Karen walked through the rain to where her daughters were sitting, still with their arms wrapped tightly around each other.

She smiled broadly as she saw them so close – the jealousy and anger she had seen on Jess' face earlier had evaporated and she looked safe and comforted.

'Girls, come inside, it's pouring down,' said Karen, trying to be heard through the howling wind. 'Please,' she added.

Bex stood up, pulling her sister's hand. They allowed their mum to put an arm round each of them and the three of them walked, slightly awkwardly, back into the school.

They sat down in Karen's office, and Janeece came in with three steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

'Thanks, Janeece,' said Karen, smiling.

'No problem, Mrs Fisher.' Janeece looked at Jess slightly strangely and scurried out.

'Er, Mum, have you got a mirror?' asked Jess. Karen reached into her handbag and laughed as Jess shrieked at her reflection.

She did look quite a mess. Her makeup was smudged all over her face – the black lines made her look like a kind of wannabe goth and her eyes were still red. Her hair was soaking wet and sticking to her cheeks limply.

'Oh my God, I look awful' said Jess. 'I'm off to the loo, do you want me to get Dad and Harry on the way back?'

Karen looked anxiously at Bex, wondering how much more emotion she could take.

'Mum, it's fine, of course I want to see Dad and little Harry. But can you explain to them what happened – I don't want to have to do all that again.'

'Of course, darling. Do you want to go with your sister now while I talk to them about what happened? And then you can come in and see them?'

'Yeah, OK, Mum.' Bex linked arms with Jess and they walked off to the toilets.

Karen looked at her daughters and sighed. She knew that Bex and Jess must have talked a lot about what had happened and how they felt, and while she was happy that they were getting on, she wished they would confide in her more. What did she do that pushed her family away so much? Karen was afraid. What if she got things wrong again and lost Bex again? Or what if she lost Jess, or Harry, or Charlie? Just as her family was coming together, Karen felt aware of its fragility and vulnerability.

She knocked on the door of Chris' science class, where Harry was sitting, looking bored.

'Hi, can I take Harry from you, please?'

Harry looked surprised, but gladly stuffed his books into his bag and walked out of the room. A few people muttered nasty comments, but none of them dared say it loud enough for Karen to hear.

'Er, Karen, can I have a quick word?' said Chris.

'Yeah, of course,' smiled Karen. 'Harry, can you wait for me at the top of the stairs?'

Chris cleared his throat nervously. 'Erm is everything OK?'

'Yeah, it is,' said Karen brightly. 'Why?'

'It's just er, you look kind of, overwhelmed,' said Chris truthfully.

'Well I guess you'll find out soon enough anyway,' began Karen. 'Well, er, I guess you didn't even know she was missing, but my daughter, Bex, has come back after being missing for eighteen months. She just turned up out of the blue today!'

Chris smiled at the happy tears that filled Karen's eyes and he touched her shoulder affectionately.

'That's great, I'm really happy for you! Wow!'

'Yeah, I'm taking Harry to see her now.' Karen turned and began walking away.

'Oh and Chris,' she called over her shoulder. 'I think you've already met Bex. She's the girl who pretended to be called Hannah Smith this morning.'

Karen walked away with a slight spring in her step and did not notice all the colour drain from Chris' face. What had he done?

'Charlie, can you come with me, please? Sorry if I'm interrupting anything,' said Karen breathlessly as Charlie picked up his mug of tea and followed her out of the staffroom, looking slightly bewildered.

Karen, Charlie and Harry found an empty classroom and sat down.

'Mum, what's happening?' asked Harry, confused.

'I don't know how to tell you really, but we've found Bex,' said Karen, tears pouring down her face.

Charlie looked panicked. 'What's happened? Is she OK? Where is she? Karen?'

'She's fine, she's fine,' wept Karen. 'Well I mean, she's not hurt, she's obviously quite upset and overwhelmed. Sorry, I don't know why I'm crying, we've got out family back together!'

Charlie and Harry were crying, too.

'Can we see her, Mum?' asked Harry. 'Where is she?'

'She's in my office. She wanted me to explain to you what happened so you didn't have to ask her – she's still quite fragile and upset.'

'What happened, Karen?' asked Charlie, taking her hand in his.

But Karen was sobbing and couldn't speak. She buried her head in Charlie's shoulder and they cried together. Harry stood behind them and put his arms around them, trying to help but confused as to if they were happy or sad.

Eventually, Karen was able to speak and she explained to her family what horrors Bex had faced while she was away.

Meanwhile, Bex and Jess were in the girls' toilets. Jess had washed her face and was reapplying her makeup.

'Can I borrow some, sis?' asked Bex. 'I look like a f****** corpse!'

Jess laughed and passed her the bag. 'Take whatever you want!'

She was glad her sister's habit of using foul language hadn't changed – she wouldn't be Bex without swearing every few sentences.

'Jess, you know how you told me about Mr Mead?' asked Bex carefully. 'Can I trust you with something?'

'Yeah, course,' said Jess, and she put her eyeliner down.

Bex looked at her sister's innocent expression and realised she couldn't crush her any more.

'It's just that I'm worried about my baby. I don't know what to do! I don't think I could cope with having one, but I don't think I could just have an abortion either. I don't know what to do!'

'Hey, hey, it's OK,' said Jess, rushing to her sister's side. 'You don't need to decide immediately, you can talk it over with people and take your time. How many weeks are you?'

'About seven, I think,' said Bex. 'Oh Jess, what have I done?'

'Bex, listen to me,' said Jess. 'I might be your little sister, but I'm much older than I was when you left and I'm old enough to understand how tough this decision is going to be. But I'm always here and if you want, you can talk to Janeece too. She's the school secretary and she's pregnant. She's only about a year older than you, you know.'

'Thanks, Jess. I guess we'd better go back to see Dad and Harry now. I'll think about this mess later.'

Jess slipped her hand into Bex's and they walked back to their mum's office in silence. Jess squeezed her sister's hand to let her know she was always there for her, but Bex's tight grip meant much more. It meant 'sorry about what I've done to you, little sis and sorry I can't tell you'. It meant 'how am I going to sort this mess out without hurting any more people?' and it meant 'how am I going to get through the rest of this day?'