The floorboard in the hallway creaked under my feet as I made my way through the house to get to the door to basement.

Cutter must have heard me coming because he was already facing the door waiting for me as I stepped down into the basement. 'What kept you?' he joked.

I couldn't reply to him at first; he was smiling, just ever so slightly, and my heart broke for him. Not because he was sad, but because he was so happy right now and I could just tell– I had the feeling this was going to hurt.

I couldn't return the smile.

'What is it?'

I held out the plastic packet. He looked from me down to the handkerchief and his face fell. It took him a moment to resume his normality and look me in the eye again.

I knew there must be a story. And I almost don't want to ask because the way his body just completely deflated when he sat back against the window ledge in the conservatory was enough to realise that it was indeed painful. I couldn't work out why.

'Do you want to talk about?' I asked in a small voice.

He kept tracing patterns in the tiled floors for a moment longer. 'Can I ... can I ask you something first?'

The question took me aback. Because surely there wasn't anything else on his mind right now. I didn't ask. I shrugged. 'Um, yeah...'

'You said you owed him one. Connor. He saved your life, before? Do you mean that literally? It's just... sometimes I look at you and it's like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders and you're smiling despite it all. Sometimes I just think I've imagined it.'

'It's...' I paused for a second, 'it's all part of the same story.' Before he could interrupt and tell me it didn't matter if I wasn't ready, I decided to stop putting it off any longer. 'Connor and my mum and dad,' I clarified. 'My dad had issues. One day he cracked and he took a pistol off the wall and shot my mum. I was in the library and didn't even hear the gun, I found them in the dining room. I was too late and I couldn't get out. He got a hold of me. He was about to shoot me too but the police got there just in time and when they were wrestling the gun from him it went off. I was just in just the wrong place. I lost over two litres of blood but they got me to the hospital and they managed to repair a lot of the damage to my internal organs but the bullet tore up both kidneys. Connor gave me one of his.'

I didn't expect him to be able to respond straight away; it was quite an extraordinary story and I was comfortable with the silence that opened and expanded between us. 'Anna...'

I hummed. 'Yeah... ' That wasn't even the worse part but I couldn't say that. 'How long have you known Helen was still alive?'

Nick looked down at his watch. 'In total, about 8 minutes.'

'Shit.' My eyes closed for a moment in remorse as the realisation set in. 'You know what that means, don't you? There's a chance Stephen wasn't hallucinating after all and he could know something we don't.'

'He doesn't know anything,' Nick returned as he shook his head. 'He doesn't remember.'

'Of course he does,' I replied. 'It could have saved us a lot of trouble if he hadn't said he didn't. Though, I'm not sure which was the better way to find out she's alive.'

Nick shrugged. 'If it was going to come from anyone... Anna, what happened to you–'

I hadn't realised he wasn't over the confession until I after I had already heard myself interrupting him. '–No, it's okay, it's been almost 2 years now. And, I guess, I still feel it sometimes but trauma likes to hold on, doesn't it? And I am honestly okay. Grief makes people do funny things. Connor took a few years out and ate nothing but cheese puffs and didn't cut his hair. I got three bachelor's degrees in a year. Studying meant I had no time to think about anything else. And it's been incredibly useful in the end.'

'I think–' he started, before he cut himself off and corrected himself, 'no, you are. You're the strongest person I know.'

I smiled back at him. 'Oh, man, you should meet my nana.'

Nick nodded. 'I'd like to.'

'Go on, what's the story with the handkerchief?' I sat back on the windowsill on the opposite side of the back door.

'Its gonna seem stupid, after what you've just told me– trivial– you know? Helens' mad old aunt used to give us those handkerchiefs. Same present every single birthday and Christmas and we used to make jokes about it. That's a message. It means Helens waiting for me on the other side of the anomaly.'

'Just like she was in the underground.'

'Yeah.'

At that moment I heard a siren echoing from outside and turned to look down the hallway out the open front door.

Nick sighed. 'Oh, this can't be good.'

'The revelation that Helen Cutter is still alive changes everything,' Lester said angrily as he folded his arms across his chest and leant back against the dining table.

Behind me, Connor gasped. 'She's still alive?' he asked.

'Where've you been Connor?' I returned.

'How did I miss that? So, 8 years she's been living in the past? Oh my god. How are we gonna explain celebrity love island to her?'

I elbowed him hard in the ribs and he stopped talking.

'She's 8 years ahead of us in terms of understanding the anomalies. Her knowledge could be priceless and we have to share it.'

'Which is fine if she was here, but she's isn't,' Stephen added.

'Which is why we're going to go and find her. We know she wants to make contact. She's to be brought back here. By force if necessary.'

'This is my ex-wife you're talking about,' Nick returned.

