Unfamiliar

[Taniya_K]

Thank you once again guys! I’m loving all the nice comments. It’s nice to know that 55 chapters in, and you’re not bored with it, or annoyed, yet. Hopefully, that’ll last for the duration of it

Zetti, I’m not too sure about nightly updates again I’ll try my best as always!

Sorry about the lack of Adelle in this. But I hope you like it anyways! Thanks to Laura for proofing it again!

Chapter 55:

“You ready for the last exams then, mate?” Roman asked as the couple finished their lunch and headed over to the counter where he stood.

“I think so. Well, I hope so cos I’m heading off right now.” Aden laughed.

“He’s gonna do great.” Belle told Roman proudly. “And after this it’ll be 3 months of waiting me on hand and foot!”

“Good luck there.” Roman chuckled as Aden shook his head.

“Thanks. I think I’d rather be at uni, to be honest.” He said in a serious voice, earning himself a light punch from his wife. “I’m kidding! Clearly, I was kidding.”

“Hmm…” She replied noncommittally.

“Well, listen. If all goes good, and you’re not being run into the ground with all of Belle’s demands, how about you guys come over sometime on the weekend? I know Nic’s been dying to cook dinner for more than two or three.” Roman told them as they both laughed at his words.

“Yeah, she said something about that last week. I wasn’t too sure if she was being serious or if she was trying to give the hint that she missed me.” Aden said with a small pout. “I thought it was the latter.”

“With the way she moans about it, I think she does miss you.”

“Ha! I knew it!” He nodded gleefully, turning to Belle who didn’t look as impressed as he did.

“Don’t you need to head off?” She asked him pointedly instead. Aden looked at his watch and winced, realising that she was right.

“You going to be ok to walk home?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m hanging out here for a bit, anyway.” Belle assured him.

“Are you sure? I can always drop you home.” He added, giving her a cautious look as she rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure. There’s nothing to do at home anyway. I need to spend some time outdoors.”

“I’ll give her a lift home, mate.” Roman cut in and Belle looked over at him with appreciation.

“Only if I need it.” She warned him.

“Only if she asks or she looks like she needs it, alright?” Although his words were directed more to Aden, the questioning was more for Belle, who nodded in agreement.

“Ok, I’ll see you at home then.” He dropped a kiss onto her lips before bidding them goodbye, waving off their calls of ‘good luck’ as he left.

“Thanks for that.” Belle said in relief to Roman once she was sure that Aden had truly gone.

“No problem. I had a feeling that he wouldn’t leave until he heard that.” Roman chuckled. “I was being serious though. If you need a lift or anything, then just let me know.”

“I know, and thanks again. But I’ll be fine.” Belle smiled politely and Roman simply nodded acceptingly. “So, is it done yet?”

“Um…” He stepped back a bit so that he could look into the kitchen before returning to an excited Belle. “You better go through and ask Irene and Leah yourself.”

“Ok.” She simply replied, going past him and into the back to where the two ladies were working. “Hello…?”

“Belle! Hey.” Leah turned to face her with a wide smile before looking back at the cake she was covering with icing and then back at her. “Sorry, I’m just a bit-”

“No, no. Don’t worry. I’ll be out of here in a second. Things are looking really busy out there, anyway.” She reassured them, standing over by the side on the opposite side of the kitchen. “I was just wondering if everything was done?”

“One second, darl.” Irene spoke up from where she was making up a plate. “It’s in the back if you want to grab it. Make sure everything’s in there first, yeah?”

“Yup, thanks.” Belle entered the backroom of the Diner where most of the food was stored, along with the books and the dishwasher. Off to the side, right at the back, was what she was looking for. She lifted the lid off the hamper to see inside of it, doing as Irene had asked and making sure that everything that she had wanted was in there.

“Everything ok with it?” She twisted around to see Irene leaning near to the sink, her arms crossed and giving her a soft smile.

“Yeah, it’s perfect. Thank you for this. I know it was a really short notice, and you’re really packed out there.”

“Don’t worry about, girly. It’s my pleasure.” Irene easily dismissed. “I’m just glad that you didn’t try to make it all yourself.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think Aden would eat it if I tried.” Belle laughed. “Either that, or tease me endlessly about it.”

“Well, I’m sure that boy doesn’t have the skills of a chef either!”

“No, he definitely doesn’t.” She agreed, recalling his attempts of cooking for her just the previous week. “But somehow I doubt my cooking would be as lovely as this.” Belle said, patting the basket next to her as Irene shook her head humorously.

“So, how is everything going then? Feels like it’s been a good while since I last saw you.” She told her with a light tone.

“I know. Thing’s have just been a bit hectic lately, with Aden’s exams and work and everything.” She explained with a small sigh, remembering just how bad that past week itself had gotten where the two of them had hardly any time to spend together.

“I hope you’re not getting rushed off your feet. You should be taking things slowly now.” Irene advised her with a strict tone that reminded Belle of all the times she would reprimand her without even trying.

“I am, I am.” Belle hurriedly added. “I’ve today and tomorrow off. And then it’s the weekend. It’s going to get boring after a while, but at least this weekend’s going to be good.”

“Trust me, love. In about 3 months from now, you’ll wish you had the time to get bored.” Irene chuckled while Belle smoothed a hand over her stomach.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She replied thoughtfully before a smile curved on her lips. “At least Aden’s at home for the next 3 months or so. He’s great entertainment at times.”

“You’re not still toying around with him, are you?” Irene asked her in a disapproving tone, knowing all about Belle’s mini-tantrums and the silent treatments she would give him when he refused to give her chocolate or something else in place of a healthy meal or snack that she well and truly needed.

“Me? Never…” She gasped in pure, fake innocence that make Irene huff and roll her eyes. “Well, at least he’ll be prepared for a demanding child.”

“At rate you’re going, Belle, I won’t be surprised if he files for divorce before the 3 months are over.” She joked with a serious and meaningful tone.

“Aden wouldn’t do that; I wouldn’t let him.” She informed her with a nod, the smile still on her face. “Nah, I’m only teasing him. He’ll get the message soon enough. Besides, he’s got nothing better to do with his time anymore than to be my personal waiter.”

“Ha! Good luck with that one, darl.” Irene ridiculed as Leah called out for her from the kitchen. Her voice portrayed urgency that made the two of them look at each other, one with exasperation and the other with a smirk. “The holidays haven’t even started yet and the place is jam-packed!”

“And I don’t envy you one bit.” Belle said without missing a beat. “Alright, I better get a move on anyway. I need to head into Yabbie Creek too. Thank God that Aden’s exams run late today.”

“I don’t think he’d be as happy as you with that.” Irene joked before turning serious as Belle secured the hamper once again, making sure it was ok. “Are you ok with that, love? If you want, I can drop it off for you.”

“Don’t be silly, Irene. This place is packed. They need you here.” Belle laughed. “I can handle it.”

“Are you sure? I can always give Geoff a ring and get him to drop it off later. He‘d be more than happy to.”

“It’ll be fine, Irene. It’s not that heavy, anyway, and it’s not too far.” Irene pursed her lips as another call of her name came through. “I should go; I’m keeping you and leaving poor Roman and Leah to struggle.”

“You give me a call if you need a hand or something, alright? Doesn’t matter if we’re busy here, you’re not to go stressing yourself out or rushing around, you hear me?” She told her sternly and Belle nodded in a strict manner, wiping the smile off her face to seem entirely understanding.

“Yes, ma’am.” She said, fighting back a smirk while picking up the basket. Belle was genuinely surprised to find how light it felt compared to what was in it, and she hoped that it lasted like that for the whole walk home.

“Oi! Cheeky.” Belle giggled at her words before following her out of the back room, accepting the brief hug that she gave her and the peck on the cheek before leaving the kitchen area altogether, with, of course, another warning to not overexert herself.

“I know, I know.” She rolled her eyes behind Irene’s back, although Roman had caught it. “I’ll see you later. And thanks again.”

“It was no problem. Hope everything goes well.” Roman answered back and Belle gave him a slightly nervous smile.

“Me too.”

---

“Belle!” A voice called out her name on a few minutes after she had left the Diner, walking along the path parallel to the beach by herself. Pausing, she took a look around, wondering who it was that would trying to claim her attention. “Over here!” Twisting around towards the beach, her eyes followed the wooden barrier to where there was a tree, and underneath sat a now-familiar lurker.

“What are you doing down there?” She practically laughed, walking over. “Is this your lair or something?”

“’Lair’?”

“It dark enough and close enough to prey on unsuspecting women.” Belle teased, looking away and towards the beach where plenty of people who where either on their lunch break or had a day off were relaxing.

“You know, I don’t think I like the idea you have of me.” Justin frowned, head tilted up at her as he squinted in the sunlight. “Like I’m some kind of…”

“Sleaze? Jerk? Womanizer?” Belle listed as he scoffed.

“Don’t hold back there.”

“I call it as I see it, Justin.”

“Alright, alright. I guess I haven’t made a good impression on you yet-” He began, pushing himself off the grass and brushing the dirt off his jeans.

“It’s not just me. Try every girl in this town.” Belle told him matter-of-factly.

“Now I know for a fact that’s not entirely true. There is no way that you would know what every female in this town is thinking.” Justin countered. “Especially those who haven’t met the extraordinaire à la Justin.” Belle raised an eyebrow at him as he put on a French accent for the last few words, stifling her laughter while shaking her head.

“They are some lucky girls, then.”

“So where are you heading with the picnic basket? I thought Aden’s got his final exams today. Right now, even.” Justin asked her in his normal, conversational tone, crossing his arms casually, looking down at his watch quickly.

“He does.” She smiled, not that surprised that he would remember considering the amount of effort that the two brothers had put into trying to rebuild their relationship again. “This is for after.”

“I see, I see.” Justin replied in an almost mischievous voice. “You know, I could have made a lot of quips about you cheating on him there, but I didn’t. Doesn’t that go to show how wrong your expectations about me are?”

“I didn’t expect any quips.” Belle informed him. “I just said you were a flirt and a bit of a tool.”

“Hmm… Sure, sure. You’re a journo; you twist words. I know what you’re doing here, and it’s not going to work, Belle.” He said, pointing a finger at her as she just blinked at him before shaking her head.

“Yes, Justin. You’ve caught me out. What to do now…?” She replied in a mock horror voice. “Well, seeing as I’m running late and I have a lot to do today, I think I’m going to head home.”

“Are you walking it?” Justin asked her, his tone slightly lined with concern. “Hold on, I’ll come with you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter to walk home, Justin.” She pointed out, turning back onto the path she had been following homebound.

“I know.” He replied, falling into step next to her. “But I’ve figured that we haven’t really had a good chat since that day in Yabbie Creek and this seems like the perfect time to do it.”

“Wait a minute. Let me get this straight.” Belle paused for a second for emphasis. “You would much rather walk home with me to talk rather than sit under that tree and eye up some girls?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” He muttered. Belle smirked while slowing down, attempting to change hands for the hamper. Before she could even blink, it was taken out of her hands with one swift movement. “I thought pregnant women weren’t supposed to carry heavy things?”

“It’s not heavy.” She stated, standing in shock. Justin only paused later when he noticed that she wasn’t next to him any longer.

“What?” He questioned dryly. “Is it that astonishing to see me doing something gentlemanly?”

“Would you be offended if I said ‘yes’?” Belle tried, getting her legs to work again to catch up with him and then carrying on.

“Thanks.”

“Seriously, though.” She said through a few giggles, contradicting her words. “No, seriously, it’s nice of you. And it’s not that ‘astonishing’. Not after I’ve heard and seen over the past week or so.”

“So what’s up with all the hostility towards me then?” Justin asked her with intrigue. Belle looked over at him and then off into the distance, running a hand through her hair and sighing.

“There’s no hostility. Wariness, maybe, but not hostility.” Belle assured him. “I’m just trying to give you and Aden some space.”

“Ok, what’s with the wariness then?” Justin corrected himself glancing over at her briefly.

“You know that Aden told me why you left, right?” At his nod, she carried on. “It must have been a really hard decision for you to make.”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “It was either that or see the inside of a jail cell pretty soon with Aden in a foster home or something. Didn’t seem as appealing as getting out of there.”

“Wouldn’t blame you.”

“And I don’t regret leaving Aden behind either, in case you’re wondering. I know he’s probably told you that too, but it’s true. I mean, I wish there had been another way to make things easier so that I could have stayed, but this was the next best thing.” Justin added, still shooting her quick looks as Belle didn’t reply immediately. “But I guess I can’t blame you for not thinking that highly of me because of that.”

“What?” Her head shot up towards him, her eyebrows furrowing. “That’s not what I was thinking. Justin, don’t get me wrong, I don’t like it that you left Aden 8 years ago without another word from you up until 5 week ago, but I get why you did it. And I’d hate to admit it, but it was a rather brave thing to do.”

“That doesn’t explain your wariness.”

“Although there is one thing I don’t get.” Belle carried on, ignoring his statement. “Why didn’t you tell me this when we first met in that café? It could have made things a whole lot easier.”

“The same reason why you came to meet me by yourself. I had no idea who you were. Ok, so maybe you told me that you were Aden’s wife, but you were still practically a stranger. I’ve lived a life of avoiding personal questions and being on the defence.” Justin explained to her.

“I knew who you were. Kind of.”

“You still met me by yourself.” He reminded her. “And you didn’t know who I was. You thought you knew who I would be, the old me that Aden’s probably told you horror stories about, hence why you told me to stay out of his life.”

“True, I suppose.” Belle accepted without trying to argue. “I guess I was wrong then.”

“Is that your way of apologizing?” He asked her with a cheeky smile. “Because I’ve heard on the grapevine that Belle Taylor doesn’t do apologies well.”

“I don’t know who you heard that from, but the only reason I don’t do apologies well is because there isn’t much I have to apologize for.” She informed him in a factual tone. “And it’s Belle Jefferies.”

“Right, my mistake.” He chuckled lightly. “But that still doesn’t explain the wariness.”

“I’ll always be wary, Justin. It doesn’t mean I have anything against you; it’s just going to be there. Like how…” Belle trailed off as an example failed to come to her mind. The first thing that she had thought of was how Drew was ‘wary’ of Aden, although that was because he didn’t really like him and he did have something against him, even if they now tried their best to remain civil. “The point is, that’s just how I feel.”

“Can’t do anything about that then, can I?”

“Nope.” Belle replied with a shake of the head. “Although there is also the fact that you have hit on most of my and Aden’s friends. And my mother.”

“That’s got nothing to do with Aden, though.” Justin informed her as she scoffed.

“It will when they stone you to death. Or strangle you. Or beat you with their bag. Or suffocate you in your sleep.” Belle listed with a smile.

“Summer Bay’s got a few crazy chicks, hasn’t it?” He joked, brushing aside the numerous threats that had been made against his life . “I’ll be sure to keep away from them...”

“They only want to do that because you can’t keep away.”

“…or tie them down.” Justin added in a suggestive tone, either ignoring or choosing not to comment on her words.

“Ok, now you’ve gone to a creepy place that I don’t want to hear about.” Belle said in a loud voice while grimacing to make sure he didn’t wave away her words.

“You know, you didn’t really say sorry.” Justin changed the subject quickly as he saw that they were on the road that led up to Aden and Belle’s house, obviously wanting to hear her apologize before headed back to the beach.

“Yeah, I did. I said I was wrong.” She reminded him evasively.

“Saying you were wrong is not the same as apologizing. Trust me, I’ve heard that from a lot of wo- people.” He told her as they walked up the driveway of the house. “C’mon. It’s just two little words, then I can get back to my hobby and you can do what you wanted to do for Aden.”

“Fine.” She said through gritted teeth, not liking that he was enjoying this so much. She fished through her bag for the house keys while speaking to make it less obvious. “I’m sorry.”

“Nope, didn’t hear that. Say it loud and proud!” Justin demanded while Belle managed to dig out her keys and place it into the lock, opening the door smoothly. She went to take the basket off of him, but he held it away from her, standing at the bottom of the steps so she could reach. “Two words.”

“I’m sorry.” She gave in, speaking with a confident and strong voice this time.

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.” Justin teased, knowing that he was playing on her last nerves about it. “Maybe you should add a few more words to it.”

“Maybe you should go jump off a cliff.” Belle mimicked harshly, irritation eating at her although she was sure it was more from the fact that she was not only wasting time with this, but there was marvellous chocolate cake in that hamper for her too.

“Now, now. No need to get so violent.”

“You haven’t seen me violent yet.” She warned him. “Give me the food and go be a creep under your tree.”

“Seriously, Belle,” Justin began while passing over the basket. “If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me. Always liked this feisty side of you.” Belle’s only response without doing something that might harm the baby was to take the hamper out of his hands before slamming the door shut on him. “We’ll talk about it some other time then!”

Belle couldn’t help but to shake her head at the words that he yelled through the door, walking towards the kitchen with the food. She dumped her bag onto the couch on the way, not so interested in that as she was with the contents of the basket that Irene, Leah and Roman had kindly put together for her.

As she lifted it gently to rest on the kitchen table, a bubble of excitement and elation ran through her, and Belle had to bite her lip to stop herself from squealing in joy. She wasn’t too sure why she was getting so happy over something pretty small and simple so she put it down to the fact that she had been planning this for only a day now, and that things seemed to be going well too. Adding that to the fact that she couldn’t remember the last time she had done something for Aden, and that it was going to be something, hopefully, romantic and a great way to celebrate the end of his exams, made it all that better.

---

Like I said, I hope you enjoyed it. I really love writing Justin and pregnant Belle, so I really needed to get them into a scene Even if she wasn’t so hormonal here…

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Thank you for the lovely comments. I so glad that you're all still enjoying Justin!

This is another Adelle/fluff chapter. Mainly just for the fun of it. And to set down the beginning of something else.

Chapter 56:

She stood in the middle of it all, wondering that, now that it was done, whether it really was a great idea, or a really, really stupid and cheesy one. Looking down at her watch, Belle was able to make out the time, telling her that it was almost 8.30pm and that Aden should be home soon. The sun had began to set a while beforehand, and it left a glow that streaked through the windows, although the lights in the room blurred that out.

Then the problem hit her. How was she going to get Aden in and upstairs without seeing the front room where she had organised everything? Sighing heavily, she sat down onto the couch, wishing that she had thought all of this through. The food was still in the kitchen, but candles were not. After her impromptu trip to Yabbie Creek to get the brown flowing skirt that she now wore, she had had to stop by at the nearest crafts store to buy more battery-powered tea lights. Belle had planned on re-using the old ones, but after seeing how many there were, and how many new batteries she would have to buy for them, she had thought against it, realising that it was cheaper and more time efficient to just buy new ones. Of course, there was the alternative of using real flamed candles, but somehow she doubted Aden would appreciate it if she burnt something, and she didn’t really fancy cleaning the mess it would create.

Leaning back in the sofa, Belle rested her hands on her stomach and drew careful circles around it with her fingertips over her long white top. She had debated on whether to wear the brown belt on top of it, before deciding that if it got too uncomfortable, she could take it off, seeing as they were at home. That had been a good decision, she had realised that it felt much more comfortable with it on. Her hair, on the other hand, was starting to irritate her. She had pulled the front bit back, securing it with a small clip which now felt as if it was digging into her skull. Not one to give in easily, even to herself, she put up with it, sighing heavily as the baby began to fuss against her movements, while her eyes skimmed around the room, taking in all of the little lights that were scattered around, the main light in the room dimming them. It did remind her of the night that they had came back home from their honeymoon, however, she hoped that this time they would spend more time downstairs than up.

Belle’s attention was finally claimed by the sound of Aden’s car approaching the house. She sat frozen for a moment, wondering what to do, before jumping up and taking in a deep breath. Why she was so nervous, she had no idea, but as she took a final glance around the room, she came to the conclusion that the tea lights are almost invisible to those who didn’t know they were there. All Belle had to do was to get him upstairs to get changed while she sorted everything else out.

The lock in the door turned and soon enough it opened. She saw him visibly pause when his eyes landed on her, sitting on the armrest of the couch, facing the door as if she had been waiting for him. In an obvious sense, she had been waiting for him, but that was something that Belle didn’t find the need to let him know.

“Belle…” Aden said slowly, confusion furrowing on his face as he took her in. She could see his eyes roam her body from head to toe and back up again before shutting the door behind him and stepping down to meet her.

“How were the exams?” She asked him instead, trying to keep things normal.

“Yeah, fine.” He shrugged lightly, opening his mouth to add something else. Belle quickly beat him to it, remaining on the subject for as long as she could.

“Just ‘fine’?”

“Alright, it was brilliant. Totally aced it. Top of my class. I’m a genius. Now what’s going on here?” Aden told her in his usual nonchalant tone, adding the last question on before she could deter him once again.

“Well,” Belle began with a flirtatious smile, standing up and taking the two steps up to him. “I’ve got a little surprise for you.”

“Oh, yeah?” He grinned at her, letting her arms come around his neck as his went around her waist. “What kind of surprise?”

“Wait and see.”

“Has it got something to do with the clothes? Cos I like the clothes. Maybe not as much as what’s under-”

“Ah!” Belle covered his mouth with her hand, effectively shutting him up. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

“Hmm…” He struggled to fight off her hand, finally giving it a gently nip with his teeth to make her remove it. “Sorry.”

“Never mind.” She rolled her eyes, letting her arms go lax from around his neck and sliding her hands down the planes of his chest. “Ok, you have to go get changed so I can sort some stuff out.”

“We’re staying in?” Aden asked, almost surprised.

“Yup. And you’re gonna do as I say because I’ve been sorting this out all day, alright?” Belle said strictly, moving away from him slightly so that he had no choice but to back off from her too.

“Whatever you want.” He gave her his heart-melting smile as she struggled to keep her own back.

“Good. Now go.” She told him, tugging on his hand to pull it off her body and push him towards the stairs. “Aden!”

“Wait, a kiss first. It that too much for me to ask for?” He gave her a small pout that made her giggle softly, using the hand that she held onto to pull him closer to her until he came to a stand right in front of her. Curling her fingers into the fabric of his t-shirt, she leant up and brought him into a rather hungry kiss. Belle could feel his surprise and the smile against her lips before he reacted passionately until she pulled away.

“Now go and get changed.” She breathed heavily into his ear.

“Uh…” Aden faltered, trying to her his brain to work again after both the exams he had to sit that afternoon, and the kiss. “Changed into what, exactly?”

“Hmm…” Belle thought about it, walking away from him to lean against the armrest of the couch again as she eyed him. “Black shirt. Keep the jeans.”

“Ok, then.” He obeyed, giving her a quick peck on the lips and rushing off up the stairs before she could say anything. Belle stood in her place, shaking her head at his actions before twirling around and looking around the whole room. First thing to do was to close all the curtains and blinds, followed by getting the food and then the lights.

As she made her way to the main windows, she laughed to herself as she heard the shower running upstairs. If it had been her, she knew there would be no way she would have been able to wait to find out what the surprise was. But Aden being Aden obviously hadn’t worried too much about it. Belle shrugged it off easily, figuring that it gave her more time so not to rush things or to mess them up.

---

“Wow.” It was all that Aden could say as he came down the stairs 20 minutes later, taking in the sight of their front room. It would have been pitch black if it hadn’t been for the tens of tea lights covering most surfaces. He wasn’t sure how he had managed to miss it earlier on. There had been something at the back of his head telling him that there was something different, but all that he could focus on was Belle.

“You like it?” Belle questioned him a bit shyly as she entered the room from the kitchen, adding the last of the plates to the collection on the coffee table, and the floor, before walking up to him.

“Yeah, I love it.” He corrected her. “What’s the occasion, though? I haven’t forgotten anything, have I?” Although his tone was serious, there was a hint of humour in there too. “Birthday? Anniversary? Valentine’s day?”

“Seeing as it’s the middle of November, I’d say no.” She teased, grabbing hold of his hand and guiding him over to sit on the floor where everything was. “I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate the end of your exams.”

“You didn’t have to do anything, Belle. You shouldn’t have stressed yourself out about it.” Aden said in a grateful yet reprimanding voice, rubbing her back gently as she sat at the end of the table next to him.

“Well, I wanted to, and it didn’t stress me out in the slightest. In fact, it was kind of fun.” She assured him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Belle nodded. “I mean, I know it’s nothing big, but I really had no idea what else to do. I was thinking that maybe we could head out, but then I realised that you’d probably be really tired after all the exams and posh restaurants aren’t exactly our thing. And seeing as I only thought about it starting yesterday, this was the only thing I thought I would be able to pull off-”

“Belle,” Aden tried to interrupt, but to no avail as she continued to explain her line of thoughts and actions to him.

“-with the short notice. Which was really bad of me, cos I shouldn’t have left it until late because if it had been you, you would have probably sorted everything out way before, and you wouldn’t have struggled on trying to find a nice little gift either, because I couldn’t find anything appropriate or something that you don’t have.” She babbled on, stopping only with a deep intake of breath in which Aden took his chance to speak.

“Belle, seriously, don’t worry about it. This is great. It’s perfect.” He assured her, still smoothing circles on her lower back. “I don’t want anything, anyway. Like you said, I have everything I need. Right here.” He moved his hand to rest on the side of her stomach as one of hers came to cover it. “You’re really cute when you babble, you know that?”

“I wasn’t babbling.” She muttered, all tone of self-disappointment vanishing as she perked up a bit. “Besides, this can be a major ‘thank you’ in advance for the next 3 months.”

“I’ll take that then.” Aden chuckled, pressing his lips to hers softly as a hand came up to caress her cheek delicately. He heard her sigh contently as they parted, biting his bottom lip to stop himself from grinning at the sound and ruining the moment. “So why the dressing up?”

“Because it’s nicer, and it makes things a bit more formal, even if we are at home.” She told him. “Plus, surprise, surprise, it’s actually comfortable.”

“It sure looks good.” Aden gave her a wink along with the words, making her gaze avert downwards slightly in a bout of bashfulness. She picked up his hand from where it rested on her leg, holding it in both of her hands before brushing her lips lightly against the back of it as she leant on her elbows on the table. “No compliments for me?” He asked her in a faked sadden voice as she laughed.

“Oh, poor baby. I’m sorry. You’re looking very prettiful.” Belle said in a over the top sweet voice, reaching out a hand to stroke his hair, which he batted away in annoyance as she giggled.

“Please! I am not… prettiful, which is not even a word.”

“Ok, ok.” She stifled her amusement while leaning forwards towards him and Aden couldn’t help but to look at her and do the same. “You’re looking very sexy.” She whispered in his ear in a low sultry voice that made him both grin and swallow.

“Thank you. That’s better.” He managed to get out after discretely clearing his throat. She had a look of innocence plastered over her face that told him that she knew exactly what effect she had on him. Taking his eyes off her, he took in all of the randomness in front of him. “Please tell me you didn’t make all this yourself.”

“Why? Won’t you eat it if I say I did?” There was a clear sulk in her tone that made him shake his head.

“I’d eat it, I just hope you didn’t put too much effort into it. I doubt it’s all gonna get eaten.” He informed her with a suggestive hint that she pointedly ignored.

“Really? But I even got your favourite wannabe not-so-much-of-a-cake cake.” She said, reaching out to point to the slice of strawberry cheesecake that laid on the plate next to the freshly cut fruit and what he assumed to be dipping chocolate. He let his eyes wander around the food, seeing a small connection between most of them.

“Is this little dinner-slash-indoor picnic supposed to be for me or is it suppose to be a good excuse for you to eat excessive amounts of chocolate?” Aden asked her with a smirk as she glared at him.

“It’s for you.” Belle said pointedly. “It’s merely a coincidence that chocolate makes romantic food.”

“Sure, sure. I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to you and chocolate.” He teased, reaching over for one of the flutes of drink that sat on the table. Taking a sip, he grimaced. “This isn’t what I thought it would be.”

“Yeah, it’s sparkling water with grape juice.” She simple replied, taking a few orange segments and dipping them into the chocolate before eating them with a smile.

“So are we just going to eat desserts all night?” Aden continued to rib her, swiping the remaining piece of fruit out of her supple fingers and eating it before she could get the chance to get it back.

“What are you talking about? There’s more than just desserts here.” Belle insisted, taking a look around, eyes trailing across the many different items such as cake, fruit, bread sticks and many other things that she had not made herself. Then there were the little bowls of dips, chocolate and whipped cream. Her confused look faded into one of realisation and then a sheepish one. “Yeah, ok, maybe not. But, you have to admit, isn’t this better than a 3 course meal?”

