A Little Piece of My Heart

[I love music]

Story Title: A Little Piece of My Heart

Story description: Drama

Type of story: One shot

Main Characters: Kirsty and Kane

BTTB rating: G

Does story include spoilers: No

Is story being proof read: yes/ no by who?

Any warnings:

Summary: The fugitives are traced.

Okay, what am I doing writing a new fic when I’m in the middle of writing two already...??? Well, I’m hoping to move soon so I needed to bring stuff up to date. I actually meant to write the last chapter of Sleeping Beauty but I found the start of this fic on the same floppy disk and decided to finish it. I’ll complete Sleeping Beauty next and then do the third chapter of Rock Me Gently.

A LITTLE PIECE OF MY HEART

So take every little piece of my heart...

So take every little piece of my soul...

So take every little piece of my mind...

’cause if you’re gone... inside...

I’d die without you...

“Kane.”

Said almost in a whisper. Said not as a question but as a statement. The end of all the running. They’re been found.

Here, in this old, draughty hospital, where the train of ceiling lights reflect coldly in the dark windows of long, winding corridors. Here, with the clock ticking surely towards midnight and a spattering of rain tapping against the glass. It’s ended.

“Dani.”

Said with a catch in his voice. Why now, why this moment, why when their child is about to be born...

Kirsty tries to speak but finds she can’t. She gulps breaths of air through the oxygen mask, through the fog of pain, and her hand clutches her husband’s tighter, tighter, tighter...so terrified he’ll be taken from her now.

To the hospital staff they’ve given their names as Mr and Mrs White. Yet another surname taken from yet another randomly-opened phone directory in yet another town. Ken and Chrissie. The long term plan, because these are the names most like their own, at a time when it’s going to be almost impossible not to slip.

Oh, but they’ve been so many people before. So many people, so many towns. Faces and places that blur. Jobs that pay cash, precious dollars counted out into outstretched palms, sweating over whether someone will deduct wages for some imaginary fault or even if they’ll pay at all. Frying greasy foods in backstreet cafes that smell of newspapers and smoke or heaving crates on to trucks in driving rain and cold or scrubbing down floors of silent offices with the clanking bucket and swish of the mop the only sound.

Cramped little flats where landlords don’t ask questions and nights are for holding each other so tight and drying each other’s tears while cockroaches scurry along the damp walls. Lies, sweet lies, yes, he’s already eaten so it doesn’t matter they don’t have any more food, no, he’s not tired so she must rest while he goes to buy groceries from the cheapest late night store. And while she sleeps, nestled against him, he stares at the moonlight and kisses her hair and dreams what might have been. Because he wanted so much more for her, but his love was all that he had to give.

He turns to Dani with tears dimming his eyes while Kirsty is being transferred from the stretcher to the bed.

“Don’t tell the cops. Please. We just wanna stay together. Be a family. Don’t tell them,” he pleads.

“But I already rang them...” She swallows. “It’s for the best,” she adds.

And so it’s over. Soon a hand will be clamped on his shoulder and soon a prison will be his home. And he could still run, the time is still there, but he can’t leave the wife he loves so much and the son about to enter this fragile world. Or do cops have hearts? Will they let him stay for the birth of his child? It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, and Dani, the one he took everything from, has been the one to take away all that they have.

*****

“Mr White?”

Kane turns, only briefly hesitant with the new name. Dani could, but doesn’t, correct the speaker, biting her lip as the medic ushers him inside. And when they’re gone, she sinks down alone on to one of a trio of rickety chairs, a pale, solitary figure, and she too watches moonlight and remembers dreams.

So many, many emotions. Should she have left them? Should she have let the police find them instead, like everyone told her to, left them to precious moments together? Every single day endlessly searching. Too late for regrets but should she be here, has she done the right thing?

They had been so hard to find, she knew it would be, but she had determinedly pursued them. Sought out the watchers and listeners, the nameless people who move like ghosts on the edge of society, the drinkers and drug takers, prostitutes and law breakers, the mentally ill and the mentally weak, many of whom closed ranks or threatened or spat in her face.

But a few who talked when paid well enough.

Funding herself with savings, night after night of lonely hotel rooms, day after day of trails that died. But it was for Kirsty. It was all for Kirsty. Because sisters are sisters, no matter what happens, sisters are sisters and in a heart for all time.

