Just over a week had passed since finding out about Mel and although things were better than they were, everyone was still pretty upset about it.

The funeral had been today so it hadn't been the nicest of days but Rachel was just relieved that it was over. She was hoping now that they'd be able to start moving on, and obviously not forget about Mel but be able to get used to life without her.

Rachel had been in two minds about whether or not to take Ruby to the funeral. On one hand a funeral wasn't a very nice place for a 5 year old girl and if it had been anyone else Rachel probably wouldn't have let her go, but it was different because it was her Mum.

Ruby had found the whole thing very difficult though and had been pretty much stuck to Rachel for the entire day.

One of Ellie's friends had been out shopping for her Birthday today, but obviously Ellie hadn't been able to go but she was having a sleepover after so Ellie didn't have to miss out on that as well.

After the funeral Ellie went home and packed up her stuff and got changed.

She was still getting sorted when Rachel walked in.

"Are you sure you want to go to Poppy's tonight? Because I'm sure she'd understand if you didn't feel up to it after... well you know after the funeral today"

"No I want to go"

"Ok if you're sure" Rachel said

She thought Ellie might be feeling too upset to go, but she hadn't seemed too bad today. She didn't cry once unlike Amy, Chloe and Ruby who had cried the whole way through the whole service.

Rachel had tried her best to stay strong for the sake of the kids but even she gave up in the end and just let herself cry.

Once Ellie had finished getting ready Rachel dropped her round to Poppy's house. She watched until Ellie went through the front door and then drove back home again.

When she got in she didn't feel like doing anything, despite the enormous list of jobs she knew she should be getting on with. But after today she just wanted to curl up on the sofa and put a film on.

It was another rainy day so Rachel closed the curtains and put all the lamps on before sitting down on the sofa.

Ruby was lying with her head on the arm of the sofa but as soon as Rachel sat down she moved so that her head was resting on Rachel's lap.

Rachel started stroking her nieces hair as they all started watching Bride Wars which was on the TV.

After the film had finished it was getting quite late and they hadn't eaten yet.

No-one was really that hungry but Chris went and picked up a few pizzas.

While he was out there was a knock at the door so Rachel went out to answer it.

When she opened it there was a horrible looking drunk man on the door step stinking of beer. Rachel suddenly felt quite vulnerable and exposed stood there and felt quite uncomfortable with him being there.

Ruby followed Rachel out but as soon as she saw the man on the other side of the door she immediately ran upstairs.

Rachel wondered why, but she couldn't blame her actually the man didn't look like very nice at all.

"Can I help you?" Rachel asked hoping Chris was going to pull up on the drive any minute

"No not really, not now. You think you're so important, some hero down at that perfect little school of yours. But you're far from perfect let me tell you that, Mel told me so. Were you trying to be spiteful not telling me about her funeral" the man slurred

"I'm sorry but I don't even know who you are"

"I'm Mark, your sister's boyfriend. Only I don't think she told you about me because you'd only disapprove, from what I heard you disapproved of everything your little sister did, didn't you Rachel" Mark said getting closer and closer to Rachel's face

"Sorry I didn't tell you about the funeral, but you're right Mel didn't tell me anything about you so I wouldn't have known how to get into contact you, now if that's everything..."

"No actually that's not everything, I want to see those pathetic kids of Mel's"

"I'm afraid that won't be happening"

"But I think they'll want to see me, I grew close to the pair of them when me and your sister were together, I was like a Dad to them"

Rachel's heart was starting to beat faster and faster now, she didn't know how to get rid of this man but she was feeling really uncomfortable and unsafe in her own home.

Phil was in the lounge listening carefully to the whole conversation, he didn't want to see that man ever again but he was getting worried when he could tell his Aunt couldn't get rid of Mark so realised he might have to go out in a minute to help her.

Eventually Chris pulled up on the drive.

He noticed Rachel looking worried with a quite looking rough man standing quite close to her so got out of the car as quickly as he could and came over.

Rachel was so relieved when her husband walked up and took hold of her hand, she felt so much safer now that Chris was there.

Even Chris found it quite hard but eventually they both watched as Mark stumbled down the path. Rachel really hope that he wouldn't return there was something about that man that made her feel uncomfortable and on edge.

Chris carried the pizzas through to the kitchen so Rachel called all the kids through.

Everyone came out to the kitchen except Ruby so Rachel went to find her.

She couldn't seem to find her anywhere and she was actually starting to worry that Ruby had run away again but suddenly she heard sobs coming from her wardrobe so slid the door open and saw Ruby sat down in amongst all of Rachel's clothes.

Rachel crouched down and realised she was shaking and she was as white as a sheet.

