February 2018

Almost a week had passed, she was still frightened and jumped at her own shadow but today was the day she was returning to work, not for a shift, to discuss next steps with Neil but she would have to face the whispers and the looks of disgust from the people Dec had turned against her. She had made it to Neil's office without seeing anyone but it was a ridiculous time of the morning for a Saturday, but then that was the joys of Smithy working in uniform. He had also returned to work this morning, he had walked her to Neil's office and she missed him already, the safety and care he oozed. "How are you doing?" Neil's voice startled her back to the room, back into the chair she had rested into.

"Erm, I'm okay, I have a lot of support, more than I deserve"

"You have a lot of friends Stevie" he smiled at her "Have you heard anything from Declan?"

"No but I don't think he knows where I am"

"Okay and he is aware of the injunction. Obviously he has been interviewed"

"What has he said?"

"That he has never hurt you in any way and that he doesn't control you. He has admitted to having control over your money, he says you were struggling with a spending addiction"

"It's lies Sir"

"Even so Stevie, this is going to come down to your words against his. DI Watson has a tough task ahead of her and then obviously we have to convince the CPS to press charges"

"What are you saying?"

"Stevie, I will do everything I can but if the criminal aspect gets thrown out, I'm not sure an internal investigation will be in your best interests"

"So he gets away with it? After everything he has put me through?"

"Stevie, if he doesn't face charges that doesn't change what has happened, it doesn't change the fact he is a monster but" he took a deep breath "He could potentially return to work"

"He will come back to work here?"

"Potentially yes, I wouldn't have the evidence to get rid of him but I promise you, I will never stop looking for it".


Stevie had been to see Smithy in his office, only letting him in on certain parts of information, like they were still collecting evidence, she couldn't risk him believing Dec and turning against her. Jo had dropped her back to Smithy's, she had seen her inside and made her a coffee before heading off home, she had been on a night shift and she looked exhausted. Twenty minutes had passed since Jo had left and Stevie sat on the sofa cuddling Houdini, watching rubbish daytime tv. The loud bang startled her and Houdini jumped from her lap and ran away. She moved to the living room door way and stood for a few seconds, a thumping bang sounded the room again. She rushed through the hall way and into the kitchen, she grabbed her phone and switched the front door app on. Seeing the image of the man, fear shot through her whole body, her legs went weak and she felt dizzy, all her fear and weak personality came flooding into her. Tears began to stream down her cheeks "Stevie, I know you are in there, open the fucking door" his voice scared her, his accent was strong and normally something she couldn't resist in a man but right now, it petrified her. She grabbed a carving knife from the draining board as another loud band sounded the flat. "Stevie, you are all alone and I'm going no where, open the god damn door before I kick it in"

The phone rang twice before his voice soothed her "Hey darling"

"Smithy, he is here, he is at the flat, Declan is at the door"

"Okay, I'm on my way, you got the locks on?"

"No, Jo only left a little while ago"

"Okay, can you do it now?" she heard him say "Stone, grab your stuff" he was clearly running. She moved out towards the front door, inching a little nearer, the cat running past her legs startled her, she shot into Smithy's bedroom. "Stevie you okay?"

"I can't do it Smithy, I can't go to the door, I'm sorry"

"Don't be sorry Stevie, where are you?"

"I'm in your bedroom"

"Okay, try and block the door, if you can. We are in the car and I'm going to stay on the phone"

"Smithy, I'm so frightened" she could hear Declan banging on the door and she moved Smithy's washing basket in front of the bedroom door before moving over and climbing onto his bed, pulling the covers over her body. She knew it wasn't somewhere to hide but it smelt of Smithy and that was enough to make her feel a little safer.

"You are fine Stevie, I'm watching him on the camera okay, we are ten minutes away Stevie. Nate and Ben are on there way too, they are only a few minutes away". She hid further under the covers, she could hear Smithy talking to her but she had let go of the phone, she was too frightened and had the knife gripped tightly in both her hands.


Stevie heard voices, she crawled along the bed and grabbed her phone. It was Nate and Ben, she didn't know them well but they both seemed like decent blokes. "I just want to talk to her" Dec said.

"Gov, we get it" Ben spoke "But there is a restraining order, so you need to go"

"I just want five minutes with her" she heard a bang on the front door again "Stevie, come on, we can sort this, I still care for you and you are sick, you need help" he was shouting again.

"You know how it works Gov, please go" Ben spoke again "You need to go before Smithy gets here or he will want you nicked"

"Yeah, I bet he will, 'cause he wants to get in her knickers"

"Dec, we are mates, we know you but come on, you need to go" Nate touched him on the shoulder, as if to steer him away and smiled.

"Oi" she heard Smithy's voice and he appeared on screen a few seconds later "Get him out of here"

"She is a liar Smithy" Dec spoke "She will fool you the way she has fooled me"

"A liar?" he had an almost sarcastic laugh before he bellowed "So she gave her self the bruises, the burns? The waking up in the middle of the night screaming, that's a lie? You are a sick son of a bitch and you ain't never getting near her again! Nick him"

"Gov, we can just see him home" Nate spoke

"No PC Roberts, I said nick him". She watched as the two men began to read Dec his rights before they disappeared out of sight.

"I hope you know what you are doing" Callum stated as Smithy began to fiddle with the lock. "If he is telling the truth mate, she could drag you under". Stevie couldn't listen to anymore, she turned the screen off and dropped her phone to the floor.


She glanced up as the washing basket moved across the room with force. Tears still streamed down her cheeks as she sat in a small ball. "Hey, hey, I'm here" she felt Smithy's presence and she looked up at him, he put his hand over hers and removed the knife, he passed it backwards to Callum. "You are okay Stevie, look at me, you are safe". He turned to Callum "Look at her Callum, she is terrified of him", there was tension between the two men but she was too frightened to care. Callum nodded slightly and disappeared from the room and Smithy turned back to Stevie "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I was so frightened Smithy, how am I ever going to be free of him"

"We will sort it okay, he is on his way to the nick and I will let Watson know he has broken his bail conditions and his injunction"

"That won't stop him coming back though, I'm never going to be safe Smithy". He kissed her gently on the forehead and pulled her into his body "He isn't going to give up Smithy, until I'm back with him or I'm dead".

"I ain't going to let that happen Stevie, I will never let anyone hurt you again".


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