“I guess…” He sighed dramatically, taking another sip of the drink, tasting much better this time around. Aden stayed quiet, feeling her eyes burning into the side of his head as he awaited her reaction. Several seconds later, there was still silence, which only made him more uneasy. Turning to face her, he saw the unimpressed look shining clearly on hers. “Belle. I was just kidding.”

“Why do you always do that, Aden?” She questioned him with a bit of irritation. “Always joke around and ruin the moment? Ok, so it’s not really a proper meal or a candlelit dinner or anything like that, but it’s still supposed to be romantic and I put a lot of effort into it. You said you liked it before-”

“I said I loved it.” He cut her off, this time doing it more effectively. “I do. I’m just trying to mess with you. Lighten things up a bit. We don’t do serious well, either, when it doesn’t have to be.”

“Who said this didn’t have to be serious?” Belle snapped, crossing her arms almost childishly, which put a smile onto Aden’s face.

“Ok, ok, I get it. I was totally wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll behave now, just like a perfect well-mannered husband.” He told her seriously, adding a nod to the end of it to signal that he meant it. Soon enough, a small smirk broke out onto his face as Belle eyes him closely. “You know,” Aden started, adjusting his position to sit right next to her before pulling her to him as she squealed suddenly. “You’re really cute when you’re moody too.”

“I was not moody.” She said through gritted teeth, her actions betraying her hard exterior as she moved her legs around so that she could lean into him slightly.

“Sorry,” He murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple, then to her cheek and her jaw before moving to her ear. “I meant angry.”

“You better be sorry.” Belle huffed, tilting her head away from him as he nibbled on her ear, only for Aden to go for her neck instead.

“I am. I’m really, really, really sorry.” He mumbled in between the kisses he dropped along her skin.

“Aden…! Stop it!” She tried to push him away, however from her awkward position, it wasn’t really possible. “We have to eat first.”

“I’m suddenly not hungry anymore. Maybe it would serve better as a midnight snack.” Aden suggested, raising his eyebrows at her as he finally backed off.

“Nope. Not after all the effort I went to.” Belle shook her head, her mood returning back to the excitement and happiness it had held all day. “Eat first. It’s all yummy.”

“It’s all chocolate.” Aden corrected her, fingers now fiddling with her hair lightly while she pretended to pay him no attention and ate.

“So?” She scoffed, holding out a piece of fruit smothered in cream for him. He shook his head, taking a hold of the cheesecake instead. “Trust me, you’ll need the energy.”

“Oh, really?” He perked up immediately, giving her his typical smile. “Care to elaborate on that?”

“Ah…” Belle feigned thinking about it, chewing slowing as she did so. “I guess you’ll,” She flicked her finger across his cheek, leaving a small trail of whipped cream in it’s wake. ”Have to wait and see.”

---

Hearing his intake of a deep breath, she knew that Aden had finally woken up. Belle continued to remain still, smiling to herself as she felt him nuzzle the back of her neck gently like he had done almost every morning that they had woken up together for the past 3 years. Yet it still sent the same tingles of ecstasy throughout her body at the simplest touch.

She softly began to strum her thumb over the knuckles of the hand which rested protectively over their baby. Her ministrations coerced his other hand to brush the hair out of her eyes and back from her face before using the same arm to push himself up a bit and peer over her shoulder to look at her. Although she still had her eyes closed, she could feel his actions.

“Good morning.” He murmured straight into her ear as he leaned down. “How long have you been up?”

“Not long.” Belle replied, blinking only once to see that it had actually been over an hour since she had been woken up by the baby kicking her senseless. She had been pretty sure that Aden had woken too, but considering that he had no recollection of it, she assumed he had been only half-awake. Since then, she had simply remain in the same position, cherishing the feeling of his arms around her and not having to bother with work or university and exams that day.

“It’s pretty late.” Aden laughed, catching the time as he leant up again, propping his head up on a hand whilst leaning on his elbow to watch over her. “Almost past midday.”

“Considering we didn’t go to sleep past 2am, I think that’s ok.” She told him, opening her eyes fully and rolling backwards slowly until she came in contact with him.

“As long as you’re not too tired or anything.” He smiled down at her, rubbing soothingly around her stomach in an instinctive gesture.

“Not tired at all.” Belle reassured him, taking his chin in between her thumb and forefinger to pull him down for a kiss. Aden went willingly, letting their lips brush against each others before he captured her bottom one between his. She grinned languidly, returning the kiss with just as much love, softness and passion as he gave her.

Belle wasn’t sure how long they remained like that, not doing much except for kissing. She could feel his fingers continue to draw circles on her abdomen which caused the baby to move around. It wasn’t too long before the movements became more pronounced and turned into kicks, breaking them apart as laughter rose to their throats.

“I’m telling you. This kid’s going to be an attention seeker. Has to be in the centre of everything we do.” She said in a serious tone although there was a soft smile gracing her features.

“So they’re taking after you, then?” Aden joked as she pushed herself up in the bed into a sitting position, throwing him a dark glare as he chuckled. “I’m kidding. The baby taking after you would be the lesser of two evils.”

“How do you manage to make one line both a compliment and a criticism at once?” Belle asked him in fake interest.

“It’s a gift, sweetheart. It’s a gift.” He informed her earnestly, smoothing his hand over her bump before pressing a kiss to the small section of skin that bared through the shirt of his she wore. She let one of her own hands glide over his back and up to his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of it briefly before he backed away slightly, still laying down and using his hand to prop his head up to look at her. “So what do you fancy doing now?”

“I think…” She began, biting her lip in a coy manner. “That we should…”

“… that we should?” Aden prompted with a smirk as she ran her hand through his hair to calm it down from the tousled look it had gained from the night.

“Maybe, you know…” Belle lowered her voice, leaning down a bit so that she was hovering above him as he twisted slightly. She turned her body to face his, placing one hand on his bare chest before trailing her forefinger up it. “We could get out of bed, so that you can make us something to eat!”

“You’re joking, right?” He questioned her in disbelief. She smiled sweetly at him and then slid out of bed before he could make another move to stop her. “That’s- that was- Belle!”

“What?” She asked him innocently as she picked up the clothes that covered the bedroom floor from the previous night. Using her feet to kick them up instead of having to bend down, it made the job quicker.

“You’re a tease.”

“And you love it.” Belle replied with one of his typical responses while picking up the last of the clothes and dumping them in the neatest fashion she could manage on to a chair. As she did so, however, a piece of paper came floating out of the pile, landing on the floor. Curiosity overtaking her, she squatting down to retrieve it. “Hey, is this yours, babe?”

“Hmm…?” Aden looked over from where he was checking his phone, squinting as if that would make the folded piece of paper easier to recognise. “Might be. What’s it about?”

“I dunno.” Shrugging in return to his question, Belle simply opened it up as Aden’s attention drifted back to his phone. Turning it around so that it was the right way around, the first thing that caught her eye was the name of his university on the top right hand corner. “It from your uni. About…” Her eyes skimmed down the page, reading in quickly and still thoroughly as she had learnt to do with her job. “About some course starting on the… well, that‘s Monday.”

“Oh, it’s that.” Aden said a bit sheepishly, paying her every last bit of attention now while sitting up straighter in bed. “It’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing” She commented, going back over it to pick out some of the more important information, such as the fact that the letter was about a month old and it seemed pretty important. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“There’s nothing to tell.” He tried to dismiss easily. “I’m not going.”

“Why not?” Belle countered as he got out of bed. “Don’t you think we should at least discuss this.”

“Belle, seriously, I don’t want to go. I need a break after all those exams.” Aden claimed, skimming a hand over her stomach while passing by her and into the bathroom.

“But it say’s that it would help with your final year. Don’t you think that’s important?” She read off the sheet while following him into the next room. “I mean, you went to that other one a few days before the wedding and that didn’t sound as important as this one.”

“That’s because that was for like 2 days and you had plenty of people around to help you.”

“I don’t need people to look after me, Aden.” She stated before reverting back onto the subject. “And they’re all still here. I think you should go.”

“Are you that desperate to get rid of me?” He joked, raising an eyebrow at her while she rolled her eyes.

“Yes, that’s my plan exactly.” Belle said dryly, pushing herself up onto the bathroom counter while watch Aden walk around getting stuff done. “Look, I know you haven’t decided yet, and I’m not pressuring you into anything, but if you go on with fulltime next year, won’t this just make it easier? And it’s only for like, 4 days. It’s only a few hours away too, so it’s not like you can’t come home if you wanted to. Or if I wanted you to.” She told him, knowing exactly what was on his mind.

“I know that, Belle. I have read about it.” He muttered, starting up the shower while doing so before heading over to her. “Now, are you going to join me for a shower, or are you just going to sit here and wait?”

“Aden.” She said strictly, holding onto his arm to stop him from moving.

“Belle, can we just leave it be, please? I get it, that it’s good for my degree and all that, but the same thing runs next year sometime in the winter. I’d rather go then than right now, leaving you here alone. We haven’t really had much time together lately.” Aden explained to her. She eyed him for a second, still not letting go as she tried to work out if there was more to it that he was letting on.

“You’d rather go next year when the baby’s born instead of now? Now, when I’m at work all next week, except for Thursday, which is when you would get back home, and Friday? Meaning that we would most probably end up spending the same month of time together whether you go or not?” Belle pointed out as he sighed heavily, averting his eyes away. “Or is it something else?”

“There’s nothing else.” He said quickly. Pursing her lips, she nodded grudgingly.

“Will you at least think about it? It says you have to let them know by tomorrow, so you still have time.”

“I know. And I will.”

“If you really don’t want to go, and it’s for the right reasons, then I’m not going to make you. But if it’s because of me, then you shouldn’t worry. You’ll only make me feel guilty, and then I’ll just be a terror to be around for the next 3 months.” Belle added in a light tone, making him laugh.

“You’ll be a terror either way, Belle.” He told her cheekily as she gave him a soft punch to the chest.

“But seriously, though. This is your future and education we’re talking about, ok? I know I said that we both need to make a few sacrifices, but this one isn’t necessary. We can cope just fine without you for a few days. Besides, we have the next few months together, so what’s 4 days?” Belle stated as he pulled his arm out of her grasp and rested his hands lightly on her knees. “It’s a win-win situation. You’ll get the benefit of the course, and I’ll miss you so much that I’ll never let you leave again!” She exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck to bring him closer to her.

“That really does sound good.” Aden agreed, laughing. Lifting up a hand, he twirled a tendril of her hair around his finger before pushing it behind her ear. “I’ll think about it. I still have a day, so I’ll make up my mind by then.”

“Ok, that’s all I ask.” She said softly, giving him a brief kiss and resting her forehead against his. “Now, how about that shower?”

---

Hope you enjoyed that. Fluff is really getting fun to write!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Sorry about not updating yesterday. I just couldn’t get it finished in time But it’s done now, and it’s extra long, because that’s how I like it [and my muse apparently].

Hope you guys like it.

Chapter 57:

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? It’ll be fun. She’ll most probably drag me into baby shops everywhere, and you know you love baby shopping.” Belle tempted him, looping her arms around his waist tightly and looking up at him.

“I thought you said no more baby shopping until we got everything we had sorted?” Aden replied with a smile, brushing her hair to a side before wrapping his own arms around her shoulders to pull her as close as was possible.

“I didn’t say we were going to buy anything. I just said that knowing Mattie, she’ll go baby crazy. I swear she forgets sometimes who’s actually having the kid here.” Belle laughed, pressing her face into his shoulder to take in his familiar and comforting scent. Regardless of the fact that they were standing in the middle of the kitchen on a early Sunday afternoon, if it were possible, she wouldn’t move an inch for the rest of her life.

“Yeah, well, who could blame her? Everyone would want my kid!”

“Hey, hey, hey! You think again about that!” She instructed while moving away a bit, but not enough so that they weren’t still in each other’s personal space. “Not everyone would be prepared to put up with you, let alone another one.”

“Oh, but you are?” He questioned her.

“It’s a sacrifice I have to make for the good of the society.” Belle said matter-of-factly as the doorbell rang, stopping Aden from making a remark. “That’ll be Mattie.”

“You should go get it then.” He stated, removing his arms from her as she did the same.

“I will.” She poked her tongue out at him in a very childish manner before walking out of the kitchen and towards the door. Unlocking it easily, there was no surprise to see her best friend standing on the steps, looking almost as if she was going to burst from the eagerness.

“Hello!”

“Hey, Mattie.” Belle greeted in a much calmer voice, letting her pull her into a quick hug before entering the house. “Excited much?”

“Aren’t you? I can’t remember the last time we had a girl’s day out that wasn’t wedding related!” She exclaimed with a huge smile that was contagious.

“I guess so, when you put it that way.”

“Excellent!”

“So, are you ready to go? I don’t think there’s anything to do here, now.” Belle looked around, walking over to the sofa where her bag laid ready with the essentials that she would need to keep her on her feet for most of the day.

“Um… sure. Just one thing first.” Mattie said, holding up her index finger at her to show her the ‘one’. “I need to see the nursery.”

“It hasn’t really changed much. Aden’s working on it today, though, so maybe after we get back it’ll look a bit better.” She informed her even as Mattie made her way towards the stairs.

“After will be too late. I wanna know what’s missing so I can plan ahead with what to buy when you let up!” She called while going upstairs, not bothering with whatever Belle may say or privacy for that matter.

“Help yourself.” She muttered sarcastically before heading back into the kitchen. “Mattie’s gone upstairs.”

“I know. I heard.” Aden replied, looking over from where he was pouring himself a glass of water. “Didn’t even get an acknowledgement.”

“That’s cos it’s Mattie, and all her mind works on nowadays is baby stuff, law, occasionally Ric and very occasionally me.” She informed him, stopping by his side as he finished with the glass and replaced it back into the sink, turning to face her. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” He replied sternly, even as a smile softened his features. “You and Mattie need a girly day out, and I definitely need to get something else done with the nursery.”

“We’ll have a whole week to have girly days. This is just shopping.”

“I don’t think Mattie will see it that way. And no offence, but as much as I love baby shopping, I’m not going with Mattie tagging along.” Aden claimed, winding his arms around her waist slowly. “Besides, I really want to work on the nursery. Hopefully, I can get most of it done so we can see how much space we have left and what we’re missing.”

“Alright, if you really want to then I won’t deprive you of that joy.” Belle giggled as he leant in to kiss her. “Just remember,” She began, breaking away. “You’re leaving in the morning, so you have to pack today. Don’t think that I’ll do it for you, either.”

“I won’t, I won’t.” He chuckled, brushing his lips against hers again. After much speculation and debating, Aden had decided practically an hour before the deadline that it would be a better idea to get the course out of the way while he was still in ‘study mode’ and while Belle was pregnant rather than a few months down the line after the baby was born when she would be home all day and night with a baby to tend by herself as well. Although everyone was still around, he knew that the independence in Belle meant that she would only call on them if there was an emergency, most likely to do with the baby. “What do you think Mattie’s doing up there?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not liking the fact it’s been about 5 minutes already.” Belle replied, looking up towards the ceiling as if she would be able to see through and at her best friend. “I should call her down so we can get going. The shops are going to close otherwise.”

“Ok. I’ll see you later on in the evening then, yeah?”

“Yup.” She agreed, pressing a final kiss to his lips before backing away and into the front room. Waiting at the bottom of the stairs, she checked through her bag one last time as she called out her name. “Mattie! Shouldn’t we be leaving now?”

“Hold on! I’ll just be a second.” Belle could hear the footsteps patter on the upper landing as a door was pulled shut. It wasn’t long before she was bounding down the stairs, a small mischievous look on her face. “Ok. Let’s go!”

“What have you done?” She asked her instead, crossing her arms and looking at her with wary eyes.

“Nothing.”

“Mattie…” Belle said warningly as Mattie grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the door with a little force.

“Seriously, it was nothing.” She told her happily. “Now, let’s get going. Bye Aden!”

“Oh, how nice of you to realise I live here too!” Aden replied as he came into view, leaning against the arch that led into the kitchen from the front room. “Have fun.”

“We will!” Mattie exclaimed, still pulling Belle along with her, although she had forced her to uncross her arms to take her hand.

“You’re going to pull off my arm!“ Belle informed her with an amusing tone before throwing a smile over her shoulder at a chuckling Aden. “Bye!”

“See ya later, babe.” He gave her a brief wave that she was able to catch before leaving the house completely.

“If I’m still alive.” She told him, raising her voice a bit to be heard through the open door as Mattie let go of her hand. Curious as to why, Belle followed her gaze to see what she was seeing. Eyes landing upon Justin walking up towards the house, she looked back at Mattie who had an exasperated look on her face already. “Guess he should be glad there’s no bricks around, huh?”

“Bricks aren’t of an necessity.” She growled as Belle rolled her eyes. It was now her turn to pull on her best friend’s arm, taking her over to her car.

“Afternoon, ladies.” Justin greeted them while passing them by. He paused a few steps later, looking back at them when neither one replied to him. “Don’t I get anything in return?”

“I’ll give you something-” Mattie began before Belle opened the passenger’s set door and almost pushing her inside.

“Mattie, we have to go.” Belle insisted as she huffed, giving the pregnant woman an unimpressed glare while complying.

“She’s a fiery one too, ain’t she?” Justin laughed, giving Mattie a small, teasing wave through the open door.

“Don’t!” Belle cautioned him as he simply smiled. “Aden’s inside, the door’s open, and we are leaving. Bye.”

“Bye. Have fun.” He answered back, chuckling as Belle shut Mattie’s door after telling her to stay put and then rounding the car to get to the driver’s side. There wasn’t another sound or action from either of them as they drove away, either pointedly ignoring him or doing it for his own good.

Turning around, Justin headed back towards the house, practically jumping up the two steps to the door. Although Belle had told him that the door was open, he gave a brief knock before entering, figuring that a small show of manners wouldn’t go astray.

“Hello…?” He called into the house, looking around before hearing the common sounds of metal clanging in the kitchen.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” Aden questioned, looking up at him as he entered the room.

“What? I can’t come to visit now?” Justin asked in mock hurt, waiting in the doorway as his brother eyed him carefully.

“Not on a Sunday afternoon.” He quipped, knowing that he would get what he was trying to say.

“Contrary to popular belief, I do do more than chasing girls. I just do that the most.”

“Alright.” Aden said in a tone of doubt, a light smile coming to his lips. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Yeah? How so?” He enquired in a suspicious voice, following Aden back into the front room. He paused by the coffee table while Aden went over to one of the shelves which was also lined with photos, though this one had a space on the left with a pile of papers and what Justin assumed to be letters.

“I wanted to give you this. I only got it a couple of days ago, but I haven’t seen you since.” Aden handed him a plain white envelope that Justin took and turned it over curiously in his hands.

“What is it?” He asked as he slid a finger under the sealed end, tearing it to reveal the contents. Aden didn’t reply, merely leaning against back of the couch to watch him and keep a bit of distance. Pulling out the slip of paper from inside, Justin frowned as he read it. “Aden-”

“Look, that house was as much yours as mine. And the money from it is just as much yours as mine too.” Aden explained before he could get another word in.

“I don’t want the money. “ Justin informed him, replacing the cheque back into the envelope. “How much did you get for the house, anyway?”

“$250,000. Half’s yours, Justin.”

“Aden, seriously, I don’t want it. I didn’t really have much to do with our house for years. You deserve it more than I do. I have a job, a pretty good one too. Earning enough to rent a place around here, in case you haven‘t noticed.” He told him with determination.

“Yeah, and in case you haven’t noticed, we have a pretty solid income with the money we use from the house and Belle’s job. I’ll be out of uni in a year or so, too.”

“There’s three of you and one of me. Somehow, I think raising a kid costs more than my lifestyle.” Justin tried to joke, lightening the atmosphere. “I’m not taking it. I told you I wasn’t here for any money or whatever.”

“I know that. But this money is just lying around, and it will be for years. I don’t use it, and neither will Belle. The only time that we might have used it was to buy a place of our own, but that didn’t really happen.” Aden informed him, adding a shrug to seem casual as if offering someone $125,000 was an everyday occurrence.

“If you’re that desperate, then give Amanda the money. At least you’ll get, or got, something in return for that.” Justin waved a hand around in the air to indicate what he meant, knowing full well that Aden got the message as he sighed.

“You don’t think I tried? Where do you think Belle gets her stubbornness from?”

“You can do more with the money than I ever will. I mean, you’re having a baby soon enough. Leave it to them, or put it towards their future or something. No doubt you’ll have another kid. I, on the other hand, have no intention of having even a single child.” He pointed out.

“I’m not taking the cheque back.” Aden said sternly as Justin raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not cashing it in. In fact,” He paused as he sealed the envelope once again, before holding it in between his thumb and forefinger with both hands and ripping it in half. “I’m not even taking it with me.”

“Don’t you think you should at least think it through for more than 2 minutes? It’s a lot of money.” Aden almost snapped, frowning at his abruptness.

“I’ll think it through. But I’m not carrying that cheque around with me until then. If I really want it, I’ll ask for it again.” He replied coolly that told Aden that he had well and truly set his mind.

“The money will always be there. And it’ll always be part yours. Hell, it’s part Sean’s too, but I doubt he can do much with it in jail.” Justin laughed at his words, throwing the shreds of paper that he had eventually torn the envelope and the cheque into, onto the coffee table.

“You’ve taken care of it all, Aden. Looking after Dad, dealing with his death and Sean getting put away. Rebuilding your life. I think it’s all yours.” Silence followed Justin’s rare but truthfully wise words as neither brother knew what to say. Letting his eyes wander, he saw Aden looking out of the window with no interest as to what was there, but rather annoyance at probably his reluctance to accept the money etched onto his face. “So…” He began, trying to change the subject. “Where were Belle and that chick-?”

“Mattie.” Aden supplied for him.

“Right, Mattie.” Justin repeated before carrying on. “Where were they heading out to?”

“Shopping.”

“Ah, hence why you’re still here.” He laughed while Aden nodded, his stance easing up again.

“Yeah, didn’t really fancy that. And I did promise I’d get the rest of the nursery done before tomorrow.” He told him with a small smile.

“Tomorrow? What’s so special about tomorrow? You’ve still got ages before the baby’s here.”

“Right, I forgot you didn’t know.” Aden chuckled, shaking his head at Justin’s perplexed look. “I’m away until Thursday on this course thing for uni.”

“Oh, I see.” There was an almost disappointed tinge to his words that confused Aden. “Is Belle going with, or…?”

“I wish.” He exhaled deeply. “No, she has work, and I guess you know what Belle’s like by now. I’m just taking comfort in the fact that, knowing Belle, she’ll hardly spend time alone here.”

“Well, I’m here too. I’ll keep an eye on her if it’ll help.” Justin volunteered nonchalantly, as Aden raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” He stifled a laugh while speaking.

“Shut up. You guys all have this presumption about me, don’t you?” Justin crossed his arms in a fed up manner.

“Sorry.” Aden tried to sound earnest, but he knew it wasn’t coming out right. “Belle told me about Thursday, actually. About the tree and helping her home. And then the hitting on her.”

“Ah, right. Got to stop that.” He tapped his finger to his temple as if it would help him to remember it. “I’ll try my best.”

“Righto…” Aden dismissed easily, not really in the mood, or really caring, about the fact that he had numerously came onto his wife. Somehow, there was something inside of him that told him that Justin would never go through with it and he only acted like that around Belle because he was used to it, and to tease her. “Anyway, I’ve got to get started with the stuff upstairs and get it done, hopefully, by the time Belle gets back. So I‘m guessing that you would rather head back to the beach than hang out here, right?”

“Actually,” Justin said pointedly, uncrossing his arms and tucking his hands into his pockets. “If you need the help, I can give you a hand with the nursery.”

“Really?” Aden’s tone was filled with shock, which did make him feel guilty for being amazed at Justin’s generosity after all that he had done. “Don’t you have anything else to do other than to fix a few things up?”

“Not really.” He shrugged before grinning almost boyishly. “Besides, it’s my niece or nephew’s room. I think I ought to have something to do with it.”

“Alright, if you really want. I could sure do with the company.”

“Not to mention my expertise with this area.” Justin said arrogantly as Aden pushed himself away fro the couch and towards the stairs, laughing amusedly.

“Let’s just wait and see about that.”

---

“Belle? You up yet, sweetheart?” He called out from the bathroom as he got out of the shower. It was the following morning, and it being Monday meant that not only was he leaving in less than 30 minutes, Belle had work to get up for work too.

Receiving no reply, he opened the door that led into the bedroom, not that surprised to see her wrapped up in the sheets comfortably even in the warm start of the day. Shaking his head, Aden walked over to the dresser and pulled out some clothes before throwing them onto the bed.

“Belle…” He said in a sing-song manner, leaning over her and running a hand through her hair. She shuffled away from it, moving more and more into the centre of the bed. “You’re going to be late.”

“5 minutes.” She mumbled, the words barely audible from the inside of the cocoon she had created. Rolling his eyes, Aden backed away towards the end of the bed to get changed. He managed to do so easily, tapping Belle’s leg or foot every now and again when she seemed to have fallen back asleep. She responded by kicking her legs out at first before curling them up towards her body so that they were out of his reach.

“Ok, 5 minutes are up. Time to get up.” Aden instructed, going back to the bathroom to throw his towel into the hamper. Returning to see Belle still in the same position, he sighed and decided to take drastic action.

Walking up to the side of the bed, he tugged gently on her shoulder, whispering softly to her for a final chance to wake up. When she batted his hand away, and turned her face into the pillow, Aden tugged a bit harder on her shoulder, not enough to hurt her, but enough to make her roll back gently. She groaned as she did so, knowing that it was more to do with the fact that he was waking her up rather than the ache in her back.

“I’m giving you one last chance, babe. You need to get up otherwise you’re going to be late for work and I’m going to have to leave, so I won’t get to say goodbye.” He told her strictly. Seeing her eyes flutter open for a second, he smiled lightly before they fell shut again.

“Goodbye.” She muttered, trying to pull away from his grip go back to sleep. Laughing to himself, Aden tugged on her arm once more as she moaned once more. This time, however, he used his other hand to free her of the mess of the covers before sliding one arm under her legs and the other under her back to lift her up. “Aden! Put me down!”

“Sorry, but you asked for it.” There was more than just humour lacing his words, although there was a bit of concern at the back of his head as he realised that, at almost 6 months pregnant, Belle was still fairly light to him. Carrying her towards the bathroom, he set her down on her feet once they had crossed the threshold and were a fair bit in. One of her hands still clung onto his t-shirt as she used the other to gain balance by grasping the counter.

She stood there for a moment as she got her bearings. It wasn’t everyday that she would wake up to find herself in the bathroom and on her feet. Eyes still wanting to stay shut, she turned around to face the door, and inadvertently Aden, before managing to get her feet to work, aiming to get back to bed.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Aden held onto her forearms as she gave him a glare through her narrow eyes and the fringe that seemed to have gotten annoyingly longer that morning. “How are you going to get up the next few days without me here, huh?”

“I’ll find a way.”

“No, you won’t. You’re going to sleep the whole week through at this rate.” He laughed as she rubbed her eyes in an almost childlike way, waking her up a bit.

“I‘m not!” Belle insisted confidently. “I’ll just have to find myself another trustworthy alarm clock for the next few days.”

“’Alarm clock‘?!” Aden repeated in mock outrage. “Is that all I am to you?”

“No, of course not!” She told him, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest. “You’re great to cuddle up to, too.”

“Thank you so much, Belle.” He replied sarcastically as she giggled against his clavicle before pulling away and letting her hands glide to his arms, following them down to his hands which laid on her hips.

“Don’t you need to be going soon?”

“Trying to get rid of me?” Aden asked, raising his eyebrows while she shot him an unimpressed look. “In about 25 minutes or so.”

“Ok, seeing as I’m up now, and I am up!” She added pointedly to him. “You can go make me some breakfast while I get ready.”

“Is that another thing that I am to you? Your chef?”

“Yes. Now go!” Belle laughed, forcing his hands off her manually as he pouted, skimming his fingers across her stomach before doing as she said and leaving. “Thank you so much!” She mimicked, only this time, her words were genuine as opposed to his dry ones.

“Funny.” Aden responded, smiling to himself as the bathroom door closed. Pausing in the bedroom for a moment, he looked around to make sure that everything was ok, and that he hadn’t forgotten anything. As promised, Aden had packed the previous night, although it had been after Belle had returned home and he and Justin had been done with the nursery. She hadn’t seemed to care, even growing irritated with him and doing it for him in the end, but he put that down to the fact that she had been tired after the day of shopping rather than going back on her word that she wasn‘t going to do such a thing.

