Sonia had walked out on Den when Jay was just a baby, after one too many beatings and endless mental abuse. She had nothing back then, and reasoned that when she sorted herself out she would go back for her son. But it had never quite worked that way. She seemed to be out of work more than in it those days. Sonia had always suffered with depression but Den had really knocked her confidence out of her and after finally realising she couldn’t go on, knowing that if she stayed with Den she would probably end up dead, she had packed her bags and left her son behind. She had never felt so lost and alone until then. The more she had sunk into her dark thoughts, the harder it had been for her to try and claw her way out of it. There were days when she couldn’t function at all; she hadn’t been able to physically tear herself from her filthy bed. Popping anti-depressants as if they were sweets, Sonia had spent a good few years walking around so dosed up that she may as well have been the walking dead.

The longer she had stayed away from Jay the harder it had been to go back for him, and she convinced herself that it would be better for Jay to stay put with his dad. She could barely look after herself, let alone another human being.

Thankfully, with a lot of help from a very good doctor and counsellor, slowly over the years Sonia had sorted herself out and had been over the moon when her son had started visiting her a few years back, feeling proud almost of the big stocky man he had grown into. Slowly, though, she had learnt the details of his sordid lifestyle. He lied to her at first of course. He had pretended his endless amounts of money were savings but the truth had come out eventually. She knew about the debt collecting, and the stealing, but the thing she hated the most was the drugs. Thankfully, after one or two occasions of some real dodgy people turning up at her door he had moved that side of the business somewhere else. She didn’t want him dealing drugs at all, but at least now if he was going to do it, he did it as far away from her home as possible, sparing her from having the dregs of society turning up at her home at all hours, for a fix.

              He was her son, and she was aware that she was partly responsible for the man that he had become, but she also knew that he was his father’s son, of that much she was certain.

              Sonia touched Jay’s hand, thankful that this time he was going to be okay, but she was worried sick that next time he might not get off so lightly.

Kate pulled the cubical curtain open. She put her hand over her mouth: the sight of Jay, black and blue, was clearly too much for her. Her poor baby, lying there all battered; she felt bile rise up in her throat, but thankfully she managed to keep it down.

              “Who did this?” she cried, her hands trembling.

              “He hasn’t spoken yet.” Sonia patted the chair next to her and gestured to Kate to sit.

              Kate was a good girl and she loved Jay deeply, Sonia could see that, but she couldn’t help feeling that Kate just wasn’t enough for Jay. He was rarely home and Sonia had lied to Kate when she had phoned on many occasions; he had all sorts of girls at their house.

Sonia had spoken to her son about it once, after she asked him to move in with her when Den had died. Said she didn’t want her home to be used for his sordid one-night stands with random girls. He had laughed in her face. After that, when he did bring girls home, he was even louder with his goings-on, for her benefit.

Sonia felt that she couldn’t ask him to leave; she had only just got him back. She also knew that Jay sensed this and played it to his advantage.

Kate stared at Jay lying in the hospital bed, silent tears sliding down her cheeks. She felt sick. She knew her brother was after Jay, but he couldn’t have done this, not with her being pregnant: surely not?

              “Stop your tears, honey,” Sonia said, in a voice that sounded more confident than she really felt. “We need to be strong for Jay now.”

              Kate nodded and took a couple of slow breaths; she couldn’t get herself into a state; she had to think of the baby, something she had to keep reminding herself of lately. Poor Jay, she’d had enough, knowing that she couldn’t go back home and carry on as normal with her brother now, not after he had done this to Jay.

“The police are looking into it,” Sonia informed her, as she pushed the curtain slightly so that Kate could see the two male detectives at the front desk talking to a female doctor. The younger of the two was writing information in a notebook, as the doctor spoke. The doctor pointed over to the curtain, seeing them look over at her. The older of the two men pulled the curtain across as the two policemen entered the now crowded cubical.

              “Mrs Shaw?” He addressed Sonia. “I’m Detective Carlson, and this is my colleague, PC Fowler. I appreciate that you are with your son now, but we need to start our investigation as quickly as possible, so I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions?”

              The two woman exchanged glances, both knowing that Jay wouldn’t want the police involved. Sonia knew that a number of people could have done this to him. Like his father before him, he had pissed enough people off. Kate, however, was sure that it was her brother, but as much as she could kill Billy right now, she knew if she so much as hinted at his involvement, then there would be a whole world of trouble in store for her. As angry as she was with Billy for what he had done to Jay, she would deal with him herself. The police didn’t get much information from the two women: they hadn’t expected to. This sort stick together, Detective Carlson thought, after he had asked several questions and got nothing much from them.

Kate decided that she would go to Emma’s place for a couple of nights. She couldn’t face going home to her brother, not now. Seeing Jay in such a bad way had knocked her for six, and what if it was all down to her? She watched as the two policemen walked off and then looking back at Sonia’s pale, worried face, she knew she had to tell her the truth.

              “Sonia, I don’t know how to say this but I think I know what this is all about,” she said, looking over at Jay again.

              Sonia looked at the girl with doubt, she was sure that Kate didn’t know half of Jay’s business; if she did, she wouldn’t be sitting at his side. “I doubt very much that you do honey, Jay is a very private man; this could be down to any number of things.”

              Kate looked puzzled by Sonia’s matter-of-fact tone, there was an under-current to the reply, like she was hinting at something, but Kate continued regardless. “I think Jay needed some time to get his head around the idea before he told you, but I should tell you now. I’m pregnant Mrs Shaw: Jay and I are having a baby.”

              It was the last thing that Sonia had expected Kate to say. Jay was not the type to want to settle down and knowing how unfaithful he was to Kate, Sonia couldn’t believe he wanted to stay with her. She let the enormity of what she had just been told sink in. A baby: she was going to be a nan, bloody hell. This girl was going to need her. Thrilled at the idea of having a baby around, she couldn’t help but wonder whether Jay was going to do right by this girl. She very much doubted it.