Rebecca Hillary . net

It was nearly light when Abby awoke to find herself in a bed in the med center. The bed had been pushed up right next to the one in which Dan was sleeping, still ghostly white, but alive. She lay on her back staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks on each tile and then re-counting them. It was only when Dan stirred in his sleep that she realized he was holding her hand.
Lazily, Abby turned onto her side and ran her fingers through his hair. His eyelids flickered and he woke, gazing dreamily at her.
“He there.” He muttered sleepily.
“Hi there yourself.” She smiled back. “How are you feeling?”
“Better now that you’re awake.” He reached out and pressed his hand to her cheek. It was soft and warm against her skin. She hadn’t noticed until now, but it was absolutely freezing cold. Why would they turn off the heating?
“It’s cold.” She commented, unable to find anything else to say.
“Come here.” Dan lifted the edge of his blanket and she slipped underneath it, snuggling comfortably into his side.
“Are you feeling ok?” He asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Don’t you remember what happened?”
“I can remember you getting hurt, and something about swearing to kill Bailey if you died.”
Dan laughed. “Yes, I heard about that. Pascal told me you were raving like a mad woman. Devon was terrified, and everyone else was pretty rattled. Nobody’s ever seen you lose your cool before.”
“That’s all I can remember.” Abby frowned. “I guess I kind of blacked out.”
Dan held her closer to him. “Yes, that’s true, you did collapse. I’d just come round and you were standing by my bed, and then you weren’t there. It took me a moment to figure out what had happened. Abby, I want you to listen to me carefully now, because this is very important. You did absolutely nothing wrong. I would been in just the same frame of mind as you were if the situation had been reversed, and it wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that. It was Bailey, she was the one who…” Abby tailed off. “Wait, you’re not talking about you, are you?”
Dan shook his head.
“Something happened to me, didn’t it? After I blacked out, or… or that made me black out.”
Dan said nothing; he couldn’t have even if he had wanted to, because his throat was swelling with the effort not to succumb to the tears that were burning his eyes.
“It’s the baby, isn’t it?” Abby asked.
He pulled her head to his chest and held her as tight as he could, He had never had to deal with something like this before, and he felt like his heart was breaking. In seconds, he felt a damp warmth spreading on his shirt. Despite all of her confidence, Abby was still only human, and she would have had to have a heart of stone not to let this affect her.
How long they lay there like that, neither of them could guess, but eventually they were roused from their silent melancholy by a light knocking at the door. There were quiet footsteps crossing the room, and Abby heard a voice whisper, “I guess you’ve told her then?”
“Yes.” Dan replied softly. “I couldn’t bring myself to come out and say it, but she worked it out for herself.”
“Is she ok?”
“I think so. It’s just caught her off guard. I’ve got a serious conversation to have with that young lady when Ben lets me get out of this bed.”
“That’s what I came to tell you. He says your ok to get up, as long as you don’t put too much strain on your leg.”
“Abby. Abby, darling, I have to go for just a moment. Will you be ok here with Donna for a while?”
Abby sat up, hunched under the blanket, tears still streaming down her cheeks in silent abandon. Donna came and sat down beside her and held her in a gentle hug. She watched as Dan tried to stand, and then fell back with a thud on the bed.
“I guess I have a little practicing to do.” He beamed at Abby, whose face broke with a grin. “That’s my girl. You look so much more beautiful when you smile. Are you going to be all right? I have to go and speak to my darling daughter.”
Abby scowled. “What is she still doing here?” she demanded. “She has no right to be anywhere near any of us. Doesn’t she realize how much trouble she has caused?”
“I know what you’re feeling, but the police haven’t been able to get out here to arrest her yet. She’s currently under a citizen’s arrest, and we have Pascal, Jon and Devon keeping an eye on her at all times.”
Abby raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Pascal and Devon? Jon I can understand, what with him being an ex-copper anyway, but the other two? Aren’t you worried they may get a little, uh, how do I put this… distracted?”
Dan beamed. He looked incredibly cute standing there in just a shirt and boxer shorts, a small white dressing on his left leg, just above his knee was the only thing to show how close he had come to death. “You know about them then?”
“It was kind of obvious when Pascal, shall we say, expressed his interest in Devon yesterday.” She mimicked Pascal’s body language from when she had told him she would send Devon up with his free bottle of wine, and forced a thick, exaggerated French accent. ”’I like ‘im. ‘E ‘as a pleasant face.’” She smiled broadly. “Kind of gave it away about Pascal, and I always did have my suspicions about Devon. But there was me thinking that Donna had been having it away with him.”
