*I make no claim to the characters and details of The Young and the Restless. This is pure romantic fun written by a fan.*
*ALL REVIEWS WELCOME! Feedback is much desired!*
Golden
A Chance and Chloe Fan Fic
by LostNSpace
Chapter One
Chloe couldn't take her gaze off his face.
He, her all-American hero, who had survived three tours of duty in Iraq, who always seemed so solid, so self-assured, so red-blooded and impervious--slept pale and restless now in the dim hospital room, machines beeping, wires plugged into his veins. He'd lost so much blood at the hands of that crazy bastard in the alley. Who knew a dull little pocket knife could wreak such damage?
When they first brought him in after the robbery, the doctors weren't sure he would live. Nina and Jill wept and worried so much, the nursing staff sent them out of the room.
Chloe came after they'd left, and stayed. Dry-eyed, she sat like a statue beside his bed and never took her attention from his deathly still form. She knew he would pull through. She knew. He had so much to live for. His family, for example, who loved him for everything good and golden about him; his bright and clean-scrubbed future, the promises he'd made to himself to do something of value in this godforsaken world…
He jerked in his sleep. The IV cord moved with him and he winced, giving a shaky sigh when Chloe soothed him. She released his fingers long enough to adjust the hospital blanket over his chest, then reclaimed his warm, dry hand. Those blunt, callused, capable fingers. He'd never touched a woman the way she wanted him to touch her.
If he didn't recover, he'd never get the chance.
Chance.
I'm waiting for the right woman, he'd told her over coffee. She'd barely kept from spewing her latte across the table. How could someone so smart and honorable and sweet and…and hot!--go for so long without the good stuff?
Of course sex wasn't truly the good stuff unless feelings were involved, and somehow, while she wasn't looking, while she was using Chance's easy-going, mega-appealing company to fill the hole Billy had left, feelings had become involved. Feelings that turned her stomach upside down and squeezed her throat and burned her eyes.
Tears welled on her lashes, blurring the image of his sleeping face. Damn him! She'd been strangely comfortable on her unhappy, unrequited treadmill with Billy as the carrot dangling just out of reach. Then Chance had come along and ruined everything, shown her she could have fun, that it was okay to be herself, okay to laugh so hard her stomach hurt and cry through a box of tissues at some ridiculous chick flick. He liked chick flicks, for chrissakes! He was everything soft and hard a man--a human being--should be. He made her realize that being cool was overrated. In fact, he appreciated all the un-cool things about her she'd been so skilled at hiding in the fashion world. And he liked babies. He held Delia every chance he got, fed her, changed her diapers, dealt with all the icky stuff like a champ. He liked Chloe's child. and the fact that Chloe was a mother.
He made her feel beautiful.
It was all his fault that feelings were so definitely involved here.
Lifting his hand to her face, Chloe rubbed her cheek against it, then studied his fingers in the dim light. They were still slightly bloodstained from where he'd pulled the knife from his own side. He'd been off duty, having just left a Chinese restaurant with dinner in hand, when he came across a girl being assaulted in an alley near a popular college bar. Chloe didn't know the details beyond that, only that he'd hit the pavement with a gaping hole between his ribs and the bloody knife still in hand--but not before he'd slammed his assailant against the alley wall, knocking out the bastard and saving the day.
The thought of Chance being brave enough to remove a knife from his own body sent a fresh sting of tears to her eyes, and she dabbed at them with the back of her wrist, trying not to smear her mascara. She wouldn't cry like the others. He needed confidence and optimism from the people who loved him.
Loved him.
Yes, okay. So maybe she loved him a little. Maybe she'd been lying awake at night for weeks while sweet and steamy dreams of Chance firmly shoved aside the old Billy fantasies.
When he woke up--oh, please wake up, Chance!--she would tell him all of it and never keep her feelings to herself again. And then she would show him the good stuff.
The door swished open behind her, and Chloe turned to scowl at the bustling nurse, who turned on a bright light and put an injection into Chance's IV.
"Do you have to be so noisy?"
At Chloe's hissed complaint, Chance moved and muttered something unintelligible.
"Better to bother him now with a little pain medication than let him wake up in agony," the nurse said matter-of-factly as she adjusted the drip on the IV. "You've got five minutes, honey, then it's time to go."
Before Chloe could respond, the nurse turned off the light again and squeaked out into the hallway with her rubber-soled shoes, shutting the door a little too firmly behind her.
Five more minutes. They seemed so precious, ticked by too quickly. She'd taken her time with him for granted. He'd not only desired her, he cared about her, protected her, wanted to make her happy. He treated her like she mattered, ignored the games she played. No one like him would ever walk through her life again. She didn't deserve him.
"Chance," she whispered in despair.
He stirred, mumbled, "I can't find you."
"I'm right here." She kissed his hand and reached to stroke the thick, silky strands of his military-short hair, the warmth flowing through her chest almost painful in its sweetness. "I'll be here when you wake up, soldier boy. And every day after, if you want."
For a crazy moment it seemed his presence was all around her, conscious, vibrant, recovered. She felt him everywhere; his tenderness, his strength, his life force, his desire for her so great, he would push through any barrier to reach her.
But no. When she focused on him again, the morphine injection had taken effect. The tension drained from his body and his lashes fluttered once, and he sank to a netherworld where she couldn't reach him.
(To be continued...)