Thanks to Emz (as usual :P), Emma and as1999 for their lovely words on chapter five. There isn't much more to this fic :( enjoy xxxx
"Mum why do I have to come, you could have left me at home on the Playstation, I'm fifteen for god's sake I can take care of myself." Jared moaned as he got moodily from the passenger side of Abi's car.
"We're here as a favour to Mum. One of her colleagues is having a rough time of it and his daughter is probably finding it hard as well, I just said I'd drop by and check she was alright every now and then." Abi replied slamming the door behind her in anger.
Annie stood in the large bay window, watching them arguing all the way over from the car. When she let them in however, they were textbook polite and she couldn't quite get over how attractive Abi's son was even though she had a boyfriend of her own. "So Dad's got you spying on me as well." Annie muttered as she sank into the sofa and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Not spying Annie, your Dad's not really sure what's going on with you just now and he thought it might help if I dropped in every now and then to see how you're coping. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to but I'm here to talk if you do." Abi replied motioning for Jared to bugger off into the kitchen to leave them alone.
Annie flicked her hair over her shoulder and fixed Abi with a hard look. "I don't need nobody to look out for me, I can take care of both me and my Mum I have done for fourteen years, I'm not suddenly incapable just because she's gone." She said haughtily and Jared stuck his head around the doorframe.
"See Mum, I told you she wouldn't want us here and get my point, she can look after herself and so can I. We're not stupid little kids who need babysat." Both Abi and Annie looked around at Jared who blushed under their stares and crept back into the kitchen where he was rifling through the cupboards.
"Yeah anyway so how are you liking Will's place, it's a bit of a leg up isn't it?" Abi said as she motioned around her to the expensive furniture and entertainment centre. "I know I'd find it a bit of a shock, Jared and I have been living in a council house for yonks and being back with Mum is quite a change."
"S'pose. I like our flat though. Mum and me did stuff our way and we never had any bother except for the noisy neighbours but we just turned our music up twice as loud, it was like a game when I was little. I feel weird in Dad's house…like I shouldn't touch nothin' in case it breaks." Annie admitted picking at her fingernails.
"I'm sure your Dad understands but he'll just want you to be comfortable living here, living with him. Although I don't think your drinking habits are something he's comfortable knowing about." Abi said gently.
"Well he should keep his nose outta my business then!" Annie retorted, sounding more like her usual self than she had done in quite a while. "I know he's angry but I am who I am and if that means bunkin' off school an' getting pissed then fuck him, I'll do what I want." She said hotly.
"Kay Annie, chill for a second. Your Dad's angry but he cares about you, he just wants you to be safe and happy and he doesn't see you being that while you're in trouble at school and with the police. Just take a minute and think about it from his point of view. He loves you, he doesn't want you taken away because other people might think he can't look after you properly." Abi said as she stood up having heard an ominous clatter from the kitchen. "Jared, did you break somethin'?" Abi yelled and Jared appeared at the door very red in the face.
"Err no…I just dropped the egg timer." He muttered as he scuttled over towards the front door.
"What were you? Oh never mind, I'll be in tomorrow after you get back from school Annie…although I might leave the numpty behind…if you need me then give us a phone." Abi said exasperatedly as she pressed a slip of paper with her mobile number scrawled across it into Annie's hand.
The young girl stood in the window again and waved off Abi and Jared who appeared to have began arguing the moment they'd got back in the car. She stood there for a long time, so long she lost track of it and was surprised one time to look out and see that it was in fact now pitch black and the streetlights were on. Still she stood there at the window, watching, waiting until she was startled by the living room door being opened by Will who had just returned from work.
He sank down onto the sofa and placed his head in his hands, sighing softly but Annie heard it and she wandered across to him, having thought long and hard about what Abi had said. "I'm sorry Dad…for today…and for getting myself dumped on you like this. I know it's not what you imagined so…so I'm sorry." She said, perching herself on the edge of the coffee table.
"Oh Annie, whatever gave you that idea sweetheart. I know I was angry with you but I have to get used to you, just as much as you have to get used to me. We both have to make changes so we work together, you aren't what I imagined baby girl, you're better, much much better. I wouldn't want you any other way. Don't you ever think, not for one minute that I don't want you." Will replied, causing Annie to swallow hard to stop herself getting over emotional. "I know that you're finding Emma being gone tough but I'm here to help Annie, I know what it feels like when she leaves you…it happened to me as well."
"She's disappeared before…just not for this long without letting me know where she was. She always found help when she needed it. We always managed just fine." Annie said, trying to trick herself into thinking everything would work out like it used to.
"Annie, you don't have to be so hard all the time. It's okay to admit that it's shaken you up and that you miss her. I miss her, I miss her every day Annie." Will said, shocked that his daughter was being so flippant about Emma's disappearance, but it was only then that he noticed the steady stream of tears that were flowing from Annie's eyes.
"I miss her too. I just want her back so much. She's always been there, it was just me and her and she was everything I had. I need her. I need my Mum." Annie whimpered, finally cracking and Will's scooped her off the coffee table and cradled her in his arms, her tears soaking through his t-shirt quickly.
Two hours later, Will moved his head to the side and felt the sharp twinge from where he'd been lying at a funny angle for the past while. Picking up the warm lump that was still in his arms, he carried her up the stairs and up the ladder to her bedroom. Placing Annie gently on the bed and covering her with a blanket, he crept back down the steps and headed for his own bedroom, the past few hours consoling Annie having drained him of all energy.
Waking suddenly Annie looked about her and in the dim glow of her bedside lamp she saw the blanket that Will's had pulled over her had been kicked off, leaving her cold on the bed, the reason for her waking. Her eyes were in agony, they felt dry and prickly and were hot against her fingertips. Crawling silently down the ladder she slipped into Will's room and got under the covers next to him just like she used to do with Emma.
He wasn't replacing her but he was helping to fill the hole that Emma's absence had made inside of her and he was doing a damn good job of it too.
You build me up, knocked me down,
But I will stand my ground,
And guide this light that I've found