Harry and Nikki pulled up outside Leo's house and fumbled to unclip their seatbelts as they hurriedly made their way towards Leo's house. Nikki caught sight of the apprehension on Harry's face and she was sure that it was a direct reflection to her own. They rushed towards Leo's door and Harry hammered on the glass, it was quickly opened by Erin and she moved aside to let them in

"Where is he Erin?" Harry said glancing around but Erin seemed incapable of making a reply, she opened her mouth but no words came out "Erin" he took her gently by the shoulders "Where is he?"

His touch seemed to jolt her back into reality "Upstairs" she eventually managed to spit out

Harry nodded and took the stairs two at a time shouting down at Nikki to look after Erin. As he made his way to the upstairs landing he looked around for Leo's room, he found one room with the door wide open and guessed this was his destination. He dashed through the door and halted when he Leo lying there

"Oh God, Leo…" he gasped


Meanwhile downstairs, Nikki led Erin into the kitchen and sat the girl down on a chair. Erin seemed incapable of speaking and just sat there dumbfounded, her face was drained of blood and she was shaking.

"Erin…" Nikki called trying to get the girls attention as she passed her a glass of water but the girls gaze was far away "Erin…" Nikki repeated and Erin gaze snapped back towards Nikki "Drink this" she said passing her the water

Erin accepted the glass with shaking hands and took a sip; however by now she was shaking so violently that she managed to spill most of the contents down her front and got very little in her mouth. She set the glass down and stood up shakily, she stumbled to the kitchen door but Nikki stopped her

"Harry's up there and he's sorting it all out" she said trying to soothe the young girl

Erin didn't react to what Nikki was saying; she seemed dazed and couldn't focus on what Nikki was saying. Nikki gently led the girl back into the kitchen, she could feel Erin shaking under her grasp, and she seemed to pale with every second that passed but still she did not say a word


"Leo?" Harry called as he leaned across the bed towards the man "Can you hear me?"

Even though Harry had years of medical training nothing could have prepared him for what he found when he entered Leo's bedroom. Leo was lying on the bed, his face was ashen white with a sheen of sweat across it, his eyes were glazed over and his mouth was opening and closing like a fish as he tried to take oxygen in. His chest was rising and falling very shallowly and he was wheezing with each breath he took in. Harry leant across and checked Leo's pulse and found it to be extremely fast, he timed it on his watch and that was enough to finalise his decision. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched in a three digit code

"Hello?" he said into the phone "Yeah I need an ambulance please, my friends collapsed and is barely breathing…."

He glanced over at Leo and saw the man was beginning to close his eyes "Leo stay with me" he said gently shaking the man's arm "Stay with me, for Erin's sake stay with me"

The mention of the girl's names was enough for Leo to blearily open his eyes

"Erin" he gasped, Harry could hear his voice was hoarse and it took a lot out of him to say the word

"Don't try to speak, save your breath" Harry said as he told the ambulance the address to go too "She's with Nikki, Erin's fine but you need to stay awake for her…do it for her Leo, don't leave Erin on her own again"


The ambulance was their immediately and the paramedics wasted no time in transporting Leo downstairs ands out of the house. Harry and Nikki was listening to the medical jargon passed between the two paramedics and though their minds weren't totally focused on what was being said they knew Leo was in a bad way and needed to get medical attention immediately.

"Erin" Harry said coming back into the kitchen where the young girl hadn't moved since Nikki had placed her there "We're going to the hospital now, Leo's going to be fine" he tried to reassure her but still Erin made no reply

Nikki and Harry gently led Erin out of the house and towards the car, she made no sound and she just seemed dazed as she drifted wherever Harry and Nikki led her.

Soon they were at the hospital and the two of them gently led Erin into the warmth of the reception. Erin, being dressed in a thin t-shirt and jeans, wasn't appropriately clothed for the season and as they approached the hospital she started shaking more and more. Nikki wasn't sure if it was form the cold or her bad experiences with hospitals so she took the girl's hand in hers and gently led her into the warmth

"We're here about Leo Dalton" Harry said speaking to the receptionist at the accident and emergency department

The receptionist took the name and typed away at the keyboard "Are you family?" she asked

"No…" Harry began

"It's family only I'm afraid. It's protocol in emergency situations" The receptionist said pursing her lips tightly

"I'm not family" Harry said trying to keep calm "But you see that girl over there, the one who is on the brink of tears, the one who is shaking so violently she can barely put one foot in front of the other…"

