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They knocked on Sam's door and waited. In no time at all, it swung open and they were greeted by Sam.
"Come in you two." She said, smiling.
"Thanks Sam." Zoe smiled back.
"She's in the sitting room." They nodded and followed Sam's hallway through to her sitting room.
"Hey mum, hey dad!" Jody exclaimed and came running over to hug them both.
"Hi Jody." Nick said.
"Hello baby girl, come on and sit down for a minute, we want to talk to you." They watched her face fall as she went and sat down on the sofa. They joined her. Zoe took her hands and began to explain, to her, exactly what was going on.
"Sweetheart, the investigation was successful." Nick began.
"Both of them have been found." Zoe finished for him. "He is currently in prison, and he will be there for the rest of his life." Jody nodded.
"What did he do?"
"Well, they originally arrested him for another assault on Elizabeth."
"But that changed...or something? What does that mean?" Jody asked, confused at Zoe's use of the word 'originally'.
"Yes, it changed when they found a diary in your old bedroom. Your diary." Immediately, Jody flushed scarlet. "Don't worry, we haven't read it. However, the police have. Thats what landed him the life sentence." She nodded again.
"Okay, so where's she?" Zoe nodded too.
"She is currently not well Jodes." Nick told her, softly.
"How unwell. And don't lie to me." She said.
"Sweetheart, she's in a coma, in ICU at St. James'" Jody sighed.
"Well, at least she's not dead." Was all she said. Zoe glanced at Nick, this reaction was startling to say the very least. "Can we go get dinner now?" She asked. Zoe swallowed.
"Sure. But, um, Jodes. One more thing..." She said slowly.
"Yeah?" Jody replied.
"Don't you... I mean, do you want to go and see her?" Jody's reply was instant.
"No." Zoe sighed.
"Sweetie, Nick and I are not going to mind if yo-"
"I don't! She's nothing and no one! She didn't give a damn about me! Well, two can play at that game! I only wanted to know that I hadn't killed her. I hadn't and I got him locked up for good. Bonus! Now. Can we just forget the whole damn thing and move on with our lives? Please? You're going to be having that baby soon mum and I'm going to be its big sister. I'm not putting him or her through all the confusion that would come of me having a different mum. Especially one I hate. So can we just move on." Zoe nodded.
"Sure." She said. Sam, who had been lurking in the door way listening, was now a lot more worried about Jody. In fact, so were Nick and Zoe. No one was quite sure what to do with themselves. Sam entered the room.
"I take it you'll be off then, yeah?" Sam asked. Nick and Zoe nodded grimly.
"Yeah." Jody felt awful. Everyone looked so... Wrong. It made her feel sick. The tension in the room was so thick that it was almost solid.
"I'll get my stuff on." Jody said, gloomily, and left the room. Nick and Zoe sat staring at each other for a while, quite unsure what to make of things. "You coming then?" Jody asked as she got back into the room.
"Yeah." Zoe whispered, distantly. Waving goodbye to Sam, they all left the apartment and drove home.
That night, Zoe and Nick lay awake, well into the night, just staring at the ceiling. Eventually, Zoe turned to face Nick.
"Really we should be glad. But I don't feel glad. More guilty." She whispered.
"Yeah. I know what you mean." Nick replied. He sighed and turned onto his side, facing Zoe. "We have ti do what she wants. We have to just go with it, move on. She's right you know. That woman is her past. But we are her future. You and Me and Jody, and our new baby. We have to make the most if that and focus on the future, not the past. We have to respect her wishes." Nick said, wisely.
"You're right." She sighed. "Speaking of the baby, Nick we need to get sorted. We've only got 3 and a half months to go. We need to get all of the stuff, do up the spare room, we need to get prepared." He nodded at her.
"I know. We have left things a bit late. Oh well, we'll sort it."
"We will. I love you Nick." She whispered.
"I love you too." He enveloped Zoe in a loving embrace and they remained like this for the rest of the night.