.

-nine-

Bex stayed with him for the rest of that night, and they both talked until they were both tired and fell asleep on the sofa. She was lying across the sofa with her head on his leg, a cushion on his leg for neck support, and he was sleeping sat up.

Finn stirred as the front door closed and he opened his eyes. Rubbing them, he looked around and saw his mother walk into the room.

"Did you fall asleep on that silly game again?" his mother said exasperated.

"No… spent the night talking to my friend actually…" he muttered, gently lifting the cushion and Bex's head so he could stand and he gently put it back down again being careful not to wake her.

"I thought your friends were Josh and Ronan." His mother stated.

"Yeah they are. And so is Bex. Which you would know if you had been here." He scowled.

"Don't look at me like that love. You know we wouldn't have this house if I didn't work."

"You could, I dunno, come home for a bit longer than 5 minutes! Talk to me! See what's going on in my life!"

Bex woke up at his raised voice, but she kept her eyes closed as she heard someone else talking.

"Finn I'm a phone call away! Honestly you act like I completely ignore you!"

"Yeah for all the good it is! For how long you're away you may as well be ignoring me!"

"I'm not listening to this. Let me know when you've stopped acting like a child." She picked up her bag once more and made for the door.

"My girlfriend is dying!" he called after her, turning to face her.

She stopped and looked back at him. "I'm sorry, son." She said and walked out, closing the door behind her.

Bex opened her eyes, shocked and appalled at what she'd just heard. Finn was crying out for his mother and she just wasn't listening. She got up and walked over to him, putting a hand on his arm, which he roughly pushed away. She took a step back, knowing he was too angry and upset, and she watched him walk to what she thought was his room.

Finn knew Bex only wanted to help, but what he needed right now was to be alone, because if he let his anger out in front of her, she would be another one to hate him for the monster he could become. He kicked his door shut behind him and looked around the room.

Bex made her way over to the closed door. "Finn? I'm going over to see Sam… Follow if you want." She said gently. She waited a moment for his response, and walked away from the door when she heard nothing. "I'll be back as soon as, yeah? Or if you get bored you can always come after us…" she added and walked out of the house, making her way toward Sam's. She felt her phone in her pocket and she took it out. It was her mum calling.

"Bex? Where are you? Jess and Vicki said they saw you getting off the bus yesterday." Karen said.

"Finn told me about Sam… that there's nothing else they can do… So I'm gonna stay with him for a bit… at least I'll be closer to them both rather than coming home…"

"Alright, darling. Are you going to see Sam now?"

"Yeah… Finn's just… sorting stuff out then he'll come after us." She didn't want to tell her about the altercation he had with his mother that morning. She knew her own mother could be married to her job sometimes but never in her life had Karen ignored her or Jess and Harry the way Finn's mother had with him. "Listen I'm gonna go, I'm nearly there now."

"Okay, love. Call me later okay?"

"Yeah okay… love you mum."

"Love you too Bex."

They both hung up just as Bex got to Sam's door. She walked up to it and knocked on the door. There was a minute before the door opened, and Josh was stood there.

"Hey…" Bex said quietly, and they both hugged.

"Who is it?" Sam called, hoping it was Finn.

"It's Bex." Josh called back, stepping out of the hug.

Sam let out a quiet sigh of disappointment, only heard by Lauren and Amy, and she smiled. "Well, let her in then!"

Bex laughed and walked inside, Josh shutting the door behind her and they both walked into the living room where the girls were watching a film.

"He told you then…?" Sam asked as Bex took her place on the floor beside her.

Bex could only nod.

"Know why he ain't here?" Amy asked.

"He had a bit of a run-in with his mum this morning.. I heard most of it but pretended to be asleep." Bex explained.

"You were there all night?" Amy looked a bit pissed off.

"Yeah, talked most of the night then I fell asleep on the sofa. Dunno where he went, must of gone to his own bed or something in the night." Bex shrugged. She did of course, know that she had been using his leg as a pillow, so knew he'd stayed on the sofa with her all night. But she also knew Amy didn't take lightly to her at the best of times given what was revealed to the school last term, and so thought it best to lie.

Amy nodded, seemingly happy with what was said and turned back to the TV.

Sam looked at Bex.

