Shattered Glass

[rokkafella125]

are you going to update today?

dont worry if you cant

x

[Louise_2983]

I'm planning to but I haven't even started yet so it won't be for a few hours at least

Edit: 4 hours later and I still haven't started

[xknomex]

^

dont worry, update when you can

xxxx

[Louise_2983]

I've started now at least so it should be up tonight hopefully

[Louise_2983]

Chapter 10

Nervously she fiddled with her charm bracelet as she sat slumped on her bed awaiting his arrival. She still couldn’t figure out what had possessed her. When she had written those five short, but extremely significant, words on the scrap of paper she had never intended to give it to him. She had needed to finally admit what she had been hiding from the world, from herself, for far too long but she had never intended to ever admit it to him.

She still didn’t know how he felt about it either. His reaction had simply been to gulp in surprise and then to quickly scan the beach to make sure they didn’t have an audience.

“Not here” he’d announced forcefully before instructing her that he’d meet her in half an hour and abruptly leaving.

45 minutes later she was still waiting for him to appear and beginning to wonder if his tardiness was in fact a sign of how he felt about her confession.

He wasn’t coming. He hated her and he wasn’t coming. He’d gone back to playing happy families with his wife and she was an obstacle not even worth trying to deal with.

After what she’d done she wasn’t even worth an explanation.

“Ouch!” she suddenly heard his voice curse and broke out of herself depreciation to find him climbing through her window, having just banged his head on the sharp corner of the wooden frame.

“Are you ok?” She asked, jumping to her feet, her tone brimming with concern.

“I guess I’m a little out of practice at climbing through your window!” he smiled, his nose crinkling in that way it always had, causing her stomach to flip at the familiarity of the desire which pulsated

through her veins.

“Let me look at that” she moved towards him gesturing towards the open wound.

“Belle, it’s fine it’s just a scratch” he insisted but he allowed her to invade his personal space, as she raised a hand and allowed her fingertips to gently examine the abrasion. He winced at her touch and

silently she wondered if it was the injury causing him pain or her proximity to him.

“It’s not fine Aden, you’re bleeding!” she exclaimed pulling back her hand, her forefinger outstretched as she held it up just in front of him. Tiny spots of his scarlet blood were dabbed onto the soft skin

of her fingertips.

“I thought you didn’t like the sight of blood?” he laughed quietly as she continued to gaze at her finger.

“I don’t normally” she replied in a hushed tone confused as to why the bright red liquid wasn’t causing her alarm “but...”

“But what?”

“But...well I guess there isn’t a single part of you I don’t like the sight of” she confessed more to herself than to Aden.

She didn’t have to look at him to know he was smiling as his hand gently curved around the back of her own and he raised it to his bee stung lips, placing a delicate kiss on the three fingers curled up

next to the one she kept outstretched.

“You’re the injured one” she told him as a small smile crept across her ruby red lips and he continued to cradle her hand in his own, the blood on her finger becoming viscous and beginning to dry.

“Aren’t I meant to be the one kissing it better?”

“I think it’s going to take a lot more than a kiss Belle” he told her, abruptly dropping her hand and reminding her that he was feeling a great deal more pain than the tiny amount of discomfort the

superficial wound on his forehead must be causing.

“I’ll get the first aid kit, clean that up” she nodded towards the gash just above his right eyebrow before scuttling off into the bathroom. When she returned he was sat casually on her bed, his body

flopped against the headboard. He looked right at home and for a brief moment she felt like she was 19 again and she had their whole relationship left to destroy.

“A long time since we were in here together hey?” she smiled as she ripped into an antibacterial wipe.

He nodded slowly but didn’t speak. She longed to know what he was thinking and feeling but couldn’t muster up the courage to ask.

“I mean I bet you missed it, I know how much you liked this room. Exactly your taste in interior decor right?” she laughed in a vain attempt to ease the tension between them.

“I’ve been in here since you left” he told her quietly.

“Jamie stays...stayed in here when Irene looked after him overnight”

“Oh right” she whispered the fact that there was so much she didn’t know, would probably ever know, haunting her.

