Heyoooo, very sorry that this is late. I've been so busy with school and I've been ill too :(
But anyway I hope you enjoy it! :) x
Ps it's very dramatic and rather sad in places, sorryyyyyy
Complications
Noah grizzled and cried in his cot making Clara groan a little. He had woken a good ten times that night so she was feeling far from refreshed after her little amount of sleep. She began to heave herself out of bed but felt Danny's hand rest on hers. Without opening his eyes he spoke and began to get out from under the duvet.
"I'll go, you stay there." She nodded and closed her eyes momentarily. Danny began to walk around the room rocking Noah in his arms but the crying failed to cease. "Come on buddy. What's wrong with you today? You're wearing your mummy and daddy out." Clara smiled a little at Danny's soft speaking to Noah. His voice always became so sweet.
After another ten or so minutes Danny sat back in the bed with him and sighed. Clara yawned and sat up next to him.
"I don't know what's wrong with him? I fed him less than an hour ago and he's had plenty of feeds all night. His nappy is clean, right?" Danny checked quickly and nodded back to her. Clara sighed and felt his forehead. "Mmm, he does feel a little hot." Danny kissed his head.
"Should I get one of those temperature things from the kitchen?" Clara nodded and smiled.
"A thermometer?" He nodded.
"I knew that, I was just testing." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. But yes that's a good idea." He nodded, handed Noah over to Clara and jogged out of the room. Clara sat up a little and readjusted him in her arms before sighing. Suddenly she heard a noise at the door which made her turn and look. Ellie was stood there rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"You okay, honey?" She nodded and walked around to Clara's side of the bed to sit down.
"Yeah."
"Did you sleep well?" She nodded again and kissed Noah's head. Rather than smiling slightly like normal he began to grizzle and cry even more. Ellie looked at Clara with confusion.
"What's wrong with Noah?" Clara smiled gently.
"He's a little bit poorly. But don't worry! He's fine really, just got a bit of a temperature." She stroked his head gently as he wriggled in her arms. He had the cutest big brown eyes. All you noticed as soon as you looked at him was his eyes. Big pools of love and humility.
Danny soon ran back in but slammed the door by accident making Noah turn and face it immediately. His eyes widened and he looked at Danny with shock. Ellie and Clara laughed.
"It's okay Noah! It's just daddy!" She kissed his head even more gently this time making Danny smile. He passed the thermometer over to Clara and kissed Ellie on the cheek.
"Morning biggest little Pink." Ellie laughed and hugged him tightly.
"I'm not that big daddy!" He smiled.
"I know you're not but that's a good thing! Please don't grow too big!" She nodded.
"I'll try! Ooh if you want me to stay little, does that mean I can eat less vegetables at dinner? So that I don't grow as strong?" Danny laughed and poked her sides making her giggle.
"Ooh nice try monkey! But you're not getting out of vegetable time!" She laughed happily in Danny's arms making Clara feel so much more relaxed. That was the first time she had seen Ellie smile honestly in around a week. She had missed it.
A few minutes later Clara spoke up.
"His temperature is 39 degrees Danny." She gave him a worried look. Danny sat forwards and felt Noah's head and then sighed as he looked at his little boy who was still crying constantly.
"That's quite high right?" She nodded. "I think we should go to A&E, just to be on the safe side. He's still under four months old so it's recommended to check things out." Clara nodded again and handed him over to Danny to quickly throw some clothes on.
"Is he going to be okay!?" Ellie said to Danny with a worried expression on her face.
"Yeah of course! He's just a bit poorly and we don't know exactly what's wrong with him so we need to go and check out what it is." Clara called over to him.
"Danny can you call my dad? Ask him to come and look after the girls?" He nodded and grabbed his phone from the side.
Not long later they all headed downstairs to let Dave inside. Danny opened the door and he walked in slowly with his eyes to the ground.
"Dad?" He looked up slowly, leading Clara to gasp. "Dad... What the hell happened!?" There was a large bruise covering his left eye and most of his cheek. It was so swollen that he could hardly see out of it. He shook his head and looked away from her in shame.
