Sorry I haven't updated in so long! Been really busy at the moment, barely enough time to do my homework. This chapter is quite long though so enjoy!

Updates ASAP, no promises though.

Chapter 21

Zoe.

Ash and I had work again the next morning so we were up early again, Ash was taking Jess to school so that I could go into work and start on a huge pile of paperwork I had left to do. I left the house at 7:30 after giving Jess her breakfast. I gave Ash a kiss and said I would see him later.

When I arrived at work I found it like any normal day, there were a few patients that were in a serious condition in rhesus, cubicles was full but turn around was good. It was looking like it would be a quiet day, which was good as I had a ton of paperwork to do.

The day went by and I finished everything that I had to do and just before 3:30 I went and picked Jess up, she was going to come back to the hospital with me until 5 when Ash and I's shifts finished.

When we got home the phone rang as soon as we got in the door.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hello, is that Zoe Hanna speaking?" the voice on the end of the line said.

"Yes it is, who is this?" I said as I put my bag in the kitchen and started to get Jess' dinner ready.

"Hi Zoe, this is Robert Philips from CPS."

"Oh right, what's going on with all that?" I asked.

"Well, Pete has requested that he should be allowed to have full custordy of Jess when he is released from jail in 24 hours." Robert explained.

Just like that my heart sank, my stomach turned. Pete still wanted Jess after not seeing her for over a year. It was not right.

"Are you serious?" I asked, hoping that I had heard him wrong.

"I'm sorry but I'm not. At the moment we are against this but his layer says that we can't stop him from seeing his daughter as there was no legal document in place before Louisa died." He explained.

"What? You can't do anything?" I said unable to trust anything I heard.

"I'm sorry, but no. Unless you take action against him we cant stop Pete from coming and taking Jess from you tomorrow."

"You're kidding me!" I said. "What do you mean by me taking action against him?" I asked, my rational thinking coming back to me.

"I mean that, if you really think that Jess would be better off with you rather than Pete and you are willing to fight for custody of her in a court in front of a jury then you may be able to keep Jess."

"Look, can I call you back in, say a few hours?" I asked looking at my watch; I needed time to think about this. Of course I wanted Jess but would a jury really vote in favour of me taking care of Jess rather than her own father?

"Of course, call me anytime." He replied before hanging up.

I stood still in the kitchen for a while, trying to take in what was going on. Pete was being released from prison tomorrow and was going to take Jess away? Did Jess even remember Pete?

Ash came into the kitchen and jolted me out of my thoughts.

"Who was that Zoe?" he asked finishing off preparing Jess's dinner.

"CPS." I said simply, still not fully with it.

"What did they say?" he asked.

"Pete is coming tomorrow." I answered.

"What? Are you serious?" he asked putting the tray of food into the oven.

"Yeah, he wants Jess, I can't stop him." I said crying now, reality hitting hard.

"What? What did the police say about it?"

"They can't do anything as there wasn't anything legally saying Pete couldn't have Jess before Lou died." I repeated as he put his arm around me comfortingly.

"There must be something."

"I can take him to court." I answered.

"And are you going to?"

"I don't know. If I do, why would the jury choose me? If I don't; I will always regret trying." I reasoned, more for my own benefit than his.

"I think you should, I mean as you say, if you don't you'll always regret it wont you." He agreed.

"I know, but I can't do that to Jess. If I try then Jess has to go into care until the trial. It wouldn't be fair on her." I said walking across the kitchen. "Ahh!" I shouted annoyed, having a battle with myself.

"Calm down, just have a think about it, what did you say to CPS?" he said soothing me.

"I said I'd call them back in a few hours after I had Jess in bed." I said calming down.

"Well you have a few hours before you make your decision then. Lets have tea then we can talk about it more. Why don't you see if Jess wants to go and live with Pete or if she wants to stay here with you?" He said.

"Ok. Lets do that, can you get me three glasses out of the cupboard?" I said back to finishing off tea.

After tea we sat around the dining table and I had found a photo of Pete to show Jess, just to see if she remembered him.

"Jess, do you know who this is baby?" I said pushing the photo towards her.

She turned her head away quickly. "Dad." She said still not looking at the photograph.

"Why don't you want to look at it Jess?" I asked.

"I hate him." She replied, I was shocked, she was five and she could hate someone, her own dad at that.

"Why?" Ash said softly, removing the photo from the table so Jess would turn and look at us again.

"He used to play games with mummy, but she didn't like them. If mummy didn't play with dad then it was all my fault." Jess said slowly.

"What did he do Jess?" Ash asked her, carefully.

"Shouting, hitting, cross." Jess muttered, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

I was horrified. Lou was being abused? Why didn't she tell me?

"Why don't you go and play for a bit Jess; let me and Zoe talk?" Ash said.

Jess ran off to play with her dolls house.

"What was that?" I asked, sharply.

"Calm down Zoe, look at me. Its not your fault." Ash said, calmly.

"Why didn't she tell me?" I asked.

"She was probably scared you would tell your parents or even confront him." Ash explained. How he always knew what to say was amazing, I have no idea how he knew it.

"Why?" I asked again.

"Because Zoe."

"Well I can't let Pete have her. She can't be treated like that." I decided.

"Ok. Why don't we call social services now and tell them what you want to do." Ash suggested.

"Right, I'll call them now." I said standing up and grabbing my phone.

