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noun – 1. the place where one lives. 2. an institution for people needing professional care. 3. a place where something flourishes or from which it originated. 4. the finishing point in a race.

Wrong again dictionary... so wrong...

This isn't happening... this can't be happening!

I felt as if I'd slipped into some alternate reality. I opened my mouth and tried to scream out for Charlie and Molly. I wanted to run forward and beat the living hell out of the Stagrians that had fired the shots. I felt Xandrell's arms around my waist, one hand over my gaping mouth. All I could hear was my own heartbeat, drumming horribly in my ears as I struggled against Xandrell to run after my baby, and my 'little boy'. Nothing mattered, as long as they were alive!

"Report back to the mistress." said one of the guards lowering his firearm. "Tell her that the target has been acquired, plus one other."

Charlie was so much more than just a 'one other'. I gritted my teeth, trying to keep myself from shouting profanity at the two of them. I felt my bottled up rage beginning to overflow. As they pushed their way through the trees and bushes back to the path, I turned my attention back to the river. Why was Xandrell still holding me? I needed to find them!

"Xandrell let me go!" I groaned, as it was impossible to do much else with his hand clamped over his mouth.

"Wait." he hissed, so that his breath tickled my ear.

Wait?! How was I meant to wait? My breath was coming in hard short gasps as I still tried to comprehend the situation.

Finally, after several long seconds, Xandrell released me. I didn't waste a heartbeat, leaping forward from our hiding place and sprinting along the riverbank.

"Charlie?!" I screamed his name as I ran, looking for odd shapes in the water, hoping against hope that he and Molly just might have survived.

I could feel the tears welling in my eyes as the first stretch of the river proved to be fruitless in my search. I rounded the corner by the bend in the river and then froze as I felt my heart rip in two.

Charlie was lying on his front in the shallow water by the riverbank, his suit was ripped and the water around him was stained red...

No! Charlie couldn't be...

"Charlie!" I screamed again, running forwards and wading into the shallows. The cold water bit my legs. It was like ice. I grabbed him under his arms and pulled him up onto the bank. "Oh God Charlie don't be dead!" I whispered, more as a prayer than anything.

I rolled him onto his back and dropped to my knees beside him. His forehead was bleeding madly. He was so pale, so still, and so cold, his lips tinged blue. He couldn't have gotten so cold so quickly, surely! I gripped his shoulders and shook him gently. "Charlie, please wake up! Wake up! Please don't be dead!" His head rolled limply, his shoulders sagging pathetically.

"Is he...?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Xandrell standing watching me, his mouth slightly open. Jesus! Why wasn't he helping me out here?

I didn't know what to do! One of my best friends was lying here, lifeless, because I'd asked him to try to save my daughter. I was such an idiot.

I felt my face crumple up as I placed a hand on his chest and drew my knee up to my chest to bury my face in it, not wanting to cry. What was I going to tell his parents? Charlie was an only child, they'd be heartbroken! "This is all my fault." I whispered, my fist clenching over his bloodstained shirt. "I'm sorry! I didn't want this to happen!" Who would have wanted this to happen? "I'm sorry Charlie! I'm sorry!"

My voice cracked as I whispered my pathetic apology over and over, feeling the tears beginning to slide down my cheeks. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to stop the tears falling. I'd known tonight would be hard, but I'd never in a million years actually believed I would lose one of the people closest to me. Why couldn't I turn back time? Why couldn't I have forced them to stay at the prom, it was safer than here! I wished my stupid apologies could have been enough to make a difference.

"'s'arite" mumbled a tiny voice and I looked up shocked. Charlie's eyelids were flickering.

"What the hell..." I whispered, feeling my tear ducts drying up as my horror was replaced by a new amazing thrill. He was alive!

His eyes opened a crack. "Thanks for the sympathy." he mumbled, his words barely audible. "Charlie isn't dead, what does my second mum say? 'What the hell', like she wants me to die."

"Shut up!" I told him sternly, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. "I thought I'd lost you!"

He exhaled sharply through his nose in the way he did when he was amused, before wrapping one arm around me and holding me close. "I'm human." he said softly, parroting my earlier statement. "It takes more than that to finish me off."

"What happened to Molly?" asked Xandrell suddenly, and I quickly released Charlie as I realised. He didn't have Molly!