"It's nothing." Clara shook her head and moved towards him.
"Nothing? This is not nothing! What happened?!" He shook his head.
"No. I'll tell you later. Noah is more important. Get him checked out first." She sighed. She wanted to help her dad but she knew that Noah needed to be seen to before anything became more serious.
"Okay but you will tell me everything when we get back. Yes?" He nodded. "Okay, we shouldn't be too long. Are you sure you'll be okay here?" He nodded again.
"Yes of course, we'll all be fine." She nodded over to Ellie who gave her a smile of reassurance.
"Well there's a bag of peas in the freezer if you need an icepack? We'll be back in a bit." They left through the door and headed to the hospital quickly.
As they were driving Danny spoke hesitantly.
"What do you think happened?" She shook her head.
"Well my money is on Linda... But I don't know that for sure. If it was her, she'll sure regret it. I'll make her pay." Danny said nothing. He could sense a rocky road ahead.
They ran into the reception and were glad to see that it was rather empty. A nurse walked along to the desk and began to type on the computer. As she looked up, Clara and Danny instantly recognised her. She had delivered Noah and been there the whole way though the pregnancy.
"Oh hello! Fancy seeing you here. How can I help you today? Everything alright?" Clara smiled gently.
"Not too great actually. He's got a temperature and hadn't stopped crying for hours now." The nurse walked around to them and felt Noah's head.
"Yes, he does feel a little warm. Let's check him out. Come this way." They followed her into a little side room where she took him over to the bed and opened up his top. "This is going to be a little cold, sorry buddy." She smiled as she put her stethoscope on to his chest and began to listen to his heartbeat. He began to squirm and cry making Clara move closer to him. She hated to see him cry. The noise pierced through her and made her heart go wild.
"Is he okay?" She looked up and smiled.
"I don't think it's anything serious. So you can relax about that." Clara and Danny smiled at each other in relief. "However he does have a rather high temperature and his breathing is quite erratic so I'd like to keep him in for a while today just to be on the safe side. Just because nothing serious is showing up now, it doesn't mean that it won't later I'm afraid." Clara nodded and sighed. She looked down to her poor little boy who was screaming his lungs out. She couldn't bare it anymore.
"Can I hold him again now?" The doctor nodded.
"Yes of course, I'm going to go and get some more equipment for some further tests then I'll be right back." They nodded and smiled as they watched her leave. Clara picked him up and began to sing gently to him and rock him side to side. He continued to cry and cry despite her best efforts.
"Danny he won't stop. Why can't I make him stop?" He sighed and walked to her side.
"He's probably very uncomfortable and doesn't feel good at the moment so he's using the only thing he can do to tell us. There's not much we can do. I know that's hard to accept but we've brought him to the right place. He's safe here. And don't blame yourself because it's not your fault that he won't stop crying. He still likes his mum being here." She smiled and nodded. She looked back down to him and suddenly felt extremely overwhelmed. Everything had built up and got too much, she couldn't contain it anymore. A tear fell down her cheek which Danny noticed immediately. "Come on Clara. You're doing so well... I wondered when this would happen because you've been amazing these last few days, really amazing. And then everything happened today and I could see it getting too much." She nodded and began to cry. She leant her head onto his side and let him hold her.
"I was trying to hold it back but I couldn't. All this stuff with Ellie, and then with my dad, and then the Doctor and now this. I don't know what to do." He nodded and continued to hold her.
