Too much love will kill you

Crossroads

Ethan's POV:

"What the hell have i just walked into?" I shouted trying to make myself heard above the noise that was coming from both Connie and Alicia.

"My mother's trying to control my life!" Alicia shouted kicking the sofa in frustration

"Alicia i am not trying to control your life , i simply suggested that you talk to your husband before making a life changing decision!" Connie shouted back

"You can't tell me what to do!I'm not a kid anymore . Although you wouldn't have a clue about what i was like as a kid seeing as you saw fit not to raise me!" She screamed "At least Chelsea got raised by one of her biological parents even if he was a complete and utter arse!"

I had to wrap my arms round her waist and drag her out of the room because i knew she'd end up doing something she regretted otherwise. She had most definitely inherited Connie's temper that everyone who had worked in the ED or currently worked there had been on the receiving end of at one time "Alicia what's this all about" I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and handed it to her so she could cool off.

She sighed and pulled out a letter that was poking out from the top of her jeans pocket and handed it to me "Mam found that this morning it must have gotten in with everyone else's post and she saw fit to open my private post without asking"

I pulled the letter from it's envelope and quickly scanned through it. It was a letter offering her a job in Manchester "Alicia... this is amazing why didn't you tell me you'd applied for this?" I passed her back the letter and she shrugged

"It wasn't important at the time, i didn't think i'd even be considered for the job" She explained taking a slow sip from the bottle

"I take it this is why you were arguing, you and Connie?" I squeezed her shoulder gently

She nodded a little still not meeting my eyes "Somewhat..yes. She said i should talk to you about it before making a decision but i've already made my mind up i'm not taking it" She squared her shoulders defiantly

I stared at her in shock wondering if she'd gone mad "Alicia this is a once in a lifetime opportunity you can't turn this down"

She stood up and promptly tore the letter into shreds "Yes i can and i have i'm not taking the job Ethan . We can't just uproot the girls and move to a whole new place it's not fair on them they're happy here and even if i was willing to do that which i'm not we can't afford it , we have everything we need here if we move to Manchester what are we going to do about childcare, it's different here if we're both working then we have a whole heap of people to look after our kids but that's not had to happen because we're fortunate enough to have a boss who understands that we our work shifts need to work around childcare and this new hospital doesn't have an onsite creche and i wouldn't leave my girls with any random stranger" She opened the window and threw the shredded letter out the wind catching hold of the tiny pieces like snow.

I stared at her my mouth hanging open flabbergasted "Alicia , Mam's crying and she won't leave the living room talk to her please you're the only one she'll talk to she even sent Dad away" She wrapped her arms round Alicia's waist and cuddled her

"In a minute Gracie me and Ethan just need to finish our talk" She turned to face me as Grace went out of the room "See that, we're needed here. It would break everyone's hearts if we left and Sadie's starting school in September she's going to the same school as her little friends from nursery i don't want her to have the same upbringing that i did being dragged from pillar to post every time one of her parents gets a new job I'd lived in 6 different houses by the time i was 12 Ethan that's moving every two years Ethan! I went to 4 different primary schools and 4 secondary schools that's the reason i didn't have the best childhood that's why i don't want to take this stupid job" She sank to the floor and started to cry