He lay there, thinking about his miraculous escape, one that he could scarcely believe had happened. He prayed that he would not wake up from this dream and find himself buried in Caitlin’s laundry basket still. He pinched himself in the arm hard. Never had he been more pleased to feel the sharp pain of nails digging into his own skin. This meant this was real, that he was safe, that Caitlin couldn’t get to him, and Amber couldn’t find him, at least for now.

He didn’t want to think about the future, not yet anyway, he just wanted to look forward to the next handful of moments that he could spend with Penny, his guardian angel.

Penny returned shortly, holding a plate and a very small mug that must have been Beta-size. She put them both down on the bedside table, and jammed the door shut with the doorstop once more. Jack looked at the plate and saw that she had cut several pieces of bread, meat and cheese into small-ish pieces, along with a handful of grapes, a banana, and a couple of blocks of what looked like dark chocolate.

“I didn’t know what you would want, so I just grabbed some small bits,” she explained warmly, kneeling down next to the bed and looking at him with those luminous green eyes.

He didn’t have the strength to even sit himself up, she quickly realised, so she grabbed a handful of pillows and gently moved his body so that he could lean against them with his upper body propped up.

She held a piece of cheese between finger and thumb and offered it to him, he reached out and took it from her, taking a small bite out of it.

“I also made you some cocoa, if you’d like some?” she said, “It’s in a little mug, I’ve got a, err… a bit of a collection of Beta stuff like that.”

She was shy about it, embarrassed almost. He found it incredibly endearing, he wished he had the energy to tell her how perfect this all was.

“Anyway, I guess I should explain…” she went on, running her hand through her long hair to comfort herself, like she was nervous talking about this.

“Your friend Delon sent me a message. I didn’t see it until earlier today, as I don’t go online very often, but he said that there was some kind of situation involving you, and that he might need my help.”

“I needed to stay in the library to study anyway, so I was able to talk to him a bit online and he said not to tell anyone, but you’d been taken by Caitlin and that you were in a bad way.”

 “At first I couldn’t believe it, it seemed so…” she paused for breath, “You know, so unbelievable.”

 “But then he messaged to say that a girl called Alex Eberhardt had been in touch, and that she confirmed our worst fears, and…” she looked away from him for a second to regain her thread, before making eye contact again.

“…and that’s when we decided to make a plan.”

Jack looked at the girl, in full, rapt admiration of everything about her, hanging on her every word. He knew he needed to keep eating, and nibbled at the cheese every so often. He felt like a little mouse, being treated to some food by a benevolent giantess.

“So yeah,” she moved on, still running her hands through her hair restlessly.

“This Alex girl explained that Caitlin was acting extra weird and had sorta taken you as her prisoner, and that she was worried you were going to get injured or killed and she couldn’t bear the thought of you getting hurt because she was too afraid to do anything.”

 “She said that the only way she could think of getting you out of there was to stage a distraction, get Caitlin to leave for some reason, and then someone run in and grab you before she got back.”

“Honestly, it’s all her idea, Jack. If anyone deserves the credit for this, it’s Alex. She even rang up Caitlin herself to say her car had broken down, and she told me exactly where everything was so that I could get to you.”

He was amazed to hear of the lengths that Alex had gone to to help him. She was someone he had never really considered to be much more than Caitlin’s stooge; one of the popular kids. Hell, she was complicit in his maltreatment that first time in the girl’s changing room, and had showed him nothing but disdain for 99% of their interactions.

He couldn’t count the number of times she had bumped into him, broken one of his pens or rulers ‘by accident’, made a joke at his expense in class… but this had all changed, and he was moved to hear by how much.

He was confused, however, by how transparent Penny was being in trying to discredit her own role in his great escape, insisting that Alex took the plaudits instead of her. Was he not being looked after by her right now, eating her food, taking advantage of her generosity? Hadn’t she been the one taking the greatest risk in trespassing at the Reid’s’ place, carrying him in her arms for what felt like miles…?

“Penny…” he finally said, his voice returning along with a little strength, “You saved me…”

The kind-hearted girl looked down at her arm bashfully, still touching her hair.

“I owe all of you s-so so much… but, I’m… incredibly lucky, to have found someone like you…”

“Without you… I’d still be a prisoner…”

She raised her head and looked at him appreciatively.

“It’s nothing, Jack… I’m just sorry I couldn’t do anything sooner,” she replied.

Jack finished the piece of cheese, and Penny reached over and passed him the tiny mug, her fingers highlighting how much smaller than her it was. He grabbed it in both hands, enjoying the soothing feeling of warmth against his palms, and took a couple of careful sips.

Her eyes widened as she remembered something, “Oh shit! I need to let Delon know I’ve got you safe – he gave me his number in one of his messages.”

