Title: With or Without You
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Jayne Torvill, Chris Dean do not belong to me and as far as I know, this never happened. And obviously, I hope this never happens.
Feedback (good or bad) welcomed with hugs!
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I remember once, an interviewer asked me what impressed me most. Was it my own choreography he asked, or other pair skaters? The answer was simple. "Jayne." He smiled at this, and moved onto the next question. I think about this now as I watch Jayne practice her routine in the silks. She's always impressed me, ever since I was a boy and saw her skate for the first time. Since then she's always done above and beyond what was asked of her. Try for Olympic gold? She tackled that with her usual calmness and determination, and it paid off for both of us. Even when my ideas got too big, and the routines too complicated she always managed to pull them off. Either that or she calmly reined me in when I went to far. This happened often, especially on Dancing on Ice, when I tried to push the contestants too far. She would calmly take me to one side and explain that the contestant wasn't ready yet, and to give them more time. That's how we worked, and have done for over 30 years. Today we were practicing a routine to mark the 28 year anniversary of Bolero; it was to be a silk routine set to the Scala choir's version of "With or Without You"
Jayne loved the romance concept to it, and also loved the silks aspect of it. She arguably had more to do in the routine then I did so I was taking a break at the side of the rink while she worked. I watched as she fluidly moved from one position to the next, making it look so effortless. And then it happened, one minute she was up in the silks, the next her feet came undone from the knot at the end, she missed the silk with her hand and fell. As soon as she started to fall I dropped the drink I was holding and instinctively skated as fast as I could over to her. I wasn't in time to catch her, but luckily she wasn't as high as she could have been. Still, the sound of her hitting the ice made me feel sick to my stomach. I skate furiously over to her, shouting her name.
"Jayne, Jayne!" I kneel beside her, still calling her name, praying that she would wake up. With two fingers I frantically search for her pulse, sighing with relief when I find it. It's slower than it should be, but it's there, and I sigh further with relief when her eyes slowly begin to open.
"Chris?" she says, groggily.
"It's okay, it's okay" I tell her, reaching for her hand. She tries to sit up but I firmly lean her back down on the ice. "Don't move, not until they've checked you out"
"What happened?" she asks.
"You fell, out of the silks"
Luckily, the rink side doctor comes straight over to check her over.
"Jayne, how are you feeling?" he asks, bending over her to check her pulse and respiratory rates.
"I feel…..okay" she says. "Nothing hurts"
"Did she loose consciousness?" the doctor asks me.
"Yes, but not for long" I confirm.
"Okay, we should probably take her to the hospital to get her checked out"
"No!" Jayne interrupts. "I'm fine" She moves to sit up. "Honest"
The doctor and I share a look. "Okay, but you're not going up in the silks again" he says. "That's fine, I'll work with the contestants" she says.
"Okay" the doctor says. He turns to me and says softly. "Keep an eye on her, I'm not happy she's not going to the hospital, especially with her losing consciousness" I nod in response and move over to Jayne to help her stand up.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I say.
"Yes" she says, adjusting her top. Its then she looks up and see's the concern written all over my face. "Are you?" she asks. I hold out my arms to her and envelop her in a hug. "Yes" I murmur, planting kisses on the top of her head. "Just worried about you that's all"
"I'll be fine" she says, her voice muffled as it's buried in my chest.
"You will tell me though, if you're not" I ask, releasing her from my arms.
"Yes, promise"
I plant one final kiss on her forehead before she skates off to find Sam, who we are working with this morning. The rest of the morning goes without a hitch, Jayne and I work together to teach Sam his moves. After lunch we work with Seb, whose insisting on doing a Russian split jump towards the end of his routine. Towards the end of the routine I notice Jayne's looking exhausted, and while I'm patiently going through the split jump with Seb, she skates off to the side of the rink and bends down, placing her hands on her knees. I excuse myself, and skate over to her. I place my hand reassuringly on her back and she looks up at me. She looks pale and tired, and I wish that I had made her go to the hospital to get checked out.
"What's wrong?" I ask her worriedly.
"My heads spinning" she says.
"Are you dizzy?" I ask.
She nods relucantly. "Okay" I keep my hand on her back as she moves up to full height and I take her hand and help her off the ice.
"Sit down" I tell her, and I take the seat next to her. She puts her head in her hands to try and alleviate the dizzyness.
"Have you got a headache?" I ask her quietly.
"Yes, but it's more of a migraine" she says, her voice muffled by her hands.
"Maybe we should get the doctor back" I suggest.
"No, it's fine" she stubbournly says. I sigh, torn between wanting to respect her wishes, but at the same time feeling increasingly worried about her.
"Okay, but let me take you home, and I'm staying with you tonight"
"That's fine" she says. "I'll be glad of the company anyway" I chuckle softly to myself before bending down and helping her skates. "Thank You" she says.
I pack our skating bags before heading over to Karen to explain the situation. I walk back over to where Jayne is sitting.
"Time to go" I say.
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