He laughed at the memory, finally heading towards the main door to make Belle her breakfast. As he did so, he passed the little stool that had no uses in their room other than to place things onto, such as the reasonably large, and fluffy, teddy bear that occupied it now. The grey vintage style toy was the only thing that Belle had brought home that was from a baby store, claming that it was impossibly soft to not have. Aden had to admit that, as he ran a hand over the head of it on his way, it was truly impossibly soft. And even though it was meant for the baby, he had no idea what it was doing in their room as opposed to the nursery.

---

“Aden?” Belle looked around the front room for any sign of him before heading towards the kitchen where she could smell the delicious scent of his pancakes. She had already settled herself onto one of the stools, sipping the glass of orange juice when she heard the front door creak open.

“Belle?”

“In the kitchen.” She called back to him. It wasn’t long until he entered the room, looking ready to leave at any given second with his shades on and keys swinging from his fingers. “I was wondering where you had gotten to.”

“Just placing the stuff into the car.” He informed her while walking up to her slowly. She twisted her stool in his direction as he stood right in front of her.

“Good, I was thinking that you may have left without saying goodbye!” Belle huffed with a ghost of a smile lining her lips while Aden laughed.

“In case you’ve forgotten, you’ve already said ‘goodbye’, remember? That was very mean too.”

“Aw, I didn’t mean it. I was still sleeping. I say a lot of things to make you let me sleep.” She assured him, smiling clearly now as she reached out and took off his sunglasses, hooking them into his shirt, and then reached out for the hand that didn’t hold the keys. “So, you all packed to go, then?”

“Yup. Making sure you’re ok here and then I’m off.” Aden told her, pulling her hand up to his mouth and pressing a kiss to her knuckles before laying both their hands on her stomach. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Seriously, stop worrying about me, us, so much. We’re perfectly fine, just like we have been for the past 6 months.” Belle said in a confident tone.

“But unlike the past 6 months, I’m not going to be here.” He countered, a small frown forming on his face.

“For 4 days. Less than that, actually.” She reminded him. “And it’s not like you’re flying out to another country, or going out to the middle of the outback with no contact.”

“I know, but still…” Aden let out a sigh as Belle pulled him closer, looping her arms around his neck as he used his other hand to brush away the hair from her face. “I hate not being able to be here with you, to see you, to touch you, to look after you-”

“You can do all that again when you get back.” She cut him off quickly with a rueful smile. “I can look after myself, don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen. It’ll go so quickly, it’ll be like you never left.”

“Alright.” He gave in, letting her pull him into a brief, but loving kiss. It was enough to convey all their feelings, yet short enough to stop things from getting carried away. “Just promise me that if you need anything, you’ll call me. Or Irene or Roman. Someone, at least.”

“I promise!” Belle agreed, resting her forehead against his and prodding a finger into his chest. “Don’t stress out about it. You just worry about getting there and back in one piece!”

“I will, I will!” Aden finally laughed, grabbing a hold of her hand to stop her from jabbing him while moving back. Her arms fell down to her own body while he kept his hand on her expanding tummy. “But seriously, Belle; if you want me to come home, you just say it and I’ll be here, alright? Doesn’t matter why or when, day or night, say the word and I’ll come back.”

“Aden, I know.” She replied after a small pause, trying to stop herself from getting a bit too emotional, which she put down to her still crazy hormones than anything else, telling herself that it really will go by so fast and that she could cope 4 days without him, just like she had managed to cope practically 18 years without him. “Shouldn’t you be leaving? Wouldn’t want you to be late.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He murmured, eyes drifting down to his hands on her stomach, covered by her long and loose top that did a good job at keeping her baby bump at minimal focus. As much as she loved her baby, it wasn’t what she liked to be at the centre of attention while working. “Alright, time to go, I guess.”

“Yup, and for me to eat breakfast.” Belle said lightly, making him chuckle before pressing his lips to hers in a slightly more passionate kiss than the previous one. “Aden…” She moaned, pushing him away with her hands on his chest. “Go!”

“One more.” He tried, but she titled her head away to stop him. “C’mon, just one more. Please?”

“Nope.” She told him with a tone of determination, until she saw the mini pout forming. Glaring at him for playing such dirty tactics, she sighed and slid off the stool. “At the door. That way you will actually leave afterwards and not have to drive dangerously to get there on time.”

“You’re really desperate to get rid of me, aren’t you?” Aden asked her amusedly as she walked towards the front door with him in tow.

“Totally. The sooner you go, the sooner you get back.” Belle reasoned, pausing a few feet away from the door and turning to face him. Without another word, she placed both of her hand on either side of his neck and brought him into a very lustful and hungry kiss that ended almost as soon as Aden was able to get his head around the surprise and kiss her back. “Happy now?”

“Kind of.” He grinned at her cheekily as she took a step back and rolled her eyes at him. Reaching out, she pulled his shades out from where she had placed them only a little while beforehand and slid them very carefully back onto him. “Is that your way of telling me to go?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, ok.” Aden laughed, pushing his glasses more comfortably up. “I guess I’ll see you in a few days then.”

“I guess.” Belle muttered as she gave him one last embrace, hugging him as tightly as she could, for as long as she could.

“Take care, yeah? Don’t stress out about anything-”

“I won’t.” Belle cut him off as he eyed her carefully.

“Call me a few times a day, and eat, and sleep, well. Make sure you get up for work-” He carried on with a smirk growing on his face while Belle pushed him towards in the direction of the door.

“Alright, alright, I get it!” She exclaimed in a mix of exasperation and humour. “I’ll be fine.”

“Ok.” Aden laughed, quickly giving her a kiss before she could protest. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Belle replied, watching him leave and get into the car. She waiting until he actually drove off before shutting the door, letting out a deep breath as it occurred to her that, for the first time ever, she was going to be all alone in their rather large house.

As if the thought had upset it, the baby gave a couple of swift kicks as a reminder that she wasn’t actually alone. Giggling at the actions, and the thought that the baby may actually understand the theory of feeling neglected, Belle headed back towards the kitchen where the food waited for her.

“Just you and me for the next 4 days or so, baby.” She whispered, stroking her stomach lovingly while hoping back onto the stool, hoping that her ministrations would calm the baby down. “We’ll show Daddy that we can have fun without him. We’re going to be just fine.”

---

Sorry if it got a bit too long/dragged on. I hope it didn’t though!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Drew and Amanda need to make appearance. They'll add some much needed excitement.

And this is probably the part where you are wishing I had just chose not to review at all.

I'd never wish that someone didn't post a comment. Good or bad, I don't care. I like hearing what people think, esp from those who have actually stuck through all three fics And it's funny you should mention Drew and Amanda...

This is another looooong update, and I think it'll be classed as a filler chapter. I'm not really happy with it. It just doesn't seem to be one of my best ones, but hopefully it'll be okish, and I'll get back to writing something better soon

leah1234, as you can see, here's tonight's update! Thank you for asking!! It motivated me to get it finished quicker!

Chapter 58:

Groaning as the sound grew louder and louder, Belle threw her hand out towards the alarm, hitting it numerous times only for the music to keep on persisting. Rolling back slightly, she rubbed her eyes, finally realising that it wouldn’t be the alarm going off seeing as she hadn’t set it the previous night because her boss had kindly told her to get her work done at home that day. It took a little while longer to notice that it wasn’t anything in her room making the noise, but rather the doorbell. Taking a glance at the time, Belle let out another low groan as the person on the other side of the front door kept on ringing the bell.

She pushed herself out of bed with all of the energy that she could muster. Sitting on the edge momentarily, she wished there was some way to yell loud enough to tell them to shut up. Standing up, Belle decided against pulling on her dressing gown, already feeling the heat of the early summer morning. Wearing a pair of boxers and a long shirt that covered her modestly, both of which were Aden’s, she made her way down the stairs, running a hand through her ruffled hair as she stifled a yawn and tried to walk straight.

Belle peered through the peephole once she got to the door, sighing heavily when she saw who it was. Reluctantly unlocking the doors, she opened one of them, leaning against the other to keep her from slumping to the ground in tiredness.

“Good morning, sis.”

“No, not ‘good morning’!” She grumbled as Drew entered the house in his typical cheerful self. “Early morning. Morning where I was asleep in my nice, comfy bed. Morning where I could actually sleep without my baby kicking me awake every 2 hours or so!”

“Geez, grouchy, much?” He laughed, coming to stand next to the couch and turning to face her. “It’s half 10 in the morning. Haven’t you had enough sleep? It’s not like your husband’s here to keep you up at night either.”

“Shut up.” Belle moaned, closing the door and making her way slowly towards the kitchen. “What are you doing here anyway? It’s Tuesday! And haven’t you ever heard of the phone? Use it once in a while before you go crazy with the doorbell!”

“Ok, ok, sorry! I’ll try and remember next time.” Drew rolled his eyes behind her back, following her into the next room. “I’m here because I have the rest of the week off, and, coincidently, you’re alone here too. Thought it would be fun to catch up.”

“Drew, I speak to you practically everyday in one way or another.” She huffed, filling up the kettle with water before heading back to plug it in. “And I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Fine, it was ‘fate’ then.” He said in a dry tone, sliding into one of the stools by the counter in the middle of the kitchen.

“How did you manage to get a whole week off work, anyway?”

“I just did.” Drew shrugged, giving her an innocent smile as she looked at him over her shoulder, curiosity written all over her face.

“Did Aden put you up to this? Asking you to stay in the Bay to keep an eye on me? Cos if he did-” Belle began to rant, a frown etching onto her lips.

“Like I would do anything he said.” He scoffed, picking up an apple from the fruit bowl and tossing it around in his hands a few times.

“Was it Mum then? Or Peter? Or Irene, maybe?”

“No, it wasn’t anyone, Belle.” He stopped her with a hurt look. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I would come here out of the goodness of my heart to spend time with you?”

Belle eyed him for a moment before turning back to the kettle as it went off. Grabbing a cup and a tea bag, she kept herself busy making it up. She could hear Drew munching away on the apple, making her own body crave for one just from the crispy sound of it. Turning around, she took her drink with her, stirring it to help cool it down and stood opposite from him. Watching him again, Belle saw his eyebrows dart up in question as she bit the inside of her cheek as she thought.

“It wasn’t Mattie, was it? Cos she would be the one to be able to convince you and say that crap.” Drew merely gave her a dry look, not commenting as he continued to chew away. “It was Mattie, wasn’t it?”

“No!” He finally answered. “Seriously, it wasn’t anyone. It really was my decision, believe it or not.”

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry.” Belle sighed, giving him a small smile in return. “Just for the record, I don’t need babysitting.”

“I know.” Drew returned the smile, although his was more suspiciously happier. “You won’t even know I’m here half of the time.”

“Good, and don’t even think you’re staying here. I don’t need all the not-so-subtle attempts of trying to help me out or wrapping me up in cotton wool. The only reason I haven’t kicked Aden out yet is because we’re married and this is his kid too.” She warned him as he simply shook his head in amusement.

“Don’t worry about it, sis. I wouldn’t want to stay here anyway.” He grimaced mockingly before taking another bite out of his apple. “I’ll be staying at Leah’s as always. Besides VJ’s better company that you.”

“Glad to hear that. Maybe you can make yourself scarce then while I get ready.”

“Don’t you have the day off from work?”

“Working from home.” Belle corrected him as he pulled a face and mimicked her words soundlessly. “Because, unlike you, I like having a job and having some money. Got bills to pay, food to buy and all that.”

“You see, that’s where living at home comes in handy.” Drew pointed out with a smirk. “And it’s not like you need to work for the money, now do you?”

“Hmm…” She replied noncommittally, knowing that starting this conversation about Aden’s money would only end in teasing for her, something that her brain wasn’t up to yet. “I need to go get changed. Can I trust you to stay here and not break anything?”

“Ha ha.” He said sarcastically, turning serious when he saw her face. “Yeah, of course. I‘m not 5.”

“Tell that to the doorbell.” Belle muttered, passing him as she headed out of the kitchen and back upstairs with her tea in her hands, leaving a diffident Drew behind.

---

“Your shout?” She asked him before chuckling deep in her throat almost maliciously. “Oh, you’re going to regret that.”

“Doubt it.” Drew replied, sliding into the seat opposite her in the Diner. “You hardly eat a thing.”

“Ah, but I’m eating for two now.” Belle retorted, smoothing a hand over her stomach to emphasize her words. “Might even end up eating more than you!”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Is that a dare?” She questioned in a low and dangerous voice, leaning in slightly while raising an eyebrow.

“Depends. Are you going to take it up?” He countered as Belle smirked.

“When have you known me to back down from a dare?” She scoffed. “Even better, let’s add a bit to it.”

“What? Like a bet?” Drew said in a surprised tone as Belle sat back in her seat, crossing her arms loosely and protectively just above her bump.

“Yup. Unless, of course, you’re too scared to lose.” She added coolly with a shrug as Drew laughed.

“Oh, please! This is one thing that I can always ace.”

“You must be so proud.” Belle said dryly as he gave her a dirty look. “Go on then, make a wager.”

“Ah…” Drew began, trying to think of something. Tapping his fingers on the table as he did so, Belle soon became impatient, slapping a hand on top of his with added force that made him wince. “Ow! Belle!”

“Sorry.” She apologized with only a hint of remorse as he shook his hand. “Did you mange to think of anything?”

“Bet’s off. There’s no way I’m putting up with you after you lose if this is what I get just trying to think.” He told her with clipped words, massaging his hand with the other one. “I think it’s broken.”

“It’ll be fine, you wimp.” Belle rolled her eyes. “You forfeiting the dare, then?”

“I’m not ‘forfeiting’.” Drew insisted defiantly.

“You’re going ahead with it?” She asked him almost hopefully.

“No. Fine, I ‘forfeit’.” He gave in, throwing up his hands. “But only because I know what’s good for me. Happy?”

“Extremely.” Belle laughed. “There’s no way I would have won that.”

“Then why did you want to make a bet on it?” Drew questioned, flabbergasted at her words and knowing that he could have had something to hold over her.

“Cos.” She shrugged. “There aren’t that many people who’d bet with me nowadays. They think I’d get upset if I lost, and that’s not good. Thought you’d be stupid enough to risk it.”

“Hey, I can upset you without a bet if you really want.” He offered as Belle giggled, pretending to think about it.

“I’ll get back to you about that.” She smiled as her phone buzzed in her pocket, pulling it out to see who the text message was from. There was no doubt that the smile on her face had softened as she read it.

“Three guesses who that’s from, huh?” Drew’s words snapped her back to reality as she sent a reply.

“What?” She asked him innocently. “It’s just a text.”

“And how many have you sent already in the past 24 hours?” Belle pursed her lips, eyes still fixed onto her phone as she replied.

“That’s none of your business.” She muttered as Drew merely chuckled at her defensive words. “Are we going to order anytime soon? I’m getting hungry.”

“Alright, alright. Relax a moment, would you? Take a look around; this place is packed. I think it’ll take a few more minutes.” He informed her while she did as he said, finally realising just how busy both the inside, and the outside it seemed, to be. “Isn’t school still on?”

“Yeah, another week or two.” She replied, knowing that the sudden influx of high school kids was kind of strange, but good for business nonetheless. “So…?”

“Yes?” Drew prompted her.

“I dunno.” Belle carried on, laughing lightly. “How’s stuff?”

“Stuff’s good.”

“Care to elaborate on that, Drew?” She said pointedly. “All I’ve heard from you lately is work, going out, work some more and go out again.”

“That’s cos that’s all I do.” He told her straightforwardly. “Nothing much else to do, either. Ric’s working, you’re working, Mattie’s at uni and so on.”

“Don’t you have any friends in the city?”

“Yeah, ‘course!” He scoffed before grimacing mockingly a bit. “But they all too busy with their girlfriends at times.”

“Aw, poor little spare wheel.” Belle teased, patting his hand lightly until he took it out of her reach.

“Does pregnancy make all women really mean, or is it just you?” Drew taunted her, faking a tone as interest as Belle glowered at him for a second and then smiled.

“Just me.” She said sweetly. “What about home? Every time I ring, or Mum rings me, you’re never there.”

“I’d rather be a spare wheel than deal with Amanda right now.” He shook his head as he pretended to shudder.

“Why?” Belle asked cautiously. “What’s up with Amanda?”

“She’s just permanently happy and bubbly, and always trying to get us to do things. Even Dad tries to stay out of her way. I feel sorry for Ryan, seeing as he has no excuses to get out of the house.”

“Why’s she like that?” She questioned again before a horrifying thought came into her head. “She’s not pregnant, is she?”

“God, I hope not!” Drew exclaimed, eyes widening. “Actually, I doubt it cos she did manage to down half a bottle of wine yesterday in a matter of 20 minutes.”

“That kinda explains the joyfulness.”

“Yeah, last night. Other than that, it’s mainly the baby stuff.” He explained to her, pulling the newspaper that laid at the edge of the table closer to him to read it.

“I never knew she would be so happy at the prospect of becoming a grandmother so young.” Belle mused out loud, a wry smile tugging at her lips at the thought.

“Well, I never knew you’d be so happy at the prospect of becoming a mother so young, but life’s full of surprises, huh?” He looked up at her with a smirk just forming on his face to show that he didn’t mean for his words to be cruel. “And it’s not just that. She’s in her element with organising your surprise 21st party.”

“My what?” She choked out, eyes widening while Drew merely shrugged. “No! I told her no parties.”

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t.” He replied coolly, smiling at the look of horror on Belle’s face. “Hey, you know what Amanda’s like.”

“I swear I told her. How could I miss her off the list?” Belle murmured, more to herself than to him. Drew, however, had heard it, giving her a look of confusion at her words. “Aden, Mattie, Irene, Annie. And, obviously, Mum. I told everyone else at least a month ago.”

“It’s a party, sis. What’s wrong with that? You get to have fun, get gifts and do nothing all day.”

“You’re only saying that because you know how much I don’t want one! Not now.” She hissed at him, dropping her head into her hands before running them through her hair. “Alright, I’ll just call Mum and tell her not to go ahead with it.”

“You better do it soon. She’s already got a plan and list of things to do.” He told her in an amused tone, and if Belle didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was enjoying himself with her displeasure. “Once she’s hired the bouncy castle, there’s no going back.”

“The what?” Belle stopped scrolling through her address book in her phone, glancing at him, perplexed.

“You know, a bouncy castle? Those inflatable kid toys thingy you always find at children’s parties…?” Drew explained, hoping that she was catching his drift.

“I know what it is, Drew! I’m just wondering why Mum would-”

“She wouldn’t.” He sighed heavily, jumping in once again before Belle could add more. “It was a joke. You being with child, kid’s love fun stuff like that, your party.”

“But my birthday’s in 3 weeks. The baby’s not due for another 3 months.” Belle reminded him slowly while he simply looked at her blankly.

“It was a joke. That’s all. Just forget I said a thing.” He dismissed, turning back to the paper that he had been skimming through. Belle thought about what he had said for another minute before mentally shaking her head, giving up.

“I still don’t get it.”

“Never mind.”

---

“Mum, please. I just wouldn’t be able to cope with a party and being pregnant.” Belle practically begged over the phone. She was sat at the kitchen table, just adding the final touches to her article before having to email it in before her deadline within the hour.

It‘s not like I‘m asking you to dance and put on a show, Belle. All you have to do is be there and look pretty and happy, and have a good time. I‘m sure you can do that, right?”” Amanda replied, a tinge of sadness to her words that made Belle feel guilty.

“But I won’t have a good time. I’ll moan the whole time. Do you want that? I’ll moan and moan and moan so much, that you‘ll want to send me home. I might not even turn up in the first place.” She tried to tell her, knowing that she was exaggerating, although it was only a little bit.

”Your 21st, Belle! You only get to do it once and you should do it in style. This was why it was meant to be a surprise, so you wouldn‘t stress out about it beforehand.” Amanda sighed heavily. ”I guess if you really don‘t wont to have a party, then I can‘t make you.”

“Oh, Mum. Now I feel bad!”

”So you should! My only daughter‘s turning 21 and I‘m not allowed to throw her a party to celebrate it!” Even though her words were light-hearted, there was still seriousness in them that made Belle give in a bit.

“Look, how about we compromise?”

”Compromise, how?” Amanda asked her, intrigued.

“Um…” She struggled to think of something that wouldn’t wear down on her energy levels, or have to fake enthusiasm to be happy all day. “How about we do something? Something small. Like, with only the family.”

”Hmm…” Belle could almost hear her mother’s brain ticking away as she thought about it. ”Alright, I guess it‘s better than nothing.”

“Exactly.” She agreed. “Just no party. Please. And no surprises. I hate surprises.”

”Ok, I promise; no surprises.” Amadan reluctantly told her. ”I’ll plan something else then, and I’ll let you know before I make any decisions. Does that sound good, darling?”

“Yes, that sound’s fine.” Belle smiled even if she couldn’t see it. “And don’t blame Drew. Well, you can if you want, but I’m glad he told me.”

”Tell him when he gets home, we’re gonna have words.” She demanded with a strict voice that made Belle’s smile widen.

“Will do.”

”Alright, then. I’ll let you get back to your work. But you have to come up someday soon. How about this weekend? Aden will be back and there’s no uni or work to deal with then.” Amanda suggested with sudden glee as Belle thought it through.

“We’ll have to see, Mum. Aden might still be tired after his trip.” She reminded her before carrying on. “But we’ll be up soon. I promise.”

”Sure, I understand.” There was a chirpy tune to Amanda’s words once again that dispersed Belle’s guilty feeling. ”I’ll talk to you soon then. Bye, Belle.”

“Yup, of course. Bye.” Hanging up with the phone, Belle laid it next to her, too lazy to get up and walk to mere 10 feet to where this particular landline phone lived in the kitchen. Getting back to her work, she had managed to add the last two lines before the doorbell rang. And rang, and rang, and rang.

Growling in frustration at her step-brother’s childish actions, she glanced at the time as she headed for the front doors. Unlocking them, she yanked open the frequently used one, giving Drew a dirty look.

“What?” He questioned as he entered, followed by Ric and Mattie. The three of them had been hanging out for the rest of the afternoon as she got her work done, promising that they could spend the evening together afterwards.

“I said 8.” Belle reminded them.

“You said 7.”

“8! I’m still working. Why would I tell you to come at 7 when I’m still busy?” She almost snapped, frowning as the other three shrugged and simply smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, Belle. You can get on with your work until 8. We can keep ourselves busy here.” Mattie assured her, rubbing her arm lightly. “I’ve got DVDs that we could get started on.”

“Yup, and I have beer!” Ric exclaimed happily holding up the plastic bag that she assumed carried the beverages. “We bought you something too.” He dug into it, pulling out a bottle and handing it to her.

“Juice. Aw, how sweet of you!” Belle gushed mockingly.

“I know.” He replied proudly as she rolled her eyes.

“Ok, we should let Belle get back to her work.” Mattie tugged on both of the boys’ arms, pulling them in the direction of the couches. “You won’t even know we’re here, I promise!”

“Yeah, right.” She scoffed, knowing exactly how loud they can get when they get together. “I’ll only be a few more minutes, anyway.”

“Take your time.” Mattie called after her as she returned back to the kitchen and her laptop. “We can entertain ourselves!”

“Definitely.” Belle could hear Ric agree while the TV was switched on. Taking her seat once again, she laughed silently to herself as she heard the three of them begin to argue about what to watch, their voices rising before drastically dropping into harsh whispers to keep to Mattie’s promise.

Using the murmur of her three friends, still arguing, as a motivation to get the job done quicker, Belle skim read everything that she had wrote, fairly certain that it was done after working on it for hours. Leaning back in her seat, she rubbed soothing circles on her stomach as the baby began to stir, probably reacting to her own eagerness to have a laidback evening, with junk food, with the others.

Looking at the time in the corner of the screen as she saved the document one last time, she was glad to see that she had plenty of time to go before her deadline even as she opened her email to send it in. Belle had just gotten to the point of typing in the email address when a melody rang out from near her. Her first instinct was to reach for the landline phone that laid next to her still, but it didn’t take long to realise that the tune was in fact from her own mobile.

Belle leant forwards in her seat as she reached out for the phone with one hand, using the other to complete the task of typing in the address. She averted her eyes for the briefest moment to catch a glimpse of who it was.

“Just give me one second.” Belle spoke into the phone after accepting the call, holding it between her ear and shoulder while typing out a small message to accompany the email.

”Hello to you, too.” Aden chuckled at her greeting.

“Sorry. One more second…” She finished off the message, reading it through quickly before finally sending it off, making sure that the file was attached to it too. Once it sent, Belle put all of her attention into the phone call, taking the mobile back into her hand. “Hey!”

”Are you busy?”

“No, no. Not anymore.” She told him. “How are you?”

”Tired.” Aden groaned dramatically, making her laugh. ”No, I‘m alright. How about you?”

“I’m good. Just finished off my work, thank God!” Belle sighed.

”Yeah? That‘s good. So, what are you going to do now? Are you at home?” He questioned her in a gentle way even though she knew he was trying to make sure that she wasn’t going to be alone or get bored.

“Yup, I’m here. As are Mattie, Ric and Drew. I think we’re just spending the night in.” She informed him, relaxing back in her seat as the arguing became a bit louder in the front room.

”Ah, I see. Sounds like fun.” Aden laughed before a yawn interrupted him. ”Sorry; long and boring day.”

“That bad, huh?”

”Do you remember how boring those double physics lessons with Mr. Bartlett were?” He questioned her.

“Yes…” Belle answered cautiously.

”Well, today was like double double physics lessons.” He explained to her as Belle winced and laughed sympathetically.

“If it helps, you said that today was going to be the worst. And there’s only a day and a half left!”

”I guess it helps.” Aden exhaled slowly. ”You know what? You get back to others, and you can give me a call later on. Or in the morning.”

“Don’t worry about it, Aden. They can wait a little while longer.” Belle told him sternly. “Oh, guess what?”

”What?” He asked suspiciously at her sudden change in tone.

“I said guess…” She instructed and she could practically hear him roll his eyes.

”I give up. Now tell me.” Aden said in a light tone to which she shook her head to.

“Well, I ran into Justin earlier on, and apparently he’s going out on a date tonight.” Belle informed him with a small giggle.

”Seriously? As in, a proper date?” He questioned her, words lined with both shock and humour.

“Yup. He said he was going to ‘wine and dine them’. Of course, he couldn’t really remember her name, but he did tell me that she was blonde and looked as if she was in her late 20s, although she didn’t act it. I didn’t know what to make of that, but yeah…” She explained to him.

”Sounds like a great girl. Never knew Justin had it in him.”

“Me neith-” Belle began, only to be interrupted by a call from the front room.

“Belle! Romance, comedy or action?” Mattie yelled to her with no further elaboration.

“What?” She pulled the phone away so not to shout in Aden’s ear.

“Pick one!”

“Comedy, I guess.” Belle replied as there were two groans and she figured that the comedies were also chick flicks. “Sorry.” She apologized as she brought the phone back to her ear.

”Belle, seriously, go.” Aden insisted. ”Sounds like Mattie needs the support, and I have a lot left to do tonight alone. I‘ll talk to you later.”

“Alright.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face. “I’ll speak to you later then.”

”Will do. Have fun, yeah?”

“Of course.” Belle said teasingly. “I always have fun, especially without you around.”

”Gee, thanks. I miss you too, babe.” Aden scoffed with sarcasm that made her chortle before sighing.

“We miss you, too. But it’s only another few days, and then you really do get to be my servant.” She reminded him.

”Actually, right now, that sounds quite alright.” Silence engulfed them both after his words until Aden spoke up to break it. ”Anyway, you should get back to Mattie and them lot.”

“Yeah, sure.” Belle quickly responded with slight distraction. “I’ll call you later. Bye.”

”Bye. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She replied before, finally, hanging up. Tossing the phone back onto the table, Belle shut down her laptop slowly. A sudden feeling of fatigue had overtaken her, and all she wanted to do was sleep. At least, that was until there was a sudden exclamation from the front room as another fight started up.

Getting up, she headed into the living room to see the three of them all seated comfortably on the sofas, with the boys still whining about the DVD that Mattie had put in. She could tell that their complaints now was about the fact that she had insisted on watching the trailers before the actual movie itself.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight then?” Belle asked them, taking her seat on the sofa next to Mattie.

“DVD’s in, food’s been ordered and we have drinks.” Drew listed, quickly and simply.

“And we have each other for company!” Her best friend added, to which the boys muttered an agreement.

“Right, sound’s like fun.” She laughed, knowing that the chances of them actually watching the DVD through was almost nonexistent. “Where’s the popcorn?”

“We don’t have any.” Ric state the obvious, taking another swig of his beer in a carefree manner.

“Plus, the food should be here any minute now.” Drew added.