"Lets do it together Zoe." Ash said taking the phone from my shaking hand, dialing the number and putting it on speakerphone then holding my hand tightly waiting for them to pick up.

"Hello, Mr Philips from CPS, how can I help?"

"Hello, it's Zoe Hanna here I wanted to ask you about my niece Jess Hanna, and Peter Kings. I want to take him to court and fight for custordy of Jess. I spoke to you earlier." I said, my voice wavering slightly before I conquered my nerves.

"Right Miss Hanna, so you want to take him to court. You know what that means?"

"Yes."

"That Jess will have to go into care for a month or two."

"Yes."

"Ok. Well seeing as Peter is released tomorrow, Jess will have to be picked up either tonight or tomorrow morning." He explained.

"Really, that soon?" I asked, not expecting to have to say goodbye to Jess that quickly.

"I'm sorry Miss Hanna but its protocol. I cant get anyone there this evening so I will have my favourite care-worker pick her up in the morning, her name is Leah and she is absolutely lovely, Jess will be in safe hands with her." He told us.

"Right, Leah, tomorrow morning. Will I be able to see her?"

"Probably not until the end of the week as you are her sole carer at the moment but your parents and any other family members cant see her until after the trial and only if you win, if Peter wins then I cannot say I'm afraid."

"Ok."

"Are you sure about this Miss Hanna?" he asked, probably wondering what made me change my mind.

"I'm sure." I confirmed. "But I would like to come and see you tomorrow, its about something Jess said to me about ten minutes ago, I think it is of some significance and I would like my lawyer there too."

"Of course Miss Hanna, whatever you need. You have my support in this case, Peter doesn't seem like the man who is capable of raising a child." He said,

"Thank you, I will see you tomorrow, infact why don't I bring Jess in with me and we can talk then." I suggested.

"Sound good Miss Hanna. I'll see you tomorrow." He said and hung up the phone.

"At least he's on our side." Ash said.

"Yeah, I guess that is a bonus."

"What should we tell Jess?" he asked.

"The truth, she deserves to know it." I said.

"If your sure she won't be scared about it I think you're right." He agreed.

"I'm sure."

I called the lawyer that my parents used a few years ago for some reason or other, and were always talking about how great he was. He was happy to help as he hadn't anything on at the moment, and would meet me tomorrow at around 11 at the police station in Holby.

We went into the playroom a few minutes later after working out what to say, calling Jess over I started to speak.

"Jess, I know that you are happy here and I know that you don't like your daddy very much but we need to tell you something, and I don't want you to get scared."

"Ok," she answered looking at me expectantly.

"Don't worry, me and Ash will be here for you if you want anything. I had a call from a policeman who is looking after you after what happened to mummy, he said that daddy wanted you to go and stay with him for a bit." I spoke slowly and chose my words carefully.

"No, I want to stay here. No." she said stubbornly, but I think she was genuinely scared.

"I know baby, I know, that's what I want too." I said cuddling her into my chest.

"And that's what we have decided to try and do, Zoe and I we are going to a big room and we are going to try and make them let us look after you and stay here rather than with your dad." Ash said rubbing her back as she grabbed his hand.

"We want you to stay here but unfortunately when we take daddy tot his big room you can't stay here with us." I explained.

"So tomorrow I'm taking you somewhere and we will have to say goodbye to me for few days until I can see you again." I said tears in my eyes.

"No." she said.

"Sorry baby, I'm so sorry." I said crying

We all went to sleep early that night, none of us looking forward to the next day.

When woke up the next morning Jess I found Jess snuggled in-between Ash and I. she looked so peaceful and I my heart was wrenched when I thought about saying goodbye later on.

"Morning Auntie Zoe." She said happily, "Ash is still asleep, ssh! Don't wake him!" she laughed, putting a finger to her lips.

I laughed as he stirred in his sleep.

"Come on Jess, let's get up."

After having a quick shower I got dressed and did my hair whilst Jess chose some clothes and then played, I grabbed a large duffel bag from one of the spare rooms and packed Jess's clothes and a few toys in it for her.

I heard Ash get up and come down the stairs to find us. It was nearly 8.

"In here." I called out to him before he went down again.

"Morning," he said yawning.

"Ash, you're awake!" Jess yelled at him rushing over and jumping up at him.

"Morning Jess, have you had breakfast?" he asked her as she settled in his arms, suddenly all wide-awake and bushy tailed.

"Not yet, Zoe hasn't either!" she shock her head disapprovingly.

"Uh oh! What does that mean?" he asked, putting Jess back on the floor.

I prepared myself for the somewhat tradition that had emerged over the past two weeks, when I didn't eat breakfast I got…

"Tickle time!" Jess shouted. Rushing over to me sitting on the floor by her wardrobe.

Ash followed and I ended up being pinned to the floor and laughing my head off as they tickled me.

We went downstairs and Ash made us all breakfat whilst Jess picked a few toys from the playroom to take with her. It was heartbreaking to think that she wouldn't be here for much linger, yet I was excited to think that I would soon be her guardian, hopefully. After breakfast Ash went to get dressed whilst Jess and I sat on the sofa and watched some TV before we headed off to the police station.

Ash came in and we said how much we would miss her and that it would all turn out alright in the end and everything happened for a reason. We gathered all her things and then we heard a knock at the door.

Clifhanger! Update ASAP.