So, this was going to be the Kit/Andrea/Kirsty showdown, but again, it got too long and I had to cut it down into two parts. I don't know how I keep doing this, so this time I actually am sorry...

not sorry :P

Thanks, as usual, to Jess for all your wonderful reviews!

Smithy jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder and sat upright, drowsiness making him disorientated.

"Andrea?"

"Ssshhh. She's sleeping. She's okay."

He massaged the back of his neck with one hand as he sat up and looked at Andrea. She was resting against the pillows, mouth slightly open, her breathing deep and steady. Smithy looked into the face of the nurse stood beside him.

"What's the time?"

"Just after seven," she said. "Why don't you go home, just for a little bit? You've been here all night."

Smithy shook his head stubbornly and said; "I'm going nowhere. I'm not leaving her. Can I get some water, though?"

"Sure. Why don't you come to the nurse's station? At least stretch your legs. We can leave the curtains open if that makes you feel better."

He probably could do with the stretch, but when he got up, it was with heavy reluctance and he followed her over to the nurse's station where she got some water from a dispenser. He drank it in three gulps, the cold water soothing his dry throat and looked at Andrea over his shoulder.

"Has she been okay overnight?"

"She was sick again. She asked me not to wake you up," the nurse said as his eyes widened in indignation. "She said you were already worried enough about her."

"Shouldn't I be?" he said. "That doctor, Jordan, he said she had a bleed on her brain."

"Look, it might not be as bad as it sounds. Sometimes they do work themselves out, and even if it doesn't, there are things we can do."

"Brain surgery?" Smithy said, biting his lip.

"Yes, but even that isn't as bad as it sounds, sometimes it doesn't need to be done under anesthetic. Try not to worry, that'll just make her worry even more."

She took the plastic cup from him and refilled it, giving it back. He looked at the water for a moment, then back at her.

"And what about Kit Maynard?"

"If you've been anyone but a cop, I wouldn't be able to answer that."

"But I am a cop," he said shortly. "So?"

"Concussion, broken rib, fractured wrist, other than that, he's fine. Been under police guard all night. As soon as he's fit for discharge, he's all yours."

"At last," he said and finished the second cup of water, throwing the cup in the bin. "Thanks. I needed that."

"What's he done anyway? Apart from the obvious of…" she gestured at Andrea.

"What hasn't he done?" Smithy said. "That'll take less time. Sorry, I couldn't say right now. Keep an eye on the news, though. You'll probably find out soon enough. Thanks for the water."

He went back to Andrea and closed the curtains around the bed. The weak sunshine was shining through the gaps in the blinds, making Andrea stir. She opened her eyes, screwing them up against the light.

"Smithy?" she said, blinking, her vision still not completely clear.

"Yeah," he said, sitting on the bed. "I'm here."

She blinked and looked at him, registering he was still wearing the same clothes as the previous night.

"Have you been here all night? You should have gone home."

"And let you out of my sight?" he said, pulling her to his chest. "No chance. How's your head?"

"I feel like I've been hit by a dump truck," she muttered, gingerly rubbing at her temple. "Smithy…bleeds on the brain, they can be dangerous…what if it doesn't get better?"

"Hey, you stop that right now," he said sternly. "You heard what the consultant said last night, it might work itself out and if it doesn't, they can do things to treat it. The nurse over there, she said they don't even have to do it under general anesthetic sometimes."

The thought of having brain surgery awake made her shudder, he saw it in her face and could have kicked himself.

"You're going to be fine, Andrea. Look, if you're feeling a bit better later, you might want to call your parents."

"Why?"

"Okaro called them when Kit took you. He dropped in last night when you were sleeping to say he'd spoken to them again to say we'd found you and you were…well, alive anyway."

"They're probably halfway here by now," Andrea muttered, rubbing at her eyes. As much as she loved her parents, their fussing right now was the last thing she needed.

"Well as of last night they were still in Scotland, and I think Okaro persuaded them to stay there," Smithy said, stroking her hair. "Don't you want us to meet them? Your mum got two heads or something? Your dad breathe fire?"

"Course not," she said. "It's just…they like to look after me. A bit too much. It can get suffocating sometimes."

"Oh," he said, and dropped the hand stroking his hair. "Right."

She picked up his hand and squeezed it. She said; "I didn't mean it like that, Smithy. Like I said before, I was used to being their perfect little girl. Sometimes, I think they still are in that mindset."