Donna punched her playfully on the shoulder. “Don’t say that. I just enjoy fooling around. We’ve never actually had sex.”
Dan looked at her curiously. “I thought you and Miro were an item?”
“We are.” Donna said. “But we have sort of an understanding. He can do what he likes with Lorna, and I can do what I like with Devon. As long as we’re both being careful then it doesn’t matter.”
Abby pursed her lips. “Well there’s a turn-up for the books. My best friend and my brother are swingers.” She frowned. “It’s a bit weird though, the thought of my brother doing the nasty with my surrogate sister.”
Donna suddenly put a hand over Abby’s eyes. “Stop thinking of it, don’t picture it. Believe me, it’s not a pretty sight.”
Abby laughed, and as she pulled Donna’s hand down away from her face, she gave an enquiring look to Dan. “Why do I have to stay here? I wouldn’t mind having a few words with Bailey myself.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, darling. I don’t want to see you getting upset again.”
“I’m fine, Dan, honestly. I’ve had my tears and felt sorry for myself, and now I’m ready to face the world again.”
“Oh, well in that case, I guess I can’t stop you then, can I?”
“Not unless you tie me down.” She laughed with a suggestive raise of her eyebrows.
“Later, darling, I promise.”
Donna sighed. “Oh, please. Spare me the details of your sordid love life.”
“What,” Dan laughed, “because we had so much fun listening to the details of yours?”
“Point taken.” Donna conceded. “Look, you can’t go and see Bailey in just your under-crackers, can you? I’ll go and get you both some clothes, and leave you to do whatever it is you are so obviously longing to do.”
“Aw, thanks, Donna. You are such a sweetie.” Abby smiled.
Donna left and they were alone. It was strange, because ever since they had been together they had been forced to snatch moments together whenever they could, hiding in shadows for stolen kisses, and never having time for their relationship to flourish, as it should have done. Now though, here they were, alone and everybody knew about them, but they had absolutely no intention of doing anything other than just to be together and to talk.
“Ben did a scan for Donna last night.” Dan mentioned casually, walking over to stand in front of her.
“Really? I’ll have to ask if I can see the pictures.”
“You’ll never guess what.”
“No I probably won’t will I? What am I not going to guess?” Abby smiled at him. He always had an irritating habit of making leading comments like that and then just shutting up.
“She’s having twins.”
“Well there’s divine justice for you. I lose my own baby and she finds out she’s having two.” She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “How must the fates’ minds work if they think that’s a fair way to work things out.”
“I don’t know, darling. I think it’s just one of those things like ‘bad things happen to good people’ or something. It’s probably best not to think about it too much, because you might end up driving yourself a bit scatty.”
“It’s still a bugger though, isn’t it?”
“That it is. We’ll have other chances though. Yesterday has kind of put things into harsh perspective. I don’t want anything to ever stand in our way again. I want to marry you as soon as possible, and if that means crawling through the snow to find a priest then I will do it.”
“Bit extreme, that.” Abby said, wrinkling up her nose in that fashion that had created such an outcry among her friends yesterday. “I know what you mean though. I want to be with you forever. I really don’t care what anyone thinks anymore. I love you and I want the whole world to know it.”
He leaned in to kiss her and their bodies connected with sparks. She felt the heat of his body and knew in an instant that wanted him there and then. She squirmed in anticipation, her hips grinding against his, and his body responded. Then their bodies seemed to fall apart from each other.
“This isn’t going to happen, is it?” Dan asked.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t do it.” Abby looked at him with longing in her eyes. “I want to, God knows I do, but it’s just what with everything, I can’t. Does that make sense?”
“Of course it does. I should have known better than to try and rush you.” Dan apologized.
“I thought it was me?”
Abby looked at him and laughed. They were so in tune with each other that neither could tell whom was the instigator. She kissed him gently on the chest. “Don’t worry, baby. It’ll come.”
“Yeah, but when will I?”
“Ah, cheeky!” Abby smiled.
Dan hobbled to one side and sat on the bed next to her. “I love you.” He whispered softly in her ear.
“I love you, too.”
“You love me to what?”
Before she could answer there was a knock at the door, and Donna shouted “Stop shagging, I’m coming in!”
“And sadly I’m not coming at all!” Dan shouted back before Abby could stop him.
Donna walked in and placed a small pile of clothes on the end of the bed. “I asked Jon to go and get your clothes for you.” She told Dan. “I got all the way to your chalet and realized I didn’t have a key, then when I got to reception, Lorna needed a hand with taking a booking, and I couldn’t get away, so I got him to…”
“Donna?” Abby said, staring at her incredulously.
“Yes?”
“Get out you idiot, we need to get changed here!”