A/N – So sorry for the mix up last night when I updated Terrified! I was so tired and just wanted to give you guys and update on this. I wasn't really thinking, oops. I hope you like it, no de ja vu this time! Tell me what you think!

Chas returned to the hospital as she promised. She entered Aaron's room with two cups of coffee and a sandwich for Jackson. She found him sitting in the same seat where she had left him the previous night, his eyes trained on Aaron's form. He looked to her as she approached him and took the refreshments she offered.

"Thanks." Jackson said a she took an empty seat.

Chas sent him a smile in return. "Paddy's coming in a bit. I couldn't wait for him to cancel his surgery appointments." She explained. "Has the doctor been in and seen him yet?"

"Yeah, said the same as yesterday though." Jackson said. When the doctor had been in to see Aaron he had hoped there would be a positive change in Aaron's condition. But all Doctor Windsor had told him was that all they could do was wait for Aaron to wake up. They were playing the waiting game now.

"Come on Aaron, wake up." Chas said to her son almost desperately. He never took notice of what she said before, it made no difference now.

When Paddy arrived at the hospital with Hazel, Jackson was taken to the cafe by his mother. She insisted he need a break. It wasn't healthy for him to sit by Aaron's side 24/7 until he woke. It would do none of them good. Jackson sat opposite his mother in the cafe impatiently sipping on his tea as she drank hers too. She was in no rush to get back unlike him. He didn't want Aaron to wake up and him not to be there.

"You're going to wear yourself out." Hazel commented to her son.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine just as long as Aaron pulls through."

"He will. I can sense it." Hazel said, the philosophical one. "So don't stress yourself out. He's a fighter."

"Can you prove that?" Jackson half laughed. He knew Aaron was a fighter, that was all he had done in the early days of their relationship. But whether he put that to practise when it came to his health he didn't know.

Just as Hazel was about to speak, Jackson's phone vibrated on the table between them, It was a message from Paddy. Three little words he'd been dying to hear lit up his screen. "He's woken up." A huge smile cracked on Jackson's face and he jumped to his feet.

Foolishly Hazel asked "Where's the fire?"

"Aaron! He's woken up." He beamed as he began to rush his mother to finish her drink.

Hazel downed the rest of her hot drink and followed her son's quick steps out of the cafe and towards Aaron's room.

There had been no need for them to rush to get to Aaron's room as they had to wait outside a good ten minutes before Doctor Windsor and a nurse left the room after assessing the teen. Jackson had asked Paddy and Chas to tell him exactly what had happened when Aaron woke. Did he say anything? Did he seem okay? Could he remember what had happened? Did they have any idea whether he was affect by the head injury or not? All they could tell them was that Aaron had asked for just before Paddy left to let Doctor Windsor know. If he was asking for him he must be okay. He could remember who he was, he could talk.

"As far as we're concerned Aaron will make a full recovery. He's a lucky boy." Doctor Windsor told them when she met them in the corridor outside. "He's going to have a few problems with his vision for now, but that sure clear up in the next few days as well as his coordination."

"What do you mean vision?" Chas shrieked, panicked that her son had been damaged.

"His vision will be a little bit blurry for the next couple of days. It's to be expected." Doctor Windsor said. "He hasn't been affected anymore than that. He's been very lucky."

"Thank you." Paddy said grateful for the good news they'd received and eager to get in to see Aaron again.

Doctor Windsor offered them all a warming smile before disappearing to treat her next patient. Jackson was dying to see Aaron, he couldn't control his nerves.

"Is it alright if I go through and see him first?" Jackson asked.

"Yes! Of course, he was asking for you." Chas smiled ushering him into the room. She was happy to wait outside for now, watching Aaron through the glass window. He was awake and okay, that was all she cared about at the moment.

Aaron had been raised to a half sitting position in the hospital bed, his eyes half open as he smiled weakly back at Jackson. He was tired and wanted sleep. But he was too scared to. He didn't feel safe anymore. As soon as he had woken he had been panicked, desperately searching for the older builder to protect him. But he hadn't been there.

"How're you?" Jackson asked as he perched himself on the edge of the bed.

"Alright." Aaron said dryly, he'd been told by the doctor he was. So he was. He would be even more so in the next few hours.

"That's good then." Jackson said, trying to make small talk. He slid his hand along the hospital blanket towards Aaron's hand and held it.

