Danielle froze as she saw the headlights coming towards her. She could hear Ronnie, her mum, screaming her name, she sounded miles away. She tried to move, to get herself out of the way, but her legs wouldn't work. As the car got closer, she could see Janine in the driver's seat, a horrified expression on her face. It was as if everything was happening in slow motion. With one last look at her mother, she closed her eyes, and braced herself for the impact of the car. She felt something slam into her chest, throwing her to the other side of the road. She cracked her head off the kerb, knocking her out. In the background fuzz she heard another desperate scream from her mother, before everything finally went black.
"Roxy?" Ronnie gasped, staring numbly at the blonde girl lying in the middle of the road, a pool of blood slowly seeping out from underneath her. Her brain finally caught up with what had happened, and she felt sick. She glanced over at Danielle. She seemed ok, unconscious, only a small cut on her forehead, but ok. Roxy, on the other hand, wasn't looking so good. Stacey rounded the corner, going straight to Danielle, who seemed to be waking up. Ronnie wished that she would wake up, this had to be a bad dream, had to be.
She knelt beside her sister, picking her up and cradling her head in her lap. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair, as she gently called Roxy's name, trying to wake her. Roxy's eyelids fluttered open, and a small smile formed on her lips. Ronnie tried to smile back, but a choked sob was all she could manage.
"I'm an idiot, I know." Roxy whispered, her breath coming in gasps. She reached up and touched Ronnie's cheek. Ronnie covered her sister's hand with her own, and more tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Roxy...why? Why did you just do that? What the hell were you thinking?" Ronnie didn't, couldn't, understand. Roxy had just thrown herself in front of a car, why?
"You just found her Ron, you couldn't deal with losing her now. I couldn't let you go through that." Roxy said, a little more strongly, letting Ronnie hold onto the hope that she'd be ok. That the amount of blood she was losing was fine, she'd be alright.
"Do you really think I can deal with losing you? Rox..." She looked up at Stacey, who was frantically shaking Danielle, trying to make her friend open her eyes. "Stacey? You need to go get help, go get a doctor, get an ambulance! Do something! Don't just stand there!" Ronnie screamed, her eyes flickering between Stacey and Janine. She was panicking now, her daughter and sister were lying in the middle of the road, bleeding, and no one was doing anything. "Go NOW!"
Stacey stood, trembling a little, and with a last squeeze of a now awake and groggy Danielle's hand, she stumbled off in the direction of the Vic. Ronnie could see Danielle sit up in the corner of her eye, and she let out a small sigh of relief. She was ok, her baby was going to be ok.
Turning her attention back to Roxy, she noticed how laboured her breathing was getting. She prayed, possibly for the first time in her life, for Stacey to hurry. She needed Roxy.
Danielle got up and slowly made her way over to her mum and aunt. She wasn't really sure what to do. She thought, hoped, that maybe Ronnie would need her, but she just didn't know what to say. Roxy had just saved her life, possibly losing her own in the process. A wave of guilt crashed over her, and she crouched down next to Ronnie, putting a hand on her shoulder. She felt her flinch at the contact, and pulled her hand away. She went to move, thinking Ronnie didn't want her around for such a personal moment, but felt a shaking hand grab her wrist and pull her back. She ended up draped across Ronnie's back, resting her cheek on her mother's hair. She pressed a small kiss onto Ronnie's cheek, and let a few tears of her own escape. She saw Roxy smiling up at her, so she grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Roxy, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. You shouldn't have done that, I-" Roxy cut Danielle off with a small 'shh'.
"Of course I should, you're family, I wasn't gonna let anything happen to you. I love you, silly." Roxy said, with a small laugh. Danielle smiled tentatively back at her, and gripped her hand a little tighter. She felt Ronnie lean against her a little, so tucked her other arm round her mother's waist, giving her an awkward hug. Danielle didn't understand, how could Roxy love her? She didn't even know her. In Danielle's experience family ties weren't that strong, but then, this family was different. It seemed no matter what they did to each other, there was still love between them.
"What about Amy? Didn't you think of her before you did this? She shouldn't have to grow up without a mum because of me!" Danielle cried, more tears bubbling to the surface. Roxy dismissed her with a simple smile.
"I know she'll be in good hands. You and Ronnie will do a great job taking care of her for me." Roxy said, her voice coming in gasps. Jack, Peggy and Phil came around the corner, just as the words left her lips, and a smile of understanding passed Jack's. This was Roxy's way of giving him and Ronnie a chance, letting Ron have both babies she's been dreaming about, without the awkwardness there was between the two of them. He hoped. So long as those girls could get Ronnie through this.
"Hey, what's all this talk of leaving? No one is going anywhere. Everything is going to be fine, look, the cavalry's arrived. Come on, you just have to hang on a little bit longer till the ambulance gets here. And you're going to hang on, you hear me?" Ronnie said firmly, her eyes locked on her sister's. "You cannot leave me. You can't, just hang on please..." With that, Ronnie broke down, resting her head against Roxy's, listening to her breath rattle in and out of her chest. She was getting the horrible impression that her sister wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.
Roxy could hear Auntie Peggy squawking away at Phil behind her, and Jack shouting into his phone, at what she assumed was a 999 person, but all she could focus on were the 2 people in front of her. Her sister and her niece. It struck her that she really should have figured things out before now. Ronnie and Danielle were like 2 peas in a pod. Same sparkly blue eyes, same nose, same cows lick, that made their fringes sit awkwardly. She tried to laugh, but her chest hurt, everything hurt. The edges of her vision were starting to blur. She knew she didn't have much time left. She let out a few tears as she realised she was never going to see her daughter again. And all of a sudden, she realised why Ronnie was the way she was. She felt like her heart was being ripped out, and she would only have to deal with it for a couple of hours at the most. Ronnie had been dealing with it for 19 years. She felt instantly ashamed for all the times she'd been horrible to her sister, she knew she couldn't deal with anything on top of this.
"Ron?" Roxy said, forcing her eyes open. Ronnie swallowed back her tears and looked down at her sister. She felt Danielle shaking beside her, her sobs racking her tiny body. All she wanted to do was look after her, protect her, and after being her mum for five minutes she'd failed.
"I love you. And I'm sorry, for everything. You're the best sister in the world, and you're gonna be the best mum in the world. You look after them girls for me." Roxy whispered, gripping Danielle's hand tightly.
"Rox...I love you too. But stop talking like this, you're gonna be fine. Absolutely fine." Ronnie said firmly, her gaze never leaving Roxy's.
Danielle's eyes flickered between her mother and her aunt. She felt like she shouldn't be there, that she was intruding on an extremely private moment. She thought about getting up and leaving them to it, but she didn't think her legs would carry her. They were starting to ache from staying in her crouched position for so long. She could feel Ronnie's rapid heartbeat against her arm, heightening her anxiety. It took a lot to worry Ronnie, an awful lot to make her this upset. It angered her, the way the rest of the square saw Ronnie, as this uncaring, unfeeling robot. She wasn't, she's just like everyone else. She's just been hurt one too many times. Danielle couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be the straw that broke her mother's back.
