Unfamiliar

[Taniya_K]

So I decided that I wanted to get this up today, because I knew that if I didn't, it would have been on Tuesday and that was too long for me to keep you guys waiting.

Sorry in advance.

Chapter 39:

Belle watched the TV with a mild interest. It was only on to give her a distraction and a reason for sitting on the couch at 5pm surrounded in quite a bit of junk food a few hours before they were expected to have dinner at Irene’s. Her mind was elsewhere as she munched on the potato chips in the bowl now on her lap. She was thinking over what the best way to come clean to Aden would be and when. She couldn’t do it before the dinner because that would just ruin the whole evening. Which only left afterwards when they came home, or postponing it until tomorrow.

As soon as she had arrived home once again, Belle began to doubt her decision to tell him. The words ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ played on her mind. The worst that could happen, she concluded, was that he would tell her he didn’t trust her anymore. That, ultimately, would ruin their relationship. Trust was the important thing in any relationship and marriage, other than love. And in their relationship, trust was vital. They had shared a lot more of themselves to each other than anyone else, and that was only because of that trust that they had managed to form between them.

She remembered what Aden had written in that letter to her before their wedding, saying how it was the trust and friendship from the day that he first climbed in through her window that made him who he was today. Since then, Belle realised, they had always had that trust and friendship, hence how they were at that point right then. She hoped that he wouldn’t take it that badly, and that in the end, he might just understand her reasoning. Him being mad that Justin was back and she didn’t tell him, she could handle. Him telling her that he no longer trusted her, she couldn’t, and she wasn’t sure if they could ever recover from that.

The turning of the door handle snapped her out of her thoughts and Belle craned her neck to see Aden come in, balancing a cake box in one hand while holding the keys in the other. She remained where she sat as he shut the door with a swift kick and locked it.

“Yeah, don’t bother helping, babe. I’ve got it.” He said sarcastically as she smiled sweetly at him when he headed directly for the kitchen.

“You’re always telling me that you can handle everything…” Belle replied in amusement, trying to peer at him from where she was but to no avail. Too curious about the cake box, she tossed the blanket that she had draped across her legs and got up, placing the bowl onto the table in front of her.

“Sure, sure…” His voice came back to her as she stepped over the threshold and into the kitchen, the tiled floor severely colder than the carpet of the main room. “Now you get up?”

“Shut up.” She snapped, rolling her eyes while walking over to where he had placed the box onto the counter. “What’s with the cake?”

“For Annie.” Aden told her as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge as she eyed the double chocolate cake coated in chocolate butter cream and with the words ‘Happy Birthday Annie’ written in icing on top of it.

“But why? Didn’t they make one yesterday?” At her words, Aden scoffed as leaned against the counter opposite her, shutting the lid before she got too tempted to eat it.

“They ruined it. Burnt it inside and out. No surprises there, though.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that there is some kind of talent required for baking.” She defended both herself and, surprisingly, the teenagers.

“I’ll take your word for it.” He smiled at her before taking in her attire as she turned around to head back into the main room when her feet became too cold. “I’m not complaining or anything, but what’s with the lack of clothes?”

“What?” Belle asked innocently as she climbed back onto the sofa, pulling the blanket back over to cover her bare legs while Aden came to a stop behind it, leaning on the back with his arms to look over at her. “I’m wearing clothes.” She insisted, pulling the sleeves of the jumper over her hands easily considering how big they were.

“Unfortunately, but,” Aden added quickly with a smile as she glared at him. “What I meant was that we’re heading out in an hour or so, so why have you gotten comfy in that?”

“Because I wanted to.” She retorted, a frown marring her features as she turned back to the teen drama playing on the TV, pretending to be more interested in that at the moment.

“Belle…” He murmured warningly and she sighed, still keeping her eyes focused onto the TV as she spoke.

“My jeans won’t fit. Happy?” Belle said dryly with a hint of anger. His reaction, however, was to laugh which did not go down well with her. “Gee, thanks for being so sympathetic and supportive, Aden.”

“I’m sorry, Belle.” He laughed, trying to stifle it as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before leaning back into his position. “But you didn’t expect to carry a healthy kid to 9 months on those sticks that you pass for legs, did you?”

“They fit just fine yesterday! But today…” She trailed off to show her frustration.

“What did you wear to work then? Don’t tell me that you wore this!” Aden’s tone was slightly horrified and forceful as if the thought of her wearing just a jumper that barely reached her legs was something that he couldn’t handle. One look at his face and she resisted the urge to tease him and bait him on, telling him that she wore less than this at the beach.

“No, I found one that fitted. Even that was a bit uncomfortable.” Belle admitted as he smirked almost victoriously.

“Alright, I guess we’re going shopping then.”

“Uh… ‘We‘? No. I’ll go. And it’ll be very quick and painless.” She insisted and he reluctantly nodded, knowing that this was something that he wasn’t going to win, not without an argument and the last thing he wasn’t was to upset her when there was absolutely no need for it.

“Whatever you want.” Aden said coolly before reaching forwards and placing one hand to the side of her stomach. “Any more kicks?”

“A few. Every now and again.” She confirmed, twisting around on the couch so that she could stretch her legs out along it to make to easier for him to feel. “Nothing regular, so it’s kind of hit and miss right now.”

“Righto…” He mumbled, clearly disappointed by the news although he tried his best to hide it. “Anyway, what’s with all the food?”

“Um…” Belle held his hand over her stomach, wishing that there was some good news that she could give him for once before shaking her head mentally and put on a small smile for him. “We got hungry.”

“Did you now…?” Aden laughed. “Wouldn’t have guessed.”

“I haven’t eaten all this!” She defended herself as she flung her free arm around to motion to the table where the junk laid. “I kind of started at one and then got sick of it so I had to get something else.”

“Hmm… Ok.”

“What? I’m telling the truth!”

“I didn’t say you weren’t!” He replied defiantly as she scowled.

“Look, first I craved something sweet, so I got the chocolate, but then I wanted something salty, so I got the chips. Then the baby decided it didn’t like that and wanted popcorn, so I made that,” Belle pointed at each item, now pointing at the white bowl at the far end of the coffee table. “But I made it salty and I had had enough salt, so I had to make some more and made it buttery.”

“I see. And what’s the Nutella for?” Aden prodded, nodding towards the jar that had a spoon resting on top of the closed lid.

“Well, when I made the salty popcorn, I thought that maybe having it with Nutella would make it taste better. You know, less salty. Didn’t work. Well, it did in the sense that it was less salty, and definitely tasted better, but it wasn’t what I wanted.” She explained to him as he grimaced, hiding it quickly as he could before she saw. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t quick enough, earning a shove to his shoulder. “You asked. Anyway, it’s not that bad. It’s just chocolate and popcorn. You should try some. Nicer than the chips and Nutella. That was a mistake. But at least now I know what it is that I want.”

“That’s nice, honey.” Aden merely said, not sure what else there was to say about it as he rubbed her stomach lightly. “So how long have you been home exactly, if you’ve had enough time to do all that?”

“An hour and a bit.”

“Ok. Well, I’m going to grab a shower so…” The open sentence brought a smile to her face and shook her head.

“No, Aden. We’ll be late if we do.”

“Nah, c’mon. We’ve got over an hour!” He tried to tempt her but she pushed his hand off of her to get him moving.

“Nope! We’re not going to be late tonight, ok? So you can go and have your shower and then get ready. Nothing more and nothing less, understood?” Belle said strictly, a tone with no room for him to even bother to try and sway her.

“Fine, I’m going.” Aden sighed dramatically and left. Belle watched him out of the corner of her eyes as he disappeared up the stairs before relaxing entirely. She hadn’t been aware just how on guard she had been since Aden had arrived. It had all become second nature to her, an instinct that she now found disgusting when she thought about it. Making her mind up, Belle decided that she would tell him as soon as she could. If he was in the right mood, then tonight after they got back home would be the best time. It would give him time to think it over, and their unspoken rule of never going to sleep with an argument unresolved could work in her favour. And, she hoped, Aden was less likely to storm out of the house if it night time.

Nodding to no-one as she told herself confidently that she wasn’t going to back out, there was a powerful movement from her baby, kicking gently although harder than ever before at her almost in agreement to her thoughts, as if it approved of her decision. Smiling ruefully, Belle prayed that the baby wouldn’t despise her if, at the end of this all, she drove Aden away.

What’s the worst that could happen? she thought to herself mockingly. Well, bringing a child into this world with parents in a sham of marriage might just be that.

---

The rest of the evening went smoothly. They had managed to bring over the cake without any mishaps and after the 17 candles were blown out, it was now all gone. Annie had showed off her many presents to Belle while thanking the both of them excitedly for her new iPod that they had given her along with other bits and bobs that Belle had picked out. They all had laughs as the subject of Geoff and Nicole’s burnt cake was brought up as they all ate the professionally made one, awkward looks being exchange between the two teenagers as the question to why it got burnt came up. Seeing as it was in their house, Aden and Belle had told them to not answer it and that they would just think it was because they put the temperature up too high. Of course, Nicole’s quip about the temperature being certainly high didn’t do any good for them, despite Geoff’s spluttering to defend them.

Finally, the matter had been put to an end by Irene, loudly exclaiming that there was a lot of stuff to be cleaned up. That had dispersed them all in various directions, and after much insisting that it was all being taken care of, Belle had ended up venturing back to her old room and perching on the end of her bed. It was as soft and comfy as ever, although it didn’t look so inviting in the almost empty room. Only a few items scattered here and there that she hadn’t taken with her because they weren’t so important showed that there had been some kind of life here. More than a life, but a whole lifetime, she realised, remember all of the times that her and Aden had spent in there. Their relationship had began in there, and ended many times, but always coming back together again. They had spent hours talking on that very bed, sleeping, messing around and then some. She spied the window in the reflection of the mirror, letting in the moonlight that helped to brighten up the room. The window that had been used by both her and Aden, climbing through almost daily at first before turning about once a week. It had been the cause of a very literal climb from friendship to more.

Sighing, Belle leant back on one hand while using the other to rub circles soothingly on her stomach as she felt the baby move. She wondered half-minded if being back in this room had some effect on it, considering that it was most probably where it’s life had began. Feeling a soft kick, the first ever since Aden had returned home, as she assumed that the baby tried to get comfortable, Belle resisted the urged to call out for him. The chances of another kick was unlikely and there was no point of getting his hopes up or excited if disappointment was going to follow. Groaning silently, she made the connection between this and the whole Justin situation pretty easily, although this was a bit more justifiable than the other one, and more lighter.

A shadow in the shape of a person was cast across the floor in front of her where the light from the open door was being blocked. She tilted her head to the side to see Irene standing there momentarily before shutting the door and coming to sit down next to her.

“Reminiscing, are you?”

“Something like that.” Belle muttered with a small smile.

“Miss this old place of yours?” Irene questioned and she shook her head in reply slowly.

“It’s still here. I mean, yeah, of course I miss the certain things like having you guys around, but it’s not like I’m never here or anything.” She explained quietly and a bit distractedly.

“That’s true, love.” Irene smiled warmly at her as she turned to look away a bit, sitting up straighter. “So are you going to tell me what’s wrong or am I going to have to keep on making meaningless conversation for a while?”

“’Wrong‘?” Belle looked back at her, eyebrows scrunched together. “What makes you think there’s something wrong?”

“Well, for starter’s darl, you’ve been on edge all night. I would ask if you and Aden have had another fight,” Belle rolled her eyes at the term ‘another’, “but he seems fine. And I like to think that I know you well enough by now to know when there’s something bothering you.”

Belle sat in silence for a minute, pushing herself back on her old bed so that she could slip off her shoes and cross her legs. Her gaze averted to the floor, picking slowly at a few flakes of nail varnish on her fingers that she hadn’t managed to get off yet. Taking a deep breath, she looked over at Irene, who had remained in her place, before speaking.

“I’ve done something really wrong, Irene. And I don’t know how to tell Aden without hurting him.” Belle confessed hoarsely, tears rising to her eyes before she could stop them.

“Belle, whatever it is, you know that time will only make it worse.” Irene advised, making her heart clench tighter as she willed her tears away.

“I didn’t want to tell him because I was scared that it would hurt him, but that was over a week ago. I’ve kept it from him this long, and now it’s not just that one thing that will hurt him. I know I should have told him straight away, but I couldn’t. Now he’s not going to trust me anymore because I didn’t tell him straight out.” Irene turned to face her, smoothing back her hair gently as she took in the words before replying.

“The two of you have been through a lot together, Belle. Trust is something that is built up. You know your mistake and you’re going to try and fix it, right?” At Belle’s single nod, Irene carried on. “Exactly. Nobody’s perfect, love, and your heart was in the right place. Aden’s not one to overlook that.”

“But you don’t know what it is that I’ve done. It’s something that I knew he wouldn’t like and I went and did it anyway and kept it a secret. The guilt’s eating me from the inside, Irene, but I’m so scared that it’s going to escalade from the actually thing to the fact that I kept it from him! Why didn’t I just tell him?” She practically shouted through gritted teeth while burying her face into her hands.

“Belle, I can’t tell you that. You can’t change the past either. From what you’ve told me, it sounds like you’ve already thought this over a million times.”

“Try every second of every day ever since. I don’t want to risk him finding out from someone else, but I don’t want to hurt him by telling him something that might not even be relevant anymore. I’m so confused with what to do! Every time I convince myself that I’m going to tell him, the reasons why I didn’t tell him in the first place come back to me and I’m back at square one!” She growled, silently wishing that that scene in the Surf Club had never happened.

“I don’t think keeping it a secret for any longer will do you any good. Think about how bad you’ll feel in another week. You know you’ve made a mistake, and now you’ve got to face the consequences. If you don’t, then who knows how it might come out? Would you rather Aden find out from someone else?” Irene asked her as Belle shook her head before sighing once again.

“I’m going to tell him. Soon.” She said confidently, although a bit quietly. “I just hope he doesn’t hate me at the end of it all.”

“Aden would never hate you, Belle.” Irene told her, placing a hand onto her leg and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You two have had your fair share of arguments and secrets and whatnot. You‘ll come out of this stronger. But only if you‘re honest and accept your mistakes.”

“Thank you.” Belle whispered, her voice thick with emotion as the elder lady leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead and stood up.

“Anytime, darl.”

“I’ll be out in a minute.” She said as she saw Irene hesitate to leave. “I’m just going to calm myself down first.”

“Alright. I’ll see you then.” Almost as soon as the door had shut once again, Belle dropped her head once again into her hands, trying to get rid of all the negative feelings once again. The anticipation of telling Aden was stressing her out. As the nauseousness began to churn in her stomach that had nothing to do with the pregnancy, she sat up straighter and used her hands to lean back against and stretched as gently as she could.

Unluckily for her, it did no good and all she wanted to do now was either cry or curl up into a ball where she could just forget everything. Although Belle had never been a person who didn’t handle her responsibilities or to give up, the idea of giving someone else this task of telling Aden that his brother had been back seemed good to her. As long as she wasn’t brought up in it all. However, she knew that that would be the coward’s way out and Belle was proud woman; proud enough to know when she was wrong and to face the outcome of it all, no matter what.

Exhaling deeply, Belle uncrossed her legs and shuffled back again so that she could lay them on the bed. Bending her arms so that she could lean on her elbows, she slowly turned to her side and rested her head on the pillow at the top of the bed when her shoulders began to ache. Used to being able to either see a photo or the glass doors to the balcony in their room at home, Belle realised just how different it now felt to be in the room she had called hers for 5 years. Blinking back the rest of them as a single tear fell from her eyes, she let them close for far too long, the muffled sounds of that others on the other side of the door lulling her to into an unwanted sleep.

---

A rustling sound woke Belle up, and she was startled to see the sun shining through, cascading over the bed that she laid in. Another look around and it was clear that she was in her room. Casting her mind back, she could barely remember Aden bringing her home and putting her to bed. It was all blurry and she wondered why she hadn’t woken up once before.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Aden’s voice interrupted her thoughts as he re-entered the room with a bottle of water in his hands. “You feeling ok?”

“Yeah… Why wouldn’t I be?” She asked worriedly, a hand dropping immediately to her stomach.

“No reason, nothing’s wrong.” He quickly reassured her, seeing her arms move under the covers. “You’ve just been dead to the world for the past 10 hours or so.”

“Right.” Belle mumbled, looking at the time and thanking God that she didn’t need to head into work that day. Aden, on the other hand, only had the afternoon off. “Shouldn’t you be going to uni?”

“I will, I will. Just making sure everything’s ok. You sure you’re feeling alright? No extra tiredness or aches and pains?” He prodded, a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“I’m sure.” Belle claimed, realising that the most probable reason why she had fallen asleep so deeply was because of the stress and worrying from the past week catching up to her. Her breath caught in her throat when she realised that she had missed her chance to tell Aden about the cause of her distress last night. The clock next to her told her it was too late to tell him now, and that she really didn’t fancy telling him before he had to go driving into the city. “You should go.”

“Positive?” Aden asked once again and she rolled her eyes and pushed herself up in the bed.

“Yes. I’m going to get up now. Besides, you’ll be home at… what? 1?” She reminded him. “I won’t have even had the chance to do anything by then.”

“Ok. Just promise me you’ll call if there’s-”

“Aden…” Belle moaned.

“-anything wrong.” He continued, ignoring her protest. “Please? For my peace of mind?”

“You know I would.”

“Alright, I’m off then.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Aden skimmed a hand over her stomach lovingly before leaving. She smiled as there was a soft kick only seconds after he disappeared, hearing his footsteps retreat down the hallway and towards the stairs.

Pulling aside the covers, Belle sat at the edge of the bed, opening the water bottle and taking a swig of the cool drink to wake her up a bit. Just as she placed it back onto the bedside table, the doorbell rang, bringing a frown to her face. It was too early for people to be dropping by, especially on a weekday when they both would be out.

Getting up, she ran a hand through her hair as she heard Aden open the door and then two voices talking, none of them clear enough for her to hear. She had pulled on her dressing gown when he called for her. Even more suspicious, and slightly worried, Belle headed downstairs. Her heart beat irregularly as she took careful steps before reaching the stairs. She glanced at the door as soon as she could, relief sweeping her system when she saw a familiar, and oddly welcoming, figure.

“Drew! What are you doing here?” She exclaimed as she climbed down the final few stairs, coming to a stop next to Aden where he was gathering the final things that he needed to take with him.

“Just thought I’d drop by and see you.” He shrugged casually while she glared at Aden.

“Hey, I didn’t tell him!” He defended himself before turning to look at her. “You going to be alright with him for the morning?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“If he gets too much, throw him out.” Aden joked while she rolled her eyes. “Seriously though, we have plenty of sharp weapons in the kitchen if you need them.”

“I don’t think they would do the job with Drew.” She replied earnestly as he thought about it.

“Forget the knives, use the hacksaw.”

“We don’t have a hacksaw…” Belle told him as he looked confused.

“We don’t?” She shook her head at him. “Drown him in the pool then.”

“I’ll just stand here while you plot my death then, yeah?” Drew said sarcastically as they ignored him.

“Pool’s empty, Aden.” He opened his mouth to say something else but she carried on quickly. “Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something. But you better go unless you want to be late with the only excuse of spending time planning murder.”

Laughing, Aden gave her a quick kiss, neither one seeing the slight disgusted look on the other person’s face before turning around and giving him a look that was easily interpreted as to be good otherwise he’d pay for it before finally leaving.

“So, what are you doing here?” Belle asked him when they were alone.

“Amanda said you had the day off so I thought I’d come and keep you company.” He explained, following her into the kitchen.

“I don’t have the day off; I’m working from home.” She informed him.

“Same thing.” Drew replied, sliding into one of the chairs. “So how are things?”

“Things are fine.” Belle dismissed easily whilst continuing with making her herbal tea. “How did you get the time off work to come here, anyway?”

“Meh… Work doesn’t really care when I take time off.” He shrugged casually as she threw him a look over her shoulder.

“You mean you didn’t tell them?”

“I mean that I might have called in sick.” He corrected her as she laughed.

“One day, Drew, you’re gong to be out of a job and then you’ll wish that you actually did it right.” She told him lightly.

“Never mind. I need a change of scene anyway.” Drew chuckled. “Don’t you think you should cut down on all the junk?” He asked while eyeing her stomach as she made her breakfast of Nutella on toast. The fruit salad had now been banished from the breakfast menu after having it too many times. “You look like you’ve eaten enough for a while.”

“I’m pregnant, Drew. It tends to happen.” She remarked snappily as he grimaced, realising his mistake.

“Ok, ok, sorry.” He murmured while adding a smirk as she sat turned to face him with her breakfast. “Touchy subject, right?”

“Shut up.”

---

After the drag of a morning, Aden was more than happy to returned back to the Bay. Stopping over at the Diner to pick up a few treats for Belle, he parked his car nearby before heading in. The strange sixth sense that everyone had of knowing when they were being watched came over him as he walked up the few steps and into the Diner. Pausing, he took a look around, pulling off his glasses and squinting but finding nothing. Shrugging it off as being paranoid, he carried on inside, glad to see Roman at the counter.

“G’day, mate.”

“Hey, how’s it going?” Aden asked, leaning against the counter languishly.

“Good, good. Though I should be asking you that.” Roman laughed as Aden smiled.

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“Something wrong?” He picked up on the vague answer easily, especially after knowing the young man for about 3 years now like his own son.

“No, it’s all good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Aden nodded to emphasise it, although he was unsure whether he believed it or not. At the back of his mind, a voice told him that there was something going on with Belle, but he tried with all his might to push it away and respect her when she said she was ok. “Anyway, I was hoping to grab some cake or muffins or anything chocolaty?”

“Ah, I see. Belle sending you on errands already?” Roman teased as he went into the kitchen and got a plate of freshly bakes muffins. “These good enough?”

“Perfect, and no, she isn’t. You know what Belle and chocolate are like.” Aden replied as Roman packed up a dozen of them. They continued to make small talk until another customer approached them and Roman had to get back to work. Knowing that it was the best time as ever to leave, Aden thanked him and took the box before turning around to leave.

He had taken a couple of steps before the sixth sense kicked in once again. Someone was watching him, and as he raised his head this time from where he was jingling his keys, he saw who it was. Confusion was the first thing he felt before realisation hit him. Frozen in his spot, Aden frowned as he looked at his brother, straight into his crystal clear blue eyes.

---

Sorry if you felt it dragged on. I know it got a bit long... but I hope you enjoyed it!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

So sorry for the wait! I’ve practically just got this done.

I’m really not sure about this chapter still. I think it’s because I’ve been thinking about this part of the fic for ages now, and I just can’t seem to get it done perfect. So please be brutally honest when commenting and tell me what you think!

Thanks a heap to Naomi for reading this through for me!

Chapter 40:

It wasn’t too hard to recognise him. After the age of 18, people didn’t really change much unless they lose or gain a lot of weight, or have surgery. Being family, of course, helped. Justin looked like he had 8 years ago, with the same eyes that Aden saw everyday in the mirror or in the photos that Belle had scattered around their house. His hair was different, but nevertheless the same messy spiked look that his older brother had always gone for. There was no doubting it; he was staring at his brother after so long. And he didn’t care.

Getting over his shock, Aden carried on walking, brushing straight past him as he headed for the exit. He didn’t care, he told himself, he didn’t care why he was back or why he had stood there watching him. He didn’t care, not as he jumped down the 3 steps with an added hurriedness to get to his car and drive home where he could forget it had happened. Unfortunately, life had never worked that way, and Aden was only at the tables when he heard the footsteps behind him.

