"Really?" Connie asked with a frown as Jacob pulled up in a dirty looking SUV a short while later.

"Come ON, mum!" Grace urged, eager to get going and get away from the house than always seemed to cause her anxiety.

Sighing, Connie slipped into the front seat, passing back both Grace's bag and another smaller bag in which she'd packed several things Grace had grown out of, including a pair of small heels.

Jacob drove the same way that Connie had driven him back this morning, except this time the journey was significantly quicker. They came onto the motorway, leaving Holby behind them, and Grace watched as her mother and Jacob talked between them softly. She noticed how Jacob would often pass seconds just looking at Connie, when she had her head turned out of the window to look up at the stars, and this brought a small smile to her face.

"Jacob?"

"Grace?"

"Is Mia going to be okay?"

Connie turned her head around to look at her daughter, and saw the concern evident on her young features.

"Yeah. Yeah, she will be."

Grace nodded and fell silent, before her mother turned around to her again.

"Are you okay, Gracie?"

Grace nodded, and smiled at her mother, convincing her enough so that she turned back around.

"I've never known her be this quiet, sweet cheeks." Jacob spoke softly, and watched as Connie's eyes looked up into the mirror at the back seat.

"She's just sleepy. It won't last for long, I assure you."

"Just like her mother, then." Jacob smiled, earning a gentle slap on his arm before he glanced up in the mirror. "Grace, if I know Elle, there's probably something you'll like in the seat pocket."

Grace reached forward, and Connie tutted when she took out a celebrity gossip magazine. She never normally allowed Grace to read those, but like everything you banned a child from, they found a way to read it, and Grace and her friends usually spent their whole lunch break talking about what they'd read. "Thanks, Jacob."

...

It was well past midnight when they pulled up outside a large hospital. Grace was asleep in the backseat, and Connie appeared to be sleeping too, so Jacob took the opportunity to just sit in silence for a while, thinking about what had happened in the last few days. So many bad things, but some good as well. Well, one good. He turned to look at Connie, and then glanced in the mirror at Grace. Well, maybe two good things.

"Are we here?" Connie asked sleepily.

"Mm-hmm." Jacob replied, staring up at the hospital in which his niece lay alone and scared.

"Gracie?" Connie had opened the back door of the SUV, and leant across her daughter to undo her seatbelt, before gently touching her fingers to her cheek. "We're here, sweetheart." Her eyes opened and she took a moment, before allowing Connie to help her out to stand in the busy car park.

"Alright?" Jacob came around to touch his fingers to Connie's, before letting go and walking slightly ahead of them to the hospital, Connie and Grace following behind him. Once they were inside, Jacob went straight to the reception desk, and was directed to the lift. He motioned to Connie and Grave to follow him, before turning around sharply as he heard his name.

"Jacob! My man!" A man in a nurses' uniform came up to them, embracing Jacob in a hug before stepping back to look at Connie and Grace.

"This is Stephen, Stephen this is Connie Beauchamp and Grace. My niece is upstairs, we're visiting-"

"The Connie Beauchamp?"

Connie looked at Jacob, eyebrows raised, her arms folded now in front of her.

"Of course, the one and only." He said as he grinned at her, the nurse awkwardly sticking out a hand which Jacob quickly motioned for him to retract.

"Wow, well... I, um, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." She replied curtly, looking to Jacob as he struggled to hold back a laugh.

"Um, well I'll let you go on up. Let me know if you need anything, J."

"Will do." He clapped the nurse on the back before turning to Connie, who had already called the lift down.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, then looked at Grace who laughed as she watched him pull a face at her mother.

"I'm not looking at you like anything. Is there anywhere you can go and not know anyone?" She said, thinking instantly of Elle.

"Well, I can't take you anywhere either. You're practically a celebrity." He winked at Grace, earning another giggle, before the lift dinged and they stepped inside. Jacob took a deep breath as they entered the children's ward, appreciating the fact Connie had silently slipped her hand into his to squeeze it.

"Why don't Grace and I wait out here? We don't want to all go in, especially if she's asleep." Connie offered quietly. Though Grace looked momentarily worried, she nodded when Jacob asked her to look after his coat and was soon following her mother towards a set of uncomfortable looking hospital chairs.

"I'm looking for Mia Masters." Jacob offered the night nurse who pointed him towards a room off to the side.

"We haven't been able to get her to sleep, so I've given her an iPad and some headphones."

"Thanks." Jacob attempted a smile before taking another deep breath. When he glanced back at Connie, he found both Connie and Grace watching him, and both gave him an encouraging smile. Smiling back, a real smile this time, Jacob walked into the dim light of the side room. "Someone call for a nurse?"

"JACOB!"

Both Connie and Grace heard the girl's exclamation, as did the rest of the ward. Jacob approached the bed and pulled Mia into his arms, hugging her tightly. "I couldn't leave you all alone in here, now could I? How's my favourite girl?"

Mia shrugged, pointing down at her leg that was covered in a frame to keep it safe. "It's really sore."

"Have they given you something for the pain?" Jacob frowned, reaching to the end of the bed to look at the patient notes as Mia gave a shrug.

"Have you come to take me home with you?" Mia asked hopefully. "Grandma packed me a bag, I have all my things. Maybe if it's not too late we could go and visit Connie? Do you think she will sign my cast when they put a new one on?"