“But we need popcorn.” Belle told them. “I’ll get it. I can’t believe you forgot the popcorn!”

“Yeah, guys! You went out to the shops. Should have bought some popcorn too!” Mattie exclaimed, almost mockingly as Belle got up, a small smirk on her face.

“We never eat popcorn!” Ric defended them.

“It’s just another ‘pregnant Belle’ thing, anyway.” Drew said once she was in the kitchen, rolling his eyes which were fixed onto the TV and therefore missing the warning look that Mattie shot him. “She’ll get over it.”

“By the way, Drew,” Belle called from the kitchen. “Mum said that she’s going to ‘have words with you’ when you get back home for letting the secret about the party slip.”

“What?” He spluttered, almost choking on his drink. “I thought we agreed you weren’t going to tell her that I told you!”

“Drew, she’s not stupid!” She replied, walking over to where she could see him. “You’re here, and you knew about it. Mum can make the connection herself.”

“Did you at least tell her that it was a good thing I told you?”

“Nope.” Belle lied, only for the joy to see him squirm. “Must have forgotten. Sorry, must be another ‘pregnant Belle’ thing.”

“Ha! She’s got you there, mate!” Ric laughed as both girls giggled at Drew’s unimpressed face. “Thought you would have learnt your lesson on picking on pregnant women already.”

“What?” He questioned him in confusion as Belle retuned back to the kitchen.

“We heard about the phone incident…” Mattie supplied, smirking. “Not nice at all.”

“Shut up!”

---

I hope you liked it even in the slightest

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I’m glad you all enjoyed it even with the minimal Adelle. But I love writing them others too

Nothing much else to say… BIG thank you to Laura for proofing this and suggesting the following warning: Brace yourself. Enjoy!

Chapter 59:

Grimacing at the TV as she watched some daytime documentary about emergency surgeries, Belle let out a quiet squeal as it moved on to emergency Caesarean sections. She quickly grabbed the remote control and changed the channel onto some dire talk show. At least with that she wouldn’t have the urge to throw up, or fear about the outcome of her pregnancy for the next 3 months.

Digging her spoon back into her ice cream, she ate it quickly before the chocolate and raspberry sauce that it was smothered in began to drip. The frozen treat cooled her down on the very hot day, even as she sat inside away from the sun.

The sounds of approaching footsteps outside from the kitchen entrance to the beach house claimed Belle’s attention, and she looked over her shoulder to see Geoff enter the house, pausing in surprise to see his older sister of sorts sitting on the couch. She had her legs stretched out in front of her along the rest of the sofa, seeming as relaxed as she could be.

“Hey!” She greeted him with a smile, pulling the spoon out from her mouth.

“Hey. Um…” He faltered while approaching her. “You do realise that you don’t live here anymore, right?”

“After 3 months, I’d think so.” Belle joked as he leant against the back of the sofa so that he could still speak to her. “Besides, I thought I was always welcome here?”

“No, of course you are!” Geoff hurriedly corrected him. “I was just saying that it was a shock to see you here, because you haven’t really been here like this for a while now. Not that you’re not welcome here, cos you are-”

“Geoff,” She interrupted him with a small smile. “I get it. It’s ok; I was just teasing you.”

“Right.” He promptly shut up, nodding once. “So what’s going on? I thought Aden’s coming home today?”

“He is.” Belle confirmed, taking another spoonful of her ice-cream. “But not for another couple of hours.”

“I see. So you thought you’d come and raid our fridge and waste time here?” Geoff joked as Belle shot him a sarcastic look, even as a smile curved her lips.

“Well, we didn’t have any chocolate stuff at home anymore. I had to finish it all yesterday.”

“Yeah, about that. Aren’t you getting sick of chocolate yet? I mean, you’ve had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past few days. At that rate, you’re going to have withdrawal symptoms when you have to stop with it.” Geoff stated in his usual naïve manner, not seeing the unimpressed look that she was shooting him.

“I don’t care, Geoff. And no, I’m not getting sick of it.” Belle told him. “Anyway, it’s not just chocolate this time.” She saw him trying to peer into the bowl only for disgust to pass his features when she tilted it in his direction. “It’s actually nice.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” He gulped, watching as she ate another bite of it. “Where’s everyone else today?”

“What? You mean like Annie and Irene?” Belle asked. “Annie’s at school and Irene’s working.”

“No, I meant Drew, Mattie and Ric. You’ve been hanging out with them quite a bit recently.”

“Oh, right.” She said before frowning. “They headed down to the beach, something I didn’t really fancy. It’s hot enough as it is without sitting directly in the sun. Which is, in fact, not so good for me right now. Not to mention getting a tan is almost impossible seeing as this,” Belle smoothed a loving hand over her stomach gently. “Isn’t really the best fashion accessory with a bikini.”

“Uh… Yeah. I mean-” Geoff stuttered, getting a bit uncomfortable with the conversation, which Belle noticed immediately. Debating on whether or not to play ignorant and carry on to make him fully red in the face like she use to, she smirked and turned back to her food, making a decision to not make things worse for the poor guy, and her only company.

“Exactly. Not that I’m complaining or anything.” Belle carried on. “But yeah, that’s the reason why I’ve decided to seek sanctuary here. That, and the fact that the Diner was really packed out again, so I couldn’t really stay there to spend time with Irene, and everyone else is either at work or school. I could have gone to see Mum actually…” She suddenly mused as the thought hit her before shaking her head clear. “But then again, by the time I got there and back, Aden would be home.”

“Why couldn’t you have just stayed at home?” He questioned her in an attentive tone, making sure that there was no accusation or anything of the like in there.

“Because I’ve been at home for ages now and I needed to get out.” She explained. “There wasn’t anything good to eat either, and I was hoping to find something to do, or someone to hang out with to help the time go quicker. I knew I should have worked half day today!”

“Well, I’m here now, and I don’t really have much planned so I could stay. If you’d like, that is.” Geoff hastily added onto the end as Belle smiled at him softly.

“Sure, if you really don’t have anything else to do, you can always keep me company and bring me ice-cream for the next hour or so.”

“I don’t think we have that much ice-cream, Belle.” He chuckled, shaking his head lightly.

“We can always go and buy some more.” She pointed out to him as she twirled the spoon around in the bowl. The ice-cream had already began to melt and was forming a gooey mixture of liquid cookie dough ice cream, chocolate syrup and raspberry syrup. However, it still managed to look pretty appetising to her. “How come you’re home, anyway? Where’s Nicole?”

“Ah, yeah. She’s um… on a manhunt, of sorts.” Geoff informed her awkwardly, his eyes averting to the TV where the talk show still played.

“What? Why?” Belle asked, suddenly intrigued, especially with Geoff’s choice of words. “Who for?”

“Something to do with Aden’s brother, actually. I didn’t get the time to get the rest out of her before she stomped out of the house.”

“Huh, I wonder what brought that on.” She contemplated. “I mean, I know what Justin’s like, but I didn’t think that Nicole still had a problem with him.”

“Yeah, I dunno.” Geoff shrugged. “She seemed angry and she was gone before I could get another word out of her, or stop her.”

“Well, I’m sure that Justin can handle it. He’s probably use to it.” Belle said dismissively. “Whatever ‘it’ is.” Silence fell between them as he merely nodded in agreement, both turning towards the TV for a moment before she spoke up again. “Geoff?”

“Yeah?” He answered, looking at her with confusing as she smile sweetly at him; a smile that he had grown accustomed to whenever she needed a favour or wanted something.

“Ice-cream’s finished.”

---

A smile crossed his face as he passed the ‘Welcome to Summer Bay’ sign, speeding past it too fast to read, but knowing it’s significance nonetheless. Continuing to drive through the well known roads and the route home, Aden began to slow down as he saw the crowds of people, namely high school kids, surrounding the streets, pathways and beach. Sighing, he steered to the left, deciding to take the slower and longer route of the smaller roads, which in this case, would probably take quicker.

Glancing to his left at the time as he reached one of the quieter, private roads which resided near to the beach, Aden couldn’t help but smile when he noticed that he was back in the Bay almost an hour earlier than he had told Belle he would be. He hadn’t planned it that way, but it was a good thing. Small surprises never did anyone any harm, he figured.

Speeding up as he reached another private and almost deserted road, Aden had to do a double take as he passed one of the houses. He slowed down almost immediately, pulling up to the curb on the opposite side of the road before peering into the rear screen mirror to look back at the house. Or rather at the car in the driveway for the house.

Confusion overtook him as he turned off the engine, a bit worried at to why Nicole’s yellow convertible was doing parked outside this particular house. He knew it was Justin’s rented 2 storey apartment from both the name of the street and the wet clothes that he recognised as his brother’s hanging from the small balcony.

Aden got out of the car, leaving behind everything but his keys and the shades covering his eyes, and crossed over the road in a brisk walk. He wasn’t too sure why he was doing this, why he felt the need to find out what was going on, but it seemed too weird for him to ignore. Plus, there was the fact that the last time he checked, Nicole had shown no reason to visit Justin by her own free will other than to murder him, which didn’t sit too well with Aden either.

He knocked on the front door and waited for a response before giving up and turning the door handle. There wasn’t much of a surprise to find that it was already open. Pushing it to enter, Aden raised an eyebrow as he caught the first sight of his brother’s place. He certainly hadn’t been lying when he had said that his job paid well, Aden realised, as he took in the furnished living room that led on into a bright kitchen.

The room he stood in was dimmed by the closed blinds and he wondered whether that was done on purpose, or laziness. Entering the kitchen, he took a brief look around for any sign of either Justin or Nicole, only to find it empty.

“Hello…?” Aden finally called out as he returned back to the main room, hearing some scuffling upstairs as soon as the word left his mouth. He was halfway up the stairs when the unmistakable sound of Nicole’s shrill voice reached his ears, followed by Justin’s, which was directed to him.

“We’re up here!”

“Yeah, I can hear you!” He laughed back, finally reaching the upstairs hallway. He made his way along it, peering into most of the empty rooms until he came to the one with the two of them in it. Justin was busily getting ready, as it seemed, while Nicole appeared to be standing in a huff. His appearance in the doorway put them both into silence, looking at him before Justin returned to clipping on his watch as Nicole continued to stare at him. “Well, this is awkward.”

“When did you get back?” She asked him, her words still with a sharp tone that he guessed was the residue from whatever her and his brother had been talking about.

“Just now.” Aden replied, stepping into the room as the door slammed shut behind him by itself. “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.” Justin answered, making his way to the other side of the room to pull the curtains shut. Turning around, he shrugged at their questioning looks about his actions. “Keeps it cooler in here.”

“Right-”

“Did you know that your brother picked up a girl a couple of nights ago?” Nicole interrupted him, clearly not happy with the change of subject.

“I heard-” Aden began again, only this time to be cut off by the other person in the room.

“I didn’t ‘pick her up’.” Justin argued calmly. “We went out on a date.”

“Well, that makes a whole world of difference, doesn’t it?” She snapped at him as Justin shrugged, carefree, once again.

“I’m confused.” Aden spoke up, intrigued, as he turned to his best mate and surrogate sister. “What’s Justin’s date, or whatever it was, got to do with you?”

“It was my mother!” She exclaimed, shedding some light upon why she seemed so worked up about it. Turning back to Justin, she yelled once again. “We may not be close as we use to, but it was still wrong of you to leave her in the morning!”

“Not to be rude or anything, sweetheart, but this is kind of none of your business.” He told her politely. “Besides, I never knew that she was your mother, or that she would tell you anything about it.”

“That’s not the point!” Nicole growled out. “And that doesn’t mean it’s alright!”

“I never said it was! If she has a problem with it, then I’m sure she can deal with it herself.” Justin countered. “What do you want me to do about it, anyway? What’s done is done.”

“But- You’re-” Nicole stuttered in anger before turning to face Aden with annoyance. “Help me out here, would you?”

“I’m not getting involved.” Aden laughed, shaking his head wryly. “Hey, Justin; this place is pretty neat.”

“Well, I do live here.” He said arrogantly, accompanied with a smirk. “Nah, it’s really sweet. A bit big for one person, but it’s worth it, if you get what I mean.”

“Gross.” Nicole supplied, turning the attention back to her. “Can we sort out the problem I’m here for!?”

“There is no problem, Blondie.” Justin insisted. “You’re just here to whine at me and make me feel bad and guilty. It’s not gonna work, though, because I have nothing to feel bad or guilty about.”

“Nicole, Justin has a point.” Aden stepped in. “It’s not like your mum’s that heartbroken about it, now is it?”

“I can’t believe you’re siding with him!” She yelled, frustrated. “You know what? If you’re not going to help, then just butt out!”

"Nicole..." He sighed, rolling his eyes as she gave him a challenging look. "Fine, do what you want." He gave in, looking towards his older brother. "What's the rest of this place like?"

"Not too sure. Haven't been into most rooms." Justin chuckled. "Take a look around if you want."

"Yeah, I might just do that." Aden agreed, seeing Nicole eyeing him from the corner of his eyes. "What?"

"Forget it." She huffed, crossing her arms like a petulant child. Rolling his eyes at her again, he left the room. This time, he opened the door as fully as it were possible, only for it to close itself once again.

Aden had gotten to the bottom of the hallway, towards the stairs that led downstairs, when he heard the raising voice of the teenage girl's again. Wondering what it was exactly that she was trying to achieve, he came across another staircase, this one leading upwards. Seeing as there was nothing else interesting on that floor, he climbed up slowly.

There wasn't much light in the top floor, which consisted of a single room that he assumed use to be the attic before being turned into a games room or something of the like. It was pretty dusty and he trod carefully, spotting a bulb hanging from the ceiling and trying to locate it's switch. As he did so, Aden couldn't help but to think that he could be home by now, with Belle. However, his curiosity had brought him here instead.

Finally seeing what he wanted to find, he flicked on the switch and the light bulb blinked on. It took a few seconds before the room was filled with light. Aden squinted a bit as he looked around, almost in awe, at all of the toys that littered the place. It wasn’t a games room, but rather a kids’ den.

A small laugh escaped his lips when Aden tilted his head up a bit to see in full whatever it was that had caught his attention. Walking over to the side of the room, he ran a finger over the dust-covered train track that seemed to run around the entire perimeter of the room. He made the assumption that the kid who had lived here before had been a boy, although why there were the odd bits lying around, he had no idea. As he looked around, though, he came to the realisation that most of the toys were either broken or stashed away as if they weren’t to be played with.

Taking it all in, Aden came to the conclusion that he had to drag Belle down to the nearest toy store soon. Of course, she wouldn’t let him buy anything considering that if it were a girl, he highly doubted she would appreciate a train set. But the anticipation of having a lot of playthings, all things cute and adorable, was too great to push until later.

Shaking his head at the thought, he turned around back towards the tracks, wondering if it actually still worked. He didn’t get chance to follow that thought through, as almost as soon as his eyes had skimmed past the miniature, and deflated, football, there was a loud crack before the entire room was shrouded into blackness.

Aden’s eyes took a moment to readjust, but he could clearly here Nicole’s raised voice demanding to know what had happened. Making his way carefully towards the door, Justin’s voice came to him in a muffle shout.

“… just see!” He sounded exasperated and Aden could imagine that he was rolling her eyes at her. “There’s supposed to be a backup generator too.” He heard him say as they approached the stairs. “Aden? You up here, bro?”

“Hold on!” Aden laughed, finally finding the door handle. He pushed it down before pulling on it, only for the door to stay stuck. Sighing, he pushed against the door instead, which did nothing to help.

On the other side of the door, he could clearly heat Nicole’s whinging about something that was awful, but he was barely able to catch it as he check if there was a lock on the door. Glad that there wasn’t, he yanked on the handle once more, feeling it start to budge. Pulling once more, the door become unstuck, opening just a hint of the way, but enough to hear Nicole protesting more and more loudly.

Her words were almost fearful, which confused and concerned Aden, especially as he heard no reply from Justin. Tugging on the door for the third time, this time with the normal require force, he was welcomed by a scream that came from nobody else but Nicole followed by a high intense screech of his name that made his heart stop. Something was wrong.

---

“Geoff, are you sure this is the right way?”

“Yeah, of course.” He assured her casually, walking along the path in the rare quiet area as Belle looked around. “You must recognise this place. You’ve lived here for 5 years.”

“I recognise it, that’s not the problem.” Belle told him. “I’m just sure that this is neither the way to the shops or home.”

“’Home’?” Geoff repeated with confusion, giving her a look. “I thought you wanted more ice-cream?”

“I do.” She said quickly. “I’m just saying that there’re the two places I don’t mind heading right now, and it seems we’re not getting to either.”

“Trust me, alright? I know this route.”

“Alright, alright.” She gave in. “Sorry. I just have this dodgy feeling about this place. It’s a bit eerie, don’t you think?”

“Uh… Not really.” He shrugged. “It’s Summer Bay. Everything’s basically the same. Sand, grass and bushes.”

“And the sea.” Belle added in a dreamy kind of voice with a tint of sadness, missing the times that her and Aden use to frolic in the water.

“Yeah, but technically, the sea isn’t really part of Summer Bay.” He explained. “It’s the sea and it belongs to a larger area-”

“Geoff,” She tried to interrupt, although not successful.

“-that in fact is a region of Australia. And then the rest is international waters-”

“Geoff, I do not need a geography lesson!” She felt snapped even though there was amusement lining her words.

“Right. Sorry.” He muttered, a faint tint of red colouring his cheeks once again as she giggled to herself.

“That’s ok. It was better than all the psychobabble I have to listen to from Aden. At least I understood this.” Belle said politely, hoping not to offend the one person who had been treating her with ice-cream that day, non-stop. “So…”

“Hmm…?” Geoff replied noncommittally, seeing her purse her lips before shrugged her shoulders herself. He let out a small chuckle as the two of them continued to walk in silence towards, what they both hoped was, a grocery store.

Belle slowed down in her steps as something began to feel out of place, as if their atmosphere had changed. She saw Geoff do the same in response to her, shooting her a questioning look before whipping his head around when they both heard the familiar siren of an ambulance come closer before passing by at top speed. It was only then that Belle was able to hearing all the other buzzing in the background, a mixture of other sirens. They were faint, but as she focused on them, she realised they were also close.

“I wonder what’s going on there…” Geoff said out loud, taking a few steps forward to the corner of the road where the ambulance had turned into.

“Let’s go see.” Belle insisted, already brushing past him. She was only a feet in front of him, yet the sparse crowd of people standing from afar was easily visible from where she was. “Looks like something interesting.”

“Belle, shouldn’t you be getting home soon? Aden’s going to be worried if you’re not there.” Geoff stated, catching up to her and staying close to her side as they approached the crowd.

“It’ll only take a second, and Aden’s a big boy. He knows how to use a telephone.” She smirked, finally reaching the people. They made their way to the front slowly, standing on the curb and looking at the opposite side of the street in shock. “Oh, my God.” Belle covered her mouth with a hand as she took in the sight of the building on fire. The smoke accumulating from it was getting thicker and thicker and she had no idea how they hadn’t been able to see or smell it before. “Geoff, c’mon. There’s Mattie.”

“What? Where?” Before he knew it, she was tugging on his hand, pulling him across the street to where her best friend stood, looking just as shocked as she did. There was a slightly larger crowd there, keeping a distance from the house for both safety and to allow the emergency services to work.

“Mattie!” She called out as the other girl turned to her, eyes widening to see her. “What’s going on?”

“Belle!? What are you doing here?” She had to shout over the noise that surrounded them until she git close enough to hear her.

“We were heading home and saw something was going on.” Belle explained.

“’We’?” Mattie asked before spotting Geoff a bit behind her, looking up at the blaze in astonishment. “Geoff.” She sighed, walking up to him and placing a light hand on his arm to capture his attention. The action surprised both Belle and the boy in question, seeing the mixed look on Mattie’s face, as if she didn’t know how to react. “We just called Roman.”

“What?” He questioned her stupidly as she pointed over to the side of the road where there were two parked ambulances, both of them with the stretchers out and occupied. “Nicole!”

“Geoff-” Belle began, only getting as far as his name once again before he sprinted off in the direction to where his girlfriend was currently propped up on the stretcher, oxygen mask on her face and covered in ash. Her eyes naturally drifted to the other ambulance, curiosity playing out once again to see who else it was. Somehow, she wasn’t that surprised, considering what Geoff had told her earlier on, but she still felt herself inhale a deep breath before heading the same way as Geoff had.

Belle had managed to take a few steps to where Justin sat up straight at the edge of the stretcher, seemingly arguing with the paramedics as they tried to tend to him. Her first instinct was to go over to see what was going on and if he was ok. That was until her eyes caught sight of an easily recognisable car just beyond the ambulance, parked on the other side of the street where several more people had gathered to watch. Belle all but froze, knowing that there was only one person in Summer Bay who drove a black Audi like that.

She twirled back around to where everyone else still stood, either watching or trying to help out. Her eyes skimmed the crowds quickly, hoping beyond hope that she would find what she was looking for. Belle could easily pick out the familiar faces. Rachel, Tony, Mattie, Ric, Drew. But not the one person she was looking for. She even tried the crowds of people who stood far aback, although she knew that he wouldn’t be there.

“Mattie,” She breathed out as she returned back to her side, grabbing onto her hand quickly. “Where’s Aden? His car’s here, but I can’t see him!” There was already a sinking feeling inside of her, which only expanded as Mattie refused to look at her. “Mattie?”

“We didn’t know until Just-” She began, turning to face her with glassy eyes that only made things worse, if it were possible. Mattie grabbed onto Belle’s wrist with her other hand as she took a step backwards, trying to absorb what she had told her.

“No.” She whispered, glimpsing over at the calming flames that still engulfed the building, before turning back to Mattie. “No, Mattie…”

“Belle-” She held onto Belle’s arm as tightly as she could without hurting her, seeing the tears brim to her eyes instantly as it all sunk in.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Belle cried as she pulled her wrist out of Mattie’s grip. She took another couple of steps backwards, away from Mattie and towards the front of the crowds and nearer to the burning apartment.

“Belle, wait!” She called after her as she hurriedly pushed her way through. The gathering of people got thinner and thinner as the heat got stronger and stronger. But none of it registered to Belle as she carried on forwards as quickly as both her feet and body allowed her to. She could hear voices yelling behind her, mainly Mattie’s, first at her and then someone else. That ‘someone else’ soon became apparent when a figure appeared in front of her, grasping her upper arm to stop her from getting any further.

“Drew, let go of me!” She snapped, eyes peering over his shoulder at the fire.

“Belle, c’mon. Get back.” He instructed her, physically pushing her backwards with his other hand on her shoulder.

“No, Drew.” Belle whispered hoarsely. Her words would have sounded like a whine if they hadn’t been so heartbreaking. “No, stop it! He’s in there, Drew!”

“I know, Belle.” He assured her, grabbing a hold of her other arm as she tried to pass him. “Hey, hey. C’mon now, you’re not helping anyone-”

“He’s in there, Drew!” She repeated, her words louder and more hysterical as she tried to fight against his restraint on her. The tears had already fallen free from her eyes, drops following the two trails constantly as she struggled to calm herself down. “He’s in there! Aden’s in there-”

“Belle,” Drew tried again, trying to pull her closer to him as she continued to fight against him.

“Let me go! You can’t-” She gasped out, eyes flickering from both him to the house. “He’s in there, Drew. My husband’s in there. He’s in there.” Belle repeated. The words were no longer frantic, but more softer and broken up as her breathing became laboured. “He’s in there.”

“I know, I know.” He told her, finally managing to bring her into an embrace as she stopped fighting him. “You need to calm down. Calm down and breathe.”

“No. No…“ Belle murmured and he got the feeling that it wasn’t a response to his words but rather the shock of it hitting her full on. She was still staring at the fire in which Aden was most probably still in. Drew looked over her head at Mattie, who stood behind her, wondering what to do. He could hear her uneven breathing, taking each breath in deeply as sobs continued to shake her body.

Belle could barely register anything outside of what she was seeing. Nothing else really mattered right then apart from the fact that somewhere in there was Aden. Not even the fact that standing so close to the flames and smoke was probably bad for the baby, not even that there must be a reason as to why it was her husband out of the three of them who still remained in there, not even the words that both Drew and Mattie were saying to her for her own good. And it didn’t really matter when she felt a cool hand grip around her upper arm as her body shuddered at both the touch and the need of oxygen, or the other colder hand that touched her arm right under the pervious one. A small prick near the region barely registered to her, and the stinging quickly subsided as everything began to seem to get easier and finally turned black.

---

So, I had been dying to write this chapter for ages and I was actually scared to post it, so I want honest comments, good and bad! I know that it may not have seemed entirely realistic, but I hope you enjoyed it anyways!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

I’m glad that you all… enjoyed the last chapter, and that it wasn’t so predictable. I was scared that people would just think ‘ah, I knew something like that was going to happen’. Your comments were all so great

Right, so a special landmark chapter - 60! This was where I was planning on ending the fic, but that’s not going to happen… So it’s a special chapter.

bradyell and bennyboy19, it’s always great to have new readers! I’m glad that people are still reading this fic!

Chapter 60:

*Flashback*

“God, it’s freezing!” Aden added a shiver to emphasise his point as Belle laughed and lightly swatted at his chest.

“Technically, it’s not. Because if it were freezing, it wouldn’t be snowing.” She pointed out, letting her eyes wonder around the already snow-covered Central Park that they walked through in the late evening as per her request. Aden had needed little convincing, practically getting his shoes, jacket and gloves on as she had spoken.

“Well, then it’s really, really cold. Nothing like what we would get back at home.” Aden corrected himself as Belle nodded.

“True, but that’s because it’s summer back at home. And no-one celebrated Christmas and New Years in the cold like us or with the snow!” Her words were lined with elation as Aden pulled her closer with the arm wrapped around her shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Unlike many other girls that he had seen around, Belle didn’t bother to wear a hat or complain that her hair was getting wet. She, in fact, preferred it, and Aden had to admit that he loved the tousled look that it created too. Not that he could ever tell her that in fear of her starting to wear a hat just to spite him.

They continued walking along the path that they had taken a couple of times before in the week that they had been there, making small talk that came naturally to them. Finally coming to a small footbridge that they crossed laughing as Aden threatened to lift Belle up and throw her over into the near-freezing cold water, they approached a section with several trees, each with a couple of large slabs of make-shift rocks underneath them for seating. They were bare of snow due to their uses and the grit that had already been placed on it to stop it from getting snowed under.

Like always, they paused and sat down, loving the view that was available from that place, as well as the romantic atmosphere it held of being by themselves at one small corner in the massive park. Belle sat down first, unwinding her arm from around Aden’s waist, waiting until he took his place besides her before leaning into him, bringing her legs up slightly so that the tree covered her from the falling snow completely.

“This is nice.” She commented with a content sigh.

“Yeah, it is.” Aden agreed. “Even though it is freezing.”

“Aden!” Belle laughed. “This is why you live in Summer Bay and not in New York City. You complain too much about the weather!”

“I wasn’t complaining, just making an observation!”

“Sure, sure. Although, it’s a wrong observation, because it’s not freezing. Yet.” She reminded him.

“Yes, fine, ‘really, really cold’ then.” He grudgingly corrected.

“But you’d rather be here right now, right?” Belle asked him, looking up at him from where she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Of course. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but with you.”

“Good.” She nodded as well as she could in her position, smiling in return of him. “Neither would I.”

“So you’re not feeling homesick at all then?” Aden questioned as her smile died down a bit. “Thought as much.”

“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be here.” She hurriedly added. “We’ll be back home in a week, and then I’ll start to regret wanting to go back.”

“We can always stay longer if you’d like.” He suggested as Belle scrunched up her nose and shook her head lightly.

“As great as that sounds, I think we should stick to the plan.”

“You sure? Or we could go back home early-”

“No!” Belle cut him off forcefully. “There’s no way that I’m going to spend any time that we could have to ourselves with anyone else.”

“Sure?” Aden prodded, a smile evident in his words.

“Sure, sure. I’m fine right here, with you. I’m happy as long as you’re with me, ok?”

“Ok. Good.” Aden dropped a light kiss to her lips, sighing happily as she rested her head on his shoulder once again. He knew that this was the perfect time. The item was there, buried in his pocket, almost invisible. Only he knew it was there, thank God. He had began to worry a few weeks back while in Europe whether getting the ring inscribed first was a wise idea. Sure, it stopped him from backing out, but it also stopped him from proposing at any other time or place. And, now he realised, that it would also be very idiotic of him if Belle said no.

Aden pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. They were making him nervous and he didn’t want to be nervous right then. He wanted to be confident, because it felt so right, regardless of the fact that she might not think so. Tightening his arm around her, he decided that it was time.

