked.

"Hard to say," Lily whispered. "I just felt really low. Gem took Emily out for the day though, and Iain stayed at home with me."

"Have you seen Mary recently?" Connie asked her.

"I'm seeing her next week," Lily said. "I used to see her at least twice a week, now I see her once a month."

"That's amazing!" Connie's eyes widened and she beamed, hoping that sooner or later Lily wouldn't even need the counselling sessions.

Lily smiled shyly and looked to where Emily was tipping Connie's pens onto the floor with Gem desperately trying to stop her.

"Emily Gemma Dean! Stop!" She scolded in a loud voice, causing everybody in the office to jump.

"It's okay, Lily," Connie reassured her calmly. "Honestly."

Emily hung her head, tears pricking her eyes at being told off by her mum. She dropped one of the pens that she was holding and sniffed.

"Are you going to tidy those up for me?" Lily asked, her voice softer and calmer. "Come on, be a good girl. You know not to touch things that don't belong to you."

Emily knelt on the floor and began to tidy the pens into the pot. Gem began to help her, pointing to a few pens that she'd accidentally missed. Lily smiled and praised her daughter when all of the pens were in the pot and back on the desk.

"Thanks Gem," Lily said. "Good girl, Emily. You were making Connie's office all messy."

Emily just shrugged her shoulders, still in a sulk after being told off.

"Hey missy," Iain joked, crouching down in front of his daughter. "Mummy didn't mean to tell you off. You were being naughty though, weren't you?" He playfully tickled her under her chin and said, "come on, what do you say?"

Emily giggled and looked up at Lily. "Sorry," she said in a small voice, coughing a little.

"That's okay, sweetheart," Lily said, blowing a kiss to her. "I love you."

"I love you too," Emily laughed, blowing one back to her.

"You both have an adorable little girl there," Connie said to Iain and Lily, smiling down at Emily who was now being tickled and fussed over by Gem again. "You've done well, Lily."

"She's the best thing that's ever happened to me," Lily said. "Especially since I...I thought that I wouldn't be able to have children. I miss her when I'm not with her and I...I do hate the fact that I have bad days, like yesterday I just wanted to spend time with her but I couldn't even get myself out of bed. Now I have to go to work and I can't bare to say goodbye."

She paused and sighed, before continuing.

"I know it sounds silly," she laughed. "I'll be seeing her this evening. Besides, I do like that I'm working again, honestly. I love my job and I hated being off work, I just miss my daughter."

Connie looked towards Emily, and Gem knew that she wanted to speak to Lily about something. Emily was at the age where she was able to hear what was said, and maybe even able to repeat some stuff.

"I'm going to take her for a walk outside," Gem said, standing up and lifting Emily into her arms. "Come on, princess. Aunty Gem will take you for a walk, yeah? We'll go and look at the birds," She cooed, knowing how much Emily liked animals.

She shot Lily and Iain a small smile before leaving the office.

"If you think about it," Connie continued with what she was saying, as soon as Gem and Emily had left the office. "There was a time when you didn't want to be around her. You literally freaked out at the thought of feeding her because you thought you were going to injure her in some way. Now, you don't want to be apart from her so that just shows you're getting better doesn't it?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so," she whispered.

"Tell you what," Connie said. "I'm going to let you have the day off today. You've been working really hard lately so go to the park with Iain and Emily, and have some family time. We'll be okay without you for one day."

"Really?" Lily asked, her eyes wide with shock. "Thank you Mrs Beauchamp, thank you so much. Are you sure though?"

"Positive." Connie nodded. "I think Emily would like it if you were there as well. Go on, go and have some fun. Soon, she'll be starting school and you won't have as much time with her."

Lily stood up and nodded in response, before wrapping her arms around Connie and whispering a small 'thank you' in her ear. Connie rubbed her back and stroked at her hair, realising how far Lily had actually come. Once upon a time Connie had been sat in the bathroom of the ED, watching and talking to Lily as she was sick. It had been a horrible moment and the memory still brought Connie to tears.

Now though, Lily was in a happy relationship and she had a daughter as well. She couldn't be more proud of her.

She soon left the office to go and retrieve her daughter from Gem, leaving Connie and Iain alone.

"She seems happy," Connie stated.

"Yeah, she does," Iain agreed, his eyes on the door. "She's such a good mum to Ems."

"Um..." Connie cleared her throat, not really wanting to say what she was about to. "She's still extremely thin."

"I know," Iain whispered. "But I made her a cooked breakfast the other day and she ate it all, no trouble with it whatsoever."

"That's great news," Connie said. "And yesterday?"

"She didn't eat anything," Iain said. "She doesn't tend to if she's having bad days. She had some toast this morning though and she seems okay. She's doing well. The only problem is that Emily is at that age where she has started asking questions. I just have to explain it the best way that I can, without upsetting or worrying her."

"She is doing well, and Emily is bound to understand and support her mum when she's a lot older," Connie whispered. "It might be best though for Emily to stop coming into my office when I have to discuss certain things with Lily, or she will overhear it all."

"I know," Iain whispered back.

"I better let you head off anyway," Connie said. "Your girls will be getting impatient otherwise. Have a good day, okay?"

"We will," Iain said. "And Connie? Thank you, for everything that you've done for Lily. I'm pretty sure that she'll never forget it."

"Any time," Connie said. "Lily knows where I am if she needs me."

Iain nodded and left to let Connie get on with her paperwork. Lily and Gem were outside, standing and watching together as Emily ran around trying to chase a pigeon.

"You should get her a pet," Gem said to her brother. "Like a rabbit or something. She loves animals."

"A little too much," Lily giggled, walking over and giving Iain a kiss. "We just had to stop her from getting stung by a wasp. Can we go now? I want to go to the park."

Iain had to laugh at her whine and said, "you sound more excited than our daughter. Come on then, have a good day at work Gem."

"I'll try," Gem sighed, going over to give Emily a hug and a kiss before she went to start her shift. "Hey beautiful girl, I love you yeah?" She cooed. "I'll see you later, okay? Good girl."

"I love you," Iain said, wrapping his arm around Lily's waist and kissing her cheek.

"I love you too," Lily said.

"Are you happy?" He asked her, removing the strands of hair from her face.

"Yeah," Lily replied, biting down on her lip. "For once, I think I am. I've realised that talking helps, and it's what I should have been doing a long time ago. I was walking around, secretly hurting, wearing this mask on my face, and I should have just told you what Archie had been doing."

"But you don't have it anymore, right?" Iain asked. "The mask?"

"No, not anymore," Lily answered.

Her mobile vibrated from inside her pocket and for the first time in ages, Lily wasn't actually afraid to look at it. She unlocked it, checked the message that had just come through and smiled.

"It's from Connie," she said, showing the message to Iain.

Very proud of you! Have a wonderful day and I'll see you soon xx

"You know what," Iain said, smiling and giving her another kiss. "She isn't the only one who's proud."

So this chapter was a lot longer than I expected it to be. I enjoyed writing it though and feel as if it ended correctly. Although Lily is slowly getting better, she isn't one hundred percent just yet, just like in real life. I felt that it was a realistic approach.

I hope the ending was worth the wait and I'm sorry that it did have to end. I don't like carrying stories on for the sake of it, in case they end up dragging and getting boring. Besides, I have new ideas that I want to write.

I hope you liked the final chapter though. Let me know what you think and stay tuned for new Iain and Lily stories from me. For once I'm actually pretty proud of my work and I have really enjoyed writing this idea xx