“Aden, stop! C’mon, mate. I just want to talk.” Justin pleaded but he did nothing to indicate he was listening or acknowledging him. He didn’t care. Full stop. That was until he grabbed a hold of his arm, a tight lock that Aden recognised from almost another lifetime when his older brother would stop him from getting hurt or in the way of their drunken father.

“What!?” He finally spoke, spitting out the word with such anger that Aden knew his thoughts of not wanting to care hadn’t worked.

“I just want to talk.” Justin said calmly, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture as Aden scoffed.

“I don’t want to hear it.” He turned to leave, only to be stopped once again. He knew he had the strength to overpower him; it had been Justin himself who had taught him to fight off bullies at the age of 10. Sighing deeply, he faced him once again, placing the box of muffins onto the table on his left and crossing his arms. “I want you to leave.”

“Aden-”

“Actually, no. You’re practically a stranger; why should I care whether you’re here or not?” Aden remarked dryly as Justin nodded slowly, albeit sadly.

“Look, mate, I know that this is probably a surprise-” Aden’s wry chuckle told Justin just what he needed to know. “I’m here to see you, Aden. To see how you’re doing. Make sure you’re good.”

“Well, I’m alive, as you can see. No thanks to you, of course. But now you can get on your way again.” He uncrossed his arms as he spoke, resisting the urge to yell at him as he stared off into the distance and tried to remind himself he didn’t care.

“I heard about Sean.” Justin broke the tense silence they had fallen into, not sure how to reply to his comment. “And Dad. I’m sorry I wasn’t here-”

“Dad‘s been dead for almost 2 years. And Sean‘s been in jail for almost 6.” Aden cut him off, glaring at him while his voice remained emotionless. “Why are you here now?”

“I told you, I’m here to see how you’re doing. I only heard about Dad a few months ago. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when-” Justin tried again, his voice sincere although he didn’t blame Aden for not believing him.

“Oh, cut the bull! You’re not sorry!” He finally said with rage, speaking through gritted teeth as he fisted his hands by his sides. “If you really cared, you would have been here ‘a few months ago’. Hell, if you really cared, you would have been here when it happened!”

“I wish I was, Aden, but-” His voice had risen a tad bit to get his words across to the younger man, but their conversation, if it could be called that, had claimed unwanted attention.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Roman asked, interrupting Justin’s apology once again as he stepped out of the Diner to see the two of them in a rather heated discussion. It only took one look at Aden’s defensive pose for him to rush over and see what was going on.

“Nothing.” Aden replied immediately, pulling his eyes off his brother and picking up the box once again. “He was just leaving.”

“Aden…” Justin almost groaned as he ended their talk. “Please?” With the unknown man standing next to him, who looked oddly protective over Aden, he decided not to grab a hold of him this time around, knowing that it might just end up worse than it had started. Watching Aden walk away for a moment, he glanced at the guy next to him who was looking at him questioningly. “Sorry.”

“Who are you, exactly, and what do you want with Aden?” Roman asked him. Justin quickly looked as Aden’s figure retreated away before sighing and looking back at the man next to him.

“I’m no-one. Just a stranger.” He claimed, repeating the words from earlier. Walking slowly, he headed in the direction that Aden had gone before speeding up into a brisk walk, a jog and finally a run as he saw his little brother open the door to a really decent looking car. “Aden, wait!”

“Give me one good reason why the Hell I should listen to a word you say?” Aden growled at him as he shut the driver’s door to his car after placing the food safely inside.

“Because I’m your brother, Ado.” He reverted to using his old nickname for him, one that he knew had caught on with most of his mates. Justin intended it to make their conversation more casual, but of course, it failed.

“Don’t call me that.” He replied in a dangerously, low voice. The last person who he could remember calling him that was Axel, and that was before his father had killed him, and before he had assaulted Melody, so it wasn’t a pleasant reminder.

“Ok, ok. I’m sorry.” Once again, he held up his hands in defence and Aden frowned. It was hard to get angry or yell and keep a grudge with him when he wasn’t pushing him, but rather backing off. “Aden, please. Can we talk?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Aden muttered, opening the car door as Justin searched frantically for something to pop into his head to make small talk about. Even that for now would be good enough for him. They could do the whole deep and meaningful stuff later on.

“Nice car, by the way. You got a job or something?” He tried, using the second most obvious thing that came into his head to try and find something out about his brother’s new life. His words, however, didn’t have any kind of positive effect on Aden, who slammed the car door shut and turned to face him, frustration clearly lining his words and face.

“What do you want from me exactly, Justin?” Aden asked using his brother’s name for the first time in a long, long time. “No, I don’t have a job. In case you haven’t been, I sold the old place. That’s where I got the car from.”

“Oh.” Justin was only able to get out. “So, are you at uni then?” At Aden’s small shrug that he took as a ‘yes’, he couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow. Not in shock because his little brother got into university, but because he wanted to go. “Wow, that’s great, Aden. I never knew you actually had plans for the future.”

“Funny how things change in 8 years, isn’t it?” He commented.

“What are you studying?”

“Don’t.” Aden shook his head. “Don’t come back out of the blue and try to be my brother again. You lost the right to do that ages ago. You want to know how I am? Seeing as I’m not six feet under or in jail, I’d say that I’m doing pretty well considering the role models I had. Is that enough? Is your conscience clean enough to move on now?”

“That’s not what this is about, Aden. I’m not here out of guilt. I‘m here for you.”

“Well, I don’t need you.” He stated, returning back to the car. Justin looked for something else to keep him talking., to get more of an insight into his life. Seeing a glint on his hand from where Aden rested it on top of the door, he realised that he found his perfect in to something he already knew.

“You’re married?” Justin didn’t have to try hard to sound shocked. Although he had known, of course, just the proof of it made him react in such a way. He watched as Aden’s eyes averted away from the car to him and then to where his eyes fixated on his left hand that was holding the door open. Pursing his lips, he swapped his hands around, and Justin wondered if he was hoping to apply the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ term to this situation. “You are?”

“What’s it to you?” He questioned sharply and defensively. Suddenly, Justin could almost understand why Belle had came alone to talk to him and without telling Aden. If this is how he reacted to even hinting towards the possibility of there being a Belle, he wondered just how he would react if he found out that he knew who she was exactly.

“I’m just asking. I’ll take that as a yes, though.” He replied with a small smile. “I would never have thought…”

“Like I said, time changes things.“ Aden eyed him carefully, weary of his lack of enthusiasm. “And yeah, I am.”

“She must be one Hell of a chick if you married this young.” Justin chuckled almost knowingly, missing the dirty look that Aden threw at him, finding another minute reason to get mad at him.

“You don’t know anything about me or her, so stay out of it, ok?” He snapped and Justin stopped laughing. Looking taken aback, he drew his eyebrows together in confusion.

“Aden, I was just teasing you. I didn’t mean-” He cut himself off this time as Aden turned back to his car, getting one foot in before Justin gripped his upper arm to stop him once again. “Aden, I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.”

“You think it’s just that?” Aden laughed ruefully at him. “That one stupid comment’s making me leave? Justin, I hate you. You can’t change that with one small talk.”

“Aden-” He began, hurt and regret evident in his voice, but he wouldn’t hear him out.

“No. Don’t you dare try to explain it all away, because you can’t! I’ve learn the hard way that the past is the past, and to leave it there. But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what you left me behind to deal with. I have my own life now and it’s better than I could ever have imagined. So you can go back into the world and do whatever you’ve been doing for the past years, because I don’t need you here!” Aden told him straight out, not ever bothering to sugar coat it for him. What was the point? The meaning was going to be the same anyway.

“You might not need me, but have you thought that maybe I need you?” Justin asked in a soft tone that Aden could barely recognise coming from his mouth.

“I don’t care! I gave up caring a long time ago.” He stated, taking a hold of his brother’s wrist and prying his hand off his arm. “I’m going now, and you’re not going to stop me this time. And I swear to God that if I find out that you’ve been asking around about me or if you even try and follow me home, I’ll make you pay for it. Just because you’re my brother, it doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you. You leave me and my family alone. You get it?”

“I get it, Aden.” Justin sighed. “But I’m not leaving. Summer Bay’s my home too. You’ll be seeing me around.”

Instead of replying, Aden finally got into his car, slamming the door shut behind him while turning on the engine. Slipping on his shades, he didn’t even give Justin a second glance as he drove off onto the main road and out of sight within seconds.

Justin stood by the empty space. He was disappointed, but he had not expecting any more from him. In fact, he had expected a punch or two to be the first form of communication from his little brother. A surge of pride came to him when he realised that Aden really had turned his life around, yet the threat he made and being stubborn as always proved he was still the same kid Justin had known and loved.

Looking back over at the Diner, he realised that it might not be a good idea to go in there for a while. Instead, he headed along the top of the sand dunes, taking a familiar path to see his old childhood home that he hadn’t seen in 8 long years.

---

“No, not yet.” Belle said, sighing softly as she spoke to Mattie on the phone. She could almost hear the disapproving look that her best mate would have given her if they had been talking face to face.

”Belle, you said you would!”

“I know, I know. And I will.” She hurriedly added, her voice portraying her tiredness of having this argument with both herself and with Mattie. “I wanted to tell him last night, but I fell asleep, and this morning, Drew came around.”

”Drew‘s here?” Mattie asked in shock.

“Yeah. He randomly dropped by because I’m at home today.” Belle explained. At that moment, Drew was visiting Leah briefly before coming back with some lunch for the two of them, leaving her alone to get her work done in peace. He was due back at any moment, which was why she had decided to accept Mattie‘s call before he got back again.

”Alright. But listen; don‘t use him as an excuse. You‘ve got to tell Aden.” She told her strictly and Belle sighed once again, standing up from the couch and heading into the kitchen.

“I will. I’ll do it tonight, once Drew’s gone.” She assured her while taking out a mug from the cupboard. As she did so, she could hear a car door being shut with a bit of force. Looking over at the time, she knew that it was a bit too early for it to be Aden, so that only left the possibility of it being Drew. “Look, Drew’s back now, so I’ve got to go.”

”Ok. I‘ve got to get to class anyway.” Mattie complied as Belle heard the front door open. She had lent him a key for the time being so that he wouldn’t annoy her if she had been busy. ”Promise me you‘ll tell Aden, though!”

“I promise, Mattie!” She practically hissed. “I’ll tell him as soon as I can.”

”Good. And are you sure you don‘t want me to be there-?”

“Mattie, seriously.” Belle said pointedly and quickly. “I don’t want you to be here. It’s my mess and I’ll deal with it. I’ll tell him all tonight.”

”Just let me know if your change your mind.” She insisted and Belle agreed, saying her goodbyes and hanging up on her as soon as she had said hers. The phone had barely left her ear when Drew entered the kitchen slowly, dumping a shopping bag onto the table and then a food one on the counter in front of her.

“Who was that?” He questioned her as she slipped the phone into her pocket and carried on with making herself some tea.

“Just Mattie.” She dismissed easily as she switched the kettle on and nodded towards the table. “What’s in there?”

“According to Amanda, it’s a care package.”

“A what?” Belle exclaimed, walking over to it as Drew merely shrugged. Peeking into the bag, it wasn’t hard to see what her mother had sent her. Of course, to Amanda, clothes probably made up the best kind of care packages. She dug in a hand, pushing aside the clothes at the top to see how much there was in there exactly. “When did she have the time to buy these? I only told her yesterday that I needed to go shopping…”

“Don’t ask me. You know what Amanda’s like. She’ll jump at even the small chance to buy stuff.” Drew commented while she left the bag alone, deciding that it would be wiser to talk to her mother first and then go through it all. She knew that Amanda was just helping her out, and it now meant that she no longer had to go shopping, but it would still make her feel bad by accepting them without talking to her.

“Yeah, alright. Tell her thanks.” He nodded to show that he was listening even as he spilt out the contents of the food bag so she could see what he had brought them. “Pasta?”

“What?” He asked defensively. “It’s food and it’s good for you!”

“Out of everything that you could have gotten, you got something that I could very easily have made?!” Belle huffed, getting back to making her tea.

“Well, there’s not much of a choice with you being a veggie and having to eat proper and all.” Drew commented.

“So? I thought you of all people would be the one to maybe forget that and get me some junk food!”

“Is that why you sent me out to get some food? Why didn’t you just say that you wanted something unhealthy?” He replied, rolling his eyes behind her back. Trying to decipher Belle was hard enough at times, but he was usually able to do it. Trying to work out a pregnant Belle, however, was a whole new task on a whole new level.

“Because then I can eat it without feeling guilty. If I asked you to get it, then it’s my idea. If you got it, however, then it’s yours and I can blame you.” She explained, stirring the warm drink with an added force that didn’t just come from this. This wasn’t even a big deal; it just helped her to focus on something else other than talking to Aden. But it seemed like the agitation was coming out in another form that she couldn’t control.

“You are one complex girl, you know that?” Drew finally told her with a look of confusion.

“Thank you.” She grumbled, paying more attention to the cup than him. Watching her carry on for a moment, he counted down the seconds until it become a minute since she had began stirring the drink.

“Stir any more and you’ll melt the spoon.”

“What?” Belle looked up at him, dropping the spoon back into the mug with a clanging sound as the metal hit the ceramic. “How-?”

“Don’t ask. I just said the first thing that I could think of to break the silence.” He told her as she smirked.

“And that’s why you don’t think much.” Belle teased with a half-smile as he chuckled at her words. “What? No quip?”

“Didn’t deserve one.” Drew shrugged as she scowled at him playfully. “But, um… Is everything ok?”

“Sure. Why would you ask that for?” She questioned while heading towards the table to sit down.

“I dunno. You just seem a bit… off.” He struggled to find the right word as he looked over at her from where he stood by the counter.

“I’m fine.” Belle assured him, not even attempting to look at him in case she couldn’t pull it off. “Just a bit tired. That’s probably it.”

“Alright.” He sighed, joining her at the table and sitting opposite her. She raised an eyebrow at him when didn’t speak. “I mean, you would tell me if there was something wrong, right?”

“Drew-” She began before cutting herself off and sighing. The last thing she want to do was to lie to him again, even if this matter truly had nothing to do with him. “I’m just tired.”

“Maybe you stopped drinking that horrible tea and had something to eat, you’d feel better.” Drew commented as she gave him a weird look over the rim of the cup.

“The tea is not horrible!” Belle argued, putting the mug down. “Here, try some.”

“No thanks.” He grimaced, pushing it towards her. “If it tastes even half as bad as if smells, then I don‘t ever want to go near it.”

“What smell? It’s nice and spicy.”

“It’s gross and strong.” He countered with a disgusted look, glad that he was lightening the mood a bit and getting her to relax a bit more.

“Whatever.” Belle merely replied after a moment, not able to think of anything else to say. The victorious smirk on his face made her bite her tongue to stop herself from sticking it out to him childishly. She was saved from any sort of gleeful claims from him by the sound of the front door opening and then shutting with an unnecessary force.

“Someone’s not happy…” Drew mumbled as Belle frowned at him, listening to the nearing footsteps with worry and dread of what might have happened. She stood up slowly as Aden entered the kitchen, walking straight over to the counter and placing a plain, white box onto it next to the food that was already there with a contrasting gentle force than confused her more.

Without saying a word, she stepped closer to him, eyes trained on his face. His jaw was tight and his eyes stared at one place, never once looking over to the two of them. She saw his hands rest on he edge of the countertop, gripping it tightly and making his knuckles turned white. Slipping a hand over his carefully, she skimmed her thumb over the protruding bones to get him to release it before he hurt himself.

“Aden?” Belle tried, placing the other hand on his back when there was no response. “Aden, did something happen?”

“No.” He breathed, the single word short and sharp as he stepped away from both the counter and her. Belle’s hands dropped to her sides as Aden walked back out of the kitchen without another word or a glance. Looking over at Drew, who cocked an eyebrow in a questioning manner, Belle followed him into the front room.

“Aden.” She tried again as he continued to walk away from her. “Aden, hey!” Finally catching up with him, she reached out and grabbed a hold of his arm, forcefully making him stop. He twirled around to face her with a controlled expression that she knew he was putting on to stop himself from getting too angry. “What’s wrong?”

Aden’s eyes darted from hers to the floor and then over her shoulder and into the distance as he opened his mouth to say something before closing it a moment later. Meeting her eyes once again, he sighed deeply, nodding to whatever it was behind her.

“Your brother’s not the only one back in town.” He told her almost hoarsely. At his words, her grip on his arm loosened involuntarily and she tried with all her might to stop herself from averting any eye contact and making herself look suspicious. Luckily for her, Aden wasn’t paying much attention to her reaction as he bounded straight up the stairs the second she let go of him.

Standing frozen in her spot, Belle cursed herself for not thinking about it sooner. Of course it was going to happen. She had been worrying about this very event occurring for the past week, and as life would have it, it would happen the day that she was going to come clean to him. The day after she had missed every opportunity to tell him in the first place. Considering that he hadn’t yelled at her yet, or anything of the like, she assumed that Aden didn’t know about her secret.

Inhaling to calm herself down, Belle turned around, jumping when she saw Drew standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He had his arms crossed and watched her suspiciously, making her feel self-conscious. Smiling bleakly, she passed him as she re-entered the kitchen, ignoring the eyes that he had trained on her.

“I’m taking that his brother being back isn’t a good thing.” Drew spoke up as Belle took her half full mug to the sink, pouring the rest of it down the sink and placing the cutlery into it.

“Doesn’t look like it, does it?” She sighed, realising that her assumptions about Aden’s reaction to Justin being back was correct. Or so to say.

“I thought his brother was in jail…” He wondered out loud while nearing her as she turned and dealt with the stuff that now cluttered the counter.

“That’s Sean. He has two.” Belle clarified for him, her tone distracted as she kept herself busy with the task on hand.

“So this one’s…?”

“Justin.”

“Right.” Drew nodded once although she couldn’t see it. But she could hear the scepticism in his tone as he spoke, making her pause and give him a look.

“What?” She asked him defensively.

“Nothing.” He said after a beat, telling her that that wasn’t the first thing that had came to his mind.

“If you want to say something, Drew, then say it!” Belle snapped and he nodded acceptingly.

“I was wondering why you seem so affected by the news about his brother.” Drew admitted and Belle forced out a small laugh as she continued with clearing up.

“I’m not ‘affected’. I’m just worrying about Aden.” She dismissed quickly, hurrying up with her actions as anxiousness overtook her.

“You sure that’s it?” Belle nodded, her eyes cast downwards to stop him from seeing the tears that began to prick at her eyes. “Belle, you’re lying. You’ve always been a terrible liar, which is amazing considering that you’re a journalist.”

“What-?” She glanced up at him on instinct, realising her mistake too late as he stepped closer to her, only the island in the middle of the counter between them.

“Is it to do with his brother?” Belle leant on her elbows, pressing her face into her hands as she nodded, not able to look at him. If she couldn’t say it to Drew’s face, how was she going to tell Aden? “What about him?”

“I knew.” She mumbled into her hands, her voice barely loud enough for him to hear without her hands obstructing it. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him slowly. “I knew about Justin being back.”

“Is that what you were talking about earlier to Mattie?” Belle straightened up, looking at him in confusion. “I heard you on the phone saying that you’ll tell Aden something tonight.”

“You were eavesdropping?!” She practically yelled at him, angry colouring bother her words and face. There was a forceful kick from her baby, almost telling her to calm down as she rested a hand on her stomach.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping. I accidentally overheard. Got to admit though; I’m glad it wasn’t hat I thought you meant.” Drew admitted as she swallowed, wondering if it was worth asking him.

“What did you think…?” She decided to ask after all, not finishing off the sentence as he titled his head to the side a bit.

“Honestly?” Belle nodded. “I thought you were cheating on him or something.”

“Drew!” This time she did yell. “How dare you even think that?”

“In my defence, you were being really edgy and secretive.” He defended himself. “So I’m guessing that Mattie knows about Justin too?”

“Yeah. I told her.”

“You told her?” He asked in confusion. “Wait, so how did you know?”

“I, uh…” Belle swallowed, not sure how to explain it all. Telling him that she went to see him alone would be a big mistake to start with. “He was in the Bay a week and a bit ago. We talked a bit and I found out who he was.”

“Why didn’t you tell Aden?” Drew asked in genuine interested and Belle realised that maybe she should have gone to him to get her thoughts sorted out. He wasn’t the best person for advice, not even close, but he never spared anyone’s feelings when it came to expressing his opinions.

“Because I didn’t want to open this can of worms.”

“Sounds reasonable.” He said in a offhand manner as Belle shook her head and collapsed into one of the stools, burying her face in her hands once again. “Maybe not…”

“It was reasonable. Very reasonable. Until now. Now that he’s back and I haven’t told him. Now, when there’s a very good chance that Justin might tell him first and Aden finds out just how I’ve been lying to him about something that he had a right to know.”

“So you tell him before Justin tells him. Easy.” He countered but Belle just chuckled dryly, looking up at him as she rested her chin on her hand, the other one covering her mouth slightly.

“He doesn’t seem to know. If Aden doesn’t know right now, then it means that Justin didn’t tell him when he had the chance to.” She pointed out, realising it herself at the very moment. “Which means there’s a chance that Justin won’t tell him.”

“And you don’t have to either?” Drew added, saying the words that flitted through her mind. A frown marred her features as she reprimanded herself for thinking that. Of course she had to tell him. Just because he didn’t know yet, it didn’t mean that Justin wouldn’t bring it up later. And the longer she left it now, now that Aden knew that he was back, the worse the lie would grow, and the greater the chance that he would no longer trust her.

“No. I have to tell him.” Belle stated confidently. “It’s not fair otherwise and I’m just going to stress worrying about it if I don’t tell him. He’s going to be mad, but he’ll only get madder if I leave it any longer.”

“You kept it for he’s own good. He doesn’t deserve to be mad.” Drew said with an edge of anger as she gave him a ‘get real’ look before covering her face once again as she thought over how the best way to tell him now would be. “He doesn’t! If he really cares, then he’s understand why you did it.”

“He’ll understand, but he’ll still be mad.” Belle told him. “And he has every right to be. I just hope that he’ll still be more mad at Justin than at me.”

“Mayb-” Drew was cut off by another voice, making Belle’s head snap up fast to see him standing only a foot into the kitchen.

“Why am I mad at you?” Aden questioned, speaking right over Drew, who promptly shut up for once in his life when the other guy spoke.

“Aden.” Belle swallowed, wondering silently how much he had heard.

“Why would I be mad at you, Belle?” He asked in a carefully controlled voice as she slid down from the stool and to her feet as he neared her. “What’s this about Justin?”

“Aden, I-” She faltered, never once drawing her eyes away from him as she watched him watch her intently. “I’m sorry.”

“About…?” He prompted, watching as her eyes watered once again. The sight of it made him move closer to her, but there was something there, hanging invisibly in the air that made him pause before he reached her.

“I was going to tell you yesterday, but so many things got in the way, and then this morning, we had no time. I was going to tell you tonight. I promise I was.” Belle got out quickly, pushing away the hair from her face with one hand while she now gripped onto the counter with the other. He didn’t say a word, but stared at her to carry on. “Aden, I knew that Justin was back.”