“And it wasn’t the room I loved” he continued as she gently wiped his wound clean with the wipe being careful not to hurt him. He shuddered a little, the anti septic stinging for a few seconds after her

touch.

“It was you”

“I remember” she sighed in frustration, screwing up the used wipe and throwing it towards the waste bin. She missed and it landed a few feet away. It summed up exactly how she was feeling. She

couldn’t get anything right.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small piece of paper covered in her familiar script. He rested it delicately in the palm of his hand as though it was a precious gem.

“What does this mean?” he asked, his baby blue eyes gazing up at her.

She snapped shut the first aid box and broke eye contact. Her heart shattered as the box snapped shut and she wondered if she’d ever be able to fix it.

“It means nothing” she mumbled, her voice barely audible.

“Not anymore”

“Is it true?” he asked hesitantly as she perched her body on the edge of the bed.

“Of course it’s true. I don’t say things I don’t mean”

“You didn’t say it, you wrote it” he replied as though he would only believe her if he actually saw her form the words and heard them escape from her lips.

“I love you” she instantly replied without any pause that could be misinterpreted as being hesitation.

“I have always loved you and I always will”

He didn’t respond instead allowing his eyes to wander intently over her features. She bit her lip in anticipation sure he was going to kiss her but suddenly his head turned and he lifted his body towards

her bedside table. He grasped the first aid box, raised the lid and ripped open an anti septic wipe with his teeth.

Gently he took her hand and wiped all traces of his blood from her finger in silence. His tender touch sent shivers down her spine. When he had finished he threw the wipe across the room and it landed straight into the bin.

“You hate me so much that don’t even want me to have a tiny piece of you huh?” she shrugged, pulling her hand away and resting it in her lap. He took it back and held it between his own.

“You’ve already got my heart, what more do you want?” he laughed softly.

“Want me to sever a limb, carve out another vital organ?”

“No” she shook her head slowly.

“Because I’d do it” he laughed again.

“I would do anything for you and I hate that Belle, I hate it, I really hate it” he cursed himself.

“I get it you hate me!” she snapped slightly annoyed at his need to repeat how much he despised her.

“No I don’t” he stated calmly.

“I wish I did, but I don’t. Despite everything, after everything...I love you”

“I love you too” she whispered her fingertips gently caressing his palm.

“And I hate that too” he announced but a small smile played on his lips as he did so.

“I can’t control or change how I feel Aden” she sighed as he raised his left hand and brushed her hair tenderly from her face, his hand lingering in mid air as his fingertips became tangled in her dark

tresses.

“Believe me, I know how that feels” he sighed in exasperation as his slowly lowered his head, the slight tilt at which he did so bringing their faces so close that their breath intermingled so he could have

revived her without even having to touch her if she’d needed CPR.

He raised his other hand to enable him to cup her cheeks tenderly before he placed his lips against her own, allowing them to rest there affectionately for a few moments before prising hers

apart and softly nipping her lower lip. She responded hesitantly at first before gently returning his kiss, her fingers grasping at his shirt, both pulling him closer and holding on as if she never wanted it to

end.

He pulled back and rested his head against her temple, sighing in frustration. They remained like that for several minutes in sheer silence before choosing to speak at exactly the same time.

“I can’t leave her” he announced as Belle proclaimed “I can’t do this”.

She laughed at the irony, reluctantly removing her hands from his shirt and raising the right one to rub her temple.

“Well at least we agree on something” he smiled but a sadness shone in his eyes as he did so.

“I can’t do this Aden” she whispered.

“I want to be there for Jamie, if you’ll let me, but I can’t deal with anything else on top of that. I have to focus on him, only him”

“I can’t leave her” he told her again as though he was trying to convince himself as much as he was her.

“I destroyed Jamie’s family once, I won’t do it a second time” she assured him.

“I just want to be part of his life”

“I made a commitment, I won’t go back on that Belle” he tried to explain.

