Chapter Text
It took a bit of time, but with reassurance and gentle coaxing, Carla managed to get Lisa sat on the edge of the hospital bed. The blonde’s face was blotchy and tear stained from crying, and she clutched at her side, obviously in a bit of pain. This situation had all gotten a bit too much for Lisa - never in a million years did she think her sister would ever stoop this low. Kirsty had now just made things ten times worse for herself now she’d taken Lily and run away.
“Everything is going to be okay, Lisa. I promise.” Carla murmured quietly, placing a comforting hand on the blonde’s arm, stroking her thumb up and down soothingly.
“You can’t promise that. I’ve let her down, Carla.” Lisa whimpered, feeling a lump forming in her throat, a fresh wave of tears surfacing. “I’ve let you all down.”
“Hey, don’t be so silly. You’ve not let anyone down.” Carla responded in a gentle but firm tone. Lisa was always so hard on herself, and the brunette wished with all her might that she could take that hurt away from the detective. “Lisa, look at me.” Carla uttered, watching as Lisa slowly tilted her head up to meet her gaze. “We’ll get Lily back, okay?”
“But what if we don’t, Carla? I promised Lily I’d keep her safe and look what’s happened.”
“You didn’t bleedin’ well know that Kirsty and that monster would turn up, did you? Cut yourself some slack, Lisa.” Carla pleaded, wanting Lisa to know that what had happened wasn’t her fault.
The nurse that had been trying to persuade Lisa to get checked out had stayed in the room, watching the scene unfold in front of her. “The police are on their way to take your statement Mrs Swain, and they are very much aware of the whole situation. Until then, I really advise that you get your injuries assessed and taken care of. The doctors will more than likely want to send you for an X-ray and a CT scan just to rule anything sinister out. You have sustained multiple blows to the abdomen, and you were unconscious when the passerby came to your aid. Please let us help you.” The nurse explained in a calm tone of voice, hoping that Lisa would finally allow them to treat her.
“No…no I can’t!” Lisa hopped up off the bed quickly, shaking her head. “I’ll be waiting for hours to go for a scan! We’re wasting valuable time! I have to get out there and find Lily! What if she gets hurt?” Lisa ranted, feeling herself beginning to spiral once again, wincing at the pain in her side.
“Mum?”
Lisa’s head swung around instantly to face Betsy, who had been stood as still as a statue, taking in what her Mum had been saying. The teen’s brown orbs were filled with tears threatening to fall, a concerned look etched on her face.
“B…Betsy?” Lisa stuttered, not realising just how much this situation was affecting her daughter. Of course it would affect her. Lily meant a lot to the three of them, but Betsy had very much become a big sister to Lily.
“Please get yourself checked out. If you push through without being treated, you’re going to make yourself feel even worse.” Betsy sniffed, lifting a hand to swipe away a couple of tears that had fallen down her cheeks. “I’ve already lost one Mum. I don’t want to lose you too.”
“You’re not going to lose me Betsy!” Lisa shot back, a little harsher than she intended.
“Well you’re not doing yourself any favours! You’re clearly in a lot of pain!” Betsy jabbed, her Mum wasn’t fooling anyone - she clearly wasn’t alright.
“I’m fine!” Lisa countered, wincing once more at the searing pain in her side.
“Oh, here we go again!” Betsy snapped, gesturing her hands up in the air exasperatedly. “I thought we’d got past you putting yourself in harms way…but obviously not! Don’t you care about what happens to us if you die?!”
“I’m not going to die Betsy!” Lisa rebutted, feeling herself losing control of the situation. The mother and daughter had finally been getting back on track, and the last thing Lisa wanted to do was to argue with Betsy and set them back from the progress they had made.
“That’s what Mum used to say and look what happened! She got herself killed on duty!” Betsy yelled, stunning Lisa into silence.
After a few moments of silence, Betsy’s voice could be heard - it was considerably quieter now, more fragile. “Please Mum. Get yourself checked out. For us. For Lily. We need you here safe and well.”
