Chapter two

The next morning came a lot quicker than Danny wanted it to. The second he opened his eyes he remembered what lay ahead of him that day and it wasn't something he was looking forward to. He found it strange, the fact that he was dreading meeting her again, and it was a feeling he wasn't sure how to deal with.

In a way it was like he hadn't really comprehended the situation until he woke up and realised just what he'd said yes to. Even though his dreams had been filled with memories from when he was a child, from when Lorraine was still a part of his life, and the emotions that came with the dreams stayed with him, a part of him had great difficulty accepting what was going to happen.

The circumstances around their meeting were so bad. He couldn't help but wonder what she would look like, if she would have changed much, cause he knew he had, if anything would be the same as it once had been. But at soon as those thoughts entered his head he pushed them away. Nothing would be the same. Ann was dead, and nothing he could do was going to change that fact.

He hadn't gotten over his annoyance with his mother for refusing to explain her reasons for sending Lorraine to him and that led to him still wondering what the hell he was doing accepting this girl into his home. What did she want him to do? He didn't know, and to be honest, he really didn't care. If his mother wanted something specific, other than a room for Lorraine, she would just have to come out and say it. Until then, Danny would provide a roof over her head and food to eat. I mean, he thought as he had a hasty breakfast, what else could they expect me to do?

Despite his predicament he ate his breakfast, got into his car and drove to the train-station to pick up this girl whom he hadn't even seen for more than twelve years. He didn't have the slightest idea of what she would look like. For all he knew, she could be anybody, and he didn't really have a plan of how he was going to find her either, but at this point he was tired of thinking and had settled for just going on instinct and doing.

He parked the car in the carpark and walked briskly towards the main entrance. When he reached the arrival hall her realised that he was late, her train had arrived 20 minutes before he did, and the crowd of people he had been expecting to have to fight his way through was already mixed up with the rest of the people arriving or departing.

He cursed under his breath and looked around him, once again it became apparent that he had no idea of what she looked like and that anyone of the hundreds of people milling about around him could be her. Running a hand through his hair he cursed again, out loud this time. Shit, she could be anywhere, he thought to himself as he went over his options. He quickly decided against calling her name over the speaker-system, cause honestly, who would want that?, and figured that his best chance of finding her probably lay in finding the track where her train should have been and hoping that she would still be there. Hoping being the operative word here.

As he reached track four he noticed a young girl standing alone on the pavement. Her long dark hair had fallen in front of her eyes, or so he first assumed, but as she made no action to remove it he realised that maybe she preferred it that way.

The way she was standing, with her hands tucked deep inside her pockets, made it look like she was trying to make herself as small as possible, as if she was hiding from something, and Danny didn't know whether it was instinct or something else, but he had a feeling that amongst all the other people standing around, she was the one he was after. The enormous bag standing by her feet only added to the impression of her looking lost and lonely.

Danny took a deep breath, trying to muster up as much strength as possible, before walking up to her.

'Excuse me' he said as soon as he was close enough for her to hear him. 'Are you Lorraine?'

The girl lifted her head and the second their eyes met Danny's breath caught in his throat. What met him was the same deep-blue eyes that he'd stared into hundreds of times before.

If he doubted who she was before, this was all the confirmation he needed.

They stared at each other for what felt like seconds but probably only was a blink of an eye. What struck him the most was the fact that the eyes that always used to smile now were clouded over. They seemed almost impenetrable, hiding her true colours, and it made his own hearth ache to see her like that.

He suddenly remembered her objection to the name Lorraine, all those years later and he could probably still recite her whole speech by heart. "I'm not fifty Daniel. Only fifty year old ladies are called Lorraine. I will not talk to you if you continue to call me that". He could so clearly picture the five year old girl standing on tip toes in front of him, raising a finger at his face, and telling him, ever so seriously, not to call her Lorraine. From that moment, he only used his nickname for her, the one only he was allowed to use, while every one else stuck with Lo. Danny remembered always thinking it so strange that such a little girl managed to make everyone call her by a nickname, but then again, she was probably the only one who could.

But that was twelve years ago. This was now. They were different people, and despite having all that history they didn't know each other. They were strangers and Danny had a feeling that he was the only one remembering all of this. Lorraine hadn't even flinched when he said her name. Maybe their history was only history to him.

'Sorry, I mean Lo, if that's what you want me to call you, I don't know…it's been a while and I…' He stumbled on his words, but when she didn't say anything in response his voice faded. It took him a few seconds to muster up the strength to try again. 'I don't know if you remember me, our mums are um…'

When Lorraine just stood there with a emotionless expression on her face, Danny started to think that it was because of his mention of her mother but then he realised that she hadn't said anything to him yet, not even hi.

He cursed inwardly and for about the fifth time that day he wondered what the hell his mother had been thinking sending this girl to him.

'Ehm' he broke the silence between them by clearing his throat, silently pleading for her to say something back. 'The car's this way' he gestured weakly with his hand. 'It's not too far, I guess you must be hungry and tired and, um, we'll be home before you know it. '

Still nothing. Not even a blink of an eye. Apparently she couldn't care less about anything he had to say, and it was starting to get to him. Awesome, he thought to himself and absent-mindedly scratched his head, just awesome. Ten minutes and already he was at loss of what to do. He knew that he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it, he was getting angry. Maybe not at Lo personally, but at the entire situation and he hated the feeling of helplessness that had suddenly overcome him.

His frustration only grew as Lorraine still neglected to even acknowledge his presence. He knew she'd heard him though, since she reached down to grab her bag

'No, I'll get it' He said quickly before she could reach the handle. 'It's this way'

Danny lifted the bag onto his shoulder and set off for his car, not really stopping to see if she followed him or not. At this point he was sick of talking, or trying to talk, and he needed a few seconds to himself before he tried to get her to talk again, which he knew he would even if he didn't want to. And that only made him even more angry, but this time, mostly with himself.

…