Tough Love

Chapter One Hundred

Chapter One Hundred

Eli

Dani's asleep when I get back to my parent's house. It's just gone 2am so I try to be quiet as I slip into bed. I'm not quiet enough, because Dani jumps up, breathing heavily. I groan, “Sorry. I'm sorry sweetheart. I didn't mean to wake you or scare you. I'm sorry.”

Her voice is quiet and husky from sleep. “It's ok. I just fell asleep. I was waiting for you.”

“Sorry I'm so late. Did you have fun tonight?”

“We made cookies.”

“I could smell them when I walked in the door. And everything was ok?”

“Yep. Did you guys have a good time?”

“Yeah. We packed up a lot of my stuff. I don't have much, so it won't take long to move everything to storage. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

The fact that she admits that makes my heart flutter.

“Eli?”

“Yes baby?”

“What do we do about my apartment and my stuff?”

“That depends on you, really. If you want me to pack it all up, then I will. If you want me to get a removal company to do it, then I'll sort that out. If you want to sell it with all of your things in it, then that's cool too. You tell me what you want and I'll sort it out.”

“Is it bad in there?”

“It's been processed and sort of cleaned. There's no blood or anything in there, if that's what you're asking, but it's not tidy like you would have it.”

“Who cleaned it?”

“Me. I didn't think you'd want anyone else in there.”

“Thank you. I'm sorry you had to do that.”

“I didn't have to; I wanted to. In a way it was sort of therapeutic. I used that time to grieve and sort my thoughts out, without anyone else around. I could really take stock of what happened and process it myself. I needed that, so in a way it helped me.”

She nods, but doesn't say anything. I know she's got something on her mind, but she probably doesn't want to bring it up.

“What's on your mind, sweetheart? Just tell me what you're thinking about.”

I see her tossing something up. I can see it in her eyes. So I hold her close and give her an extra squeeze to reassure her. She must glean some courage and strength from my gesture, because she takes a deep breath.

“What did Dr. Stone tell you about when I was in the operating theatre?”

I frown. I don't know where this is going, but I'm going to be honest with her.

“He said your heart kept stopping because of the trauma and the blood loss. He said your injuries were extensive and he'd never seen someone pull through with such a head injury, let alone the gunshot wounds. He told me what they did to you, probably because he knew you either wouldn't be able to or wouldn't want to. He asked me if you would want to be resuscitated and if I was prepared to say my goodbyes if they couldn't get you back...”

I can't stop the sob as I remember that night. If that memory is still so vivid to me, how must Dani feel about all of her memories?

“He didn't say anything else?”