“Belle, you know I love you, right?”

“Yeah, of course I do.” She replied, leaning forwards slightly and looking up at him in amusement. “I love you, too.”

“I know, babe.” Aden smiled softly before pushing himself forwards, coming to crouch down in front of her in one smooth movement. He ignored her confused look as she brought her legs to the side, watching as he took her hands in his silently before peeling her gloves off her hands with such delicacy, it was hard to keep still. When he was done with that, he took his own off, throwing them into the snow next to them. The sudden skin on skin contact gave her a jump, feeling the knowing jolt of electricity or whatever the Hell you wanted to call it, shoot through her at the touch. It always made her feel like a hormonal teenage school girl rather than the 19 year old that she was, but that was the effect that Aden Jefferies had on her.

“Aden?” Belle prompted as she took in his look of deep thoughtfulness while staring at her bare hands. “Something wrong?”

“No, of course not.” He assured her, bringing her hands up to his lips, the brush of a kiss warming them up instantly. “I’m just trying to think of the best way to say this.”

“Say what?” Belle’s perplexed tone brought a smirk to his face. He had thought that she would have been able to have figured it out by now, one way or another.

“You’re not as smart as I thought you were, Miss Taylor.” He joked as she rolled her eyes.

“Is that what you’re trying to say? Take the mick out of me?” She asked in a hurtful tone, a small pout forming on her lips.

“Of course not. I don’t need to think about that!” Aden teased, leaning in to kiss the pout away, but backing off before it got too far and ruined the moment. “Belle, I love you, and over the past 6 weeks or so, I’ve been trying to find the most perfect was of doing this, but I’ve come to the conclusion that anything I could come with would be too corny or too out there, and none of that is us.”

“I dunno, we can be a bit corny at times.” Belle interrupted, pretending to think hard about it. “Well, you can be.”

“I am not!” He automatically defended himself before realising that this was not what he was aiming to say. “Look, never mind about that. It doesn’t matter right now.”

“If you say so.” She shrugged as he rolled his eyes at her. “Why are you getting so annoyed for? I’m just pointing stuff out and correcting you.”

“Because we’re going off topic here.” Aden told her as she raised an eyebrow.

“And what the topic, exactly? You not being too corny or too out there? I’d hate to break it to you, Aden, but we are. Both of them. Well, mostly you.” Belle informed him with a ghost of a smile playing on her lips at the words and the look on his face.

“How am I, exactly?” He demanded to know.

“Well, for starters, you bought me a car for my birthday and organised this trip for the two of us. That’s pretty out there.” She pointed out. “And the flowers for my birthday, or even randomly, are pretty corny-”

“Ok, I get it. I was wrong.” Aden said, although she ignored him.

“-and then there’s all the sweet, romantic stuff that you’ve done or organised for us while on this trip-”

“Belle! Shut up! Seriously, you’re not helping me here!” He cut her off. She smiled sweetly at him even though he had expected a rebuke from her. “Now I just feel bad for not thinking this through properly.”

“Thinking what-” This time she was silenced by his lips; the most effective way that Aden could think of to get her to stop talking when she was so bubbly.

“Belle, I love you. I love everything about you, even the fact that you can talk and talk about anything and everything without being so annoying. But, just this once, let me say this without your input, yeah?”

“I don’t talk that much.” She sulked and he kissed her once again, this time lasting a bit longer before pulling back.

“Honey, you do, but that’s just one of the reasons why I fell for you. One of the many reasons that I don’t think I have the time or the patience to list right now.” She giggled lightly at his words and the sound was like music to his ears, bringing an effortless smile to his lips. “I love you so much and I am so glad that you are right here with me. That I’m the one who you’ve let to show you the world and make you laugh, and tell you to shut up without getting mad.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t mad.” She grumbled at him.

“What did I say about not inputting?” Aden warned her as she smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry.” Aden rolled his eyes once again, laughing softly as he adjusted his position.

“It’s ok. As I was saying it’s a part of you that I totally adore.” He grinned at her bashful look, especially as she cast her eyes downwards towards their still joined hands. Slowly, he slipped one hand out of hers and dug into his pocket to find what he was looking for. Leaving it there for the moment, he looked back at Belle, seeing that she was still enchanted with her hands now meshed together with one of his. “I’m glad that you suggested going for a walk tonight. Otherwise, this may have ended up being done on a street corner.”

“Aden-?” She started, only this time to be cut off by herself as her breath got caught in her throat when she saw him retrieve the small black box out of his pocket. Now there was nothing left for her to say. Her mind had gone blank except for the wondering whether it was what she thought it was, or if she was just jumping to the wrong conclusions.

“Belle, you have changed my life in so many ways, and it’s all been for the better. I don’t know where I would be or who I would be without you, but I’m glad that, right here and right now, that this is who I am because you actually, somehow, find me worthy of you. You deserve so much more than me, but until you realise that, I’m going to be here with you always, and give you the world and everything else that you want. I know we’re not a perfect couple, or that I’m not the perfect guy; far from it actually, but we make us special in our own way. And I never want to lose that. I guess you’ve already figured where I’m going with this by now, but Belle, I mean it all, whether or not your answer is what I hope, want, to hear.” Turning the box around in his in hand as he took the other hand out of hers, Aden couldn’t help by the notice just how quiet things seemed right then. Even Belle’s silence was getting eerie. Ignoring it, he finally managed to open the box properly, keeping it sheltered from her view for just that little while longer. Subconsciously, Aden dropped a knee to the ground, changing his crouching position into one of that was borderline traditional, yet not too cliché. After all, nothing about the two of them was traditional. “Belle,-?”

“Yes.” She spoke softly but confidently, still staring at the box in his hands. Aden couldn’t help but chuckled.

“Can I at least ask you first?”

“Right, sorry.” She looked up at him, biting her bottom lip as she smiled, nothing about it shy or embarrassed.

“Will you marry me?” He finally got out the words that were playing around in his head, and on the tip of his tongue, for so long. There was a small pause as the smile on Belle’s face vanished temporarily.

“No.” She said with a small shake of the head, only the glint in her eyes that he wasn’t sure whether it was tears or teasing that made him call her bluff.

“Belle…” He warned her pointedly as she giggled.

“Yes, of course I will!” She told him forcefully, her hands already gliding up his arms and to his face. “Yes.” Before there was chance to get another word out, her lips were on his, arms wrapped tightly around his neck. His came naturally around her slender waist, applying a light pressure towards her direction so that they wouldn’t topple over.

“Really?” Aden made sure as they parted, both with the same grins on their faces.

“Really.” Belle laughed, pressing her lips to his once again, still laughing. This times, they parted quickly, Aden gently wiping away the tears that had fallen from her eyes. She smiled as he kissed her forehead affectionately before gathering her in his arms and sitting back where he had been originally, with his back against the giant tree while she sat on his lap. The warmth he provided was the only reminder to Belle that the snow still fell and that there were other people around, not just to two of them in their own world like she would have liked.

“Don’t you want to see the ring?” Aden broke her out of her thoughts. She had honestly forgetting about that, being too caught up in the kissing and the fact that her boyfriend had just proposed to her.

“Of course.” She whispered as he geld up the box with his free hand. Using the arm that wound around her waist, he opened it before bringing it back to her, making sure that she could see the solitaire diamond, white gold ring in the dim light.

“It’s beautiful, Aden.” Belle gushed in a hushed tone.

“Just like you.” He whispered, eyes trained on her face as a tint of redness that had nothing to do with the cold coloured her cheeks. She trailed a finger over the piece of jewellery before turning towards him and smiling softly, resting her head against his clavicle contently.

He placed the box down on her legs before picking up the ring out of it and indicating to her to lift up her left hand. Doing as he wanted, Belle could feel the different in the temperature of the ring as he slid it onto the right finger before bring up the hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.

“Perfect fit.”

“Wouldn’t have expected anything less from you.” Belle replied as she wriggled her fingers slightly, still not able to believe it, even as the gem caught the light and split it into a rainbow of colours.

“You have no idea how… great and happy you’ve made me feel.” He told her as she sat up straighter, resting her left hand on his chest to still see the ring and be reminded that it wasn’t her imagination.

“Trust me, I know, Aden.” Belle murmured, brushing her lips against his lightly. “I know exactly how you feel.”

*End Flashback*

---

A soft, distant voice calling her name brought Belle out of the dream. Or more like the memory. Even in her unconsciousness, her mind knew exactly what would be the perfect way to keep her calm, relaxed and happy. But now, as she began to come around once again, Belle held onto whatever she could of the dream. It only got better, she knew. She had experiences it first-hand, and by reliving in the thoughts of it many times over. However, the voice was persistent, as was the pressure on her hand. Someone was grasping it.

Returning back to reality more and more, Belle started to recognise certain things. She could hear her name, repeatedly, and she could feel the warmth of someone holding her hand. But, she also recognised even in her now semi-consciousness, that the warmth enclosing her hand wasn’t warm enough. It didn’t give her than same sense of safety or protection that she always associated with it. Only then was she able to realise that that was because the person who was holding her hand, holding it not twinning it with theirs, wasn’t the same hand that she was used to.

Blinking with all her might, Belle was able to overcome the heaviness of her eyelids to hope her eyes momentarily before letting them close once again. Her vision had been blurry, not able to take anything in except for movements of a single person who had been in the distant, although she was sure it wasn’t too far because it was his voice that she could hear and his touch on her hand.

“Belle?” She heard her name once again, this time much more clearly and precise. “C’mon, wake up.”

“Drew?” She murmured in reply, eyes fluttering open again, squinting in the sudden bright light.

“Yeah, it’s me sis. Hold on a moment. I’ll go get Amanda and Irene.” He told her. She was able to register the words, but she couldn’t respond. Belle tried to make sense of what was going on, but she could get far. It was almost as if there was a black wall preventing her from going any further back in her head apart from the dreams.

The next time she opened her eyes it was only because she heard several hurrying footsteps enter her room. Her room, which she could now make out to be a plain white and smaller than what she was used to. She didn’t need the monitors by her side or the drip connected to her IV in her hand to tell her that she in hospital, the room did it for her. Before she could make any sense of if all once again, three people came into her view and she slowly pushed herself up in the bed.

“Belle! Take it easy, darling.” Her mother’s hands were on her before she could even think, helping her sit up comfortably.

“How’re you feeling, love?” Irene asked her as she came to stand at the end of the bed, watching her with careful eyes.

“Ok…” Belle replied a bit unsure as a hand came to rest on her stomach, rubbing it gently as she felt the tiniest of movements from her unborn child, almost urging her to ask. “What happened? Why am I here?”

There was a silent exchange between Amanda and Irene that Belle found both confusing and scary. The two of them were hardly the best of mates, so a silent agreement seemed too suspicious. Belle’s eyes drifted slowly, but only lasted for a split second, to Drew. He was standing a bit back, arms crossed, almost as if he didn’t approve or didn’t want to get involved.

“What’s the last thing you remember, Belle?” Irene questioned her in a tone that was both caring and authoritative.

“I don’t- I can’t-” Shaking her head, she tried to cast her mind back, but to no avail. Frustrated, Belle forced herself to think back, hoping to find just one small thing that might give her a hint. Her eyes wandered around the room, looking for a clue from the three of them, although they all remained quiet. It was only when they landed on Amanda that she remembered that her mother hadn’t been there before. She hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks. It wasn’t much of a memory than it was a feeling. A feeling of dread that overcame her as she realised that her appearance wasn’t a good sign. Sighing deeply, Belle head the murmur of her name from one of the ladies, but she couldn’t concentrate. She fought with the darkness in her head, trying to get past it to access her memories before she froze.

The blackness wasn’t trying to prevent her from getting to her memories, they were her memories. Focusing on it, she could recreate the feeling of worry, terror and anxiousness that came to her without thinking. Her body was trying to get her to think one thing, remember one thing, but her mind was stopping it. It was trying to protect her from the overwhelming emotions. Unfortunately, Belle had never been one wanting to be protected by something, not even her own mind. A kick from her baby broke it all and her breath caught in her throat as she was only able to gasp out one word, one name.

“Aden!”

---

I hope that was worth the wait of 60 chapters! I’ve been dying to get the proposal up. Hope you enjoyed it!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

I am so sorry for the wait. Life’s just gotten quite hectic recently. And for that reason, I’ve had to split this chapter into two parts, again. It got a bit too long too. Anyways, I hope it’s worth the mini wait.

Chapter 61:

Part A

”Aden!”

Almost as soon as it had left her mouth, Irene was by her side, taking a hold of her hand that rested protectively on her baby in attempt to make her look at her.

“Belle-” she began, but the younger woman cut her off.

“Where is he? Is he ok? The fire-” Belle hurriedly asked, fear evident in everything she did. Her frantic words, unable to finish off her sentence, her uneven breathing and her tightening hands as she clutched at both of them, although she faced Irene.

“Belle, you need to calm down, sweetheart.” She replied in a soothing voice that did nothing to change Belle’s mood or feelings.

“But- Where is he? Is he here? Irene, tell me he’s here! Please?” Her words transformed from demanding to pleading, quickly, as her voice lowered in volume while her eyes turned glassy, blurry her view once again. “Irene! Why isn’t he here?”

“He’s here.” Irene finally told her in a hushed voice. “He’s here, darl, but he’s hurt. The doctor’s are working on him so he’s going to be ok. But you just worry about you and the little one right now, ok?” Her eyes began to fill with tears as her eldest foster daughter sat in front of her, frozen into shock by her words except for the tears that trailed down her face.

“I want to see him.” She suddenly exclaimed, taking both of her hands out from theirs and placing one on her abdomen while using the other to wipe away her tears. Taking a few deep breaths, her voice became slightly more confident, but it was still shaky. “I want to see Aden.”

“That’s not a good idea, love. You need to let the doctor’s help him right now”

“But I want to see him! I just want to see him. I won’t get in the way-”

“Belle,” Amanda tried, finally speaking up. “Right now, you need to rest and let them work on him.”

“But I can’t rest knowing nothing! I need to know. I need to see him.” She was becoming more and more hysterical, the only thing stopping her from jumping up off the bed was the fact that her legs felt numb to her. Most of her body did as the shock still circulated in her system.

“Belle-” Irene tried again, hoping to get through to her that it was better to not know the details right then. She herself was beginning to regret finding out the exact extent of Aden’s injuries.

“No. Let me see him. Let me see him!” Her hysteria turned into sobs which wrecked her body, pulling away from both her mother and her pseudo-mother as they tried to comfort her. It was only when she struggled to breathe that she allowed Irene to pull her into an embrace, murmuring words into her ear that she couldn’t make out, while hearing Amanda’s louder voice instructing Drew to go her Rachel.

“Take deep breaths and calm yourself down, sweetheart.” As her sobs died down, Belle was able to make out what it was that Irene was telling her to do. She was unable to respond as she regulated her breathing, hoping that if she seemed less hysterical and more together, they’d let her see Aden.

Soon enough, Belle pulled away from Irene, wiping away any tears that still clung to her eyelashes as she felt Amanda’s hand brush away the hair from her face. It was done in a loving gesture, a delicate touch of that only a mother could possess, but Belle craved for Aden’s touch, to assure her that everything was going to be ok. Until she heard it from him, she wouldn’t, couldn’t, believe it.

“Belle.” A new voice snapped her out of her thoughts as two people entered her room. Drew stood off to the side like before, whereas Rachel came right up to her, taking the place where Amanda had stood. Her mother had stepped back to allow the doctor to talk to and check up on her daughter. Irene stood up from her place on the other side, standing a bit further back as Rachel perched on the other side. “How are you doing, sweetie?”

“I’ll be a whole lot better if someone would tell me something about Aden.” Belle replied pointedly, not bothering to beat around the bush.

“Ok, first of all, I want you to answer some questions for me, alright? Then I’ll explain everything to you.” She informed her. Belle reluctantly nodded, not having the energy to argue. “Good. So, how are you feeling? Any dizziness? Aches?” Belle shook her head in reply, indicating for Rachel to carry on. “Pains?”

“No.” She said in an almost inaudible voice.

“Do you think or feel like there’s anything wrong? With you or the baby?” Rachel prodded carefully, hoping that the mention of the welfare of her baby would make Belle more responsive.

“No. Everything’s fine with us.” There was an edge to the last word, showing that although things were good with her and the baby, Belle was still more concerned about Aden.

“Do you know why you’re here, Belle?” Another shake of the head, along with a look of confusion prompted Rachel on. “I had to sedate you because you were putting too much stress on the baby, and you were too near the fire, which is particularly dangerous to the both of you. Can you remember now?”

“The baby’s ok, though, right?” Belle asked her almost frantically, not bothering to reply to her question. Rachel placed a hand on top of hers to reassure her it was.

“Everything’s fine. The sedative is perfectly harmless to the baby.”

“What about Aden? Is he ‘fine’ too?” She practically snapped, although her energy was now running out.

“Sweetie, I want you to listen to me carefully, ok? Aden is in a stable condition, but he is hurt. We are still running tests to see just how hurt he is. After the CT scan comes back, and if it’s all clear, we need to take him into surgery.” Rachel explained to her as softly and professionally as she could. She could see the words sink into the young woman in front of her as she took a moment to process it all before replying.

“When will you know?”

“Anytime now. He’s basically prepped and ready for surgery already.” She informed her before adding just as calmly. “Which is why we cannot allow you to see him.” Belle opened her mouth to protest, but Rachel cut her off before she got a word out. “I know it’s not fair, Belle, but you’ve got to let us do all this as quick and as fast as we can.”

“What’s wrong with him? Is it bad? Is he awake?” Belle shot the questions at her as soon as they had formed on her tongue, not waiting for a reply to any of them.

“Belle, I think it’s better if, right now, you just know that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that Aden’s ok. He isn’t awake, no, which is why we’re waiting on the tests.” Rachel told her, knowing the vagueness of her answer would most probably make her think the worst, but it was better than worrying her about the injuries when she couldn’t do anything about it.

“Is that a bad thing? Him not being awake?”

“He’s not responsive consciously, but other than that he is, which is a good thing.” Rachel side-stepped the question. “Look, Belle, I’ve got to get back, and see what’s happening. I’ll keep you up to date with what I can. Just don’t try to stress out about it and think positively, yeah?”

“What are the chances that he won’t make it out?” Belle ignored her statement to think positively. She was all for optimism, especially when it come to her husband’s life, but she was also a realist. Her distant and detached voice indicated that she didn’t want to really know or think about other outcome of his injuries.

“Aden’s not going to give up without a fight, girly. He’ll be fine. Just you wait and see.” Irene spoke up when Rachel hesitated long enough for there to be dread places into all of their minds. She neared the bed and places her hands atop of it gently. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over that, ok?” Looking at her foster mother with tears in her eyes, Belle nodded, taking comfort in the words from the wiser lady. When Rachel got up to leave, she turned back to her with one final request.

“Rachel, take care of him for me, please?”

“I’ll do everything within my power.” She smiled warmly at her before finally leaving the room, heading back to the man in question and hoping that she wouldn’t end up breaking the girl’s heart at the end of it all.

---

Belle hadn’t been aware that she had managed to fall asleep again until she felt a hand brush her hair back from her face, the tickling sensation bringing her back to reality. Without thinking or opening her eyes, she murmured the first name that came to her.

“Aden?”

“Shh… No, it’s just me, darling.” A soft feminine voice that she finally identified as her mother’s came to her. Blinking open her eyes, she was able to see the blonde woman sitting in the chair next to her bed. “Go back to sleep.”

“Any news?” Belle asked instead, now more awake as she recalled the moment that she could remember before falling asleep, such as the 27 minute wait from when Rachel her left and then sent a message via Roman that Aden was heading into surgery as they spoke. She had also been filled in on Nicole’s status too, finding out that she was to be in overnight just for observation. Belle had been relieved to hear that she only suffered from minor cuts and smoke inhalation. And, of course, the guilts which she knew wouldn’t go away until the teenager spoke to her defacto brother, who would naturally dismiss it. Justin, on the other hand, was fine apart from a few stitches to the head and a mild concussion. He, too, was staying in overnight but Belle hadn’t heard or seen him ever since.

“Nothing new.” Amanda shook her head slightly as Belle sighed, trying her best to get comfortable on the hospital bed while laying on her side and 6 months pregnant with no certainty of whether she would see her baby’s father ever again in the way that she knew him. Just the thought of it made tears prick her eyes before leaking out, her stomach twisting. “Hey, hey. Everything’s going to be ok, Belle.”

“You don’t know that!” Belle managed to get out as she tried to get a hold of herself. “What if he doesn’t-?”

“No! You can’t think like that, ok? Aden wouldn’t leave you or his child without a fight.“ Amanda tried to reassure her, but to no avail, she saw, as the tears still fell.

“I’m so scared, Mum. I can’t do this without him.”

“Oh, darling…” One look at her daughter breaking down and Amanda had slipped off her shoes and climbed onto the bed next to her, arms embracing her tightly. Listening to Belle’s distress as her tears made contact with her skin, Amanda wished that there was a way to make it all better for her. Even the sweet nothings that she whispered to her or the soothing rubbing of her back along with stroking her hair did nothing to help, she knew. Instead she had to endure the one thing that a mother never wanted to have their child suffer through, and as her grown up daughter clutched at her arm like a child would, she remember just how much Belle was like both. She would always be her little girl, although she had never known her then, yet she was, right then, a married woman filled with terror of losing the love of her life. And there was nothing that Amanda could do to help either of them, except to hold her as she cried herself to sleep in the safety and warmth of her mother’s arms.

---

The next time that Belle woke up, it was to the quiet whispers and murmuring in her room. She wasn’t too sure how close they were, or who they were, until she finally opened her eyes. It took a while for her to finally see them, tilting her head upwards to see Amanda, Irene and Roman all standing by the doorway to the room in deep conversation. Keeping as still as possible so she could hear what they were saying, she couldn’t help but notice that her drip had been removed, giving her more freedom that she took advantage of and tucked her hand under her bump to stroke it gently through her clothes as she remained laying on her side.

Her slight shuffling, however, had caught their attention, most probably Irene’s who had been stood so that she could see her. All three had stopped talking and entered the room with soft smiles. Roman had walked in first and had came to her side, helping her to sit up as she struggled a bit.

“How’re you doing, Belle?” He asked her in a fatherly way that gave her a strange sense of calmness. Surely if he was able to speak like that to her, there was nothing wrong.

“Better. Anything on Aden?”

“Sorry.” Roman shook his head as Belle’s face visibly fell.

“You know what they say, darl. No news it good news, right?” Irene piped up from where she stood and Belle found herself nodding along even though she wasn’t so sure whether she agreed or not.

“What about everyone else? Nicole and Justin? Still here?” She questioned him, hoping to get her mind off of Aden for a moment.

“Nicole’s been in and out of sleep, asking on Aden non-stop when she could. Justin’s here too, but he’s hoping to discharge himself so that he can be there for his brother.”

“Can he-? Is he ok to do that?” Belle faltered in surprise.

“He was only advised to stay overnight. I’ve tried to talk to him and reason that he would still be here, but he’s determined.” Roman explained. “And you know how alike Justin and Aden can be. Once they’ve got their mind set on something…” He shook his head wryly as Belle cracked her first smile, albeit small, in a while.

“Who’s with Nicole?”

“Geoff and Ruby are with her right now. She’s sleeping at the moment.” Belle nodded and tried to think of something else to say. Anything else. But her mind only came back to one thing.

“Did Rachel say how long it would be?” She didn’t need to define what ‘it’ was exactly; the look on Roman’s face was enough to tell her that he understood.

“Belle, things like these are very hard to predict.” He said slowly. Roman was full aware that Belle hadn’t been informed with the extent of Aden’s injuries and the last thing he wanted was to be the one to tell her. “Stick with the positives here. That’s all we can do, ok?”

“You’ll tell me when you hear something, right?”

“Of course.” He assured her gently, patting her legs soothingly before standing up with a sad smile. Digging into his pocket, Roman retrieved a small brown envelope. He handed it to her as he sat back down again. “Here, I thought you’d want these. Just until Aden can get them back again.”

Frowning, Belle emptied the contents of the envelope into her hand. Even the jingling sound it made didn’t give her any clues as to what it was until she saw it all in her hand. Two rings and a chain. They felt heavier than they should have, especially the chain. She had picked that out herself at the beginning of that year, and she was fairly certain that it did not weigh as much as this. Regardless, she dropped the brown envelope onto the side and fingered the jewellery in her hands before clasping it in between them.

“Thanks.” She managed to get out, not taking her eyes off her joined hands.

“No problem.” Roman replied calmly before suddenly jerking his right arm up, causing Belle to look at him oddly. Only then did she realise that there was a piece of Aden’s items that was missing.

“No, you- You keep that for now.” Belle insisted, making Roman pause midway of unclipping the watch off his wrist. “I can’t- It’s-“ Taking a breath, she got the words straight in her head before saying them out loud. “I’ll lose it or something. You should keep it. Aden’ll get mad if I let something happen to his watch.” Belle tried to joke, putting on a smile that she knew must not have seemed as big as she thought it would have been when Roman simply nodded and clipped it securely onto his wrist.

“Alright, I should go and leave you to have some rest. Let me know if you need anything, ok?” Belle nodded as Roman squeezed her arm gently before getting up and nodding to the other two ladies in the room, both stood a bit back and in conversation with each other. Silence fell between them all as Roman left them and Irene and Amanda turned to look at her.

“Um… I’m going to go get something to drink. Do you want anything, Belle?” Amanda asked a bit awkwardly. When her daughter shook her head, she smiled softly while approaching her. “I’ll be right back, ok?” She affectionately rubbed her leg before leaving the room silently.

Irene stood in her place for the moment, watching as her eldest foster daughter opened her hands up once again to look at the items in them. Seeing her thread the two rings onto her index fingers before letting them move smoothly back and forth between them, she began to wonder if calling Belle her foster daughter was correct anymore. She was no longer under her care, but it didn’t change anything. After all, it had only been 3 months compared to the 5 years that she had taken care of her. And Irene was pretty sure that even in 5 years down the line, she would still see Belle as her own.

She walked over to her as Belle dropped her hands into her lap, curling her right hand into a fist to make sure that the rings that she now wore on her thumb stayed on. They were too big for her slimmer digits, but at that moment, she needed them close to her. The chain was wrapped around her wrist, almost in a bracelet fashion, with a bit of it looped around her thumb too, keeping it all close together.

Sitting down on the of the bed, Irene placed her hand atop of the right one, stroking the back of her hand gently with her thumb. There was small sigh from Belle, who looked up at her while relaxing back against the pillows, willing her tears away as they stung her eyes.

“It doesn’t seem real, you know?” She murmured, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. “I keep expecting to wake up and be back at home with Aden moaning about me being late for work or something like that.”

“Soon enough, girly. Soon enough and you will be.” Irene told her soothingly as Belle nodded, determined to remain optimistic.

“I should really do something with these.” She said after swallowing all the negatives that had came rushing at her, forming a lump in her throat. Opening her hand, Irene moved hers to a side as Belle took the rings off and laid them in her palm. “I’ll get grief if he finds out I’ve done something to them. Especially this one.” She picked up the ring that Aden had worn for many years. Although she didn’t know the origin of it, or if there was a meaning behind it, Belle couldn’t remember the last time she saw him without sporting that particular ring on his index finger. Hooking the two rings onto her little finger with shaking hands, she unclasped the chain and began to unwind it from her arm. “It’s funny, actually. Everything I wear, Aden gave me. My bracelet, my rings, my anklet, but I’ve never asked him where this came from.”

Staying silent, Irene decided that it was best not to reply considering that she was fairly certain that if she opened her mouth, there was a good chance that she would end up crying. She could tell that Belle was trying to do the same, averting her thoughts away from where Aden was now to something in the past or what would be, hopefully, in the future. They remained in silence as she threaded the rings onto the chain, fitting over the thin links easily, and then as Belle reached behind her and secured the necklace around her own neck.

“He’s- He’s going to be ok.” Belle’s voice was confident before she shifted her eyes up to the elder lady. “Right, Irene? He’ll be ok…”

“Of course, love.” Irene replied after clearing her throat, praying with every spare thought and fibre in her being that she wasn’t giving the girl who sounded so lost false hope. “Aden’s a fighter. He won’t give up easily.”

“No, he won’t.” She agreed with a forced stubbornness even as tears began to fill her eyes. “He won’t.” Belle repeated before stifling a yawn, trying her best to seem as if she was in fact fully awake, not that it was fooling anyone, least of all Irene.

