Bex didn't know what to say. She'd been away for eighteen months, she had no idea what her family had gone through in that time or how they would react.

"Jess…" she said. "Jess… I… I've missed you."

Bex grabbed her sister and pulled her into a tight hug, breathing in her familiar scent and, for the first time for ages, she felt safe. Jess' body was stiff and she did not return the hug.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Are you coming back for good or are you just popping in to say hello?"

Although she had been expecting a much worse reaction, Jess' cold words still stung Bex.

"Well, I want to come back, if… if you still want me."

"Well it's not really up to me, is it? What did Mum say?"

"She didn't recognise me," whispered Bex and started to cry. She knew she'd deliberately disguised herself, but a part of her had wanted her mum to recognise her. Had she really forgotten her that easily?

But Jess understood. For months, every time her mum saw a teenage girl her face lit up with hope and each time, the pain was worse. So now, she'd given up and ignored every instinct, trying to move her life on.

"Come on, let's go and tell her,' said Jess without any emotion.

Silently, Bex followed her, knowing she'd have to take her time with Jess. She didn't deserve her forgiveness at all.

Jess knocked on her mum's door.

"Mum?" she called.

"Yes, darling, come in."

"Mum, it's Bex," stammered Jess and pushed her sister into the room.

Karen stared at her daughter.

"But, what? Why?"

"I'm so sorry Mum," said Bex. "I was scared you wouldn't want me back."

"Don't be silly," said Karen thickly. "Come here."

And Bex ran over to her mum and she embraced her, and Karen held on to her daughter like she was never going to let go. Her tears soaked into Bex's thin, blonde hair and she rubbed her back gently.

"I'm so sorry mum," sobbed Bex. "I love you."

"I love you too," sobbed Karen. "What happened?"

"I… I… I went to Manchester with Jamie. And we were going to get a little flat and it was all going to be fine. But he lost his job, and we needed money so badly, and we were both so addicted to the drugs. And I tried to stop beat the addiction, I really did but it was so hard. And then, and then Jamie suggested a way to get money. And… and… he made me…"

Karen seemed to find strength from somewhere deep within her.

"Come on, sit down here." She sat next to her daughter on the sofa and wrapped her arms tightly around her.

"It's OK, darling. It's all OK now, you're safe with me."

"No but it's not all OK," wept Bex. "It's not, I need your help, Mum."

"Of course I'll help you darling. What's wrong?"

"Well, Jamie started getting violent, and he'd order me around and he'd get mixed up with all sorts of people, you know, bad people. And if they didn't bring drugs when he wanted or if they didn't pay him enough for me he'd pick fights and then one day, he had a knife and…" Bex couldn't continue any more.

"Jamie, Jamie, don't please!" she screamed. "It's fine, we'll last until tomorrow, I'll earn more money. Just let him go."

"We had a deal and you broke it," snarled Jamie. He was waving a long kitchen knife and his eyes were bloodshot and wild.

A man was cowering by the sink; he was looking desperate but angry.

"I don't have anything else I can give you. I told you, my supplier got busted. I'll owe you."

"But you already owe me, don't you?" yelled Jamie. "And from what I've heard, you owe a lot of people an awful lot of things. I gave you what you wanted, I gave you my ***** but even that wasn't good enough!"

"JAMIE, NOO!" screamed Bex and she tried to cover her eyes. But she couldn't look away as the knife plunged into the man's stomach. There was a dark sticky stain spreading slowly over the kitchen floor and everything went into slow motion. Bex was shaking uncontrollably.

"So Jamie left, before the police arrived. And I know I shouldn't have run away, but I was out of my mind on the drugs and I panicked and thought I'd get arrested too. So I packed a bag and left. And I never saw Jamie again."

"Oh, darling," whispered Karen, squeezing Bex.

But telling her story was sorting everything out in Bex's head and making her life seem clearer.

"So I was living on the streets and I had no one, and no way of earning money except what I was already doing. So I had to carry on, and I was so addicted to the drugs and I can't even remember those few months properly. And then I met this guy in a café, and he treated me differently. He didn't know… what I was and he treated me with respect. And I started seeing him, and it was all going so well and then he started wanting to come round to my house and stuff, and I was living in a shelter at this point so I couldn't. And so I left him because I thought it was better than him finding out. And then, and then I realised I had to come back. I need your help, Mum."

"Of course, darling. I'll help you with the drugs, and I'll get you a counsellor. As long as you're safe, that's all that matters. Everything else will be OK, I promise."

"No, Mum, you don't understand. There's something else."

"What is it darling?"

"I'm pregnant."