(no subject)

A busy day.

Getting up after a very interrupted night, dashing around to one of his aunts to drop Anita off (made easier by the presence of Holly and her car), work, overtime, getting in a phone call to his mother before the time zones get too bad...

"So what's going on?" He flops down on a bench outside the hospital.

"I had a bit of a fall, I can't fly."

"How long? And what's Darvesh doing here without you?"

"We've sorted things out, he managed to get an earlier flight. And we didn't think we ought to leave you with the baby too long."

"So you are coming back then?"

"Of course. India is very nice, but Holby is our home. And I'm hardly going to leave Darvesh to look after Anita on his own longer than I need to."

Guppy hesitates. He hears his mother make a disgruntled noise.

"You have given Darvesh the baby back, haven't you?"

"Not yet. Mum, he tried to kill me, he's a thug, why did you marry him? Do you really think he's safe with her?"

Guppy winces as his angry mother lets a torrent of unpleasant reprimands at him. He can't remember her ever being so cross at him. After three minutes he interrupts her, suddenly thinking of the phone bill.

"Mum, you can yell at me when you're home. I am not handing her over to him without you being here, and if necessary I'll threaten to go through with prosecuting him for assault. Now, when are you coming back? ...Six weeks? What did you break? ... Okay, that probably is a six week job. No, I'm still not giving her back to him, tell him to enjoy the freedom. Take care."

He hangs up whilst she's still yelling at him, then gets a bus across town. An advantage of being a doctor is that now and again you save someone useful. And this former car crash victim happened to be a lawyer.

Quite a patient lawyer, and willing to give him a discount or at least free advice. He listens to Guppy and watches the video, then nods.

"Have you actually given verbal consent to care for this child?"

"Not really, I was only semi-conscious at the time. I may have agreed later on the phone, I don't remember."

The lawyer runs a hand through his hair and sighs.

"Well... I'm not saying it's impossible. Anita was, by the sounds of it, abandoned into your care and your stepfather has a criminal record. Some of her behaviour towards you as a child that you've described would also act against her. But. Your childcare arrangements are poorly organised at best, you can't afford a nanny, you would be acting as a single parent and you are undergoing counselling and treatment for stress-related health problems." A sigh. "I'm sorry Dr Sandhu, but you do not currently have a strong case for custody. Unless your mother and stepfather decide to give her up to you. If you have genuine concerns, with evidence, that Anita is being neglected or abused once you hand her back, then contact social services, come back and we'll review it okay?"

A stern frown. "And I strongly advise you don't tell them you've considered suing. All you're going to achieve down that road is losing all three of them, and going broke, even with the kind of discount I'd give you."

Guppy nods and gets up.

"Okay, at least I know where I stand, thank you."