“Look, darl, you should try and get some more sleep. Like Roman said, it’s hard to predict when we’ll hear anything else. And if we do, you’ll be the first to know.” Irene advised her, smoothing a hand over her hair in a soothing motion as she contemplated whether it was worth the risk of falling asleep when something could happen to her husband. “You have to think about the baby too, Belle. If you’re body needs rest, then so does the little one.”

“Yeah…” That more than enough to sway her decision. Worrying about Aden was one thing, but putting their child in some kind of distress wouldn’t be good for any of them. She remembered reading somewhere how excess stress and lack of responding to the body’s needs could sometimes lead to premature labour, and that was one thing that she feared to happen with Aden around. Without him near, she was pretty sure there would be no way that she could cope.

“Ok, that’s a good girl.” Irene said in a hushed voice as she assisted Belle to lay down again, fussing over her pillows and covers for a moment before settling back onto the edge of the bed and stroking a hand through her hair silently. She could see her eyes beginning to close for extended periods of time as soon as her head was rested on the pillow and she had gotten comfortable. At her last blink, Irene spotted a slow tear leak out of the corner of her eye, making it’s way down onto the pillow on it’s lonesome and wearing down Irene’s own resolve to stay strong right up until it become evident that Belle was asleep and she finally let the few tears she had been keeping back for hours finally escape.

---

Sorry this part's short. The next one will probably be back to it's novel length

I’ll try to get the next part up ASAP! Thanks for reading!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

Firstly, I am so, so so sorry for the wait. This weeks been hectic, what with uni, assignments and getting ill Which is why, if this chapter is a bit crappy, you'll understand why. But I hope it's not.

Secondly... well, there isn't one really. Just, I hope it all makes sense and not too medically babbley. I have the tendency of doing that sometimes

Chapter 61:

Part B

She didn’t move as she watched the second hand tick around her watch that laid on the bedside cabinet by her hospital bed. Belle wasn’t sure how long she had been doing this, seeing time pass right before her eyes until it hit 9 o’clock. It was now officially 6 hours since Aden was suppose to have arrived home, where she was going to try and cook him dinner to spend the night in with just each other for company. Of course, the word ‘try’ would have been the key word in the sentence, considering that her culinary skills had only improved a tiny bit since becoming a married woman, but it was going to be a romantic night for the two of them. To show him just how much she had missed him and loved him and make as much of the following few months that they had to themselves for themselves.

Now, she wondered exactly how much time they had left with each other. Even though Belle had vowed to herself to remain positive, there was too much that managed to penetrate through the walls in her mind that kept her thoughts realistic and out of possible denial. Especially now as she remained in the room alone. She didn’t know where everyone had gone, but she knew that if she needed someone, all she had to do was make the smallest noise and they would come running. It had been for that reason that Belle had chosen to remain in her position, watching the time in silence.

The familiar buzzing of the busy hospital was enough to keep her awake and fight off the sedatives and fatigue from the day. Muffled voices and beeps gave a rhythmic pattern that she followed as she continued to eye her watch. Anything that broke the pattern immediately grabbed her attention, and it was usually footsteps, slow and timid, that she feared. She feared the hesitation in them as they approached her open door, scared that they brought her bad news each and every time, yet not one had entered her room. Most had gone right past, whereas a few others had stopped at her door to check up on her as she closed her eyes to feign sleep.

This time, Belle noticed that the approaching footsteps were pretty normal, if not lazy and casual, as they neared her room. She naturally closed her eyes, waiting for them to either pass or pause. However, she was surprised to hear them stop abruptly before entering her room a few seconds later. The scraping of the chair being pulled towards her bed forced her to hold her breath before she jumped involuntarily at the screeching sound.

“I know you’re awake.” A voice whispered to her nonchalantly. It was warm and caring, and for the first time, Belle found herself wishing that she couldn’t hear the sound of the voice which she usually associated with safety and love. She was amazed to find that she hadn’t ever noticed just how similar Justin and Aden’s voices were then they were hushed, although that could have been because Justin hardly ever spoke gently. But right then, it rang clear to her, and it brought back everything that she didn’t want to think about.

Blinking, she opened her eyes to look at him sitting on the chair, leaning forward with his arms resting on his legs, hands clasped. There were a couple of lines of stitches running parallel to his left eyebrow, bruising colouring it green and black. He was staring at her intently as she pushed herself up in the bed slowly, taking her time to avert her eyes from him and to elongate the time before he told her whatever it was that it was obvious he was there to tell her.

“He’s out.” Justin spoke up, make her head snap around to him as she settle back against the pillows.

“’Out’ as in-”

“- out of surgery, yeah.” He finished for her. Belle nodded, opening her mouth to say something before closing it as it went dry. “Dr. Armstrong said she was going to come and talk to you soon, but we thought that you would rather know ASAP.”

“Of course.” Belle finally got out, her heart now beating a hundred times a second, or so it felt like it, as she digested the news. Things had obviously gone well in surgery, otherwise she would have doubted that Roman or Amanda, or even Irene or Drew, would have let Justin be the one to break the news to her. “Is he ok?”

“Belle,” He began before taking a breath and dropping his eyes to his hands and then looking back up at her. Unfortunately, Belle interpreted his pause in the wrong way, fearing the worst once again.

“No-one’s telling me what’s wrong with him.” She whispered to him, her eyes begging for him to give in to her following question. “Justin… Please?”

“You sure you want to know?” He asked her in response, concern colouring his words. “They’re only trying to stop you from stressing out, you know.”

“I’m going to stress either way. I am stressing either way.” Belle corrected herself, tears beginning to prick at her eyes for the millionth time that day. “I get why they’re doing it, but I can’t stand it anymore. He’s been hurt, in and out of surgery, and I don’t even know if he’s going to be alright. Everyone else does, but not me!” Her voice grew stronger, picking up some volume so that it raised to the normal speaking range as she held back her tears. “I want to know for definite in case my theory is worse and that will just stress me out more. Because I have thought through so many different scenarios and none of them have been good.”

“Ok, but the doc said she’d be along in a few, so maybe it would be better if she-”

“No.” She cut him off forcefully. “I want to know before Rachel gets here. And I’d rather hear it from you, to be honest.” Belle saw him eye her carefully for a moment before nodding and giving in to her wishes.

“He’s stable now, but he had some internal bleeding which was why they had to take him into surgery.” Justin explained to her. There was silence as she took in the information and then speaking up again.

“How?”

“Well, getting crushed by a house tends to do that to you.” He said matter-of-factly with a sad smile, regretting it as he averted his eyes back to her from where there had drifted off to the side, seeing her upset look at the reminder. “Sorry. I’m not really good at all this subtlety stuff. Sugar-coating things isn‘t one of my strong points. I‘m more straight to the point, in case you haven‘t noticed.”

“I have.” Belle replied after a moment. “It’s why I asked you to tell me. Everyone else would just keep saying that everything’s going to be ok, when it’s clearly obvious that it isn’t if they keep saying it as if they’re trying to convince themselves! Not to mention being told that it would be better not knowing to stop me from worrying. Someone has to tell these doctors that that doesn’t work! Cos it just makes everything worse-”

“Hey, they only did that so that when they did tell you, they had the full story.” Justin cut her off as she became more and more worked up, letting out her anger and distraught for the first time. He watched her carefully as she began to calm down and ran a hand through her already tousled hair.

“What else?” Belle questioned him when a couple of moments had passed by, looking back at him. She could see that he had figured out that she had assumed things were more dire than internal bleeding if she hadn’t been told.

“A few fractured ribs; one broken that they had to fix before it punctured a lung, dislocated shoulder, burns on the left shoulder and lower leg, and some scrapes and bruises.” Justin listed emotionlessly for her and Belle could tell that he must have gone over it in his own mind a load of times. He kept his eyes on her as she took it all in, letting the extent of Aden’s injuries hit her as the tears made a resurface to her eyes. “Was your theory worse than that?” He asked her softly, the tone gentle and far from the detached one he had just used.

“Yes.” Belle admitted, almost relaxing a tiny bit back into her pillows while tightening the arm that had been wrapped around her stomach as the other hand raised to her neck, fingering the rings to subconsciously feel closer to him. “I thought- I thought that there would be more. I know Rachel said that everything was good enough to go into surgery, but I still expected maybe some head trauma or something. I thought it would be the worst of the worst.”

“Nah, he’s head’s alright.” Justin told her lightly. “A couple of scratches and stitches so he’s not gonna be the prettiest boy around for a while, but Aden’s always had a bit of a thick head, you know?” Belle laughed quietly at his words, shaking her head at his typical teasing that only helped to ease her mind more. She knew that Justin didn’t do seriousness well, but she also know what Aden meant to him, and he wouldn’t have been joking around if something had surely been worse than he was making it out to be.

“I heard that you discharged yourself.”

“The Summer Bay rumour mill is never out of hours, is it?” He asked her dryly as she nodded noncommittally.

“Is that a good idea? I mean, you’re injured too.” Belle carried on, glad to have something else to focus on for a little while.

“It’s better than being in a bed all night.” He argued. “Besides, I’m going to be here, just up and about instead of feeling useless sitting in a bed.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” She sighed, wondering what the chances of discharging herself without any arguments that she had no energy for were. Belle didn’t have the time to verbalise the thought, or to go any further with it as a knock resounded through the room. Turning her head in the direction of the door, she felt herself stiffen and sit more upright when her eyes fell upon Rachel and Amanda. Somehow, just their presence wiped out everything that Justin had told her and the fear had returned back into her mind. “Is everything ok?”

“Yes, sweetheart, everything’s ok.” Amanda quickly reassured her daughter, walking briskly up to her side when Justin pushed back his chair and got up, allowing the two ladies room to get closer to her.

“Aden’s out?” The question was this time directed specifically to Rachel who came and perched at the edge of her bed as she had done earlier. Amanda stood further along the bed, her arms crossed loosely as she watched the interaction. Belle was able to see Justin out of the corner of her eyes, standing a bit back but listening closely.

“Aden’s out.” Rachel confirmed for her. “It took longer than we were anticipating, but he’s stable now.”

“Wait, what?” Belle pushed herself up in bed, managing to get her legs to work and crossing them as she looked at Rachel in confusion. “Why did it take longer? What happened? Is there something wrong with him?”

“Belle,” The doctor began, sighing as she glanced over her shoulder towards the blonde woman who stood with a concerned face. Belle could see their eyes meet even as they didn’t say a word to each other or communicate in any other way in those two seconds. “Ok, Belle, Aden was seriously hurt in th-”

“I know.” She cut her off, not having the patience for it anymore. “Justin told me.”

“He did?” Amanda questioned with a dry tone, her eyebrows shooting up in both surprise and annoyance as Belle spotted Justin rolling his own eyes at the response.

“I asked him to.” She informed her mother. “I was getting sick and tired of waiting, dreading every time someone came close to my room that they were going to tell me something bad because I really had no idea what things were going to turn out like.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” She asked her gently, rounding the bed to stand on the other side so that she could be closer to her, reaching out a hand and placing it atop of her crossed legs. “We all thought that a bit of ignorance would have helped you to rest right now.”

“It did. But then it got too much. Everyone was talking about it, and you all knew. I felt left out and it made everything seems 10 times as worse as it had been before.” Belle confessed to her. She saw a guilty look pass her face and she quickly carried on. “I’m sorry-”

“Hey, now. It’s not your place to apologize about anything, alright?” Amanda interrupted her sternly and Belle nodded obediently before turning back to Rachel who had politely let the conversation flow, knowing that Belle’s urgency to know about her husband would come to a head soon enough.

“Aden…?” Belle simply had to say, and everything else once again disappeared out from her head as she awaited the doctor’s explanation.

“There were a few complications during the procedure, but,” Rachel pressed on without delay when she heard the sharp intake of breath from the pregnant woman in front of her. “Everything was sorted out, and in the end, everything that was meant to be done has been done.”

“So he’s ok?” She asked her with hope, hurriedly yet cautiously.

“Belle, you have to understand that Aden is very, very lucky to have such minimal injuries after such a horrific accident. You all are.” She added, twisting to look over at Justin briefly before turning back to Belle. “Things could have been much worse.”

“That didn’t answer my question.” Belle replied with tense words as Rachel sighed and pursed her lips for a second.

“The next 48 hours will be vital. Due to the complications, we’ve had to put him onto a ventilator to help him breathe properly for now.”

“A ventilator as in life support?” Belle gasped out as it sunk in to her. When no-one answered her immediately, she gazed between the three of them who all looked as if they wanted to say something, but couldn’t. “You said everything was ok!”

“Belle-”

“No! This isn’t- this isn’t ‘ok’! It’s-” She struggled to get out, stuttering over the words as her brain worked too fast for her body. She could feel the bed dip next to her as Amanda sat down, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to her with a gently force.

“Breathe, Belle. Calm yourself down. None of this is going to do either of you any good.” She murmured to her. There were no more tears left in her body to escape but Amanda could feel her body shake nonetheless.

“It’s just for now, Belle.” Rachel reminded her. “To help speed up his recovery. If all goes well, he’ll be off it in a couple of days; earlier if we’re lucky. It’s all up to Aden now.”

Silence followed her words as Amanda continued to coerce her daughter to remain positive, finally getting through to her as she heard her breathing even out. She could see Justin standing off to the side, not saying a word and Amanda couldn’t help but to feel a bit sorry for him.

“Can I see him?” Belle questioned Rachel, her voice trembling even as she tried to keep the words confident.

“It’s not a good idea right now, Belle.”

“What? And not telling me about what happened was a good idea?” She almost snapped back, pulling herself away from her mother’s grip as a frown made it’s way onto her lips.

“Belle.” Amanda reprimanded her softly but she brushed it aside, not really caring how rude, and maybe a bit bratty, she was being.

“It’s been hours, Mum! Days, even, since I’ve seen him!” Belle argued, still facing Rachel even as her words were directed towards the lady sitting next to her.

“I understand, Belle, but you can’t forget that it’s not just about Aden here. You yourself are in hospital too, and you’re here for a reason.” Rachel pointed out to her. “Being sedated can make you very weak on your feet. Not to mention that you are still recovering from shock and any additional stress onto your body and the baby isn’t the greatest idea right now.”

“But I feel fine. My legs are fine, my body’s fine. What’s not fine is that Aden’s in a room somewhere in this very building and you’re stopping me from seeing him!” Belle countered, breathing deeply when she felt her baby begin to protest against her agitation. Using the silence to calm herself down for the sake of their unborn child, she tried again in a much softer tone. “Look, I’m not asking to be discharged, or to be there all night. I just want to see him. 5 minutes would be enough. In and out, I promise. I just want to see him with my own eyes.”

“Alright.” Rachel gave in, sighing. “I’ll go see what I can do. But it won’t be for long, and it won’t be for another hour or so. We’re still getting him settled, ok?”

“Ok.” She readily agreed. Although she knew that this hour would probably last about 5 times as long to her, it would be worth the 5 minutes at the end of it.

“Ok.” The doctor repeated as she got up and walked to the end of her bed, looking at Belle’s own charts. “How are you doing anyway? Everything seem good with you and the baby?”

“Yeah, why?” Belle asked suspiciously, both her hands coming to lay protectively over her stomach.

“There’s nothing to worry about, I was just asking.” Rachel smiled gently at her while replacing the notes back again. “I think you should try and rest for now, maybe sleep. I’ll be back when everything’s sorted with Aden. Also, I think it may be a good idea to carry out another ultrasound before you leave tomorrow. Just to make sure everything is ok.”

“Sure.”

“Good.” Rachel nodded. “Right, so I’ll keep you up to date with everything, but don’t worry too much, ok? You have to think about yourself too.” Belle merely sighed heavily at her words, knowing that it was true even if there was nothing she could do about it at times. She watched as Rachel left the room, leaving the three of them in a silence that wasn’t tense, but was quite uncomfortable.

“I’ll be back in a second, yeah, darling?” Amanda spoke up finally. Belle nodded this time, feeling her mother press a small kiss to the side of her head before getting out and walking around the bed towards the door. She didn’t miss the small smile that she offered Justin as she passed him, although none of them commented on it.

There was another stretch of silence as the two of them remained in the room. Belle worked her fingers in soothing circles over her stomach to get the baby to retire from it’s kicking and sleep again, all the while stealing glances up at Justin, who was staring out of the open door most probably at nothing.

“Why Aden?” She asked him the one question that had been burning on her tongue. She saw his head snapped around to her, his face coloured in confusion. “There were three of you in there, but Aden was the last one out and the most hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you and Nicole aren’t hurt as bad as he is, but I…” She hesitated as she thought through the words. “I just want to know what happened.”

“Honestly, Belle. I have no idea.” Justin confessed, approaching her bed and sitting down at the end of it. “I remember Aden being in the attic while Nicole and I were upstairs. Then the lights went out and we went to check it out cos the place has- had a backup generator which hadn’t worked. Then things get a bit fuzzy.”

“It’s ok.” She assured him although she could hear the disappointment in her own voice. “You’ve got a concussion; I guess that wouldn’t help.”

“I suppose so.” He muttered, his face contorted as he struggled to recall what had happened. Belle was about to speak up once more, telling him that it wasn’t important when he carried on. “I can remember being downstairs while Nicole was still upstairs with Aden. She was kind of panicking because the fire had spread quite a bit. Um…”

“Justin, seriously, don’t force yourself though it if you can’t.” She told him, sudden guilt coming upon her even as she longed to hear the rest of what happened.

“It’s ok. I have to tell the cops anyway, whenever I can.” He shrugged, giving her a weak smile. “I know that Nicole got out first, but I don’t know how. Then the emergency services arrived and forced me out of there while Aden was still upstairs. And then everything really is a blur and I ended up here.”

“Do they know the cause yet?”

“Not yet. Forensics are still working on it, but they suspect it was an accident.” Justin informed her with a shake of the head, hunching forwards a bit to lean on his arms as he rested them on his legs once again. She had come to recognise that this position was one of both defence and to close himself off from the rest of the world, something she guessed he had had years of practice for.

“Huh…” Belle said wryly, relaxing back into the pillows while uncrossing her legs and pulling them up as close to her body as they could be into her own almost defensive position, although it were more to protect her child than herself. “It’s always the smallest accidents that cause the biggest impact.”

---

“Don’t let all the wires and machines scare you, ok? They’re just there as a precaution.” Rachel explained to Belle as they made their way down towards Aden’s room a couple of hours later. She walked slowly, her legs slightly stiff, with Amanda helping her along. She had refused straight-out to use a wheelchair, insisting that she needed to move and even going as far and swinging herself out of bed by herself before anyone could argue.

“Ok.” Belle replied instantly, taking the words in with a bit of worry. Most of her mind was focused on the fact that she was going to see Aden, and although the majority of her was petrified of seeing him in such a state, the rest of her just couldn’t get there quick enough.

As they approached the end of the intensive care corridor, she spotted Roman and Justin, sitting and standing respectively, almost as guards outside what Belle guessed was Aden’s room. Roman stood up when she got closer, giving her a warm smile that she couldn’t help but to return.

“How you doing, Belle?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She insisted, dismissing it easily. “Have you been in? To see him?”

“Yeah, just a little while ago.” Roman informed her as she nodded along, eyes drifting towards Justin then finally the door. She made the final few steps towards it, not daring to peek in through the open entrance to the room.

“Do you want me to come with you?” She heard Amanda ask her. She didn’t have to think it through much, shaking her head slowly as her mother smiled understandingly at her and let go of her arm.

Belle followed as Rachel entered the room, walking much slower now that she had lost Amanda’s physical and emotional support. She kept her eyes focused on the ground for a couple of steps, making sure that she was managing on her own and giving herself a distraction. It was only when she could actually hear the faint beeping and whirring of machines over the other buzzing of the hospital did Belle look up, freezing mid step as she took it all in at once.

Like Rachel had said, there were many different equipment and technology around in the room, most of which were connected to Aden in one way or another. She could see the bandages wrapped tightly around almost the whole of his upper left arm, with a sling holding it in place for what she guessed was the dislocated shoulder. Making her feet work again, she shuffled slowly towards the bed where Rachel was already checking his charts. As she got closer, Belle could make out the whiteness of more bandages secured around his midsection from under the sheets. She let her eyes gaze down his body, not able to see anything else through the sheets that were doubled in layers towards the bottom.

Taking a final breath, Belle averted her eyes slowly up to his face, scared to see the deep red cuts and small bruising standing out remarkably against his paled complexion. And then there was the ventilator that was secured to his mouth, working one of his most vital processes for him as he struggled to do so himself. All in all, Belle simply couldn’t believe that it was the same man that she had physically had to push out the door only 3 days previously. The same man who was able to make everything alright for her, yet not for himself. The same person who had the ability to take her breath away with just a smile, yet now it was because of the lack of one. The same guy who, to her, had the ability to do anything, yet here he was, a tube down his throat to allow him to keep breathing.

“Belle?” Rachel’s voice broke her out of her train of thoughts. “I’ll give you a few minutes. Give us a call if you need anything. We‘ll be right outside.”

“Ok.” She whispered, waiting until she heard the footsteps retreat behind her before taking the final few steps herself so that she was within reaching distance of him. Stopping at his side, Belle scanned the right hand side of his body which hasn’t been visible to her before. Apart from his hand being bandaged up there didn’t seem to be much else.

Belle continued to just stand there, longing to touch him but scared to do so at the same time. She remembered being told that speaking to someone in a coma, or unconsciousness in Aden’s case, helped them along, that it gave them something to cling to. She was pretty sure that it had came from one of Aden’s psychology books that she had picked up on a very boring afternoon.

Taking in a deep breath, she removed her hand from where it clung onto his chain and the rings around it, not so surprised to see it shaking as she reached out and laid it gently onto Aden’s left hand. It was warm, and she scolded herself for being shocked at the recognition. But it was also rigid, and she couldn’t curve her own hand around it, or bring it up to her lips or down to her stomach. It simply had to lay there on his body where the sling held it.

“Aden?” She whispered, her voice catching in her throat before swallowing. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m going to pretend that you can.” Belle paused, searching his closed eyes for maybe a sign of acknowledgement, disappointed where there wasn’t even a flutter or a twitch, or even a movement of his eyes from underneath his eyelids. “So you go away for 3 days and this is what happens, hmm? I think it may be a sign, don’t you?”

Letting out a nervous chuckle, it wasn’t long before tears began to prick at her eyes. She sniffed a couple of times, determined to remain strong for the few moments that she had with him that night, although she knew it wasn’t going to last. Not with him laying right in front of her, unaware that she was next to him and probably deaf to her words too.

“I don’t even know why I’m doing this. Why I’m asking you stupid questions, when it’s obvious that I’m not going to get an answer anytime soon, right? See? There I go again.” Frustration began to leak into her words slowly as she unwound her arm from her waist and smoothed the back of her fingers along the plane of his cheek, a space that was entirely unscathed before pushing upwards and resting her hand onto his pillow, allowing her fingertips to weave slowly with his hair. “I miss you. We miss you, even though you’re right here… You’re not though, are you? It’s been days since I’ve gotten to touch you, to feel you, kiss you, hug you or just smile at you, and I miss it so, so much.”

Losing her battle against her tears, Belle allowed them to run free as she struggled to gather her thoughts. They were flying from one thing to another, wanting to get it all out to him, but at the same him wanting to bask in the silence and cherish the closeness for the littlest of whiles.

“I can’t stand the idea of you being so hurt. Because you can’t be; you’re my hero, and hero’s don’t get injured for long. So you have to wake up soon. I don’t know what to do without you, Aden, so you can’t leave me. We need you here with us, everyday, cos I don’t have a future without you in it.” She took in a deep breath as she felt her words jilt in her throat, forcing herself to remain as calm as possible.

Her glassy eyes didn’t help her to see him well, and for the first time in years, she was glad of it. This wasn’t the image of Aden that she wanted to haunt her dreams that night, or any other night for that matter.

“What do I have to do to make you wake up? I’m having another ultrasound tomorrow to make sure everything’s ok. I don’t want to have one without you there, so maybe if you can, you could wake up for that? How does that sound?” Belle questioned once again, not able to stop herself as most tears tracked down her cheeks. “I’ll do anything. I’ll even admit that the baby’s a girl if you come back to us.” She tried to compromise with him, although there was no point when she received not even a hint of a reply.

A sob finally broke through her control and Belle closed her eyes as she tried to gain control again. She leant towards her where her forearm now rested on his pillow, nearing him so that she could speak almost directly into his ear.

“You said that you would always come back to us, remember? You promised that you would always be here with me and give me everything I want. And right now, I only want you. We can work through everything else together, but this is just you right now, and it hurts to know that I’m so useless when you probably need me the most.” Blinking a couple of times, Belle brushed her lips against his cheek briefly before backing off slightly. “You’ve got to keep fighting for us, honey. We’re going to be right here waiting for you, so whenever you feel like it, you come back to us. Just make sure it‘s soon.”

There was a small scuffling sound outside of the room that broke Belle out of her world that contained just them. She wasn’t sure what the sound was, but she was pretty sure that her time was up although no one was disrespectful enough to take her away from him.

“I’ll let you rest for now. But I’ll be back in the morning, alright?” Pressing a tender kiss to his forehead, Belle let her lips linger for a moment longer before pulling away, retracting her hand off his first. She let the other one remain for a while longer, stroking his hair gently like she had done so many times before. “I love you.”

Reluctantly, Belle pulled her hand away, stepping back from him to stop herself from giving into the temptation to grab hold of his hand once more. She had to cross her arms loosely around her midsection to keep herself from doing so again. Just seconds had passed, and she no longer felt that energy that always rushed through her at the smallest touch, the bolt of electricity, the spiritual representation of their love.

Belle had managed to get halfway towards the door before she had to turn around, taking her eyes off him. Her remaining journey was quick, rushing the steps until she reached the doorway where she stopped. Three pairs off eyes fell upon her and at the back of her mind, she wondered where Justin had vanished off to.

Without a word being exchanged between any of them, Belle felt an arm loop itself around her waist before she fell into her mother’s embrace, letting out the last of her sobs as she buried her face into her shoulder. She wasn’t sure how long she had remained that way, feeling Amanda smooth down her hair in a loving and soothing gesture until she sensed another person’s presence, causing her to feel slightly self-conscious.

Belle wiped at her eyes as she back off slowly, not stepping too far away so that Amanda’s arm still rested comfortingly around her waist. Glancing over her shoulder once she was sure that she had regained a bit of composure, Belle wasn’t too surprised to see Justin had returned, figuring that he wouldn’t stay away for longer than was necessary. She had the same urge too; to spend every second possible as near to Aden as she could, just in case.

“Belle?” Rachel’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, her head turning to face the doctor. “You alright to go back to your room now?”

Opening her mouth to say something, Belle closed it promptly, not trusting herself to speak without bringing forth the tears once again. Plus, if she was completely honest with herself, the little time that she had spent with Aden hadn’t been enough. Although she had promised that it would be ‘in and out’ and that she wasn’t asking to stay the whole night by his side, Belle began to regret it, wishing that there was a way that she could remain there for, preferably, the next 48 hours.

“C’mon...” Amanda gently coaxed her. Nodding silently, Belle looked back into the room one last time, a bit of relief and contentment coming to her when she saw Justin leaning heavily against the storage drawers in the room opposite from Aden’s bed so that he could still keep watch over him.

Letting out a shaky breath, Belle tore her eyes away from the two of them slowly, already feeling dread in the pit of her stomach as she could no longer see her husband. She still found it weird calling Aden that; her ‘husband’. 3 months hadn’t been enough for her to get use to it, or to get use to being called ‘Mrs Jefferies’ or acknowledged as his wife. It wasn’t that she didn‘t like it, but rather the fact that after almost 21 years, it was hard to adjust to it and take on the responsibilities that came with it. But then again, it wasn’t as if being his wife was helping her now. She had promised to be by his side through sickness and through health, and although doing what’s best for her baby came first in her mind, and Belle was pretty sure it would come first in Aden’s too, the uneasy feeling inside of her didn’t wane. It was no win-win situation, Belle realised. If she decided to go against everyone and stay with Aden, then there was a chance of putting excess stress onto both herself and the baby, which would only lead to further complications for herself. But if she decided to do what was best for them and left Aden that night, there was a chance that something else could go wrong and she wouldn’t be here if he deteriorated.

Just the thought of it made Belle shiver while letting Amanda guide her away back towards her room again. Her legs gave in slightly to the emotional overload that flooded her as she urged herself to bring back the positive feelings and thinking.

“I’m ok.” She hurriedly assured both Amanda and Roman, who had grasped onto her arm when seeing her legs weaken. Trying to shake them both off, her words grabbed Rachel‘s attention too which didn‘t do much to help keep Belle calm. “I’m ok.”