"What about her?" the receptionist said clearly missing the point Harry was making "Like I said family only"

"She's his daughter!" Harry hissed

The receptionist started at this revelation "Why didn't you say so?" she said and Harry groaned "The relatives room is down the corridor to the left, I'll let the consultant know you've arrived and he'll speak to you when he has treated Mr Dalton"

"Professor Dalton" Harry corrected as he walked back of to Nikki who was still trying her best to comfort the young girl

"We're to wait in the relative's room till the Doctor comes to speak to us" Harry said as he gently led both Erin and Nikki to the small room down the corridor

"Did they say how he is?" Nikki asked and Harry shook his head, they both turned to Erin but the girl's eyes were firmly fixed on the ground and still she said nothing


The minutes turned into hours as the three of them waited in the relative's room. Nikki was sat by Erin who was still looking at the floor and Harry was pacing up and down, occasionally glancing up at the door as if to will someone to give them some news

"Will you stop pacing" Nikki tutted as another hour passed

Harry registered Nikki's one and looked up at her "Sorry" he said as he took up the spare seat next to Nikki

"No news is good news" Nikki said to no one in particular and Harry gave her hand a comforting squeeze

The door suddenly clicked open and Harry and Nikki looked up to see a man in scrubs enter, Erin on the other hand kept her gaze on the floor

"Hi sorry for the delay" the man smiled "I'm Doctor Winters and I'm treating Professor Dalton" he held out his hand and Nikki and Harry shook it in turn

"Doctor Nikki Alexander" she said introducing herself "And this is Doctor Harry Cunningham, my fiancé" she said, a small smile playing on her lips as she introduced him

"Ah yes" Doctor Winters nodded "You're the next of kin"

"Really?" Harry and Nikki said in unison and the doctor nodded

"I've been told that his daughter is here" the doctor asked, his eyes falling upon the young girl sitting in the corner who hadn't moved since his arrival

"That would be Erin" she said motioning to the young girl in the corner

"Do you think I could have a quick word outside?" Harry said to the doctor as Nikki resumed her position next to Erin

"Of course" the doctor replied and they stepped outside into the corridor "From what I understand she was the one that found him"

Harry nodded "She called me at work and then we went round to the house and found both of them in a state"

"Did she say why he was like that?" the doctor asked and Harry shook his head

"She's barely said anything. I only just about managed to get her to tell me where he was and apart from that she's said nothing. She's been completely silent since that point onwards"

Doctor Winter's nodded sympathetically "She's probably in shock; it can't have been a nice surprise to find him like that. Are they close?"

Harry nodded "It's quite complicated, actually you should probably know…Erin is his foster daughter"

"I see, how long has he been her primary carer?"

"A month at most, he found her; she'd been sleeping rough for a long time and was not in great health. He sorted her out and got her to the hospital and they developed a close bond. Anyway both her parents are deceased so Leo took on the role of foster parent"

"That's very noble of him" the Doctor smiled

Harry took a deep breath for the next part "She's had a tough time of it; she was abused by her mother and her partner"

"How exactly?"

"Mentally, physically and sexually. There might be more that we don't know about" Harry said and the doctor sighed

"Poor thing" he said sympathetically

"Leo's been the only one to give her stability in her life. I thought you should know about her past and how it impacts on their relationship"

"Thank you" Doctor Winters said "It helps us to know about the patient and lifestyle and it'll help me talk to her a bit more easily if I know where her heads at" and Harry nodded "I'm going to go back in there now and talk to her about it, we'll just keep things calm and steady, if they're as close as you say then I want to keep Erin in the loop"

Harry nodded and the two of them re-entered the room, Nikki stood up and moved towards Harry as Doctor Winters took up the seat next to Erin where Nikki had been previously sitting

"Has she said anything?" Harry asked Nikki quietly

"Not a word" Nikki said looking concerned

"Hi Erin" the Doctor said "I'm Doctor Winters but you can call me Will if you want"

Erin made no reply to this and kept her gaze firmly on the floor, he was undeterred by this as he was used to dealing with people in shock

"Now Erin, I've been treating Leo and looking after him. Do you want to know how he is?"

