Chapter 7

The previous night's sleep had been awful for Frankie, her insomnia was driving her crazy, and when she did sleep, she had the same recurring nightmare. It was where she was running along the river to save Connor, but she'd either be too late, or he'd not be there at all. It was annoying her, but she was exhausted, she couldn't move, never mind get out of bed and make breakfast for herself, even to say goodbye to Mike who was off on a well-deserved break to Barbados, so Gina would be there, with an assistant care worker, but Frankie just couldn't leave the comfort of her bed.

That was, until she heard a very loud explosion from downstairs. She knew she informed everyone to stay out of her business, and she'd do the same, but waking her up, and bringing the house down was an exception.

"What the hell just happened?" She asked, looking at the mess in the kitchen.

"I thought you didn't want to speak to us anymore." Imogen joked.

"It's different when the house is being brought down. I said I'd be civil." Frankie corrected her.

"Johnny and I found grenades in the back garden." Acid said with her arm round him. 'Wait, they're an item?! When the hell did that happen?' Frankie thought, trying not to vomit.

"And you decided to blow up the back garden I see." Frankie sighed, hearing sirens. "And kill someone. Well done."

"They didn't kill anyone. If it wasn't for Faith we'd all be dead. Gina got hurt though." Blake said, defending them.

'Okay, since when did Blake take their side?'

Frankie still had the awful lingering sickness in her stomach. It had been there since she found Connor. She just feared that she was too late, she couldn't do anything. What Frankie wanted to do was visit him. His chain still hung round her neck, and she wore it with pride. Nobody else in the house knew Connor had been found, never mind the fact he was on the brink of death in hospital.

"See?" Acid sneered.

Frankie just rolled her eyes. Today she wasn't in the mood for anything, let alone bratty children like her being a fool.

"WE'RE HOME ALONE!" Tyler and Jodie shouted. Elektra and Faith were in deep discussion, probably over the fact the army guy thought Faith was in charge. That gave Frankie the idea to use the office phone, to see if the hospital were finally allowing visits.

"You know we aren't allowed in the office." Gus informed her.

"Yes, but it's really important. So I'm sure Mike will forgive me this once." Frankie said, quickly opening the surprisingly unlocked office and she went straight to the phone, closing the door behind her.

She then turned to see a sticky note on the desk saying

"REMEMBER

Tell Frankie about hospital hours."

Hospital hours? That means she could visit. She could leave for hours and just spend time with her best friend. Her bad day had gotten a bit better.

The phone was ringing, but Frankie decided to let it go to answerphone, this was probably nothing to do with her.

"Hello, this is Janine, the nurse who called you last night about Connor.

We have some bad news I'm afraid. Connor deteriorated overnight, we've managed to stabilise his condition for now, but we can't let visitors in with him like this, and we may need to come and talk to you about options with continuing Connor's treatment.

Again, really sorry."

Then the line went dead.

It took all of Frankie's will power not to destroy the office out of anger, rage, or spite. She just picked herself up, trying to not show any emotion, they didn't care about either of them; so, crying wasn't going to solve anything, as much as it was killing her inside.

Frankie walked to the stairs and just perched on a step, burying her hands in her hair. She didn't know what to do, she was alone, and scared and in a place where she didn't feel like she belonged.

"Move scumbag." Johnny said kicking her to one side. Frankie really wanted to grab his leg and make him fall down the rest of the stairs, but yet again, her self-control amazed her.

Frankie just went back upstairs and grabbed her lighter and lit an incense stick. This one was cinnamon. The sweet, spicy smell filled her room, and left a calming aura with it. Frankie felt she could zone out, ignore any goings on in the world.

"FAITH DID IT!" She heard Jodie shout obnoxiously loud, as the door slammed. Frankie sighed; she clambered off the floor and headed to see what the commotion was. Plus, she really needed a pain killer, her head was pounding, and her stomach was doing flips.

"What do you want?" Carmen asked as Frankie walked into the kitchen.

"A snack." Frankie lied.

"And why should you get any food of ours. You want nothing to do with us, remember?" Tee replied.

"This food belongs to everyone…" Frankie began as Faith stormed in with a pile of washing, looking extremely stressed, as Gus was pestering her about dinner.

Faith sighed, grabbing plates and shoving crisps and a lot of other snacks to put out to eat in the living room.

"You coming in?" Faith asked, once everyone had left.

"Nah, I'm not really wanted. I'll eat later."

"You've hardly eaten since Connor, well... y'know…" Faith began.

"I'm fine, a little stressed, but honestly, I'm fine." Frankie lied.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Faith asked. Truthfully, Faith and Connor got along extremely well, so Faith was worried for her new friend.
Frankie didn't want to say anything, should she tell her? Could she tell her? Frankie didn't know if she had the strength to tell someone about it. It wasn't anyone else's problem in anyways, and she didn't want people thinking differently of him once they found out about him needing anti-depressants.

"Uhh… I… well…" That's all Frankie could say, before she had to stop herself from becoming a huge emotional wreck. "No, not yet." She managed to say regaining composure. Faith shot her a sympathetic smile before carrying the last of the plates into the living room.

Frankie decided to listen in on the conversation; they were bound to be asking about Faith's prolonged absence.

"What took you so long?" Tyler asked.

"Oh, I was just making sure I had everything."

"But Frankie was there with you." Mackenzie replied.

"She didn't say anything, did she?" Johnny asked.

"No!" Faith replied. "Look you guys are being way too harsh on her. I don't think she's coping very well."

Frankie frowned. She felt she was coping fine. Apart from maybe drinking a bottle of vodka, but she didn't think she was coping badly at all. Still slightly in disgust, Frankie continued to listen.

"Coping? With what?" Acid scoffed.

"Well Connor and her were as close as friends come, and the fact she has no way of knowing where he is, well it'll be hard." Faith said.

"She's just looking for attention! I bet Connor is perfectly fine, and she knows exactly where he is." Carmen bitched. That was it. Frankie couldn't stop herself. She stormed in, furiously.

"Perfectly fine‽" She shouted, breaking the peace. "I can't believe any you!" She spat, storming upstairs and slamming her door. Frankie was still shaking with anger, and the fact she had another week or so of this was going to be torture.

This was it. It was war.

AN: Sorry for the long wait, I had REALLY bad writers block -_-; but I have chapter 8 almost written so YAY! :D

Hope you enjoy :D