"There's nothing wrong with believing the best of your kids," he said, resuming the stroking of her hair.

"I know," she said. "But some parents can believe a bit too much of the best sometimes, and anyway, I want them as far out of Kit's reach as they can be. How is he? Do you know?"

"He's fine," Smithy said. "Unfortunately. Still under guard."

"Gabriel?" she said tentatively.

"Can't still be," Smithy said and looked at his watch. "He would have finished shift ages ago, someone else would have taken over by now."

"Good," she said, and sat back.

"Andrea, I'm sure he wouldn't let a man like Kit go…"

"And I'd like to believe that, but I don't. Can we have this conversation another time?"

"Yeah," he said hastily. "Sorry. It doesn't sound like he'll be here long, as soon as he's fit for discharge, he'll be nicked.

"Good," she said. "And Kirsty?"

"Her too."

"What, won't be here much longer or will be nicked?"

He hesitated, then said; "probably both."

"What did she do, Smithy? Can't you just tell me?"

"I will," he said. "But I think it should wait, just until we know what'll happen with this brain injury. I don't want it causing you any stress. It might make you worse. It doesn't involve you, though. It's her and Kit."

"She wasn't still…with him?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It's something that happened when you were travelling."

"Did she score drugs from him?"

Smithy usually would pride himself on his poker face but something must have given it away. Maybe it always did when someone knew you so well. It was half of the story, though, and maybe it would stop her fixating. She sighed, his silence speaking volumes to her.

"Sometimes I wondered," she said. "When we'd do our own thing and she'd come back acting weird. I didn't want to believe she'd be that stupid, though."

"We like to believe the best of the people we love," he said. "She doesn't deserve your loyalty."

"Why does that mean you have to arrest her?"

"Well she's been covering things up, Andrea, she knew why he'd really come back, she was in contact with him and she drugged me. Please," he said. "Don't ask me not to press charges. She needs to take some responsibility for her actions."

Andrea closed her mouth and sighed, nodding. "Sorry. I shouldn't have even thought about it."

"I can't forgive her," he said. "For what she's done. Not to me, to you. She knew and said nothing. We could have kept a closer eye on you. This all could have been avoided."

"She wasn't blessed with a backbone."

"That's no excuse."

"I know it isn't," Andrea said with a sigh. "Even though I hadn't spoken to her for years, I still made excuses for her in my head."

"We do that too for the ones we love," he said. "It doesn't help them though. Maybe coming down on her hard will make her grow up."

"I hope so," Andrea said. "She does have a child who needs her. Sounds more like Marc's more interested in screwing the nineteen year old."

"Yeah, well, from a selfish point of view, I'm glad he did," Smithy said. "I meant what I said yesterday. I love you. You don't have to say anything else, not right now. I just had to say it, because for a while there, I didn't think I'd get the chance."

"I'm glad you did," Andrea said and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He held her back and they stayed that way until the curtain slid open around her bed. Sam poked her head in.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," Andrea said, waving her in.

"How're you feeling?"

"Okay," Andrea said. "Just got a bit of a sore head."

"I'm not surprised, being tossed around in the boot like that. I've been to see Mr. Maynard, read him his rights."

"What did he have to say for himself?" Smithy asked, lip curling.

"Not a lot. Mainly two words, second one being 'off'. I've left Tony watching him. I've never seen him look at anyone with that much hate. It was a bit scary actually."

"Everyone has their limits," Andrea said. "I think I'll be here for a few days.

"By which time, he'll be behind bars, and we'll get a full statement from you then. I don't think it's very wise to do that now with a brain injury."

"Thanks," she said and glanced at Smithy. "Could I get some water please?"

He raised a knowing eyebrow and said; "I'll take a slow walk."

He left, and Andrea glanced up at Sam

"Listen, Sam, I know you only asked me to talk to your friend when you were looking for Kit, but…"

"Of course," she said and sat on the end of the bed. "I think you could probably do with someone to talk to after all this, someone impartial. I'll have him reschedule."

"Thank you," she said. "Kirsty…"

"What's Smithy told you?"

"Nothing, really, just that she's in a lot of trouble."

"Yeah, she is. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to find out now. Not because I want to keep it from you, because your health comes first."

It didn't look like anyone was going to give her a different answer and Andrea found herself wondering just how badly Kirsty had messed up. She sighed, and nodded. Sam patted her hand.

"Look after yourself," she said. "Well, I'd better get back outside and do some crowd control."

