Family Together

[shahhnun]

Great drama, brilliantlywritten, and I love the little touches of humour with the kids!  One of the best fics I've ever read. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow, thanks. That was so nice of you to say

Chapter 16

Time was standing still.

Or at least that’s how it seemed. Rhys and Kane sat side by side in the hospital corridor, in total silence. Olivia sat in Kane’s lap, swinging her legs and happily sucking a lollipop she'd been given by one of the doctors. Once they had arrived at the hospital, Flynn had asked one of his colleagues to check her out after her fall but this little girl was absolutely fine.

Emma was a different story however. The doctors were working on her and had been for what seemed like forever. Kane’s heart was pounding as he waited anxiously for some news. Not again - he couldn’t cope with loosing someone else he loved so much.

“Want some coffee?” Rhys asked nervously, trying to break the silence. Kane just shook his head. Rhys headed down the corridor towards a machine.

“Daddy, when’s Emma coming home?” Olivia asked, taking a break from the sweet.

“Soon ... I hope” Kane answered with a heavy sigh. He kissed the top of her head as he sadly wondered to himself where home would be for his little girl.

“Good, coz I’ve thought up loadsa new frights and they're really good ones too,” Olivia announced. She went back to finishing her lollipop.

“Frights?” Kane glanced down at his daughter with interested. What was his little mischief-maker up to this time?

Olivia swung around on his lap to face him, eager to fill him in and make him soooo proud. “Yes, y’see you got into trouble for Daniel going missing and me falling off the tree, right? And we had to go live with The Devil-Man.” Kane had to bite back a smile at the nickname. “So, me and Emma are giving them frights so that we can all go home to you.”

Kane took in the little girls words very seriously. “Livvie, remember when ye were missing yesterday? Where were ye, sweetie?”

“Up the biiiiiiiiig tree,” Olivia announced, bursting with pride.

“You climbed up a tree with your arm like that?” And to think he’d been worried about her managing the top bunk! Olivia just nodded and beamed up at him. Daddy must be so proud!

At the end of the corridor, Rhys could scarcely breath as he turned and walked away. He had overheard his granddaughter’s chatter. This was all his fault. Kirsty’s eldest daughter was in hospital, possibly seriously injured, and all because of him.

[shahhnun]

Chapter 17

Rhys stared at the water fountain absentmindedly - a memorial to some nurse who had worked half her life at the hospital. His mind was racing.

Beth came up behind him quietly and joined him on the bench. She had to make herself stop smiling as she had just come from visiting her very first grandson, Ben.

“Rhys, you have to let those children go back to Kane,” she stated very softly. He started to say something but Beth stopped him with one look. This time, she was going to have her say.

“Rhys, I know in your own way you mean well but really you have made an absolute mess of things here. These are Kirsty’s children, your grandchildren. And what have you done? You’ve taken them away from their father less than a year after they'd lost their mum. In years from now do you know what will happen? You will end up with your own grandchildren hating you. Kane’s their father. He loves them, they love him. Imagine if someone had swept in and taken Dani and the twins away from you when they were little.”

“All I wanted was for him to suffer the way I did when he took away my child” Rhys said quietly. All that had mattered to him had been revenge.

“I know, love”.

“I always believed I’d get the chance to put things right with Kirsty. But I didn’t and now I never can.” After weeks of anger instead of grief, he began to sob softly.

Beth took his hand and held it for ages. “Kane would have looked after her so well and made her so happy these past few years. Imagine how happy she must have been - the two of them raising their little family,” she said softly. He sighed and continued to stare at the fountain.

Kane stopped at the door out to the courtyard. It had begun to feel like the corridor walls were closing in on him and he had suddenly needed some air. Noah had taken Olivia upstairs to see the new baby so Kane had headed outside. Now that he saw who was sitting on the bench, he began to have second-thoughts.

Beth moved away from Rhys, back towards the hospital building, as she spotted Kane approaching. He quietly took her seat. Rhys turned away, ever so slightly.

After a few moments of silence Kane began to speak. “Rhys, I really, really loved Kirsty. I still do. Look, I never meant to do so much harm to your family but ….. I just wanted me and Kirst to be a family. We had to get away. With the way things were between her and the rest of you, there was no way we could bring up our baby in Summer Bay.”

Rhys sighed. But he said nothing.

“Y’know, I do understand now where you are coming from about me,” Kane continued honestly. “Why you hate me so much… Now that I’ve got kids, daughters, of my own. If anyone ever harmed one of them the way I hurt Dani ... I’d kill him.”

Rhys turned towards him just a bit, realising for the first time that he actually had something in common with Kane Phillips – they were both a father desperate to keep their children from harm.