"What are you doing in there my love?"

"I- i-is he g-gone?" Ruby stuttered clearly petrified

"is who gone?"

"Mark"

"Yes he's gone Ruby" Rachel said starting to wonder why Ruby was so scared of him "out you come sweetheart, your completely safe I promise"

Ruby took hold of Rachel's hand and came out of the wardrobe but she was still shaking so Rachel sat down on the bed with her.

"Auntie Rachel I never want to see Mark again, please don't make me go and live with him"

"Why on earth would I make you go and live with him?"

"I don't know, I just heard him say he wanted to see us"

"This is your home now Ruby, I promise I'll never let anyone hurt you you're completely safe here"

Tears were pouring out of Ruby's eyes so Rachel pulled Ruby into her chest where she cried.

The others were starting to wonder where Rachel and RUby had got to so Amy came up to see what was going on.

She walked into Rachel's room and found the two of them sat on the bed and then she saw Ruby must be crying.

"Is everything okay Mum?"

"Yeah just give us a minute, we'll be down soon"

Amy went downstairs thinking Ruby was just upset about her Mum again.

It was becoming more and more obvious to Rachel that Mark wasn't a very nice man at all and she really was worried about what he'd done to Ruby to make her so scared and upset.

She obviously needed to talk to Ruby about it, but guessed it was going to be a very sensitive subject so decided to wait until she'd calmed down a bit.

After a lot of cuddles and reassurance from Rachel Ruby had calmed down so the two of them went down and had a couple of slices of pizza each.

It had been a long day and everyone was feeling worn out so after they'd eaten and cleared up Rachel decided to get Ruby bathed and into bed thinking she could do with an early night.

Rachel went up and ran Ruby her bath before calling her up.

Ruby came upstairs and into the bathroom so Rachel got her undressed and helped her into the bath.

Rachel sat with Ruby whilst she was in the bath but Ruby was being extremely quiet and was barely saying a word.

Rachel wondered when the right time was to ask Ruby about Mark. She realised there probably never would be a right time as she didn't think it was going to be something Ruby would want to talk about, so she thought now would be as good a time as any.

"Ruby you know Mark used to be your Mum's boyfriend, was he always nice to you?"

Ruby immediately tensed up when she heard her Auntie mention his name.

She shook her head but didn't say anything.

"How wasn't he very nice to you my love?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Oh sweetheart, I know this is difficult to talk about but I really do need to know so that I can help you"

"Do I ever have to see him again?"

"Of course you don't"

"Well why do we need to talk about it?" Ruby asked with tears in her eyes. Even thinking about Mark was making her feel scared.

"Because if Mark did things to hurt you or make you upset, then it's too big a thing for a little girl like you to keep to yourself"

Ruby started to cry so Rachel knelt down on the floor and started rubbing her back.

"I'm Rubes, I didn't mean to upset you. How about you finish your bath and then we go downstairs for a hot chocolate. Do you think maybe then you could tell me about it and then after that it will be all over and I won't ask you again"

"Okay then" Ruby cried "but just you, I don't want anyone else to know about it"

"Just me and you"

Rachel washed Ruby's hair for her and then wrapped her in a towel.

Once Ruby was sorted into her pyjamas and had had her hair dried off a bit Rachel took her into the sun room so they were out of the way of everyone else and then went and made a coffee for herself and a hot chocolate for Ruby.

She carried the drinks through and put them on the table.

She'd put lots of cold milk in so Ruby didn't have to wait too long to drink it.

After she'd taken a few sips Rachel took hold of her hand.

"Now then Ruby, do you think you can tell me what Mark did that wasn't very nice?"

"He used to say lots of horrible things to me, but Mummy never believed me because he was always really nice when Mummy was around. And then one day when Mummy was going out with her friends Mark was meant to be looking after me because Phil had already gone out with Bolton, he made me stay up in my bedroom all night, and I was really hungry but he wouldn't get me any tea. I told him I was going to call Mummy because he was being mean again but then he… he" Ruby said but she couldn't carry on

"What did he do Ruby?" Rachel asked but Ruby didn't say anything

Rachel lifted Ruby onto her lap and gave her a big cuddle.

"Okay Ruby, you have a good old cry" Rachel said stroking her hair

"Did Mark hurt you?" Rachel asked

Ruby nodded her head.

"What did he do to hurt you?"

"He hit me and he kicked me and then he told me if I told anyone he'd do it again but only worse and I didn't want him to do it again because it really hurt"

"Did he do it again?"

"No he only did it once but it was the night before Mummy and Mark were going on holiday"

Rachel hadn't noticed any bruises on Ruby or anything like that so he was obviously clever about how he did it. Rachel knew she should call the police about this but wondered whether they would have enough evidence to do anything.

