A/N: Okay, I'm in school at the moment, so I should probably be doing something more productive.
…Oh well.

I can't wait for tonight's Casualty! I've been typing all afternoon because I've honestly got nothing better to do (mum's on some new sleeping pills and they appear to be doing their job. And Noah's trying to teach himself to rap.)
Are all six year old's this weird or is it just my little brother? XD
Enjoy!

Adam
"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," I mentioned one evening as me and Kirsty relaxed on the sofa with a bottle of red wine. She regarded me with a questioning expression on her face.

"And what's that?" I leaned forward to top up her glass.

"I've been putting some calls in to a friend who owes me a favour. His name is James Sullivan."

"James Sullivan… Hang on; haven't I heard that name before? Was he a patient at the hospital?" I shook my head.

"James is a lawyer, Kirsty. Quite an esteemed one actually. He was in the news recently because he won that sexual assault case down in Poole despite having basically no evidence." She nodded slowly, taking it all in.

"He's agreed –that is, if you want it-, to take your case on. You know, if you decide to go to court with Warren. It's completely up to you." She nodded again, and we both sat in silence for a couple of minutes before she finally spoke up.

"Thank you, that's…" She struggled to find the right word, so I leaned forward and grasped her hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Don't worry; we'll get this sorted out." She smiled.

"I know we will. I've decided to get my life back on track anyway, there's no point in me moping about doing nothing is there?" I smiled back, her ever positive attitude always a light in my life.

"If you want to start getting things sorted, then that's great. I'll call James in the morning if you want, but remember that you can always take your time Kirsty. There's no rush." She squeezed my hand back, her fingers interlocking with my own. Then she leaned forward, and lightly brushed her soft lips against my own, before speaking again.

"Adam, I've only got one life." She whispered, looking deep into my eyes with her own hazel orbs. "So why should I waste it?"

James
The first impression I got of Kirsty Clements was that before the incident occurred, she was a strong, confident woman. The way she walked with her shoulders squared but her head hanging told me that all of this was taking a toll on her, both physically and mentally. I jotted a couple of notes on my clipboard before reaching out to shake her and Adam's hands.

"Good morning," I greeted, with only the merest hint of cheerfulness to my tone. From past experiences I had learned that it was never a good idea to get too close to your clients.

"Hey, thanks so much for doing this." Adam spoke, stepping forward and clapping me on the shoulder. Ms. Clements remained silent, but flashed me a short and worn smile as we sat down in the leather chairs of the café we had agreed to meet in.

I hadn't seen Adam since we were both twenty and thoroughly naïve. Perhaps the only reason I had agreed to take this case –domestic abuse not being my forte-, was because deep down inside my heart I knew that I owed a big part of my life to him.

We had just gone our separate ways when it happened. He was off to medical school, and I myself was training to be a lawyer in a town two hours away from our home town. We had met sometime in secondary school, and although we were never particularly close, we still met up a couple of times for lunch and to exchange news. One time, I'd taken Millie along, my sweetheart of the day. She was beautiful, with waist long hair the colour of barley at harvest time, and cornflower blue eyes. Having only been on three or four dates, she had neglected to tell me of her severe allergy to nuts, and so when I ordered her a drink that was served with sweet hazelnut syrup, we were both in for a rather nasty shock.

To this day, I cannot decide who was more to blame- her, for not being cautious enough with her allergy, or me for taking the liberty of ordering for her whilst she was in the ladies' room. But of course, when she started coughing and spluttering a couple of minutes after consuming her beverage I was caught completely off my guard, having no medical skills to speak of. Adam however leaped into action, and may well have saved her life that day.

At first, when I had received the call from him, I felt I had no obligation to this case, and that I should have refused it with all due politeness and put the phone back on its receiver. But somewhere in the back of my mind, that memory of what he had done for Millie flashed before my eyes, and a diminutive voice told me that I owed him that much.

"I presume you must be Ms. Clements?" I asked, not because I was unsure but because I wished to draw come conversation from her lips.

"Kirsty." She replied. "Call me Kirsty." Her tone was a lot firmer and a little louder then I'd expected, but I presumed that she had put on a strong front so she could be perceived precisely in that way.

"Alright then Kirsty. What I thought we'd talk about today is the basic procedures we shall have to adhere to if you are planning to take this case to court." I handed her a copy of the domestic abuse protocol, and she glanced at it quickly before putting it down on the table before her. I suppose I could hardly blame her for not being that interested in every single little detail; firstly because it wasn't her job to be and secondly because she was painfully aware that the results of this trial could well influence how she and her daughter spent the rest of their lives.

If I failed to deliver on this case, I knew that I could effectively ruin their chances of ever leading normal lives again.
That's a heavy weight for one man to hold on his shoulders, but as a lawyer I have found that you just have to get used to it.

