Chapter 15

For the next couple of days Freddie fought tooth and nail to hunt Joe down and to keep strong for his family, Sandy pushed herself to go back to work meaning he had to help her keep the others in order. It was exam season for both Robbie and Jason and Sandy knew it was paramount that they went to sixth form so she made sure Freddie sent them on a daily basis. He saw how unprepared and distressed they looked, he thought it was better for them not to go in at all but he had to keep his mum's wishes at heart. Once he was left to his own devices in the house, that was when Freddie knew he was going to loose it. As the hours went on the pressure mounted because he knew he was one step closer to facing the truth. Lindsey had decided to stay in bed this morning seeing as she wasn't permitted to go into work, Freddie decided to take her a cup of tea and a bowl of cereal upstairs almost like a surprise breakfast in bed.

"Morning Lindsey" he beamed as he walked into her room, he dropped the tray of food in horror as he realised that her bed hadn't been slept in all night. The last time he had spoken to her was the night before and he was lead to believe that she was going to bed. He walked over to her wardrobe completely ignoring the mess on the floor which he had just created, he opened it up and saw that all of her clothes were now gone. He tried ringing her but it went straight to answer phone, he decided to leave her a voice mail:"Hey Linds, it's only me. When you get this could you give me a call just so we know you're okay." He placed his phone back into his pocket and hoped to hear from her soon. Several hours later he hadn't heard a thing, Sandy came back from work at around 9pm, as she settled home for the night she wondered where Lindsey was as she would always sit with the family of a weekday evening.

"Where's Linds? She was supposed to be helping me do tea tonight" Sandy asked with curiosity. "She left this morning I think" he said trying to sound as uninterested as possible. "What do you mean you think? And what do you mean left?" Sandy spat sounding really annoyed. "I haven't seen her since last night, she wasn't in bed when I went to wake her" Freddie shrugged. "I think you might want to change your attitude" she retorted. "What do you expect me to do, keep tag on her? Follow her around?" he shook his head and left the room. He understood that he should have handled the situation a lot better but he was hurting, hurting badly. He had never been in this situation before. Love really was the worst thing in the world at the moment for Freddie, His love for Lindsey was unconditional no matter what happens between the two he will always love her.

Part of him wished that Joe didn't bring her into the family, as he would never have met her. He hated himself for thinking that too as Lindsey was a great addition to the family and meant so much to everyone. She was like the sunshine on a rainy day always improving people's moods and helping them whenever they needed anything, he was now getting desperate as he really wanted to know that she was safe, as a rule she would always let somebody know where she was going but this time she told nobody. Just as Freddie began to feel completely sorry for himself , he was startled by his phone ringing. He almost pulled his pocket off as he retrieved his violently vibrating phone from his jeans. He quickly looked at the caller ID and read Lindsey on his screen, quickly pressing the answer button, he prepared himself to speak:

Freddie: Lindsey?

Lindsey: Look, I've got myself into serious trouble and I really don't know what to do.

Freddie: Slow down Linds, what do you mean trouble?

Lindsey: I've found Joe, he's working for Grace and Trevor. If I want to see Joe again I have to work for them too.

Freddie:What, how? I don't understand.

Lindsey: He lead you to believe that he's in Ireland, he lied to you Freddie. He's been at Trevor's place since he left. Trevor was the one who spread the news saying he was dead.

Freddie: How did you know to find him? Where are you now? I can't risk anybody finding out, I need to see you.

Lindsey: I'm in the loft, I'll explain when you get here, meet me in 10 minuets.

Freddie: Okay, sure. See you soon Linds.

Lindsey: Bye..

As soon as Freddie was off the phone he got himself ready to go out as quickly as humanly possible, he needed to make sure Lindsey was okay she sounded so panicked on the phone he just wanted to hold her in his arms forever and take her place. Freddie knew how dangerous Grace and Trevor were, he knew that one wrong move and they would probably have her killed in a heartbeat. He knew he needed to prevent that completely. Of course he was worried about Joe too but his main priority was Lindsey. As he made his way downstairs he took a look in the living room and saw Ziggy and the twins sat chatting amongst themselves. He smiled at them and made his way to meet Lindsey, nobody saw him leave which was a good thing he thought.