Ruby told Rachel about a few of the other things Mark had done to her. It was making Rachel cry thinking about all these horrible things that her niece had to go through. She couldn't understand how anyone could take their anger out on an innocent little girl.

"Ruby you've been so brave telling me this darling and I promise Mark will never touch or come near you again, but I need you to be even braver and do one more thing for me"

"What?"

"I need you to tell the police"

"Will you be there when I tell them?"

"Of course I will, do you think you can do it for me?"

"I suppose so"

Although Mark had been really horrible to Ruby it sounded as though he'd only been violent the once. Obviously even once was bad enough, but Rachel was just grateful that Ruby would never have to be around him again because she worried about how much worse the situation could've got if Ruby was going back with Mel when they got home from their holiday.

After they'd finished talking Ruby cuddled into Rachel for ages and ended up falling asleep.

When Rachel realised she'd fallen asleep she carefully lifted Ruby up and carried her upstairs.

She felt bad waking her but she knew she needed to make her go to the loo before she went to bed. They were having problems with bed wetting anyway, so she definitely needed to make her go before she went to sleep.

Rachel put Ruby down on the loo, she kind of woke up and went for a wee. Rachel then brushed her teeth before putting Ruby into bed.

Ruby had barely woken up so went back to sleep pretty much straight away.

Rachel stayed sitting there for a while stroking her nieces hair, promising to herself that she'd be there for Ruby from now on and never let anything like this happen to her again.

Rachel then went into her room and got into her pyjamas.

Chris was wondering what she was doing so decided to come up and check on her.

Rachel told Chris everything that Ruby had just told her. Chris held her while she cried. She was so lucky to have him, she didn't think she could do this on her own.

Ellie was at her sleepover and even though she'd really wanted to come before, now that she was here she really wasn't having a good time.

All of her friends were talking and laughing and having a good time, but Ellie just had too much on her mind to be enjoying herself.

They were halfway through eating their tea when one of her friends mentioned that she was going down to London to stay with her Auntie for a few days.

This brought tears to Ellie eyes and all of a sudden she started to really miss Mel. It started to sink in that she was never going to see her Auntie again.

"I'm just going to the loo" Ellie said

She quickly walked out as she felt really upset.

Ellie rushed to the upstairs bathroom and locked the door. As soon as she got in there she started to cry.

All of the emotion that she'd been feeling today had built up and now it was all just coming up.

The more she thought about it the more she cried. She just didn't seem to be able to stop.

Poppy's Mum had been in the kitchen when Ellie went out to go to the loo.

Ellie had seemed extremely quiet and not herself all night. Poppy's Mum knew that it's been her Aunt's funeral today so could understand why she was being quite quiet. She decided to go upstairs and check on Ellie.

She went over to the closed bathroom door and could hear Ellie crying in there.

Poppy's Mum, Sam, knocked on the door.

"Ellie are you okay in there?"

"I'll be out in a minute"

"Okay sweetheart"

Sam waited outside until Ellie came out. Ellie didn't realise that Sam had waited outside for her.

"Ellie are you okay?" Sam asked.

She could see Ellie had been crying lots.

"I want to go home, will you ask my Mum to come and pick me up because I forgot my phone?"

"I'll just drop you, how come you want to go home?"

"I just do"

"That's absolutely fine, are you feeling a bit upset about your Auntie and stuff?"

Ellie nodded before bursting into tears again.

Sam wrapped her arms around her after seeing how upset she was.

"I'll ring Rachel now, do you want to just wait in Poppy's bedroom until she comes?"

Ellie nodded before going into her friend's bedroom.

Sam rang Rachel up and explained what was going on. Rachel said she'd be over as soon as she could.

"Where's Ellie Mum?" Poppy asked

"She's up in your room because she's not feeling too well. Her Mum's coming to pick her up"

"Shall I go up and see her?"

"No I'd just wait down here girls"

Rachel knocked on the door so Sam sent up to get Ellie.

When Ellie came down her friends were all waiting with Rachel and Sam.

"Mum said you're not feeling very well, what's wrong?" Poppy asked

"I've got a bad stomach" Ellie lied

"Come on then let's get you home darling" Rachel said wrapping her arm around her

"Sorry about not staying Poppy, enjoy the rest of your Birthday"

"That's okay, we hope you feel better soon"

Ellie walked out to the car with her Mum and once they were in the car Ellie started crying again.

Ellie hated crying in front of people but right now she couldn't help it and she just wanted a cuddle from her Mum.

