Only Us
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Thanks, Toadie," Mark said to his friend as he hung up the phone via his ear piece.
Mark glanced at Elly as they were driving to the Erinsborough Hospital, "Finn has confessed to attacking Chloe last night and hitting her over the head. Police will get a statement from her at the hospital and he'll be charged with it. He took her back to the Kennedy's house as according to Toadie, he panicked and didn't know what to do or how to tell anyone what he'd done. Apparently, he's claiming he just snapped and lashed out at Chloe without reason."
Mark continued, "Finn managed to talk a taxi driver into taking them to the Kennedy's, even though Chloe was unconscious. Finn told him his girlfriend was drunk and had passed out. He managed to pull out Chloe's driver's license from her purse to prove he was taking her home and then the taxi driver waited outside the house to make sure Finn had keys to let her inside…but he must have failed to check the street number of the house matched the house Finn pointed to when they arrived on the street. Finn's a sneaky bastard."
"Will Finn serve jail time for this?" Elly asked, shaking her head and still feeling responsible for letting her psycho ex hurt her girlfriend.
"Toadie's not sure at this stage but I'm sure you'll at least be happy to know Toadie spoke to Susan and Finn's belongings will be on her front lawn when she gets home from the hospital. Toadie's informed Finn he needs to find somewhere else to stay. It could affect the conditions of his non-custodial sentence if he can't find a new place. Bet Finn didn't think of that consequence when he was busy knocking Chloe out and dragging her to Susan and Karl's. He'll be out of your lives for good after this, no more chances," Mark informed Elly.
"I'm glad to hear that," Elly replied.
"Chloe's not going to blame you for this, you know," Mark reassured as he pulled his car into the hospital visitors drop off zone.
"I think I still need to hear Chloe say it to believe that because at the end of the day it's my fault Finn was in our lives," Elly breathed deeply, then noticing where Mark had parked his car, "You're not coming in to see Chloe?"
Mark shook his head, "I said I'd drop you off here. You can get a lift back with your family. Go on…you've been running around on the rampage and anxious as hell over what has happened to Chloe all morning long…what are you waiting for?"
"Yeah, you're right, I'm going insane right now wanting to run into that hospital to find her and make sure Chloe is perfectly fine," Elly admitted.
"Then go," Mark instructed.
Elly sat back in the car seat, "Not without you. C'mon, Mark, don't be an idiot. Chloe will want to see you; you want to see her. I heard what you said up there on the cliff. You forgive her for cheating with me before the wedding…so let's go park this car in the actual car park and both go in to see her so you can tell her that you forgive her."
Mark relented, "You go in and see Chloe now, I'll go park the car and join you in a bit…they'll probably only allow one of us in at a time to see her and I'm obviously not going to jump that queue in front of you so go on…get in there and make sure she's safe…I'll be there in a few minutes."
"I'm promising Chloe you'll be there to see her so you better not drive off and not come in to see her, got it?" Elly insisted before she gave in and jumped out of the car and rushed into the hospital.
Elly ran through the hospital until she came upon Aaron, Bea, Susan and Karl in the waiting area in front of one of the hospital rooms.
"Where is she?" Elly immediately approached them.
"Chloe's in that room, the doctor is checking her out and should be done in a minute. The doctor wants us to stay out here until he's finis-" Aaron began explaining before Elly ignored him and rushed into the hospital room to be with Chloe.
"Maybe you could've led with the doctor wants us to stay out here first, Aaron," Bea pointed out.
Elly ran into the hospital room, slamming the door behind her and before Chloe or the doctor could barely react to the intrusion, Elly ran over to Chloe and wrapped her arms around her. Chloe was lying in the hospital bed, and her left arm immediately snaked around Elly's hips as she pulled her girlfriend close to her.
Elly pressed her lips against Chloe's forehead, then lent her head against Chloe's, trying to fight back the tears brimming her eyes at the mere sight of Chloe been in a hospital bed.
"Uh…hello," the doctor greeted the rude intrusion of Elly.
"She's with me. Trust me, I know you doctors like to treat patients without family around but you never would've stopped her from been here," Chloe stated, before pointing out to Elly, "Babe, head injury, maybe don't lean your head against mine."
"Right, sorry," Elly apologised, pulling her head back, but still did not let go of the grip her arms had around Chloe's body. Addressing the doctor, "Will she be okay?"