“Betsy’s right.” Carla murmured gently, snaking her arm around Lisa’s back, rubbing soothing circles to steady her, being careful of her injuries. “You’re no use to anyone if you’re injured, love.” Carla added, hoping that Betsy’s words would help Lisa see some sense and finally accept some help.
“Fine.”
A little while later, Lisa’s facial injuries were all patched up, and an urgent request for the scans were sent away. Lisa was now sat anxiously in the hospital bed, waiting for a colleague to come by and take a statement about what had happened. Even though the blonde detective had been informed that there was a whole team of people searching for Lily, she couldn’t help but feel like a failure for not doing more.
Lisa had worked so hard to get where she was in her line of work, and sitting doing nothing was hurting her. She wanted to be out there in the thick of it, searching high and low for her niece. Lisa knew her team were more than capable of doing the job correctly and that they’d be on it - trawling through public CCTV cameras in the area, trying to track down the vehicle Drew and Kirsty were driving, but she just couldn’t shift the feeling that she should be doing more.
The sight of Kit Green soon came into view, causing Lisa to push those thoughts from her mind. She let out a deep sigh taking in Kit’s form.
Why did it have to be him?
“Hello, DS Swain.“
“What are you doing here?” Lisa queried, rolling her eyes a little.
“I’m here to take your statement.”
“I bet you’re loving this, aren’t you?” Lisa asked sarcastically, knowing that Kit loved any opportunity he could get to get one up on her.
“I can assure you, DS Swain, that I’m taking this very seriously. I may put up this front, but I’m not completely heartless.” Kit retorted, watching as Lisa’s face softened a little at his words. “I promise, we are going to do everything we can to get your niece back safe and sound.”
After a pregnant pause, Lisa’s voice broke the silence. “Thank you.”
Once Lisa had given her statement to DC Green, he left with the promise that he would update her as soon as he heard anything.
Now all they had to do was wait.
As soon as Lisa was given the all clear from the scans she’d be out of there.
She just had to find Lily.
It seemed like they had be driving for hours, the never ending sight of the motorway passed by as Drew continued to drive at an alarming speed. They had no set plan other than to keep driving for as long as they could.
“Mummy?” Lily whispered, tilting her head up to look at Kirsty.
“Yes, Lily?” Kirsty asked, peering down to meet her daughter’s blue eyes.
“I need the toilet.”
“Can you try and hold it for me? We need to keep driving, poppet.”
“No. I can’t.” Lily shook her head sadly, holding onto her stomach, clearly desperate.
Kirsty took a breath to steady herself before catching Drew’s attention. “Babe, we need to pull into a service station. Lily needs the loo.”
“Are you serious?” Drew quizzed, his voice filling with annoyance.
“Yes. Do you want her to have an accident in your car?”
“Urgh! Fine!”
Pulling off the motorway, they soon found themselves outside a small service station. Drew haphazardly parked up the car and turned off the engine. Turning round to face Kirsty and Lily who were huddled in the back, he spoke in a menacing tone, his face like thunder.
“I swear to God, if you pull any sort of funny business in there, you’ll regret it.”
“We won’t.” Kirsty shot back quickly, trying to keep Drew from getting angry. “We promise we will be back in a few minutes.”
After making quick work of getting Lily to the bathroom in the service station, the two of them emerged from the toilets. As they began making their way towards the door, Lily suddenly let go of her Mum’s hand, stopping in her tracks. She really didn’t want to go back in the car, and after spotting that the service station attendant was watching them, boy was she going to kick up a fuss.
“Lily?” Kirsty turned to face the six year old, frown lines worrying her brow. “Come on poppet. We have to go back to the car now.” Kirsty coaxed gently, not wanting to cause a scene or attract any unwanted attention towards them.
“No!” Lily shook her head furiously. “I don’t want to!”
“Come on, this isn’t like you.” Kirsty bent down and grabbed onto Lily’s hand again, tugging on it to get her daughter to move. “Please just behave for me, Lily.”
