Having Faith

[LauraPhilly!!]

Thanks for your comments amz89 and tessalove..!!

Hope you like the next chapter..!!

Chapter 20

"What do you mean you have no information?" demanded Nicole, as she glared at Tara.

Tara sighed. "Nicole, I know it's hard for you and Geoff to be just sitting here with nothing to work on, but we really have no information to give you!"

"It's not possible!" demanded Nicole, as Geoff walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "You have to know something! Belle is in that hospital with her husband, who was just shot, and your telling me you know nothing."

"I promise as soon as I hear anything I'll tell you," said Tara, calmly.

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her, but let Geoff tow her back over to the bench and sit down beside him.

"Nic, you need to let the cops do their job," said Geoff, rubbing her back reassuringly.

"I know, I know," said Nicole. "I just hate not knowing nothing. I hate Belle calling me every half hour, asking for news, and me having to tell her there isn't any!"

Geoff nodded.

Nicole sighed and leaned her head against Geoff's neck.

"She'll be fine, ok," reassured Geoff.

"Take your hands off me!"

Geoff and Nicole jumped up. Nicole gasped as Angelo led Max through the door.

"Found him on Baker's road," said Angelo, as Max struggled at his grip.

"Was Faith with him?" asked Nicole anxiously.

Angelo looked at her crestfallen. "No, I'm sorry."

Nicole burst into tears and collapsed into Geoff's arms.

"Take him into the interview room," said Angelo, as Tara and Officer Mason took hold of Max's arms.

"I won't be telling you nothing!" roared Max. "Nothing."

"We'll get it outta him I promise," said Angelo, put his hand on Nicole's shoulder supportively.

She nodded then hid her face in Geoff's face.

When Angelo closed the interview room door, Geoff sat down, pulling Nicole onto his lap.

"Shh, Nic, shh," he said, as tears flowed down his wife's cheek. "Faith'll be fine."

"How can you say that?" cried Nicole looking into Geoff's worried eyes. "What if....what if she's dead, Geoff?"

"Don't say that," said Geoff, determindly. "It's not true. Faith's still alive ok."

Nicole shook her head, bursting into tears again.

"I''m going to ring Belle," said Geoff, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "She'll want to know they've caught Max."

*

"Go fish!"

"Hey, that's not fair," protested Faith, leaning forward, trying to see Conor's cards. "You cheated!"

"I did not!" said Conor. "You can't cheat in this game!"

"Fine," said Faith, picking up a card from the small pile in front of her. Most of the cards were already in her hand.

"Well if you haven't cheated, how come you have three cards in your hand and I have about fifteen?" asked Faith, grinning at him miscieviously.

"That's just because your such a bad player!" said Conor, chuckling.

Faith's eyes narrowed.

"Hey, it's your first time," said Conor, retreating at her expression. "Your lucky you don't have more!"

"Conor, this isn't my first time!"

"Oh, well then your a really bad player," he teased.

Faith tried to pull an angry face, but ended up bursting out laughing.

"Oh, I have to go feed the horses," said Conor, as his watch beeped.

"You do?" said Faith, her face falling.

"We don't want the poor horses to starve and die now do we?"

Faith looked away quickly, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked Conor anxiously.

Faith sniffed, and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "The guy that kidnapped me....he shot my horse too."

Conor felt a pang of remorse. "Oh...I'm so sorry."

"It's ok," said Faith, bravely.

"Are you ok?" asked Conor anxiously.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Faith, managing to smile. "You go feed the horses."

Conor nodded, and stood up.

"I'll come straight back here afterwards," he promised.

Faith smiled.

"Thanks Conor."

Conor smiled at her, opened the door and quietly left the room.

Thanks for reading..!!

Let me know what you think..!!

...xXx

[amz89]

loved it glad the caught max, loved nic n geoff worring about faith hope someone finds her soon i love this. Update soon please.

[tessalove]

Glad they caught Max, Just hope they find faith soon.