Once Lindsey was in sight, Freddie picked up pace. He rushed over to her. "Lindsey, are you okay?" he said as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Yes I'm fine, Joe isn't" she held onto him tightly, she felt safe in his embrace.

"What do you mean Joe isn't?"Freddie inquired with a worried tone.

"Grace has him somewhere, I know I said I've found him but I have and I haven't if that makes sense" Lindsey announced, looking up at Freddie with tears in her eyes.

"We'll find him okay, I wont let Grace lay another finger on him I promise" he said, kissing her forehead in the process. He really hoped he could keep his promise, and he hoped he was telling the truth when he said he would be able to find him.

"Thank you Freddie" she said as she stroked his hand.

"No problem, anything for you Lindsey" he said softly.

Freddie distracted Grace so Lindsey could escape and go back home, he took her place. At first Grace was angry at the sight of Freddie, jeering at him saying he just couldn't keep away from his beloved Lindsey. He so desperately wanted to knock ten barrels out of her, but he knew he couldn't lay a finger on her purely due to the fact of her being a woman and Freddie always stuck to the motto 'never lay a finger on a woman, no matter what the circumstances are' it was something his father once told him when he was a child when he got into a fight with a girl in his class, from that day on Freddie stuck to his fathers words. He explained to Grace that he would do whatever she wanted in order to take Lindsey's place, she finally obliged and allowed Freddie to do just that. Grace let Freddie go, she wouldn't tell him what she had done with Joe. That was still a mystery, all he did know is that he was still alive.

He needed to make sure Lindsey told nobody about any of what was going on, it was too early for him to reveal the truth to anyone. He quickly rushed home, finding Lindsey still walking back. He quickly caught up with her, accidentally scaring her.

"Oh my god Freddie, you scared me to death then" Lindsey said with a little laugh

"I'm sorry, can we keep tonight a secret please? We can't tell anybody as it will be too dangerous." he pleaded. Freddie looked behind him and saw Robbie walking towards them both, had he heard that conversation just then? It appeared to Freddie that he in fact did.

"What the hell did I just hear" Robbie said shaking his head with disgust.

"It's nothing Robbie honest" Lindsey said hoping to persuade him otherwise.

"It didn't seem like nothing to me, you can't keep it in your pants can ya? Should be ashamed of yourself the both of ya" Robbie spat, he said nothing more and walked off.

Freddie and Lindsey knew that Robbie thought they were playing dirty with one another.

They really wanted to tell Robbie the truth, but they couldn't risk it just in case he blabbed. Freddie realised that he could cope with a few dirty looks from his younger brother, that was child's play compared to what was really going on. Freddie and Lindsey made their way back together, making the excuse that Lindsey was trying to flee the country and Freddie saved the day by going to get her, that seemed to go down well with the family they all believed her, Robbie was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm glad you brought her back Fred, wouldn't want mum to be completely outnumbered" Ziggy laughed as they both made their way to the living room.

"Well I'm glad he brought me back too, would miss you all too much"Lindsey added.

"Yeah, Why don't you go up to bed ey? You look knackered" Freddie soothed.

"Yeah I must just actually, night everyone" she said with a wave. Everyone said goodnight and carried on with what they were doing.

A couple hours after Lindsey, Freddie decided to call it a day too. He managed to go to sleep straight away knowing Lindsey was safely sleeping next door, he awoke in the middle of the night startled at the dream he was then having. It was a harrowing scene in Freddie's mind, he was forced by Grace to choose between Lindsey or Joe. One of them lived and one died, a single gun shot would call it. He managed to wake up before the results happened. He really hoped this wouldn't one day become reality, he tossed and turned for the rest of the night. The nightmare overtaking his thoughts, He quickly rushed next door to check on Lindsey. She was fine, completely oblivious to the bad dream Freddie had just had, he made his way back to his own room lying awake for the rest of the night.

Was Joe okay? Would Freddie and Lindsey be able to keep the truth from their family? And best of all would Robbie tell people what he heard? Freddie knew he would need to make sure he didn't do that, he would then be forced to tell everyone the truth and deep down he knew he wouldn't be able to do that as he was still trying to work it out in his head himself. He had to think of a way to keep Robbie quiet, no matter what it took he promised that he would make sure he stayed quiet,