Fingerprints ( #1 BOOK IN THE SERIES )

January (Part One)

"Tickets please." The train conductor asks, walking down the aisle of the train.

I rummage through my purse, getting my ticket out so I am ready. There should only be another half an hour or so before we reach London and then the fun can begin. It feels nice to be doing something normal and not worrying for once, even though there is still that niggle in my head.

"Please can I see your tickets?" the conductor asks when he gets to Cory, Maddie and I. The three of us managed to get a table that four people sit round and Laura and Adam decided to sit behind us.

"Thank you." The conductor then says, punching a hole in my ticket.

"How busy will it be?" Cory asks, once his ticket has been punched.

"You tell us, you're the one from London." I say back to him.

"I have always watched the firework display from the comfort of my own home. Crowds have never been my thing."

"Well you're going to have to get used to crowds because it is going to be packed. You'll enjoy it though." I say to him.

"And if not, then tough, you're going." Maddie buts in, making me laugh.

We soon arrive at Kings Cross Station so we get our bags and make our way onto the busy platform station.

"Where do we go from here?" Cory asks us.

"You have lived in London you entire life except these last few months and you're asking us where to go?" I joke with him.

"Well I don't know where you normally stay, do I? If you tell me then I can lead you there with my eyes closed." He says, sounding very confident.

"No need, we are staying here." I say pointing to a hotel just across the street from the station. "You can lead us everywhere else with your eyes closed though, we can't wait to see that trick." I tease him.

The five of us check into our hotel rooms, dumping our bags onto the floor before leaving the hotel to explore the city. We take the tube further into the city centre before running into a nearby Starbucks because the clouds have turned a nasty shade of grey.

"I'll get a table." Maddie says, as the coffee house begins to fill up with people having the same idea as us. I nod at her and get in the queue with Cory, Laura and Adam.

"I'm so nervous for my first scan. What if something's not right?" I overhear a conversation in the queue.

"Of course everything will be fine. How far gone are you again?" her friend asks.

"Just past ten weeks. So..." I stop listening at this point.

I have managed to push all the baby drama out of my at least for now, so I can enjoy my time here in London. It looks like it's never going to leave me.

"Are you alright?" Cory whispers in my ear. I look up at him and shake my head, knowing that he also heard that conversation.

It doesn't take him long to figure out what is wrong. He takes my hand and squeezes it to show that he is there by my side. We get our drinks and settle at a table near a window so we have a view of London.

"Do you miss it?" Maddie asks Cory about London which attracts his attention after we have all been sat for a while not saying anything.

"Yeah of course I do. It was my home for the majority of my life. It's hard not to miss that yet all this seems new to me. Not that I haven't been here because I have, it's just I didn't come here often."