"I know, I know. It all seems too much to handle and seems like we can't do it but it'll be fine because we can sort it out step by step. Think about it, Noah is okay because he's in safe hands at the moment. I know that's not reassuring you too much but at least you can stop worrying for now. And the Doctor seems to be a bit better, he's just being him really. You've done everything you can to help him and he knows that he's welcome at ours anytime he wants. He'll always have a place here. You've been the best friend he can ask for, so don't forget that. Your dad will tell you what's wrong later on and if you are right by saying that it's Linda then you've made a start. You'll be able to get though it together with me as a support. It will be okay I promise. Finally, as for Ellie, I don't really have a solution for that yet but she knows that she can talk to us anytime at all. She knows that we will help her at any cost and at the moment she seems a little happier. If we take things in little steps problems always seem smaller. Focus on one thing at a time. So right now focus on Noah and then when we get home you can focus on your dad." He kissed her head and held her protectively. "You're doing amazingly well and everyone loves you for that." She smiled gently and kissed him softly.
"I sure as hell hope I am." He smiled and nodded. As he looked up the doctor came back in. She looked over to Clara and hesitated. She didn't know whether to ask or not. Clara saw this so stepped in for her. "Sorry about this." She circled her face with her finger to make clear what she meant. "Lots of things happening at the moment so this kinda set me off." She nodded.
"Ah I see. Well your husband seems to have it under control so I'll not get involved." They all laughed. "If it's any consolation, I may know what's wrong with this little one." She pointed to him who had been laid back on the bed by Clara. "There's a flu virus going around at the moment and, although it's rare for a baby young as Noah to get it, his symptoms match up with the description. This means that it's nothing too serious unless his temperature gets worse or he has any breathing difficulties. So I've spoken to one of the senior doctors and he said that you can take him home but just keep a very close eye on his temperature and his breathing. Anything appears to be odd, bring him in immediately. But, with any luck, it should wear off within about two or three days." Clara smiled and nodded.
"Thank you so much for your help." She picked up Noah and did up his little coat again as Danny said the same to the doctor.
"You're welcome. I hope everything turns out okay at home." Clara smiled up at her.
"Thank you." The doctor nodded and left the room.
"Come on, let's get home." She nodded at Danny and they left slowly.
They got home to an amazingly quiet house. Ellie and Lily were snuggled up on the sofa under a duvet watching tv as Dave stood by the door. He had obviously been pacing up and down, coming up with an explanation to tell Clara.
"Hi, everything go okay?" Clara nodded.
"Yeah, he's got the flu so we need to keep a very close eye on him in case it gets any worse but other than that, all should be fine." Dave nodded and smiled.
"Oh good, it's a relief that it's nothing too serious." Clara smiled briefly. She handed Danny the travel cot and kissed him on the cheek.
"Can you keep an eye on him while I go and speak to dad?" Danny nodded.
"Yeah sure." She smiled and turned to face Dave.
"Kitchen. Now." He nodded and walked quickly. Clara followed him and closed the door behind her.
"Clara it's nothing too bad, don't worry about it." She shook her head.
"Yeah, so you keep saying but from where I'm standing it looks pretty bad. So come on, what happened?" He paused.
"Linda came back... And it all kicked off again. God I feel so stupid. I couldn't even stop her from getting in the house let alone stop her from doing this." He pointed to his head.
"She did that to you!? What happened?" He winced slightly as he moved.
"She started shouting and banging on the door so I opened it to tell her to leave but she was having none of it. She barged her way in and started yelling all sorts. She walked over to the living room and started to smash up photos of family... She picked up the one of me, you and your mum and threw it across the room... That was when I got angry. I shouted back at her but she came closer and kept hurling threats at me. I grabbed her arm to take her out of the door and she punched me." He paused when he felt Clara hold his hand. "There was no look of shock on her face. There wasn't even any regret. It was as though she didn't even care that she had done it. I looked at her and saw someone who I didn't know. She's not the woman I fell in love with anymore, I don't know what's happened to her." Clara smiled gently at him. She hated seeing him so sad. He had those eyes much like Clara's that radiated emotion from them making it impossible to hide true feelings. That was something that had stayed within the family. Clara had them and so did Ellie. Those big pools of emotion.
"Dad, can I ask you a question?" He nodded. "Has she... Has Linda ever hurt you before?" He breathed deeply.
"No, not physically. Verbally, though, yes." Clara felt tears welling in her eyes again. How could this have been going on without anyone knowing? Dave noticed and held her hand again.