Poor faith!!

Continue soon!! x

[LauraPhilly!!]

Thanks for your comments..!!

Ok here's the thing, I'm going away on holidays on Monday until the 7th of August, so this is likely to be my last chapter until I get back!!

Sorry to have to tell you all that!!

I've tried extra hard to make this chapter as good as possible to make up for the long gap in updates!!

Let me know what you think...

Chapter 21

"Faith! Faith!" exclaimed Conor, bursting into the room. "Faith's the phone lines are back up! We can call your parents!"

"They are, really!" cried Faith, jumping up. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, Grandma just got a call from the county council to apologise!"

Faith squealed with delight and wrapped her arms around Conor's neck, hugging him tightly.

He buried his face in her neck, and breathed in her warm, sweet smelling scent.

He would miss her.

"Right, well let's go," said Faith, pulling him towards the door. "Mum and Dad are probably going to be out of their minds with worry."

"Yeah, out of their minds," said Conor, sighing heavily to himself.

*

"Belle, what do you think your doing?" demanded Aden, as he walked into the kitchen to find Belle making brekfast.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" said Belle, holding up her gloved coffered hands.

"Yes, I can see your making food," said Aden, coming over and taking her hand. "But Ruby said your not meant to be doing anything! It could bring on early labour!"

"Aden, you can't expect me to just lie awake in bed," snapped Belle. "You know what'll happen."

Aden sighed, nodding to himself, as Belle turned back to the cooker.

Since they had arrived home, Belle had woken up screaming every night; her recurring nightmares of Faith kept a peaceful night sleep at bay. And then when she didn't wake up screaming, Aden knew she lay awake thinking of their daughter, her heart breaking a little more every time she did.

"Well look, you've done most of it," said Aden, walking over to the cooker. "You go sit down, and let me do the rest."

"Fine, but Faith doesn't like..."

Her voice trailed away as she remembered.

"I mean...I don't like my bacon burnt."

Aden watched her as she turned her back to him and walked down the hall.

He jumped as the phone rang beside him.

"Aden Jefferies?" he said, putting the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

Silence.

Aden tried once more.

"Hello?"

"Who was it?" asked Belle, as Aden put the phone down.

"No idea," said Aden. The color that had momentarily been in Belle's cheeks, drained away. "No one answered, it's weird, I thought I heard someone in the background."

Belle nodded.

"You know, I think I have to go to the bathroom," she said, hastily, not meeting his eyes.

Aden looked on sadly as Belle left the room hurriedly and disappeared up the stairs.

He turned away and tried to focus on the food in front of him.

It was near impossible.

Aden's hands were shaking. He put down the plate he was carrying, afraid he would drop it.

Running his fingers through his hair, he took a couple of breaths.

"What I would do Faith to have you back now."

*

Conor wished he was having a dream.

What happened in the last twenty minutes was all a blur.

Faith's eyes had sparkled happily as she picked up the phone and dialled her house number.

Conor had looked around the room. His Grandad was lighting his morning pipe, his Grandma was dunking the breakfasts plates into the warm soapy water in the sink.

Then, everything happened really fast.

Faith dropped the phone.

All eyes zoned in on her.

"Faith sweety?" asked Tabitha, put her hand lightly on Faith's arms.

Faith had turned to look at her for half a second.

Then she fell, almost gracefully, in a small heap on the floor.

There was a moment where no one had moved.

Then Faith's body became to twitch uncontrollably.

Conor watched as his Grandma fell to her knees beside Faith, putting both her hands on the girls chest, trying to calm her fit.

At this stage, Conor had seemed to have gone deaf.

He saw his Grandma's mouth open, and her shout something at Joe, who jumped up and grabbed the phone, which lay beside Faith's twitching hand.

He didn't see his Grandfather dialling 911.

He didn't see his Grandma rub a soothing arm across Faith's forehead.

He just saw Faith.

He saw her glassy, zoned out eyes.

He saw her flawless skin, sweating madly.