Lily yanked her arm away from Kirsty once again, a scowl appearing on her face. “No! I don’t want to go to the car! I want to go back to Auntie Lisa’s house!”
Kirsty straightened up, scoffing a little at the six year olds words. “Oh yeah? And what’s so great about staying with Auntie Lisa? Huh?” Kirsty asked petulantly, growing increasingly frustrated that Lily was misbehaving like this. They needed to get back to the car, and fast. Otherwise, Drew would be furious with them.
“Auntie Lisa reads with me every night. She helps me with my homework. She lets me watch Disney over and over again! She even took me to the Christmas Village with Betsy and Carla to meet Santa!” Lily reeled off, the list of things that Lisa had done for her the past couple of months was endless. “I wish Auntie Lisa was my Mummy!”
Kirsty stilled at her daughter’s words, tears immediately forming in her eyes. How had she allowed things to get this bad? Even her own daughter hated her. “Y…You don’t mean that.” Kirsty spoke, feeling her voice faltering, biting down on her bottom lip to stem the tears.
“Yes I do! Auntie Lisa doesn’t shout at me or make me feel sad! She listens to me, and tells me how clever I am!” Lily hollered loudly, feeling herself getting more and more upset. “Take me back! Please!”
“I can’t do that Lily! You know I can’t!”
“What the bloody hell is going on?!” Drew’s booming voice could be heard as he suddenly came crashing through the doors. “You’re taking too long! We need to go now! Hurry up!”
“No!” Lily wailed loudly as she plonked herself down on the floor in protest.
“Right, that’s it!” Drew bellowed as he reached over and grabbed Lily’s arm, yanking her up off the floor. “Get up you little brat!”
“Ow! Stop! You’re hurting me!” Lily cried, kicking her legs and flailing her body around.
“I don’t care! Get in the car! NOW!” Drew roared, dragging Lily’s tiny body in the direction of the door.
The service station attendant had been watching the whole scenario, and as the three of them scarpered back to the car, the attendant quickly grabbed their phone. Having a gut feeling that something wasn’t right, they quickly typed a number on their phone screen before pressing the call button.
“Police please.”
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Lisa had finally been taken away to get her CT scan and X-ray. Whilst Lisa was away, Carla and Betsy were shown through to wait in the relatives room. After checking that Betsy would be alright on her own for a little bit, Carla rushed outside the hospital building to phone Ryan and Roy to make them aware of the situation.
Appearing in the doorway of the relatives room, Carla took in the sight of Betsy, who was holding her phone up in the air, obviously trying to get a better signal. Padding over to the seats holding two takeaway cups, Carla held one out to teen - she’d made a pit stop to grab them both a coffee. “Here…”
“I thought you said I shouldn’t be having coffee at my age.” Betsy teased, watching as Carla sat down next to her.
“Well, I thought we might need a little pick me up, but I can always bin this and stop those daily lattes if you’d rather.” Carla retorted playfully, feeling the cup being snatched from her hand in an instant.
“No! No this is great. Thank you.” Betsy settled back into her seat, cradling the cup of coffee like it was the most valuable thing on earth.
“Trying to get a hold of someone, were you?” Carla asked, gesturing to Betsy’s phone that lay beside her.
Betsy nodded her head in response. “I was just letting Mason know what’s happening, but the signal in here is pants.”
“Mason? That rat bag?” Carla quizzed, raising an eyebrow, not sure how to feel about Betsy hanging around with him.
“He’s alright you know.” Betsy replied, shrugging her shoulders a little. “I know he’s done some horrible stuff in the past, but he’s really trying to turn his life around.”
“Does your Mam know you’re hanging around with him?”
“She’s seen me around with him before. Not that she was pleased about it. But between college, work, and all this stuff with Lily, I’ve not really seen him much.”
“Well, just be careful, okay? His brothers are dangerous.”
Betsy nodded her head, taking a sip from her coffee, allowing a comfortable silence to engulf them. However, soon enough, Betsy’s voice spoke up, quiet and mouse like. “I can’t believe this is happening, Carla. Mum’s been through so much, and the universe is so intent on putting her through the wringer.”