"Please don't cry. I know it's not okay and that its not right but it's sorted now. She won't do it again." Clara shook her head.
"And how do you know that? You didn't think she would do it again last time and now look at you! No, no. I won't let it happen again. You're going to get your stuff and stay here. You're going to stay here until things calm down." He pulled his hand away and shook his head.
"No you don't have to do that. I need to be at home."
"No you don't. You need to be with people who can help." He stopped her and jumped up from his chair.
"I want to be at home!" Clara looked at him in shock. He stepped back too, as though he himself hadn't anticipated the way he had spoken. After a pause he sat back down and let a few tears escape.
"Oh dad. What's wrong? I know what you've told me but there's more isn't there. What's wrong, talk to me." He took a deep breath and sat round to face her.
"I can't stay here because she might come to find me. I don't want to not be in if she comes because she'll come and look for me. The first place she'll come is here and I'm not letting that happen. The last thing we need is for Ellie to be upset again and by the sound of it, she's a lot worse than what you're saying. It's better if I stay at home so that nothing bad happens to all of you. You don't need the hassle right now." Clara shook her head and wiped her tears.
"Dad, don't ever say that. It's not hassle if it means something to you. Anything that effects you matters to us. You're our family and we want to help you." He sighed through his emotion.
"But I don't want to hurt you." Clara smiled.
"Nothing that Linda can do is going to hurt us, I promise. At the moment we need to focus on you because you're the one who is hurting." He nodded.
"Okay, thank you."
"No need to thank me." She winked at him, making him smile. "So why don't we go and get some of your stuff from home and then you can stay here for a while, yeah?" He nodded so, after Clara had notified Danny, they left quietly without disturbing the girls.
A while later there was a knock at the door. Danny walked idly towards it but paused before opening it when he recognised the person on the other side. She knocked again and began to shout. He couldn't just ignore it could he? So he opened it slowly, still holding Noah in his arms.
"Is Dave here? Dave! Come here now!" She spoke directly to Danny and then shouted through the house managing to unsettle everyone. Noah and Lily began to cry and Ellie began to panic. Danny looked at them in worry.
"I think you should leave. He's not here okay." She stayed stood at the doorstep without so much as a step.
"Where is he then!? I know you know Danny. Don't lie to me!" Danny stood a little closer to her.
"Linda. I don't know where he is. Please can you leave." She shook her head.
"No I won't!" Danny went to protest but he stopped himself when Clara's car pulled up on the drive. She looked round and walked towards Dave when she saw him. He grabbed his overnight bag and ignored her voice. "Dave. Dave stop! Dave!" He shook his head.
"Go away Linda." She ran in front of him and stopped him.
"No, no, no. You don't mean that. I'm sorry okay. I'm sorry. Can we at least talk?" He shook his head.
"I'm not doing this now. Please get out of my way. Just leave now." She stood to the side and scoffed.
"Oh yeah, run back to your perfect family. Your psycho daughter, slave son in law and your bratty grandkids." Clara seethed. How could someone go so low?
"I'd leave now if I were you because I am very close to replicating what you did to my dads face onto yours." She laughed.
"Is that a threat!?" Danny stepped forwards.
"Yes it is. Believe me, leave now while you're still in one piece because Clara's not the only one who is ready to do something everyone will regret. No one talks about my wife and my kids like that. No one. And no one treats Dave like that and gets away with it. So take your posh handbag and your old granny car and get out of our sight." She stood back with offence. After beginning to fight back but being stopped by Danny's evil glare, she held her hands up and left across the driveway.
They all walked back inside where Dave chucked his shoes off and turned to Clara and Danny.
"Thank you for that. Do you mind if I go upstairs for a while?" Clara shook her head.
"No of course not, take all the time you need." He nodded and disappeared out of sight. Clara could tell by his face that he was beaten. She also knew that the next few days were not going to be easy.
