It's evening when Charlie drops Molly back at her house and there's an unbearable tension between them as they try to say goodbye. Molly has had the perfect day, from start to finish it's been a worldwind of emotions. They spent the entire afternoon at the beach; walking, holding hands, rolling in the sand, and racing each other along the shoreline. It didn't just feel like a dream, it felt like an alternate universe. He leans over to kiss her and she places a hand to his face, groaning as she pulls away.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he says.

"I'll try and look a little more presentable for you."

"I like you like this."

"Goodnight," she whispers.

She grabs her stuff and leaves his car. Being apart from him pains her but she's also excited to spend some time at home. When she walks inside she notices all the lights are switched on in the right lounge.

"We need to talk about this," she hears Pam say. "It's your choice but you should really think about it."

"I don't want to think about it. I'm not going!"

Molly freezes in the doorway as Lily runs past her and charges up the staircase. She walks into the lounge and she has no idea what exactly she's walked in on but no one looks happy. Pam and Daniel are sat at opposite ends of the couch, both of them look frustrated.

"Hey," Pam says. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah," Molly says. "What happened? What's up with Lily?"

"Lily's social worker called us earlier," Pam says quietly. "Her mother is apparently sober and wants to start seeing her again."

"Oh." Molly takes a seat in the chair. "That's good isn't it?"

"Try telling her that." Daniel sighs as he looks around the room. "We can't force her to see her."

"She's just scared," Pam says. "We'll talk to her again tomorrow."

Molly stands up. "I'm going to have a shower and get an early night. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight," they mumble together.

Molly walks along the hallway and dumps her stuff on her bed before going back out. Henley's door is open because he's scared of the dark and Molly smiles as she watches him sleep. She knocks on Lily's door and is met with a blank response. She knocks again and then opens it.

"Go away!" Lily shouts. She lays on the bed, face down, crying against a pillow.

"It's me," Molly says as she closes the door. "You want to talk?"

"I don't want to see her!" Lily bursts out as she turns and glares at Molly with sore, red eyes. "What is so hard to understand about that? Why won't they drop it?"

"Because she's your mother," Molly says as she circles the bed slowly. "And nothing will ever change that."

"She doesn't care about me. She left me. She left me alone in that house with that guy for days. I was terrified."

"Why? What did he do to you?"

She sits up and brings her knees to her chest. "Most of the time he was too drunk to stand. But he'd yell at me, he'd yell awful things and he'd hit me. I kept telling him to leave but he wouldn't leave."

"And then they took you away?"

She nods, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "She cared more about drugs than me, she always did. And I'm supposed to forgive her because she's been to rehab? No. No, I can't."

"You don't have to forgive her," Molly says. "Lily, she isn't going to take you away from us. It's just access, it means you meet her for an hour or two and you listen to her explanation. You don't even have to talk to her but she'll give you answers."

"I don't want answers, I already know everything that she's going to say. That she was addicted, that she regrets it, that she's changed. She's been to rehab before and it didn't work."

"Maybe this time it did work. Maybe this could be your one chance to know your real mother, who she really is. And that person might surprise you."

"What if she doesn't surprise me? What if she's exactly the same?"

Molly smiles. "Then you've taken one hour out of your entire life to find out. I know that she hasn't been the best mother to you but at least she's trying to put things right. Do you know how rare it is for parents to actually try and get their kids back? To fight for them? Most of them just give up. I think you should give her a chance."

Lily considers it for a minute. "Will you come with me?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Molly says. "Your social worker will be there, they'll support you."

"But you know about this stuff. Please? I won't go unless you go with me."

Molly sighs. "If it's what you want then I'll talk to Pam."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna read for a bit then go to sleep."

"Alright, well you know where I am if you need me. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she says.

Molly enters the hallway and grabs some fresh pyjamas from her drawers. She's never spoken to Lily like that before, she's shocked that she opened up to her, that she opened up to anyone. Molly carries her clothes into the bathroom and takes a shower. The day washes off her skin, including Charlie's touch. She hasn't stopped smiling all day, it feels so good to smile, she's hardly smiled or laughed in years and now she's suddenly at the mercy of it. Just like Alan told her would happen.