---

Well, I do hope you liked it. I know it’s really long, but I wanted to end it here and I couldn’t stop writing the Drew/Belle stuff because it’s fun to write.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Not much to say, just thanks so much to Naomi and Laura for helping me with this chapter!

Enjoy, I hope!

Chapter 41:

The silence was killing her with every second that passed. Her eyes remained trained on Aden as he took in her words slowly. Even the baby had seemed to have gone silent, or still in it’s case.

“Since when?” His cold tone made her gulp, licking her lips as her mouth went dry, allowing her to speak.

“A week ago.” She said slowly before correcting herself. “A week and a bit ago.”

“You’ve known for over a week?” Aden asked incredulously. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“Aden, I was going to. I was putting it off but I was going to do it tonight! I swear.” Belle told him, dropping the hand that held back her hair to her side. She watched as he struggled to decide whether to believe her or not, praying that he would even though she wouldn‘t blame him for not.

“Did he make you not tell me?” He questioned her carefully, taking a few steps closer to her. Her eyes drifted downwards, focusing more on where his hand now rested on the countertop on the other end to where she was standing rather than to look him in the eyes. If she didn’t look at him when she told him, then she wouldn’t have to see just how much she hurt him. “Belle-”

“No.” She spoke hoarsely, clearing her throat as she spotted movement out of the corner of her eyes. In all honesty, she had forgotten Drew was there. He had respectively left the kitchen and into the front room, but she guessed that he wasn‘t too far away. “It wasn’t Justin.”

“So you chose not to tell me.” It wasn’t a question at all, Belle realised, even as she nodded. “Why?” The one simply word that he spoke in a hushed tone portrayed so many more emotions to Belle than him yelling ever could. She could almost hear the sadness, betrayal and the heartbreak in it as she was still not able to meet his eyes.

“Because I didn’t think you’d want to know. I thought that it would do more harm than good, and he said that he might not come back. I didn’t want to be the one to bring him back into your life when there may have been no need.” She explained, her voice growing stronger as she spoke, gaining strength from the fact that she was now coming clean, yet still avoiding his eyes. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“How-?” Aden faltered, breathing deeply to resist the urge to let his anger go, most of which was not aimed at her at that moment. “When was this?”

“When was what?” She asked, eyes jumping to his for a second.

“When did you see him? Get to talk to him? Why wasn‘t I there?” The answer to the first two questions were easy, Belle realised, but the last one was the one that he would hate. Not sure how to reply, she shrugged and closed her eyes to get some courage to tell him.

“He was in the Surf Club that day before we went to the city. He spoke to me. And you weren‘t there because you were in the gym.” She replied.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!” Aden’s voice raised a bit in volume, but the harshness of the words overcame the loudness. “I was right there!”

“I didn’t know it was him!” Belle hoped that her words sounded more honest to him than they did to her. Even though she knew they were true, her mind was smudging the line between fact and fiction, mixing the two in her mind at an unnecessary rate.

“But you said…” He trailed off as confusion filled him. “When did you know it was him?”

“The next day.”

“You saw him again?” Aden questioned before realisation hit him, remembering that day clearly when he was forced out of the house by Nicole, because Belle was working. Or so she had said. “You went to meet him.” Once again, it wasn’t a question, but rather a statement. She didn’t reply; her head tilting down on it’s own accord in shame as she heard his short, sardonic laugh, almost in disbelief. “Of course you did.”

“Aden-” Belle tried, glancing up at him to see that he was staring off to the side at nothing as his face showed her that he was doing everything within his power to stop himself from losing it.

“You lied to me, Belle.” He cut her off, his words hitting her hard as she sucked in a breath. His eyes, she saw when he turned to look at her, were sharp and guarded, stopping her and anyone else from seeing the true him. Guilt flooded her body at the thought that she was now like everybody else to him; somebody else who showed him that he couldn’t trust anyone. She looked away at once, not able to take it. “After everything that happened the last time with my father, you did it again? I thought you would have learnt! But you lied to me… again.”

“I’m so sorry.” Belle managed to get out as she brushed away the tears that had began to fall, looking up at him slightly to see the pure rage that he held in his stance.

“’Sorry’ doesn’t change it, Belle! God, what were you even thinking, meeting up with him like that? You didn’t know who he was! You put both you and the baby in danger!” Aden didn‘t shout, he didn’t need to; the words were forceful enough to have the same effect.

“I know it doesn’t change anything, but you’ve got to believe me that I only didn’t tell you then because-”

“Because, what? Because you didn’t think I would find out? Because I’d be ‘mad’?” He interrupted her, fury taking him over at her reasonings and excuses. “You had no right to not tell me! You had no right to lie to me and you had no right to keep it a secret.”

“Hey, you wanna calm down a bit?” Drew had re-entered the kitchen to the surprise of them both, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. He knew that the wisest thing to do had been to leave the room to give them some privacy, seeing as this seemed like a pretty private affair. But the ’privacy’ only extended in sight. He could hear the murmur of their conversation, only returning when he could hear just how upset Belle was and interjecting when Aden raised his voice. He had never seen him as angry as this before. At least, not since high school, and he knew what the outcome of that was, considering that Drew himself had been on the end of that once before.

“You,” Aden said, pointing at him while keeping his eyes trained on Belle. “Stay of out of this. This is none of your business.”

“Then you might want to stop yelling at my sister.” He replied dangerously, taking a few steps towards them as Aden finally looked at him. Before he could say anything else, Belle spoke up.

“Drew, leave it. It’s ok.” She looked over at him pointedly and he grudgingly agreed, however his eyes remained on him while Aden turned to look at her again. His face was now expressionless, Belle noticed and it hurt more than anything else to see that he had now put his guard up against her. “Aden…”

“Don’t. Just, don’t.” He said plainly, moving away from her as she took a step towards him. Everything about this moment reminded him of almost 2 years back, in her old room, when he had found out that she had gone to see Larry in jail without telling him. The events were so parallel, it was unreal.

Only this time, as he turned and walked away, Belle was unable to stop him. Maybe if she hadn’t been so emotionally drained, or pregnant, she could have, but she was only able to follow him slowly, trying to make him listen before he walked out of the house. She had made it to the threshold of the front room when Aden had slammed the front door shut and she slumped against the doorway, trying her best to reassure herself that he would come back soon enough.

She saw Drew appear in her line of sight when she glanced back into the kitchen, letting her eyes skitter over the plain tiles on the floor as she turned her head down. The tears that she had brushed away blurred her vision once again. Closing her eyes, she willed them away even as they cascaded down her cheeks. She didn’t bother to wipe them away this time, letting them fall freely as she put all her strength into making them go away. Her arms wrapped themselves around her waist protectively for both herself and her baby, freezing momentarily when a hand touched the bare skin of her upper arm. Realising that it was the only other person there with her, she relaxed, allowing him to pull her into a hug as she lost the fight against her tears and just let them all free.

---

Like always when he needed to be alone, Aden had no recollection as to how he had gotten to this place. Focused on the many emotions that whirled around in him to stop himself from exploding, he had just let his feet take him to wherever they wanted to take him. It was only when he stopped; stopped concentrating, stopped thinking and stopped walking, that he saw where he was. Sighing, he sat down in the sand, pulling his legs up and letting his arms hang off of them as he stared out to the sea.

Swallowing, Aden couldn’t help but to wonder whether his brother had been to this place since he had arrived back at the Bay. They used to visit it all the time as it was perfectly secluded at most of the time and enough space for the three boys and their father to play footy while their mother could watch and relax. Of course, after she had passed away, the only times that Aden had came here was to get away or on the special days like her birthday or the anniversary of her death. That had stopped over time and he couldn’t recall the last time he had been in this particular spot.

He dipped his head slightly in shame at the thought that he hadn’t been here, or to his mother’s grave, in a few years. Although Belle had suggested it the previous year, he had brushed it off when dread filled him at the thought of it. Now, dread filled him as he thought about Belle. The soothing sounds of the sea and the smell of the fresh water did an amazing work on his emotions, clearing them up so that he could think straight. He knew that he shouldn’t have yelled at her, or even raised his voice, no matter how wrong she had been or how betrayed he felt. Maybe he should have heard her out and let her explain, but in all honesty, Aden was pretty sure what the reason was going to be. To stop him from getting hurt.

Well, that worked… He thought to himself dryly, twisting off his wedding ring subconsciously. He twirled it around in his fingers before letting the sun catch the inscription inside of it as he read it, squinting at the glare the light cast. Glancing at the date and the time, Aden realised that it was almost two months. Two months, and they were already keeping secrets and having arguments.

Aden sighed as he slipped the ring back on. He wanted to fault Justin rather than Belle. He wanted to blame him, because it was much easier to do that to his estranged brother than his new wife. But the more he thought about it, the more he realised that it all came back to the fact that it was Belle who had decided not to tell him. Belle, who had vowed to forsake all others and be faithful to him, which to Aden also meant being honest and truthful regardless of anything else. Belle, who knew about his past, and about him, more than anyone else in the whole world. Belle, who knew exactly what trust meant to him and how hurt he had been the last time she had done this kind of thing.

With every thought, his rage built up. His right hand was digging into the sand next to him, compressing it so hard that it was a surprise it hadn’t turned into glass. Once again, everything in his head jumbled up again. How dare Belle keep this from him? How dare she put herself and his child in danger? How dare she lie straight to his face? How dare Justin come back into his life without a second’s warning?

His head was all over the place that it was unbelievable. Having his brother come back was big enough to deal with, but finding out that someone else already knew that and had been lying to him was just something that he could do without. But, alas, life never worked that way for Aden. It was either all or nothing.

Taking in a calming breath, he forced himself to think about how he actually felt. Below all the anger and rage, under the betrayal and hurt, what was it that had shot up his defence and guard as soon as he saw Justin? It didn’t take long to find; it was a feeling that he was unnecessarily prone to. It was fear. Fear that he was setting himself up for disappointment, fear that it was all too good to be true, fear that he would have to tell all to his hero of a big brother, and fear that Belle saw him as weak.

Damn, Aden scowled at himself. He really needed to sort out his thoughts. Thinking about Belle made his heart clench and his eyes prick, but thinking about Justin made his stomach turn. He knew he needed to talk to him. Talk to him properly, but it was too hard. Of course he wanted his brother back; what kind of sibling wouldn’t? But the voice at the back of his head told him that it wouldn’t last. That he would leave like last time, that he might make things better for a while, but then go when he found something better. What’s the point of making some kind of reconciliation if he was going to vanish for another 8 years? Because what else was there to keep him in Summer Bay? Aden had his own family now and Justin only had him. There were hardly any jobs going for guy like Justin in that area, and Aden highly doubted that he had any kind of qualification.

Maybe he did, Aden reasoned with himself. Maybe he did have some qualifications. How else would be still be alive now if he hadn’t gotten money somehow? Maybe he has a family too. Maybe he was looking to permanently move back to the Bay.

The last thought caught him off guard, especially as a jump of elation passed through him at the thought. This was the exact reason why he wanted to just pretend Justin wasn’t there. False hope never helped anyone, he had learnt that the hard way too. Exhaling deeply, Aden realised that the only way that he was going to get rid of all these thoughts was to talk to him. To ask him questions and find out about his life. However, that meant the reverse too. Justin asking him questions and finding out about his life. Surely, it would only be his life after he left, which meant from 13 onwards. None of that was anything he feared. Not until he hit 19. That’s when the darkness came to a front and that’s where most of everything that’s important to him now started. His past and his secret had given him a home and a family with Roman and Nicole, and overcoming it had given him Belle and the baby. However, it was also a hatchet that was buried deeply away from his brother, something that he never wanted or had the urge to ever share with him.

Aden dropped his head into his hands, pressing against his temples tightly while growling under his breath. He couldn’t take it. There was too much to think about, too much to consider. Nothing was ever straightforward, and any rash decisions he made would only end badly. Sighing, he looked up to see the sun hide behind a grey cloud, realising that it was the cause of the heat vanishing from his body. A small shiver forced him to stand up and head back home. The clouds were only going to build and bring the early summer rainfall as was predicted. And dressed in only a t-shirt and jeans, he didn’t fancy getting caught out in it.

Making it to the main part of the beach, now deserted with just a selection of people moving away from the sandy shore, Aden continued walking with them up the path that led to the roads. As he made it halfway up, he froze. There, leaning casually against the wooden barrier, was Justin, flirting quite happily with a brunette girl that he knew was a local. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there watching as the girl flicked her hair and swooned all over him before handing him something that Aden could guess be her number and leaving with some of her mates who had been waiting for her.

With a roll of the eyes, Aden continued up the slope, walking right past his brother without another word. He could feel his eyes boring into his back, but he had no urge to speak to him right then. Not before he sorted things out in his head. If he was going to make sense with either Justin or Belle, he needed to make sense with himself first.

“You can’t ignore me forever, Aden.” He heard him call from behind him. “You know where I am when you wanna talk!” Those words, making a prediction that Aden had given him no reason to think, made him stop and turn around.

“What makes you think I want to talk to you?” He replied harshly, watching him fold up the paper in his hands coolly and slip it into his pocket before standing up straight and giving him his entire attention.

“You are now, aren’t you?” Justin smirked as Aden fixed his jaw, resisting the urge to wipe it off his face.

“I know you knew about Belle. You could have said something instead of acting ignorant.”

“When, exactly? When you were cutting me off or walking away from me?” He remarked with a false tone of uncertainty, crossing his arms to make himself look more taller and in charge than the younger brother. “Besides, she told me she wasn‘t going to tell you. Figured I should keep to that. Wouldn’t want to be a home-wrecker without even getting myself a girl, you know?”

Aden glared at him, trying to keep himself calm while reminding himself that it wasn’t worth it. That he didn’t care. He knew that was a lie; everything he had been thinking and every single way he’d reacted was because he cared, but saying it over and over took his mind off the fact that his brother was acting like a total tool at the moment. This was certainly not the guy he had listened to that morning. This was the Justin he knew. The Justin that was his big brother, took care of him, protected him and loved him. And left him.

“Well, it looked like you found yourself a girl so how about you go after her and leave me alone?” He snapped before turning around once more and walking away.

“You can pretend that you don’t care all you want, Aden, but we both know that my being here only bothers you because you do!” Justin yelled after him once again, the words breaking his new personal mantra, telling himself to forget about everything else and concentrate on himself right then.

Shaking his head, Aden began walking faster as if getting further away from Justin would get him further away from his thoughts and his problems. Because at that moment, it was all on him. Justin was trying; he wasn’t. Belle had come clean and apologized; he had walked away. He was making it all worse for himself by doing the thing that he had learnt not to do; pushing people away by either ignoring or fighting. It was what he had done best for a long time and some habits were too hard to break out of forever.

---

More angst to come...

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Sorry for the recent lack of updates. Things have just been a bit hectic. I hope this long chapter makes up for it. I'm not too sure about this chapter. I don't think it's one of my bests and I think it may be classifed as a 'filler' chapter.

Chapter 42:

“Look, why don’t you come and stay with us for a few days? It‘s almost the weekend.”

“No.” Belle shook her head determinedly at Drew‘s suggestion as they sat on the couch. “I can’t. I’m the one who made the mistake and now I’m the one who has to accept the consequences. I’m not running away from it, Drew. I’m not a… a… a coward.”

“I didn’t say you were, sis. But you’re stressing out about this and that’s not good for you in your condition. Even I know that.” He informed her as she attempted a small smile at his words. She sat with her legs pulled up to her body as far as she could get them, an empty mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

“I’m not stressing out. Not anymore.” She assured him, glancing down at the mug as she trailed her pinkie fingernail over the random swirl design on it. “I’m just worried about Aden. I hope he doesn’t do something he’ll regret.”

“You shouldn’t waste your energy on him.” Drew sighed, collapsing back in his seat as Belle looked over at him with a curious look. “Well, he’s not really wasting any energy on you, now is he? He left you here, crying and upset, when he was the cause of it. Great husband he is.”

“Drew, don’t. Please.” Belle groaned, slanting her body at her end of the sofa to face him. “It’s not his fault. I’m the one who lied and kept it a secret.”

“For his own good. If he even bothered to think about it rationally, he would have seen it. But no. Jefferies did what he does best and left someone else to deal with his mess.” He said in a harsh tone that wasn’t at all aimed at her, but hurt her nonetheless. “And you defend him regardless and the second he comes back, you’ll be waiting for his forgiveness.”

“Listen, I know you’re saying this because… well, you practically never miss an opportunity to ridicule Aden and our relationship, but Drew, this is all on me. And I’m am not his ‘mess’ and I am not some kind of girl who would give up on all hope at the first signs of struggle. Fine, so I made a mistake, a huge mistake, that I have made before, but we’ll deal with it. We always have been able to and we’ll pull through it.” Belle said in a confident tone, one more so than she felt. She spoke the words as if she meant them, but she knew deep down inside that she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince her step-brother.

“I hope you’re right, because so far it’s been just over 2 hours, and he still hasn’t been back or called or anything to make sure you’re ok.” He replied with a tone void of all emotion. Belle glanced at the clock opposite her, surprised to see that it had only been 2 hours. The time had moved so slow since she had cried herself dry of all tears on Drew’s shoulder. He had then sat her down and gave her a glass of water to calm down, which she did for her baby’s sake. Her baby who had been kicking more than ever until she had been almost force fed the food that Drew had brought about an hour ago. Since then, she had only felt the slightest movement from the unborn child especially as she herself hadn’t moved.

“Because he knows that you’re here.” She reasoned. “And he knows that if there was something wrong, I’d call. Even if he is mad at me.”

“Fine.” Drew gave in, realising that arguing with her would do nothing good for her stress levels. “Are you working tomorrow?”

“What?” Belle asked, confused by the random question. “Um… yeah, why?”

“No reason. What about Friday?”

“I dunno. Probably. Depends on what I do tomorrow and if there’s any important shoots that they need me on.” She replied, glad for the slight distraction, although she was pretty sure there was another reason behind his questioning. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He quickly dismissed, but Belle’s glare told him that she clearly didn’t believe him. Rolling his eyes, he gave her a brief shrug before continuing. “Amanda wouldn’t like it if you were here alone for the next few days, that’s all.”

“Right.” She simply said, knowing full well that it wouldn’t just be Amanda who wouldn’t like it. “I wouldn’t be alone, anyway. Aden’s here.”

“Yes, of course. How could I have possibly forgotten?” Drew murmured dryly as Belle sighed, adjusting her body so that she could lean forwards and place her empty cup onto the coffee table.

“Could you do me a favour and not tell Mum about this, please?” She asked him politely while rearranging herself onto the sofa as comfortably as she could.

“Why not?”

“Because she’ll worry, and then she’ll come down here and have a go at Aden, and that’s the last thing we need. Please?” Belle explained, before adding. “And could you please leave him alone too?” She watched as a frown formed on his face. “Please? For me?”

“No promises.” Drew replied grudgingly. She let it go, knowing it was the best she was going to get from him. “But you can handle your mother. I’m not going to lie to her.”

“Oh, please. Like you have a problem with lying!” She scoffed cynically as he pursed his lips and gave her a short, dark look.

“I didn’t say I couldn’t, just that I wouldn’t. If she asks, I’ll tell her. Maybe she’ll be able to convince you that he’s-” He began once again, only to be cut off by Belle.

“Drew.” She merely said in a warning tone that portrayed both her frustration and fatigue. “Look, I appreciate you being here and supporting me and all, but I need to deal with this by myself, with Aden. You- Anyone else getting involved will only make it worse. Ok?”

“Fine.” He said dejectedly. “But if he wants to yell at you again-”

“Can we change the subject, please?” Belle spoke over him, not hearing what Drew had planned for Aden if he were to yell at her again. There was silence as he reluctantly shut up for the moment while trying to think of something else to say.

“So why’s Jefferies so angry about his brother being back?” He finally came out with as Belle groaned, shifting in her seat to pull the pillow out from behind her and place on her lap.

“I said to change the subject!”

“I am!” Drew said indignantly. “Kind of.”

“Whatever.” She mumbled as she stifled a yawn. Even with the extra sleep she had gotten the previous night, the drama from that day and the tolls of being pregnant were weighing down on Belle’s energy levels. She saw him give her a concerned look as she rested her head against the back of the comfy couch lazily. “Don’t say it. I’m fine.”

“You’re tired.” Drew stated as she rolled her eyes, which felt very sore from earlier on.

“I’m fine.” She repeated. There was movement from the baby as the words left her mouth almost as if was calling her bluff. She smiled regretfully as she dropped a hand to where the movements had turned a bit more expressive and into a brief kick. Aden should be there to feel it, seeing as since the previous day, Belle figured that he had felt it a total time of once.

“You should get some sleep. It’s not like he’s going to come back anytime soon.” Drew practically read her mind, knowing exactly why she was sacrificing her much-needed rest. Threading a hand through her hair, Belle contemplated on what to do. Another kick from the baby gave her the push that she needed and she hesitantly nodded, pushing herself up from the sofa slowly.

“Shouldn’t you be heading home soon?” Belle questioned him when she was on her feet.

“Nah, it’s only 4.” Drew shrugged; he seemed to be doing a lot of that that day, Belle noticed. “Unless you’re trying to get rid of me?”

“No offence, but I’d rather you not be here when Aden gets home. Especially if I’m not around. I don’t fancy waking up to some bloodbath.” She told him in a tone free of amusement.

“I said I would leave him alone, didn’t I?” He replied, not moving from his seat.

“Yeah, well, your word isn’t always so true.”

“Look, I’m not going to leave you here alone. When and if he comes back, then I’ll go, alright?” Drew said in a voice that she had no energy to argue with. “And that’s only if he doesn’t look like he’s about to beat the crap out of the first person he sees.”

“Aden wouldn’t hur-” Belle’s response had been immediate and definite, but she stopped when she heard the door being opened. Knowing that it could only be one person, she glanced over to see him walking through with indifference. She remained quiet for a moment as she spied Drew stand up out of the corner of her eyes while Aden paused, feeling the two pairs of eyes on him. She did a quick scan on him to see if there was any signs to tell her what he had been doing and where he had been. Finding none, she asked him in a soft tone that held no accusation at all. “Where have you been?”

“Just thinking.” His response came after a moment’s beat in a voice void of any emotions. “You ok?” He asked in reply, eyeing her hand that rested protectively on her stomach and the other arm that was wrapped around her waist above it.

“Yeah…” Belle said in an almost unsure tone. The baby was ok, but she wasn’t. But seeing as it was her bump that he had been looking at and most probably asking about, she replied with that in mind.

Aden merely nodded at her words. Still feeling Drew’s eyes on him, he looked over at him with a blank expression before turning back to Belle and heading for the stairs. He brushed past her just as he had brushed past Justin that morning, disappearing out of her sight in a matter of seconds.

Belle followed him with her eyes up until the last possible glimpse of him, when she turned back to face Drew. He gave her a challenging look that made her look down a bit before glancing over at him.

“He’s home now.” She said, her voice starting off as a whisper before strengthening. “And he didn’t look like he was going to beat anyone up.”

“No, he didn’t.” Drew agreed dryly. “Are you sure you don’t want to come back to the city with me? Or I could stay here. That would-”

“No, Drew, please. Let me deal with this own my own. Having you here will just be some added tension.” Belle informed him and he nodded once before approaching her.

“Sure?” She nodded this time, unwinding her arm from her waist to give him a quick hug. “Call me if-”

“I will.” Belle assured him, cutting him off with no desire to hear what his ‘ifs’ were going to be.

