casualtyfics111: Thanks so much. Yes, I was so excited. I actually printed off their replies to stick in my scrapbook.

Scarlett: Thank you :-)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Days went by, and it was drawing nearer to Lily's birthday. Iain desperately wanted to do something special for her, so that she knew how much he really cared. He just wasn't sure what to do.

It was Thursday and Lily was sat with Connie in the office, earphones in, and the Alice in Wonderland book open in front of her. She had the volume up at full blast so she wasn't able to hear a single thing, but Connie didn't even mind seeing as she was reading out loud to her.

"Okay, well done," Connie praised, when Lily reached the end of a chapter. "That was really good. Shall we stop there for today?"

Lily faintly nodded, removing the earphones and shutting the book. Just as Connie guessed, she went completely silent again, and she knew that they needed to start taking steps forward and not back.

"When is your next appointment with Helen?" Connie questioned her.

Lily just fiddled with the ends of her sleeves and didn't breathe a word.

"Lily," Connie sighed. "I told you not to feel embarrassed about writing stuff down, didn't I? That's what the notebook is for."

Lily reluctantly took the notebook from Connie and wrote down when her next appointment was, before passing it across.

"Tuesday, eh?" Connie smiled. "The day before your birthday. Are you doing anything for it?" Lily shook her head, placing the pen down on the table in front of her. "I'm sure Iain will think of something, won't he?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders. She honestly wasn't sure if Iain would have planned anything for her birthday or not, it wasn't as if they'd been dating for long and she wasn't the most easiest of girlfriends.

"Anyway, reason I was asking about Helen," Connie sighed. "Is because at some point, we'll need to get you talking without the distraction of music."

Lily shook her head and leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed. It wasn't fair. Connie had told her that she wasn't going to force her to talk, she'd said that, and now what was she doing? Basically forcing her.

"You can't walk around with earphones in all the time," Connie said.

Lily just began to scratch her arms anxiously. She didn't want to listen to what Connie had to say, she'd basically lied to her. There was nothing wrong with walking around with earphones in. She wished that people could understand the fact that she just couldn't physically talk.

Unable to breathe properly, she stood up and rushed out of the room. She could hear Connie calling after her, but she didn't look back. She needed to go somewhere a lot quieter, so that she could think properly.

She found herself in the ambulance bay, but disappointment hit her when she saw no sign of Iain. Instead, Gem was there.

"Oh, hi Lily," Gem said, glancing up from her maths book. "Iain's had to go out on location with Jez. Is everything okay?"

Lily held a hand to her chest and shook her head, collapsing back against the wall to try and keep herself upright.

"You can sit in here if you want to," Gem whispered. "I'm just doing some studying, not that any of it makes sense." She cleared her throat and said, "um...do you want to talk about anything at all?"

Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and slid down the wall with her knees to her chest. Gem anxiously bit her lip and closed her textbook, before making her way over to Lily. What was she supposed to do? It was difficult to communicate with her when she didn't speak, and Gem just felt completely awkward.

She cautiously placed a hand on Lily's shoulder, and sat down on the floor beside her. Lily didn't even look like herself anymore. Her hair looked as if it hadn't been washed in days, and she'd traded in the skirts and heels for sweats and trainers.

"I um...I'm sure Iain will be back soon," Gem whispered awkwardly. "It's not that busy today, right?"

She watched as a single tear rolled down one side of Lily's face. Gem felt so bad, and she really was not helping.

"When I was in prison..." Gem began. "I thought that my whole life was over. I hardly spoke either to be honest, I know it's hard to believe because I don't shut up now. I'm not really a criminal though, and I got bullied in there. It was awful, I...I guess I just didn't really belong. The majority of people in there had done things a lot worse than stealing. It gets better though. Heck, I'm out and...I turned my life around, didn't I? I guess I'm a pretty good example."

Lily turned and forced a weak smile through her tears.