Charlie frowned at him, as though he were trying hard to remember. "I don't know. I had her in my arms, then they shot at us... they caught my arm, see?" He gestured at his torn sleeve where underneath I could see the scored flesh and his blood covered skin. "Then I was trying to keep hold of her in the water and... and I must have hit my head because I just remember this twinge on my forehead and next thing I knew, I was back on land, about twenty seconds ago."

My jaw dropped. "You lost Molly?!"

"I suppose I must have..." said Charlie looking awkward.

My eyebrows shot up under my fringe and I fought the violent urge swelling in me to slap him hard across the face. "You lost my daughter!" I screamed. "I'll kill you! I swear if she's dead, I'll bloody murder you!"

He winced as though my words were physically causing him pain. "I'm sorry!"

"Shut up!" I yelled before leaping to my feet and sprinting off along the river again, feeling my breath coming in hard short gasps which made my lungs ache. My ribs were sore from the fierce pounding in my chest. I ignored these irrelevant things, concentrating on the tiny path along the riverbank, all the while, scanning the raging water for her little shape. We couldn't lose Molly, not when we'd fought so hard for her. There was a time for everything, a right way to lose something special. This was not it! I screamed my baby's name as I searched the river for a sign, her little pink face gasping for air, the white blanket she'd been in, anything! Anything that let me know she was still going!

Suddenly, I saw it! Her blanket was caught on a reaching branch of a low hanging tree, not too far out. My heart felt like it had skipped a beat as a small bubble of relief and hope began inflating inside me. I waded into the shallows again, the already wet hem of my dress floating upwards to drift on the surface of the water. I reached out and touched the tip of the blanket. My heart thudded as I caught hold of it. "Don't worry Moll!" I called urgently. "I've got you! Keep going!" The blanket finally came loose, and I pulled it to me, careful not to hurt the precious little bundle inside. Finally, it was in my reach. I scooped it up out of the freezing water.

It flopped open... it was empty!

"No!" I cried, looking down the river again. "No!" I yelled, scrambling out of the river and running again, along the riverbank. Then a pair of arms enveloped me. I screamed and fought against them, trying desperately to break free.

"Amy, for the love of God, calm down!" yelled Xandrell.

"Molly!" I screamed, still trying desperately to push Xandrell away. "I've got to get..."

"Amy..." He held me a little tighter and I quieted for a second to look up at him. His face was twisted, like his words were torturing him. His eyes were wet and shining, like he was trying to suppress tears. "Amy I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do... she's..."

"NO!" I screamed, falling to my knees in his arms, feeling tears spurting down my face as I cried out uncontrollably. He carefully crouched beside me, letting me scream out my anguish into his chest. How was I meant to bear it? My little girl, my daughter, she was gone! I couldn't take it. Everything we'd worked for, his main reason to stay, what I'd stood up to my father in defence against, what I'd made Jenny lie for, what I'd nearly made my friends die for. That reason was somewhere down the river, soulless, sightless, lifeless. My baby, my Molly... she was gone...

"Amy..."

I glared up at the sound of his voice. How was I meant to see him in the same light I saw him in before? I wasn't sure I could look at Charlie in the eye again. He wasn't like my little boy anymore. He was a traitor! It was his fault she was dead. It was his fault she had drowned.

"Amy I just wanted to say I'm so..."

"You think that can make this all ok all of a sudden?" I yelled, pulling away from Xandrell so I had a clear look at Charlie. I wanted to see the remorse on his face as he squirmed. "You think that somehow, apologising is going to make this all better? It's because of you, Molly's dead! She's dead! She was barely a fortnight old and you murdered her! You killed my daughter!"

He was looking at me in a slightly panicky way, holding up his hands and backing away. He looked so pathetic. "I didn't mean..."

"Of course you didn't mean it!" I yelled, getting to my feet and advancing on him, feeling my bottled up rage finally making me lash out at someone. "No-one ever means these things! Come off it Charlie, you hated her! I could tell right from the first time you saw her. You hated her!"