“Alright. I‘m going to go see Ric, anyway, so if you do change your mind…” Drew offered her.

“Ok. Tell Mattie I’ll call her later.” Belle instructed him. Agreeing, Drew glanced towards the stairs once more before look back at her. “Go. It’s ok. I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself.”

“It’s not just you now.” He reminded her before finally leaving. Belle locked the door behind him, slumping back against it for a minute as she gathered her thoughts. Deciding that just thinking things through would make it harder for her to go upstairs where both Aden and the bed were, she pushed it to aside and let her legs carry her to her destination.

Reaching the upper landing, Belle walked slowly towards their bedroom, listening out for any indication as to what Aden was doing. It was only as she approached the nursery that wasn’t too far from their room that she could hear the shower running. Sighing, she peeked into the baby’s soon-to-be room, frowning at the mess that was there. Although the drawers were done, nothing else really was. Most of the stuff still remained in boxes or bags lining the floor.

Belle walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, to prevent herself from procrastinating from both seeing and talking to Aden. Entering her own bedroom, her eyes skimmed over the pile of clothes that he had left on the bed, recognising them to be different to what he wore now. She climbed onto the bed carefully, sitting in the middle while reaching forwards to pick up the items that laid next to Aden’s clothes. It was his watch, phone and wallet. She knew that he would normally put them onto the side unless he was heading out, so a bubble of uncertainty rippled through her as she held them in her hands.

Pressing a random button on his phone, Belle saw that there were no missed calls or unread texts obscuring the background picture of the two of them. He had had the same image on his phone for the past 2 years and she had often wondered why. Nothing about that day had been special. They had just hung out around the Bay, doing this and that while she snapped random pictures of him and the two of them until he got it off her and turned it on her. It was a fun day; only a few months into their relationship, she remembered with a smile. A day when they acted like the teenagers they were with not a care in the world about anyone or anything else. Maybe it was just that that had made it special to him. There weren’t many days when Aden had had the chance to live a day without having the constant worry of something or another, or someone to enjoy it with.

Letting the screensaver blank out the background, Belle placed both his watch and his wallet onto the bedside table as she reclined back onto the bed, her head resting comfortably on the pillow. Holding onto his phone, she unlocked the keypad before hovering her finger on top of the ‘menu’ button. Although she only wanted to look at what pictures he had stored in there, she wondered whether it would be a good idea to go snooping through his phone only several hours after telling him that she had been lying to him for the past week. If his trust in her was wavering, she wasn’t going to jeopardise it by doing something innocent that could be seen as intruding. Instead, Belle relocked it and placed it next to the other two items.

She continued to listen out for any signs that Aden would be done soon, but heard nothing other than the continuous running water as she remained laying on the bed. Her eyes still felt heavy, but with him back, Belle didn’t want to waste any opportunity to sort this out between them as quick as possible. Unfortunately for her, laying down on the bed wasn’t exactly the best way to coerce the body to stay awake. With no energy to move, she closed her eyes for a minute, counting the seconds pass by in her head, hoping that by the time she got to 60, the water would have stopped. That would give her the enough motivation and energy to sit up. Belle got up to 58 before she started over again, looking for as many excuses as she could halt her sleep. On the fourth time, however, the shower had stopped by the time she would have gotten to 45 if she hadn’t given in to sleep after so long.

---

Like blinking, Belle woke up with refreshed eyes and what seemed like a 5 minute nap. She found out, however, by looking over at the bedside table as she rolled over that it had been over two hours and that it was nearing 7pm. Sitting up straight in the bed, her eyes scanned the whole room for him, disappointment sinking in deep when there was no trace whatsoever of what she was looking for. She noticed that his clothes by the end of the bed were gone, and as she looked to her side, so were his phone and watch. His remaining wallet relaxed her slightly, knowing that he wouldn’t go out without it.

Shuffling to the edge of the bed, she touched her toes to the carpeted floor, letting them relax and placing both the soles of her feet down gently. She sat for a moment, hands resting on either side of her body, trying to see if she could figure out where Aden was. There were no telltale noises coming from their room or from the nearby rooms, which only left downstairs.

As she pushed herself up, Belle resisted the urge to jump back into bed, instead stretching lightly and carefully. It was only then that she noticed the blanket that she had strewn aside as soon as she had rolled over. Not remembering having pulled that atop of herself, a smile curved on her lips when the only other plausible explanation that it was Aden came to her.

It was a start, she guessed. He couldn’t be that mad at her, or hate her, if he still tried to take care of her. Of course, it could be only because she was carrying his child and it was for that reason he had decided to keep her warm.

Frowning at the negative thought, she pushed it to the back of her mind as she entered the adjoining bathroom. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, Belle was glad that her eyes no longer looked or felt dry as sandpaper. She turned on the taps, letting the cool water run for a few seconds before splashing her face quickly with it; the temperature of it making her skin tingle.

Belle patted her face dry while simultaneously turning the water off, throwing the towel in the general direction of the hamper where Aden had left his clothes on top of as per usual as she left the bathroom and then the bedroom. She let her hand skim along the wall as she walked down the hallway, her other hand resting on her stomach, cautious of the fact she hadn’t felt anything since waking up.

She had made it to the bottom of the stairs without even knowing it, where she paused as the sounds from the kitchen, as well as the smell of dinner, came to her. Rather than to get her hopes up, Belle treaded lightly across the room, waiting by the doorway when she saw Aden. With his posture stiff, and the tension growing in the atmosphere even without one word or look, she was able to figure out that she had been wise to expect the worst. Inhaling deeply, she carried on into the kitchen, her bare feet making no sound on the tiles.

Aden looked over his shoulder almost as soon as she had set one foot in the same room as him, surprise colouring his face before going blank. His eyes gave her a quick once-over before turning back to whatever it was he was making at he stove. The smell of it was familiar, but Belle’s mind wasn’t focusing on that at all. For the first time since they had gotten married, or even in years, Belle felt uneasy around him and almost like an intruder when she considered just how high his defensive walls were at the moment. Nevertheless, she tried to get over and through it all. She was never one to give in or to beg. If she wanted something, she would fight for it. Including Aden’s trust, their marriage and him to talk to her.

“You didn’t have to make dinner…” She insisted in a soft voice that seemed barely audible. It was only when he shrugged a bit that she knew he had heard.

“Thought you’d be hungry when you got up.” He said coolly without looking at her. His matter-of-fact tone void of the caring one that she was used to hearing in almost everything he said to her took her off guard, not sure how to reply to it. In the end, she spoke bleakly.

“Yeah, thanks.” They fell back into silence as Belle leant against the counter in the middle of the kitchen, finally identifying dinner as pasta. She didn’t bother to tell him that Drew had made her eat pasta for lunch too. In all honesty, she didn’t care if she was eating the same thing again nor did she want to seem ungrateful or risk saying something harsh. Again, Belle couldn’t remember the last time she had to choose what to say around Aden. Speaking her mind openly and freely came naturally to her, especially with him.

With nothing to do except for standing there like a shadow, she walked over to the sink slowly, pulling down a glass from the neighbouring cupboard and running the water until it turned icy cold. Although it was just the beginning of the summer, it was still very warm in the early evenings. Taking an attentive sip of it, Belle kept her eyes steady on the tap as the water gushed out of it while feeling eyes burn into her back. She wasn’t sure whether Aden was trying to figure her out or wanting to say something, or if he was shooting her death looks. She doubted it was the latter because she for one could determine when someone was trying to glare at her from behind.

Turning off the tap, Belle gulped down the rest of the water. A smile approached her mouth as she placed the glass into the sink when she felt the baby move for the first time since getting up. Soon enough there was a steady kick, followed by another one, and another at small intermissions. Twirling around slowly, she saw Aden switching off the stove as the food was done. She took small steps towards him, cautious yet determined.

“Aden.” Belle whispered, making him look over at her curiously as she stood only a foot away from him. It was the closest they had been since the morning. She took a hold of his hand without another word, ignoring when feeling it tense a bit in her own before placing it where the baby continued to kick at the side of her small bump. There were a couple more kicks before the baby became still. Having a grip onto his wrist, Belle managed to manually make him rub tiny circles where his hand was placed, waiting a moment until there was movement once again.

Belle never tore her eyes away from his face, while he never looked away from where his hand was. The expression of pure adoration and pride was evident on his face and his eyes glinted to make them look even bluer than normal. At that moment, he was her Aden, bar of all the angst, anger and betrayal he was feeling. He was the same Aden as when the baby had moved for the first time and kicked for the first time. Nothing else mattered right then apart from them and the baby.

She wasn’t sure how long they stood like that, but it was most certainly not long enough. Aden removed his hand a few seconds after she had felt the last movement, not even glancing up at her once but instead turning back to the food without another word. She should have known that the small state of bliss that they had just shared wouldn’t have lasted any longer than that, however the disappointment still hit her hard.

“Belle?” His voice broke through her thoughts, lifting her head up from where she had unknowingly tilted it to look at the ground. Turning to where he spoke from, Belle was able to squash the hope of things getting better just by the guard he emitted even without trying. Although he spoke to her, he didn’t look at her as he headed to the table with their dinner.

She followed without another word, and that was how it remained. She didn’t want to push him and the atmosphere was dense enough as it was without her trying to make useless and annoying conversation. Instead, dinner that night was a quiet affair, something else she was not use to. It didn’t last long either. She was only halfway though her meal, taking her time as she pushed the shells from here to there and sipping water slowly when Aden got up, finished with his.

Her eyes followed him discretely, watching as he approached the sink where he dumped the plate before refilling his glass with more water and downing that. Belle guessed that he would be able to sense that he was being watched, although he never made any motions to show that he acknowledged it.

After he had placed his glass in the sink, she saw him lean against the counter with both his hands gripping onto the sides as tightly as it had been that afternoon. He didn’t move or say a thing, but she was able to meet his eyes via the reflection in the window in front of him. She saw his eyes linger on her momentarily, his lips parting a bit as if to say something. Belle involuntarily held her breath, scared at what he might say to her, but also glad that he would say something. However, as time elongated, seconds merging into a minute without a word, Belle swallowed and dropped her eyes, exhaling softly as she heard Aden turn the tap on in the sink.

“Leave it. You cooked, I’ll wash.” She sighed, speaking towards her plates as she speared a few pasta shells onto her fork. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see him facing her and nodding once before leaving the room completely, not even bothering to argue with her to take it easy or to relax.

As soon as he was gone, Belle dropped the fork and slumped back against her chair, her sudden actions and jostling causing the baby to protest. She tried to keep calm; breathing in and out deeply and counting each one, but she couldn’t keep the frustration from leaving her. Shoving the plate away from her with a sharp forceful movement, she sighed once again as the metal clanged against the ceramic. She leant forwards, her elbows on the table before pressing her hands against her face as she controlled the urge to scream. She hated the silence. She knew he was mad at her; who wouldn’t have been after what she did? But she’d prefer if he yelled at her again or even spoke to her with clipped words. Anything to tell her for definite whether he still cared. Whether he still needed her or whether he still trusted her. Because right then, she got the feeling that if it wasn’t for the baby, Aden wouldn’t have returned back at all.

---

Hope you liked it even a bit...

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

This is a bit of a lengthy chapter just to make up for the fact that updates will be rare for the next 2 weeks or so. Sorry

Thanks to Laura for this. And sorry to Naomi for making her wait Hope it's worth the wait, though.

Chapter 43:

The time in the corner on the screen of her laptop told her that it was 10:57pm. Considering that she had work the next day, Belle knew that she should be heading to bed. But not only had the two hours of sleep that afternoon given her an extra burst of energy to keep her going, Aden was also there. He had disappeared up the stairs after dinner and never came back down. She had heard footsteps every now and again as she sat on the couch in the lounge, getting the work that she had meant to have done during the day done. With that out of the way now, there was nothing stopping her from going to bed.

She wanted to get everything sorted out before they went to bed, but the thought of talking about it scared her. She knew it was ridiculous; whatever was going to be said would be said in one way or another, but she felt if she kept it off longer, maybe Aden would just forget about her deception. Realising that that was just taking the easy way out, Belle sighed and shut down her laptop, glancing at her phone as she waited for it to do as she wanted. After doing the washing up, she had spoken to Mattie, keeping the conversation short. All she had told her was that Aden now knew and that he wasn’t happy. At all. Belle had also told her to pass on the message to Drew that she was fine there and he shouldn’t worry about her. Although she knew it was moot point; he would worry regardless, she thought that it coming from Mattie would remind him that if worse came to worse, she had Mattie there at least.

As the laptop whirred to a halt, finally going blank, Belle closed the lid to it and replaced it onto the coffee table that she had moved so that it was right next to the sofa. Now, she pushed it away by using her legs while standing up. There wasn’t much else to be done except to make sure that the doors were locked, which she did as she entered the kitchen to check the back door. Switching off the lights behind her, she checked the front, glad to see they hadn’t been touched since she had locked it after Drew had left. With only the front room lights left, Belle took her time and made sure that every single window was locked before there was nothing left to help her stall time and she had to flick the switch up to throw the whole of downstairs into darkness before progressing up the steps.

By the time she had reached their room, Belle was certain of two things. One, Aden was still awake if the dim light from under the shut door, most probably from the bedside lamp, was anything to go by. And two, she wasn’t going to leave this any longer. Her stomach knotted at the thought of it, dreading what the possible outcome may be, but as she felt a flutter coming from another region of her abdomen, she knew that putting it off was not good for any one of them. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the door handle and pushed against it gently, opening it to the bare minimum that was needed to fit her body through.

Belle didn’t look at him straight away, instead turning around immediately to shut the door before facing him once again. He was sitting at the top of the bed on the far side, one leg stretched out while the other bent and his head tilted upwards, resting against the head of the bed. She couldn’t see if his eyes were open or not, but judging by the fact that he still had on his clothes from the day, she guessed they were. Remaining still for the moment, she couldn’t help but to notice that he paid her almost no attention or gave any acknowledgement that she was there.

Treading lightly, Belle reached the bed and climbed onto the nearer side. She sat there for a few seconds before curling her legs up to the side and moving to the middle of the bed, only stopping when she was right next to him. His head came down as she took a hold of his hand, pushing past every signal that he was giving off to leave him alone. His steely eyes, rigid posture, fixed look and tightened jaw was enough to make anyone run in the other direction, but not Belle. She tightened the hold she had on his hand, clasping it in between both of hers as her fingers fiddled with the ring on his forefinger and his wedding ring subconsciously.

“Aden?” She spoke in a hushed voice, knowing that in the barely lit room with just the two of them and nothing else but the clock making a noise, that he would hear her loud and clear. “Aden, please talk to me.” There was no response to that either; just his hand going rigid in hers, making her stop with her actions and simply hold it as it curved around one of her own hands while he looked in the other direction and out the glass doors that led to the small balcony. “Aden, c’mon, please. We said that we would never leave an argument unresolved before going to bed, remember? Please.”

Belle could feel the tears pricking her eyes, blurring her vision slightly as she continued to stare at him while he never moved a muscle either. Swallowing, she pushed herself up onto her knees, curling her legs under her now, never letting go of his hand.

“Aden, just say something. I can’t stand not knowing. I know you’re mad at me; I don’t blame you for being mad at me.” Once again, there was no sign of him taking in he words so she carried on, her voice rising a bit, hoping to evoke even the littlest response from him. “Do you hate me? Not trust me anymore? Do you want to leave? Are you only here because of the baby?” The questions came flooding out of her mouth quicker than either of them could interpret them or even think about them. “Do you want me to leave? Can you please talk to me?!”

“I don’t hate you.” Aden finally said after a beat, his voice as hushed as hers had been at the beginning. “And I’m not here just because of the baby.”

“It feels like it.” Belle murmured, holding her emotions back as well as she could. “You won’t speak to me, you won’t touch me or look at me or anything unless it’s to do with the baby.”

“That’s because none of this is the baby’s fault.” He almost snapped, but with his low voice, it was more like a harsh hiss as he finally looked at her with his guard and walls still up.

“None of what?” She asked in genuine confusion. “Aden, I didn’t bring Justin back. That’s not my fault. But I am so, so, so sorry for not telling you he was here. That is my fault, and I accept it.”

“I know you didn’t, but…” Aden began, his stance relaxing just a tiny bit as he pulled his hand out of hers and ran both his hands over his face and through his hair before gazing back up at the ceiling again. “You didn’t tell me. All this time, and you didn’t tell me.”

“I wanted to, Aden. It’s been killing me everyday, and I was honestly going to tell you today.”

“Why couldn’t you have just said it right there and then? At the Surf Club when you first saw him?” He questioned her, looking down at her as she bit her lip in shame.

“Because I wasn’t entirely sure it was him. And then when I did, I had already lied to you about going to see him. I just kept digging myself deeper and deeper into this hole and I got so stuck into it that I almost forgot about it at times, until it came back to me. How I was lying to you, constantly. And I couldn’t take it because you trusted me and I was just throwing it all away for something that mightn’t even matter.” Belle explained all at once, hoping to get as much out as she could to make him understand.

“Is that why you didn’t want to tell me? Because you thought that I wouldn’t care?” Aden asked almost incredulously as Belle realised what she had said.

“No, of course not!” She quickly corrected herself. “What I meant was that Justin said that he might not come back again to the Bay, so I thought that if I were to tell you, it would just bring everything up again for no reason.”

“That wouldn’t have changed the fact that he was here. After so many years, he actually came back. Don’t you think that I might have wanted to know that? That he was still around? Alive?” Aden practically spat, his voice hoarse as he did his best to not yell. He could feel his resolve start to break down a bit as they talked but it didn’t change a thing that he felt.

“Honestly, no, I didn’t.” Belle confessed, knowing that it was time to speak her mind purely and not hide a thing she wanted to say. “Whenever you talk about Justin, it’s always with a detached tone. You’ve always focused on his bad traits than he good ones and you’ve always said that he was long gone from your life. So no, Aden, I didn’t think you’d want to know because I thought that it would ruin everything that you’ve worked so hard to get. That him being back would just pull up the past and hurt you so much more than you deserve to be. I was scared, ok? I was scared that with Justin back, you might retreat back to your old self and throw away everything that you’ve worked for. Especially with your exams in a few weeks. It was the last thing you needed to be added to the pressure your under at the moment.”

“What if it was in a month, after my exams? Would you have told me then?” She looked away at his words as she contemplated what to say before looking back at him.

“I’d like to say ‘yes’, Aden, but I can’t. It wasn’t just that. I didn’t want to see you getting hurt in the long run. Justin only wanted to know how you were, so I told him. I thought that that would be enough. I told him that I wasn’t going to tell you that he had been back so he could go off again before seeing and leaving you again.” Belle told him. She watched as he shook his head slightly and looked away once again. He brought up both his legs and leant forwards against them as he hung his arms off of them and she stopped herself from reaching out to him. “I didn’t know what else to do, Aden. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You think this doesn’t hurt me?” He turned to look at her with dark eyes, making her look down in disgrace. “That not only is he back, but you knew? That you kept it from me out of your own free will? My own wife, Belle! The one person in this world who I thought would never do anything like this. Do you have any idea how it feels to hear you say that? Like you almost don’t trust me enough to be stable enough to handle something like this. Like even the slightest reminder of the past would push me over the edge. I thought you knew me better than that, Belle.” His words were almost whispers by the end as his eyes softened, glistening as she lifted her head up at his last few sentences in shock and intending to protest. Just looking at the heartbroken look on his face made her realise how far the consequences of her actions had gotten. “Is that what you’re scared of?”

“No, Aden, that’s not what I meant.” She told him forcefully, laying a hand on his upper arm as if it would convince him more. “I didn’t mean to back then.” Belle knew that they were both thinking of the time when he had almost killed Larry and the aftermath of it. “I meant before you had gotten the closure from your father. I know you, Aden, and I know that you won’t let this go until you find out everything that you want to know.”

“And why’s that a bad thing? Shouldn’t I be allowed to question Justin after all these years?”

“Of course you do!” Belle hastily replied to his accusing tone. “But sometimes, some things are best left undone. Especially if it’s not going to change anything.” She sighed as she turned her head away from him, looking out of the glass doors while feeling his gaze turn to her. “I guess it doesn’t matter what I think now, right? That box has been opened now so…”

Trailing off with her sentence, Belle swallowed once more, trying her best to keep her tears at bay. Everything was getting more and more messed up by the second. Even as she tried to explain it, to get them both onto the same level, she made it worse. It wasn’t going to be solved tonight, she knew that, no matter how much she hoped it would. There was more than just her not telling him that was keeping things tense with them. The fact that Justin was still there, and that Aden had no idea what to do. The fact that she had told him that she would have kept this from him regardless, and that they both knew that her reasons for it were almost good.

“When I went to meet him,” Belle began, pausing to look at him as he scrunched up his forehead, wondering where this was going. The conversation had obviously been over for him, but not for her. “I was about 95 percent sure it was Justin, Aden. It was more than the fact that you both seemed a like, but rather this instinct inside of me that made the connection before I could even think it. And there was that 5 percent chance that I was wrong, which was why I didn’t tell you before I went.” Stopping again, she made sure that she had his attention before speaking with carefully chosen words. “But you have to believe that I would never do anything to put the baby in danger. The reason why I chose Yabbie Creek was because I know that place. I’ve been there hundreds of times before and it’s completely safe and public.”

“You chose Yabbie Creek because it wasn’t here and so no-one would see you.” Aden corrected her with a cold tone.

“Yes, that too.” Belle accepted his words as they rang true to her, but they weren’t the most important thing that she was thinking of. “Aden, you do know that I wouldn’t do anything to harm the baby, right?” She asked carefully.

There was little movement from him and his silence hit her more than the word ‘no’ would have. She continued to look at him, her vision blurring as the tears came to a front, brimming her eyes when she didn’t even bother to stop it.

“Aden?” She tried again, tears falling freely down her cheeks when he turned his head away from her slowly. “Aden, tell me that you trust me to keep our baby safe!” Her voice, commanding yet scared, quavered, making him face her again.

Seeing the tears cascading down slowly, a look of pure fear on her face made his heart clench, realising that he was the cause of it. No matter how betrayed he felt, how much she had hurt him or how easy it would have been to tell her that he didn’t just to give her a hint of how he felt, one look at her broke down his stiff exterior as he sighed.

“Ok, come here.” Aden murmured, reaching out for her gently with a hand on her back to urge her towards him. She tried to resist but he was too strong for her, managing to pull her up to him with an arm around her waist. “Shhh… I do. I do trust you. But don’t ever pull a stupid stunt like that again!” His words were spoken in a harsh whisper, contrasting dearly to his actions as he smoothed his hand up and down Belle’s back. He could feel her get a grip of her emotions, nodding into his shoulder where her face was buried as her hand grasped tightly to his shirt. Aden kept his other hand on his leg, using it as his output to rid him off all the strong, negative feelings that still coursed through him by digging his fingers into his jean clad thigh.

Aden rested his chin atop of her head as she shifted a bit, turning her head outwards at the outside doors while controlling her breathing steadily. Even though he was holding her close to him, comforting her and telling her what she wanted to her, there was still that awkwardness hanging there, as if they didn’t know where to go on from here.

“Aden…“ Belle started, pulling away from him, intending on dispersing that feeling. However, she stopped before the question could even form on her tongue as he pushed himself up on the bed to sit straighter, causing both her arms to fall off him, and his off her. “Now what?” She finally said. He didn’t look at her; his eyes fixated on his own hands before drifting to where hers rested lightly on her abdomen.

