A/N: I am away this weekend so there will not be an update tomorrow. I hope you all have an lovely weekend!

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Downhill

After half an hour a doctor came out to see the family, he walked over to the adults with a small smile.

"Esmerelda is fine, we managed to pump her stomach, we did it under anaesthetic so she is a little groggy but she is asking for you" her told the family who all smiled relieved but Julie had a question.

"What drug was it you found?" she asked wondering what drug had being found in Esmerelda's stomach.

"It is still being tested but we should know soon, follow me I will take you to Esmerelda" he told them and everyone stood up happily. They rushed into a ward finding Esmerelda lying on a bed with a needle in her hand. Josephine rushed over to her granddaughter as the others followed her.

"I am fine gran" Esmie said looking better. Her eyes were not darting all over the place anymore and had returned to their usual hazel colour and she had colour back in her face, though she did sound tired.

"You gave us a scare" Julie told her foster daughter as she reached the bed, resisting the urge to wrap her in her arms.

"I didn't…..I don't know how it happened….I didn't take anything I swear" Esmerelda told everyone as she looked at them confused. Ethel stepped forward holding Prudence in her arms, who upon seeing her auntie beamed and reached her arms out for her, Ethel gave Esmie the baby as she was not so weak she couldn't hold her.

"I know what happened" Ethel replied as she had been thinking her theory over and knew it was true.

"You do?" Sybil said as she rushed over to look at Esmie who looked confused.

"When you went to get that package this morning, you came back complaining about that man who walked into you, you said it felt like you had being stung after remember?" Ethel commented to her family.

"Wait...you think that man stabbed Esmie with a needle drugging her?" Mildred asked as she knew where Ethel was going with this.

"Yes, don't you think it is a bit odd that Esmie complains of a pain in her arm after that then just happens to fall ill from a drug reaction?" Ethel replied knowing it was the only thing that made sense. The adults looked at each other horrified as it sounded to coincidental to not be true.

"But who on earth would want to do that to me?" Esmerelda asked as she stroked Prue's head who giggled happily.

"I can think of two people" Ethel replied as if it was obvious

"Mum and dad?" Sybil asked for clarification as that was the only two people who entered her mind. Ethel nodded and Josephine gasped. Julie and Esmerelda wore confused looks.

"But why would they do that? What benefit would drugging Esmerelda have for them?" Julie asked thinking it sounded logically but not understanding the motive behind it.

They all stopped talking then as Gladys suddenly walked through the door of the ward with a face like thunder. She walked over to the family and scolded.

"I need a word Miss Hubble" she said to Julie who nodded concerned and after making sure Esmie was okay she left with the social worker.

"I heard what happened" Gladys said still looking annoyed.

"Yes….it is awful isn't it?" Julie commented not really understanding what was going on.

"Julie" Gladys said in an annoyed tone "I am sorry to inform you this incident means you are under investigation" she told Julie who was shocked.

"Why?" Julie asked not understanding

"A young girl, one you are in charge of, got hold of drugs in your care" she explained to Julie as if it was obvious

"Wait you think this is my fault?" Julie asked shocked and hurt

"No, but you are supposed to know what he girls are doing, and the is a baby in the house, how did that girl get the money for drugs and who did she buy them off?" Gladys asked Julie who shook her head from shock.

"Wait you have this wrong, someone did this to Esmerelda, they targeted her" Julie explained needing the woman to listen.

"Do you have any evidence of that?" Gladys asked still looking really annoyed

"Of course I don't! But you can't blame me for this" Julie replied feeling her anger rise.

"I am afraid you are responsible for this, unless our investigation says otherwise, after everything I said in court to help you" Gladys said looking at Julie with hurt eyes and Julie understood then why she was so annoyed. She felt betrayed.

"You did the right thing, the adoption is the best thing for them" Julie told Gladys with a sad smile.

"Julie, depending on what we find the adoption might not be allowed to go through" Gladys told her but this time she looked solemn. She was angry and hurt but she didn't want that.

"What? No you know it has to go through, we can't mess them girls lives up again!" Julie said knowing this incident could ruin everything and it was hurting Julie and she knew it would break the Hallow sisters and little Prue.

"I am sorry Julie" Gladys said as she walked away. Julie walked back in the ward in shock and Esmerelda looked at her foster mum concerned.

"What did she want?" Esmerelda asked seeing the look on her face

"I am being investigated, Esmerelda if you did something stupid now is the time to say, this could ruin the whole adoption, did you take them drugs yourself?" Julie asked raising her voice slightly and Esmerelda stared at her horrified as she had never heard her use such a tone before. When Esmerelda didn't answer, Julie stepped forward and shook her.

"Tell me the truth!" Julie told her so angry right now she wanted Esmerelda to admit she had done something stupid.

"I swear on my sisters and nieces life I didn't do anything!" Esmerelda replied as tears fell down her face as Julie was starting to think bad of her as well when she was normally the one to believe her. Julie knew that Esmerelda would never joke about Ethel, Sybil or Prue's life for anything in the world and that is how she knew she was being truthful.

"I am sorry, hey shh I am sorry" Julie said as she hugged the girl allowing her to cry "I am just worried this is going to ruin everything for us" Julie explained as she rubbed the girls back.

"They are going to stop the adoption?" Sybil asked sniffing

"They might do depending on what the investigation finds" Julie told the girl as she pulled away from the hug but held Esmerelda.

"That is why they did it, mum and dad must have known this would look bad and you would be investigated" Ethel said as the motive for what they did to Esmie finally came to her and made sense.

"They are clearly hoping the adoption fails so then they can try get custody again" Mildred said as she understood too and it was all coming together.

"The thing is though we can't prove it" Josephine said sadly as she never wanted this to happen.

"We have to, we have to find a way to find the truth or..." Ethel said unable to finish her sentence.

"We aren't going to have a home anymore" Esmerelda finished as she looked at Prue and held her tightly and the baby giggled away, unaware that her life might be about to change forever.

"I have an idea" Mildred said as she smiled. She was sure Mr and Mrs Hallow would not have thought about security as they didn't know much about the non-magical world.

"What is the idea Mildred?" Josephine asked desperate for anything.

"We have to find the man" Mildred replied knowing it won't be easy but knowing she had to do something or the family she had made for herself could disappear forever. She had to find the man who had walked into Esmie that morning.