"Yeah." Aaron nodded looking down at the entwined hands.

"You've made a right mess of the entrance at home." Jackson laughed trying to lighten the mood. Everything had been so tense waiting for Aaron to wake.

Aaron grimaced. He didn't want to be reminded. He could still remember the sound of his head cracking against the wooden floor before all he could see was darkness. He'd felt helpless as he tumbled down the stairs. No matter how hard he tried to stop himself from falling, he just couldn't, like he couldn't stop Darrel from running his life, time after time. He needed to tell Jackson what had happened.

He opened his mouth to tell Jackson only to close it again when Chas burst in a huge smile plastered on her made up face. "Aaron!" She beamed as she leaned over to hug him. "Don't ever do that again, you hear me!" She let go of him and took a seat beside him, brushing her hair from her face.

"Seriously Aaron, be more careful next time. If not I'm getting Paddy to move you into the lounge downstairs." Chas said, she was being deadly serious about her suggestion. Aaron had put her through so much she was sure she was getting a few early grey hairs because of him.

Jackson and Chas sat with him for the remainder of the day. Paddy and Hazel had gone home after seeing him, it was too crowded in his room and the doctor had said she would discharge him the next morning. There was plenty of time for them to check on Aaron when he was back home at smithy the next day. Paddy had brought Aaron his iPod keep him entertained and clean clothes. He knew how much Aaron hated wearing the hospital gown, he hadn't heard the end of it last time.

"For gods sake!" Aaron cursed as he tried once more to plug his earphones into the top of his iPod. His hand kept going a little to far right or a little to far left every time he aimed it towards the earphone socket.

"What's the matter?" Chas asked her son.

"Nothing." Aaron mumbled, trying once more and failing again.

"Come here." Jackson said reaching over and grabbing the items from Aaron's hand. He had been sat patiently watching Aaron fail seven times trying to get the earphones attached to his iPod. The doctor had warned him his coordination would be out of wack for a while but he knew it would only make a grumpy Aaron even more irritable on top of everything else.

Aaron glared at Jackson as he managed to connect the earphones first time and hand them back to the younger man. It was alright for him. He didn't have something going wrong in between the actions he wanted to carry out to the signals his hands were receiving. He tried to scroll down his playlist, looking for a song that would wash a feeling of calm over him. But his intentions were haltered when he couldn't even work his iPod properly. In fit of rage he ripped the earphones from his ears and threw the iPod at the opposite wall.

"Aaron!" Chas scolded, she'd brought him that iPod a few months back for his birthday.

"What!" He snapped, glaring at her.

"I brought you that!" Chas fumed collecting the broken pieces.

Aaron didn't say anything. He regretted breaking it now, but he'd been so over come with anger. He just wanted to be in control of something for once. He hated not feeling in control of something and now he couldn't even control his body.

"Chas it's okay." Jackson said trying to calm the situation. He didn't want world war three to break out in the hospital room.

"No it's not-." Chas started, as a mother she needed to tell her son off.

"Chas." Jackson warned. "Go grab a coffee."

With a sigh Chas rose to her feet and shot her son a look before leaving. Jackson had learnt a long time ago that Chas and Aaron could only stay civil to one and other in short amounts of time. They had a love hate relationship. They loved it each to death and cared so much for one and other but they didn't half drive each other round the bend. They had identical personalities that were bound to cause friction.

"Out with is." Jackson said once the door closed behind Chas.

"What?" Aaron said playing dumb.

He knew something had been eating away at Aaron since he'd woken up and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. "Tell me Aaron."

Aaron rolled his eyes and sighed. "There's. . . I didn't-." Aaron began, he didn't know if he could tell him. Like before he couldn't get the words past his lips. Every time he came in to contact with Darrel it was like he had some control over what he could or couldn't say. "I just . . . I just feel so stupid." It was true, partly. It wasn't what was eating away him. But it would do, it would keep Jackson from asking questions.

"Hey, there's no reason to." Jackson smiled running a hand down Aaron's face.

Aaron bit back a laugh. He was the definition of stupid. He was sat in a hospital bed in a sulk after throwing his iPod at wall all because he couldn't do one simple task a three year old could do.

"You think?"

"Yeah, I think. I know." Jackson told him. "Aaron livesy you can be a little bit silly sometimes, but not stupid."

