Thanks for all the reviews I have gotten. Rereading them really brightens my mood. The next update should be next week, but I'm not sure as I've still got Deceit and Betrayal to finish, and something else completely unrelated to work on. But this shall be posted soon :) Enjoy!

Chapter 3

"What's your name, love?" Alex repeated.

Molly raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're serious," she stated. She had to confirm it. Her mother had no clue who her daughter was. She felt anger and resentment start to build inside her.

Her mother frowned and nodded. "We need your name first."

Molly felt the anger turning into burning rage. She had tried to kill herself to get back to her mum, and now her mother didn't even recognise her! She let out a short, sharp laugh.

"I'm not telling you my name," she said stubbornly. "You can figure it out."

"I'll charge you with perverting the cause of justice!" the blonde man roared.

"I don't care. Alex here should know who I am. Hell, it's only been three years since the last time we saw each other."

"I never said my name," her mother muttered, confused.

"And neither has blondie here, but still, I know it," Molly said fiercely. "Poor Alex Drake," she continued quietly, almost whispering. "Must've lost her memory after the bullet to the skull. Of course, it wasn't just her life that was over, was it?"

Alex stared at her a moment in confusion and disbelief before turning to Gene. "Get out, Guv!" she yelled, her voice choked in anger and horror.

"I dunno Bolls," he said doubtfully.

"She's what, fifteen? I think I can handle a teenage girl, Gene."

The blonde man glared and left the room. As soon as the door slammed shut, she leaned over the table.

"How do you know that about me?" her mum demanded fiercely.

Molly had to admit, her mother was scaring her slightly. She hadn't seen this look in Alex's eyes before. However, she swallowed her fear, replacing it with fury.

"I know loads about you, Alexandra Margaret Price Drake," Molly smirked. "You're the daughter of Tim and Caroline Price. Evan White's goddaughter. Lost your parents at eight. You hate David Bowie, especially the song Ashes to Ashes." She was raging now, speaking almost too quickly, only talking in a whisper. "You got married too young and your husband Peter left you when your child was six months old. You were a hostage negotiator for Scotland Yard. On the seventeenth of July, 2008, you went missing on your way to work. They found you; they tried to save your life, but your godfather took you off life support. If only you hadn't have had that stack of reports. Maybe then the bloody daughter you fucking forgot about wouldn't hate her birthday so much. But you did. I can't believe you forgot," she ended quietly.

Alex was staring at Molly, her mouth open and her eyes turning from angry to broken. "Molls," she breathed.

Molly shook her head. "Don't call me that."

"Molly, I..."

She shook her head again. "I don't even want to hear it. Just take me down to the cells and leave me to rot or whatever." Her mother moved towards her, but Molly backed away.

"Molly, please," her mum begged.

Molly felt the control slipping away from her mum as she desperately tried to win Molly over.

"You forgot me," she said coldly.

"This world, it..." Alex managed before Molly cut her off.

"It doesn't matter. I'm your daughter. You forgot me! I spent three years imagining how to get back to you! Three years of torture, Mum! After you died, I had no one to talk to. I was completely alone in the world. But you've moved on just fine I see."

"I had to adjust, I had to..."

Molly cut her off again. "And to adjust, you forget everything about your old life and fall in love with a complete bastard?"

"Language!" her mum said automatically.

"I don't give a flying fuck about language! That man is an arsehole Mum! And you replace me with him?" Tears were pouring down her face now, and her mother embraced her. Molly tried to push her off, but Alex held her too tightly.

"I'm sorry, Molls," her mother said.

"Don't call me that," she said stiffly.

Alex pulled away a little bit, looking surprised. "Why not?"

"You owe me an explanation," Molly stated, staring straight into Alex's eyes. She knew that anger and contempt were evident through her expression and she wanted to give her mum the full force of it.

"Sit down."

"No. I'm not doing it here. I want it you and me, not in the middle of a police station."

"Well, getting you out of here at the moment is looking a bit problematic," Alex responded sarcastically. "What were you doing there Molly?"

"I wouldn't expect you to recognise the address," Molly said bitterly. "That was our home in 2011. In 2008. We didn't move out after you died. I fell asleep and woke up here."

Molly noted her mum flinch when she said the word 'died.' She realised from the expression on Alex's face that she didn't know yet. However, her mum just brushed it off.

"Our home? And what do you mean you fell asleep and woke up here? You don't just fall asleep."

Molly looked out the window, not wanting to answer the question.

"Molly," said her mother sternly.

"I had some pills, okay? I got some in one of the courses of therapy that the wanker put me through."

"You mean Evan," Alex said dryly.

"I never took them like I was supposed to, but last night, I...I kind of swallowed the entire bottle."

Her mother's mouth dropped open. "But Molly, you...you..."

She nodded.

"Why? What could possibly possess you to...?"

"Not here. Get me out Mum. Use the excuse that it used to be our house or something. Say we haven't even been able to send letters, and they didn't change the locks, so I could still get in."