“Your Mam’s a tough cookie. But everyone needs a little help now and then. She just needs to realise that she’s got that support around her.”
“I’ll kill him for hurting her like this.”
“You and me both. We better form a queue though, Roy and Ryan want to take a swipe at him an’ all.” Carla replied before taking a sip from her own coffee, a wave of anger washing through her. If Carla ever managed to get her hands on that monster, well…he wouldn’t make it out alive.
“You really love Mum, don’t you?”
Carla froze at the teen’s words, not expecting to hear that from Betsy. Since the start of their relationship, Carla had been so careful not to step on any toes - the last thing she wanted to do was upset the dynamic between Betsy and Lisa. They’d just managed to get their relationship back on track, and Carla didn’t want to throw that off kilter. Nodding her head confidently, Carla craned her head round to face the teen. “I do…more than I’ve ever loved anyone before. I know that this is all new for me, but your Mam means everything to me Betsy.” Carla admitted, a goofy grin appearing on her face. “I know you’ve had your reservations because you don’t want your Mam to get hurt, but I’m in this for the long haul. I love your Mam. And you and Lily an’ all. You all mean a lot to me.”
“Well that’s good. Cause you’re actually growing on me.” Betsy quipped playfully.
“Like mould?”
“You said it. Not me.” Betsy shot back with a cheeky smirk.
“Hey!” Carla chuckled, nudging her shoulder against Betsy’s, grateful that she had warmed to the idea of her and Lisa’s relationship.
“In all seriousness though, thank you for giving us a chance. I know I can be trouble and a bit of a handful, but things have been so much better at home. You’ve been a big help in that. You’ve been so good for Mum. She’s the happiest she’s been in ages.” Betsy explained, letting her head fall onto Carla’s shoulder.
Carla bit down on her lip as she peered down to the teen, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss into her blonde hair. “Thanks, kid.”
Not long after their heart to heart, Carla and Betsy were informed that Lisa was back from her scans, so the two of them headed back through to see her. They weren’t surprised in the slightest to see how antsy and fidgety Lisa was - dying to get out of the hospital as soon as she could.
The sound of Lisa’s phone ringing soon snatched their attention. Scrambling to pick up the phone, Lisa winced a little at the pain in her side before swiping to accept the call.
“DC Green?” Lisa questioned quickly, hoping it would in fact be him phoning with some good news.
“We’ve had an update on your sister.”
“Already?”
“Yes. We’ve tracked them down on ANPR camera footage and CCTV footage. We’ve followed the footage from the area surrounding Lily’s school right onto the motorway. Seems like they’re headed down south.” Kit explained, wanting to get all the information to Lisa as quickly as possible. “But that’s not all. We had a service station attendant that’s based roughly an hour and a half away from here phone in and we’ve linked it to them. The attendant was extremely concerned about the behaviour of a couple matching the descriptions of Drew and Kirsty. They also said that a young girl in a school uniform was having a meltdown about going back to the car and felt that she wasn’t safe with them. The reg plate, colour and make of the car have been confirmed by them too.”
“Oh my god.” Lisa stuttered slightly, unable to believe how quickly they’d managed to track them down.
“We’ll catch them, Lisa. There’s a team of officers hot on their heels as we speak.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Lisa spoke, a grateful tone to her voice.
After saying goodbye to Kit and hanging up the phone, Lisa tilted her head back and looked up to the ceiling. A fresh wave of tears surfaced in her green eyes as relief washed through her.
“What did they say, Mum?” Betsy questioned, noticing Lisa’s green eyes welling up.
“Through camera footage they’ve managed to confirm the vehicle and followed them heading down south. Plus a call was made from a service station saying they’d spotted them. Kit’s positive they’ll be able to get them.”
“That’s amazing Lisa.” Carla reached over and grabbed onto her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“They’ll catch them, Mum. I’m sure of it.”
“I sure do hope so kiddo.”
Lily needed to come back home to them.
She just had to.