"So how's Millie?" Adam asked.

"She passed away a few years ago." A slightly uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." I wondered how many times I'd heard that before.

"It's fine. Shall we continue with this thing then?"

Kirsty
The meeting with my lawyer wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it was going to be. He asked barely any questions, only noting down a few things every once in a while, and we just chatted for a while rather than him putting me and my court case in the limelight- an idea which I wasn't yet used to.

A couple of days after our meeting, I found that both me and Nita were running out of clothes. The few items I had kept in my locker were running out, and she could hardly keep wearing the same things over and over; especially not her school uniform.

If... When she came back, I felt that she would appreciate having some nice clean clothes to wear.

So after leaving Adam a short note, I headed out to the house me and Warren shared. I'd decided to go on my own when Adam was at work and Nita school so that I could just pop in and out without any distractions.

As it turned out, I couldn't even get much past the front door without being distracted. I put my key in the lock, pushed the door open, and paused as my gaze rested on a frame that sat on the table beside the door. It was made of pine wood, and stuck to it in messy globs of white glue were pasta shapes, numerous sprinklings of disorganised confetti, and tiny paper hearts. It was a standard mother's day present that a five year old Nita had made me in school, and in it was a photograph of me and Warren, grinning at the camera with unconditional love in our eyes.

Somehow, since that day a few years back, the love that had once roared in our hearts with all the ferocity of a fire had diminished to barely resemble the tiny flicker of a candle. As much of a cliché as that sounds, my fist still clenched around the photo frame as I lifted it to my face to look at the picture my closely. Going through to the kitchen, I slipped the memory from its hold and, after placing the treasured gift on to the kitchen counter, dropped the photo into the bin, shutting the lid on it once and for all. I ignored the vision that was starting to crop up in the recesses of my mind, and made my way upstairs to the bedroom.

James
"Damn it... Come on, pick up..." I muttered furiously as I punched the numbers into my blackberry once again. "God damn it, don't do this to me..." Rage and a slight hint of fear flowed angrily through my veins. According to my notes, somebody should have been home at that point.
"Hi, this is Adam. I'm not home right now, so please leave your name and phone number after the beep, and I'll get back to you when I can. Thanks." I sighed, and decided to leave a message on his answer machine.

Kirsty
It only took a few minutes for me to gather armfuls of clothes for both me and Nita. I also grabbed some toiletries -I could hardly expect my teenage daughter to shower using Lynx shower gel- and a few other things that I felt we couldn't really leech off of Adam any longer.

I had my back turned to the door as I rooted through my chest of drawers, yanking out various items in a rush to get back to Adam's. I didn't hear the elongated, shuffling footsteps on the stairs, nor the door as it creaked open.
What I did hear, however was enough to send an icy chill straight through my heart and into my lungs.
"Hi honey," His smooth, dangerous voice cut through the air, and I spun round. My wide, frightened eyes landed on his daunting smile. "I'm home!"

Adam
Every metre that I became closer to my home, my heart lightened a little more. My shift in the ED had been an absolute nightmare; luckily I hadn't lost any patients but I'd barely had a moment to catch my breath all day. We were short staffed, so I had to work through my lunch break to make up for it.

I let myself in through my front door, walked through to the kitchen and picked up the short, hastily scribbled note resting on the table.

Adam,
Just gone home to pick me and Nita up some more clothes. Won't be long, and I'll pick up dinner on the way home. Pizza okay? :)
Love Kirsty xx
P.S- Stop worrying, I'll be fine!

I smiled, and paused as my hand hovered over the bin, before instead deciding to pocket the note. I headed upstairs to shower and change, taking my time so I could unwind after my trying day.

Of course, that meant I didn't listen to the slightly panicked message on my answer phone until a good half hour after I got home.

"Adam," It began. "This is James Sullivan. Listen, I don't know how to tell you this, but it seems that Warren was released on bail about an hour ago. I had no idea there was even a hearing; if I had I would have been there!" My mouth was hanging wide open as the shock set in, a blinding, burning panic that flashed in front of my eyes and settled in my stomach.

I didn't even bother listening to the rest of the message; instead, I started to run. Faster then I'd ever run before. After glancing at my watch, I'd realised that I would be very lucky to get to Kirsty's old home in time- that is, if I wasn't already too late.

So, I ran. I ran for her.

And I prayed that I would get there before something horrible happened.

A/N: *dramatic gasp* Yeah, so I'm gonna leave it there... Please don't hate me too much!

You've probably noticed this, but I left more gaps between the lines on this chapter. I personally think it makes it look a little clearer like this, but what do you guys all think? I might keep doing it, but if it makes it harder to read or something I won't do it again. Let me know (:
Thanks for reading, and I'm gonna be really annoying and remind you to press the little 'review' button and tell me what an evil person I am for leaving it on a cliff hanger! XD