Charlie just looked at me for a long moment, while I stood breathing heavily as the tears on both our faces ran their course. I couldn't bear to see him cry, but a more savage part of me that I usually kept caged away deep inside me felt a grim sort of pleasure at this sight of him in pain, in misery. The part that usually dominated my being was so taken over with this horrible satisfaction that I felt sick. The only noise around us was the babble of the river and the rustling leaves behind us. It was deathly, and eerily quiet. Suddenly, Charlie shook his head at me, turned and began to walk away.

My jaw dropped, scarcely able to believe him. How dare he?! "Why the hell are you walking away from me?!" I bellowed, storming after him. "You have a lot of explaining to do here! First you murder my daughter, now you're just plain ignorant. My God, you are not the boy I thought you were Charlie!"

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, spinning on his heel to glare at me... he didn't look so young and vulnerable when he was angry. "For starters, I didn't kill Molly on purpose. You know I didn't!"

I folded my arms and glowered back at him. "Sure. Same as those aliens didn't mean to invade Earth and blow Prom up."

He shook his head at me. "I hate you, so much at times." he growled. "And for another thing..."

He trailed off, moving across to a bush and pulling away some of the branches. I frowned and moved forward to look at what he was trying to show me. My jaw dropped.

"Mummy?" whispered the dark haired baby girl that was lying on the grubby floor, looking thoroughly confused.

I felt my heart suddenly repair itself before skipping several beats. I wanted to pick her up and cuddle her close, and tell her everything was ok, and sob out my happiness until I had no tears left. I didn't dare in case the guards heard... wait a second, the guards... I suddenly realised. The whole thing had been a trick. Molly was never shot at. She hadn't been in the blanket! But that didn't matter right now. My little girl was alive, not a hair harmed!

Xandrell knelt down beside me and he also looked elated to see Molly. While he was cooing over her, I got up slowly to look at Charlie, who was standing slightly aloof.

"Well... no wonder you prefer her to me." muttered Charlie, obviously trying to disguise his shock of hearing Molly talking.

I shrugged. "That's what happens when you throw an alien-human hybrid into the mix... Charlie, you do know, all that stuff, I only said it out of anger." I told him, moving over to stand in front of him.

He nodded. "Same here." he said with a slight shrug. "I don't hate you, Amy."

I hugged him tightly, around his middle, and it suddenly occurred to me how tall he was, how low his voice was now. "How did you think that all up anyway?" I asked curiously. "You had us all fooled."

He shrugged, putting his arms around me. "I'm not stupid Amy, and I'm not a kid. I can think for myself."

I looked up at him, and suddenly, it was like I was seeing him clearly for the first time in a long time. He wasn't stupid... and he wasn't a kid... not anymore. His face was much squarer, more adult, he was so tall, now, his body was just shaped like a man's, no puppy fat, his hair, though as messy as it always was, despite being wet, just looked that much more grown up. Somehow, without me noticing, Charlie had changed from my little boy to a man... maybe that was wrong too though. He had never really been mine. Finally I saw the real Charles Dawson. It was new... it was almost scary, but it was clear as day.

I stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." I whispered. "You risked your life for her. I'm sorry you nearly got yourself killed."

He chuckled lightly. "Yeah my bad."

"Hey, Amy, can you come here for a second please?" said Xandrell suddenly. I looked around. He was smiling at me with that light in his eyes that meant he'd had an idea.

"What's wrong?" I asked, moving back to Xandrell and Molly.

"I've had an idea, like how to keep her safe." Xandrell whispered, almost excitedly. "Give me the Vederic."

I stared at him. "Why?"

"Because it has an impenetrable force field on it!" hissed Xandrell, carefully grabbing my wrist and unfastening the buckle of the wristwatch there.

"Oh..." I said as I remembered. "Of course... well remembered..."

He chuckled a little as he tapped it a few times and twisted the dial on the side and quickly tied it around Molly's wrist. "It initiates in thirty seconds." he said quietly. "Say our goodbyes now?"

I nodded, leaning forward and kissing Molly's forehead. Xandrell quickly did the same. "Ok, sweetie, you know what you have to do don't you?" I said quietly. "Lie here and don't make a sound. Someone will come for you. Someone we trust ok? If no-one comes by the time the sun comes up, I want you to scream and cry as loud as you can, until someone comes. Can you do that?"

She nodded, looking thoroughly confused. "Where are you going?"

"We have to go, sweetheart." I whispered. "It's important they don't find you, ok?"

