Just Friends?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chloe pursed her lips at Aaron as she scrambled to find an excuse as to why she would be getting David to lie to his husband, knowing they couldn't tell him the truth that Elly was in hospital as that would arise suspicions as to why Mark didn't know she was there. For fear that the truth that Elly wasn't carrying Mark's baby and David was now in on the secret, would be revealed to even more people instead of Mark.
"Aaron...I didn't pay rent last week and I missed another payment last month...David wanted to speak to me alone about it without making it a big deal in front of Leo or Kyle...or you. He didn't want to embarrass you by asking me about when I'm gonna pay up the extra rent I owe because...it's important to you two as a family to make sure your housemates are paying their share of the rent so you two won't be in the hole for your mortgage repayments..." Chloe claimed on the fly, internally shaking her head if this now meant she might have to stump up more money she didn't owe to rent a room at her brothers' home that she barely lived at.
Aaron eyed Chloe with suspicion, "David asked you to come all the way to the hospital to discuss you not paying rent...when you're supposed to be at work today...? What did you walk here? Cause when I left the house your car was still in the driveway. I know because it took me five minutes to get my car out from the front of yours so I could get out. If you're not going to drive to work, at least tell us so we can rearrange the order the cars are parked. Is it my imagination or weren't you wearing that same outfit yesterday when you came home to get changed for work? Did you not have time this morning to come back to ours to get changed after spending the night at Elly's?"
Chloe wanted to sigh heavily but instead held it together to continue lying to her brother, "Valid points, all of them. Yes, David thought this was serious enough to get me to come here to discuss it…I have been very…absent from the house of late. Yes, I walked here…I'm starting work late today and wanted the exercise. I'll go home to get changed before I go to the hotel. Anything else I can answer for you?"
"No, it's fine," Aaron answered before turning to David, "I don't like it when you lie to me, Boo Boo. Why couldn't you come to me to discuss Chloe been behind on her rent? You and I are about honesty. Especially since I made the mistake of going through Finn's medical files. Don't lie to me, David."
Chloe grimaced at David without Aaron seeing her, understanding just how much pressure Elly and she had now put him under and he would be forced to continue lying to his family just like Chloe was lying to hers.
"I've learnt my lesson," David lied, "It won't happen again."
Before any of them could say anything further, Bea and Finn walked over to them.
"Bea…Finn…what are you guys doing here?" Chloe asked hesitantly, struggling to keep it together with so many people crowding around her when she needed to keep it a secret that Elly was in hospital.
"I'm here for my appointment with David," Finn answered.
"I needed some air so I came with Finn for a walk before work and I'll hang out here for a bit until David and Finn have finished," Bea replied, "What are you guys doing here?"
"That's a good question that I haven't even told David yet," Aaron pointed out, "David, can we do dinner at home tonight together? We haven't spent a whole lot of time together recently and I wanted to make sure we don't forget to spend time with one another. I'll get everything set up, you just gotta turn up, Boo Boo."
"Sure, sounds good," David agreed.
"How about you, Chloe?" Bea questioned.
"Oh, I just came here to talk to David about some…housemate stuff he needed to talk to me about," Chloe responded.
Feeling the need to get back to Elly and away from everyone for fear of them learning Elly was in hospital and thus Mark either been alerted to the situation or someone pointing out it wouldn't be right to keep him away if something was happening with the baby, Chloe announced, "I'm gonna head off. See you guys all later."
Before anyone could respond, Chloe left the group and headed back down the hallway towards Elly's room. Glancing behind her to ensure Aaron, Bea or Finn weren't trailing behind her or if there was anyone else, they knew around, Chloe then quickly slipped into Elly's hospital room.
Elly smiled brightly as soon as she saw Chloe re-enter the room, "Hey baby, I was wondering where you'd gotten to. Did David get you to fill out a mountain of paperwork?"
Chloe went over to Elly, pulled over the chair next to the hospital bed and repositioned it right next to Elly's bed. Sitting down in the chair, Chloe couldn't help but smile when Elly reached out for her hand and then lent over to kiss her softly.
"I missed you," Elly whispered.
"I missed you, too," Chloe replied as she sat there as close to Elly as she could get without lying down with her in the hospital bed.
Elly pressed their lips together again, before nuzzling her face against Chloe's neck, "Did everything go okay with David?"
Chloe entangled her hand with Elly's, "Yeah…I told David everything, Elly."
Elly nodded, "I thought David didn't want to know."
Chloe tilted her head, "I guess curiosity got the better of him as he is part of our family and this affects him too. He needs to lie to his husband and Mark now about this until you come clean to Mark about the baby's paternity…do you get that at all? How we've gone and put David square in the middle of these lies we're spinning?"
Elly pulled her face back from Chloe's neck but brought her free hand up to glide it against Chloe's jaw, "Maybe we shouldn't have told David the truth."