Danny began to settle Noah back down and recheck his temperature. Clara looked over to the living room and ran over to Ellie as soon as she saw her. She was curled up on the floor in the corner of the room crying softly to herself. Clara sat down next to her and placed a hand on her arm.
"Ellie?" Ellie looked up and immediately jumped into Clara's arms.
"Is she gone mummy?" Clara nodded quickly.
"Yeah, she's gone, she's gone. Don't worry, shh, shh." She reassured her and quietened down her crying.
"Is grandad still here?" Clara nodded.
"Yeah, he's just upstairs. He's going to stay for a little while until he can go back home." She nodded slowly.
"He's not with Linda anymore is he? They've had an argument haven't they." Clara smiled a little at her innocence.
"Yeah, they have had a big argument so she won't be anywhere near us anymore." Ellie sighed.
"I'm happy about that... I'm not happy that grandad is sad and has a poorly eye but I'm happy that I won't have to see Linda again." Clara nodded as Ellie climbed back onto her lap and cuddled up to her. Clara looked over to Danny who was settling down Lily and Noah and smiled. For some reason they both felt rather relieved. They felt as though they had a place to start the recovery from rather than travelling in a vicious circle like they had been for the last few months.
After putting Ellie and Lily to bed Danny and Clara sat on the sofa quietly together.
"That was one hell of a day." Clara nodded in agreement.
"It sure was. So much for having a quiet Sunday." He laughed.
"That never seems to happen in this house does it." She held out her hand for him to take.
"No but I usually wouldn't change that for the world... But there are quiet a few things I would change about today." He nodded and kissed her head as she laid into him, being careful not to disturb Noah in his arms. "Everything is such a mess. I don't even know what to do about it... Dad's so broken, he's been so damaged by this but he won't tell me exactly what he's thinking because he cares too much about us. He doesn't want to upset or impact us. And I still haven't told him about Ellie. I was going to today but then everything went wrong." Danny sighed.
"I think he'll speak when he wants to. When he feels ready he'll open up. He knows how he feels in himself, he knows what's going on so I'm sure he's trying to work out how to deal with things. All you can do is what you are already doing now, supporting him. And as for the Ellie thing, we have time to tell him that. We don't need to do it immediately." She nodded.
"True, and as for this little man." She stroked his cheek softly and smiled. "He seems to be okay now, so that's one good thing." Danny smiled.
"Yeah, I checked his temperature an hour ago and it had gone down a lot, and he's stopped crying and has gone to sleep so that's a good sign." They both looked down at him lovingly. There was something about his face that made them fall in love a little bit more every time they looked at him. He was so perfect. They sat in silence for a few minutes when Clara suddenly remembered what she had to ask him about the Doctor. She hesitated but then forced herself to say it because if she didn't now, she would regret it.
"Danny." He looked up and smiled. "I've been thinking about the Doctor and what I can do to help him. He's so so lonely and really needs someone to be with him sometimes so I was wondering if-" Danny interrupted.
"Yes you can." She looked at him with confusion.
"How do you know what I'm going to ask?" He smiled.
"I kind of just guessed... I could tell by your face that you were worried about what I would say and there aren't many things that make you like that. And he said that he was lonely the other day so, yeah." She smiled gently, always so perceptive.
"Okay, well guessed... It'll only be like once a week and not even for that long. Just to give him something to look forward to." Danny nodded.
"That should be okay, on one condition. You don't go doing anything dangerous. I don't mind you being with him, I just don't want you to get hurt." She kissed his cheek.
"I promise. There will be no recklessness." They laughed a little. "Thank you Danny."
"That's okay Clara." They kissed each other softly. Clara pulled away making him look at her.
"Oh and one more thing. Thank you for standing up for us all in front of Linda today." She shook his head.
"It was nothing really. I wasn't going to let her get away with what she said." She nodded.
"Well, I loved the 'granny car' part you added in. And, I must say, it was all very attractive." He scoffed and poked her in the side.
"Oi you." She laughed.
"What!? It was just an observation." They laughed and kissed each other again.
Thank you very very much for reading! See you in the next chapter!