Molly's face creased up and she reached out for me, only for her hand to be pressed against something, as though someone had just placed a glass bowl over her. Tears rolled down her face, and I couldn't look at her any longer. "We love you Moll." I whispered.

Xandrell kissed his finger and pressed it against the force field. "Goodbye sweetheart." he murmured as we lowered the bushes over her.

As we made our way back up through the trees, I heard Molly's soft sobs behind us, and I felt like my chest was being ripped apart. I knew that that could have been the last time I saw my little girl. I longed so much to go back and pick her up, and cry about how afraid I was for all of our safety, but I had to take into account that the guards could be listening for her still. I was not going to be the one who gave away her position.

We finally emerged out onto the path, feeling exhausted and looking thoroughly bedraggled. There was just time to register the slight wind blowing around us, before suddenly our friends launched themselves at us, all making odd exclamations, especially at the sight of Charlie.

"Bloody hell, Charlie's been in a fight." muttered Tasha, staring at Charlie's blood-soaked clothes.

"They told us you were dead!" cried Sophie, hugging him tightly.

"Why are you guys in the open?" I hissed. "They'll kill you!"

"Uh..." James stuttered. "Well, you see, when they reported Charlie was dead, they lifted the death penalty on everyone... except..."

"Except who?" I hissed, encouraging him.

Suddenly there was the loud rattle of many guns being cocked at the same time. I looked up. All of the guards were pointing their guns directly at...

"Except you and Xandrell, Amy." said James slowly. "And if they kill you first, they lift the penalty on Xandrell..."

I stared around at the guards, their guns staring me down. Yep this was exactly what I'd wanted to do tonight, get shot by a whole bunch of aliens. Prom was as awful as I'd expected it to be.

"Nothing personal, of course." said Kaelen's silky voice from beside her forces. "It's like when you humans have a spot on your face. Eradicate the problem, and everything's clean, clear and in order."

I felt my heart pounding, probably just giving them an easier target to aim at. I felt Xandrell beside me, slipping his hand into mine. I glanced up at him. Somehow, this seemed only right. Dying with him, finishing our adventure together.

"But..." said Kaelen, looking slightly amused by our turmoil. "I am reasonable... I have always tried to be a reasonable ruler." She nodded at Jarek. "Ten seconds."

My jaw dropped. "What?"

"Nine..."

"Amy run!" yelled Xandrell, tugging at my hand and pulling me along.

"Eight..."

I felt my heart thudding as I tried desperately to keep pace with Xandrell. My breath was coming in lung wrenching gasps of a mixture of terror, horror, and that was just from the running.

"Seven..."

I could barely concentrate. I just tried to keep my mind on keeping my legs moving, on Xandrell's hand, still clasped over mine.

"Six..."

For anyone considering trying, it is impossible to run in a prom dress. The folds of material caught under my foot and I almost went sprawling. For God's sake, of all the times for me to wear a floor length dress.

"Five..."

My hair felt like it was falling out of its gorgeous style that Tasha had spent so long trying to get perfect. What a shame...

"Four..."

I glanced to the side and all around us, searching desperately for somewhere we could run to, to try to escape.

"Three..."

My knees were throbbing, my feet were blistering in my new trainers, my lungs were aching, how was I meant to take much more.

"Two..."

There was nowhere! Nowhere to run! Only straight ahead!

"One..."

Oh God! Oh GOD!

"FIRE!"

I heard the bangs from somewhere far behind us, felt the heat of the screaming bullets or lasers or whatever it was they were firing flying around us, I could feel Xandrell's hand still clutched in mine, still holding me...

Then there was something else...

A pain hit me in the back and I felt my legs stop. Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone screaming and then...

"Cease fire! I said CEASE FIRE!"

Xandrell's arms were around me, holding me on the floor. I could hear the thudding of footsteps on the floor, hear people screaming both mine and his names, calling out to see if we were alright. I could feel him shivering.

"Jesus..." he whispered. "That was close... seriously, there's close, and then there's that."

I remained motionless, not sure as to what to say.

"Amy? Are you ok? Answer me."

How could I? How could I answer him? After all, there was no breath in my lungs to muster a response... there was nothing now... not since the pounding in my ribs had stopped...