The doctor sighed, "I'm sure if you give us two more minutes we'll be done here and Chloe will be able to let her friends kno—"
Elly immediately cut in, "I'm family, not a friend. Tell me what's happening, I'm not waiting two minutes. I've spent more than 14 hours panicking over what happened to my girl, I need to know she'll be alright."
"Fine," the doctor relented, gently smiling at the warmth between the pair as they held one another, "I want to do a couple more tests later this afternoon but it looks like Chloe will be perfectly fine," then addressing Chloe, "You're staying over in hospital for at least one night to make sure your symptoms don't recur. I'll go get the paperwork started for your stay and organise the tests."
"Thanks, doc," Chloe replied, "Any chance you can ask my family to just give us a few minutes before they bust in here?"
The doctor nodded and left the room.
Elly let several tears roll down her cheeks as she pressed her lips against Chloe's forehead once more then immediately curled up on the bed next to Chloe.
"I'm going to be fine, Elly," Chloe whispered as she fell into Elly's embrace next to her on the bed.
"I was so worried, you have no idea," Elly replied, leaning her head against Chloe's shoulder.
Chloe reached her right hand out and placed it across their bodies on Elly's hip, then told Elly softly, "I do, actually, I heard a crazy story that you were a little bit more than worried and thought Finn was going to throw me off a cliff. You're insane."
"I'm insane," Elly confirmed.
"But I still love you," Chloe reassured.
"But you still love me," Elly felt thankful, "Any chance we can never speak of this again?"
Chloe smiled before kissing Elly's cheek, "It's nice to know just how much you missed me."
Elly held Chloe gently, "Are you kidding? I felt like I couldn't survive in this world without you. I love you so much and had to do anything to bring you back to me…even if it meant going insane and thinking Finn threw you off a cliff and running up there as quick as I could. I'm so sorry Finn hit you and took you away from me for a night. I knew he was dangerous but he could've killed you and it all would've been my fault. If I had never gotten involved with him back in Sydney he never would've come here and then he never-"
Chloe shook her head, "Elly, stop, sweetie, none of this is your fault. I'm safe, Finn will be charged later today and we'll never have to worry about him again. I know last night was meant to be the start of our lives together but looks like you'll have to go one more night without me and then we won't ever spend a night apart."
Elly kissed Chloe softy, "Yeah, I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'm staying right here next to you. I'll fight anyone who refuses to let me. Our life together starts right now. You not coming home to me last night was enough for me to realize how much you mean to me. I love you, Chloe, and I'm not spending any time away from you."
"I love you, too, Elly, and if you can convince the nurses that you're not leaving then I don't want you sleeping anywhere else but next to me tonight," Chloe agreed, kissing Elly gently before passionately deepening the kiss.
Outside in the waiting area, Aaron was surprised when Mark entered and immediately went up to him and pulled him into a quick brotherly hug, "Thanks for going out there trying to find her."
Mark pulled out of the hug, "Didn't really achieve anything, Chloe was at the Kennedy's the entire time…technically it was the first place I suggested to Elly that she could be. Would've saved a lot of heartache if Elly had have listened to me."
Aaron raised his eyebrow questioningly.
Mark tipped his head, "Right…this is not the situation to ever give anyone an 'I told you so'."
Ignoring that, Aaron insisted, "It'll mean something to Chlo that you tried, after all this time of not been in her life."
"I guess we'll see," Mark replied, "I should…Elly insisted that I go in and see Chloe."
"Oh…Elly's already in there and…um…the thing is…Elly and…Chloe are…well…they're…" Aaron struggled to find a way to prepare Mark for what he might find between the pair, not sure if Elly had been brave enough to come clean about her relationship with Chloe.
Mark raised his eyebrow, deciding to let off a little tension and let his younger brother squirm, curious to see how long he could hold out on telling him about Chloe and Elly, "Elly and Chloe are…?"
Aaron fumbled, "Well…they are…um…"
Mark gave in quickly and decided to let Aaron out of his misery, "Elly and Chloe have been shacking up at your place together for some time now…nice of you to not tell me, bro."
Aaron let out of breath of relief, "Elly told you?"
Mark nodded, "Yeah…Elly kinda had too to make me understand how worried she was about Chloe not coming home last night."
"Are you okay with it?" Aaron asked quietly.
"Not even remotely…but with some time…maybe one day I'll…right now all I can do is be thankful Chloe's safe…the rest of it…that'll have to wait for another time," Mark decided as he left Aaron and entered Chloe's hospital room.