"I know there's a voice in there somewhere," Gem said. "And I know you're not going to get better straight away, but you will do eventually. You have friends."

Lily knew that Gem was right, and she stood up from the floor. She walked over to the sofa and picked up the book that Gem had been reading, gesturing to it as she held it.

"Are you sure?" Gem asked. She found it weird how she was actually able to understand Lily, even though she wasn't talking. "Because you don't have to."

Lily nodded, sitting down on the sofa and opening the book up.

"Thank you," Gem said and walked over to sit beside her. "This means a lot. If there's anything that I can do for you, let me know."

Lily nodded in agreement and handed the book across to Gem. Of course she didn't say anything, but helping Gem study felt like a good distraction for her.

"So, what are you going to do?" Zoe asked, as she made Connie a cup of tea.

"I don't know," Connie sighed, with her head in her hands. "She has good days and she has bad days. Today was obviously a bad day for her, or she wouldn't have stormed out."

"What do you mean?" Zoe frowned, leaning against the table.

"She never usually storms out of her meetings with me," Connie said. "And she was doing really well with her reading. I mention the fact that she needs to try it without the earphones, and she just flips out."

"She was probably just scared," Zoe said. "Unless it's on her own terms and unless she feels comfortable enough, Lily doesn't talk without music."

"I know," Connie replied. "And I understand that it's hard for her and I don't want to force her into talking if she isn't comfortable, but she needs to try eventually, right?"

"You need to understand though Connie, that this isn't your job," Zoe said. "You can be there for her, and you can support her, but at the end of the day your job is to run the ED. Let Helen be the speech therapist, alright? When is Lily next seeing her?"

"Tuesday," Connie said. "I need to write up this progress report for her though, so she knows how Lily is coping here. I have no idea what to say."

"You said it yourself that she can sometimes have bad days," Zoe said. "Tell her that."

Connie nodded, as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She called, and Iain entered the room. "Ah Iain, have you spoken to Lily?" Connie sighed.

"No." Iain gave her a puzzling look, and shook his head. "Should I have done?"

"She was just a bit upset earlier," Zoe informed him. "I'm sure it's nothing, but we just wondered if she would have gone to find you."

"Sorry, I haven't seen her," Iain apologised. He was suddenly feeling very worried about his girlfriend. "I'll go and find her in a bit. I was just wondering if I could have next Saturday off at all?"

"I'll have to check to see if anyone else is off," Connie said. "I'll get back to you later."

"Okay," Iain replied, thanking her quietly. "I um...I was just planning on taking Lily out for the day, for her birthday."

"Is that such a good idea?" Connie questioned him.

"I want to make it special for her," Iain said.

"I think it's a great idea," Zoe put in. "A change of scenery could really help her."

"Maybe," Connie sighed.

"Look, I'll check with her first," Iain said, hoping that it would put Connie's mind at ease. "But I wouldn't take her somewhere that's too far or dangerous. I wouldn't do that to her, I love her."

Connie nodded and a small smile appeared on her face. "I'll look into it," she promised him.

"Thank you, Mrs Beauchamp," Iain said. "Oh, and keep your diaries for Wednesday evening free."

"Why?" Zoe asked.

"I'm planning a small birthday get together for Lily," Iain said, clapping his hands together enthusiastically.

"Oh, Iain." Zoe's smile soon faded, and she exchanged worried glances with Connie. "Maybe that will be a bit too much for her. Doesn't she get very anxious around huge crowds of people?"

"But it'll be with people who she knows," Iain told them. "And I'll just make it close friends anyway. You two, Ethan, Robyn, Alicia, Gem, and that will probably be it anyway."

"Just check with her about that as well," Connie said. "I don't think now is the time to be throwing surprises on her."

"Okay," Iain sighed. He knew that dating Lily was going to be difficult, and he really did love her, but he didn't think that its would be this difficult. "I'm going to go and look for her anyway. Thanks again."

And with that, Iain left the room and collapsed back against the wall outside. He was exhausted.