He saw her once rosy cheeks, now pale as a ghost.

Those twenty minutes had passed.

Now, Conor watched as the paramedics loaded Faith into the ambulance.

He felt soft pressure on his arm.

"Conor, do you want to go with her?" asked Tabitha, squeezing her grandson's arm softly.

Conor looked into her anxious eyes, and nodded.

He walked slowly towards the ambulance, and clambered in.

As the ambulance driver closed the doors, he took Faith now still hand.

Her hand, her fingers, were as cold as ice.

Conor held them tightly in his, trying to pass on the heat.

The action made little effect.

Conor closed his eyes and squeezed Faith's hand even tighter.

"God...in your mercy, please, don't take her away from me."

*

"Your sure the description matches," said Angelo, as he scribbled onto a notepad.

Geoff and Nicole didn't bother to look up this time, they hadn't had news in days.

This phonecall was probably just another disappointment.

"Right, I'll get onto them straight away!"

He slammed the phone down.

"We've found her!" he said, coming out from behind the reception and walking towards Geoff and Nicole.

"You've found her!" cried Nicole. "Oh Angelo thank you so much!"

"Is she on her way to here now, or what?" asked Geoff, anxiously.

"Actually, there's been a bit of a complication," said Angelo, slowly.

"What!" said Nicole, all color draining from her face.

"That lady on the phone was a nurse from the Northern Districts, Faith's in hospital."

*

Belle smiled as she saw her daughter walking towards her.

She looked as beautiful as she always had.

Her long blonde hair flowing behind her, her wide smile, and her blue eyes glistening in the sun.

As mother and daughter drew nearer, they stopped, soaking up each others appearance.

"I've always loved you Mum," said Faith, almost whispering.

Belle stretched out her hand and laid it gently on her daughter's cheek.

"As I've loved you baby."

"I'm sorry I have to go," said Faith. "My time has come."

"Do I have a say over this?" asked Belle, sadly.

Faith smiled but shook her head. "The decision has been long made. I'm sorry."

"No! There's must be another way," said Belle, taking both of Faith's hands.

"There isn't," said Faith, simply. "I have to go now."

Belle looked behind her and saw a bright light, growing even brighter by the second.

"They're waiting for me," said Faith, smiling at the light. "Can't you hear them? They're calling my name."

"If I called your name would you come back to me?" asked Belle, even though she already knew the answer.

Faith shook her head.

"My faith was decided long, long ago," she said. "This is my faith."

Gently, Faith pulled her hands out of her mother's grip.

"No!" cried Belle.

She tried to move forward, but suddenly she couldn't

It was like two steel girders were wrapped around her chest, preventing her from moving.

"I'll always love you Mum," said Faith, as she walked backwards into the sea of light. "Always."

"Faith, don't go! Don't leave me!" cried Belle, struggling against her invisible captor.

"Always," whispered Faith.

Belle watched as Faith turned and stretched out her arm.

She saw a hand appear out of the light.

Faith's hand slipped into it.

She looked back once more and smiled.

"Tell little Owen I love him, when he comes."

And then, she disappeared.

Well, let me know what you thought!

That's it for three weeks remember!!

Bye until then!!

Love Laura xx

[MrsL]

You are joking right - we have to wait for an update for 3 weeks NOOOOO

Can't wait until you are back.

have a lovely holiday

[amz89]

aggg talk about a cliffhanger not cool Laura. Please tell me that was all a dream??? It better have been... I cant wait 3 weeks it was an awesome chapter though, whos Owen??

[tessalove]

Aww, Wow Owen? LOL thats was such a cute line!!

I can't wait until you come back, Have a good holiday!!

x

[LauraPhilly!!]

whos Owen??

guess..!!

xx

[amz89]

I don't know but please let it be all a dream with Belle and Faith when you say lights that usally means a dream. Please update hahah its only Sunday here.

[Louise_2983]

Great chapter.

Belle's pregnant right? So "Little Owen" is her future son?