“Let’s go to bed.” He said simply, stretching out both his legs to get up.

“Aden, no, we’ve got to talk about this.” She attempted to make him stay, but he just shook his head and slid off the bed.

“We can talk in the morning.” Aden told her, an underlying tone that told her that he wasn’t to be contradicted with right then. Her eyes followed him as he headed towards their bathroom, saying something that she wasn’t able to catch the beginning of. “… done enough for today.”

Swallowing, Belle waited until the door between them closed before slumping back against the pillows. Although she wasn’t sure, she was fairly certain that the missing words were either ‘we’ve’, or worse ‘you’ve’. Rubbing her eyes with her fingers rather vigorously, she sighed when opening them to see dancing black spots in a red background. She decided that the best thing to do was as he said, so with a deep sigh, Belle stood up to draw the curtains and pulled out her nightwear from the drawer it was in and began changing.

By the time she was done, placing her clothes on the side taking as much time as she could, there wasn’t much to do except to get into bed. Doing so hesitantly, Belle got as comfortable as she could knowing that although they had talked, things were far from ok between the two of them. Even as the words had came out of his mouth, she knew that the likelihood of them talking in the morning was pretty much slim.

Belle remained still when Aden came out of the bathroom, neither of them saying a thing while he dumped his clothes on top of where she had placed his as he stripped down to his boxers and climbing into bed behind her. He reached across her to switch off the lamp, pulling darkness over the two of them except for the dim moonlight that still managed to shine through the curtains and around it. She wasn’t sure what to expect as he settled back onto the bed, but she wasn’t disappointed when his arm automatically came around her waist, his hand splaying protectively over their baby. Belle didn’t dare to move, not even as she felt him get closer to her, almost pressed up against her like he normally did. She wasn’t too sure what to do with the mixed signals that she was getting from him. On the one hand, the close contact made her want to completely relish in it and pull his arm tighter around her, gripping his hand with all her might. On the other hand, however, his slight distance and the words from earlier put her off that, reminding herself that if it wasn’t for the baby, he probably wouldn’t be touching her at all.

Frustrated with the many analyses she had to do to decide how to act around her husband, Belle ignored everything and focused on her breathing. She waited until she could feel her body completely relax, her hands letting go of the grip they held to both sides of her pillow. Without moving an inch, she coerced herself into a sleep, grateful for the fact that regardless of what the reason may be, Aden was still there with her.

---

She knew something was wrong when she woke up a few hours later to feel the baby kicking. It wasn’t just the fact that the baby hardly ever moved, let alone kicked, during the night, but it was also that this was the first time she had woken up because of it.

Without even opening her eyes, Belle drifted a hand down towards her stomach hoping to sooth it and to let her sleep. Still half-asleep, nothing really registered with her except for the baby until she reached where the kicking kept on going. For some reason, she wasn’t able to feel Aden’s hand on top of that particular area until her own hand found it, curled up with his knuckles pressing against her side. A moment later and Belle’s eyes snapped open, figuring out the exact reason as to why she was awake and why the baby was suddenly distressed.

Her immediate reaction was to push his hand away from her; her maternal instinct to protect her child coming first before she could even make sense of everything. It didn’t take to much of an effort to move his hand, letting it rest against her leg now. Belle held onto his wrist, wondering what to do. She couldn’t remember the last time he had had a nightmare that was this intense. Doing the first thing that came into her head, she tried to pry his hand open before he hurt himself. This took a bit more effort, especially as she did it with one hand with her heart beating loudly in her ears that it made it hard to concentrate on anything other than to calm herself down. The baby had stopped moving altogether, almost as if seemingly have done it’s job to wake her up and help Aden.

Belle held his hand down flat, managing to link her fingers through his as he tried to fist it once again, pressuring her own fingers. She didn’t make a sound at the pain it caused her, instead using her thumb to help force him to relax a bit and break out of his bad dream. His other hand, she knew, was gripping onto the pillow which didn’t worry her much. The main problem in her head was that if Aden left a mark this time, there would be no way to hide it from him. Usually she could by wearing long sleeves or avoiding him for most of the day, but now, seeing as they lived in the same house, that was going to be close to impossible. Unless, of course, he kept on ignoring her. She thanked God that the awkwardness the previous night had meant that he had kept his distance from her, meaning that his hand had only pressed against he side of her bump and not anything worse. There would be no chance of him ever forgiving himself if he did anything like that to harm the baby.

Thinking about it had taken her mind off of the pain up until it began to fade and Belle realised that Aden was awake. She closed her eyes quickly as his hand slipped out of hers and the warmth that he provided her vanished when he rolled away from her and onto his back. Just by listening to him, she could tell how rattled he was by the nightmare. His breathing was deep and controlled, and every now and again she could hear him gulp as if the images replayed in his mind over and over. In fact, she was sure that that was what was happening.

And again, Belle didn’t know what to do. She craved to comfort him, to tell him everything would be ok and that she wouldn’t let anything happen to him, but right then, it would all be lies. She was pretty sure that being comforted by her was the last thing he wanted. Aden never liked being seen as weak, but right then, she got the feeling that he wouldn’t allow her to even try to get him to talk about it. She couldn’t promise him that everything would be ok, not when she had no idea what the future held or whether they themselves were ‘ok’. As for not letting anything happen to him, Belle could say it all she wanted when they both knew that right then it was her that was happening to him, along with Justin returning.

Smoothing her hand that now mildly ached along her stomach, she wondered if Aden knew that she was awake. She assumed he did, especially the way he remained as still as she had been. Belle opened her eyes to look at the time, disgruntled to find that it was only 3.23am. Blinking slowly, she watched the last digit change all the while keeping most of her attention on Aden. He was still restlessly awake, moving very lightly but just enough for her to know that he was still anxious by the dream. When two of the digits in front of her changed, indicating that it had now been 7 minutes, Belle sighed as she realised that sleep wasn’t going to come to either of them that night if things remained like this.

Twisting around carefully, she faced Aden while he kept looking in the other direction. One of his hands was under his head while the one closer to her pulled lightly at the pillow under him. She knew that he was trying to find the best way to rid himself of all the frustration and exasperation that the day had brought him along with the night without hurting anyone or thing. Belle pushed herself up on one arm and rested a hand on his chest, hoping to make him look at her.

“Go back to sleep, Belle.” He whispered in a strained voice without a glance at her. Pushing herself up a bit further, she looked down on him and saw as he closed his eyes to stop her from seeing him completely.

“Aden-” She began in a determined voice instead, getting cut off by his tired yet commanding words.

“I said, go back to sleep.”

“Aden, please, I just want to help.” Belle said, ignoring him. Silence fell upon them as he remained as he was. She watched him intently until he opened his eyes and looked at her with a hard gaze that kept all of his emotions hidden that made her own eyes drift away a bit.

“You’ve helped enough, Belle.” He told her grimly before seeing the hurt look pass on her face. With a sigh, Aden closed his eyes in regret at the mean words. “Just leave it, Belle. Go to sleep.”

Reluctantly, she nodded as he let go off the pillow and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her down to him. Belle rested her head gingerly on his shoulder, keeping her own arm around her waist as his came just below it. Her whole body was knowingly tense and there was nothing she could do to change it this time. Aden’s arm around her, keeping her close should have given her a bit of hope and helped her to relax, but the fact that he seemed just as uneasy as her, although most probably from the dream rather than anything else, made it worse. He still looked in the other direction with his other hand gripping the duvet corner with a subtle force that she could only see in the dark due to the striations it caused on it. Exhaling deeply, Belle closed her eyes with the awareness that even though she was lying in bed with Aden holding her tightly, she had never felt so distant from him before when he was in fact so close.

---

Like I said before, sorry for the length. I hope it didn't get a bit repetitive.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

I did want to add more, but I don't really have the time. I'm sorry if this is a bit out of sync or touch. My mind's a bit all over the place. Hopefully, the next chapter will get more into it

Once again, thanks to Laura for proofing it for me. Your HotDad greatly appreciates it too

Chapter 43:

The repetitive alarm woke Belle up the following morning. It took a moment for her to get her bearings, wondering why the annoying beeping still continued if she was alone in the bed. Usually it would be Aden who would wake her up seeing as the alarm would be switched off after he got up. Sighing, she shuffled forwards in the bed and reached across to turn it off, surprised to see that it was 7:30am. Only then did she recall that it was Thursday, meaning she had to go in to work. However, Aden usually had Thursday mornings off, hence why the alarm went off later for her, throwing her into a state of confusion about where he was.

“Aden?” Belle called out in a voice that was still thick with sleep. Although she had managed to finally catch a few more hours after being woken up by the baby, it wasn’t nearly enough. Not to mention the anxiety of what the day would hold for her already drained on her energy.

She was about to call out again as she pushed herself up in the bed, running a hand through her sleep tousled hair while stifling a yawn when she heard approaching footsteps from down the hall. It wasn’t from far, and as she heard a door close, Belle was able to guess that he had been in the nursery. Soon enough, Aden appeared in the doorway, momentarily pausing when he saw her, up and awake, before entering. He had clearly not heard her.

“Where- where are you going?” She asked him slowly as she took in his attire of jeans and a t-shirt, obviously planning on heading out. “You don’t have any lectures until this afternoon…”

“I need to go to the library.” He merely responded, heading over to where his mobile laid on top of the dresser.

“Right now?” Belle questioned, getting out of the bed and trying her best to avoid the passive tone his voice had adopted.

“Better to get it out of the way.” Aden sighed, not turning to face her even as she stopped only a few feet to his side.

“Ok.” She wanted to bring up the subject of last night and how he had said they would talk, but nerves got the better of her and she gave in. Although she knew that things couldn’t be left like this for much longer in fear of their marriage breaking down, talking about it at the start of the day would surely only put one thing into their heads. And if Aden was planning on studying, and if she had to go to work, then having that weigh upon them wouldn’t help.

Aden glanced over at her quickly as he clipped on his watch, sighing in remorse and a bit of relief when Belle let it go. He knew what she was thinking, and he also knew that she was always trying to gauge his mood and reactions since yesterday before saying anything. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to talk things through but he couldn’t do it. Not until he got his own head sorted out, until he got the chance to make reason of his own thoughts. The last thing he wanted was to have another conversation like last night, questions and accusations slipping out of his mouth as soon as they had formed. She had hurt him, but that was no reason for him to hurt her. Yet, it still didn’t make everything ok. Belle had still betrayed him and lied to him, and he wasn’t going to forget that easily.

“There’s breakfast downstairs.” Aden told her when he was finished with keeping himself occupied. Turning to her, he was able to catch the surprise on her face. “Eat it and take care.” He skimmed a hand over her small bump, rubbing it for a second before placing his hand onto the side of her face and pressed a small kiss to her other cheek. He backed off quickly and entirely after that as she stood almost frozen and confused. “I’ll see you in the evening.”

“Ok.” Belle simply repeated, not sure what else there was to say, eyes following him as he walked out of the door. Once again, his mixed signals sent her into a state of perplexity. His actions were sweet and caring, close to normal, but the way he spoke and held himself around her was as if it was all forced. She knew that the feelings were real, that Aden did care, but she wondered if the gentle kiss and the tender stroke that he had unconsciously given her cheek was something out of routine or a bid to seem like everything was alright.

Exhaling deeply when she heard the front door shut, Belle finally got herself moving and picked up her dressing gown before making her way downstairs to see what it was that Aden had left for her. A smile curved on her lips as she felt the baby come to life, moving around a bit before a well aimed kick to her inner organs made her grimace slightly. If the kid was a boy, he was definitely taking after Aden with his footy skills. If it was a girl, however, Belle was fairly certain they were going to have a tomboy on their hands.

By the time she had made it to the kitchen, her body had already detected via smell what it was that Aden had made for her. Even the baby had calmed down as her stomach demanded some of the pancakes that were on a plate resting in the middle of the counter in the centre of the kitchen. Smiling at she walked over to them, the realisation that making the stack that was in front of her, and washing everything up, must have taken him a while, meaning he had been up for at least an hour or 2. Which, Belle concluded with the smile transforming into a frown, meant that Aden had most probably not fallen asleep after his nightmare, or only have gotten a couple more hours.

Guilt swept through her at the thought of Aden having to deal with it all on his own when she had been right there beside him. Of course, last night, they could have been on the opposite sides of the country and the closeness that she had felt with him mentally and emotionally wouldn’t have changed. But that wouldn’t have changed the fact that she had been there and yet, she had somehow managed to pull herself into a sleep so deep that, firstly, she hadn’t realised he had been having a nightmare, and then, that he couldn’t sleep or he had left.

And even after all that; after all the confessions late at night and all the terror that had been brought up for him, Aden had spent the morning making breakfast for her so that she would eat before she went to work. Time that he could have spent working or anything else. As mad as he was with her, he still tried to look after her. And for some reason, that just made her feel even worse.

---

“Well, well, well. I see you’ve remembered that we still exist. How nice to see you.” Nicole’s ever teasing voice greeted him as he walked in through the open door to the beachside apartment that he had called home up to 2 months ago.

“Hmm… funny.” Aden replied with a forced smile that he hoped wasn’t transparent as he felt it was.

“What’s wrong?” She asked him immediately as she stood on the bottom stairs, sussing him out in a second. “You look like you haven’t slept in days. The wife giving you a hard time already?”

“As if.” He tried to joke back, but they both knew that there was something out of touch. “Is Roman here?”

“Out the back.” The blonde said in a sing-song voice as she danced down the final step and into the front room to grab her bag and folder for college. “You know, Aden, if there’s something bothering you, you can always talk to me…”

“I know, Princess. But thanks.” Aden smiled genuinely at her, albeit cheekily as her cheeks tinted red a bit at her rare exposure at being publicly considerate and caring.

“Right, well then I’m off. Talk to you later. That is if you don’t forget your way here again.” She said teasingly over her shoulder as she walked straight out the door. Aden made a mental note to drag Nicole out one day, perhaps to the city or somewhere to do something he liked just to take his mind of things and to hang out like old times. He knew that that time wouldn’t come anytime soon, not with exams on the loom and then some.

Entering the kitchen, Aden got rid of all thoughts about the exams, not liking the pressure that that added to his load at the moment. He stopped as he saw Roman walk in, crossing the threshold of the between the back porch and the kitchen. The older man smiled immediately at the sight of him before a concerned look crossed his face as Aden leaned against the counter while Roman passed him to place his cup into the sink.

Neither one said a word as Aden’s gaze averted to the floor while tucking his hands into his jeans pocket self-consciously and Roman cleared up the kitchen. They remained like that for a while until Aden finally spoke up, knowing that he was waiting for him to speak without pushing for anything. It was his most effective, and reliable, way of getting him to open up.

“Justin’s back in the Bay.” His tone was level and his eyes only looked up when the words were out, seeing Roman turn around as he finished with his job. He crossed his arms and leant against the counter opposite Aden. There was no pity or sympathy in his eyes or on his face; the exact reason why Aden had came here. Roman knew how to react around him and what he wanted and what he didn’t want. And right then, he didn’t want any of the emotional crap. He wanted to sort through his thoughts and talk it through impartially.

“Was that the guy yesterday outside the Diner?” Aden nodded at Roman’s question. “Right.”

“And Belle knew. But she didn’t tell me.” He continued, watching Roman as his eyes widened slightly at the revelation before his face went neutral again.

“Did she say why?” Once again, Aden nodded, staying silent while glancing towards the table to his left. “Aden, I’m sure that her reasons were good.”

“They are.” He confirmed, voice low and strained as he struggled to keep himself from exploding. “They are good, but it doesn’t mean that she should have kept it from me.”

“I’m not saying that she should have.” Roman quickly defended himself before changing the subject. “Judging from the way you reacted to seeing Justin yesterday, I’m taking it that it wasn’t a good thing?”

“I dunno, Roman. I mean, it’s been 8 years. It’s in the past and I’d rather leave it there.” Aden said with a shrug while turned back to the other man. “But then again, there are all these things that I’ve always wondered and never got the chance to ask anyone. Especially about Justin.”

“Maybe you should look at it that way then.” He suggested. “Not him digging up the past, but rather a way to close it and push it away for good.” The words made Aden think, realising the truth in them. He was sure that if it were anyone else telling him this, he would have yelled at them that it wouldn’t be that easy. But Roman’s calming voice and wise words never failed to make him see sense.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He sighed, pulling his hands out of his pockets and rubbing his forehead with one. “I dunno. I don’t know what to do about Justin. He’s the basis of all this mess right now and I can’t deal with it all.”

“Start at the top then.” Roman advised, hoping to get through to his son of sorts. Although he wanted to ask him questions, Roman had never been one to pry, especially with Aden. It was for that reason, he believed, they had this relationship where he could come to him for advice with whatever he chose to tell him. “If Justin’s the basis of it all, then what’s the top of it? If you knock out the bottom of the wall first, everything else will crumble down. Start at the top.”

“Belle.” Aden said flatly, crossing his arms. “She’s at the top of it all. I need her by my side for this, and right now, it feels like she’s about far away from me as she could be.”

“Mate, you know that’s not true.” Roman instantly told him, knowing full well where Belle’s loyalties would lay. “She is by your side. Maybe she didn’t tell you straight away about your brother, but she told you, didn’t she? From the sounds of it, Justin wasn’t going to be the one to confess to it. She could have very well have kept her mouth shut about the whole thing.”

“Which would have just been worse.” Aden commented through gritted teeth. “She kept it from me for a whole week. Because he claimed that he might not come back and that she didn’t want to dig it all up for me.”

“She was just trying to protect you, Aden.” Roman reasoned with him as Aden scowled, finally giving in to his emotions although his energy was running too low to portray it fully.

“It doesn’t change anything! If Justin never came back, how do I know she would have told me? She said that she would have, but I don’t know, Roman. I really don’t know and I hate it! I hate doubting her but I hate lying to her. And I hate making her cry so much more.” His hands grabbed onto the counter behind him, fingers curling around it tightly just like the previous day. “I wish she felt the same and would stop doubting me and lying to me.”

“Aden, Belle made a mistake. I’m sure that she isn’t proud of it, or feeling any better now that she’s told you.” Roman spoke in his forever gentle tone. “And if she said she was going to tell you, then I for one believe her.”

“She went to meet him in Yabbie Creek.” Aden continued after a beat, not bothering to comment on Roman’s words. “She told me she was going to work but she went to meet him in some place that she knew. Alone. You can put any spin onto that that you want, but she put both herself and the baby in danger, and I can’t forget that easily. And then last night, she asked me if I trusted her to keep the baby safe. And I told her I did.”

“Do you?” Roman had picked up on Aden’s very distant tone, as if he was telling a story from someone else’s memories, or a very bland script.

“I… think so.” He said carefully, eyes averting to the floor as he tried to explain what he meant without any prompts. “At first, all I could think was that she was being reckless again. Typical Belle, following through with a hunch without thinking everything else through. But then I realised that she must have thought it through if she had planned to meet him away from home and a lie that wouldn’t make me suspicious. So she must have thought through a way to keep the baby safe too, right?”

At the last word, Aden looked back up again, hoping for some backup to his theory, or a dismissal of it. Something to say that he was either right or wrong, because right then, that’s all he needed. Some certainty. But of course, Roman wouldn’t do that. He was a neutral person when it came to these kind of things, where decisions had to be made that no-one else could make but the person in question.

“Honestly, Aden? I think that you’re thinking into it too deeply.” Roman finally informed him. “Forget about what you know or think you know; what is it that you feel? Do you trust Belle with the baby? Regardless of everything that has happened or might happen.” Doing as he said, Aden thought about it before realising that he had already made that decision long ago without even knowing it. His face must have shown his thoughts as Roman spoke up again. “You know, for a psychologist, you really can’t see it yourself, can you?”

Aden chuckled wryly at his words, which had been lined with a bit of humour. It was true though; he hadn’t seen it himself. It was clear as anything else, and if it was someone else, he could have pointed it out to them. Of course he trusted Belle with their unborn child. If he hadn’t, then he wouldn’t have left her alone that morning without a second thought.

“That doesn’t change anything though.” Aden shook his head slowly. “She still lied to me and kept it from me. Something that she knew I would want to know, and I don’t know how we can move past that. We need that trust and right now, I don’t know if I wholly trust her.”

“What I think you need to do, Aden, is to put yourself in her shoes.” Roman told him. He raised an eyebrow in reply, not sure what he meant. How on Earth could he put himself in her shoes? Belle’s past wasn’t anywhere near to being as murky as his, and he was glad for that. “What would you have done if someone from her past had come back? Such as her adoptive parents, or someone from that old life of hers?”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?” Roman countered. “If you found out before her, wouldn’t you rather handle it yourself and keep Belle in the dark where she was much more happier than to risk ruining it all?”

“Belle ran away from them. Justin left us.” Aden reminded him with clipped words. “She wouldn’t want to see them.”

“What are you basing that on?” Silence fell between them as he thought about Roman’s question. What was he basing it on? He couldn’t remember the last time he had spoke to Belle about her adoptive family and the last time he had dug into her past was when he had skimmed through her diary that she had given him a couple of months back. He hadn’t looked at it since. But there was still that hostility that he associated with Belle and her past. Instinct told him that she wouldn’t like to see them. That it would just cause her more stress in addition to everything else that had on right now, including being pregnant.

But even if she wasn’t pregnant, Aden was pretty sure that he would react in the same way. It didn’t matter what she was or was not going through, his first instinct would be to prevent her from getting hurt and protect her from something that she did not need. However, he realised, that was exactly what Belle had done and it didn’t do anything to ease his hurt. The more he thought about it, the more he came to the conclusion that even if the events may seem parallel, the reasoning behind them would be very different. There was more to Belle not telling him than just wanting to keep him from getting hurt; she had said so herself.

“It doesn’t matter.” He finally replied, his voice low before strengthening at the end. “The situations are- would be different.”

“But you can’t deny that you would do the same thing, Aden. You can’t stay mad at her for that without being hypocritical. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that what Belle did was right. I just think that you ought to look at the bigger picture here.”

“What bigger picture?” He asked in pure confusion. As far as he was aware, there was no bigger picture other than what had happened, had happened.

“How you go on from here. Not just with Belle but with Justin too.” Roman pointed out. “What is it that you want to do?”

“What I want?” Aden laughed ruefully and tiredly as he slumped back against the counter, shuffling his feet slightly to make himself more comfortable as he crossed his arms. Tilting his head down a bit, his eyes caught the glint off of his left hand as the light shone off the gold band around his wedding ring. “What I want is to just forget this all and get things back to normal.”

“Aden…” For the first time that morning, Roman’s tone was sympathetic and understanding as Aden just smiled sadly.

“Anyway, I need to head off. Got to get some studying done before I flunk out.” Aden pushed himself away from the counter slowly, standing up straighter as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders by talking things through and getting his thoughts out into the open. Although he was still as confused as ever, he got the feeling that with some time alone, he would be able to figure some stuff out.

“Yeah, I should get to work too.” Roman took Aden’s words as a cue to leave things be, especially as they both walked out of the kitchen. The younger man had just reached the door when Roman called his name to stop him. “Look, I know it might seem like the worst thing right now, but you and Belle have been through a lot. You can work through this if you try to, Aden. Take it one step at a time and start from the top.”