“I can use the landline to make a quick call, my parents won’t care,” she explained, almost talking to herself. Reaching for her rucksack, she unzipped the main compartment and pulled out a small notepad.

She then banged her head with her hand, like she’d done something stupid.

“Uh, I’m such a scatterbrain, I should have told you – I found your clothes in the bathroom, but they seemed a bit soggy and… err”

He knew she was trying be discreet; she would have found a torn pair of underwear alongside his jeans, t-shirt and socks.

“Well, they’re probably not good to wear… but anyway, I’ve got them, but I couldn’t find your glasses. I’ll look to see if I’ve got anything you can throw on for now so you don’t have to stay wrapped up in my jacket all night,” she smiled, “I hope you don’t mind if it’s a bit… girly.”

He shook his head as he tipped the last dregs of cocoa down his throat. He had drank it really quickly as it was so delicious, and now his insides felt warm and toasty.

“Anything… thank you Penny, t-thank you so much for all of this,” he said sincerely.

She reached forward and grasped the empty mug between thumb and forefinger, putting it down on the tabletop, and then headed out again to make the phone call.

“I won’t be long,” she said, and then closed the door behind her.

Rolling his weary head to one side, he closed his eyes. He could definitely fall asleep right now, now that he’d eaten something, but he was excited, and nervous, for totally different reasons to before. The opportunity to spend time with Penny, especially after such hardship, misery and humiliation, was some kind of heaven-sent experience he could barely have wished for. He didn’t believe in karma, but he wanted to thank the cosmos, the big man upstairs, his lucky stars – whoever, whatever, for shining down on him like this.

Caitlin and Amber were probably going absolutely apeshit around now, tearing apart her bedroom and asking themselves how he could possibly have escaped. Alex, his other saviour, would have to play along…

He began to realise what she had done for him. Penny was right, she really had done something astonishingly selfless for him, and trying to maintain the illusion of innocence would not be easy if either Caitlin or Amber suspected a thing. He felt a pang of guilt, wary that other people were being forced to come to his aid because he was too small and helpless to save himself. A sobering thought, and one that he would now have to compartmentalise and work through as part of the healing process.

That could wait, he told himself, for now he had to rest, and enjoy spending time with someone who was not only kind, and beautiful, and friendly, but someone who he felt he could trust.

Looking around as he waited for her to return, he inspected some of the images stuck to the wall nearest the bed. Most, of course, were of Hollywood actors and actresses, some recent, and some from longer ago. He even recognised a few black and white headshots of early movie stars.

In the corner, a bit more hidden from view, were some actual photos, a bit creased and warped, that seemed to be from Penny’s childhood. A picture of an empty beach, a blurred view from a moving train, a few kids posing in front of a building, that sort of thing. He counted about 8 or 9 photographs, including one of her parents, if he had to guess, and a close-up of her on her own, in front of a castle or some kind of very posh, old house. She looked around ten in that image, but he could see she had the same haunting green eyes, the same long, flowing hair.

His attention was drawn back to the group shot of all the kids, he strained his neck to get a better view, to see if she was in that photo too. It was taken a bit earlier, everyone looked about 5 or 6. It took him a couple of seconds but he spotted her, towards the side of everyone, probably the shortest there actually, definitely not the tall, willowy girl she was nowadays. Her hair was done up in pigtails, which he hadn’t expected to see – she looked very cute, like someone’s kid sister.

As he looked, it slowly dawned on him that he recognised some of these kids. Derek Chang; a kid he’d grown up with, Billy Feldman, Jayati Kapoor, even Lucia Torres. He hadn’t really associated with them for years, they’d all gone on to have their GH therapy and he hadn’t been friends with them since. Judging by when this picture was taken, it was probably only a matter of months before they went in for their primary ‘booster’ shot.

And then, on the other side of the photograph, he saw himself. Standing at the back, about 6 years old… a young Jack Crawford.

What the fuck?

He had no memory of this. At all.

In the picture he looked happy, standing with one of his legs out in front of him mid-pose with a grin on his face. He noticed he was actually one of the taller boys in the group and this surprised him greatly, he hadn’t really thought about that for years. The fallout from not taking GH-X2 had kinda taken that boisterous side of him away completely, as practically every other kid outgrew him within months.

But then, he couldn’t really figure out what this meant. His brain was not up to speed. Did he know Penny when they were little? Did she know him? Was there something he was missing…?

He looked back at the tiny girl in the group photo, she looked a year younger than most of the others. She was sporting pigtails, and a timid smile, and she did look a little bit like Penny but he was beginning to doubt if it definitely was her. it could be some other kid, surely Penny would have been quite tall and slender, even at that age. But, if it wasn't her, why on earth would she have a photo of him and his friends on her wall?

Maybe he was seeing things. Maybe he was hallucinating the whole thing. He rolled his head away from the wall, tired from all the overthinking, desperate to just collapse into a deep sleep, so that when he woke up, his brain would behave itself.