Chloe pursed her lips but still sunk into Elly's embrace, "You needed David's help, Elly, to ensure nothing had happened to your baby. You need to eliminate the stress from your life if you are to heal from this rupture."
Elly sighed, "I know."
"Elly, I needed help too, okay," Chloe admitted, "This secret that I'm keeping from Mark…these lies that you are spinning to everyone because of it…you're drawing me into this web of lies, Elly, and I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this for."
Elly nodded but didn't address Chloe's concerns, too afraid that she wouldn't have the answer Chloe wanted to hear, "Does David know everything…everything?"
Chloe stared at Elly, "David knows how far along in your pregnancy you really are to what Mark believes. He knows you had a false positive test but couldn't bring yourself to tell Mark for fear that the baby was the only reason why he took you back. He knows you cheated on Mark again and had a one-night stand after you and Mark had your tiff about Mark not wanting to ever touch you again. He knows Shaun is the father, that Shaun and Finn both know about it. And he knows that Shaun blackmailed you into setting Finn free."
"Okay...but David doesn't know about Caitlin's ultrasound photo or any of the other blackmail with Dr. Dietrich's son?" Elly asked.
Chloe shook her head, "I just gave David the basics...okay maybe a few things more than the basics. He wants to help us, Elly, but he can't lie to Aaron for the duration of your pregnancy. Please can we just call Mark and either get him to come here or tell him at home tomorrow after you get discharged?"
"I don't want Mark to find out like this," Elly whispered.
Chloe untangled their hands but reached out and placed her palm against Elly's upper back, rubbing it supportively, "How do you want Mark to find out Elly? You cannot keep avoiding this. I gave you time after I found out what you did to Caitlin's ultrasound. Then we got together as a couple and I gave you more time because you wanted to focus on us and making sure we were in a good place. But this is it, Elly. You're in hospital overnight because of all the stress you've been under hasn't quite healed your rupture. I know telling Mark won't be a walk in the park and will probably end up causing you more stress but after Mark's reaction we can go back to concentrating on keeping your stress levels down and focus on you raising this baby."
Elly stared at Chloe, feeling comforted by her girlfriend despite knowing Chloe was not happy with their situation, "Mark wants this baby so badly, Chlo. I just can't take it away from him even though I'll be honest and say that...raising this baby with Mark...it's not exactly the ideal way I would like to raise this baby."
Chloe breathed deeply, "Elly, are you in complete denial that Mark needs to find out that the baby isn't his?"
Elly lent her head against Chloe's arm, unable to look at the blonde as she hesitantly nodded.
Chloe tipped her head to the side, "Okay at least you're not in denial that you are...in denial. I spoke to David about your reluctance to tell Mark the truth and the lies that you've gotten yourself caught in...this web that you can't untangle yourself from...David thinks you need to sit down and see a therapist."
Elly still refused to look Chloe in the eyes but didn't remove herself from Chloe's embrace, "Okay."
Chloe was surprised, "Really? I thought you might not agree to it because you would think talking to a professional about your problems is...I dunno...just not something you would ever do."
"Will you come with me?" Elly asked, lifting her head and staring into Chloe's eyes.
Chloe shook her head gently, "I think it would be best if you spoke to the therapist on your own, Elly. These are your issues that you need to resolve so you can tell Mark the truth. The denial that you are in revolves entirely on you been unable to tell Mark you cheated on him again and you're pregnant with Shaun's baby. It's not about me or our relationship which you have completely accepted. I'm more than happy to go with you to the appointment but you need to be the one who sits down with the therapist and has the discussion on your own with her or him, okay?"
Elly nodded, "Okay."
Chloe smiled back at her girlfriend, "Aaron and David are having dinner together tonight but seeing as though you'll be here all night long, I might spend the night back at home...for like the first time in weeks. I'll try and let the boys enjoy their meal first before I head home. I'll see if David can give us some details for a therapist tonight and we'll book something in once you've been discharged in the morning. Are you sure you don't want me to let Mark know you're in hospital overnight? You'll probably be on bed rest for the rest of the week so it might be hard to keep this from him. The ultrasound is over so I don't think we're risking much by telling him you're here and the baby will be okay as long as we keep your stress levels down."
Elly shook her head, "I don't want to worry Mark about the baby. Can you call Suse for me and let her know the doctor said everything's fine but I'll need to rest for the week and won't be at work? Don't tell her I'm staying here overnight and can you maybe tell her Mark is really fragile over the idea of anything happening to the baby so we're not keeping him in the loop on this...that all he'll know is I've come down with a bad cold that has nothing to do with the baby and need bed rest to recover?"
Chloe chewed on her lip.
"I know...it's another one of my lies I'm drawing you into..." Elly admitted, "Maybe after I speak to the therapist in a few days' time, I can find a way to stop all the lying and start telling Mark and everyone the truth."
