Charlie

I was still sat with Kirsty and she still hadn't said anything or even moved. I looked at my watch thinking that Ruth should be back from dinner any minuet when Kirsty started making a mumbling sound. At first it was only just louder than a whisper but it grew and with it so did Kirsty's agitation. It was like she was locked in some kind of nightmare, but she was awake. She was shaking her head mumbling no over and over again. She started shaking, wringing her hands together; then she stood backing away from me like I would pounce on her at any moment. It was surprising how much it hurt for her to react to me that way but still I tried to calm her down. She'd backed herself into a corner crumbling to the ground when she realised there was no escape. She curled herself into a tight ball trying to protect her self from any oncoming attack as she blubbered to herself and who ever it was coming after her in her mind that she was sorry, that she would try harder and be better. It was incredibly hard to watch her so frightened probably replaying something that had in fact already happened to her. I didn't know how anyone could be so cruel to anyone begging them not to hurt them but it seemed that her attacker was.

Suddenly she leapt up letting out an air splitting scream filled with fear and pain and I dived at her in time to catch her before she fell to the ground unconscious. I fell to the floor with her on top of me holding her close and rocking her back and forth hoping to give her as much comfort as I could. I was completely unaware that Adam and Ruth were stood behind me until Adam let out an escaped whimper. It shocked me and I spun, taking Kirsty with me, to see who it was.

"Adam." I said, shocked to see him. Adam and Ruth were stood in the doorway stunned. Neither of them was looking at me but instead they were focused on Kirsty who was out cold in my lap.

"What happened?" Adam finally spoke breaking the uneasy silence that had surrounded us.

"It was a type of nightmare. She was reliving something that had already happened to her." I said trying to reassure them and myself that she was fine.

"What was it?" Ruth spoke out cautiously, intrigued about what had caused Kirsty so much distress.

"I don't know," I said as I shrugged I was as clueless as them. Kirsty's breathing had now calmed down and was almost back to normal. I stopped rocking her and looked down to see her sleeping peacefully.

Adam had moved forwards slowly and was now kneeling in front of us. He stayed in that position for a moment eyes focused on Kirsty, as if scared to come any closer before looking up at me. We didn't need to exchange words, we had worked together long enough to be able to read what the other was thinking in a time like this. Adam leant forwards tucking his arms underneath Kirsty's knees and around the back of her shoulders before lifting her up into his arms. I think he was a little surprised at how light she was but he soon got over it and laid her gently back onto her bed.

Adam pulled the duvet over Kirsty tucking her in and tenderly brushed a lose curl which had fallen over her face behind her ear. I felt like I was intruding on the moment and quickly looked away. My eyes found Ruth; she hadn't looked away but instead was looking at Adam and Kirsty with an expression on her face that I'd never seen. It looked like a mixture of sadness and wistfulness coupled with 'oh isn't that cute'. Definitely not an expression I'd seen on Ruth's face before.

I turned back to see Adam placing a kiss onto Kirsty's temple before taking a step backwards to look at her. That's when I realised that there was more to Adam's feelings than friendship. Another thing to make Kirsty's live more complicated than I had thought. Was there anything else that we didn't know about? How many skeletons can one person have?

Ruth

I was alone with Kirsty once Charlie and Adam left. She was sleeping deeply and didn't stir as I moved around the room getting ready for bed. I kept glancing over to her wondering if she would fall into another nightmare. I would be alone then, there would be no one around to comfort her like Charlie had holding her and rocking her, there would only be me and if that happened I had no idea what I should do.

I slept uneasily, tossing and turning, strange dreams drifting through from my sleeping state to my waking leaving me feeling apprehensive about being awake or asleep. So instead I went from one to the other trying to ignore my thoughts but failing. Kirsty kept weaving in and out of my thoughts being awake or asleep making no difference. She was sleeping peacefully and when I was awake I would look over to check that this was still the case.

I woke in the morning feeling like I had never gone to sleep, tiredness making my movements slow and clumsy. I sat on the edge of my bed facing Kirsty who hadn't even rolled over in the night. I carried on with my day as normal whilst Kirsty carried on sleeping. Every so often I would stop and look at her, some times checking to see if she was breathing, she always was and I quickly went back to whatever I was doing. I went to lunch and came back to find that someone had inserted a drip into her hand giving her some much needed nutrients.