Nodding, Aden needn’t say a word to show his gratitude as he turned and left the house, closing the door behind him while Roman headed upstairs. By the time he was on the road again, he was doing everything he can to stop himself from thinking about it. He knew that if he did, he would get too far into it and that was bound to be dangerous while driving.

Stopping at the red light just before the main road that would take him to the city, Aden cursed his luck as he spotted Justin on the opposite side of the road. He could pinpoint the exact moment that he had recognised the car, crossing the road right in front of him. Aden spotted a phone attached to his brother’s ear, and by the way that he grinned, he guessed he was chatting to some girl, most probably the one he had met the previous day.

Justin walked slower than Aden thought was possible, shooting his younger brother a cheeky smile and a wink. Aden scowled at his behaviour, resisting the urge to run him over just to get that patronising smile off his face. Revving the car slightly, he couldn’t help but to smirk when Justin instinctively hurried up to get to the other side. He missed the annoyed look at he shot at him as he sped off towards the main road, chuckling humorously, and a bit sadistically, for the first time in the past 24 hours.

---

Hope the angst is dragging on too much. I'm trying to make it a bit of light/fluffy angst [if there is such a thing ]

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Righto, this is a long update because, well, firstly I couldn't stop writing, and secondly, because I'm really not sure when I can update next. I have exams this week, so if I do get the time, I'll update asap!

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 44:

I dunno. Things seem to be getting better at times. Belle began slowly, picking at the edge of the page that she was reading on the magazine before her. I mean, we just hung out at home last night and watch a few DVDs together

But? Mattie prompted her best friend from where she sat opposite her in the Diner.

But hes still mad at me. I dont blame him or anything; its just really awkward at home. Its like hes forcing himself to act normal. Most of the time, hes really passive and Gods know where with his thoughts. And Im even worse. Im too scared to ask him about it, I think about everything I say or do twice before I actually do it. Sighing, Belle glanced up at Mattie, who was giving her a sympathetic look. Its ok, Mattie. You can say it.

Say what?

I told you so. She mimicked in a higher version of her voice . I remember that moment that you labelled.

Well, seeing as you can remember it, I guess theres no point in saying anything. Mattie told her sweetly, causing Belle to scoff in amusement. Anyway, back to the question. Things between you and Aden are?

Getting there, I think. Belle nodded once to try and seem more convincing to both herself and Mattie. She had tried to believe that things were getting better, but the more she thought about it, the more she realised that they were at a standstill.

They didnt spend much time together like they use to, talking randomly or going out and having fun. Instead, the only other times before last night that they had spent to together was at nights when Aden would always come to bed after her. She would pretend to be asleep, but it was pretty easy to guess she wasnt when the baby kicked at his touch when he placed an arm around her waist and protectively over their child. It was the only contact they had apart from the occasional quick kiss to the temple, forehead or cheek, which she assumed he only did out of obligation. Belle hadnt felt the passion of his kisses or the power of his embraces ever since Wednesday. Even the day before, Saturday, when they were both at home they didnt spend much time together. Aden had been revising and she had work to get on with. The 4 hours they had spent watching movies in the evening were surreal to her. It would have been relaxing and comforting if it wasnt for the fact that she knew his mind had been elsewhere all throughout.

He said to give him time about the whole Justin situation. Belle carried on, realising that they had lapsed into a silence. And we havent spoken about any of that since.

Spoken about what? Another voice interrupted as the two guys joined them at the table. Ric, the owner of the voice, slid in next to Mattie while Drew sat next to her. He had came down that morning, claiming to wanting to spend more time with VJ and Leah for a bit. Of course, considering that he was out with the three of them, Belle was pretty sure what the reason behind him being in the Bay so soon after his impromptu visit earlier in the week was.

Nothing. Mattie said pointedly which Ric took as a cue to leave it be. Drew, however, used it as a way to bring up the subject again.

Im guessing it was about Jefferies and his brother. He got his answer at their silence. Belle had picked up on the fact that Drew had stopped calling Aden by his first name again but decided to leave it alone, especially in the middle of the Diner. I need a drink. You guys want anything? The three of them all rattled off their requests as Drew rolled his eyes and headed towards the counter.

How are things with you and Aden then? Ric questioned when Drew was out of earshot, only to receive a dark glare from his girlfriend. Its just a question

Yeah, its alright. Belle spoke before Mattie tried to change the subject once again. These were her friends, her closest friends, and she did need them right now. They could be worse, I guess.

True. At least hes still there. Mattie supplied, joining in regardless. And he obviously still trusts you. Im sure things will get better with time.

It will. Adens not an idiot to let a good thing go. If he didnt still trust you, then that would be a whole other problem. Ric said seriously that made both girls look at him in surprise. This wasnt the Ric they both knew. The Ric they knew would crack jokes and try to make her feel better and get her mind of it instead of dwelling on the sad stuff. What? Im just saying. Besides, its not like you cheated on him or anything.

Ric! Mattie reprimanded, punching him on the arm as Belle smile humorously. Whats that got to do with anything?!

Well, nothing I guess. He shrugged as Drew joined them once again. I was just saying that it could be worse.

I get it, I get it. Belle assured him, still chuckling lightly.

What are we talking about? Drew asked them slowly when he noticed Belles better mood. Or do I not want to know?

Belle cheating on Aden. Ric told him earnestly, bringing him to a momentary silence for a first.

We are not talking abo- Belle immediately jumped in, scowling at the two of them as Mattie tried to stifle her laughter.

Oh. Drew finally said with a sly grin. Well, in that case, I know a lot of guys-

Drew! She cut him off this time, shoving him in the shoulder. Can we change the subject please? The last thing I need is someone thinking that Im having an affair.

Unfortunately for Belle, Colleen, who had came over with their drinks, managed to picked up on her last words. She stood there in shock for a moment with her eyes wide as Belle looked at the older woman, realising her mistake of speaking those words out loud in the middle of a busy Diner a bit too late.

Colleen-

No, no, dear. I didnt hear a word. Colleen said hurriedly with a small nod, avoiding eye contact with her as she spoke. The other three were losing their battle against keeping their laughter at bay.

Wed appreciate that. Drew replied instead, trying to sound as serious as he could, although the beginning of a smile played on his lips. You know, with the baby and all. Wouldnt want to add more drama.

Oh, yes, I understand Colleen stuttered out with some difficulty as she processed what she had just found out. Knowing that Colleen was more of a gossiper than a thinker, Belle intervened to set her straight.

Ignore him, Colleen. She told her, shooting daggers towards her step-brother. Its not true. I wouldnt do that to Aden.

Yes, well, no, of course not. Once again, her words were spoken with confusion and mumbling before leaving the four of them to get back to work. Almost as soon as she had disappeared into the kitchen, Ric, Mattie and Drew all dissolved into the laughter they had been keeping in while Belle gave the latter a slap around the head.

Ow! What the Hell?

Ive got enough to worry about without having the town thinking that! She growled at him, rubbing her stomach with one hand as she felt the baby move as if it agreed with what she said.

Lighten up, sis. No-one would believe it anyway. Drew rolled his eyes again.

Yeah, well if they do and Aden finds out about it, then Im blaming it all on you. Belle informed him with a huff, sipping her lemonade and looking away from him in an attempt to end the conversation.

Anyway Ric began, looking over at his girlfriend for help with where to go with the rest of the sentence.

Hows the baby stuff coming along? Mattie immediately added, knowing that it was probably the safest ground at that moment.

Yeah, good. Got a scan next week. Belle said in a more cheerful tone as she thought of the upcoming event. Scans never failed to bring her and Aden closer, or to put them into a good mood.

Ah, so are we going to find out if its gonna be a boy or a girl? She asked in a hopeful tone. The boys, who had began their own conversation at the mention of baby stuff, both turned to look at her. Despite the fact that they hated all the girl talk about the baby, she knew that the suspense of whether it would be a boy or girl was killing them too.

Nope. Belle laughed at the annoyed looks on all three of their faces. I told you, were waiting.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to go shopping without knowing if its a boy or a girl? Mattie practically snapped at her while Belle raised an eyebrow.

Im sorry? I didnt realise how selfish I was being. Now that you mention it, maybe I should find out just so you can go shopping!

Alright, alright. No need to get snarky. Mattie sulked as the other three laughed.

Dont worry, Mattie. I promise you that youll be one of the first to know. Belle reached over and squeezed her hand gently, coercing her out of her sudden mood.

What about names? Chosen anything yet? She enquired brightly, making the girl in question look down at her drink and bounce the straw repeatedly against a cube of ice.

Ha! Belle scoffed. I think it would be wiser to ask what names we havent chosen. The list gets longer and longer every time I look at it.

Well, how about this then? Drew started. If its a boy; 'Andrew', or any deviation from that would work too. And if its a girl, then 'Dru' He elongated the syllable as he searched for a suitable suffix to turn it into a name. The three of them stared at him as he thought about it for a few seconds. 'ella'? 'Druella' sounds good.

Oh, please! Like Aden would let his child be named after you. Mattie said in disgust before turning to Belle. If its a boy, you can call it 'Matthew'. And if its a girl, then 'Madison'.

Why? Belle asked her, perplexed.

Cos 'Matthew' can be shortened to 'Matt' and 'Madison' can be shortened to 'Maddie'. Which rhymes with 'Mattie'. She explained as Drew threw her a funny look.

Maddie doesnt rhyme with Mattie. It sounds exactly the same!

Yeah, well, its better than Druella! Mattie retorted. Sounds like a villain out of a movie!

No, it doesnt!

Yeah, it does! She countered. Ever heard of Cruella de Vil before?

Thats why it sounded familiar Drew realised as Belle and Ric both shared worried looks while remaining silent.

You got anything to add, Ric? Belle finally spoke up as they fell into a bout of silence.

No, Im good. He grinned. Id rather keep my name with me.

Yeah, thats cos there arent really many names you can get from Ric that are half-decent. Mattie commented, looking seriously at Belle.

What? And Maddie is? Drew argued.

Its better than Druella! She pointed out.

Ok! Both of you, shut up! Belle finally gave in. Im not naming my child after any of you. And, seriously, Drew! Do you really think I would call any kid that, let alone mine?

What? He asked innocently. Its a good name! Its unique!

I wonder why? Ric laughed, joining in too.

Forget it. Drew muttered. Ill keep it.

Your poor, poor child. Mattie shook her head.

I think its name would be the least of the childs worries with Drew as a father. Belle told her, laughing. Soon enough, both Ric and Mattie were laughing at what she presumed at the image of Drew as a dad. She had to admit, it was funny, especially as he simply frowned and glared at her. Smiling sweetly at him, Belle couldnt help but think that this was most probably the first time in days that she had laughed and genuinely relax and had fun. Of course, hanging out with the three of them always helped.

For your information, Id be a good parent. He informed him strictly. Not that itll happen anytime soon.

Yeah, of course not. Belle agreed with a smile. She could tell that Mattie had caught on with what she was trying to say, although it become clear that neither of the boys had.

Whats that supposed to mean?

Nothing. She claimed, the smile still on her lips before standing up. Im hungry. Ill be right back.

Belle! Cmon! What did that mean? Drew called after her but Belle merely shrugged it off. She could hear him start to bug Mattie about it behind her as she came to the counter.

Hey, love. What can I do for you? Irene greeted her with a warm smile.

I need some food.

Well, darl, Im not a mind reader. She rolled her eyes. You wanna tell me what you want exactly?

Anything. Belle simply said as Irene gave her an annoyed look. Fine, chips will do.

Alright then. Ill bring it over in a tick. The redheaded woman disappeared into the kitchen, where she could hear her make conversation with who she suspected to be Roman. About to turn to return back to their table, Belle stopped as someone she recognised instantly entered the Diner. They paused by the side of the counter before smiling gently.

Hey, Belle.

Um hey. She replied hesitantly, throwing a look over her shoulder quickly, glad to see that none of her mates were watching her.

Aden not with you? His voice was lined with shock that made Belle question his meaning.

I can go out without Aden, you know? Hes not my keeper or anything. She practically snapped

Ok, sorry. A ghost of a smile played on Justins lips. Feisty. No wonder my brother likes you.

Hmm Belle sighed. Listen, I wanted to say thanks for, you know. Not telling Aden about-

Yeah, sure. He shrugged coolly while leaning on his forearms on the counter in front of him. You told him anyway and he thinks Im a horrible liar, but hey, never mind.

Geez, if youd listen for a second youd find that Im trying to say thanks here and tell you that he knows its none of your fault! Belle snapped while he grinned at her. What?

Youre pregnant. Belles arm that was around her waist dropped almost immediately in self-consciousness. Is it Adens? Instead of replying, she shot him a dirty look. Take that as a yes. Cool.

How long are you going to be around for? She asked him instead.

A while. Just got myself a place right here in the Bay. Its really lovely. Got an ocean view and all. You should come and see it. Justin said happily. Oh, and you can bring Aden along too, if you want to this time. If not, well Never chased a pregnant married chick before.

Youre a jerk, you know that?

Aw, cmon, dont be like that. Im just teasing. He laughed before sobering up as he felt eyes bore into him. Looking past Belle, he found three pairs of eyes gazing at him. Two of them shifted away after a moment. Whos that? He asked, nodding towards her table.

Who? Belle turned around to see them all trying their best to pretend that they werent listening or watching them. Although Drew wasnt trying that hard. Oh, um my brother.

Really? Justin smirked before giving Drew a quick wave of the hand teasingly. He doesnt look happy.

Hmm Belle repeated, nodding. You should know what brothers are like.

Thats a good one. He chuckled at her words and Belle knew that he didnt take any offence from it. How is Aden, anyway? Calmed down yet?

I think its gonna take a bit more time, Justin.

Right, yeah. His cheery mood turned serious all of a sudden. Well, Im here until he decides that he wants to talk. Tell him to take his time; there are some lovely girls here in the Bay to keep me occupied until then.

Belle bit back her remark and nodded, not able to keep the irritated look off her face. Irene returned a moment later with a plate of chips, stopping as she saw the younger woman still standing at the counter. It was clear that she had been in a conversation with the only other person near her; a stranger in Irenes case.

Everything alright, love? She asked her as Belle put on a smile and held out a hand for the plate.

It is now. She told her, munching on one of the chips. Irene chuckled as Belle walked away and back to the table where the other three where. She could hear Justin order something, but she put it to the back of her mind as she placed the plate down before sitting. What? She asked when silence fell upon the table.

Who was that? Drew immediately questioned her.

Justin. And dont. Belle added quickly. Leave it alone. Its none of your business.

Fine. Although she found it pretty strange that he gave in easily, Belle didnt need to press on. Oh, and I can totally get a girlfriend if I wanted to.

---

Hey. Belle greeted as she walked through the door. Have you been in that one place all this time?

Um Aden faltered, paying more attention on the notes he was making at that moment. No. He simply said, holding up a bottle of orange juice to indicate that he had moved once in the past 3 hours that she had been out.

Belle chuckled lightly. Hanging out with the others had done wonders for her mood and her confidence. She was prepared to handle this and take it all into her own hands to deal with it. Tonight was going to be the night, she decided. She would sit him down and they would talk. Even if it meant having to drag him herself, she would do it. They couldnt go on like this anymore. The tension was so clear between the two of them the minute she stepped into the house.

As the seconds ticked by, Belle could feel her old mood return. The one that told her to do as Aden had asked and give him time. The one that didnt want to get anymore onto his bad side and the one that wouldnt dare to bring up the subject of talking about Justin.

Her feet were moving before she could even think, pushing away all the negatives as she climbed onto the couch next to where Aden sat. She curled her legs up onto the sofa, watching him for a second as she supported her head with the hand that she had rested on the back of her seat. She couldnt recall the last time she was this close to him without looking away quickly from the raw emotions that always shone in his eyes at her. Now, she was able to see the tiredness and stress on his face. He had always been able to wear a mask for others, and she was disappointed with herself that she had fallen for it too.

You need to take a break. Belle whispered gently, lifting her head up and stroking the hair at the nape of his neck with the free hand. Its not good for you, all this constant studying.

Im fine. He mumbled, not giving any indication to her that he had acknowledged her tender touch or loving tone under her words.

Aden-

Belle, please. I need to get this done, ok? Although his words werent snappy, they were spoken through gritted teeth as he pulled away from her hand, making them more effective. Swallowing, Belle nodded and placed her hand onto the back of his neck and pressed her lips to his cheek briefly.

Ok. She said quietly, refusing to be pushed away by him. She knew that the gesture told him the same, even as she stood up without another word or look and headed to the kitchen. Behind her, there was a deep sigh and she could feel his eyes following her, right up to the moment that she disappeared into the other room where she let out her own breath and prevented herself from going back and apologizing for pushing him.

Making herself something to drink, Belle managed to spend 10 minutes on the job before sitting at the table with a cup of hot chocolate and the newspaper open in front of her. She focused her eyes on the words, reading each one slowly and repetitively until the meaning sunk in to her regardless of the fact that the sentence may not have. It had taken her about 5 minutes to read the first paragraph of the major article when she realised that there were eyes on her again.

Belle looked up to find Aden leaning against the doorframe, watching her. She opened her mouth to say something, before closing it and simply raising an eyebrow as he cane over and took the seat next to her that was at the end of the table so that he could face her. He rested his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together in front of him, eyes fixated on them. Her own eyes averted to them as she finished off the last of her drink, pushing the cup away and wondering what it was that Aden wanted.

Im sorry for being short with you. He finally said, looking over his hands and at her. Belle nodded silently as she sat back in her chair. I know you were just trying to help, but theres a lot going on, Belle, and I cant differentiate between them at times.

Do you want to talk about it? She questioned, leaning forwards and reaching out for his hands with one of hers. Adens eyes fell onto them again, watching as she covered them; her small hand seemingly impossibly fragile against his larger ones. He dropped them to the table, loosening the hold on each other as Belles pried its way into them.

Not now. He murmured, not looking up at her.

Then when, Aden? Belle asked him carefully, yet forcefully. Her fingers gripped at his to make him look over at her, but he resisted, placing his free hand on top of hers to stop the pressure. Its been 4 days.

Its been longer than 4 days, Belle. Aden replied a bit coldly and she wasnt sure if he was referring to the fact that she had kept the secret for longer or the 8 years that Justin had been gone. I need time.

Im giving you time. Ill give you whatever you need. But youre not taking it, Aden. Youre avoiding it all. I know you are. Her voice was still gentle but it got the message across.

What am I supposed to do, huh? He asked rhetorically, pulling his hands away from her and clasping them in front of him once again. Belle noticed a slight change in his demeanour as he became more reclusive once again. She groan inwardly at the fact that she might have just ruined the one chance to have this talk. I cant concentrate on everything at once, Belle. If I try to sort things out, then I cant study. If I study, then I cant think about anything else. And, to be honest, right now, I dont want to think about anything else.

Youre not going to forget about it. Wouldnt it be better to get it out of the way so that you can then focus on the exams? She spoke calmly as she tried to get him to open up to her once again. Justins not going anywhere. Hell be around for a long time, Aden. Hes even got himself a place in the Bay. Dont you think getting it over and done with would make it easier to handle him being around?

He has a place here? Aden picked up on, shooting her a curious glance as she nodded and stood up, heading towards the sink. How do you know that?

I saw him earlier on. Belle replied non-chalantly as she rinsed out the mug. Hes not here to pressure you, Aden. He genuinely only wants to talk.

You spoke to him? He asked incredulously, turning around in his chair. Belle nodded once again, drying her hands on a towel before leaning sideways against the counter with a curious look. Why?

What do you mean why? She almost scoffed. He was in the Diner and so was I. I couldnt exactly ignore him, now could I?

Actually, yeah, you could have. Aden said with a hint of irritation, standing up and approaching her, stopping on the other side of the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Aden-

No, Belle. I dont want you getting involved with this. He cut her off with an authoritative tone. Hes my brother, and Ill deal with it.

Believe it or not, Aden, Im already involved. Belle reminded him. And even if I wasnt, I wouldnt stand back and let it all happen. If youre having to deal with it, then so am I.

I dont care. I can handle it myself. I dont need you to fight my battles for me. Once again, Adens words werent yelled or snappy, but they were dangerously calm and created a bigger effect than speaking up would have.

So what do you want me to do then? She asked him, a bit of anger seeping into her words as she crossed her arms. The anger was almost a natural response to his words. She knew that he didnt mean it in the way she had heard them, but for him to say that he didnt need her for something still hurt her.

I dunno. Avoid him. Ignore him. Pretend he doesnt exist! Aden told her, hands resting flat on the counter in front of him. She wanted to tell him that if that was what he really wanted, she would do it. But lying had gotten them into this mess in the first place, and Belle had learnt her lesson from her mistakes.

Aden, we live in the same town. Its inevitable; Im going to run into him at one time or another. Belle said with a sigh, running a hand through her hair to push it away from her face before dropping her arms by her sides.

Doesnt matter. He said coldly, looking her dead in the eyes. Dont talk to him, dont look at him, dont even acknowledge him. If you see him in the street, walk the other way. If youre in the same place as him, leave.

You cant be serious. Belle replied in disbelief, blinking at him a couple of times when he didnt say anything, simply shrugging and look at her with those piercing, darkened blue eyes. She knew that shade; it was the shade that they turned when he was remembering something he didnt want to. But Belle pushed that to aside as she carried on. Aden, Im not going to arrange my life around him! And I sure as Hell am not going to do all that. Im not going to go seeking him out, but Im not going to treat him like an outsider.

You dont have to treat him like anything. Aden informed her in a harshly quiet voice. He didnt get why she wouldnt just agree, make things easier for the both of them. If she backed off, then Justin had nothing else to keep him here. Aden knew that he was going to have to talk to him in the end, but after that, Justin could leave. He wouldnt know anymore than what Aden chose to tell him. He wouldnt know what he didnt want him to know. He wouldnt know that the only reason why Aden put off talking to him was because he was scared of what the answers of his questions might be. That the answers might make everything alright again. That they might be enough to forgive and forget. That when Justin found out what he wanted, he might really leave. He wouldnt know that Aden would like nothing more than for him to stay and stay put. Unless, of course, Belle told him. Just let me handle him

Why? Aden, I can help! She tried to go for a softer tone, hoping to get him to ease up and crack out of the shields he had placed up once again.

Because I said so, ok? He snapped as his emotions finally got the better of him.

No, its not ok! Belle replied, her tone matching his exactly as they finally got the chance to let out all of the pent up frustration from the past few days. You dont get to order me around!

Im not ordering you around, Im asking you to do something. Adens voice lowered once again as he pushed away from counter, intending on ending the conversation. And considering that all this mess started because of you, its the least you could do.

What? Momentarily taken aback by his words, Belle got over her shock when she managed to register the fact that he was now leaving the kitchen. Aden! When he didnt stop, she followed him, trying her best to remain calm with every step she took, although it got harder and harder to do as she thought the words through. Aden, dont you dare walk away from me! If you want to talk about this, then lets talk!

I dont want to talk about it. Aden growled out as he turned to face her.

Then why did you bring it up? She countered, placing one hand on her hip while winding the other around her waist, surprised that there was nothing stirring up from the baby.

Just forget it, Belle. He told her with a detached voice, eyes avoiding hers at all costs. Forget I said a word.

All weve been doing is forgetting stuff and leaving it alone! And see where thats brought us? Belle pointed the hand that she had had on her hip in between the two of them to indicate to that exact moment. I want to talk about it. Properly.

Leave it alone, Belle. Theres nothing to talk about, anyway. He continued to stare off into the distance as he spoke steadily. There was a pause before he shook his head and took a step back. Do what you want. I dont care.