When Molly walks back out onto the hallway she's startled to find Henley sitting against the wall of her bedroom door rubbing his eyes. She approaches him slowly, unsure if he's sleeping walking.

"Henley," she whispers as she crouches down. "Are you okay?"

"Hi, Molly," Henley mumbles tiredly. "I had a nightmare. Can I sleep with you please?"

"Why didn't you go into Daisy's room?"

"She said I kick her," he sighs adorably as he looks up at her. "And I don't want the monsters to hurt her."

"Oh," Molly says as she places a hand to her hip. "But they can hurt me?"

"Please?"

"Yeah, come on." Molly opens her door and Henley waddles inside clutching a small bear. She waits until he's inside the covers of her bed and then she tucks him in. "Do you want me to read you a story?"

"No, I'm okay now." He closes his eyes and that's the end of it.

She brushes her hair at her desk and smiles in the mirror as Henley starts to snore. Her phone vibrates.

"Hello," Molly says as she puts the phone to her ear.

"Hey!" Lauren says. "We didn't get a proper chance to talk earlier when you came round for your stuff so I thought I'd call you to get the gossip. So. . . what happened!"

"It was really nice," Molly says. "He let me drive his car and then we spent the whole afternoon at the beach."

"You didn't drive on the road right?"

"No," Molly laughs. "It was the middle of nowhere. It's going to be weird at school tomorrow though, I don't really know how to act with him. And then there's Jack."

"Did he ever text you back?"

"Nope," Molly says. "I still feel bad though."

"Screw him. They're all going to find out eventually so you might as well make it tomorrow, get it over with."

"True. I'll see how it goes. How was your afternoon?"

"Amazing," Lauren says. Molly hears splashing as though she's in the bathtub. "After Michael finally left we cleaned the rest of the house and then watched movies all day. He's picking me up after he finishes college tomorrow and he's taking me to this fair thing."

"I thought you hated rides?" Molly grins.

"They make me throw up but I'm not going to tell him that. I haven't been to a fair since I was a teenager, it's gonna be nostalgic as hell. What are you up to?"

"I'm just getting ready for bed," Molly says. "I have a little visitor with me tonight."

"Aw! Is Henley in your bed? That is adorable."

"Yeah, he's still having trouble sleeping," Molly sighs as she turns and looks at him. "He's cuddled up with this bear and he's snoring."

Lauren laughs. "That's so cute. At least he's sleeping now."

"Hm. Anyway, I'm gonna go to sleep. I hope you have a good time tomorrow, talk soon. Bye."

"Bye."

Molly turns her light off and slides into the covers. She listens to his snores for a while, processing them as a lullaby until she closes her eyes.

"Well would you look at this adorable sight!"

Molly opens her eyes and narrows them at the doorway. Pam is standing with her phone up to her face, taking a picture. She lowers the phone and smiles. Molly doesn't understand, she tiredly glances at her alarm clock next to her bed. She suddenly realizes she forgot to set it.

"Get up lazy or you're going to be late," Pam says. "You too, Molly."

Molly laughs as she gently shakes Henley's shoulder. "Henley, wake up." His eyes flutter open and he blinks at her. "Time for school."

"Okay, Molly."

"Come on, kid," Pam says as Henley slowly walks towards the door. He's still half asleep so Pam has to guide him by the back of his head to stop him from walking into the wall.

Molly stretches her arms and yawns as she crosses the room. Mornings are usually chaos in the house, there's usually yelling and stomping and that's just from Daisy. But it's quiet. Did everyone sleep in? Molly enters the hallway and uses the bathroom, on her way back out Pam sticks her head out of Henley's doorway.

"Can you make sure Lily's getting dressed? I knocked but she didn't answer."

"Sure," Molly says.

Molly knocks on her door and calls her name. Silence. She knocks again and then opens it. Her bedroom is empty and the window is open. Molly races around the room, checking her drawers and her dresser. Some of her clothes are gone, along with her headphones and her books.