I felt him lift me, so I was being held securely in his arms, and he shook my shoulders... but it felt as though... as though I wasn't really there... I didn't really feel it...

"Amy, you better be messing around, because this really isn't funny!" he sounded angry, but for some reason I found I didn't really care. He'd be mad, but would I be there to see it?

"Amy... oh no..." his voice was just a croak now. He sounded like he had been broken, like his soul had been completely destroyed. I felt his face burrowing into my hair, and like some forgotten memory, I heard him humming a tune, very softly... his lullaby...

"Amy? AMY!" I heard James' voice, somewhere far above me. "Xandrell what the" (insert swear word of your choice here) "are you doing? Is she alright?"

Xandrell didn't respond, just continued humming his soft tune in my ear. I felt something warm touch my cold hand, bony fingers digging into my wrist.

"Oh hell..." whispered Tasha's voice, sounding horrified. "Amy? Amy wake up! Please."

"She's not..." I heard Charlie's choked gasp. "She can't be..."

I won't lie. Had I still been there, still with them, my heart would have broken at the distant sounds of their tiny sobs, which I could tell they were trying to control. Where I was now however, there was no emotion, no feeling, nothing. But this felt unusual, safe, like I was going to something better... going home... even so, as I drifted through the darkness, I wished vaguely that I could have said goodbye to them properly.

I suddenly heard Xandrell's voice in my ear, so close I could have believed he was right there, floating in this oblivion with me... I heard his lullaby... with lyrics I understood...

"Somewhere in the darkest night, there had to be a star to shed light
On me, someone to help me through, someone I could trust who would be true,
And now you're here, I can't believe, what I wanted was always here for me,
A hundred thousand dreams could not foresee you here... with me..."

I felt a tingling sensation over my lips. I felt something rush through me, warming me to my very core. I felt the burn within me that I always felt when he kissed me, the fierce desire to kiss him back and hold him...

"Once again Xandrell, you're acting really weird." muttered Lucy's voice. "I mean now on top of everything else, you're kissing your dead gir-..."

My chest spasmed and I felt a violent thud against my ribs. I was suddenly forced back to the surface of consciousness. My lungs were suddenly full of air and I choked. My God, breathing had never felt so good!

"HOLY (insert swear word of your choice here)!!!" yelled Charlie.

I opened my eyes and shakily tried to sit up, only to be pushed down again by hugs from Tasha and Sophie.

"Oh my God!" sobbed Sophie. "Don't ever do that again, Amy, you hear me? We thought you were dead."

I frowned. "I think I was." I muttered, patting the two of them on the backs simultaneously.

Tasha gave a long moan and stood up. I saw how red and wet her eyes were all of a sudden. Sophie quickly stood up and went to hand her a tissue.

"Amy?" whispered Xandrell's voice. I looked up at him. He was staring at me, looking a mixture of relief and terror. "I'm so sorry."

A placed my hand on the arm that wasn't cradling me under my neck. "It's not your fault. You didn't mean for them to..."

"You know, don't you, Amy." he gasped slightly breathlessly. "You do know that I always tried to give you everything... you know don't you!"

I nodded and rested my forehead against his chest. "I've always known." I said in a hushed voice.

He propped me up in his arms and leaned towards me. I looked up at his face. I could see tears trickling down his cheeks. "I'm glad." he whispered. "I love you, Amy Rose Wren, more than anything in the universe."

He gently pressed his lips against mine and I kissed him back. I wondered vaguely if he knew how much I cared about him. Slowly I sat up and put my arms around his neck, feeling a little stronger now than I had a minute ago. After a few moments, I opened my eyes and pulled away from him. It had only just hit me how cold and pale he seemed. His eyelids fluttered open and his eyes just about focused on me. His lips curled upwards weakly in a smile, before his eyes suddenly rolled and he slumped back. I cried his name. My arms folded around his limp form and cradled him. I quickly pressed my hand into his chest, checking for breathing, a pulse, any sign of life, but there was nothing. I gripped his shoulder and shook him, screaming his name now.

'... I can make this all go away...'

'... I say healing powers, it's more like transferring our own health...'

'... single heartstring...'

'... I've never given you anything...'

'...if I were to go home...'

'... give you everything...'

'... I love you Amy Rose Wren!'

"No!" I sobbed as I finally realised. "No! You stupid boy! Don't you dare leave me!"