“That would just make me as ba-“

“As bad as me?” she asked when he paused, the fact that he’d almost said that stinging her,

“I didn’t mean it like that”

“You’re right through” she shrugged.

“I made promises that I should have kept to and I didn’t”

“You had your reasons for that”

“None of which justify staying away for almost 5 years Aden” she whispered before asking hesitantly “How did you end up marrying her anyway? She is the last person I would ever have imagined...”

“It just happened” he shrugged.

“She looked after Jamie one day when I was stuck and we got talking. She understood what it was like being a single parent and we got on. But I’ve never been in love with her and I never should have

married her. But I was angry at you...at the world and I just wanted to give Jamie a family and in marrying her I saw a chance to do that”

“I can understand that” she smiled weakly.

“I shouldn’t have done it” he shook his head adamantly.

“I shouldn’t have tried to create a new family for him, I should have got his old one back. Roman and Nicole tried to give me a plane ticket to LA the night before the wedding and I threw it back at them.

I should have got on that plane and dragged you back here if I had to”

“No dragging would have been required” she laughed quietly as he sighed.

“What about Johnny?” he suddenly blurted out.

“My life’s not perfect Aden” she laughed to herself at the thought.

“Despite what you seem to think. So what if my apartment’s worth millions and I walk around in designer clothes? It’s all fake! It’s all one big charade that I hide behind to disguise the fact that I’m just

one big mess and I ruined everything with the people who make me complete, my husband and my son” she sighed as she looked up at him.

“I don’t love Johnny, I never have. He cheats on me and he...” she paused and bit back the tears threatening to break free.

“He what?” he asked full of concern as he saw pain flash across her face.

“Nothing” she whispered.

“Belle you know you can tell me anything”

“You’ll just think I’m an idiot”

“Nothing will ever change the way I feel about you do you hear me?” he questioned placing a finger beneath her chin and raising her face to look at him as her tears finally broke free.

“Belle” he whispered.

“He...he...I said no but he was off his face on whatever drug he was doing that week and he wouldn’t listen”

“Are you saying he raped you?” he asked, rage beginning to take hold as her words registered with him.

“No” she shook her head.

“He was high he didn’t know what he was doing”

“If you said no and he still carried on that’s rape Belle” he told her adamantly.

“And he better hope that I never get anywhere near him because I will kill him with my bare hands I promise you that!”

“Stop it Aden!” she exclaimed as she realised how worked up he was getting.

“It was a while ago now, it’s over but there’s more and you need to know because it affected us...all this”

“Go on” he encouraged not sure what she meant by her statement.

“He didn’t use protection and...and...” she struggled to speak as her tears took over.

“Oh god you got pregnant” he whispered and she nodded as she tried to wipe away the stream of tear drops gushing down her face.

“I couldn’t do it Aden, I couldn’t risk it happening again not when I was so alone. I couldn’t be the only person that child would have had to rely on because I couldn’t guarantee that I would be there for

them to rely on. So I had an abortion and it was horrible. It was every bit as horrible as I imagined and then some. And any bit of me that wasn’t already broken, well it broke...well and truly”

Gently he wiped away her tears with his thumb.

“And how does this...” he didn’t have to finish his question because she interrupted him to finish her story.

“I got home from the clinic that day and my assistant was there waiting for me. She was dealing with my fan mail and...”

“Oh god the divorce papers”

“Yeah” she nodded.

“My head was all over the place that day and when I saw the papers it was like someone was stabbing me in the heart over and over and all I could think about was how you’d given up, you’d finally

given up and I really didn’t have anyone any more. And that’s why I didn’t read the papers properly, because I was literally falling apart, not because I didn’t care. Because I never stopped caring and if

I had seen what you’d written I would have been back here on the next flight I swear”

“Life’s really screwed us both up hasn’t it?” he sighed deeply.

“Aden” she whispered hesitantly.

“I don’t want to regret anything else. Please let me see Jamie, that’s all I want”

"What about LA?" he looked at her doubtfully.

"I hate the god damn place!" she exclaimed.