"Crowd control?"

"Yeah, there's some kind of protest going on out there, it's getting kind of rowdy. Hopefully that's all it'll be. I'll check back in with you later."

She left and Smithy returned, a jug of water and a cup in his hands. He poured her a cup and handed it to her.

"They still don't think you should eat," he said. "Just in case they need to act quickly or anything."

"I don't think I could anyway," Andrea said, grimacing and took a mouthful of water. "I'm going to talk to a therapist. Sam's arranging it."

"Oh," he said. "Good. You know you can always talk to me, but maybe this will take someone a bit more…impartial."

He sat beside her on the bed, and put his arm around her. She laid her head on his chest, feeling comfort in the steady beating of his heart. He resumed the twisting of her hair around his fingers, an action she loved.

"So, tell me," he said. "What exactly does 'bawbag' mean?"

Andrea laughed at the memory of yesterday and said; "well put it like this, it only applies to the men."

He laughed too and said; "well, you did say it was accurate."

Smithy yawned then, and covered his mouth with his hand. Andrea looked at his lank hair, puffy eyes and drawn face and she nudged him.

"Smithy, go home. Get some sleep."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You're exhausted. You need some rest, too, and you can't get it here. You had concussion, you need proper rest."

"I don't want to leave you, not whilst he's here."

"Tony's not going to let him go anywhere," she said reasonably. "And it's not like he can just storm onto the ward. Go and get some rest. Come back in a few hours."

He had to admit, he was tired but got up rather reluctantly and bent down to kiss her head.

"I'll be a few hours' tops."

"Take all the time you need," Andrea said. "Oh and be careful when you leave; Sam said something's going on outside."

"What?"

"Don't know, a protest or something. Apparently it was getting rowdy."

"Nothing ever changes in Sun Hill," he said. "I'll keep my phone on, just in case."

"If it makes you happy," she said. "It'll make me happy if you look after yourself too."

He smiled and left. Andrea waited a good ten minutes before swinging her legs out of the bed and getting gingerly to her feet. She really did want Smithy to get some rest, but she also wanted to see Kirsty. No matter what everyone had said about her health coming first, wondering what on earth she could have done was driving her crazy. She pushed her way through the curtains and a nurse came hurrying to her from the station, a stern look on her face.

"You need to get right back into bed," she said, a tone to match her expression. "We can't have you wondering around with a head injury."

"I just wanted to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, well, just use the nurse call bell," she said, pointing her towards the ward bathroom. "We need to keep a close eye on you with a subdural hematoma."

"Right. Sorry."

"I'll wait out here. Don't lock the door, just in case we need to get in quickly. I won't let anyone else in."

"Thanks," Andrea said and went in, ignoring the urge to lock the door anyway. She went to the mirror above the sink and looked in, taken aback by her reflection. Everyone around her, Smithy included, must have the poker faces of legends. She expected she'd have a bit of bruising after Kit's punching, but her face was a mass of black and blue. She eased herself out of her gown, letting it fall to the floor. Her body wasn't much better, no wonder she ached all over. At least the worst hadn't happened, Nick Jordan had confirmed that, but she would guarantee that he would have gotten a kick out of her thinking he had. She jumped as there was a knock at the door.

"You okay in there?" the nurse called.

"Yeah, fine," she said and redressed, flushing the toilet for effect. She washed her hands and exited, the nurse walking her back to her bed space.

"Now you stay here," she said. "And use that bell if you need anything, that's what it's there for."

Andrea nodded resignedly, wondering if she'd be sat on the naughty step next time she dared to so much as poke a toe out of the bed. She sat down. Maybe she would just have to wait to find out what Kirsty did. A sudden, loud bang made her jolt back up and dive for the curtains. All around her, other patients and nurses were poking their heads around curtains and desks, looking to the ward doors; the source of the noise.

As mornings had gone, it wasn't the start the officers of Sun Hill had imagined, and it certainly wasn't a typical one. The call had come in from Bex Reynolds, a member of the Accident and Emergency reception staff, asking for assistance as a crowd had become rather rowdy and the security were unable to cope. They had arrived to a crowd; rowdy, yes, but at that point, contained, though some were shouting and holding handmade signs, bearing slogans such as 'let life live' and 'no right to take life'. The police were met by a consultant who introduced himself as Harry Harper, pointing out a woman in a grey jacket, and explaining she was the root of the 'protest.' When confronted by Gina Gold, she'd displayed insolence at first, but the Inspector's short demeanor seemed to tell her pretty quickly that she shouldn't carry on, and she explained. Her name was Rachel Shaw

"And what's this all about, Ms. Shaw?" Gina asked, forcing pleasantness into her tone.