"Pam!" Molly screams. Molly picks up the note from the nightstand, she reads it as Pam rushes into the room.

"What's wrong?"

"She's gone," Molly whispers as she hands her the note. "She ran away."

"What?" Pam reads it, the panic sets in a moment later. "Oh my god. Okay. Just stay with the kids for a minute, make sure they're ready. Keep them calm."

Before Molly has spoken, Pam is running out of the room and down the stairs. Molly hurriedly changes her clothes in her bedroom and puts her sneakers on, she grabs her bag and then shouts for the kids on the hallway. Daisy and Henley are both in Daisy's room and Molly doesn't know what to say to them.

"What's going on?" Daisy asks. "Where's Lily?"

"She's. . .um. . . she's just gone away for a little bit but she'll be back."

"That's weird," Daisy says.

"Yeah, come on we need to go downstairs."

Molly tells them to sit in the smaller lounge and wait while she follows the noise into the kitchen. Both Pam and Daniel are on their phones and Molly doesn't know how to help.

"She's five foot three with long dark hair. She'll probably be wearing a blue jacket with jeans. Her backpack is red with black straps. She has a phone yes, we've tried calling it but it's turned off." Pam leans over the counter and takes deep breaths. "Yes, I have a picture. I don't know how long she's been gone for! The last time we saw her was last night, we checked on her before we went to sleep, it was around ten."

"Okay thank you," Daniel says from across the room, he hangs up and then dials another number.

"We're her foster parents," Pam says into the phone. "She's been here six weeks. Her mother just recently made contact and it might have freaked her out. She hasn't ran away from us before. no. Can you please send officers to check the bus stations? Okay thanks."

Pam hangs up and rubs her head, Daniel crosses the kitchen.

"They're sending officers around here now," Pam says. "I don't want the kids to see this."

"My mother's on her way, she's going to take them to school," Daniel says. "I've rang around the hospitals, there's no kids matching her description but they're going to call me back if anything changes."

"She's been out there all night!" Pam says, wiping her eyes as she despairs. "Anything could have happened. What if someone's took her? What if-"

"Don't play the what if game," Daniel says as he embraces her. "She'll be fine, we're going to find her."

Molly stares at the floor as she remembers the night when she left, the night that Lily interrupted her. She told Molly that they'd bring her back, that she's ran away before and they always brought her back.

"She won't be at the bus stations," Molly says. They turn and stare at her. "She's done this before, she knows they'll look there. Where's the nearest train station?"

"Valley train station," Daniel says. "It's about thirty minutes away. You think she'll be there?"

Molly nods. "It's worth a look."

"Okay," Pam says. "Molly, stay with the kids until Lisa and the officers get here. We'll go to the train station and-"

"If she sees you both there then she's going to run," Molly says. "I have an idea of what she's going through, I can talk to her."

They exchange a look and Daniel sighs. "She's got a point. Call the police and tell them to meet us there, it's a big station."

Pam nods as Molly and Daniel rush towards the front door. They are in the car and moving within seconds. Molly stares out the window, looking extra hard at every girl with long brown hair that's walking to school. The traffic is horrendous and Daniel spends most of the time honking.

"Where do you think she's going?" Daniel asks.

"How much money does she have?"

"We give her thirty dollars every weekend to last throughout the week. But we don't know how much of that is leftover, she keeps it."

Molly sighs. "I don't think she'd leave California." Molly checks the train's schedules on her phone. "There's a train to Los Angeles that leaves in thirty minutes."

"Los Angeles," Daniel says. "She talked about that before at dinner the other week. She said she'd always wanted to live there."

Molly rubs her head and they both stare at the clock. Daniel puts his foot down, overtaking so many cars that Molly hangs on to the rim of the window. They pull into the train station parking lot a few minutes later, there's crowds of people everywhere. They run together towards the entrance and the police are already there talking to security staff. Daniel runs over to them, pointing towards a platform number but Molly lags behind, she runs her eyes over the digital schedule above her head.

