"Evan, please stop singing 'Hips Don't Lie'" I protested, half laughing.

"Are you telling me I'm not talented, Scrap?" Evan joked, but his eyes darted towards the clock on the wall. Half past five. Mum should have at least have gotten in touch by now… surely?

"I won the school talent show last year." I informed him proudly.

"I know, I think you may have mentioned."

I smiled, then sighed.

"I want to have my birthday cake now." I stated.

"Your mother wants to blow the candles out with you. She won't be long."

At that moment, I believed him. So I happily unplugged my Blackberry and began to download the different apps. An hour passed. Evan had to send a few emails, so I sat in his living room, flicking through the channels and feeling increasingly fed up, but hoped that the reason Mum was taking ages was because she was planning a huge surprise for me. Turns out she most definitely did.

Evan ran down the stairs, a look of pure panic on his bearded face. I turned around, absolutely confused as to what he was so stressed about.

"Molly, we're leaving." Evan said sharply. I looked around, greatly intrigued. He called me Molly, which just didn't happen.

"Why, where are we going?"

"The hospital."

Evan marched off, and I sped walked after him.

"Evan, why?" I protested.

Evan looked around at me, and his eyes watered up. He had stress lines and he seemed to look sick as he swallowed, and quickly said, "Your mother."

"Why?" I asked quietly.

"She… well she's been shot, Molly." Evan's pain appeared how I felt. After everything that we had gone through that day, she still got shot. I began to cry, and Evan pulled me into a hug.

"Oh, Scrap." He sighed, his voice shaky.

"Is she going to die?" I asked.

"No." Evan replied. "No she isn't. She's strong, your mother. I promise she will be okay."

I felt comforted by this. He was right… Mum would definitely be okay. She couldn't not be.

"Can we see her?" I stopped crying, and managed to ask.

"That's where we're going." Evan said, trying to sound bright but completely failing.

"I'm here to see Alexandra Drake… where is she?" Evan demanded from the woman at the desk of the Emergency Department of Fenchurch Hospital.

"The police officer who got shot in the head?" Responded the bored looking reception. "You can't see her yet, she's having surgery."

"Surgery?" I asked, horrified.

"To get the bullet out, Scrap." Evan replied quietly. He then turned to the receptionist, and asked, in his most forced patient voice, "Do you know when my goddaughter will be out of surgery?"

"It's a very complicated procedure, sir." She was clearly trying to sound more clever than she actually was. "She will be there until one this morning."

"Okay… um, let's sit down and wait." Evan said to me. He led me to sit down on a cold, hard, blue plastic chair. I brought my knees up to my chin and rested my head on them, looking away from Evan, who had sat next to me. "There's nothing to worry about. Once the bullet is out, she will just need to recover."

"But what about possible nerve damage? Or excessive blood loss, or trauma to the brain?"

Evan sighed. "You need to give your brain a rest, Scraps."

"But it's true!"

"This isn't Casualty."

"I know. I learnt it off Mum."

Evan had nothing to say to that.

The wait was horrendous. I remember falling asleep for half an hour, and waking up on Evan's lap. I was beginning to feel horrible in my school uniform, and my head was starting to hurt. I didn't care, though. I refused to go back to sleep, not when Mum could be finished in theatre at any time. My senses didn't take in my surroundings, and I could hardly think straight. Everything was just a blur. I could hardly bring myself to fear the worst. I knew she would be fine. I knew it.

It was exactly one o'clock when a doctor came up to us. Evan was beginning to fall asleep, but he jumped up as fast as lightning. I stayed as still as stone, awaiting the verdict.

"I'm Dr Jones, I operated on Alex. She has survived the operation, but it's too soon to tell if there is any lasting damage. We need to observe her for a few hours."

"So she's going to be okay?" I burst out.

"Molly…" Evan reprimanded.

"It's too early to tell. If nothing goes wrong, no complications… and if she rests… than I don't see why she won't be." The doctor smiled at me, before leaving us alone.

"She's going to be okay." I decided confidently.

"Yeah… yeah, you're right, Scrap." Evan agreed half-heartedly.

