“Ready to go?”  Mr C asked and acknowledged the round of nods before falling in next to Paula and indicating us to head towards the exit.

Spencer looked so fragile. So broken.

She must have felt me looking at her; she had an uncanny ability of always knowing when my attention was focused on her, as she looked at me as I fell into step beside her.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I wanted to grab her hand. I wanted to walk close to her.

But after the way she had been reacting to me in the room, I didn’t want to cause her more stress.

Her eyes bore into mine and I think she had an idea what I was thinking as I felt the back of her hand brush against mine. Reflexively I smiled and looked at our hands as they gently brushed.

It made my heart swell. It wasn’t much but I would take anything, so long as she wasn’t pushing me away.

Spencer was moving a lot more slowly and awkwardly than usual so it took us a while to reach the hospital exit. Paula, Spencer and I waited by the entrance while Mr C went to fetch the car so that Spence wasn’t forced to walk across the huge expanse of car park.

“Are you sure about this Spencer? Your father and I would feel so much better if you just came back home.”  I looked sharply at Paula. If she made Spencer go home then she had better expect me to follow her there.

I’m not letting her be alone. Mr C was right I needed to help her through this.

“I want to go back to the loft Mom.” Spencer’s voice was quiet and rough from all the crying she’d been doing.

“But Spence…”

“Paula.” I cut in sharply. “She said she wants to come back to the loft.”

“Well Ashley I don’t think you are the person who should be making these decisions!”

“I didn’t make this decision! Spencer did. And I would think she was the person who should be making the decision, so just…”

I didn’t finish what I was saying. I heard Spencer whimper softly beside me and I turned towards her. She had her head bowed and seemed to have shrunk even smaller into herself. It struck me that the animosity was probably making her extremely uneasy, I gently and slowly reached out for her hand.