The train to Los Angeles leaves in twenty minutes, but there's a train to San Diego that stops in Los Angeles that leaves in five. Molly turns and runs left, in the opposite direction of Daniel, and she follows the signs to the platform. The train hasn't arrived yet and Molly takes a deep breath of relief as she makes her way through dozens of people that are stood waiting. She stands on her tiptoes to search and then she sees Lily at the far end sitting on a bench with her hood up.

Molly doesn't say anything when she approaches her, she just sits next to her. Lily moves further away, not looking at her.

"How did you know?" Lily mumbles.

"Foster kid intuition," Molly says. "Just like that night when I left and you knew I wasn't planning on coming back."

"I'm not going back there."

"So what's the plan?" Molly asks. "You've probably spent all your money on a ticket so what are you going to do when you get to Los Angeles? How are you going to eat? Where are you going to sleep?"

Lily shrugs. "I'll sleep on the street."

"You're twelve," Molly says. "The police will pick you up. Running away doesn't work."

"I'm not running away, I'm running towards," Lily says. "That's what you said that night."

"I wasn't running away. I was. . . going somewhere else. And you know, leaving was the hardest choice I ever had to make. But then I met Charlie and he gave me all these reasons to stay, reasons that didn't quite make sense at the time. I'm sure you have your reasons to stay, too."

"What's the point when I don't have a family?" she says softly. "Everyone at school has one, they talk about them all day. Even Henley can't get adopted so what chance do I have?"

"You have the best chance because you still have a mother that loves you," Molly says. "She might not be perfect and she might have hurt you in the past but she's waiting for you to come back to her. Do you know what I would give to have that? To see my mother one more time?"

"And what if she leaves me again?" Lily cries. "What if I have to spend years in foster homes? I never met my father; he didn't want me either. I'm just stuck with people that pretend to want me."

Molly smiles. "You're describing the last three years of my life. I didn't think anyone wanted me either but it can change." Molly turns her head and sees Daniel rushing down the platform with police officers behind him, Molly places her hand out to stop him and he reluctantly slows down. "You'll find more love here than in Los Angeles. And if it doesn't work out with your mum then I can think of two people that would move heaven and earth to keep you with them."

The train starts to arrive and Lily stands up. She stares at the ticket in her hand and she moves closer to the edge of the platform. Molly stands a few feet back from her, the police aren't going to let the train leave but Molly wants her to come back on her own.

"Is it possible that you know that?" Molly says. "But you're scared to find out for sure. We're all afraid, Lily but you're not alone. Come home. Please."

Lily turns at the last second before the train stops. She curls the ticket in her hand and runs into Molly's stomach. Molly meets Daniel's eyes across the busy platform and he holds a hand to his chest in relief as he starts walking.

"I'm sorry," Lily cries when she sees Daniel and runs to hug him. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Daniel says. "We're just glad you're safe."

Molly wipes her eyes as they embrace for a long time. Alan would call this one of fate's chain reactions and Molly is starting to believe it. She wouldn't have been able to help Lily if no one helped her. The police take a quick statement and then Daniel thanks them before they leave. Molly sits in the back of the car with Lily and holds her hand throughout the whole ride. When they reach the house Pam is already standing on the porch waiting for them. Lily walks up to her and Pam leads her into the house.

"Whatever you said to her," Daniel says. "thank you."

"She's just a bit confused," Molly says. "But she'll be okay. She has amazing support here."

Daniel smiles. "Go grab your stuff and I'll take you to school."

Molly nods and jogs up the lawn. She runs into her room and quickly brushes through her hair and then adds mascara to her eyes. She doesn't have time to put make up on but she doesn't care. She's cared every day for the past week about how she looks and how people at school will perceive her, but not today. Lily mattered above all of that and everything else is suddenly insignificant. She throws a leather jacket around her and grabs her bag from downstairs.

Daniel drops her off outside school a few minutes later. The first class has already ended and she rushes inside to try and make it in time for her second. The hallways are crowded as everyone hurries to their next class. Molly sees Charlie at the end of the hallway and she stops at her locker as he stands next to her.