*****

Bitter sweet moment. Tears of happiness and sadness. Their son is beautiful. Father’s eyes, mother’s smile. Too young to smile yet, but it looks like he’s smiling. They laugh at each other and cry with each other, gently stroke the downy hair of their child’s head, feel already the grip of their child’s tiny fists on their fingers, awed by the perfection of this wonderful being.

“I swear I’m gonna be the best Dad ever...” Kane begins and falters.

How can he hope to be, locked away in some cell, with steel doors clanged shut night after night? He’s been here for the birth of his son, but the clock is relentless and time hurries by, waiting for no one.

Kirsty reaches up, touches his tears. “If...if Dani’s still there...”

He nods, understanding the silent question, too full of emotion to speak, places their baby back in the crook of her arms. Long ago they made their decision and they’ll keep it. James Daniel. Jamie for short. Jamie for the Jay of Jade and Daniel for Dani. Because...despite everything...sisters are sisters, no matter what happens, sisters are sisters and in a heart for all time.

*****

Dani sees him, it seems she’s sat here an age, her face streaked with tears, her body hunched. Her words run breathlessly into each other, desperate for news.

“How’s Kirsty? The nurse said she’d had the bub but she wouldn't tell me anymore. I know it’s a boy though, I remember when Kirsty told me it would be, she was stoked, I never saw her so happy...Is she okay, are they both alright?”

“She’s fine. They both are. He’s perfect.”

He can’t stop the smile and she smiles with him, sighing with relief.

“Kirst asked to see ya,” he adds quietly.

Her face brightens. Dani again, the Dani of old, the Dani in charge of her life till he took her life from her.

“You know, I can remember - vaguely - when Kirsty and Jade were only bubs themselves!”

She laughs at herself, laughs at her excitement, her need to share inconsequential information, hurries by in a flurry of expensive scent and confident tip-tap of heels.

She rises as he falls. So many, many emotions. He bypasses the trio of rickety chairs and presses his hands on the ancient lukewarm radiator, presses his forehead against the cool of the glass, looks out into the moonlight streaked grounds, at the grey blades of grass swaying with the freedom of the breeze, at the steadily falling rain and shadowy half light.

Should he have left them? Should he have given himself up to the police, like everyone told him to, left his wife and child to precious moments together? Every single day endlessly running. Too late for regrets but should he be here, has he done the right thing?

*****

“Kane.”

Said almost in a whisper. Said not as a question but as a statement.

It seems he’s stood here an age, his face streaked with tears, his body hunched. The world is growing lighter now, the sun begins to paint the sky, the birds are slowly waking.

“Dani.” Said with a catch in his voice. “Look, what you did, I don’t blame you, I can't blame you...”

“It was for Kirsty,” Dani says quickly. “It wasn’t right, living the way she was, and being pregnant. It wasn’t right.”

“Don’t worry, we’re not running anymore. I gotta think of my wife and kid.” His words run breathlessly into each other, desperate for news.

“But I just...just wondered exactly how much the cops know about where we are, how long Kirst and me and our son have left together...” He wipes a hand across teary eyes.

Dani cuts in, anxious to make him understand.

“Kane, they found your Dad. He didn’t confess, not right away. But there was a new witness. Kane, I’ve been looking for you both for ages to tell you. The police only want you to tell you that you don’t have to run anymore.”

He stares at her, struggling to take in the words.

“I love Kirsty,” Dani says. “I know you do too. I think she’d die without you. I think you’d die without each other.” She smiles slowly.

He breathes. Breathes at last after months of cramped little flats, of counting every cent, of looking over their shoulders. It’s over. It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, and Dani, the one he took everything from, has been the one to give them everything back.

“Thank you,” he whispers, returning the smile. Such a small word. Everything.

Morning is breaking. The grass shines with last night’s tears. Sunlight filters shyly through the gently shivering trees. Birds spread wings and soar into the distance, heady with their freedom. Morning is breaking. The day is brand new.

***THE END***

Oh, I apologize for all the things I've done.

But now I'm underwater and I'm drowning...

Is it my turn to be the one to cry.

Isn't it amazing how some things just completely turn around...

So take every little piece of my heart...

So take every little piece of my soul...

So take every little piece of my mind...

'Cause if you're gone... inside...

I'd die without you...

I’d Die Without You (PM Dawn)

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