"It's about getting someone in there to take some notice," Rachel said, pointing over Gina's shoulder to the building.

"Which is what you need to give us to hold a demonstration like this!"

"What," Rachel said, her lips curling into a sneer, "so you can stop it?"

"No, so it can be controlled properly," Gina retorted, casting her eyes over the shouting crowd. "What you're doing is illegal!"

"And you're going to tell me what they're doing in there isn't?"

"Tell me what you mean."

Rachel's face crumpled, the first real sign of any other emotion than anger and she said; "my babies are in there. My only chance to be a mother, and this hospital is throwing them away like last week's rubbish! So don't tell me about my rights to protest!"

Gina eyed the woman silently. Except for a select few people, she kept her pain about being unable to bear children close to her chest; even Adam didn't know the true extent of her anguish and he'd been the man she'd left when she'd discovered she was infertile, so he could be free to have the children he'd craved. He'd told her years later, when he'd come to Sun Hill as Superintendent, that it wouldn't have mattered to him and had been angry, because until then, he'd had no idea why she'd ended their relationship. It was hard not to be sympathetic.

"I just want someone to listen, realize what they're doing to me!"

"Yeah, all right Rachel, I understand that, but when you say the hospital have got your babies…"

"I suppose you've got children?" Rachel said, a curl to her lip and Gina wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"No."

"Oh, career first, huh?" Rachel retorted, a hint of judgement creeping into her tone. "Well, I was never like that. Kids were all I ever wanted! My husband didn't quite agree, he wanted us to wait until the right time."

"Well, that's quite common."

"Except we waited for the right time for too long; I got sick. Not something he accounted for. Now, I haven't got a choice! That's why I'm here!"

She brushed past Gina and went over to a group of friends, leaving the Inspector to return to speak to Harry Harper. He explained, in a somber tone, that Rachel and her husband had her embryos stored when she'd been found to have ovarian cancer; some forward planning, as the treatment she needed would leave her unable to conceive naturally. When she had recovered, she'd made an application to have the embryos implanted, but her – now ex – husband had blocked it, and though she had appealed, the judge had found in favor of her husband, and consequently, the embryos were due to be destroyed that same day. Gina thought how she'd like to give a swift kick up the backside to the ex-husband; for making her wait for children, and then refusing her only chance, and another one to the judge for being an unsympathetic tool. She pushed the vindictiveness away; as much as she understood, she needed to be impartial. She excused herself from speaking to the consultant and went back to Rachel, who was looking at her as she approached, with something like a plea in her face.

"Rachel," she said. "I've just spoken to the consultant, and I'm sorry for what's going to happen."

"Those are my babies they're killing!" Rachel shouted. "I can't sit at home and do nothing, and don't tell me you could either!"

"You won't stop this happening!"

"I just want someone in charge to come out here and talk to me!" she said, sounding on the verge of tears.

"All right, look," Gina said, and looked over her shoulder to where Harper was standing, "I can't promise you that, but I'll make you a deal; you stay, you keep this peaceful, and I won't move you on."

Rachel was silent, a hand to her mouth, and Gina's tone became more forceful.

"Look, are we agreed? Or I'll just break this up…"

"No!" Rachel interrupted, now sounding resigned. "Fine. Thank you for understanding."

It hadn't stayed peaceful. Not long after Rachel had agreed to Gina's terms, a van had screeched to a halt outside the A&E and another group of people had spilled out, shouting and yelling. Gina wasn't sure if Rachel had been expecting them or not, after all, words of protest spread quickly, and not everyone was there for the good of the cause, but rather to cause trouble. Gina was sure that these newcomers fit that profile, and she was right. It wasn't long before the officers were overcome, trying to stop the protesters blocking emergencies from being brought into the Accident and Emergency. After Roger and Lance had forced yet another duo from obstructing the doors, cuffing them, Gina went back over to Rachel, who was standing with her arms crossed, coolly surveying the chaos. Harry Harper had just given her some information that she was sure was going to escalate things.

"Rachel, I'm sorry, I tried to get someone to come and speak to you, but the decision is out of their hands as far as they're concerned."

Rachel shook her head as if Gina was part of a conspiracy, had betrayed her too, like her ex-husband.