Aden! Her voice portrayed her fatigue, annoyance and anger as he walked away from her once more, this time heading for the front door. Fine! If you dont want to even try and sort this out, then just leave! You know what? You walk out that door and dont you even think about coming back again this time!

She herself wasnt sure where those words had came from, but this was it for her. She was tired of being the one who had to think about every move and word she around him. She had been wrong and she had made a big mistake, but this had gone on long enough. Aden had every right to be mad at her, but this wasnt being mad anymore. It was more like he really didnt care at all.

Watching as Aden placed one hand on the handle, Belle suddenly realised just what her words could mean to him. Dont ever come back that night. Or just plain and simple, dont ever come back. She wasnt sure which one she meant although she forced herself to believe that it was the former. Swallowing, she heard the exaggerated squeak of the door handle as Aden turned it slowly. Suddenly, Belle regretted every word that she had just said.

---

What's Aden gonna do?

Let me know what you thought of it!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Sorry for the delay. I got this up as soon as I got it done and dusted. I'm still iffy about this chapter. I just don't feel like it explains what I'm trying to say properly, if you get what I mean? Anyway, I've been assure by Laura [who I thank once again for her help with this!] that it's understandable, so here it is for your own judgement

Chapter 45:

Aden heard the words but he couldn’t process them. All he could think of was about getting out of there before he said something else that he knew he would regret. He had managed to open the door, twisting the door handle ever so slowly, and gotten one foot out the door before Belle’s last words repeated themselves in his head.

Pausing, Aden wondered what would be worse; to leave or to stay. He was pretty sure that Belle wouldn’t kick him out, not after everything they had been through and the fact that, in the end of it all, she was the one who started this. But just the risk of it made him think twice before sighing and taking another step and slamming the door shut.

The was no sound behind him, however he could feel Belle’s eyes stinging at the back of his head. Staring at the door handle that he still grasped onto, Aden contemplated on what to do. Did he talk? He surely didn’t want to. But he was still there so that must have meant something.

Sighing, he turned around, avoiding all eye contact with her as he leaned back against the door, taking in deep breaths before tilting his head up towards the Heavens as if they could be able to help. Maybe if he had believed that God actually cared for people like him, this would have been easier to handle.

“What’s happened to us?” Aden finally said, eyes still fixated on the ceiling. His voice held more raw emotions than he had let shown over the last few days. Sadness, fatigue, regret, curiosity. It was all there as he let his shield down completely for the first time in too long.

“We don’t talk. That’s what’s happened, Aden.” Belle replied slowly, moving towards the sofa and leaning on it heavily. “It’s only been 4 days, and look at us. We can’t keep going like this.”

“I can’t talk about it, Belle.” He insisted with a hoarse voice, praying with everything he had that that would not be the only solution for this.

“I don’t only mean about Justin. It’s everything, Aden.” Sighing, Belle shook her head. “I get that you’re mad at me. You deserve to be and I’ll take it. I will. But you’re not mad. You’re so indifferent, so here and there. You speak to me with forced words, yet you’ll kiss me. Your mind is never here, but you want to try and spend time together. You’ll hold me at night and you’ll make me breakfast but you won’t talk anything past a few basic sentences. And I don’t have the energy to keep up anymore, Aden. I’m so tired of trying to make sense of it and trying to gauge your moods and reactions. I know I shouldn’t be complaining, but I want you to either be mad, or to not be. I want you to tell me exactly what it is that you feel. Because, right now, I dunno where we stand, and if this is how we are after 4 days, then we‘re not going to make to 3 months.”

“What I feel?” Aden repeated with a dry laugh. He had slid down to sit on the floor while listening to her, taking in her words one by one. With his legs pulled up and his arms hanging off of them, he knew that his posture was that of one of both reserve and tiredness, and perhaps surrender. “Belle, I don’t know what I feel.”

“Do you hate me?” She asked him calmly as she rounded the couch to perch onto the armrest so she could face him. The tension was still there between them, but the adrenaline rush that she had had from the fear of him actually leaving had left her drained.

“No. I said I didn’t.” Aden reminded her even while he fiddled with his fingers, speaking with a sigh.

“Do you still trust me?” There was a pause this time that made Belle doubt his reassurance from that night. Gradually, Aden relaxed his posture, his head falling backwards, thumping against the door gently, as his eyes closed.

“Yes.” He whispered, but it was enough to make Belle think that there might be something there to help them get past this. “I trust you, Belle. I wish I didn’t, but I do. I can’t stop it, it’s out of my hands, and no matter how many times I tell myself that I shouldn‘t be able to trust you, I do. And I hate it. I hate that no matter what you do, I can always forgive you.”

“Aden…” Belle said quietly with tears in her eyes, guilt overtaking her as she realised how lucky she was that he really felt that way.

“I want to hate you. No, I don’t want to hate you, I just want to be able to stay angry at you. To make you understand. Because this is the third time, Belle.” He looked at her with sorrowful eyes, betrayal shining bright behind the unshed tears that he now had too. “The third time you’ve done something like this, and each and every time, we move past it easily. You say sorry and I forgive you, because I do understand why you do it, to an extent. Cos I’d probably do the same for you. But I don’t want to be able to forgive you. I want you to learn that I hate it all. That it’s not right for you to go behind my back.”

“Aden, I know it’s not right. I’m not excusing what I did. I made a mistake; I‘ve made it several times, but I know you know that I‘ve only done it for you.” She told him before swallowing, urging herself to not breakdown this time around. “And I don’t think you have entirely forgiven me yet. You still blame me for all of this, and I’ll take it.”

“I don’t blame you.” Aden murmured just loud enough for her to hear, his eyes glancing downwards once again.

“Yes, you do. If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t have said that this whole ‘mess’ started because of me.” Belle said forcefully. They fell into silence for a moment before she took in a deep breath, smoothing her hands over her stomach lightly before holding onto the sofa behind her. “Aden, you have to choose. You can’t keep on saying things like that and then leave when I want to talk about it. You can’t keep on pushing me out yet physically keep me close. That’s not what a marriage is about. That’s not what we’re about.”

“I can’t choose, alright?!” Like always, Aden’s voice barely raised above the normal talking one, but the power and strength behind the words were enough to portray his frustration.

“Why not?” She prodded, a frown creasing both her mouth and her forehead.

“Because it’s too easy. It’s too easy to forgive you, it’s too easy to move on, it’s too easy for Justin to come again and it’s too easy to just talk. None of it matters, though, because it won’t change a thing!” Taking a deep breath, Aden ran his hands over his face and through his hair, pulling it gently at the back before look up again. “No matter what happens or what I do, the fact remains that you lied to me, put both yourself and the baby in danger, and he’s still here. So what’s the point of even talking about it?” He added, almost sneering the words.

“I can help. That’s the point of it, Aden.”

“No, you can’t, Belle. You weren’t there for the 13 years that Justin was, or the 5 years after he left. You have no idea what some of it was like, and frankly, I don’t want to explain it to you either.”

“Is that why you don’t want to talk about it?” Belle questioned. Aden gave her a gesture with his hands that said ‘obviously’ while his face, however she could tell, drew a blank expression that said that he was keeping something from her. Instead of pushing it, she took what she had gotten and carried on with something else. “So where does that leave us, then? Can we at least talk about that?” There was a beat where neither of them said a word or moved. The only sounds that Belle could hear were the ticking of the clock and her watch, she assumed. She couldn’t even hear herself breathing.

“I’m sorry for treating you like that.” Aden spoke up. “But I wanted you to stop doubting me. I know being hot and cold on you was a bit unfair, but whenever I tried to stayed angry, I couldn’t do it, Belle. I can’t stop trying to take care of you and the baby or stop loving you. I don’t want to either. And you were right. Maybe if it wasn’t for the baby, or for the fact that we’re married, I might not have came back that night. I might have been able to act towards you the way I wanted to.”

“I really, really, really am sorry, Aden. You have to believe me when I say that I never meant for you to think that I don’t trust you or that I doubt you.” She pleaded, her eyes watering up once more. “I just- I wasn’t thinking. Not about that. I only wanted to protect you.”

“I know. You keep on saying. But you don’t get that if you had told me about Justin first off, then it wouldn’t have hurt twice as much as knowing that you already knew.” There was a ghost of a smile pulling on his lips, and Belle could guess that it was more of a wry one than an amused one. “You want to know what’s really happened to us? We don’t play by the same rules anymore.”

“How-? What do you mean?” She faltered, confusion sweeping her entity while brushing her wrist under her eyes to get rid of the tears that had managed to escape her and cling onto her eyelashes.

“Belle, I hate lying to you. I hate doubting you, not trusting you or hurting you. I might do it unintentionally, because let’s face it; I’m not really Mr. Perfect, now am I? But I try to keep out of situations that I know I would do any of those. Yet you…” Aden trailed off before shrugging casually and raising an eyebrow at her. “You don’t. You purposefully put yourself into that situation, and you purposefully lied to me.”

“Aden-” Belle tried, straightening her posture as she pushed herself off the armrest gently.

“It’s not that we don’t talk anymore, Belle. It’s that we don’t talk honestly. Either of us.” He carried on slowly, saying each word with a carefulness that showed just how much he meant them.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered as Aden tilted his head up slightly again, still looking at her to see a few tears cascade down her cheeks.

“Stop saying you’re sorry. I know you’re sorry, Belle.” His tone wasn’t as harsh as the words may have been. In fact, they carried the loving undertone that she had missed over the part few days. “It doesn’t do anything, though.”

“What can I do then, Aden? You tell me that!” She asked him forcefully, using her left hand to wipe away the tears that slowly kept on making tracks. “If I can’t apologize, then what can I do? Do you really want me to ignore Justin? Cos I’ll do it. If that’s what it takes, what you want, then I’ll do it.” Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a second before opening them and looking straight at him. “I am sorry, and I know I made a very big mistake, and I’m not going to make excuses for it. You might not be perfect, but neither am I. I’m still trying to learn how to be a wife and a mother. It’s hard, Aden. People think that it all comes naturally and instinctively, but it doesn’t. It’s hard for me to take on both of those roles so quickly. I’m not used to it.”

“And you think I am? Believe it or not, Belle, you’re not the only one who’s had a change of roles.” Aden retorted, face her directly this time.

“You might not be use to it, but you’re doing it pretty well.” She argued, not letting his rising voice put her off. “You’re a great husband and a father already… I dunno how you do it, but you are. You’re always there, you’re taking care of us, you try to make everything good for me even when you don’t want to. The list could go on and on. I’m trying to catch up here, Aden, I really am, but it’s going to take time. I don’t deal with change easily, no matter how much I think or feel like I can.”

The revelations cast a blanket of silence over them as well as a new look on everything. Talking honestly, Belle realised, really did help. Whether it helped to make them or break them, she didn’t know. But explaining herself, and finally understanding what Aden was thinking and going through gave her hope. Once again, it was him who broke their silence.

“Do you-?” Aden swallowed as he gazed downwards at his hands, twisting his wedding ring around his finger to seem non-chalant although he was eagerly awaiting her response to this question. “Do you regret getting married so soon?”

“’So soon’?” Belle asked in disbelief as she got rid of the last of her tears, snuffling a bit even as her eyebrows shot up at his words. “We waited 18 months, Aden. I wouldn’t say it was ‘soon’. And no, I don’t regret it.” Pausing in her actions, she fixed her eyes onto him, realising that he still stared downwards at his ring. “Do you regret it?”

“No, of course not.” Aden’s reply was immediate and with no space to argue.

“I just need time to adjust. I don’t think it would have mattered how soon or how late we chose to get married. It would always be the same.” Belle explained. “I’m getting there, though. I think.”

“You are.” Aden told her earnestly. “You’re getting there. I can see it. Especially as a mother.” He nodded towards where one of her arms was automatically wrapped around her waist with the other folded on top to make it look more casual. She looked down, noticing what he had been pointing to with a small smile. Retracting her arms, she rubbed her stomach gently. It was an uncontrollable habit now, especially ever since the baby had started kicking.

“Where do we go on from here, Aden?” She questioned him softly, not raising her eyes to meet his. Although she wanted to assume that things were beginning to clear up between them and getting back on track, she was afraid that it would only be one sided. Belle could see, hear and feel Aden’s shield coming down all the way through their conversation, which she took as a good sign, but she was still wary.

“I don’t know. Where do you want to go on from here?” He turned the question onto her as Belle relaxed a bit and sat comfortably onto the armrest of the couch, looking up at him.

“What I really want is for things to go back to what there were like before this whole thing.” Aden bit back a chuckle at her words, amazed just how similar they were to what he had told Roman earlier in the week. “But I guess that’s impossible.”

“You got that right.” He said dryly, watching her face fall a little at his words. Sighing, he nodded and licked his lips. “Belle, I want us to go back to that. I really do, but it’s not right. It’s not what we need. Because, clearly, what we were like before had it’s faults.”

“More like I had my faults, right?”

“No.” Aden exhaled deeply and then pushed himself up from the floor slowly and smoothly. “No, it’s not all on you. We’re in this together. I shouldn’t have given you a reason to want to keep it from me.”

“That’s not your fault.” Belle murmured as he walked over to her. “I did it for more reasons than you want to think, Aden. I don’t doubt you for a second.” He pursed his lips at her words, stopping a few feet in front of her. “Can we move on from this? If we keep on talking? Honestly?”

“Yes.” Aden nodded as he loosely crossed his arms. “As long as we stay honest. And you don’t do anything like this again.”

“I won’t.” Belle shook her head to emphasise it. After everything that they had gone through, she wanted to promise him that she wouldn’t ever do it again, but ‘ever’ was a long time. “Will you choose?” Aden’s posture went a bit lax and he dropped his arms, hands digging into his jeans pockets lightly.

“I do forgive you. I’m not angry at you anymore. And I won‘t purposely treat you like I am either.” He informed her. “But I still need time.”

“As long as you promise to think about it. And talk. When you’re ready.” Belle added hurriedly. “I’m not going to pressure you into anything. Whatever you decide, I‘ll back you, a hundred percent.”

“Ok.” Aden agreed. She knew that it was going to take time to get back to normal, or maybe even better than normal, but having this kind of truce between them was a good start. A great start, and certainly more than Belle could have hoped for. Not one to take anything for granted, especially not this, she held out a hand for him, waiting until he took it before tugging him a bit closer and placing it onto her small bump where she could feel the briefest of sensations as their child moved. “I don’t feel anything.” Aden was frowning as she glanced up at him.

“Do you know that every time you touch or skim your hand over my stomach, the baby reacts?” She asked him in an intuitive and almost proud tone.

“What?” Aden laughed, averting his eyes up to hers before down to where she held his hand to her body.

“Seriously. It’s usually when you move it, or something like that.” She demonstrated by manually rubbing his hand in small circles like she had done a couple of times previously and then removing his hand entirely, keeping it about an inch or two away. There was a slight delay but surely enough, a drastic movement from the baby followed. She quickly placed her hand back onto the right place. “There.” Belle smiled when Aden’s face showed her his awe, knowing full well that he had felt the single strong kick, followed by two smaller ones and then ceasing completely. “That’s why you hardly ever feel the baby kicking. Because the baby knows your touch, and likes it.”

“Belle, you do know that it’s not medically possible for the baby to know my touch, right?” He mumbled, still caught up on what he had felt.

“I don’t care about medically.” She dismissed easily, huffing. “I know what I feel, Aden. And I’ve made the connection. When you skim your hand over it before you leave or when you rest your hand there at night, but move it when shifting, the baby moves and kicks after a bit. It’s not always so strong, but it happens.” Aden smiled as he removed his hand, nodding along.

“Ok, I’ll believe you.” He told her before pushing her hair behind her ear and twisting the tendril that remain, hanging loosely next to her ear. “I missed this.”

“Me too.” Belle replied, leaning into his touch as he grazed his knuckles over her cheek. She stood up slowly, their bodies almost touching as his other arm wound it’s way around her waist.

“Promise me we’ll never end up like that again.” Aden whispered, his lips brushing against hers at ever word.

“I promise.” She murmured, eyes fluttering shut when he took her bottom lip in between his while she took in the moment for all that it was worth. He pulled back before she got the chance to respond.

“Me too.” He repeated her words, bringing a smile to Belle’s face as she brought him back into a kiss.

“Thank you.” Belle said as they broke apart, her hands holding tightly onto the front of his shirt to keep him close to her.

“What for?” Aden questioned, confused.

“For staying, and talking. And forgiving me.” He nodded at her gentle and albeit shy words while playing with her hair. His eyes averted from hers a bit before taking a breath and smiling lightly, looking back at her.

“Just don’t make me regret it.”

---

I hope it was ok.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Thank you all for the wonderful comments and good lucks! I love reading every one of them and they may have just done the trick

This chapter was meant to be longer, but I haven't completed it yet, so I'm going to post it in two parts. The second part should be up soon [either later today or early tomorrow]. I didn't want it to get too long and make you wait even longer for an update.

Chapter 46:

Part A:

“Who was that?” Aden asked as Belle entered the bedroom where he was getting ready for bed.

“Just work.” She replied with a sigh, dropping her mobile onto the bedside table before climbing onto the bed and sitting at the top of it. “They want me to come in tomorrow for the morning.”

“Don’t you want to?” He questioned worriedly, looking up from where he was unclasping his watch. It had been 2 days since their talk and although things had lightened up, there was still a bit of tension hanging around. It wasn’t always so evident, such as then, but there were times when it got to the stage where both of them would have to bask in the silence rather than to try and force conversation. Neither of them had seen or talked about Justin since then either.

“No, I don’t mind.” She quickly added, relaxing back against the pillows carefully. “I was just looking forward to the whole day at home. Haven’t had that for about a week now.

“You have Thursday off for the scan.” Aden reminded her as he continued to undress, with which Belle didn’t even bother to hide the fact she was watching him. “You’ll have the day then.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Belle, if you don’t want to go in tomorrow, then they can’t make you. They agreed to one day a week of working from home until the third trimester, and if you’ve taken Thursday off as a holiday, then that doesn’t count.”

“I know, I know. I’m not complaining.” She ran her hands over her face and then through her hair. “I’m just a bit tired. I wish they had told me earlier; I would have gone to bed then.”

“Go in a bit later than.” He suggested, throwing his clothes into a messy pile on the hamper, deciding, like always, to deal with it in the morning.

“No, it’ll be ok. I can sleep afterwards if I want.”

“Alright. If you‘re sure.” Aden said warily, switching off the lights in the adjoining bathroom before making his way over again. Belle had already changed, preferring wearing the looser clothes for as long as she could as opposed to the maternity ones her mother had bought her or the other stuff that actually fitted. She got up from the bed to pull the covers down and slip inside. Finally settled, she paused, pushing herself up on her hands to give her support when she saw Aden opening one of the bottom drawers of the chest and looking for something.

“What’re you doing?” She asked curiously. Although the main light in the bedroom was on, his body blocked her view from the side as did his shadow. He didn’t reply, instead clearly finding whatever it was he had been searching for and closing the drawer before making his way in the direction of the door to switch off the lights.

“I’ve been meaning to give this to you for a while.” Aden told her instead, his back to her as he reached his destination. Instantly, Belle turned the lamp next to her on, hating the darkness that had overcame them even though there was moonlight shimmering through the curtains slightly that helped to illuminate the room.

She remained silent as he approached the bed, perching on the edge of where she now had pushed herself further up into a sitting position. In his hand was a small black drawstring pouch that Belle had gotten accustomed to recognising as that of a jewellery bag. A small frown marred her lips.

“I thought we agreed on no unnecessary gifts?”

“Which is why I’ve been waiting for the right time to give you this.” Aden carried on, fiddling with the knot that kept the contents inside the bag. “I’ve had it for about 6 weeks now, and I figured that right now, we need to remember.”

“Remember what?” Belle’s tone was careful, squinting slightly as he took her hand and tipped out the small charm out of the pouch. She poked it with the nail of her other index finger. It took her a slow moment to realise that it was a shell, rimmed thinly in silver. The shell itself was flat and a creamy-white colour with a light brown swirl on it. The shell was particular small; only the size of her pinkie fingernail, but it wasn’t small compared to her other charms.

“I got that off the beach on our honeymoon.” Aden answered the first question that had came into her head without her needing to ask it. “And I think right now, we need to remember that and the other good times, as opposed to the bad ones. Otherwise we’re never going to move forward.”

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.” Belle tugged him closer to her, pressing her lips to his with ease and familiarity. These kind of things were back to normal, she had realised, although there weren’t that many random kisses during the day as she was used to, but it was getting there. Parting when air was of an essence, Belle smiled contently before throwing the corner of the covers to a side, intent on getting up.

“Hey, don’t worry about that now.” Aden stopped her with a hand on her leg. “Do it in the morning.” He held out the pouch to her and she dropped it in with delicacy. Pulling the covers back into place, she waited for Aden to place the item into the top drawer of the bedside table before getting into bed next to her.

Belle remained on her side, facing away from him as he reached over her to switch of the lamp. She could feel his gaze linger on her form for a second before doing so, probably to make sure that she was alright. Happy that she was, he laid back down behind her, an arm lacing around her waist and his hand resting on her bump that still hadn’t seem to have grown for the past few weeks. A small smile graced itself on her mouth when she felt him lay his other arm above her head, that hand gently smoothing down her hair and pushing it away from her face. It had been a while since he had done anything of the like, and even that simple gesture made her relax and disperse the tension that she had grown so accustomed to that she hadn’t even noticed it was there until it was gone.

---

Belle woke up with a start, a cringe of pain shooting through her arm accompanying it. Getting her barings first, she realised that she had somehow turned during the night and now had her head resting on Aden’s chest, his arms holding her close and a bit too tightly. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was wrong. With one hand of his clasping onto her upper arm while the other, she could tell, grasping the covers behind her, Belle swallowed, wondering what to do. She knew letting him ride it out and to let the nightmare pass itself was the best way through it, but his grip in her was tight enough that she could feel his nails digging in and her hand had started to get tingly from the lack of circulation.

Turning onto her back slowly, Belle used her other hand to try and get Aden to loosen his grip on her. After a few tries, she settled for gently stroking her thumb over his knuckles. Unfortunately, like she had already predicted, he was too strong for her to pull off his hand.

She tried to get her body to calm itself down, but she wasn’t able to manage to stop the small gasps of pain that escaped her when Aden’s hand tightened on her arm. Pushing herself up on her free arm, Belle leant over him, surprised as always to see his calm face. Never once had she ever seen him snow any other physical traits that told her he was having a bad dream, and she wasn’t sure whether it was a good thing or a bad one.

“Aden?” She murmured next to his ear, managing to reach up to his face with the hand that he was still gripping onto the arm of. Placing the hand on his cheek away from her attentively, she fought back the urge to sound out her pain as his hand clung on harder. “Shhh… you’re ok now. You’re ok. I’m here and I’m not going to let anybody hurt you. You’re ok…”

Whispering reassurance into his ear repeatedly, Belle wondered what it was that made him react to this nightmare worse than before. They had never really talked about his now-rare bad dreams, not since the first time she had found out about his past and was able to piece it together. She knew how he felt about it, about how he thought it made him seem weak and how the last thing he wanted was any pity or sympathy from her if they were to discuss it. Knowing that she could never promise him that they could have that conversation without her feeling a bit sympathetic towards him, it had never came up again.