It was hours before she woke. Lunch had long been, and then so had dinner and I was beginning to wonder whether she was actually sleeping or it was some type of coma but eventually she moved. It was only slightly at first and she lay still for a moment or two afterward, leading me to believe that I'd imagined it. I was just about to return to my book putting the whole thing down to an over active imagination when her eyes flickered open.

Suddenly panicked I didn't know what to do. I'd been waiting for her to wake up all day but when she opened her eyes I just starred back, running through my options in my head trying to find the best one.

"Do I really look that bad?" Kirsty startled me by speaking first, a hint of humour in her voice.

"N-no," I stuttered back stunned she'd even spoken to me. She pushed her self into a sitting position resting her back against the headboard, a smile creeping onto her face.

"It was a joke." She stated whilst I tried to compose myself.

"Yer, I know; its just yesterday, you were," I stopped mid-sentence trying to find the best way to explain her behaviour.

"Vacant?" She filled in for me, and I mentally sighed relieved that I didn't have to say it.

"Yes." I agreed with her quietly ducking my head a little.

We were interrupted by raised voices coming from the hall.

"Excuse me, you can't just barge in here to see patients when you want." Charlie's voice was significantly louder that usual. Kirsty and I looked at each other both with amusement in our eyes. I could tell exactly what she was thinking, she wanted to go and see what all the commotion was about. We both go up from the bed and were making our way to the door when a second voice spoke.

"If you think you can stop me from seeing my own daughter-in-law after what she's done your wrong." I looked over to Kirsty still expecting to see her face filled with life, amusement and curiosity but instead I found fear. She'd frozen to the spot, her eyes wide and staring at the closed door.

I was just about to question her about it when the door swung open dramatically, revealing a woman, who I guessed to be Kirsty's mother in law. Charlie was hot on her heel and nearly bumped into the back of her as she stood in the doorway glaring daggers at Kirsty.

I turned my head to look back at Kirsty. She stood like a rabbit in head lights. I looked back at the doorway. Charlie was studying Kirsty and the woman seemed to realise this with out turning around and looking at him. Then as quickly as the daggers had appeared they were gone and the woman rushed at Kirsty arms open enveloping her into a hug. I couldn't believe what I'd just seen and I was even less prepared for what I heard next.

"Kirsty, I've been so worried. How are you?" She pulled back from the hug holding Kirsty's an arm length away gripping Kirsty's shoulders in her hands. She was quiet for a moment and when Kirsty held the same expression and made no attempt to talk she spoke again. She turned to face Charlie pulling Kirsty to her and taking her with her.

"She still not speaking then? Not one word?" She sounded more like she was digging than really cared, which I assumed to be true.

"No." I spoke out quickly not giving Charlie a chance to answer but received a filthy look in return.

"I wasn't speaking to you." She spoke down to me, giving me an even filthier look than she'd given Kirsty, before turning back to Charlie for an answer. I held my breath waiting for him to answer. Charlie paused for a second glancing quickly at me trying to decide what to tell the woman in front of him basically tapping her foot waiting for an answer.

"No, I'm afraid not." He bowed his head not wanting to look her in the eye but I gave out a quiet sigh of relief somehow knowing if that woman knew Kirsty had spoken it wouldn't have ended well.

I can't believe this has gotten so long, it was only meant to be a couple of chapters and it's turned into 40 with over 100 amazing reviews. Thank you so much to anyone who's reviewed and given me ideas and inspiration for this fic, with out you it would have fallen into the depths of unfinished fics. Thank you for saving it :D

Sararah – lol I read back what I had written and what I meant was that she'd given me her virus not my laptop :P I'm glad your enjoying it, I love giving you guys the cliff hangers because it keeps you guessing and the fic more exciting! xx

Gillian Kearney Fan – that would have been a great idea, I'm guna try and work that in later on. xx

PoppyNoble – thank you I'm relieved that you liked that she didn't just start talking, because it's never that easy although hopefully now she will talk to certain people, what do you think? xx