She knew her words were forced and tired, just like she felt as she made herself take another step away from Aden’s room without looking back. Feeling Roman’s hand loosen, Belle gave him a brief grateful smile as he returned it with a sympathetic one.

Sighing, she carried on in silence, not taking in whatever it was that the doctor was telling her as she controlled the want to scream and shout, and demand for there to be a way to be with Aden that night. She guessed that they all knew the only reason that she was even bothering to control it was due to the same reason that she had to stay away, which was also, Belle had realised, why she was receiving sympathy instead of sadness, or worse, condolence.

By the time Belle had climbed back into the uncomfortable hospital bed, all of Amanda’s words about where everyone was and when they would be back had gone straight over her head. The first and only thing that had entered her ears and stuck into her mind was her mother letting her know that she was going to stay the night with her, and that was only because of the mention of Aden’s name. Belle let her eyes drift close as she felt a Amanda press a kiss to her temple, wishing her sweet dreams and telling her not to worry, that everything was going to be alright. The last thought that passed through Belle’s head before she gave up on even trying to push away of what could be her dreary future was that she was glad her mother was there and that someone could remain so positive, because she was finding it harder and harder to do so.

---

Uh... yeah. Don't kill me, yet?

Hope you enjoyed it!

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

I am so, so, so sorry for the late update! I thought it would be quick to get to the end, but it wasn’t. This chapter is officially the longest that I’ve ever written as one part [16 pages] so I do hope you can forgive me!

And a huge thank you for every one of your comments. And for being so eager for the next update!

Chapter 62:

“I wish she had let someone in with her. I feel so guilty for not being able to help her out right now”

“I know, darl. But this is Belle we’re talking about.” Irene assured her softly as the blonde merely shook her head.

“Matilda was here earlier; even if she had let her stay it would have been ok. Anyone. Even Drew, to be honest. She shouldn’t be going through any of this alone.” Amanda sighed deeply, the urge to go against Belle’s wishes to let her have the ultrasound alone growing stronger and stronger. The only thing that kept her in place was the remembrance of the look on her face when she had told her that morning that there had been no change with Aden. Although it meant that he wasn’t getting any worse, the crushed and disappointed look that Belle had tried to hide so quickly had broken her heart, letting her give in to anything she asked. Which had, ultimately, been to leave her alone for the time being.

“She knows we’re all here for her. There’s nothing more we can do short of suffocating her.” Irene insisted, although her voice portrayed her frustration too. “I just hope it’s done soon. I need to be heading off again, not that I really want to, but I want to see her first, make sure she’ll be ok for the next few hours.”

“I’m sure she would understand. It’s not like you haven’t been in to see her or spoken to her.”

“Somehow, it didn’t feel like it.” Irene huffed, hitching her purse up higher on her shoulder while checking her watch once again. “I honestly cannot remember the last time Belle had remained so quiet for so long. I thought she was coping alright.”

“She was.” Amanda informed her, swirling the last of her tasteless coffee around in the cup as the two ladies sat outside the girl in question’s room. “I think she still is. You know what Belle’s like; determined to get through things by herself, especially when things get a bit too tough and out of her control. Even more so when it’s to do with Aden. I don’t know if letting her see him last night was a good idea though.”

“From what I hear, I doubt there was even a choice.” Irene stated as Amanda chuckled dryly.

“No, I don’t doubt that she would have somehow sought him out and gone to see him herself.” She sighed. “I’m just glad that she didn’t decide to stay. She’s stubborn enough to be able to persuade us, although I had the feeling that Rachel was close to sedating her again if she demanded that.”

“Yeah, well, we all know where that stubbornness comes from, don‘t we? Along with the hotheadedness.” Although there was a tone of accusation with her words, they both knew that Irene only said them lightly and as a way to ease the tension and worry.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Amanda quipped just as the door to Belle’s room opened. Both ladies stood up expectantly as another lady, who they had been introduced to as Dr. Reed, stepped out.

“Everything’s looking fine.” She spoke up before either of them got to say a word, their emotions clear on their faces. “There doesn’t seem to be any changed except for growth and development, which is always a great thing.”

“Can we see her yet?”

“Sure, that should be alright.” Dr. Reed smiled at Amanda politely before speaking to the both of them. “Just keep an eye on her for the next few days. I heard about Aden; it’s hard enough for anyone to have to go through that, but considering Belle’s condition, it’s more than necessary that she tries to remain in her typical routine.”

“Of course.” Irene replied, nodding even as she knew what a hard task that was going to be. “Thank you.”

“No worries. Let me know if you need anything else. Other than that, Belle’s fine to go home.” She simply said with another gentle smile before walking away as they thanked her once again.

Looking at each other warily, Irene made the first move and knocked on the door, waiting for a response that came only seconds later, telling her that it was alright to enter. Turning the door handle, she opened the door and stepped into the room, her eyes immediately falling onto where Belle sat crossed legged on the bed. In one of her hands was the newest image of her unborn child, while her other hand still clasped subconsciously onto the rings on the chain around her neck.

“Hey, love.” Irene greeted softly, making Belle look up at her quickly. The glassy and tinted eyes made it obvious as to what she had been doing in the small moment that she had had to herself, though none of them commented on it.

“Hey.” She replied with a small smile before tilting the picture in her hands towards them. “Look.” Irene took the final few steps towards the bed, accepting the photo that she was offered.

“Wow, the baby’s getting quite big, huh?“

“Yeah, I know.” Belle merely answered, nodding slightly in addition to her words. Her eyes had averted down to her now joined hands on her lap, fiddling with her fingers and missing the look shared between the other two people in her room.

“So, the doctor said everything was looking good. You should be able to come home today.” Irene carried on, placing the image back onto the bed in front of Belle. “Are you sure that you don’t want us to pop over to yours and grab you some things? It would make it easier and I don’t mind.”

“No, no, it’s ok.” Belle told her gratefully. “Mattie, uh… She said she would be back later and take me over.”

“Alright, if you’re sure. But if you change your mind, just give me a call, ok?” Irene informed her strictly.

“I will.” She agreed, giving her a subtle smile. “Thanks, though. For everything.”

“It’s not a problem, darl. You know you’re always welcome.” Irene insisted before sighing heavily, rubbing a gently hand on Belle’s knee. “I just wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Me too.” She murmured, blinking away any tears that pricked her eyes at the thought of it all as she turned to face Amanda. “Any news?”

“Sorry, sweetheart. Nothing new.”

“No news is good news.” Irene interjected before anyone else could say anything, hoping to keep the atmosphere positive and to stop Belle from becoming a bit reclusive as she had been earlier that day. “Listen, love. I need to head off briefly to take care of a few things. You going to be alright here?”

“Hmm.” Belle merely nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.”

“Yeah. You let me know if you need me, alright?”

“Of course.” She smiled gratefully at her foster mother, who eyed her carefully before giving in.

“Ok. You take care now.” Irene told her sternly before pressing a loving kiss to her head and gliding her hand down her arm soothingly. She exchanged a concerned look with Amanda over her shoulder swiftly as she stepped away. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Bye, Irene.” Belle said in farewell, watching as the elder lady left the room, closing the door behind her. Her eyes remained on the shut door for a while longer until they drifted over to where Amanda still stood. “Something wrong?”

“No, of course not.” She quickly dismissed, coming up to the edge of the bed to take the place where Irene had stood. “Wow, Irene was right. The baby is getting pretty big.”

“Yeah…” Belle let out a light laugh, picking up the image from the bed. “I look at the old ultrasound images sometimes and I still can’t believe that it’s my baby. And now this one just makes it all surreal again. Not to mention, a bit too big for the likes of me.”

“At least you won’t be carrying around the baby weight after it’s born. I’d say you’ve got it lucky.” Amanda joked as Belle chuckled. “Do we know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”

“No. Aden and I agreed to wait, so we will.” She stated confidently. “It’s only 3 months off now.”

“I’m surprised you could wait so long.” Amanda exclaimed, taking the photo into her own hand to look at the image of her grandchild.

“Didn’t you?” Belle asked curiously, shuffling slightly to the top of the bed as her back began to ache.

“Not with you, although I do put that down to being a 15 year old with no concept of patience. Plus, it did help in the long run, I guess. Made it easier to focus on the other stuff, like telling my parents and coping with it all. Got to pick out a name and other stuff. Just didn’t keep them for long after…” She trailed off, both of them knowing as to what she was referring to.

“You picked out a name?” Belle questioned her, her interest piquing as, for the first time that day, something other than Aden or her own baby filled her mind. “You never said anything, or mentioned it in your diary. Well, in the two pages that I read.”

“I never wrote it down.” Amanda informed her before rolling her eyes. “It was meant to be bad luck, or so my best friend back then told me.”

“I hope not, because we’ve written the names down.” She told her mother. “A whole paper filled.”

“The list not shortening, then?”

“Nope. But, we did manage to cut it down so that it limited to one name per letter of the alphabet. The only problem is that we have one for every letter for girls, just not the boys.” Belle explained. “And even with those 5 names, we’re arguing.”

“So, what are these 5 names then?” Amanda prompted, taking a seat at the edge of Belle’s bed as she got sucked into the baby talk and away from the depressing stuff that occupied everyone’s mind outside of that room right then. Belle gave her a small and shy smile, relaxing a bit more into the pillows as she rested her hands onto her stomach, rubbing small circles onto it through her long t-shirt.

“Well, apart from something that rhymes with his, Aden loves the name ‘Nate’ for a boy. I like ‘Ty’ and we both kind of agree on ‘Malachi’.” She saw Amanda take in the names, a non-judgmental look on her face as she did so. “And the other two are ‘Tristan’ or ‘Chase’.”

“Right…” Amanda simply replied as Belle’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You don’t like them?”

“I didn’t say that.” Amanda reassured her. “They’re just different. I guess you can’t really decide what suits until the baby‘s born, right?”

“Yeah? Then how did you end up picking one out for me?” She asked her with a ghost of a smirk as the blonde lady laughed.

“Like I said, you don’t have much patience at 15. You make a decision and you stick with it. At least, I did. It made things easier than to keep doubting yourself and be in a state of indecision for 9 months.” She justified as Belle nodded in response.

Silence engulfed them after Amanda had spoken. She had looked back down at the glossy photo in her hands, recalling her own scan while at 24 weeks over 21 years beforehand. The same sense of pride overcame her, although this one was a more subdued one to the overwhelming maternal one that she could remember from all the years back.

Once the quietness got too much for her, Amanda gazed back up at her daughter, somehow not too surprised to see her eyes having averted down to where her hands laid or when she raised a hand to rub at her eye, a telltale sign that she had learnt that had meant Belle was trying to hold back tears.

“Isabella.” She broke the silence as she tilted her own head down to look back at the scan. Amanda could see Belle’s own head snap up at look at her in confusion even as she remained quiet. “Isabella Katrina Vale. That’s what I would have named you.”

“Really?” Belle asked her in both awe and astonishment.

“Yeah, believe it or not.” Amanda shook her head in dry amusement. “I always like the name ‘Isabella’ and I thought that if I named you after my mother, she would ease up a bit. So ‘Katrina’ was a fair compromise there. Too bad she didn’t know.”

“Do you think that would have made a difference?” She enquired, watching as Amanda shrugged noncommittally, making Belle leave it alone. “So would it have been ‘Izzy’ or ‘Bella’?”

“Somehow,” Amanda smiled, reaching out with a hand to place atop of hers and rubbing it lovingly. “I think you were always destined to be a ‘Belle’.”

---

“…and everything’s looking fine. She’s getting bigger. And more active, actually.” Belle let out a small laugh as she fiddled with Aden’s right hand. After being informed that there was only a small scratch with a couple of stitches on his palm and that it would be fine to move and hold, Belle had clung onto it like a lifeline for the both of them.

As the thought passed through her mind, she averted her eyes back up to his face. He looked so calm and peaceful, just like he would practically every morning when he was sleeping. However, most of those times, he wouldn’t have bruises or cuts on his face, or be connected to machine to help him breathe.

Pushing all that to aside, Belle looked back at his hand which was completely unhurt bar the cut under the bandages that she couldn’t see. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to breathe regularly again, keeping all the bad thoughts away and focusing on the baby, who at that moment, was reminding her painfully of their presence.

“She wouldn’t stop kicking throughout the whole scan, or last night, you know? She-” Breaking off, she shook her head while a wry smile pulled at her lips. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it. I can’t keep on calling our baby a girl. I think that, finally, my own instincts have kicked in and they’re trying to tell me we’re going to have a boy. I dunno how true they are, but saying ‘she’ is almost foreign to me. So the baby must be a boy, right?” Once again, she paused in await for an answer even though her common sense had told her numerous times before that she wouldn’t be getting one. “We’ll argue it out once you’re awake. How does that sound?”

A soft knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts as Belle struggled to find something else to talk about it. Seeing Rachel wait in the doorway momentarily, Belle gave her a questioning look, almost fearful for bad news although there was no indication for it.

“Belle, I think it’s time you headed off now.” She said gently, taking a could of steps into the room. “Mattie and Ric have been here for the past hour…”

Glancing down at her watch, Belle was surprised to see that it was already past 7 in the evening, meaning that she had been sitting with Aden for the past 5 hours. It was no wonder that she had ran out of things to say, especially when she was getting no response.

“Belle…?” Rachel urged her as the younger woman reluctantly nodded.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” She mumbled, turning her eyes back onto Aden as she heard the retreating footsteps. Once she was sure that she was alone in the room again, Belle let out a deep breath and leant in closer to his form, laying on the bed. “I don’t want to leave, but I know that if you were awake, you’d make me go. Just don‘t- If you decide to wake up, I’ll be right back here, alright? So don’t think that you can’t wake up cos I’m at home.”

Lifting Aden’s hand up, she pressed a tender kiss to his knuckles before running her fingers over his and then laying it back onto the bed by his side. Slowly, she lifted her own arm up, using her other hand to unclip the star charm from her bracelet. Belle carefully turned Aden’s hand palm-side up, hooking the charm onto the pin that held the bandages together before curling his hand into a loose fist as gently as she could.

“You’re gonna be alright.” She whispered, pushing her chair back as she stood up. Belle held onto the edge of the bed as she got to her feet, slightly weak after sitting for so long. Shuffling timidly, she stopped at the head of the bed, letting her fingers caress the smooth skin of his unscathed cheek before moving it to stroke his hair. “I’ll be back in the morning, again. Be good.” Belle joked, dropping a lingering kiss onto his forehead. “Love you. We’ll see you soon.”

Backing away, she let her hand skim down his arm, keeping in contact with him for as long as was possible. She took a final look at Aden’s still figure before leaving the room. The hallway seemed much cooler than the room, and brighter too. Soon enough, her eyes fell upon her two mates, both sitting on the plastic chairs, deep in conversation about something that she couldn’t hear.

Belle walked up to them slowly, gaining their attention soon enough. They both stood up, unsure of what to say or do until she reached them, where Mattie wrapped her up in a hug. Returning the embrace, the best friends remained in that position for a moment before they separated.

“Ready to go?” Mattie questioned her and Belle nodded, knowing that Amanda had taken her stuff back to the beach house that afternoon before she had had to head home for Ryan’s sake. It had taken a lot of persuasion on Belle’s behalf to make her go, on.y after promising to call her if there was the slightest thing that she could do or that Belle needed.

“Yeah,” Belle breathed out with a tone of disappointment. Throwing one last look over her shoulder towards Aden’s room, she smiled to herself, knowing that the belief that he was going to be alright, and the star that she had left to watch over him, would be enough for a little while to put her mind at ease. “Let’s go.”

---

The unusual rampant activity for a Friday night in the beach house, which Belle could only assume was due to her presence, gave her something else to focus on as she laid down on her old bed in the darkened room. It was past half 8, and after making a quick stop at home to gather a few things that she would need, Mattie and Ric had dropped her off at Irene’s. They had stayed for a while, having dinner with the rest of them, minus Geoff who was over with Nicole while Roman stayed at the hospital for a few hours. Belle had managed to get through her plate of lasagne, eating it slowly and making it last for over 30 minutes while everyone else made meaningless conversation around her.

Another voice added to the mix that was already there snapped Belle out of her stance. Sitting up and shuffling to the end of the bed, she stared at her reflection in the mirror, lit only by the moonlight. She ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it down before pushing herself up off the bed and heading towards the door.

“She’s in her room. I think she might be asle-” Irene’s words were cut off by, Belle assumed, her opening the bedroom door. “Maybe not then.”

“I can’t sleep yet.” Belle informed her, stepping down into the main part of the house before walking over to the kitchen where Irene stood by the sink with Justin by the door. She knew there were others in the living room, but she didn’t want to take notice of them in fear of more people seeing how drained she looked.

“Everything ok, darl?”

“Yeah, yeah.” She brushed off, wrapping her arms loosely around her midsection, above her expanding stomach. “It’s just a tad bit early to sleep.”

“Alright…” Irene replied wearily as Belle turned her attention to the man standing in the doorway while Irene went back to what she had been doing.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just thought I’d pop by and see how you were before heading over to the hospital.” Justin explained and the growing sense of panic deflated inside of Belle.

“Oh. Right, yeah… Yeah, I’m ok.” She smiled gratefully at him, taking a few more steps closer towards the back door. “Um… Where have you been all day? I was wondering where you’re staying, because if you need somewhere, our place-”

“I’ve got somewhere.” Justin interrupted her, his voice as steady and calm as ever. “The insurance people sorted out a hotel and stuff so I‘ve been clearing that up.”

“That’s good, then, I guess.” Belle said albeit awkwardly. Even though it were just the two of them standing near the kitchen door and having a polite conversation, there seemed to be a tense atmosphere hanging around her, and Belle easily guessed that whoever was still there at the beach house kept on looking over at them.

“So this is definitely weird…” He whispered so that only she could hear, making her laugh lightly. “I might just leave before the windows crack from the tension.”

“Actually,” Belle added, surprised to hear that she had lowered her voice too. “If you don’t wanna come in, you fancy going for a walk? Just a quick one.”

“Sure, if you’re up to it.”

“Yeah, hold on. I’ll just go get my phone.” She told him before turning back into the house and walking back to her room. She could feel Irene’s questioning eyes following her, right up until she returned. “Justin and I are going for a little walk. We’ll be back soon.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Belle? I mean, you just got home from hospital today.” Irene asked her with concern, eyeing her carefully.

“It’ll be quick. Be back in 30 minutes.” She assured her. “I just need some air and a walk will do me and the baby some good.”

“Alright. Be careful.” Irene warned her with a squeeze of the arm as Belle passed her by with a small nod and smile.

“Let me know if…” She trailed off, looking over her shoulder at the doorway and holding up her phone as a sign to what she meant.

“Of course.” Belle nodded solemnly once more before leaving the house, heading towards where Justin waited by the end of the veranda. He let her pass him by, allowing her a couple of steps ahead of him before he followed her, his longer legs meaning that he was able to catch up easily.

They walked in silence for a little while, taking the lit footpath that ran parallel to the beach. Belle had wrapped her arms back around her waist, a bit more tighter than before with her mobile clutched in her hand just in case.

“Just so you know; I’ve never been for a walk with a girl before without the intention of anything more.” Justin broke the silence, and the slight awkwardness that had began to build up. Belle blinked at him momentarily before letting a chuckle escape through her lips.

“Thanks. I think…” She replied, a bit unsure. “So, uh… You’re heading back to the hospital tonight?”

“Yeah, thought I should. Considering that you’re not allowed, and I think Roman would want to head home for Nicole.” Justin clarified. “And there isn’t really much else I can do right now but wait.”

“Tell me about it. It’s the worst part, waiting. Like being in limbo or something. I just wish I knew something, one way or the other.” Belle sighed heavily, biting her tongue to stop herself from going onto a long rant about nothing.

“’One way or another’? I would have thought waiting would be better than the bad news.”

“Yeah, of course it is!” She snapped quickly, correcting her own mistake while reprimanding herself mentally. “I just hate the waiting. I hate not knowing and not being able to do anything.”

“Yeah, well, welcome to my world.” Justin simply replied and a bout of guilt swept through Belle, remembering that he was going through almost the same thing as her.

“Sorry.” She mumbled. “I just- I’m not good at this kinda thing. Letting things get out of my control. And I hate feeling useless.”

More silence came after her words as they continued down the path. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see that Justin had become a bit withdrawn into himself; his hands dug into his jean pockets with his shoulders slightly hunched. Belle recognised the same look from Aden whenever he wanted to keep closed from the world or felt guilty or had done something wrong.

“When I woke up in the hospital and they told me about Aden, my first thought was to get out of there.” Justin began in an almost detached voice. “Not from the hospital, but get away. Far away.”

“Why?” She merely asked him. He shrugged a little, looking up at the clear sky with a million and one twinkling stars.

“Cos the last time I left, things got better for him. Cos the one time I come back, he‘s in hospital. Cos I found out what I wanted to. I dunno; they were my three favourite excuses. Take your pick.”

“You’re still here, though.”

“Couldn’t do it. The damage was already done, and not knowing the outcome would have just driven me nuts.” Justin confessed. “He’s my little brother, you know? I’m supposed to be here for him. Like when Sean got send to prison, or when Dad did.”

“You’re here now, and that does actually mean more than you could imagine to Aden.” She informed him as they stopped walking, going over to the wooden fence as he watched the moon dance on the sea waves while Belle kept a watch on him.

“Should have been here earlier. Like when Dad died.” He shook his head regretfully and she stopped herself from pressing on and reminding him of the reasons that she had been told by Aden as to why he hadn’t returned years back.

“You know it was 2 years, a week ago, right?” Belle stated rather than asking him. Justin looked over at her with a perplexed look. “Your father’s death. The anniversary was last week.”

“I wasn’t sure of the exact date.” He told her, almost in shock. “I thought Aden would have mentioned it.”

“Aden never mentions it.” Belle exhaled, turning fully towards the water. “He’ll go visit the grave once a year around this time, but it’s always on the whim. Really randomly. And the actual day passes like every other.” She tightened her arms around herself as a memory from the previous year came back to her, bringing a wry smile to her face. “Last year, we headed up the coast for a week with Larry’s anniversary right in the middle of it. It was an early birthday thing, for me, so I went along with it, figuring that he might want to get out of the Bay on that day. But when it came, he was no different. I knew that he knew, but he didn’t do anything about it, and I wasn’t one to push it. We came home, I had to go back to work, but Aden had his vacation. He went one day to the grave because he was passing by, apparently, and that’s it. Not another mention of it.”

“That can’t be good for him.”

“Well, we’ve talked it through before so I guess there’s nothing else left for me to do.” Belle shrugged, tilting her head to look at him. “You know, if you ever wanna talk…”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Justin chuckled. “I’m good.”

“Alright, but the offer still stands.” She insisted, letting the touchy subject go as she let her eyes wander back over to the sea and then the beach. “We should start heading back before Irene sends out a search party for us.”

“You guys got married around here, right?” He questioned her as they retreated back towards the path and back to the beach house. Belle looked at him oddly at his words, glancing over her shoulder and squinting in the fair light of the might.

“Yeah, on the other side of those rocks.” She answered back, unsure. “How did you know?”

“Seen the pictures.” Justin simply replied.

“They were taken on the beach. The beach stretches all along Summer Bay. You can’t have possibly known that it was from this area.” Belle pointed out in disbelief as Justin grinned at her.

“I work with architecture; I can tell the difference between certain places just by the buildings or the landscape, Belle.” He told her as she bit her bottom lip while nodding.

“I see…” She mere commented, choosing not to get too far into it at that moment as they continued with their journey back. “Are you staying the night at the hospital, then?”

“Probably. Depends if he wakes up or not, I guess.” Justin said in his typical straightforward manner.

“Hopefully, you won’t be there for too long then.” Belle sighed, the dreaded feeling that had seemed to wane coming back to her at full force. As they approached the beach house, the two of them came across another path which Belle knew led towards the main road, and therefore towards the hospital. “You should head off. It would be a waste of time if you walked up to the house and back again.”

“It’ll only take extra 2 minutes.”

“I know, but still.” She tried to offer as an explanation. “I can see house, anyway. It’s not too far. And look, there’s someone coming out…” Belle trailed off with a small grimace when she recognised who it was that was most probably waiting for her. “It be fine.”

“Alright.” Justin gave in, pausing momentarily and taking a step away from her and towards the main road. “I’ll give you a call if there’s any news.”

“Yep, sure. Thanks.” Belle nodded, watching as he went in the other direction before she made her trek back up to the house. “Whatever it is, I’m not in the mood for it, Drew.”

“Where have you been?”

“For a walk.” She replied, brushing past him and into the house. “Not that it’s any of your business, personally.”

“It is when Irene said that you would be back around 10 minutes ago.” He stated as she rolled her eyes, surprised to see that only Irene and Annie remained in the house, both of whom were sitting on the couch watching the TV quietly.

“I’m back now, aren’t I?” Belle said while turning around to face him, her words still soft even though her tone may have portrayed some frustration. “Besides, it wasn’t as if I were on my own.”

“I thought you were meant to be resting, anyway.”

“It was a walk. Not a 20k marathon.” She informed him slowly as he rolled his own eyes at her. Shaking her head, Belle took a step back to look towards the front room. “I’m going to go to bed, yeah?”

“Alright then. Night, love.”

“Night, Belle.” Annie added, throwing her a sweet smile over the back of the sofa.

“Night, guys.” Belle replied almost tiredly. “Night, Drew.”

“Hey, wait a second. I came all the way here to spend some time with you and see how you were, and you’re just going to head of to bed?” He practically sulked. If the day had been like any other, she would have teased him. But it hadn’t and somehow, her odd burst of energy had withered right down.

“Sorry. I’m just tired.” She shrugged, walking up to the closed bedroom door. “The walk kind of wore me down. But I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, fine.” Drew exhaled heavily, leaning against the kitchen counter as she gave him another apologetic smile.

“Sorry.” Belle repeated before disappearing into her bedroom, missing the slightly disappointed and hurt look on his face as she did so.

---

Sitting up in her bed with the pillows propping her up comfortably, Belle let her eyes skim over the words on the sheet of paper that she held in her hands. It was nearing 11pm, and after an hour of simply laying there in bed without sleep coming to her, she had given up. There were subtle voices and footsteps outside of the room, but she was more focused on the letter that she read. It suddenly hit her that the last time that she had actually read it properly, and probably the only time, was in that very room 3 months previously. On that very bed, where she had found it hidden under that very pillow, or so she assumed.

A knock on her bedroom door made Belle freeze, pulling up the covers in an instinctive gesture to hide her bump. She was wearing simply one of Aden’s t-shirts that fitted her new shaped perfectly to reach her legs.

Another knock resounded as Belle heard a pair of footsteps travel up the stairs. Coming to the conclusion as to who it would be, she remained quiet, not really in the mood to talk to anyone.

“The lights are on and I can hear the shuffling.“ Belle cursed herself as she leant back over from placing the letter into the drawer next to her bed, which had obviously made a sound. “I know you’re not asleep, sis.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Your light is on.” Drew laughed.

“I don’t like the dark.” She lied, eyeing the door carefully, wondering whether she had locked it or not.

“And you’re talking to me.” Having no response to that, she waiting until she saw the door handle turn, hoping for it to jilt. Unfortunately, it didn’t and instead swung open to show her the darkened rest of the house and Drew. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Belle replied gently. “Why are you still here?”

“I was going to head off, but I saw you were awake so I thought I’d see what’s up.” He answered, shutting the door behind him and walking up to the bed. It was only then that she saw a small, covered plate in his hand that he laid onto the nearest bedside drawer away from her. “I thought were tired from that walk…?”

“Yeah, I was. Just not sleepy. Have too many things playing around in my head after everything and it‘s getting a bit hard to switch it off now.”

“Of course.” He muttered as Belle gave him a funny look at his disgruntled tone. “Want to talk about it?”

“Not particularly. Already tried that with Justin.” She sighed, still watching him as he stood with is arms crossed in the middle of the room. “Drew?” He lifted an eyebrow up at her whilst one corner of her mouth kicked up in a small smirk as she finally figured out what was wrong. “Come sit down.” She invited him, patting the huge space next to her on the bed.

“A second ago, you didn’t want me here, and now you’re asking me to sit down?” He teased while doing as she said, leaning back against the head of the bed with is legs curled to the side. Belle twisted slightly towards him, bumping her shoulder against his playfully.

“You don’t have to be jealous, you know?” She whispered as he looked at her in shock.

“What?” He laughed, something that Belle could tell was a bit forced. “I’m not jealous of anyone.”