Belle felt her words take an effect on him, his hand loosening from her upper arm. As soon as she felt it go lax, she pulled her arm out of his hand quickly and smoothly. Pain subsided almost immediately, and the feeling in her hand returned to normal as she continued to comfort him with her touch. Soon enough, Aden’s eyes began to move under his eyelids, a sign she had learnt to mean that he would wake up soon. Not sure if that was the wisest of ideas, Belle leant in closer once again, laying her head onto the pillow right up and next to him.

“Shhh… Go back to sleep. Everything’s alright, you’re alright. Go back to sleep…” Belle prayed that her coercing would work, that he wouldn’t fight her words to get to her voice, but rather fight her voice to listen to her words. She closed her eyes as she continued with her murmuring, stopping only when she felt him turn his head in her direction. Running her hand through Aden’s hair, Belle brushed a kiss to the underside of his jaw before backing up a bit to move out of his personal space.

Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, careful with every single move she made to make sure that she didn’t wake Aden back up again. She was mindful to not put too much pressure onto his arm had laid under her shoulders previously or to nudge it as she slipped out of bed silently. Belle stood for less than minute, although it felt like over an hour, just watching him carefully in the minimal light of the moon to gauge any of his facial or body expressions and movements. Glad that there was none, she turned and made her way to the bathroom, feet not making a single sound she crept barefoot along the carpet.

With one hand on the handle and the other flat on the door, Belle shut it quietly as was possible, biting her bottom lip in concentration. Once that was done, she let go of the handle with hesitative motions, not wanting it to squeak in the middle of the soundless night. Finally getting her hands free, she switched on the main light that made her blink at the sudden brightness before moving over to the counter where the mirror was. Pulling on the string that hung just above it, she switched on the more precise light that meant that she wasn’t in the dark when looking at her reflection.

Her arm still stung from Aden’s tight grip, and even though the cool air of the night had helped to numb the pain for a few seconds, there was something else that worried her. She had been able to feel the small trickle down her arm a few minutes after she had managed to get her arm free from Aden. Now, turning to her side so that she could take a look at her upper right arm, Belle winced when she saw the three horizontal, and a tiny bit tilted, lines across it. All of them were a vivid red, with the middle one containing specks of blood along it and the bottom one at the side where the trail started. She realised that pulling her arm out of his grip hadn’t been the cleverst idea a bit too late, as his nails hadn’t entirely came off her skin, scratching it at her rash actions.

Grabbing a clean washcloth and turning on the cold water tap, Belle made sure that the flow of water was slow and quiet as she dampened the fabric. She paused as she brought it up to her arm, holding her breath at the anticipation of pain before pressing it against her wound. Although the cuts weren’t that deep, the stinging increased at the introduction of the water. At her hiss, she felt the baby move in protest, not quite able to kick with it’s weak movements. After the initial contact, the stinging stayed the same as she continued to clean the cuts, trying to stop the bleeding as well as she could.

Caught up in the reflection as she tried to judge what the best way of hiding the marks would be, Belle snapped back to reality as she heard light footsteps. Not daring to move, she could tell that they were getting closer and closer to the bathroom, and considering that there was only one other person in the house, it wasn’t a good thing.

Hurriedly, Belle threw the washcloth into the hamper by the door before switching off the lights inside. However, there was a glowing rim around the door that told her that Aden had switched on either the lamp or the main lights in the bedroom. Locking the door, Belle tried to buy herself some time to think of another reason for why she would have 3 scratch marks on her arm that hadn’t been there when they had gone to bed. Her hair was too short to cover it, and in the light, there was no way that he wouldn’t notice. That was what Aden did best; he noticed. Even the tiniest changes to her, especially to her body physically, he would be able to tell.

“Belle?” He called out a bit sleepily, turning the handle to the bathroom, only for it to rattle. “Belle, you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah.” She tried her best to sound casual, even as she stood frozen with one arm wrapped around her waist and the thumbnail of the other hand between her teeth as she contemplated on what to do.

“You sure?”

“Uh-huh.” Belle merely said, not trusting herself to come across as calm as she wanted to if she had spoken verbally. She heard Aden sigh, a clear sign that he didn’t believe her.

“Belle, what’s wrong?” His voice was heavy and tired, and she guessed that it was most probably because he was recovering from his nightmare. “Belle?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She spoke up once again, determined to find a way through this without him finding out, not with all the things he was dealing with with the aftermath of his dreams. “Go back to bed. I’ll be out in a sec.”

“What’s going on?” Aden’s tone was now strong, carrying the worry that he obviously felt. He tried the door handle again a few times before letting it go completely. Finally finding the power to move, Belle switched the main light and the vanity light back on again quickly, staring at her arm and wondering what the wisest choice would be to do. “Open the door, Belle.”

“Look, I’ll be out in a moment. Don’t worry about me.” She told him distractedly as she found the first aid kit. Opening it clumsily, she tried to ignore the fact that she knew Aden was still standing there on the other side of the door while picking out the equipment she would need.

“Well, I am worried. Open the door, or I’ll find a way to open it myself.” Belle stopped in her actions. There was no doubt that he wouldn’t go through with that and they both knew it. Exhaling deeply, she dropped everything onto the spacious counter before walking back over to the door.

“Promise me you won’t get mad. And that you’ll let me explain.” She said first, a hand on the door handle. She heard the creak of the wood as Aden pushed himself off the doorframe that she guessed he had been leaning against.

“Why would I be mad?”

“Aden, promise me.” She pleaded, knowing full well that he would only get mad after feeling tremendously guilty.

“Ok, I promise.” He hurriedly replied. “Now open the door.”

Nodding to no-one, Belle unlocked the door before twisting the handle and pulling it open slowly. She kept it so that half of her body was hidden behind the door, her right half, watching as his eyes took her in. He didn’t say a word as they skimmed over her body before around the bathroom. Belle could see the exact moment that they laid on the first aid kit that was open on the counter.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is the baby ok?” The questions were out in a shot on instinct, stepping over the threshold and closer to her, a hand automatically coming to rest on her stomach.

“The baby’s ok. Nothing’s wrong with the baby.” She assured him. He visibly relaxed at her words and Belle found a bit of strength in that, but she still didn’t move.

“What is it then?” Aden asked her cautiously. Eyes drifting down and then to the side again, Belle wondered what to do. She hadn’t been able to come up with a plausible explanation yet, which only left one thing. She had promised him that she would be honest with him, but right then, she wished she could take that back. Surely keeping something from him that she had been keeping for years didn’t count as part of the promise, right? “Belle?”

His hands came to her shoulders, bringing her attention back to him. Tears pricked at her eyes at the thought of telling him the truth. His hands slipped down her arms, a moment before she got the chance to react and pull away. She gasped in pain as he passed over the new cuts, and she knew that even if she had remained soundless, he would have found out anyway.

“What-?” Aden cut himself off as he pushed the door away, leaving it ajar, and took her right forearm into his hand to look at it whole. His eyes widened in shock at the three bright red lines, sticking out against her beautiful pale and flawless skin. “How did you get these?”

Belle remained silent, swallowing several times. Each time she tried to open her mouth to speak, a voice in her head stupidly told her that there may be a chance that Aden wouldn’t think it was him. Her eyes averted away from him and back to him in the space of a second. It was that exact second that it became clear to Aden what the cause of it was. She could see it in his eyes, the blue shining as every emotion she never wanted him to feel became evident.

“Did I-?” Aden broke off, the words caught in his throat. Taking a breath and licking his lips, he tried again. “Did I do this to you?” Her silence was all he needed to know. Dropping her arm instantly as if even the slightest touch would hurt her, he took a step back in the disbelief, anger and immediate guilt that flooded him.

---

I hope you enjoyed it.

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

As promised, here's the 2nd part to the chapter. Thank you all for the lovely comments once again!

Chapter 46:

Part B

“Aden,” Belle quickly said, taking a step towards him as he moved away. “Aden, it wasn’t your fault.”

“How can you say that?!” He exclaimed, although his voice didn’t rise. “Look at what I’ve done!”

“No, no, it’s not like that.” She told him forcefully, walking up to him as he tried to back off from her, scared of even touching her in case of causing her anymore pain. Reaching out, she grabbed onto his arm as he ran a hand through his hair, pulling him to her. Of course, seeing as Aden was considerably stronger than her, they met halfway. Belle let go of his arm and placed both of her hands onto the side of his neck, her thumbs skimming along his jaw. He refused to meet her eyes, but she was glad that he was no longer pulling away from her. “Aden, look at me.” She said softly. “Look at me.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He whispered hoarsely as he closed his eyes. She could see the tears trying to escape his eyes, but he kept it back as well as he could. “I’m sor-”

“Shhh…” Belle cut him off, bringing him closer to her to rest her forehead against his. “It’s ok. I’m ok.”

“It’s not ok.” Aden insisted harshly that she knew was directed at himself.

“It is ok. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing, alright?” He pulled away a her last words, an incredulous and furious look appearing on his face.

“That doesn’t make it any better, Belle!” He snapped before taking in a deep breath. “How could I-? When-?”

“It doesn’t matter, Aden.” She tried to sound non-chalance, moving back towards the counter and leaning against it. “It was an accident. You were sleeping.”

“Were you awake?” He questioned He stepped closer to her with small steps as if he feared that she would run in the other direction if he made any drastic movements. Belle stayed silent, watching him approach her and take her hand delicately in his hand, using the other one to run his fingers by the side of the marks. It was easy to see what it was he was trying to do, looking at how deep the wounds was and comparing his hand to them. Glancing back up at her face, Aden knew what the answer to his question was. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I- Belle shrugged, speaking quietly. Aden reached behind her and moved the first aid kit to the side before motioning her to climb onto it. Deciding it was best to do as he wanted, Belle took his offered hand and managed with a small bit of difficulty to push herself onto the counter and lean back against the mirror. “It doesn’t matter though.”

“It does matter.” He corrected her while picking up the tube of antiseptic cream and playing with it. “I would never hurt you, Belle.”

“I know you wouldn’t, Aden. Like I said, this was an accident.” She informed him, looking straight at him even as he fiddled with the lid to the tube in his hand.

“I don’t- I wouldn’t, Belle. Never.” He dropped the tube down and rested his hands onto the side of the counter next to her, his knuckles going white as he held on tightly. “Why?”

“What?” Belle brought her eyes up from his hands to his face to see him staring off into the distance but she was pretty sure he was not seeing again.

“Why would I do that?” His lost tone broke her heart. She could hear every one of his self-hating and disgusted emotions, bringing the tears back to her eyes. Guilt washed over her as she realised that he was going to drive himself crazy trying to figure out what it was that made him react in such a way. In his mind, this was the first and the only time he had hurt her, and she knew that if he didn’t find a reason for it, there would be a great chance that he would in fact keep a distance from her at night in fear of provoking the same reaction again.

“Aden, do you know what you dreamt about tonight?” Belle asked him slowly, dreading having to bring this up and having to have this conversation. This time, it was his turn to stay silent as she saw him gulp and nod once. “You’ve had nightmares for years, Aden. They’ve become rare, and sometimes I think you have some that I don’t know about. But in the last week, you’ve had one almost every night. And I’ve learnt that if I wake you up, you’ll just fall back into it.”

“You saying that I hurt you because of that?” Belle didn’t reply. In all honesty, she could have been wrong. Maybe it was just a coincidence that his nightmares occurred at the same time as he would feel intense emotions. It was a long shot, but there might be the most miniscule chance of it being true. “Do I react to my nightmares?”

“Aden-” She started dismissively, knowing that he had picked up on what she didn’t want to tell him.

“Do I?” He cut her off with a demanding tone, staring at her right in the eye. Realisation flitted through his face before Belle got a word out.

“Not always.”

“Have I hurt you before?” Aden’s words were more steady now although Belle could hear how much effort he was putting into forcing them out of him and thinking about it.

“Aden-” She began once more, but her evasive tone was enough for him to realise the truth.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?!” There was pain and fury in his voice that she knew was more for the fact that he had been so oblivious to something that should have been so obvious.

“Because it didn’t matter!”

“Of course it mattered!” Aden pushed himself away from her and the counter, sheer terror playing on his face as his eyes went over her body once again, resting on her arm for a while. “How could you hide something like that from me?”

“I knew how bad you’d feel. I couldn’t do that to you.” Belle tried to explain but it did nothing to get rid of his self-hatred right then.

“You should’ve told me! What if I had hurt the baby too?” Just the thought of hurting his own child sent a shiver through his body.

“You didn’t, though, and I know you wouldn’t have. You have instincts for those kind of things, Aden. Even in your sleep you wouldn’t do that.” Belle tried to assure him, watching him being to pace.

“Yeah, and you probably knew thought that wouldn’t hurt you, either. I thought that too.” He countered.

“Aden, this is why I didn’t tell you. You’re beating yourself up about it too much.” She told him. “I would never let you hurt the baby if it ever came down to that, but I know for a fact that it wouldn’t. I didn’t tell you because you can’t do anything to stop it, Aden. You can’t control what you dream or what you don’t dream.”

“So? If a drunk hurts his wife because he had no control over himself, does that make it ok?” He questioned her with revulsion.

“Aden, they’re two entirely different situations! You can’t compare the two.” She argued, hoping to make him see it from her point of view. She knew that it was not going to possible, but the last thing she wanted was for him to think that he was in the same ranks as an abuser. “You have no control because you’re not awake. You don’t know what you’re doing, and most of it is because I don’t choose to tell you.”

“Is it always this bad?” Aden questioned her. She winced internally at his detached and wary tone.

“Please don’t do this, Aden. It’s not going to change anything.” Belle begged him, eyes following every move he made to where he now leant backwards against the wall to her right. His eyes were locked onto her arm and she wished that there was someway to magically get rid of it.

“I want to know.” He spoke slowly and carefully, almost as if he himself was debating whether it was a good idea or not. Knowing that if she didn’t say anything, Aden would assume the worst, Belle took in a breath to speak.

“It’s never this bad. And it wouldn’t have been this bad if I hadn’t pulled my arm out of your hand without thinking, so it‘s not all your fault.”

“Is there always a mark?” Belle sighed as he ignored her last few words.

“No. Hardly ever. Usually, I can wake up and not feel a thing.” She told him truthfully, although she was fairly certain that the reason why she couldn’t feel a thing in the morning was because she had grown accustomed to it, but there was no way she was going to add that.

“How can I have not seen it before?” The accusation in his voice was aimed at himself as Aden turned his head away from her and stared towards the other side of the room blankly. “It’s something I should have noticed! I would have if- if-” He faltered with an ending to the sentence.

“If I had told you and if I hadn’t covered it up.” She finished for him. “That’s not your fault either. I’ve kept it from you because I don’t want you to blame yourself. Because I knew just how much you would beat yourself up about it when you can’t do anything to stop it.”

“But I could have stopped myself from hurting you!”

“No, you couldn’t have! Aden, I let you do this. It’s not your choice; it’s mine. I hate having to see you go through that, to know that you are in so much pain when I can’t do anything to stop it. This is the only way I can help you, Aden, and I don’t care. I want to give you a much release and comfort that I can, because otherwise I’m useless and I can’t stand it!” The tears had managed to leak out of her eyes, falling down her cheeks as she frantically tried to get rid of them.

“You can’t do anything about it, Belle. It’ll always be like this. The same memories, the same bad dreams. But it’s mine to handle, not yours. I don’t want to hurt you and I don’t want it to be because of my past.” He said quietly as he walked back over to the counter, standing right in front of her and resting his hands on either side of her legs. “I can’t hurt you, Belle. It’s not right, whether you want to allow it or not. It’s not right. It makes me sick to even think about it. Me hurting you and you taking it because of my past? Not everything is excusable by that.”

“None of this is ever done on purpose.” She tilted his head up to look at her, keep her hand on his cheek for a few seconds before he looked away again. “You said we have to start talking honestly, and that’s what I’m doing. You may hurt me physically sometimes, but it never lasts more than a day and I can barely remember it. The only thing that hurts me is knowing that you’re still reliving it all. We’re in this together. That means everything.”

“No, not this. This is just me.” He shook his head at her determinedly. “I won’t hurt you anymore. I can never forgive myself for hurting you once, let alone for the past 2 years. All I ever want to do is protect you, not be the one who hurts you the most.”

“It’s not your fault. I can tell you over and over. No-one can control their dreams and how they react to it. Especially if they’re never told about it. I’m not scared of you hurting me because I know that if you had the choice, you wouldn’t. I‘m scared of you hurting yourself more and having to go through this alone when I‘m right here.” The dull ache in her arm had long been forgotten, only now being brought back to her mind as Aden stood up straighter and skimmed his fingers along it, his touch soothing it miraculously.

“There’s always a choice, Belle.” Aden informed her strictly, taking the tube of the antiseptic once again and twisting off the lid. “I’m never going to hurt you again. I’ll find a way to stop it.”

“How are you going to do that?” She asked him gently as he squirted some of the white cream onto his fingers and rubbed it carefully near and then onto the wound. Inhaling at the contact, she tried her best not to hiss in pain to make him feel even worse.

“I can find a way. It’s breaking the habit. I’ll do it. I’ll stop hurting you. I promise, I will.” The way he spoke was all that Belle needed to know that it was eating him up from the inside out. She thought that he might be a some sort of shock, especially with the way he kept on repeating the fact that he had hurt her. Almost as if he couldn’t believe. To be honest, she wouldn’t blame him for not believing it. No-one would ever believe that Aden would ever hurt her, intentionally or not. Even Rachel, who knew about his past, had been surprised yet understanding. Belle wondered if she should tell him that the doctor knew about this before deciding against it when she figured that it would do more harm than good if he thought that there was someone out there who knew he was doing this to her.

“Aden,” Belle said after a moment while he was washing his hands as he finished with the cream. “I want to help you. Don’t shut me out from this.”

“You can’t help me with this.” Aden told her sadly, picking up a gauze to cover her arm and wrapping it with a bandage to keep it in place. She didn’t bother to tell him that a band aid would have been enough, or a couple of them, leaving him to take care of her. If it was the least she could do to make him feel a bit better then she wasn’t going to criticize his job and make him feel worse.

“I can, Aden. I’ll do whatever it takes. Do you want to talk about it? Maybe that’ll help…” She trailed off at the end as he shook his head, ripping the tape in his hands to hold the bandage in place with a bit too much force.

“It won’t.” He simply said.

“How do you know that if you don’t try it?”

“Because if all those counselling sessions didn’t work on it, then I doubt anything else would.” Aden replied through gritted teeth. She could hear his shallow breathing and feel his jerky movement as he finished up with her arm, telling her just how badly he was trying to keep a control of his emotions right then. Gauging by the determined and set look on his face, Belle assumed that he was already going through ways to stop this from happening again. The only ways that she could think of that would actually work were either them not sleeping together or him not sleeping at all. Neither one of them appealed to her, especially due to the fact that either way, those nightmare were still going to be there and she wouldn’t be able to help.

“Hey,” Belle reached out and grabbed his arm as he hastily began to pack everything back again. Halting his actions, Aden kept his focus on the items in his hands and on the counter before she pulled on his arm and held onto the other one with her other hand. “I don’t-” Breaking off, she pursed her lips as she thought through what she wanted to say. “I told you this after so long because you found out. I know I shouldn’t have kept it from you, and that it was wrong for me to lie to you about it, but I’m telling you right now that I would have kept it from you for longer if I could have.”

“You should have told me the first time it happened. I could have-”

“Could have… what?” She interrupted him, making him look away from her. “What’s the difference between 2 years ago and now, Aden? Do you not think that I know how much you would hate yourself if you knew about this? How bad you’d feel? How much you would stress out about it and beat yourself up about it? Do you really think that I don’t know how much you despise those nightmares? Nothing would have changed if I had told you, Aden. You don’t choose to have them, and just because you know about this, it’s not going to stop them. I know that if there really was a way to stop it you would have already done it.”

“I am not going to let myself hurt you, Belle.” Aden informed her with a strong resolve that told her that there was going to be nothing that she could do to get him to budge on it, or to believe her when she said that he wasn’t letting him hurt her because it was not under his control.

“You won’t.” She said instead, sliding off the countertop slowly, using his shoulders to help keep her steady. Letting her hands graze down to his, she tugged on them to pull him in the direction of the bedroom. “Leave that. It’ll still be here in the morning.” He sighed heavily in defeat, pulling one hand out of hers and switching off the light by the mirror before turning off the main one in the bathroom.

Belle let go of his hand as she rounded her side of the bed, climbing in silently. Her eyes, however, never left him, watching as he slowly joined her. Deciding against forcing any words, she turned to her side to turn off the lamp to throw them into a blanket of darkness. It was only when she laid down again that she realised how uncomfortable it was going to be to spend the rest of the night sleeping on her right arm. Shifting a bit, Belle managed to put most of the pressure onto her shoulder rather than her upper arm. Calculating her breathing, she stared at the clock next to her. 4:28am.

The minutes continued to tick by and she tried with all her might to ignore the fact that Aden was still laying there behind her without any contact. It felt so weird to her, never having been use to having shared a bed with him at such a close proximity without contact for too long. Probably since that first night that he had invited himself into her bed after getting drunk. Even when he had been mad at her, he would hold her at night. If they could get over that hurdle, they could get over this one, Belle vowed. Aden had been the one who had made it better last time and this time it was her turn to take things into her own hands.

Pushing herself up, Belle turned to face him, using one hand to keep herself elevated. She sighed deeply when she took him his form. His legs were bent up with one arm covering his eyes, a look of indecision and anguish etched on his face. Leaning forwards, Belle laid a hand onto his chest before moving forwards and pressing her lips to his. Backing off slowly, her eyes flitted up to his as he removed his arm to see him looking at her with a look asking her wordlessly what she was doing. Belle closed her eyes and kissed him again, this time letting her lips take his in between hers and then linger for a moment longer even though he didn’t respond.

“I’m not scared of you, Aden.” She whispered as she backed off again. “I trust you. I love you.” Hearing him draw in a trembling breath, Belle left it be and laid down again like she had been before this whole can of worms had erupted with her head on his shoulder. He tensed a bit at the contact, even more when she reached behind her and pulled his arm around her waist and placing the hand that she had intertwined hers with on her bump. She held her own breath, waiting for him to react. Fairly certain that Aden would rip his hand out from hers, Belle tightened her grip on his hand and found herself smiling when she felt him turn and relax a bit, resting his chin atop of her head and straightening out his legs. Belle managed to work one of her own around his, trying to get as close to him as was possible to ensure him that she meant exactly what she had said.

“I’m sorry.” Aden breathed out so quietly that if she hadn’t felt the vibrations of his words through his body, she would have doubted that he had said anything. “I’ll make it work out. I’ll find a way.”

“Ok.” Belle replied just as quietly, nodded as she shuffled her way closer to him if it were possible. “Let’s just go to sleep now. It’s too late right now to do anything.”

“Ok.” He repeated, agreeing with her for the first time that night. “Ok.” She didn’t say anything in response, just simply closed her eyes and matched her breathing to his. The change in it every now and again told her that he was still awake. Belle tried her best to keep herself awake too, hoping the her prediction of him not sleeping wouldn’t be true, but like every other time that she told herself to stay awake just that little bit longer, she was out before she realised while Aden had been very much awake.

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I'm not too sure about this part, especially not the ending. But it's too late for me to amend it now, and I've been working on it for a while so I don't think it'll get any better than this.

Hope you found it reasonably acceptable anyway!

xoxo