Rachel started driving home, but she put her hand on Ellie's leg when she could trying to comfort her daughter the best she could while she was driving.

Once they pulled up on the drive they both got out of the car.

"Is everyone else still downstairs?" Ellie asked

"I think so why?"

"Just wondering, I'm going to go straight up to my room" Ellie said as she definitely didn't want anyone else to see she'd been crying

"Okay darling"

Rachel unlocked the door and the two of them went in.

"I'll be up in a second"

Ellie went straight up and Rachel quickly went into the lounge.

"Where's Ellie?" Chris asked

"She's gone straight up to her room, you know what she's like when she's upset. I'm going to go and talk to her now"

Rachel went up to her daughter's room and found her crying on her bed.

"It's not been a very nice day has it?" Rachel said and Ellie shook her head

"I don't know why I can't stop crying"

"It's because all your emotions have built up, I saw how hard you were trying to stop yourself from crying at the funeral but it's better to just let whatever you're feeling out rather than keeping it inside. I don't like crying in front of people either, but sometimes you just need to. You'll feel better once you've had a good cry"

"I miss her Mum, it feels so weird knowing I'll never see her again"

"I know it hadn't seemed real before but now it's starting to sink in isn't it?"

"Yeah it was so unexpected"

"I know it was, it doesn't seem fair does it?"

"No"

"But we all have so many great memories with her, so we just have to remember the good times we had. Now that today's over I think things will start to get better"

"I feel so sorry for Ruby and Phil, I know I've lost my Auntie but they've lost her Mum and she's only 5"

"I know, which is why they need all the support from us they can get"

Rachel stayed up with Ellie for quite a while and in the end she stopped crying.

"Are you going to come downstairs for a bit?"

"Yeah I will"

Rachel grabbed a tissue from the box and sorted out her daughter's face for her.

"Can you tell I've been crying?"

"No not really, but even if you can it really doesn't matter"

Ellie went downstairs with her Mum and spent the night in with her family.

She was so glad she'd come home, as right now she just wanted to be with her Mum. She loved spending time with her friends but when she was upset there was no-one that could make her feel better the way her Mum could.

No-one stayed up that late as it had been a long day so everyone was tired.

Once Rachel had said goodnight to her daughters and Phil she went in and checked on Ruby.

When she went in there Ruby was all sweaty and it looked as though she wasn't having a very nice dream.

When Ruby started screaming in her sleep Rachel went over and woke her up.

"Ruby it's okay it was just a dream, look you're here with Auntie Rachel, you're nice and safe my love"

Ruby woke up and when she realised everything was okay and it was just a dream she got out of bed and came and sat on Rachel's lap.

"I was dreaming Mark was about to hurt me again" Ruby sobbed

"He's never going to hurt you again, ever, I promise. We're going to get this sorted Ruby because what he did to you was very, very bad"

"Did he do it because I was naughty?"

"No Ruby it wasn't your fault. I'm afraid there are some not very nice people around, and nice people like us will never understand why they do the things they do. But don't ever think it was your fault my love, because it wasn't. You didn't do anything wrong"

Ruby was feeling really sleepy again so Rachel put her back into bed and tucked her in again, it didn't take long for Ruby to drop off to sleep.

Rachel then went back to her own bedroom to get ready for bed.

"Was Ruby alright?" Chris asked as Rachel got into bed

"She was having a bad dream, about Mark" Rachel told him

"Poor girl"

"I know, I should have picked up something was wrong. In the last few months I've barely seen them and Ruby has seemed quiet"

"Rach, you couldn't have known. Men like Mark are clever they know how to not get caught. I mean if Mel didn't even pick up on it, how would you have?"

"I suppose, I just wish she'd told me. I would have believed her, unlike Mel"

"At least you know now"

"I know"

Rachel and Chris talked for a bit longer before turning the light off to go to sleep.

Although it took Rachel ages to fall asleep as she had loads on her mind, once she did go to sleep she slept right through until the next morning.

The next morning Rachel took Ruby down to the police station, and it was horrible making Ruby tell someone about it all over again.

Once they'd finished Rachel was told this wasn't the first time and he was on a final warning so he'd be going back to prison again.

Rachel was so relieved that it was all over for Ruby. She hoped now that Ruby would be able to forget all about it. After all she was still young so she hoped that it would become very distant in her mind.

After they'd been to the police station Rachel took Ruby to the park just the two of them, thinking it would do her good to be out in the fresh air.

They fed the ducks, and Ruby played in the park and they ended up having a really nice couple of hours together.

It was the happiest Rachel had been and the happiest Rachel had seen Ruby in a while, so she hoped that this was the start of them moving on.

Please review xxx