Erin made no movement or noise that she even acknowledged what the Doctor was telling her. Will frowned but gently kneeled down on the floor so he was facing Erin

"Erin" he said gently "Look at me sweetheart" but she still made no movement "Erin all I want you to do is tip your head up so I can talk to you a bit easier and all I want to do is tell you how Leo is and then if you want me to go, I'll be gone faster than roadrunner, please…just look at me, I'm not that ugly, you wont turn to stone if you look at me, I promise"

Erin slowly lifted her eyes from the ground and as he gazed moved upwards she saw a pair of blue eyes looking back at her

"There we go" Will smiled at her "Good girl, right now we can talk a bit better. Now it must have been a bit of a shock finding Leo like that"

Erin nodded slowly and the Doctor smiled as she started reacting to the things he was saying to her

"That must have been really scary, he didn't look like he normally did, and he was all pale and sweaty. He looked very ill but you were very clever calling Harry like you did, because he knew exactly what to do and you made sure Leo got to the right place where he can get looked after, do you want to know how he is?"

Erin nodded

The Doctor looked up towards Nikki and Harry to show he was addressing the next thing he was going to say to all three of them "He got something which we call Pneumonia do you know what that is?"

Erin shook her head

"It's like a bad chest infection caused by some nasty bacteria and it can make a person feel really sick but on the other hand we can treat it quite easily. Now when you last saw Leo he wasn't very well at all but now you've got him to hospital we've been able to help him get better. He looks a lot better now because we've given him some medication which is going to kill those nasty bacteria and make Leo feel much better and then he can go home to you. He's going to stay with us for a little while until he's all better and then we'll let him go home okay?"

Erin nodded

"Would you like to see him now?"

Erin nodded again
"I'll take you up to him now" the doctor stood up and held out his hand towards Erin, she took it gently and he led her out of the door, gesturing for Nikki and Harry to follow him

They walked down a maze of corridors, all the time Will was chattering away to Erin to keep her spirits up. They stopped halfway through a busy hospital ward and Will pulled the curtain back to reveal Leo who was lying on the bed

"Now don't be scared by all the equipment" Will said, sensing the girl's reaction "Those lines and wires in him are checking things like his pulse and his oxygen levels and that monitor over there is…"

"…For his heart" Erin said softly and Nikki and Harry at Erin in shock as she spoke for the first time in hours

"That's right" Will smiled "How did you know that?"

"I was in hospital a while ago" she said, her voice barely more than a whisper

Will nodded as he remembered what Harry had told him about Erin's past "Well he's asleep at the moment because the medication we gave him to try and kill of the bacteria makes people drowsy and he'll wake up soon but right now he needs to rest, you can go and sit with him for a bit if you like"

He gave Erin a gentle nudge into the cubicle as he pulled up a stool for her to sit down on. She accepted and sat there with her gaze permanently fixed on Leo's steadily rising and falling chest. Will took Nikki and Harry to one side to explain things further

"We were a bit worried when he came in, he was very dehydrated and his breathing wasn't great. Obviosuly given his age we have to be more cautious when treating pneumonia but he seems to be responding well to treatment"

"When will he be able to go home?" Nikki asked looking back into the cubicle

"A couple of days, I want to make sure he completely stable before he goes home and we need to make the transition from IV medication to oral medication before he can go home. Have any arrangements been made for Erin yet?"

Nikki looked across at Harry who nodded "We can look after her for a bit, she knows us well so its probably easiest"

The doctor nodded "That's good; she probably shouldn't be left on her own for the next couple of days. From what I've seen of her she seems to be in shock, its perfectly understandable as she found Leo like that and after what she's been through, the disrupt to the stable life she's getting used probably knocked her for six"

Harry nodded "We'll keep a close eye on her"

"Does she have a counsellor or someone who can guide her?" Will asked

"As far as I'm aware she has psychologist who she sees on a regular basis, Dan Williams I think his name was" Harry said and Nikki gave a nod to confirm this

"I know him well" Will said registering the name "It's a good idea for him to know what's going on so he can help Erin through this before it gets out of hand. I can put a call through to him if you'd like and see if we can set up an emergency appointment"

Nikki nodded "That would be great"

"Thank you for helping us with Erin" Harry said gratefully

"It's no problem" Will smiled "She seems like a lovely kid and its not easy for anyone to have to go through this, let alone someone who's been through more than her fair share of trouble already"

The three Doctors looked across at Erin who was still sitting on the stool watching Leo intently; they all felt a pang of sympathy as they saw the expression on her face as she watched the man in the bed. She looked utterly lost, more than she ever had been before.