“Drew, c’mon. I know you a bit better than that. I’ve seen you jealous before.” There was no reply to it this time. Instead, he simply stared right ahead towards the cleared vanity desk and mirror with a fixed look on his face. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you; I just don’t want to talk to anyone.”

“Oh, but you’ll talk to him, right?” Drew said through gritted teeth before shaking his head. “You know what? Never mind. You’ve got enough to deal with right now without this.”

“There isn’t anything to deal with here. You’re being ridiculous. Justin’s his brother, Drew. He’s going through the same thing, and he has virtually no-one else here. And he’s family.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You know what I mean.” Belle said in reply to his dry tone. “We’re both dealing with it, so talking with him is for the both of us. I don’t know how else to explain it, Drew. And, yes, I know you don’t like him, cos he’s a ‘Jefferies’ and you don’t really like anyone with the last name ‘Jefferies‘. But I’m just going to ignore that like usual.”

“That’s not true. I like you, and you’re a ‘Jefferies’.” He told her lightly. “Well, I do right now.”

“Good to know.” She smiled softly at him. “You’re more than a brother to me, Drew. You should know that by now. Nothing’s going to change that anytime soon.”

“Hmm…” He said noncommittally, which Belle took as an end to the conversation. They remained in the silence for a moment as she fiddled with the edge of the bed covers, pulling it closer to her as a small chill ran through her body, bringing back a solemn mood to her. “Before I forget; here.”

“What is it?” Belle asked as he retrieved the plate from the table next to him and slid it onto her lap.

“Irene mentioned that you’ve hardly eaten enough today, so I thought you might be hungry.”

“Not really.” She admitted. The thought of food was far from her mind, even being 6 months pregnant. With so many other things taken up her awareness and thoughts, eating somehow didn’t pass through as often as it should.

“Not even for some chocolate cake?” Drew questioned her as he took off the cover for it and handed her a fork. “There was some left over in the fridge that I thought you might like.”

“I doubt even chocolate can make things better right now.”

“And here I was, thinking that it held some magical powers for girls to help them along.” He joked as Belle looked down at the plate, her watery smile hidden from him. She wished that he was right; that the chocolate would help with more than just satisfying most probably the baby. Such as every other time she had been upset or worried about something, although most of those things hadn’t been so far out of her control as this. “C’mon, eat up.”

“I think I’ll pass.” Belle murmured, dropping her hand with the fork in it onto the bed.

“Belle, you have to eat something.” He reprimanded her. “What would Aden say if he found out?”

“I dunno, why don’t you go ask him?” She said with an edge to her voice, digging the fork into the cake with a jabbing motion and giving it all her attention. “No, wait, you can’t. Cos he’s in hospital with a stupid tube stuck down his throat.”

“Belle-” Drew began, guilt flooding him as he realised his mistake of bringing up Aden’s name.

“No, I mean, it’s been over 24 hours where I’ve been in and out of hospital, had a scan, sat by his side and talked to him for hours and hours. I’ve prayed, Drew! Me! Praying! All so that he could wake up and actually say something. Because in the 24 hours, he’s been on that one stupid bed, in that stupid room doing nothing while I’m here, unable to sleep, think or eat without dreading my possible future without him.” Belle stabbed furiously at the cake, breaking it up into pieces as she vented out her anger towards it while silent tears ran down her face. “And all that time, people keep coming up to me, asking how I’m doing and to stay positive and everything will be fine, when all I want to do is scream and shout at them, asking how they could possibly know that! I mean, do they have some kind of crystal ball where they’ve seen the future or if they know something that I don’t? Because I really want to know how they expect me to stay positive when he’s so badly injured and can hardly breathe because- because-” She took a deep breath as she stopped with the fork and thought about the reason she was looking for. “I don’t know why. I don’t even know why or what happened during the surgery that means that he needs the ventilator! They don’t tell me, cos they think that cos I’m pregnant, I’m fragile and I can’t handle it when what I can’t handle is just not knowing!”

Not sure with what to say to that, Drew took the plate away from her and replaced it back onto the side before slipping the fork out of her hand to join it. He saw her drop her face into her now empty hands as the tears came faster. Slowly, he readjusted himself on the bed so that he could wound an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him as she literally cried on his shoulder.

“They won’t even let me stay with him for the night. And I get it, I do. I know my baby comes first, but I don’t like it.” She managed to get out in between her deep, calming breaths as she tried to stop her tears to turn into sobs. “I want to be there when he wakes up, or if he- if he-” Belle couldn’t even get the rest of the sentence out, not wanting to even admit to herself that possible reality. “I just want him back. I want Aden back with me.”

He held back the urge to tell her that she would, knowing that that was the exact thing that she would hate to hear. Instead, Drew settled for remaining quiet and keeping his arm around her as she continued to let out everything that she had kept pent up over the past day or so, finally bringing down her walls only with him.

---

Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry if it was a bit dragged on or crappy. It’s a bit late here and I was very stressed out about the ending…

xoxo

[Taniya_K]

I am so, so, so, so, so sorry for the extra long wait for this chapter. I don’t know what happened to me, but it took ages to get into it and other stuff [called life ] happened too. Hopefully, it’ll never be this bad again!

Big thanks to Laura for reading it through. If it’s bad, then you can blame her.

Chapter 63:

She stared at the photo frame sitting next to the telephone on the little table opposite her. It hadn’t really caught her eye before, and she wasn’t sure why. It could have been due to the fact that there had only been an handful of times that she had came over to the beach house, and each and every time there was a purpose behind it, therefore meaning her chance to snoop around or to take every little detail in was impossible. But it was there, placed strategically on the other side as to where Robbie and Tasha’s wedding picture was kept.

Belle took another sip of her hot chocolate, feeling it scorch a trail down her throat and into her stomach, near to where the baby continued to fuss around. Shuffling a bit more on the stool, she looked over the rim of her cup at the double photo frame. On the right was a picture of her, Mattie and Annie, all dressed up and looking immaculately perfect in their dresses, standing outside the beach house with their backs towards the sea for a picturesque setting. They all had smiles on their faces, but none were as joyous or as filled with love as in the other picture on the left hand side of the frame. The same picture lined the vanity in her and Aden’s room, Belle realised, seeing the unforgettable photo of the two of them almost right after they had been pronounced husband and wife. Neither one were looking towards the camera, but rather towards each other, yet their smiles and undeniable feelings were captured so obviously in that split second.

Her heart clenching as the memories of that day flooded back to her, she lowered her mug slightly as she sighed. Belle had vowed to herself that morning after waking up with sore eyes and head not to get herself too down about something that might not even happen. Even though she had complained the previous night to Drew about everyone telling her to remain positive, and how hard it was, she was determined to give it a go. Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be realistic and get her hopes up too high either. She had decided on an equal balance, especially as there had been no more news since she had left Aden’s bedside herself.

The quietness of the early morning was broken suddenly as Belle heard footsteps, oddly, approaching the house. Snapping out of her thoughts and checking the time once again, she kept an eye on the front doors while sipping her drink, wondering who it could possibly be. She fought the fear that threatened to break loose inside her that, considering the hour, it may be someone with bad news, reminding herself that it would be quicker to call than to visit.

Soon enough, the lock was silently undone and door handle was carefully pushed down, doing their best to not draw any attention to them. Belle assumed that they must have thought that everyone was still sleeping and hoped to enter unnoticed. A small and wry grin stretched upon her lips as she came to the conclusion as to who it could be, not saying a word as the door was opened and they stepped in cautiously.

She didn’t say anything as he turned around quickly to shut the door just as silently as he had opened it. Taking another mouthful of her hot drink, Belle waited until the sixth sense of knowing someone was watching kicked in, which wasn’t long in this case. Almost immediately, he spun around before freezing with eyes widened and a guilty look smeared over his face. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times while Belle merely watched, hiding her amusement with her cup.

“Belle…”

“Morning, Geoff.”

“You’re- you’re- You’re up! Early!” He managed to stutter out.

“Seems like it.” Belle nodded. “And so are you.”

“Uh… yeah?” He mumbled, standing a bit awkwardly as he fumbled around with his hands, not sure what to do with them before shoving them into his jeans pockets. “I was just…”

“…sneaking back in at half 6 in the morning? Yeah, I can see.” She supplied for him as he trailed off. A look of panic crossed his face, and Belle would have teased him endlessly about it if she hadn’t had a more pressing reason as to why she was awake so early. “Don’t worry; Irene and Annie are still in bed.”

“I wasn’t sneaking in.” Geoff hurriedly corrected her. She simple raised an eyebrow in contrary as he sighed and neared her with careful steps, pausing by the end of the couch that was nearest to her. “Ok, so maybe I was. But I didn‘t mean it.”

“Trust me, Geoff. I’ve done it enough times to know sneaking in is never fore-planned. Unless, you’re sneaking someone else in, that is.” There was a slight twinkle in her eye as a genuine smile curved her lips at the early memories of Aden having to climb in through her window absolutely silently before their relationship had become public knowledge, and even for a little while after while her family got use to the idea of having him around a bit more. “So,” Belle cleared her throat discreetly before the thoughts of the past dragged her mood down, taking another sip of her cooling drink. “Have you been at Nicole’s this whole time?”

“Yeah.” He admitted, sighing heavily. “Roman didn’t get home until late, and by then, I guess, we had… you know.”

“Not really.”

“Fallen asleep.” Geoff told her almost sheepishly. “I mean, I would have called or something otherwise.”

“If it helps, I don’t think anyone noticed.” Belle said bluntly, still trying to get her head around the fact that even at 19 years old, Geoff was still easily embarrassed by the simplicity of perhaps even sharing a bed with someone they supposedly loved. “How is Nicole, then?”

“She’s better. At least, if the amount of complaining she did last night is anything to go by, she is.” He stated as Belle nodded. She didn’t been to ask as to why Nicole would have been complaining so loud, knowing full well that it was due to the same reason why she hadn’t wanted to leave the hospital; because of Aden. Even though she was quite well except for a hefty cough from the smoke, she had been ordered to go home and rest by both the doctors and her father.

“Well, isn’t she lucky to have a boyfriend like you to look after her, huh?” Geoff responded to her question with a mere nod of the head, one which seemed to her like he was neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her, but just acknowledging her words.

“So, uh…” He scratched the back of his head as he contemplated what else to say before scampering out of there and into his room. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“What gave it away? Apart from the fact that I’m sitting here, early on a Saturday morning?” Belle replied dryly with a roll of the eyes.

“Right. Sorry. I guess you have a lot on your mind.” Geoff said carefully, hoping not to cause anymore of an offence or provoke more sarcasm.

“Hmm…” She sighed as she slid a hand into the pocket of the hoodie that she had pulled on only 30 minutes previously after getting up. She had packed it from the house in an automatic gesture, knowing that, as it still laid scattered on the side in their bedroom, it would be unwashed. Belle hadn’t been disappointed when she had worn the soft top, giving her both warmth and comfort in more than one sense. Even as she sat there on the stool, the spicy musky scent that she associated with Aden reached her nose when she inhaled deeply in a heavy sigh. “It doesn’t really help to have another human being inside of you trying to kick their way out either, you know?”

“Um… Can’t say I do.” He told her in a slight awkward tone, shuffling his weight from one foot to another as if he had just realised that his pregnant, and married, elder sister-of-sorts was sitting on the stool merely feet in front of him with only a jumper that came down to less than halfway of her thighs.

“Yeah, course not.” Belle shot him a funny look when she acknowledged the small tint of red rise up Geoff’s face, completely oblivious as to why at that specific moment. If there had been less pressing matter on her mind, she was sure she would have cottoned on within a second and used it to tease him. “You alright?”

“What?” He quickly asked her, eyebrows raising at her question. “Yeah, I’m- I’m good. I was just… thinking! Thinking about…”

“…about?” Belle prompted him as he trailed off. She could see his eyes move slowly away from her own before they jumped back up again in a sense of revelation.

“About the baby.”

“My baby?” She questioned him in shock, not too sure as to where the conversation was going. If she were to be honest with herself, it was quite amusing and it did help to take her mind off things, the main reason as to why she was going along with it.

“Well, yeah, seeing as I don’t really know any other babies.” Geoff answered, taking a step backwards as he rearranged himself in embarrassment once again.

“Any particular reason why you were thinking so hard about my baby?” Belle asked him coolly as she downed the last of her drink before placing the cup behind her onto the counter.

“No, not really.” He exhaled. “I was just thinking generally. You know, about what you said about it kicking a lot and uh…”

“Geoff,” Belle began politely as she slid off the stool, grabbing the mug while walking soundlessly into the kitchen. “You didn’t, by any chance, hit your head when you snuck out of Roman’s place this morning, did you?”

“No, why do you as-?” He cut himself off as realisation hit him. With her back to him as she washed out the cup slowly to pass time, Geoff fabricated another plausible, at least in his head, excuse. “I’m just running low on sleep. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe you should head off to bed then. No-one’s getting for at least another couple of hours.” Belle informed him, keeping the sigh to herself.

“Yeah, I might just do that.” Geoff muttered. “What about you? Are you going to head back to bed too?”

“Um…” Belle faltered while turning the tap off and shaking off the excess water off her hands. “I guess so. I’m not getting out of here until Irene gives me a lift, and that won’t be until at least 10.”

“Alright.” He relented, taking in her slightly passive words. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Sure.” She simply replied, hearing the footsteps start to retreat away. Belle stayed as she was, plucking up a towel from the side to dry her hands until she heard the door shut quietly.

Dropping the towel back onto the counter, Belle looked over at the kitchen clock. 6:47am, it told her. It was nearing to 12 hours since she had last seen Aden. She was up, and awake, but there was no possible way for her to drive to the hospital herself. Not with just getting out of hospital, being pregnant, not having her car around and being under strict instructions from Rachel to take things easy. She had suggested that Belle got a good night’s rest and came back after midday the next day, something that Belle had nodded along too, yet dismissed in her head. With less than 12 hours in the 48 hour window that the doctors had provided her, there was no way that she was going to spend any time away from his side that didn’t need to be.

But at that moment, there was nothing she could do. The only person who she could think of that would go against Irene’s word was Aden, so there was no-one else she could call up to take her to the hospital. Justin had flitted through her mind briefly, before remembering that he was the one that was there at the moment, and if he left to get her, then there would be no-one with him. And as much as she wanted to be there, she’d rather it be someone else than no-one else.

A more drastic kick out of a calming pattern from the baby snapped her out of her thoughts. This kick wasn’t as much painful as it were well-aimed to get her entire attention. 24 to 25 weeks, Belle recited in her head from a book that she had read, the baby was starting to get use to familiar surrounds outside of womb and a routine of it’s own, as annoying as it may be to be kicked mercilessly early in the morning. Of course, there was always that one thing that she had always counted on and knew stopped the babies activities.

“I miss your daddy too, baby.” Belle whispered almost inaudibly, rubbing smoothing circles on her stomach where she could feel the sharp movements inside and out. “But he’ll be back with us soon. So you think you could have a bit of a rest until then? For me?”

Not too much to her surprise, there were a small flurry of softer movements before they halted altogether. She wasn’t too sure whether it was because of her gentle ministrations onto the bump and her voice causing vibrations that had calmed the baby, but she chose to believe that it were her words and the meaning behind them. It was the exact exclamations that Aden made whenever he claimed that the baby reacted due to his wishes, which she had never once believed but had agreed with anyway because she had found it too cute not to.

Tearing her thoughts away from Aden as they began to venture down the road of ‘what if’s, starting at ‘what if she never got to hear him say that again?’, Belle pushed herself away from the sink and decided to head back to her bedroom. She knew the chances of falling back asleep were quite low, but there was plenty for her to do until then. ‘Then’ being, she saw as the clock caught her eye just as she approached the step before her room, in less than 3 hours time now. Then again, maybe trying to sleep again would make the time go by faster than reading more baby books would.

---

Belle let out a little giggle as she squirted some more moisturizer onto her fingers before working it into her skin with soft, round motions. The coolness of it made her jump slightly, but more than that, it made the baby react too. It kicked against the tips of her fingers, the sudden change from the hot shower to the cold cream obviously effecting it. It was either that, or the baby was following her hand.

Her amusement dying down in the wry smile, she dropped the bottle onto the bed next to her and rubbed the remaining lotion onto her arms. It smelt exceedingly good; a mix of cocoa butter and vanilla with some herb and plant extracts that were supposedly the reason for why she had no stretch marks. Of course, the lotion had been part of the ‘care package’ that her mother had sent her a while back and she had had no idea what the uses of it were. Belle still wasn’t quite convinced that it worked, but it smelt good and left her skin soft, so she kept on using it. And then there was the little fact that Aden had seemed to like it. A lot.

A twinge went through her at the thought, once again bringing up the case of ‘what if’s. Pushing it to the back of her mind, Belle stood up and tied up the maternity wrap top that she had pulled on. It had been another present from her mother, and the long blue top did in fact look good.

Walking up the dresser, she peeked into the mirror while sorting out the creases in her top before picking up the chain and rings that she had left there before getting undressed. As she threaded the rings back onto the links, Belle’s eyes caught the screen of her phone that laid just to her side. There had been no missed calls or texts, and it was now 9:15am. Composing herself to remain positive, she managed to clasp the necklace at the back of her neck before pulling her hair out of the ponytail that she had messily tied it up into.

Belle took her time to brush it through, wasting precious minutes on repeatedly dragging the bristles through her hair until her arm began to ache. Giving up on that, she clipped it back and out of her face, her eyes catching her bare wrist as she did so. Her bracelet was also laying in front of her, but somehow, she had managed to skim past that and onto Aden’s jewellery first.

Frowning, Belle straightened out the bracelet on the tabletop, making sure that all 13 charms that were still there were aligned straight. She couldn’t help but to noticed an enlarged gap near to the middle where the star charm was missing, but Belle assured herself that it would be back in it’s rightful place soon enough.

Placing her wrist atop of the silver piece of jewellery, Belle picked up one end and draped it over to the front of her forearm. With difficulty, she tried to pick up the other end with the hook to join it together, only for the bracelet to slip back onto the dresser. Trying again, she growled in frustration when it didn’t work. Taking the whole piece between her thumb and forefinger, Belle wrapped it around her wrist while holding it up against her body; the method that she usually used. Unfortunately, her pent up irritation at most things that day so far made her more rigid in her actions than usual.

She gritted her teeth in an attempt to prevent herself from screaming out as she used her thumbnail to pull down the hook once more. It was getting fiddly as she focused on trying to keep calm and get her breathing under control before she began to hyperventilate or lose it like the previous night. Just as Belle had gotten herself to remain perfectly still, guiding the clasp to the circle links carefully, the shrill ringing of the house phone made her jump and caused the charm bracelet to fall onto her lap.

“Belle?” She heard Irene’s voice call out while footsteps neared her door.

“What?!” Belle practically snapped, having enough with the bracelet, even as she continued to try to get it on. There was a gentle knock on the door before it swung open to reveal Irene, the phone grasped in her hand with the mouthpiece covered.

“It’s for you, love. It’s the hospital.”

---

Many hospital personnel and workers crowded the floors and the hallways of the building as she tapped her foot impatiently for the lift to arrive. Irene was just catching up to her, feeling her hand lay onto her arm comfortingly as the elevator pinged. She had literally bounded out of the car as soon as Irene had slowed down enough for her to get out safely. Clearly, it made no difference if she had waited for the car to have stopped and parked.

Eyes trained onto the numbers that changed too slow for her liking on the inside of the metal box, Belle chewed on the nail of her thumb to stop herself from ranting on like before. All that she had been told over the phone was that Rachel had requested for her to be called in regarding her husband. She wasn’t sure if there had been more of an elaboration on that before her mind had switched off and getting out of the house immediately. Now she wished that she had had the patience to listen to everything that the nurse may have been able to tell her.

The elevator pinged again to signal the arrival on the floor that they wanted. Without waiting, Belle rushed out, avoiding everyone that was circulating on the wards to head towards the one place that she needed to be.

“Where is he?” Belle called out, almost breathless as she made her way hurriedly down the corridor where Aden’s room was situated. She walked as fast as her legs, and body, allowed her to towards where Justin stood outside the room and leaning against the opposite wall.

“Belle-” He seemed to come to life at her words, and it only took a few moments to realise why. The door for Aden’s room was, for once, shut, and as she neared it, an irregular beeping sound emitted from the other side of it. The glass window on it was blurry so that the only thing that was visible through it were moving shadows and outlines.

“What’s going on?” She questioned, her eyes flitted between the door and Justin when she got no type of response from either. “Justin!”

“I dunno. He was just laying there one moment and the next, the machine went crazy. Then the nurses came in and shoved me out. The doc said she would let us know soon but first thing was first.” He nodded towards the room to indicate what he meant but Belle couldn’t bring herself to look at it anymore.

“Is he awake? Is that what happened? Did he wake up, Justin?” She prodded with determination to look at the positive rather than the other reason as to why the machines that were connected to him may have gone crazy.

“I don’t know, Belle.” He said, each word spoken carefully, making Belle raise an eyebrow in query and surprise at him.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?! You’ve been here the whole time!” Belle’s voice began to rise with anger as the frustration inside of her began to come to a head. When Justin opened his mouth to explain some more after giving her a small tired shrug, she turned around to the room. Belle had a hand on the door, ready to push it open when Irene grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her.

“Belle, come on, darl. The door’s closed for a reason.” She told her in a soothing voice, which Belle would have taken into notice if there wasn’t a louder voice inside of her head telling her to find out for once and for all what was going on. It was the only thing that had stopped her from barging into the room at the first chance she had had; she was too scared to know what the outcome may be. But now…

Her mind was made up for her before Belle got the chance to take any step either towards and into the room, or to back off and apologize to Justin for sounding so harsh to him. The door for Aden’s room opened, causing her hand to falter in midair for a moment before dropping it to her side as she caught Rachel’s shocked face. Belle’s eyes glided to behind the doctor and into the room, trying to catch a glimpse of Aden. Unfortunately, the only thing that she could see were two nurses who were in perfect position to block her view. The machine had seemed to have calmed down with a regular yet dim beep filling the room every so often and Belle wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried.

“Belle,” Rachel began as Belle tried to brush past her, only to be halted by Irene’s hands still on her shoulders and the doctor letting the door close as much as was possible and blocking whatever space was left.

“I need to see Aden.” She simply said, looking between her and the door and back again. “I can see him, right?”

“In a moment.” Rachel assured her. Her tone made Belle wary, making her take a step back to look at the doctor with a careful eye. In her professional mode, it was hard for Belle to work out what it was that was going to come out of her mouth next. It could have been good news or bad, even though an inkling inside of her was leaning towards the latter, telling her that if it had been good, it wouldn’t take time to give it to her.

“What- what is it?” She got out while her arms wrapped around herself in a self-conscious way, feeling the blood drain from her face as her head filled with the worst of the worst of what Rachel could tell her. “What’s happened?”

“I need to talk to the both of you.” She glanced over at Justin, who had pushed away from the wall and moved closer to them when the door had opened. At the back of her mind, Belle realised that Roman wasn’t there yet, but at that very moment, it didn’t do anything to her. The sound of Rachel’s voice, soft, gentle yet unnerving in a way that indicated to her that the words that were to come out of her mouth would be hard to sugar-coat, overruled it all.

“Why? Rachel, please!” Belle pleaded with her as her eyes never stopped averting back and forth from the room, hoping for it to open another time to see some more. “What’s going on with him!? Why can‘t I see him right now?”

“Ok. Ok.” Rachel sighed, clearly giving in to her wishes with some kind of regret etched across her face. “But we have to talk first. You guys should sit down.”

---

The hushed chattering from outside of the room still flooded Belle’s ears, even though the door formed some kind of barrier between them. She couldn’t make anything out, just that they were all still there, 4 hours after she had first entered the room. Belle hadn’t left it since, remaining in the chair next to the bed with Aden’s hand enveloped between hers even as people came in and out. Most begged her to leave for a little while, to get something to eat or to drink, but there was no way that she was going to move. It was where she wanted to be, had to be; by his side. Food and drink didn’t occupy her mind at all. There was a jug of water and a bottle of juice along with a sandwich for her laying on the cabinet next to the bed, but Belle couldn’t make herself move to get it.

Everything in the room was unnaturally still. Even the baby had seemed to have fallen asleep without another movement from it. She herself was too scared to move except for trailing her thumbs over Aden’s smooth skin. The bandage was still wrapped around the palm, but she had unclipped the charm from the pin and hooked it back onto the bracelet, which was buried deep in her jeans’ pocket. He didn’t need the star anymore; she was there to watch over him now.

Belle rested her temple against their joined hands as she turned to look up his face. After the initial once-over when she had entered the room, she had avoided doing so again. It seemed scarily gaunt with the bruising and the scratches standing out more so against his pale skin. With the ventilator tube now taken from him, there was nothing to downplay these injuries. In fact, if Belle were honest with herself, she almost wished the tube was still there. At least then there had been something to take the focus off the painful looking blotches, and there had been something represented in the merest form, life.

Tears threatened to leak from her eyes once more as she recalled what Rachel had told her. It had been, and was, a small possibility, but Belle hoped against hope that it wasn’t true. Even as she sat there with her eyes now trailing down his covered chest and to where she held onto his hand, denial washed through her and she forced herself to think positive. It was all that she had been doing for the past 4 hours, and it was all that she was going to keep on doing until she was proven right.

Resting an arm onto the bed, Belle placed his on top of it so that his hand laid flat against her right elbow under her other hand. She worked her fingers in between his, curling them under to keep a strong hold onto him as she laid her head on her left arm, facing away from him. It wasn’t the most comfortable position for her, but it was the most required one as her eyes started to droop. Belle blinked as she fought to keep them open, shuffling on the chair to keep her awake too. Finally, she decided to let them close for an elongated moment, just to rest them, while using a leg to pull the chair closer to the bed.

This method, typically, proved to be the wrong one as the metal screeched loud against the tiled floors. It was a high-pitched sound that made Belle shudder, just as nails scraping down a blackboard would do. The sound still resounded in her head and as she tried to push it away, a subtle pressure upon her hand made her freeze.

Eyes snapping open, Belle didn’t dare to move or to let out her breath as the pressure subsided. Not sure if she were imagining it or not, she squeezed Aden’s hand herself, shooting to sit upright when he squeezed back.

“Aden?” She whispered while standing up and leaning over him slightly. “Aden, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me, honey.” A few second after the words left her mouth, she felt him respond with more effort than before. Tears pricked at her eyes while she reached over to press the button to call the nurse as she had been instructed by Rachel to do so.

Belle lifted her free hand to his face, lovingly running the back of her fingers across the plane of his cheek as she watched him trying to open his eyes. They contorted, blinking without even opening, several times before finally, after what seemed like a lifetime to her, Belle caught sight of their blueness.

Suddenly, everything that Rachel had warned her about seemed so trivial. It didn’t matter how long it might take for Aden to recover from his injuries and from fighting the life-support in a typical ‘Aden-like‘ fashion, or what the consequences of such a traumatic accident may cause. It didn’t matter what their future may be like or how hard it was going to be for the both of them in the coming months, especially with the baby. Because, right then, he was back with her and she wasn’t going to let him go again. He was awake, and he was breathing on his own. Everything else, she had decided, they could work through together.

“Belle…” He managed to rasp out, turning his head in her direction in a minute gesture as she ran her hand through his hair.

“I’m here, babe. I’m right here.” Aden’s eyes fluttered open and close quickly, but she could see him take her in in the single second.

“You… ok?” There was more commotion outside the room and Belle assumed that Rachel or the nurses were heading towards them, but she couldn’t hep but to let out a giggle, quiet and filled with relief, at his words.

“Yeah, Aden, we’re ok.” The tears had already spilled over onto her cheeks as she smiled to mirror the strained one on his face. Even in his position and through his pain that was clear on his face, the first thing that had came to his head was her welfare. He tried to move a bit, probably stiff from laying in the same position for 2 days, before letting out a low groan. “Hey, don’t move. Just stay still for now. Rachel’s coming.”

“Why-?”

“Shhh… You don’t worry about that right now.” Belle informed him soothingly. It seemed to work as Aden’s eyes relaxed and stayed closed without the want of trying to fight the fatigue to open them. Leaning forwards, she pressed her lips against his forehead in a tender kiss before backing off when the door to the room opened. “Just relax now. Everything’s going to be alright.”

---

I hope it wasn’t/hadn’t been predictable that I wasn’t going to kill Aden. In all honesty, I’ve had this fic planned out since the first one, but I did have a wanting to change it and kill him. But no, I didn’t cos it doesn’t fit in with the theme of this particular fic.

Anyways, I hope you liked it!

xoxo