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Essie shuddered, clutching her body tighter keeping her eyes clenched shut. Her body was shaking and she didn't even get a wink of sleep that night. It had only recently stopped raining and her toes were now numb in her shoes.

People were rushing passed her not sparing her a glance and those who did laughed at the young girl who stayed hidden in an empty shop doorway.

"Mummy, why is that girl there?" A young boy asked as they walked past.

"Probably thrown out, stay away from her!" The mother exclaimed, pulling her sob away from the doorway. Essie sighed and shuffled closer to the wall not looking up. She sniffled and another tear fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheek and onto her thigh.

* * *

Harry hadn't slept that night and Nikki knew that. When she made breakfast that morning he didn't eat and looked as if he was about to drop down. "Darling, get some sleep," she told him, rubbing his back.

"I'm not sleeping until I know she's okay," Harry replied yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Well you're not going anywhere like that," Dom said sternly as he stood up.

Harry gritted his teeth, "you can't stop me!" He snapped causing Dom to raise his eyebrows.

"I think I can, Essie might be missing but I won't hesitate to ground you for talking to me like that." He told his son, as he grabbed his coat.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, "Where are you going?"

"Tom, Tuwaine, Paddy, Sam and I are going out to look for her. You, Harrison and your mum are staying here because you two stressing and getting upset will not help. Trust me. Besides, Essie wouldn't like it if she saw you two in this state would she?"

Both Harry and Harrison sighed in annoyance as they knew he was right. With that, the group left the house and both Harry and Harrison retreated to the living room.

"I'm sorry. I only left for a minute or two. She was with Adam. If she was alone I would have taken her with me." Harry muttered, not looking at Harrison, instead he stared at the floor.

Harrison glanced at the boy who was clearly as distressed if not more distressed than he was. He knew Harry and he knew him well, this was an accident. "I know," he replied, shifting closer to Harry, "and I know she'll be okay."

"How?" Harry questioned, finally looking up.

Harrison bit his lip, "this is Essie. She's always fine in the end." Despite sounding confident, Harrison was far from it. He was fearing the worst and until he can hold his cousin in his arms he won't stop.

"But what if she isn't? It'll be all my fault!" Harry snapped, throwing a pillow at the wall.

Harrison shook his head, standing up and storming out of the living room. It was bad enough he was trying to calm himself down but with Harry repeatedly blaming himself making it harder for him. He rushed off up to Tom's bedroom and flopped on the bed next to Tessa who watched him curiously.

"Do you think she's okay, Tess?" He asked the dog as she shuffled closer  and cuddled up beside him. Tessa sighed and licked his cheek playfully, Harrison snickered wiping his cheek, "I hope that means yes, princess."

The group that were out looking spent a while following on further than the boys had looked that night.

"Where would she have gone?" Paddy asked his dad, "where would she have slept?"

"I don't know, Pads, but we can't stop looking." Dominic replied, placing a hand in Paddy's shoulder.

"Harry didn't sleep at all last night, I don't think he even tried." Stated Sam, "I didn't sleep either because I was worried he would go out looking again," he told Tuwaine.

Tuwaine sighed, "same for Haz."

The group stayed silent for the next twenty minutes until Tom suddenly rushed forward. He dove into a shop doorway, crouching down. "Essie?" He whispered gently placing a hand on her back. Essie's head shot up at the sound of the familiar voice, her eyes were watering and her now blue lips quivered. "Oh, darling," he sighed and pulled the young girl into his embrace.

Essie hugged Tom tightly just as the others joined them.

"Oh good lord," Dom sighed in relief crouching down beside his eldest son and Essie. "What happened?"

"Harry was gone, I tried to make may way back but I got lost." She muttered into Tom's neck. "It started raining and my feet were hurting so I stopped in here."

Sam got out his phone and dialled his mum's number. "Yeah, we've found her. She's okay but can you get some blankets and a warm drink ready. She's bloody blue!"

Tom wasted no time and picked Essie up, she wrapped her numb legs around his waist and kept her head on his shoulder. She was so happy that they had found her and didn't want to let go unless this was a dream. He took her back to the car and Sam had the girl sat on his lap on the drive back.

Sam could feel just how cold Essie was and hear her teeth still chattering. He tried to warm  her up by hugging her tightly into his chest as his father drove them back to the house.

This was the first time Dom had met Essie in person and this was not how either of them wanted this to go like but they knew that it couldn't be helped. When they arrived at the house Harrison was the first out fo the door and pulled his cousin into a tight hug.

"Bloody hell, you scared me!" He exclaimed just as Harry pushed him off and took his girlfriend into his arms.

Harry buried his head into the crook of her neck and his fingers in her hair, "I'm so sorry," he told her, leading her into the house still hugging her.

"I'm sorry too," she replied, "I shouldn't have tried to make my way back."

"Don't be silly, sweetheart," Nikki said heading over to the pair with a hot chocolate in hand. "You attempted to go back to where you started when you were alone. That is a good thing. It's no one's fault that you got lost. You're back now and need to get into the living room and curl up in that sofa under blankets with this this hot chocolate to get warm."

Essie nodded, thanking Nikki as Harry led her into the living room, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping blankets around them both. Essie sipped at her drink and instantly her body grew warmer, closely aided by Harry kissing her shoulder.

A while later, once everyone had settled in the living room, Nikki snapped a photo of her son and his girlfriend. "Adorable." She dobbed then as they remained curled up in each other's arms, Essie's head resting on Harry's chest with a blanket cover the whole of her face expect for her eyes and forehead, both of them catching up on the sleep that they do very needed, now that Essie was safely back and in Harry's arms.




A/n-
Happy 20th Birthday Harry and Sam (14/02/19)
🧡🧡

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