AN: I think we all deserve a Stephen Dene in our lives xD I'm glad you liked the dress I chose. I was looking through a selection and that one spoke to me. And I'm really glad you liked my character pics! It's been a while since I've done anything creative outside of writing. I've got loads of ideas for more edits, all of which will be put on my goodreads. I actually uploaded a few more today :) And I hope we learn more about Thorpe too. He's such an interesting character.

Guilt

"You need to go back. Right now. Before this gets anymore serious."

Stephens face swam in her mind as he spoke. She heard herself talking though she wasn't aware of moving her lips. "I'm not going back. You know I can't."

And then she was walking although she wasn't intentionally moving. She was going to Janes house although the her mind fought it. No, just go back to Wexford like Stephen said or something bad will happen. And then she was in a car. How did she get there? Hadn't she just been walking? Jane was driving but she was bleeding. Her throat had been slashed, but she was still talking about defeating death. She lurched forward as the car collided with another and then Stephen was there again, but he was hurt. And then the scene changed. Maida Vale.

"Head wounds always bleed a lot."

No, go to the hospital! Go now! Her mind screamed at him but she said nothing. She followed him through to the bedroom but when she walked through the door, she found herself in the Highgate house. Stephen wasn't there but Callum and Boo were. Callum looked at her threateningly. He approached her slowly. "You got him into that accident."

Boo was shouting. "Rory did not kill Stephen!"

Yes I did, she thought. I should've gone back to Wexford like he told me. She tried to back away and crashed into someone behind her. She turned to see Stephen, pale and cold and dead. He was staring at her through crooked glasses. His head was bleeding. "You need to go back."

"Oh god." She ran past him out of the door but he was outside too. He stared at her accusingly. "It wouldn't have happened if you had listened to me." And then he fell. The street melted into Marigolds living room and he lay there on the ground, unmoving. Sid and Sadie were awake and laughing with Jane. Janes laugh was croaky. She still had no throat. Rory shook Stephen. He should be awake. Callum was there again. "You got him into that accident."

She cried. "No...no... I can bring him back."

Callum shook his head. "Dead is dead."

She wept. "No..."

His head was bleeding again. She put her hands over the wound to stop the blood, but it wouldn't. And then she felt Sadie pull her away and hold her back. Sid killed them all, one by one. Callum, Boo, Thorpe, Freddie, Jerome, Jazza and Marigold. Then he walked over to her. She looked at Stephen on the floor. He was sitting up now and smiling at her darkly, as if he knew she was about to get what she deserved.

Sid spoke clearly. "You see, my little diamond, if you had gone back to Wexford, he would never had died. And if he had never died, me and my darling sister wouldn't be here now. And if we weren't here, your friends," he waved his knife around the room, pointing at her dead friends, "wouldn't have just been killed by me. So, you see, it's all your fault."

He raised his knife and brought it down on her. She screamed...

And found herself sitting upright in Stephens arms. Real Stephen? Or dead nightmare Stephen? Her brain couldn't tell her at the moment so she screamed again, pushing him off. "Rory! It's alright. Calm down, calm down. You're alright. It's just me. Sweetheart, it's me."

She inhaled deeply as her senses came back. She was in their bedroom. He was there with her. He was real. When she saw him, she sobbed and threw her arms around his middle. He held her tightly. "Shhhhhh, it's ok now. It was just a nightmare."

She screamed heartbroken cries against his chest as a knock sounded on the door. Freddie, Callum and Boo gently peered in, bleary eyed. They'd clearly all just been woken by Rory's scream. Freddie and Boo looked at Rory with worry. Although he had just woken up, the scream from Rory and the sight of her weeping quickly made Callum alert. "Is everything ok?"

Stephen nodded gently, cradling the still half sobbing, half screaming Rory. "Just a nightmare. She'll be ok. Thanks guys."

They all nodded and quietly left. "I'll get her some water," he heard Boo say as she shut the door. Her screams had turned to sobs, and he stroked the top of her head as she worked through the terror and grief the nightmare had caused her. He whispered softly to her, telling her that it was ok, he was here, he always would be, that she was safe, that everyone was safe. The door opened gently again and Boo crept in with a glass of water and placed it on Rory's bedside table. Stephen mouthed silently to her. "Thank you."

She nodded and gave Rory a rub on the back before leaving the room. Her sobs slowly dissolved into gasps for air as she steadied herself. He felt her relax against his chest. They sat like that for a few moments before Rory pulled away gently. When he looked at her, his heart broke. Her eyes were red and several tear tracks had stained her cheeks. She sniffled as he kissed her forehead. "The underworld again?"

She tried to speak but coughed instead so she settled for a small shake of her head. He looked at her confused. "What was it then?"

She sniffed again. "It was you...telling me to go back to Wexford. But I didn't. And Callum told me that I'd done it...that I got you into that accident. And then Sid and Sadie killed everyone...and they said it was my fault." Her words were lost to fresh sobs as she remembered and Stephen leant across to her side of the bed to retrieve the water Boo had brought.

His voice was soft and small. "Here you go, sweetheart. Drink this."

She took the glass and drank between sobs. Stephen spoke gently. "It wasn't your fault. None of it. I swear to you that no one blames you for what happened. You know that. Sid and Sadie can't hurt anyone. Try not to think about it. Think about everything since then, everything that's happened in these past two and a bit years. Think about what's going to happen. The past is the past. It can't hurt us now." He took the now empty glass and put it back on the bedside table. He took her hand and held it up so they could both see her engagement ring. "Think about the future. Our future together. Think about the home we're going to make together and the family that we might have."

She smiled at him. He smiled back and kissed her before she cuddled into him once more. She heard his heart beating and calmed herself fully to the sound of it. He was right. The past was gone and the future was theirs.