Penny returned, closing the door behind her, making sure it was secure again. She looked relieved.

“I’ve just spoken with Delon, he said everything’s fine,” she said breezily.

“He’s told your parents that you guys are just hanging out doing revision and not to worry. They said to tell you that they’ve been checking in at the Hospital for visiting hours to keep your Grandad company, and reminded you that you don’t have to be a complete stranger all weekend!”

She gave him a little smile, amused by his parents’ tongue-in-cheek advice.

He was glad to hear the news, truly he was, but now he couldn’t shake that something odd was going on. The photograph, Penny being so nice to him, maybe he was being paranoid or needed to sleep, but he suddenly didn’t feel as comfortable anymore. His face must have betrayed his feelings…

“Jack, what’s wrong?” she asked, sitting down next to the bed. He could see that she was carrying a couple of children’s t-shirts folded up in her hand, and some shorts and jogging pants at a similar size.

“There’s a photo in the corner,” he said, his face going pale, “And I’m in it.”

“What’s going on, Penny, am I going completely mad?” he pleaded, his eyes glaring at her as he was close to losing it.

Her face fell, and she placed the little clothes down on the floor by her knees. She seemed apprehensive, a bit hesitant to explain, but she began as best as she could.

She took a deep breath, “It isn’t what you think, Jack, please don’t look at me like that… I can’t bear it…”

He blinked twice, and tried not to stare at her so fiercely, this was really, really weird.

“When I was little, and I mean actually little, you and I kinda knew each other, Jack,” she explained.

“There was a big group of us kids, some with Beta parents, like you. My folks are Alpha and lived only just down the road from your place. I even used to come round to yours with the other kids sometimes, and I think you probably came round to mine at some point too.”

He looked on, incredulously; this sounded improbable, but he couldn’t shake the feeling it would have to be true, why would she make something like this up?

“I can remember, when I was around 5, you holding my hand when I was really scared during a big party with all your friends. You were a year older, and you were one of the bigger boys, but you would always make sure I was ok. Derek Chang tried to throw water over me, so you went and kicked him, and your parents were really mad with you.”

“I can’t remember any of this, I’m sorry…” he interjected, trying not to get too emotional as he struggled to think back to his own childhood, “I just… I’d remember you, I’d remember a girl called Penny…”

“Wait…” he said, thinking hard, “I remember Derek Chang trying to soak someone, but not anyone called P… Pen…” There was someone, he realised, a little girl, but she had been called…

She looked at him earnestly, her eyes tinged with sadness

“Poppy. Her name was Poppy, wasn’t it, Jack?”

“Oh my god,” he said, taken aback.

Poppy. There was a name he hadn’t heard for years and years. He definitely knew a little girl called Poppy, but he could barely remember her. She had moved away, a long time ago, or at least, that’s what he could remember.

She couldn’t be the same girl, could she, after all this time?

“My parents used to call me that when I was little,” she explained quietly, “They thought it was cuter than calling me the whole ‘Penelope’ – I only started called myself Penny years later, you know after… this.”

She gesticulated at herself.

“When I turned 6, my parents put me on GH-X2 like all the other girls, but I shot up by a whole foot the first month. The doctors said they didn’t know why I was growing so fast and were worried the drug would cause my bones to become frail. I was bedridden and in hospital a lot for a really long time, and they did test after test. We were forced to move closer to the hospital and into a smaller house because of all the problems. Eventually my growth slowed down to a more manageable rate, and they gave me a low dosage to try and get me to a normal height, but I managed to overshoot that by quite a bit.”

She looked down at the ground disconsolately, fidgeting with the carpet by pulling at it with her fingers.

“I can still remember when I was finally well enough to visit your house again; I had to get on my knees to get through the doorway… It was your 9th birthday party, and some of the Alpha boys, who were nearly as tall as I was, played a prank on you and you got upset, so they crowded round you and called you a baby, picking you up and passing you between them. I got mad and told them to stop, but because I did they dropped you in the mud, shouting that you needed a girl to stand up for you. I went over to comfort you because you were crying and you pushed me away, saying you didn’t know who I was but you never wanted to see me again.”

He saw that tears were streaming down her face now.

“My parents thought that you’d hit me or something because I was so upset and I wouldn't tell them what happened, and they had a bit of a falling out with your parents about it. I think your folks thought I’d thrown you in the mud… and given the way the boys were treating you, and my size, maybe that wasn’t so far-fetched. They knew I’d had problems with GH-X2, which could cause aggressive behaviour, and from then on my parents decided to keep me away from the other kids a lot more…”

She took a moment to clear her throat. Recounting all this was taking its toll on her.