"Silly?" Aaron protested. Great.

"But I think it's cute." Jackson assured him, easing the hurt from Aaron's face.

That night Aaron kept tossing and turning in bed. He couldn't sleep. Not because his head felt like somebody had repeatedly smashed it against a wall or he was too excited to be going home tomorrow. It was the opposite. He didn't want to go home. He didn't feel safe at home anymore, not anywhere. Smithy Cottage was the one place he'd grown to feel safe. Paddy had made sure he treated it like his own home and he did. But Darrel had gotten in. He'd hid upstairs. It freaked him out trying to work out how Darrel found where he lived, how he'd gotten inside. He couldn't feel safe there anymore. The one person he feared the most had snuck inside waiting for him and he hadn't known till the last minute. He could do it again and he wouldn't know. Had Darrel done it before? He felt sick even thinking about it.

The next day he felt worse. He'd been up all night thinking over and over in his head how he could protect himself. He didn't want to see Darrel ever again. He'd fought back last time and look where it had gotten him, bleeding at the bottom of the stairs hanging on to his life. He couldn't go threw that all again. He wouldn't be able to put up a fight again. It tightened his chest as he tried not to panic about going back to Smithy Cottage, another location where Darrel had gotten his hands on him. Jackson had parked his Van on the edge of the lawn outside Smithy Cottage, killing the engine as Aaron made no move to get out. He was frozen. He couldn't go inside.

"Aaron?"

He couldn't. He thought he could. He'd managed to pep himself up as he waited for Jackson to return that morning to pick him up with his Van. He'd thought he'd convinced himself not to be so stupid. It would be easy to prevent it from happening again, he'd just have to lock the doors and windows behind him, make sure he was nearby somebody at all times. But now he sat outside, staring out at it he couldn't help the feeling of unease over take him. He'd been attacked again, in there. The one place he thought he felt safe he could no longer bring himself to step over the threshold.

"Aaron? What's wrong?" Jackson asked, concern lacing his voice.

"I can't." Aaron struggled to say.

Jackson looked from Aaron's face to Smithy Cottage to Aaron again. What did he mean he couldn't?

"I can't." Aaron repeated. "I can't. I can't. I can't."

The teen had suddenly become frustrated pounding his fist on the window, making it sore and red.

"Aaron, stop." Jackson whispered, grabbing Aaron's hand, still unsure why Aaron couldn't. Couldn't do what? "What can't you do?"

"I can't- I can't go in there." Aaron said ever so quietly his voice breaking.

"Why not?" Jackson asked, there was no reason he couldn't.

"He pushed me!" Aaron snapped. "Darrel pushed me down the stairs!" He shouted before collapsing into tears.

He was rocked by the news. Darrel had been in their home. Darrel had gotten near Aaron again without him knowing. How come he was only being told this now? Shaking himself from his thoughts, Jackson curled his arm around Aaron's shaking form before pulling him towards him. He tried his best to comfort his boyfriend. But he'd gone through so much, he no longer felt safe in his own home. He couldn't even go inside. Darrel needed reporting to the police. He hoped it would seal the crazed man a lengthy sentence behind bars, far away from Aaron.

"You need to tell the police." Jackson said breaking the silence in the van. "He can't get away with this either."

"Not now." Aaron breathed, he couldn't now.

"Later." Jackson promised. "Where do you want to go then?" He asked, if he didn't feel safe in Smithy there was no point forcing him to go back. "Could see if your mum will talk to Carl, let you stay there for a bit? Or there's Zak and Lisa's?"

"No." Aaron said, he could stand the idea of staying at Carl's, he hated the man, and Zak and Lisa were too much. They would ask too many question's anyway. "I'll stay here."

"Sure?" Jackson questioned.

Aaron nodded his head. "Sure."

He didn't hesitate once as he strode through the front door. He didn't want to stop. He didn't want a chance to think through what he was doing. He didn't look towards the stairs or the floor as he made his way into the kitchen. He didn't want to remember what had happened. He knew his blood had been cleaned from the floor, Jackson had told him that, but he still couldn't help but imagine it covering the wooden boards. Paddy had been the first to greet him in the kitchen, asking him if her were okay.

"Mind out Paddy, let the poor boy get in first." Hazel chirped from the lounge doorway. "Jackson get his bag upstairs. I'll make us all a drink."