I forced my face down to his and kissed him fiercely, praying for some change, willing my life force into him. I felt tears running down my face this time.

"Why can't it work both ways?" I sobbed, falling forward over his motionless chest. "Please don't leave me... please..." I whispered as I felt myself slipping away from reality until I felt myself being cradled in the arms of darkness again.

...two more here... get the girl first...

I could smell something faintly smoky... how strange...

... got a pulse... ambulance... Amy? AMY?!...

This all seemed so familiar. The half finished sentences merging and becoming one distorted voice.

I spent what felt like a long time, drifting in and out of awareness. My brain felt as though someone had come along with a rubber and erased everything in my mind. For some reason though, I didn't mind. It was easier, warmer, safer, just better to stay drifting in darkness. Ignorance, I thought, was probably better this time.

Eventually, after what seemed an age, I felt myself being dragged through the mist, to the bright surface that I knew was my consciousness. I felt like my mind was going to explode as the light shone through my closed eyelids. I let out an instinctive moan, wanting to return to the land of no pain, no knowledge, and only darkness.

"Amy? Oh, Amy, love! Can you hear me sweetheart?"

I felt my eyelids flicker, and finally flutter open to gaze at the unfamiliar white room, with everything seeming to have a fuzzy outline through my vision. I blinked several times, bringing the room around me into focus. I felt something awkward and rubbery smelling on my face... another oxygen tube. Jesus Christ, back in the hospital. Someone was holding my hand, very carefully, and gently. I turned my head slowly, still feeling quite dazed. "Mum?" I croaked, hearing the strange sudden weakness in my voice.

My mother's eyes were red and puffy behind her thick spectacles, but in spite of that, she still managed to give me a very watery smile. "Hey sweetheart." she said softly. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged one shoulder and gasped in pain. I looked down, pulling away the horrible hospital gown a little to look at my shoulder, to discover several massive, red, scabbing burns there. "How did I get that?" I gave a horrified whisper.

"Oh, sweetie, you don't remember anything do you?" my mother said, a slightly pitying tone to her voice that made me feel about two inches tall. "Jenny hasn't stopped crying about how it's her fault you're here. She's being silly. She didn't go to Prom, what could she have done? James told us about what a brave girl you were..."

James? "Has he been here too?" I croaked.

"They all have darling." she said quietly. "James, Tasha, Sophie, Lucy and Charlie have been coming in every day to see you. You've been out of it for two days now. They've actually just left, because it's quite late now. I mean it's nearly midnight, they're families were getting rather worried. I was actually just about to go when you moaned. I thought you were in pain, I was going to go and get a nurse. Your friends are going to be so pleased that you're awake now, they've been going spare here. You're very lucky to have them in your life Amy."

I gave a weak smile. "I am lucky." I said quietly, as I thought of them.

My mother smiled too. "I've missed you, these past few days sweetheart." she said quietly. "It's so lovely to see your smile again. We didn't know how you'd be acting considering... well anyway... I think Charlie's grown rather fond of your little Molly..."

I gasped. Molly... suddenly I remembered everything. I remembered my anger at Charlie when I thought he'd lost her, and the relief I'd felt pulsing through me when he revealed the truth. I remembered her little face crumpling as we left her beside the river, telling her she may never see us again, and that horrible sense of dread I'd felt squirming in my stomach like some horrible snake. I remembered running, knowing I had to get away, but there was nowhere to run to, only the road ahead, it had been like some awful nightmare, except it wasn't a nightmare. It had been real. It had all been sickeningly and horribly real! Suddenly I remembered something else...

I closed my eyes. "He's dead isn't he?"

I didn't have to say his name because I knew she'd know who I meant. I didn't need my eyes open to feel the atmosphere in the room tense. She gave a little moan before she squeezed my hand tightly.

"Sweetheart...." said my mother's voice, sounding like was suppressing tears. "Sometimes people just aren't meant to live long happy lives, however much we want them to."

Oh, God, no!

My eyes stung and my throat felt tight. This couldn't be real! How could this be real? But why would my mother lie about something like that? I pulled my hand away from my mother's touch and rolled onto my side, wishing I was alone, wishing no-one could see the tears running down my face.

... I'd never told him I loved him back.