“As a father you’re supposed to be able to protect your kids, y’know! I’ve failed mine. So badly. I couldn’t protect Dani from you, I couldn’t protect Jade from Miller. And I drove Kirsty away, away from her own family,” Rhys paused. How had he got it so wrong? Kane Phillips - the worst possible choice for a daughter’s boyfriend, the one she had to be shielded from. And then there was Seb Miller - the desirable one. In truth, was it the other way around?

Without even knowing why, he began to fill Kane in on the terrible way Seb had treated Jade. “Kirsty had a lucky escape from that one,” Rhys admitted quietly. Kane offered to talk to Jade at some stage later, when she was ready. Thinking back to his own childhood he knew, better than any of them, what it was like to be on the receiving end of a bully like Seb.

“Kane. Little Emma’s awake and asking for you” Beth reappeared at the doorway and gently interrupted. Kane jumpted up, filled with hope by Beth’s news. But he turned back to Rhys briefly. “My kids mean everything to me, Rhys. You’ve got to believe I would never hurt them. I want my family back and I’m not leaving without them.” Without waiting for a response, he raced to be at his daughter’s side.

Emma smiled weakly as her Daddy raced into the room. Here was the person she wanted to see most in the whole world.

Still outside, Rhys picked up his phone and slowly began dialling a familiar number. “Hey Shell', is David there? I really need to talk to him” Beth sat on the bench and sighed with relief as she heard Rhys tell David he needed the custody ruling reversed - immediately.

* * *

Just one more chapter left.........

[shahhnun]

Chapter 18 – Final Chapter

The only light came from the headlamps of oncoming cars as Kane drove into the night. He was putting as many miles between himself and Summer Bay as possible.

It was just over a week since Emma’s fall. Flynn had kept her in hospital for observation for a number of days. Kane’s little girl had suffered a couple of cracked ribs, bruising and had a mild case of concussion. She had been very disorientated when she had woken up in the hospital, calling out for her mum on a number of occasions - that had really tugged at Kane’s heart-strings.

But finally, earlier that evening, Flynn had given her the all-clear and discharged her from hospital. Noah and Kit had offered to let Kane and the kids stay at the farm that night but Kane had politely turned them down. To his relief, the custody verdict had been quickly reversed. Now Kane’s priority was getting his family home and trying to put the last few weeks behind them.

The first half of the journey had past quickly with the six delighted children talking, laughing and playing games in the back of the car. But after a while the humming of the engine had sent them off to sleep, one by one.

Kane glanced in the rear-view mirror. He still couldn’t believe he had them all back. As he drove, he kept thinking back to something Flynn had said as he had discharged Emma, something which had been a huge comfort to Kane.

Just then, he heard someone stirring behind him. He looked into the mirror again and saw that Emma was awake.

“Hey, Princess, you OK back there?” he asked quietly so that he wouldn’t disturb the others.

“It hurts!” the little girl whimpered, her chin beginning to quiver. Kane sighed softly, he knew she was going to be sore from her injuries for a while.

“You want me to stop for a few minutes?” he offered. Emma nodded. Kane drove a little further up the road until he found somewhere safe to pull in. He switched off the engine and hopped out of the car. Emma got out the back door gingerly, grateful that the movement had ceased. They stood beside the car for a few minutes waiting for the little child to feel better. Kane kept a close eye on the five sleeping children.

“Don’t worry, Princess. It’ll stop hurting soon, I promise,” he consoled her, kneeling down to her height. But he realised that the pain didn’t seem to be what was bothering his daughter the most.

“Are we home yet?” Emma asked nervously.

“Nearly, just another half hour or so. Tiger can’t wait to see you all,” Kane replied with a smile.

But Emma was still thinking, anxiously twisting a strand of hair around her finger. “And we won’t have to go away again, will we?” Kane gave her a gentle hug. “Never! We’re a team, right? We’re all going to stay together, just like before.” Emma smiled now, her mind at ease. She hugged him back.

After a moment, Kane straightened up, about to suggest they get back into the car.

“Daddy – look!” Emma was pointing excitedly up at the night sky. Kane turned just in time to see the shooting star. “Wow, wasn’t that pretty?” Emma exclaimed.

For a moment, father and daughter stared up at the stars in silence.

Again, Kane began to think about what Flynn had said to him as they had been leaving the hospital:

“You know Kane. That was some fall from the roof. Emma’s a very lucky little girl. She could have been killed. She must have had someone watching over her.”

Kane smiled up into the heavens as he and Emma climbed back into the car. For a moment he sat still before he started up the engine.

For the first time in months, Kane felt at ease. She hadn’t left him, not completely. In her own way she would always be there, watching over him, watching over their children, keeping them all safe. Kirsty would always help him to keep their family together.

THE END

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