An hour previously across the other side of Canley Matt had continued to keep his distance from Elle. Afraid that he'd say or do something he'd later regret. Sitting watching Elle was fascinating for him, the likenesses between her and Emma were remarkable. They had the same brownish blonde hair although Elle's was a little shorter with a side fringe. The way they spoke and carried themselves was identical and often Matt would find himself thinking he was talking to Emma instead of her fifteen-year-old daughter.
Elle looked up from her hands where she'd been steadily chipping away at her pink nail polish for the last ten minutes. "Do you still love her?" She asked boldly and Matt's head snapped up.
"Yeah I guess I do. She meant so much to me. I'd do anything to prove I love her." He said softly as though he was somewhere else.
"Then why did you take me? Why did you try to hurt her so bad you ended up in jail?" Elle asked quickly.
"I thought she'd come looking for you…I thought she'd have found you by now and she'd be so pleased that I hadn't hurt you that she'd forgive me. All I want is for her to accept my apology. It's all I've ever wanted." Matt replied, the emotion straining his words.
"What about the assault? You tried to kill her, how does that show love?" Elle said to him, her button nose wrinkled in confusion.
Matt sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Your mother found out that I'd lied about my previous fiancé Nina. She suffered a nervous breakdown and then had a miscarriage I left her shortly afterwards and then I met Emma. I didn't want her to find out about Nina so I said she died in a car crash. Your adoring father however found out about it and rushed off to tell Emma. She met Nina and discovered what I'd done when she came home I was waiting for her. We'd both been drinking. She confronted me about Nina and told me she was leaving. I…I loved her I tried to stop her leaving. She tried to fight back so I held her down…that's when she hit me with the vodka bottle. She needed me to make her see what she'd done wrong. I had to help her she was becoming disobedient, people were starting to talk." Matt said defiantly.
Elle shuddered in disgust and backed into the wall. This only angered Matt further though and he advanced towards her. "Right little Mummy's girl aren't you? Think that she was perfect, that she could do no wrong? Let me tell you this. Your mother deserved everything she got!" A changed seemed to come over Matt he panicked and looked around muttering but turned back to Elle with a wicked glint in his eyes. "No can't let you go, you'll tell. No we can't have that. Must destroy the evidence, can't have them running to Mummy." He murmured before plunging his hand into his pocket and drawing out the kitchen knife.
"No! No don't!" Elle screamed as the blade sank through her jumper and skin causing hot, sticky blood to ooze everywhere. "What have you done? Please don't leave me like this." Elle begged Matt as he backed warily out of the room. Above her Elle heard someone knocking on the door.
"Oi you in there. I've phoned the police. They'll be here shortly." An old woman's voice said through the letterbox above. Elle punched the air in triumph but regretted it soon after as the burst of pain swept through her side. Collapsing sideways she grabbed her jacket from the floor and pressed it gingerly to her side. A piece of hard plastic came into contact with her fingers and she pulled it out of the inside pocket. Jess's phone lay in the palm of her hand. How could she have forgotten?
Dialling the station number she silently praised her mother for drilling it into her mind when she was a little girl. She smiled as she heard Dan's voice on the other end of phone and instantly felt more relaxed. "Dan…it's Elle." She gasped as the pain in her side got much worse. "I…I don't know where I am. It's some big house with a basement. Matt just stabbed me and left…Dan…I…Dan…I…feel…dizzy…Dan…" Elle whispered, the effort too much now.
Dan's eyes widened and he stood up shouting down the phone. "Elle? Elle baby are you there? Come on Elle speak to me!" He yelled, gaining the attention of everyone in the front office. Leaving the desk unattended he vaulted it and rushed through the corridors until he bumped into Jo and Gina who were racing the opposite way with both Will and Emma in tow. "Gina…Elle…just phone…she's been stabbed." He panted as he stopped running.
The two female officers exchanged a look and turned back to Emma and Will. "Okay grab your stab vests and we'll meet you there." She said in a measured tone to Emma who was pleading silently with her. "Don't go in before us, Matt could still be there. Your safety is too important to risk Em, promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
Emma however didn't reply as she was already half way down the corridor towards the female locker rooms. She met Will in the yard only a minute or two later and they ran to their car, speeding off after the police car in front of them. On the scene the two cars drew up next to each other and screeched to a halt outside an old Victorian house with a silver Vectra parked outside.
Will kicked down the door and the four of them ran inside shouting Elle's name repeatedly. Emma and Jo went upstairs and Gina searched the ground floor. Will became distracted as he saw an open door farther down the hallway and he approached it cautiously. His gut instinct was telling him to leave it, to look for her in a more obvious place but he continued down the steep staircase which descended into the cold, dark basement.
He crept across the floor but his shoes made loud noises and he saw a small bundle in corner shake. Rushing over to it he found Elle's pale face looking back up at him. "Daddy?" She croaked holding out her arms for him.
"Yes princess it's Daddy." Will said softly as he checked her over. "I'm going to lift you up baby. I know it will hurt but I don't think the ambulance crew will come down here; they might not be able to get you up the stairs on the stretcher. Come on dolly, put your arms around my neck." He said softly as he slipped his hands underneath Elle. As he cradled her to him, tears pricked his eyes. What if this was the last time he held his baby girl in his arms?
As he emerged from the basement Emma and Jo crowded round him. "Elle! Oh my god is she all right? Will what happened?" Emma asked hysterically.
"Shhh baby it's fine just get me through to the kitchen I need to put her down on the table so I can check out the stab wound." Will said to both Emma and Elle who nodded silently.
"Daddy…it's all going black…Daddy don't leave me." Elle pleaded, grabbing tightly onto Will's hand as he placed her onto the table.