Jack felt humbled, and raw, to hear this story, something he had forgotten about for years, but everything she was saying was true. He could remember that day, though he hadn’t thought about it for years. It was Billy who humiliated him, picking him up and passing him around like a baby in the back garden when the adults weren’t around. Derek had joined in, as per usual, and he had even got into a bit of a fight, which was as one-sided as you might imagine. Even at 9 years old, Derek and Billy were well over 7 feet tall, and he was probably giving away 3 feet in height, plus a preposterous weight and strength disadvantage to those giant boys. Even now, he remembered the tall, gangly girl who tried to break things up, how humiliated and dehumanised he felt when they used her as a scapegoat to justify his suffering, and how horrible he was to her, just because she was in the firing line. He had screamed at her, called her an overgrown, stupid monster, and ran inside, shutting himself in his room for the rest of the day.

He had no inkling that this was the same girl he had known when he was younger, and that this girl would grow up to become the kind, wonderful person he saw before him. Penny had had it no easier growing up than Jack had, and he had been so unkind to her because of her size. Even now, he was still torturing her by failing to acknowledge the truth. They were both crying like drains, even though he didn’t fully realise it until now.

“I’m so sorry,” he said between sobs.

“I’m sorry too,” she said back, wiping her tears and sniffling. She still looked down at her knees, afraid to look up.

“I do remember you, I remember Poppy, and I remember the girl at my birthday…” he continued.

“I can’t believe I didn’t recognise you,” he said sadly, shaking his head in disbelief. It was so obvious now – it was all coming back to him.

Poppy was a kid he didn’t really hang out with much, because she was just a girl, but she always seemed game for playing with the boys in his class and was a bit of a tomboy herself. He remembered that she was always far too eager to join in with the rough stuff, and he’d had to protect her a few times from the some of the more boisterous occasions where the guys tried to play karate, and she would just throw herself in despite her small size.

Christ, he remembered that he’d earned an almighty shiner when Chris Yarland had tried to do a roundhouse kick in the living room of his house, and Poppy ran past at just the wrong time. He threw himself in the way to stop her head from being knocked clean off, the daft girl. The memory brought a stupid smile to his face, how had he forgotten all of this?

“I can’t believe I knew you, Penny, it’s like meeting a ghost…” he said, drying his eyes, “…do you remember Chris Yarla…”

“I do,” she interrupted, turning to face him, “You had a black eye for 2 weeks, if I remember,” she smiled despite her tear-strewn expression.

“You always protected me; you were like the big brother I never had, Jack. You were my hero, even if you didn’t really notice.”

She was right, he never really saw her as a mate, as bad as that sounds. She was kind of a little sister, always getting into trouble, always in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn’t even think he had been that nice to her, really, he just didn’t want her to get hurt.

It was crazy to think that, now, the roles were almost completely reversed; she was his hero now, protecting him, like she’d tried to do at his birthday party before he acted like a complete imbecile.

“I can’t express in words… how… unbelievably grateful I am to you for s-saving me,” he said falteringly, heavy emotion in his voice. “Anything I did to look after you all those years ago is… nothing… it’s not even comparable to what you’ve r-rescued me from.”

She looked at him with a mixture of concern and alarm as he threatened to break down in tears yet again. The horror of his kidnap drew back into focus, causing him real grief as he had only just been able to distract himself from it, and it just didn’t feel real. None of this felt remotely real at all.

“What on earth did Caitlin do to you, Jack?” she asked quietly, putting her hand over her mouth, “I didn’t want to ask you, I just… I have no idea.”

“I can’t… I…” he croaked, “She… noooo,” He placed his head on the pillows and puffed out a long stream of air, as if he was going to be sick. His eyes scrunched closed as he took several deep breaths.

“Jack, it’s ok, you don’t have to talk about it, I’m sorry I asked… all that matters is you’re safe now,” she said hurriedly, trying to keep his mind off it. Her expression was definitely one of huge concern, she didn’t realise this was so serious, even though it should have been obvious. Whatever it was that she had done to him, she wasn’t going to interrogate him about it and make him relive it so soon after being freed.

She picked up the clothes she had brought for him and put them on the bed next to where he was.

“I found these, you might look a bit… silly,” she warned, trying to change the subject.

“But they’re clean, and comfy, and I can clean your other clothes for tomorrow.”

He nodded, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him.

“In fact, I’ll go and quickly wash your other clothes so they can dry overnight, and you can get changed, if you’re able?” she asked sweetly.

“I… I should be able to…” he replied, “Thank you, again,” he laughed nervously, sniffling slightly. Her kindness knew no bounds.

“I just want you to know you’re safe now, ok,” she said, standing up and giving him a pleasant smile. She placed her hand on his head again as he closed his eyes.

“This is clearly a very emotional time, for both of us, but tomorrow is a new day,” she continued, as ever, proving to be the level-headed, pragmatic girl he was coming to rely on so much for support.

“And I will always be your friend, Jack, no matter what.”