"This is my home. This is where I belong"

He looked away and picked up a silver disc lying next to him.

“What is it?” she questioned as he offered it to her.

“It’s a DVD” he smiled.

“Wow, really?” she mocked his obvious statement.

“Summer Bay has really advanced technology wise since I was last here! You’ll have SKYTV next!”

“It’s video camera footage” he explained with a smile.

“Of Jamie. There’s lots of them but I figured you’d want to start from the beginning”

“You took videos” she smiled trying not to let herself get too hopeful.

“For you” he nodded.

“I knew you’d be back one day. I didn’t think it would take 5 years but I never really gave up Belle no matter how much I tried to fool myself and other people”

She jumped up and put the disc straight into her DVD player before sinking back onto the bed next to him as it began to play and she watched intently.

“He’s so perfect” she whispered as she watched her son, just a few months old, smile and giggle into the camera. A single tear began to fall slowly down her cheek. He reached across and gently wiped it

away.

“Of course he is” he smiled genuinely, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek.

“We made him didn’t we?”

“We sure did” she smiled back, pride beaming out of her. She may not have been around but he never stopped being her son.

“I have to go” he told her getting up onto his feet.

“But Kirsty and Ollie are going to visit her mother in the City tomorrow, so if you want I’ll pick you up when I finish work and you can come around and see Jamie”

“If I want?” she laughed a broad smile appearing on her face.

“Of course I want! Aden... thank you”

“You don’t have to thank me, he’s your son and he needs you. I have no idea how we’re going to tell him but we’ll figure it out”

“Watch you head” she laughed as he began to climb out of the window. He turned briefly back towards her to laugh but hit his head again as he did so.

“Ok I’m going before I kill myself!” he laughed and all too soon he was gone.

She turned back to the TV screen and watched her beautiful son in silence for over an hour before a familiar voice broke her concentration.

“Seriously Taylor, what is with Irene being in the lounge?”

“What are you doing here?!” she exclaimed jumping up and wrapping her arms around his waist. She gave a gentle squeeze as he looped his arms around her.

“Just thought you might need a friend” he smiled.

“Or three” a second voice interrupted as she looked up to find two other people approaching.

“Mattie! Ric!” she almost cheered as she let Drew go and enveloped them both in a hug.

“Tony told me about Irene and that you were back here” Matilda looked at her sympathetically.

“As if we were going to let you go through all this alone Belle, we’re your best friends”

“I’ve been so terrible at keeping in touch, I’m sorry” she told them apologetically. It had been months since she’d spoken to any of them and even longer since she’d actually seen them.

“That’s true” Drew grinned cheekily.

“But we figure with your cash you can easily make it up to us. A new car should do me nicely” he winked as he made himself at home in exactly the same position Aden had been in before.

“Dream on Drew” she chuckled.

“Dream on”.

[rokkafella125]

aww that was awsome...

i loved it when aden gave belle the disk, he just knew she would come back....

haha at aden, hes out of practice

cant wait for more

x

[Taniya_K]

Aden's truly out of practice, ain't he?

Such a sweet update. I can't wait to see how they'll tell Jamie. It's going to be intense, that's for sure. Although Belle's life in LA was heartbreakingly sad. I know it sounds wrong, but I really hope Aden gets his hands on Johnny just to beat him up a bit...

Loved Drew, Mattie and Ric being back at the end.

xoxo

[leah1234]

At least they're talking

Ha at Aden hitting his head

I can't wait to see how this pans out

Update soon xxxxxxx

[jenpen08]

Ah, that update was just the sweetest ever! As per usual I loved it!

Great update cannot wait to see how it all pans out telling jamie and all! Also, it is nice that Belle with have someone to talk to with the return of mattie,drew and ric!!

x

[Red Ranger 1]

Ooh, really not sure what I want to happen.Breaking up Aden's family is no good, Aden staying with someone he doesn't love out of obligation is no good, looks like whatever happens people are going to be left unhappy.

Liked Ric, Mattie and Drew turning up at the end.