"I'm not going anywhere honey, I just want to check out the cut on your side. Now can you tell me sweetheart when did Matt leave?" He asked her as Gina and Jo prompted him.
"Just before I phoned Dan at the station…Daddy it really hurts." She whimpered as Will pressed a fresh cloth to the wound.
"It's okay Elle just keep calm. Nothing bad is going to happen I promise I won't leave you. The paramedics are here now, we're going to get you to the hospital. Me and Mummy will be here when you wake up." Will whispered as the paramedics took Elle away on the stretcher.
Emma collapsed shaking in Will's arms and he kissed her softly before carrying her out to the car. "She's alive sweetie. We found her." He murmured trying to calm her down. Emma tried to smile but failed and let out another sob.
They sat around with Gina and Jo waiting for Elle to come out of surgery for hours on end. Emma wandered down the corridor to get a cup of tea and when she came back she passed one to Jo. As she went past Will he pulled her in by her waist and pulled her down onto his lap. "She'll be fine baby; she's a fighter." He whispered and Emma smiled genuinely at him just as a doctor came out of the room across and approached them smiling.
"Mr and Mrs Fletcher? Elle's awake now, she says she won't be quiet until we let you two in!" He laughed showing them through.
"Well she still sounds like one of ours." Will joked tickling Emma on their way in. "Hey baby how are you feeling now?" He asked his daughter who was sitting grumpily in bed surrounded by pillows and bleeping machines.
"Tired and grumpy." She muttered with a sullen look on her face. "They weren't going to let you in!" She said exasperatedly. "I told them I wouldn't stop screaming until you came and if they refused then I'd pull the drip out of my arm." She added calmly.
"It's good to see you haven't changed toots." Will said proudly. "What did Matt do to you…did he say anything important?"
"He didn't do much to me but I don't think he's right in the head. He kept changing it was like he was two different people. One minute he was nice and bringing me breakfast and showing me photos of him and Mum but the next he was cutting me with his knife and screaming at me that Mum deserved everything she got and that I had to be punished or I'd end up like her. He scared me but he didn't mean to hurt me. I don't think he knew what he was doing. He seemed really unhinged towards the end but he did say that the only thing he'd ever wanted was for you to accept his apology Mum." Elle said gently.
"He only gave me my jacket this morning because I wouldn't stop whinging about being cold. I'd forgotten that Jess's phone was in the inside pocket so when I found it I rang Dan. Have you caught Matt yet?" She asked.
"No baby we haven't but we will." Will replied calmly. "Now can we get you anything?" He asked stroking the side of her face.
"Lie down next to me…get Mikey I want him." Elle ordered swiftly with a smile and after Emma had gone to get Jo to phone Will's sister she returned and lay down next to Elle on the bed. Mikey entered the ward twenty minutes later to find the whole of his family piled on the hospital bed. Emma and Elle were curled up like spoons, each fast asleep with a little smile on their faces. Will was sitting on one of the hard plastic chairs with his head lying on the bed, he too was sleeping peacefully so Mikey climbed up onto the bed and cuddled up next to his twin.
Elle's eyes flickered open. "Hey Ellie…it's good to have you home. It's not been the same without you." Mikey said quietly. Elle's eyes widened. "I mean when your there it's always you that gets into trouble. When you were gone that meant that they could see all the naughty things I usually do. I've never stacked so many dishes in my life!" He joked and she slapped him on the arm. "Lets see your cut then!" He said excitedly and Elle pulled up her pyjama top to show him the deep cut in her side which had just been stitched.
Will chose this moment to wake up. "Ellie Belly quit grossing out your brother, he's warped enough already!" He muttered smiling at them.
"Yes mother." The twins replied grinning at each other so Will shot them a look.
Two weeks later as Elle and Mikey were lying in the garden reading a magazine together Will came outside with a camera. "The mother has requested a picture of her two adorable grandchildren!" He said rolling his eyes. Elle and Mikey grinned at each other and pulled a face for the camera.
"Danielle! Michael!" Will shouted at them.
"Yes William?" They replied cockily and smirked.
"Fine fine but your Gran will kill me if I have to send her another one of those pictures. Remember last years fiasco!" The twins burst into fits of giggles remembering how they'd ended up covered head to toe in mud as Will had attempted to get a photo of them sitting on top of a hay bale on a trip to the countryside. As usual the twins had been fighting and had both rolled off into a big muddy puddle. The result…one extremely amusing family photograph!
Elle and Mikey sat up again and smiled simultaneously. "We can be cute, like this." They said at exactly the same time and eerily put their arms around each other and grinned at the camera. Will smiled as he took a series of photos of the pair.
"Okay so you've been good…where's the catch?" He asked suspiciously. The twins grinned and launched themselves at their Dad who was knocked backwards and they lay on top of him giggling as he attempted to get free.
"You can't that good a copper Daddy…you can't even fight off your children!" Elle smirked as she pinned her Dad's hands down, tickling him every now and again.
Emma stood looking out at them from the back door smiling. Will eventually managed to sit up and beckoned her over. They kissed and the twins shuddered. "Daddy?" Elle asked slyly and Will and Emma shared a look.
"Yes princess." He replied warily.
Elle giggled and looked across at Mikey. "Mikey's got a girlfriend…it's Jenna from next door!" Mikey launched himself at his sister and she shrieked as he chased her round the garden.
"That's my girl." Will smiled as the twins tickled each other to the ground. "My little girl."
Tell me what you think...yeah Emz I changed my mind I need fluff lol. Please read and review because it means a lot to me. It don't take long to hit the blue button and write a few lines. It makes it all worth it when you hear what folk think. Ta xxxpip