Upon entering the hospital room, Mark immediately regretted his decision finding Elly lying next to Chloe on the hospital bed and the couple making out with one another, "Duh…"
Elly and Chloe pulled apart from one another but Elly remained lying next to Chloe on the hospital bed, looking completely calm and blissful in her embrace with Chloe, not at all embarrassed to have been caught kissing her girlfriend.
Chloe's eyes widened with shock, "Mark…we…I…this isn't what it looks like…"
Mark blinked wildly, completely unprepared to have to actually witness seeing the pair happily together, "I'll come back."
Before he could turn back around and exit the room, Elly called out to Mark, "Mark, I asked you to come talk to Chloe, please stay."
Mark stood there awkwardly, not leaving but also not able to glance at the couple on the bed together.
Chloe took a deep breath, "Mark, I lied…this is what it looks like…Elly and I…we're…"
Elly held Chloe gently, "Baby, it's okay…I told Mark we're in love."
Chloe was surprised, "Oh…you did…? That's…thank you…" Then leaning in closer to Elly to whisper even though Mark could still hear her, "I take it he didn't take the news well…is that why Mark won't look at us?"
Mark cleared his throat and then stepped forward next to Chloe's bed on her side but still stood there silently.
Elly pressed her lips against Chloe's cheek then began unwrapping herself from Chloe's body, "I'm going to give you two sometime alone."
Chloe was disappointed, "What happened to you not spending any time away from me, Elly?"
Realizing that Chloe didn't want Elly to leave after what she'd endured, Mark held up his hand to stop Elly, "No…stay…I…" Then sighing gently as he tried to ignore the way Elly placed her hands back on Chloe's body to hold her, "I'm not here to give you my blessing…I still need time for that…seeing the two of you together…it's gonna take time for me…but I can see what it means for you, Elly, to have Chloe back safe."
Elly nodded but didn't respond.
Mark looked down at Chloe, "I'm glad your safe, Chlo…when I thought you were in danger this morning…I realized I need you to be safe and happy. I…forgive you for cheating with Elly on me before the wedding. I want to be part of your life again…if you'll have me."
"Really?" Chloe asked for reassurance.
"If you can give me time to accept you been with Elly…yes, I'll be part of your life again," Mark confirmed.
Chloe pulled her arms from around Elly, and lent over to Mark, "I want to be part of your life too."
Mark wrapped his arms around his little sister, "I missed you, Chlo."
Chloe squeezed Mark's shoulders tightly, "I missed you too, so much. Thanks for doing everything possible this morning to try and find me. I'm going to be here overnight…any chance you'd like to come back in the morning when I get discharged to help us drive me home?"
Mark released Chloe from their hug, unsure how to take the simple word of 'us' meaning Elly would be there too, then glanced at Elly, "Do you want me to pick you up from yours in the morning?"
Elly hesitated for a moment before telling her ex-husband, "No need…I'm staying here the night with Chloe…that's the plan anyway…hopefully the nurse won't throw me out. I might sneak back in if she does."
Mark blinked his eyes rapidly, still trying to come to terms with their relationship, "Right…I guess I'll…see you both in the morning. I should…there's other family members outside that I'm sure want to see you Chlo and make sure you're okay. Be safe, Chlo."
With that, Mark left the pair alone.
Chloe looked over at Elly, "That didn't go…quite as badly as I thought it would."
Elly lent forwards, pressing her lips gently against Chloe's, "Mark will come around and accept our relationship…we just got to give him a bit more time."
Before Chloe could respond, Aaron and Bea entered the room. Aaron immediately went over to Chloe and wrapped his arms around her, thankful that his sister was safe. Susan and Karl simply poked their heads in the door, asked Chloe how she was feeling before letting everyone know they'd be outside when they were ready to head home. Susan smiled at the sight of how happy Elly looked lying on the bed next to her girlfriend.
Bea lent against the edge of the bed, "Glad you're okay Chloe. Did Elly tell you about how worried she was about you?"
"We covered that," Elly answered, "I'm insane, but she still loves me."
"I still love her," Chloe reassured once more, "Always will."
Bea grinned, "You two are so cute together, I can't believe I didn't pick up on it earlier."
"Try living with this twosome of cuteness," Aaron teased, "Chloe and Elly are annoyingly in love with each other."
Elly looked over at Chloe adoringly as the pair both answered together, "You're absolutely right, Aaron."