"Stay here," Alex said.

"Mum," she called as her mother opened the door. Alex turned, looking hopefully at her daughter.

"Can I have some paper and a pencil?"

She saw disappointment flood Alex's face before her mother nodded and walked out of the door. Molly stared out the interview room window for a few minutes until Alex returned with a blank sheet of A4 and a pencil.

"Here," her mother said, looking hurt and worried. Molly said nothing, merely grabbing the paper and pencil and starting to sketch. Alex walked out of the room quickly, but not before Molly realised what had caused a change in the air.

Molly had control. She had stripped her mum's authority, both as a police officer and a mother. Molly started sketching, smirking to herself. She had originally taken the drugs to be back with her mum. But now, she realised that a happily ever after ending wouldn't come. Her mum had forgotten her. And for that, Molly would make Alex pay.

~(*)~

Alex leaned against the interview room door, exhaling loudly and holding back tears. Unbidden, something she said to Shaz came to her mind.

"What if I start forgetting where I'm from and then I forget that I've forgotten Shaz?"

She had sworn not to forget. But she had. She had stopped making her tapes, stopped listening to them. To her, Molly had become nothing more than a distant dream.

And now, she turned up looking and acting completely different and being accused of arson. Alex pressed her fingers to her nose. What had happened since she had been shot?

Viv walked up to her. "Ma'am. Here's the statements from the family that owns the house. And the fire chief's been on the phone. He says he can't find any signs of arson."

Alex nodded at Viv, but on the inside she was doing a victory dance. Molly was safe on one count. Now it was just home invasion.

Alex moved to her desk and looked through the file at the woman's statement.

We moved in around early July, 1981. I don't remember who the previous own of the home was, but she mentioned that her daughter had gone away and the house held too many memories. They handed over the keys and that was that. It's been perfectly peaceful until this morning when I woke up to the smell of smoke. The fire brigade found that girl in there, I don't know who the hell she is, but I'm guessing she set the fire and then got hit on the head by something on her way out.

Alex stopped reading, smiling to herself. This was all too easy. She stood and walked over to Gene's office. Not bothering to knock, she strode in. Gene looked up as she settled on the corner of his desk.

"No, Bolly, I wasn't in the middle of anything important. Go ahead and let yourself in, and next time, you don't even need to knock!"

"Shut up Guv," she said good-naturedly.

"What have you got?"

"Viv caught me in the hallway and said that the fire chief rung and said it wasn't arson."

"So that rids the girl of one charge."

"Secondly, the home invasion was accidental."

Gene looked up. "What? How is that accidental?"

"I didn't recognise her at first – the hair you see – but then, after you left, I did."

"Is this going anywhere or do I have time to run to Luigi's and back?" he asked, taking a swig of scotch.

"It's Molly, Gene."

Gene started choking on his scotch. "What?" he coughed.

"That was Molly. My daughter. We haven't had any contact since 1981. Late June to be precise. That's when her father took her away from me. He didn't allow me any rights at all. Said I was too dangerous."

"That doesn't explain why she was in the house."

"If you were just patient!"

"I wouldn't need to be if you didn't prattle on for eternity and a day!"

"That house used to be my house. I sold it in early July because it was too much for me to be there."

Gene nodded his head to her story, thinking. "So that little rude..."

"Don't finish that sentence. Yes, she's mine, and it's obvious her father has done nothing to discipline her."

"What are you going to do with her? Ship her back?"

"No. I'm going to try and sort this out, but for now, she'll be mine. I'll get her enrolled in school and she can live in my flat with me."

She saw the distaste on Gene's face and felt she had to say something. Molly had certainly not made a good impression on him. "She's not normally like this."

"How do you know, Bolly? You haven't seen her for three years. This may just be her norm now. She could just be a brat."

Alex felt the anger building inside her. "You have no right to say that," she hissed.

"Calm down Bolls."

Alex just threw the file down on his desk. "I'm taking the rest of the day off. Molly's coming with me. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

With that, she stormed out of the office. She knew that Gene was probably right, but that didn't make it any less difficult to hear. She couldn't persuade herself that Molly would continue to act like this, though. She knew that as soon as Molly settled in she'd be back to her normal self.

Alex paused at the window of the interview room and looked in. Molly's hair had been pulled back, so it was out of her eyes. One of her feet was up on the chair, her knee next to her ear. Her other foot was tucked underneath her leg on the chair. She was drawing with fervour, stopping a moment to stare at the work. Alex couldn't make out what was on the page. Maybe she could get a glimpse if she went in.

Alex walked in, only to see Molly hastily shove the paper in the pocket of her black skinny jeans. "Everything's all worked out," Alex said.

Molly nodded, her eyes boring into Alex's. Alex knew that she was angry. Molly had every right to be angry. But Alex would help her get over it. She was certain.

Alex could tell that Molly's world had frozen when she was shot. I will get it turning again, she swore to herself. If it's the last thing I do, I will make her world spin once more.

to be continued