Bex looked back. "What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing…" Sam shrugged. She really didn't know what to do or say.

Bex smiled a little and hugged her. "You'll be fine… all we need to do is make sure you have enough fun that you forget the bad stuff going on."

Sam laughed a little and hugged back.

"That's exactly what we've been saying all morning." Lauren grinned, and offered Bex the bag of crisps she was eating. "Want one?"

"Yeah well let's make it happen." Bex smiled, reaching over and taking a couple of crisps from the packet, eating them. "What the hell's this?"

"God knows… it was just on the telly, and cause there's nothing else on we decided to watch it." Josh shrugged. "We're not doing much of that though." He added.

Bex nodded, rolling her eyes. "Sam where's your DVD collection? Let's get something good on? Or there's always music?"

"Dancing about sounds good." Amy grinned.

"Right that's sorted then." Bex grinned, jumping up, Amy and Lauren pulling Sam up, laughing.

Josh got up and walked to the stereo, putting the radio on for the girls.

"No Josh you're joining in." Bex smirked, Amy and Sam nodding in agreement.

"No way!" Josh laughed, but he was forced to anyway.

The five of them passed the time away laughing and having fun, so much so that every single one of them had forgotten their troubles, forgot that Sam was dying, and it was just another normal day with a group of friends.

"Come on Josh, we best go." Tom Clarkson said as he walked into the living room after a few hours. "Amy, Lauren, I'll drop you off on the way."

"Okay." Josh nodded, and he, Amy and Lauren stood up, hugged Sam and followed Tom out of the house to his car.

"I better go too… my bag's still at Finn's, and I need to ask him why he never came." Bex shrugged, hugging her friend.

"Okay…" Sam nodded, feeling tired now after everything had calmed down. "Bex? Thanks for today."

"Don't worry about it." Bex smiled. "Now I might or might not be here tomorrow, depends on if I get earache down the phone off my dance teacher…"

Sam laughed a little.

"But either way, tonight I will be beating some sense into your boyfriend." Bex finished with a small laugh and got up, walking to the door.

"Bex?"

She turned at the sound of her name, to see Rose walking down the stairs, she'd obviously just put the youngest child to bed. "Yeah?"

"Thank you for helping Sam forget today… She's got real friends in you, Amy, Lauren and Josh." Rose said softly.

"I'm not here to feel sorry for her…I'm here to help her have fun while she still can." Bex smiled.

"This shouldn't happen to her… she's a child… she should have her life ahead of her…" Rose looked as though she were about to cry.

Bex walked over to the older woman and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know… and it's not fair… but as hard as this is gonna be, you all need to be so close… closer than you've ever been before…"

"I've let her down so much in her life Bex." Rose said quietly.

"Whatever you've done in the past, she's forgotten about it and she loves you so much… you're her mum. And she needs you to be so strong right now… You're not alone, you got us, and you can always talk to my mum? You have Tom, your whole family with you. Anything you need just tell us and I'll tell my dance teacher where she can stick it and I'll be straight round, like I was last night. When Finn told me about her, I was about to go into our last session and I gave my friends an excuse and I got straight on the train and the bus and I was talking to him most of the night."

Rose nodded, listening to her. "If you see him, make sure you give him a slap from me." She smiled a little.

"I'll be slapping him myself when I go back to his to get my bag." Bex said, sighing heavily. "Sam's got my number, so if you need anything just call me." She added and walked out and made her way back to Finn's.

She looked up at the house when she stopped outside and she sighed heavily, walking up to the door and she opened it. "Finn?" she called, walking into the house, shutting the door behind her.

Finn heard his name and walked out of his room, and down the stairs to see her, his hair a mess on his head as though he'd been sleeping. "Hey. How was she?"

"She was fine once we got things started and had a laugh… she'd be completely happy if her boyfriend bothered to show up though." Bex commented, looking at him.

"If I went over there with the mood I was in she'd of told me to leave." Finn sighed. "After I took it out on my room I went to sleep… not long just woke up actually…"

Bex nodded slightly. "Just… don't forget about her. She needs you too."

"I won't." Finn shook his head. "Just need to get my head together."

Bex nodded, and walked over and hugged him when he held his arms open for her.