My increasing confidence created an increasing appetite, and so I borrowed five pounds off of Evan and got some food and another Sprite. If this was a normal day, Mum would absolutely kill me. But it wasn't a normal day.

I realised, after checking the time at two in the morning, that it was no longer my birthday. Thirteen years old… and still hadn't blown out the candles. What did it matter if I did it a bit later? At least we'd be able to.

By the time I got back, Evan was looking stressed out again. I wondered whether a client had got in touch with him, and was being difficult.

"Molly, you need to know this." Evan said quietly. I sat down next to him, and looked up, interested. "Your mother is in a coma… we don't know how long she will be in it… she might never wake up…you have to start accepting that maybe…"

"Evan!" I glared at him. "Don't give up on her. She is going to survive. Can we see her?"

"Yes." He answered warily. "You go in on your own. I'll come in in a bit."

Excitedly, I found her hospital room and entered. It was weird, Mum looked more peaceful than she had appeared in months. Her skin was pale, as was the sheets she was under, and the gown she was wearing, as well as the bandage around her head. Everything was pristine and white.

"Mum? Mum? Mummy? Mummy? Mum?" I hoped she would wake up. But this… coma… that we had been informed she had gone into… apparently couldn't be penetrated by daughters talking. "The doctors got the bullet out. You're going to be okay. He said if you got plenty of rest, and if there are no complications, you're going to wake up. You're going to be fine. Mum? Mummy? Mum?"

I realised in the end that she wasn't going to hear me, and I touched her arm. I pursed my lips, hating that she couldn't hear me.

"Molly, we need to check her over now." A doctor whose name I did not know came in and informed me.

"Okay." I challenged.

"You're going to have to leave the room."

"I am not leaving my mum." I protested.

"Molly." Evan appeared at the door. "Come on, Scrap. You have all the time in the world to see her when she wakes up."

I considered this. Then, I sighed. "Goodbye Mum. See you soon." I smiled, and left the room with tears in my eyes.

My eyes slowly flickered open. I jumped up when I realised I had no idea where I was. I then remembered that I was in the hospital. And I was on the cold seat again, leaning against Evan.

"What time is it?" I asked suddenly. Evan smiled, appearing drained.

"You've only been up a second and you're already asking questions. It's half six, Scrap."

"Any news on Mum?"

Evan faltered. I could see him deciding whether or not to tell me. I gave him a suspicious look, and he sighed.

"Molly… your mum has an infection. They've given her antibiotics, but…"

"That's not that bad!" I reprimanded him for nearly scaring me. "I had an ear infection last year, and they put me on penicillin and I didn't die."

"This is an infection in her brain, Scrap." Evan responded, frustrated. I looked up at him.

"She'll survive." I said decidedly. "I know it."

At nine o'clock, they let me into her hospital room again. She appeared to be vacant, neither here nor there. I hoped that meant she was resting.

"Hey, Mum. I think you're going to wake up soon. I definitely think you're coming home. We can blow out the candles together. I hope the infection isn't hurting you… Mum?"

Alarm bells starting ringing in my head. The machines were starting to go crazy.

"Somebody help!" I shouted. Lots of doctors entered the room, two of them pulling in a trolley.

"Molly, you need to leave!" One of them shouted at me.

"No!" I insisted. I did, however, retreat towards the door, horrified, and scared.

"Charging… and clear!" A huge electrical sounding noise filled the room. "Try again… charging… and clear!"

This went on for ages. I knew what was coming. My full confidence that I had been emitting since stepping foot in the hospital had vanquished.

"Do we try again?" Dr Jones asked.

"She isn't responding…" Another answered.

"No!" I shouted.

"Time of death," Dr Jones announced. "9:06am."

- I wanted to try and make this chapter fit around Alex's messages in her time in Gene's world, hence the infection, and Molly's message being the same as in series 2. It was easier characterising Molly than Evan, so I hoped I grasped their characters okay. I don't know about reading it, but writing the last line made me very sad, and the next chapter is quite depressing, to warn you, but it gets better after that. Plus, prepare for Galex. -