Chloe closed her eyes before reopening them and giving in, "Okay...but this is the last lie I tell for you okay?"
Elly continued stroking her fingers against Chloe's jawline, "You are so perfect. I don't deserve you."
Chloe blushed, "Is there anything else you need me to do for you besides dropping by your place and getting a few things for you that you'll need?"
Elly ran her fingertips against Chloe's lips, "I just need you to stay here with me and be with me like this...keep comforting me for as long as you can today. I'm going to miss not been in your arms tonight."
Chloe smiled brightly, "Of course I'll stay here as long as I can. I'll head back to Mark's to grab your stuff in the early evening and just tell him you're staying at mine tonight and you wanted me to get a few things. I'll miss having you in my arms tonight too."
"We'll have the rest of our lives to spend our nights in one another's arms to make up for missing this one," Elly promised.
The couple continued staring into one another's eyes, happily in their own little world.
Further down one of the hospital hallways, Finn exited David's office to Bea waiting for him.
"That was really quick," Bea said as Finn shook David's hand and David headed off.
Finn waited until David was out of earshot, "Yeah I guess I didn't have a whole lot to say this morning. I still don't have any memories coming back and the questions David asks are pretty easy for me to answer since I'm not lying to him or anyone for that matter about my feelings. But if I'm honest...David was really distracted the whole time. I'm not even sure why and he wouldn't talk to me about it. It's probably nothing important. You right to walk home with me or can I drop you off at the garage on the way home?"
Bea nodded, "Yeah we can go past the garage. There weren't many bookings for today as of late yesterday but I'll still be needed there for most of the day."
"Great," Finn replied, as the pair began walking down the hospital hallway, "Bea...I just wanted to thank you for supporting me the last few months. I really couldn't have gotten throu-Elly Conway?"
"What? Where?" Bea asked as Finn stopped in his tracks, weirdly worried by Finn's tone of voice.
Finn pointed to the hospital whiteboard that was hung on the wall opposite the reception desk that had a list of patients, their room number and reason for their hospital admittance.
Bea frowned as she read the board, "Elly Conway, room 207, placenta re-rupture. Well I hope David and Chloe didn't know about this because why wouldn't they tell me?"
Finn shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sure it's nothing serious otherwise Elly would have called you, right?"
"You're right. Mark's probably with her and maybe they didn't want to panic us. I'm going to go find her and see what's going on," Bea decided, "You right to wait for me outside her room before we head off to the garage?"
"Of course," Finn agreed as he followed Bea down the hallway to Elly's hospital room.
Arriving at the room, Bea looked in the window of the door, "Oh...Elly's with Chloe not Mark...why wouldn't Chloe tell me Elly was in hospital? I only saw her fifteen minutes ago... Huh...Elly and Chloe look awfully cosy together...guess they really are back to been best friends. Stay here I'm gonna see what's up."
Even as Bea was talking, Finn had taken out his phone from his pocket and was only half-listening to his housemate.
As Bea left him on his own, Finn started typing a text message:
'Shaun, just thought you should know Elly is back in hospital with a re-occurrence of the rupture from last time. I don't know any further details but I'll let you know if I find out anything. I'm sure it's nothing serious. I miss you, bro.'
Finn watched as the three little bubbles popped up under his message and he awaited Shaun's reply...
Bea opened the hospital room door and was surprised to find Elly leaning closely to Chloe as Chloe sat there next to Elly with her hand supporting Elly's back. Elly was talking softly to Chloe and the pair were staring at one another with Elly smiling deeply at Chloe. Neither woman acknowledged the sound of the door opening.
Bea managed to hear Elly say to Chloe, "-make me so happy, Chloe. I love you."
"I love you, too," Chloe whispered back, and before Bea could react, she watched as Elly lent up and bought her lips to Chloe's, kissing her gently.
"Ah-" Bea reacted as Chloe pulled back from Elly immediately at the sound, "...hi..." is all Bea could manage to utter in surprise at her sister declaring her love for her soon-to-be-ex-sister-in-law before kissing her.
Bea! Well...I wasn't expecting anyone to find out about us today...I guess I'm about to know for sure that Elly isn't in denial of her feelings for me when it comes to her family...mine was easy for her...this could go a different way...and also crap Elly didn't want anyone knowing she's in hospital, Chloe thought.
Bea! Well...I wasn't expecting anyone to find out about us today...damn it I really wanted to be the one to tell Bea about Chloe. I didn't want to have my sister walk in on me kissing Chloe...please be okay with this Bea...this is going to be easy to explain to Bea that I'm in love with Chloe as all she wants is for me to be happy...and also crap I was hoping no one else would find out I'm in hospital. I guess my web of lies isn't quite over yet, Elly thought.
