Chapter 35 'Arrested' Hey, please review. This fic is slowly approaching the end but there will be a finale that I've planned for some time. It looks to be a happy ending...so far ;)
Ronnie had just finished cleaning the shelf that was full of photos, what once held no more than 6 photo frames now held over 10, most of them pictures of Danielle, some older ones and 2 new ones Ronnie had taken with her camera, one of Danielle alone and the other Danielle and Ronnie together, taken by Roxy. It was still quite early.
Danielle walked through the door way to see Ronnie on the sofa with her eyes shut clearly tired, most likely due to the fact that she had stayed watching Danielle sleep for most of the night, like she always did. "Mum?" she asked unsure if Ronnie was asleep. Ronnie instantly opened her eyes, stood up and faced Danielle. "Morning sweetie" she smiled, Danielle smiled in return. "Sleep well?" Ronnie asked rubbing Danielle's arm, "Yeah...you?" she asked cautiously noticing how Ronnie was struggling to keep her eyes open. "Uhh, not bad..." Ronnie hoped she had got away with the slight lie she had just told, although in long term lying to Danielle was something she didn't want to do.
"I was wondering...if maybe...if you don't mind..." Danielle looked to the floor and felt unusually nervous about asking such a simple question; Ronnie stroked Danielle's face with her left hand. "What baby?" she asked trying to at least reassure Danielle. "Could we...well could you...book our tickets for Friday?" Danielle finally made eye contact and say a puzzled look on Ronnie's face. "Of course...any reason why?" Danielle nodded for quite some time, however she realised how stupid the delay between speech must have looked. "I'm visiting my dad...I decided...I mean it's Tuesday already and I was thinking that tomorrow I could go and see him..." Ronnie nodded, "Sure, I know you wanted to visit him anyway...what about..." Ronnie bit her lip, "Before you told me you wanted to...visit Joel...?" Ronnie knew that the question was quite forbidden in their conversations, neither of them had mentioned it for weeks. Danielle stared blankly for a moment before looking down to the ground once more. Ronnie knew how Danielle reacted when she was nervous, even now with weeks together Danielle was still nervous.
"No...I've...I decided it's not really...well...I have you...that's all I need" Danielle shut her eyes and felt Ronnie pull her gently in to a hug. "I'll always be here...do you want me to come to Telford with you?" Danielle felt stumped, she wasn't even sure if she would tell her dad about the whole situation. "Will you?" she asked weakly, crying for reasons unknown to her, maybe the fact that Ronnie would be willing to face her dad in such a situation overwhelmed her. "I'll never leave you...If you want me to come to Telford I will...your dad will want to know about everything and I want to be there to show him how much I love you" Danielle felt Ronnie pull tighter in to the embrace. "Thank you" Danielle whispered, Ronnie closed her eyes and relaxed slightly. "No problem...I love you" her heart warmed at hearing her mother say these words once more. "I love you too" she replied gently.
An hour later, Danielle and Ronnie had been watching some TV after eating breakfast, their plans to leave tomorrow was on full track and they had one day to enjoy being together at home, the silence of the two women was interrupted by a phone call. Danielle quickly looked at her mother unsure of who would be calling so early; Ronnie smiled and rubbed Danielle's hand. "I'll answer it" she slowly walked out the room, not before gently kissing the top of Danielle's head, a habit that she had slowly come in to. Danielle waited until Ronnie was out the room before turning down the TV volume, in order to hear Ronnie's half of the conversation, at least to find out if it was Roxy or whoever else.
"Hello?.....Yes it is.....Yes?...." Ronnie's half of the conversation hadn't given much detail to who it was she was talking to exactly. "Wait...when? Last night?" Ronnie sounded quite surprised, it made Danielle feel on edge slightly, was this good news or bad? Danielle had a bad habit for expecting the worst all the time. "Ok...well yes...not tomorrow, not really, I'll be free the day after...ok...thank you. Bye." Ronnie put the phone down; Danielle sat for a minute unsure of what had just happened. Whoever it was had asked Ronnie if she was free tomorrow, what did they want?
"That was the police" Ronnie seemed to have a smile spreading across her face as she approached Danielle on the sofa, before taking a seat. "They've found him...Roxy phoned the police also and told them about Archie...he's been arrested" Ronnie felt disbelief herself yet Danielle just stared, lost in thought. "He's gone baby...he can't hurt us anymore" Ronnie smiled taking Danielle's hand and kissing it. Happy that her daughter was finally safe from Archie, "What did they want you for?" Danielle asked still quite worried.
"What?" Ronnie asked puzzled at why Danielle still looked perplexed, "You said, you're not free tomorrow but you are the day after" Danielle said remembering the words in her head before realising what she had done. "Sorry, I didn't mean...to listen I just...heard...I never meant to...I'm sorry" Danielle panicked over her words and cursed herself for being so stupid. "Hey, it's ok Danielle...I don't mind...The police just want to make sure we will both be free in a few days in case they need any help or someone to tell them exactly what happened if her doesn't cooperate" Ronnie gently put her hand on Danielle's hand. Danielle slowly smiled, "So he...he won't be back" Ronnie shook her head, relishing in Danielle's small smile of relief, "No baby...he won't hurt us anymore" Danielle's smile quickly vanished, "We can still leave on Friday...to Ibiza right?" she asked cautiously, Ronnie nodded, "I'm going to book the tickets now" she smiled. Danielle felt a urge of happiness run thorough her, over the past few weeks she had been in hospital and even attacked, yet despite all that, Ronnie had helped her, had kept her going. To be able to go to Ibiza excited Danielle more than she could ever have hoped. "I love you Danielle" Ronnie pulled Danielle once more in to a hug. "Thank you...thank you" Danielle was grateful that Ronnie had been so supportive and had helped Danielle so much.
"Shall we book those tickets?" Ronnie asked, looking down at Danielle's smiling face, she nodded in response. "I love you mum" she smiled. Ronnie had heard those words only a few times, yet each time she heard them her heart warmed more. Danielle was safe, everything was perfect. Tomorrow they would visit Danielle's dad in Telford, then on Friday they would leave for Ibiza.
Archie could no longer hurt them, her baby was safe at last.