"It should never have come to this, Mike used to love me."

"Rachel," Gina said, trying to keep her tone understanding. "This isn't going to change anything,"

"All I ever wanted was to be a mum," Rachel said tearfully. "To have that chance, what right have they got to take that away from me?"

Gina guessed a lot more people were thrown into the 'they,' rather than the hospital; the ex-husband, the courts and maybe even the police. But the hospital, being where the embryos would be destroyed, bore the brunt of her hurt.

A man's voice carried out over the crowd, seemingly able to make himself heard over the shouting crowd

"This is a waste of time! If they won't come outside and talk, we should go in there and make them listen!"

Shouts of agreement burst out and the crowd charged; half towards the A&E entrance, and the others to a newly arrived ambulance. With too many people, not enough officers, and protesters running in all directions, the officers were incapacitated. The hospital was stormed.

"Sierra Oscar one to Sierra Oscar!" Gina shouted into her radio. "Urgent assistance required at St Hugh's A&E!"

Some protesters charged through a set of double doors, Gina grabbed the arm of Harry Harper, who made to follow, shouting after them.

"Where do those doors lead to?"

"The rest of the hospital!" he said. "Can't you do something? Get backup? It should never have come to this!"

"Yeah, let's save the debriefing until later, shall we? Get your security to guard those doors, stop anyone else getting in!" Gina went back to the group, and sought out Rachel standing in the middle of them. "I thought we'd agreed to keep this peaceful, you have to leave now!"

"No!" she retorted, over the chants of 'we shall not be moved'.

"Look, you're the focus of this! If you go, they'll follow!"

"Why should I? I'm glad all these people have come to support me! The more of us there are, the more they'll have to listen!"

"I'm only going to ask you once more!"

"You can ask as many times as you like, I've come this far, I'm not leaving now!"

"Rachel, inciting public disorder is a criminal offence, you could face a custodial sentence for this!"

"Look," she said angrily. "All I've got is three perfectly healthy embryos in this hospital. If I let them be destroyed, what's the point? I may as well be dead!"

Tony heard the call for assistance from his radio, but had already heard the protest long before that, grow steadily louder. A glance out of the window told him the crowd was growing bigger, but he was under strict instructions to stay where he was.

"Hey, fatboy," Kit taunted. "You deaf as well as greedy? I think your friends need help. Or is that why you're here? They know you'd fall on your fat ass trying to catch anyone?"

Tony wasn't going to dignify that with a response, and crossed his arms, surveying Kit with an expression which made him look both stern and terrible.

"Not very chatty, are you?" Kit said. "What, too stuffed on doughnuts, are you?"

Tony didn't even bother rolling his eyes; he'd heard this a dozen times before, when a criminal had no other smart remarks to give, it all came back to his gait. It hadn't bothered him then, and it still didn't.

"I'd shut up and think about what you're going to say in court if I were you, and just a word of warning; the judges here won't take kindly to smart remarks."

Kit's eyes widened and Tony could tell he was mocking him.

"Oh no, a judge! Listen fatboy, I was jailed in Venezuela; I guess even you don't need to use your imagination that hard to know what that was like. You think a silver spoon assed judge scares me?"

"Except this time, you're not going to be jailed for a puny seven years, Mr. Maynard, we take a bit more of a harsher sentence on murder."

"Please," he said. "I can't wait for the trial. Andrea in the witness box? Will they let me have popcorn?"

Tony was silent at that; he couldn't even pretend he and the others wouldn't be concerned about that; even after what had happened over the last few weeks, given what Andrea had been doing in Sun Hill in the first place, any defense barrister would rip her to shreds. Kit closed his eyes and leant back against the pillows.

"Yeah. That's what I thought."

"Listen, you…"

The defense of Andrea got lost on the way to his lips as the doors on the ward burst open and a swarm of people stormed in, shouts of 'murderers!" echoing in their wake. Seeing Tony, they surrounded him, shouting obscenities and Kit took his chance, jumping up and running for the doors.

"Stop him!" Tony shouted to the staff, but they were equally as overcome with the angry crowd. He saw the smug smile on Kit's face as he disappeared through the double doors, and pulled his radio to his mouth, shaking off the hands of the protesters trying to yank it off him. "Assistance required, Florence Ward, floor three! Ward stormed by protesters and suspect Kit Maynard has absconded, repeat, Kit Maynard has absconded!"