'Which is way I want you to go through the anomaly and bring her back. You will of course have a military escort.'

'To do what? Shoot her if she won't come?'

'To protect you. Both of you. The alternative is you sever all ties with the anomaly project with immediate effect. And we'll go and find her ourselves.'

He brought his attention to me, to meet my gaze and I could see the cogs in his head whirring as he tried to quickly think through all his options.

'Okay,' he agreed.

'I thought you'd say that.'

'On one condition.'

'Oh what now?'

'I go on my own, there's no question of force, I'll do my best but if she doesn't want to come back then that's it.'

'How can we trust you?' Lester questioned.

'What choice do you have?' I returned.

'You will try and remember what side you're on won't you?' And rolling his eyes, Lester marched back out the door.

'Okay, so–' I cut myself off as Stephen crouched down next to me on the platform Ryan's men had constructed over the flood in the basement. I shuffled as far as I could away from him towards Nick who was already in a wetsuit and standing in the water. 'You've got about an hour of air, and a mile of rope.' I reached out tentatively to put a hand on Nick's arm, just to make sure he was listening as I continued with my request. 'I need you to take a compass reference as soon as you get there, okay?' he nodded. 'And, please, just try to stay attached.' I held the hook up in his face before I grabbed hold of the vest his oxygen was attached to and clipped him onto the rope.

'After 2 hours we'll reel you back in,' Stephen continued.

'The water pressure in the anomaly: it's going to be intense, okay? So, obviously, the harder you swim the more air you're going to use.'

'Now this...' Stephen added with a grin as he held out a harpoon gun, 'has an effective range of about 10 meters. If you have to use it against a predator wait till you see the white of its teeth.'

Nick nodded. There was a moment of calm despite my annoyance at Stephens presence and the situation as a whole, and Nick and I looked at each other.

'I've taken a reading. The field is consistent at around 5 Tesla, so, it shouldn't close within the next hour or so, as far as we can tell. If there's any change, we'll pull you back straight away. We're not gonna risk leaving you back there, there's no saying when or where it could reappear again. I'm not gonna let you die.'

'Alright,' he nodded, 'I trust you, Anna Havisham.' Winking, Nick pulled the tube of the mouthpiece up to his mouth and took one last deep breath of air, before he put the mouthpiece in and ducked below the water line.

Wordlessly, Stephen and I fed the rope through the anomaly after him.

I could feel him staring at me for what felt like ages. But every time I turned my head back over my shoulder to try and catch him in the act, he was quick enough and sly enough to look away. From what I'd learnt from Stephen in the space of these past few weeks, this honestly didn't surprise me. He'd speak on his own time, I eventually concluded, and went back to watching my watch.

It took him over an hour to pluck up the courage to actually speak.

'My memory's back,' he finally said.

I tutted. 'Your memory was never gone,' I counterposed. I looked at him, saw he was sort of trying to attempt a smile and set my jaw tighter. 'What?'

'I know why you're angry with me.'

'Really?' I asked sarcastically.

'I think we should talk about it.'

'That's a shame because now I've forgotten.'

'I remember and you forget,' he repeated, humouring me, 'typical. Look, I thought I was never going to see you again and I didn't want to die without letting you know that I... liked you.'

My eyes narrowed at him. 'You're still talking about that?' I questioned shortly.

He frowned. 'Um... yeah? Why, what are you talking about?'

Men. So clueless. 'You said I can't look after myself,' I reminded him.

'When did I say that?'

'When you said you were actively trying to keep me away from danger.'

'Yes.' He let go of the slack he was holding from the rope and hooked it over his knee. 'You aren't stupid and you certainly can't afford to be reckless.'

I shook my head. 'You don't have the right to say stuff like that.'

'For god's sake,' he sighed, 'I don't need to have the right to want to keep you safe.'

'You locked me in a car!'

He laughed. 'I don't think that's the issue.'

'No?' I retorted.

He shook his head. 'I think you like Nick... but there's a part of you that's curious about me too. But you don't know how to deal with it because I'm different to you. And I know this because you said yes to dinner.'

'I gave you incentive,' I hissed, 'something you wanted so you'd fight to get it. I used to do it with my patients all the time. I would have kept my promise; I told you I don't lie to dying men. Cheating men? Sure.'

'That's not fair.'

'You didn't think about your girlfriend, Stephen, that's on you.'

'Turns out Allison and I don't know each other that well anyway, anymore.'

'Oh,' I cooed in realisation, 'I'm just convenient for you, aren't I?'

'And you aren't for Cutter?'

I tutted and looked down at my watch again. 91 minutes gone. 'I guess we'll know you're right, if he doesn't come back...'

'And what will that prove?'

'If he only wants convenient, he'll stay with Helen.'