Emily

"See, there's no way it's him." Adam said as we stood out side Kirsty's window watching the scene between her and her husband unfold.

"Yer but if it's not him, then who is it?" Tess said sounding concerned for her nurse.

"That's it. You've decided it's not him so who else could it be. You've seen her injuries all the x-rays it's been going on years. I would stake my life on it being him."

My point of view didn't go down well. They were all dead set on it not being him but something was amiss. Kirsty's strong, probably the strongest person I know. She always picked up the pieces glued them together the best she could and moved on no thought of herself, she just carried on. I never understood how she managed to do it but when I found out she had a family it all made sense. She had to carry on for her daughter and maybe even her husband.

Kirsty's so strong that her behaviour bewildered me. It was unsettling to watch her like this, silent and vacant. Even in the circumstances I always met Kirsty in she still had a cheeky glint in her eyes, now those eyes where dull and empty and it just seemed so wrong. I'd seen battered women before and Kirsty would kill me for calling her that but none of them where like her. None I'd seen had managed to survive quiet like her, even though she'd slipped slightly over the last couple of months. She was still so ready to smile and have a joke I must have treated her five or six times before I clocked on.

She had an amazing game face and I'm sure that her friends didn't give her enough credit for it. I knew it could easily be her husband. I'd seen her game face up close and personal, and it was amazing. Some of the stories that came so readily to her were astonishing. She was a hard person not to believe; even when you were sure she was lying to you, her game face gave you doubts.

Adam

I'd had to sedate Kirsty a couple of hours ago now. She had finally let out her emotions but seemed unable to regain control. She was still weak and her breathing was sharp and laboured. She always gave the impression of being in control which made it even harder for everyone to see her like this. She was acting nothing like the Kirsty we knew, but did we really know her at all.

I'd advised Warren to take Nita go home, eat, sleep and come back refreshed in twelve hours when the sedative wore off. He'd agreed reluctantly knowing he couldn't neglect his daughter. Nita just seemed scared. From the moment she had walked though the doors holding her dad's hand she was quiet and looked close to tears. I tried to reassure her but my words seemed to fall on deaf ears. She was too scared to touch her mum so she just looked at her worriedly from afar.

Warren had also tried to comfort his daughter, after trying to get Kirsty to open up and finding out the devastating truth about what she'd been living though for years, but in the end they left in silents his arm around her shoulders.

Nita

I couldn't believe it when dad came and got me out of school. I knew she hadn't looked right this morning I should have made her stay home. I spent the whole journey to the hospital worrying about what has wrong with her, would she be ok? When could she come home? I knew it was bad otherwise dad wouldn't have come and got me, he would have wait till after school.

By the time we arrived I could barely speak. I was so scared, was my mum going to die? When I saw her it just made me feel worse she looked dead. Her eyes where open but they looked dead and I had to keep looking at the heart monitor telling me her heart was still beating. How had so much changed in a few hours? I'd spent my morning in double maths and she'd spent hers fighting for her life. I didn't know why she had been at St James's and no one was willing to tell me.

There had been an explosion she had been trapped. She was stable for now but not out of the woods. I wasn't sure what that meant. Would she be ok? What was I supposed to do? Was I meant to talk to her or pray for her? In the end dad took the decision out of my hands saying that we were going home and would be back before mum woke again.

Something was wrong I could feel it. Everyone was acting weird. Nobody would tell me what mum was doing at St James's in the first place, why she wasn't speaking and why dad was on edge. It didn't make sense I'd only met Adam a couple of times and even I could tell he was acting strangely. What are they keeping from me?

Dad and I got in the car and drove out of the hospital car park. We turned left when we hit the main road. Where were we going?

"I thought we were going home." I asked innocently.

"Your grandma wants to see how your doing." He replied concentrating on the road ahead.

"Grandma, what about mum? I want to go back and sit with her. She needs us with her. Please dad."

"That's enough were going to see Grandma and that's final." He almost shouted in an angry tone. I went rigged in my seat. Dad never spoke to me like that, ever. The only person I'd ever heard him speak to like that was mum after she came in late, tiered and moody, with out bothering to say anything.

He worried about her. I guess everybody did, after seeing them all today hovering outside her door speaking in hushed tones I knew they cared but why where they so worried. Most people were around mum. I presumed she just had something about her. I know sometimes I just want to look after her. Mostly over the past couple of days when she's been zonked out on the sofa. There have been plenty of other times too, she always seemed to have something wrong with her but this weekend had been the worst I'd ever seen and it scared me. She looked so frail and I wondered how she found the strength to get up and go to work today. She had barely touched her food all weekend. I don't think she even noticed. She'd got a lot skinnier over the past couple of weeks maybe a couple of months. She hides it well under baggy clothing but when I hug her I feel the difference. Now, I at fourteen was bigger than my mum. I wasn't fat or anywhere near it, it just she's got so skinny.

We pulled up out side Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was nothing like our house, it was huge, stately home like huge. Apparently we use to live here when I was very little but I don't remember. It was old fashioned but still seemed stylish and elegant at the same time.

Dad lifted the handle of the brass lion knocker and let it fall heavily back into place. Grandma opened the door only a couple of seconds later and smiled concernedly at us both before standing aside and letting us in. We were ushered into the kitchen at the back of the house where I was given a packed of fancy biscuits and left to amuse myself while they disappeared into another part of the house.

Kirsty

I jolted awake drenched in a mixture of sweat and tears but kept my eyes closed. I was in bed, I'd managed to fall asleep next to Warren and sleep peacefully up until now. Then my senses kicked in. I wasn't in my bed and there was beeping, a heart monitor, my heart monitor.

I remembered what happened. Shit how was I getting out of this one. I could kill myself for being so stupid, why did I go to St James's? Well I knew why but it didn't stop me from being mad at myself. I opened my eyes to find an anxious Adam studying me from the armchair on my left. I tried to roll over to turn my back to him but was hit with jolts of pain thrashing my body. I gasped deeply then felt that mistake too. I clutched my ribs trying to take small quicker breaths instead.

Adam took my hand and administered more morphine into my drip. I looked up into his warm and comforting eyes, they were full of concern so full I felt the urge to hit and tell him he was being soft but I couldn't. I let out a small sigh and I relaxed a little as the drug took effect. Adam had long since let go of my hand but I was holding on to the feeling of it against mine. I closed my eyes hoping to keep it there for as long a possible but it was no use and eventually I gave up and opened my eyes to the real world. Adam had left and now the chair beside my bed lay empty. I could see Zoe, Emily and Jay on the other side of the room tending to other patients. Wait why was Emily working here? But there was no one to answer my question and even if there was I couldn't ask it, Warren had made that very clear.

The doors burst open causing me to look up from my thoughts to see who had entered.

"Hey little sis. How's it going?" His enthusiastic and energetic voice totally inappropriate for where he was but he wouldn't notice that. I couldn't hide the shock of seeing him. My eyes were wide, what the hell was David doing here?

So why is David visiting? Is it a concerned visit about his younger 'sister' or has he got something more sinister planed?