"Hey, you missed French, it's not like you to be late."

"I've had a really bad morning," Molly says as she dumps her bag inside and grabs her books. "Lily ran away. She's okay, we found her at the train station. She's home but I'm worried about her."

"She ran away?" Charlie says. "Why?"

Molly closes her locker and sighs. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later."

"Okay. Well you know how last week we had to write those letters in French but we didn't get to finish reading them?" Molly nods, unsure where this is going. "Well we put them in ours desks and I didn't realize it was still in there but I found-"

The bell rings and Molly gently steps around him. "I have to go. Tell me later? I'll meet you at lunch."

"Okay," Charlie says.

The rest of the day is slow and draining. Molly sits with Louise in math and listens to her excitedly telling every single detail of the party as though Molly wasn't there. She recalls Molly kissing Jack for a long time and Molly ignored every question she asked about it. The party feels like a lifetime ago. When the lunch bell rings, Molly almost runs out of the classroom. On her way to her locker she sees Jack walking the other way. She wants to turn around but he's already seen her.

"Is this awkward?" Louise whispers. "I can't tell."

"Yeah," Molly says.

Jack says something to his friend, who leaves, and he pauses in front of Molly. "Hey," he says. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Molly says.

"I'll wait over here." Louise walks down the hallway, watching them over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't reply to you yesterday, I feel like such a jerk for leaving you but I had to go. I wanted to talk to you in person, this is really um. . ." He scratches his head. "You're a really nice girl and everything but I don't think we should. . . date."

Molly gasps out in relief. It wasn't the reaction he was hoping for but it's the only one she can give him. "That's okay," she says. "I was actually going to tell you the exact same thing. Well, along those lines."

"Really? Well that's a relief. Camilla told me about your illness and it freaked me out a little. I just have my own issues right now and I don't think I'd be much help."

Molly bites down on her lip. "Camilla told you?"

"Yeah, but I haven't told anyone. I'd still like to be your friend; we can talk in class and stuff."

"We only have one class together," Molly says. "Thanks for explaining. See you around."

Molly pushes past him and she takes deep breaths as she arrives at her locker. Louise watches her sadly. Molly wonders how many more people Camilla has told, do all her classmates know? The entire school? The way Jack looked at her is the way everyone will look at her, as though she's vulnerable and weak.

"Forget about him," Louise says. "It's his loss."

"Jack isn't the problem," Molly says as she pulls her locker open. Something inside catches her attention. She picks up the small piece of paper that folds out to be a note.

I hope I got the right locker this time and I hope this makes your day a little better,

Charlie

Molly places the note back inside and picks up the drawing that he's placed on top of her books. It's the drawing of Savannah, the one she lost weeks ago before she was admitted into hospital. This is what he was trying to tell her earlier, that he found it.

"Who's that?" Louise asks.

"My sister," Molly whispers as she trails a finger over the drawing. "He had it all along."

"Who did?"

Molly closes her locker and speed walks through the school. She arrives at the cafeteria and Charlie is waiting in line. All her anger and nerves vanish when she sees him and there's only one thing she wants to do. She shakes her hands at her side as she walks past everyone in the line. He stands still and when his eyes find hers there's suddenly only the two of them in an empty room. Molly puts her arms around his shoulders and reaches up until her lips are touching his. He's too stunned to stop her and she's too involved to let go. He smiles when he pulls back.

"Is this going to happen every time I do something nice for you?" he whispers.

She nods. "I thought that drawing meant everything to me, but I was wrong. You mean everything."

He touches her face and they kiss again, igniting a roar of reaction from everyone in the cafeteria. "Everyone's looking at us."

"I don't care," Molly says as they both turn their backs to the room and laugh together. "Well, maybe a little. How long do you think they'll talk about this?"

"At least a month," Charlie says, glancing over his shoulder. "Maybe two. Who cares? You want to go eat in my car?"

"Yeah," Molly laughs as she grabs a sandwich. "Sounds perfect."