A little shorter, and I'm sorry for the end...
Jackie ended up being kept in and that meant Danny was reluctantly going to and from the hospital for most of the next week. There was some problem with her airways and they wanted to monitor her for something - he didn't pay much attention after they said it was nothing serious. Clara was always on his mind, she'd sort of gone quiet on him since they last saw each other and it was worrying him. She said she was fine when he asked, but something didn't feel right.
"Oi, Danny, where's your head been at all week?" he jumped at Jackie's voice and looked up from his phone.
"Sorry, Mum wants me at the café, it's really busy apparently," he replied. "I think I'd better go."
Jackie shrugged, "fair enough, coming back later?" she asked.
"If I can, how're you feeling?" he asked.
"Ah I'm fine, all the better for having you here, but I get that you need to help," she smiled. Danny was almost concerned that she was being so understanding. "Just sneak out as soon as you can." Ah, there it was.
"If I'm going to help then I'm helping, that's how it works. You might run away from home but I don't," he replied. Jackie immediately glared at him, "I'm not even going to argue. Social services will be here soon remember," he replied before leaving.
#-#-#-#
Danny walked to Clara's house, going through his head what he was going to say. It was Sunday, her Dad shouldn't be at work. He knocked on the door with slight trepidation and took a step back when he heard the door unlocking. Danny hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath until he saw Clara appear at the door and he let it out in relief. She quickly came outside, shutting the door behind her. "Danny what the hell? Why are you here my Dad will kill you!"
"I can't stand you being trapped because of me, I need to talk to him and sort this out," he told her, but Clara shook her head.
"You can't Danny, you can't change his mind nobody ever can. There's only a week left of the holiday, we'll be back at school and everything will be fine. Please, please go before he realises you're here," she told him.
"Why are you so scared?" he asked and pulled her close, "you shouldn't have to be scared," he sighed and kissed her head. "None of this is fair, you deserve to be happy."
Clara relented and put her arms around him, feeling suddenly more relaxed than she had done in days, "I miss you," she told him quietly.
"I miss you too," he sighed and rubbed her back carefully.
"How's Jackie doing?" she asked and Danny looked at her, surprised. "She may not like me but I don't wish anything bad on her, seriously how is she?"
"Recovering, they've found some new medication which seems to be helping. Social services are visiting today to discuss the fact she ran away without telling anyone so hopefully she won't spring any more surprises on me - this is supposed to be our safe place," he told her.
"Mmm, well it was," she sighed and looked up at him from where they were stood, "I'm sorry I ruined it."
"You didn't ruin anything, it's not your fault," he kissed her gently. "I'm sorry I let you down."
"You've let nobody down, certainly not me. You've saved me Danny, literally on more than one occasion," she told him.
"What on earth is going on!?" they both jumped back at Dave's voice.
"I'm spending time with someone who cares about me," Clara spoke back without even thinking about it, she couldn't handle it anymore.
"Someone who I banned you from seeing!" her Dad replied.
"Why do you even care?! If you really cared about me you would listen to why I love Danny."
"You're 14! You are not old enough to know that Clara," he replied but she shook her head. "Come back inside now."
"No," she replied.
"Don't you argue with me young lady," he started but she shook her head again.
"Mum would have understood. I'm going. I'll come back when you will listen!" She grabbed Danny's hand and walked off, ignoring her Dad's protests as she went. She kept going, not stopping until they were a good distance away and got into the woods where she knew they'd be alone.
Danny hadn't questioned anything until now, but when they stopped he looked at her, incredibly concerned. "This isn't like you…"
Clara shook her head and quickly buried into him, trying to keep calm but struggling, "I don't like this, I don't like falling out with my Dad, I love him so much but he just won't listen anymore," she told him. "If he loves me then why does he keep doing this?"
"Because you're his little girl and he wants to protect you," Danny replied. "In his eyes I might take you away, he's scared to lose you." Clara stood back and hit him gently, "what was that for?!"
"Being right," she told him and Danny chuckled. "I still can't go home, not yet, I just… can't," she sighed and kissed him. "Can we go to yours?"
"Of course we can," he put an arm around her as they started walking in the right direction, "you should at least call him later though."
"I would, but he has my phone remember," she rolled her eyes.
"You can borrow mine silly, I'm not taking no for an answer. Now come on, I'm starving - we'll stop at the chip shop on the way home," he told her and they made their way back.
#-#-#-#
Danny's parents arrived home in the evening and found them on the sofa, "running between girlfriends now?" she asked to which Danny glared at her. "Sorry, insensitive of me. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just running out of excuses why I'm not at the hospital," he sighed and slammed his phone down making a half asleep Clara jump. "Sorry, she's just doing my head in. I wish there was another way around this."
"If it's too much Danny…" she started.
Danny sat up as she did, "don't be stupid, that would hurt you too much, this is the safest way for now. It'd be fine if it wasn't for her idiotic escape plan."
"Didn't you say social services went in today?" his Mum asked Danny.
"Mmm apparently they want to move her to a foster home instead of the group home in the holidays. She sounds thrilled," he shrugged. "I'll get it all tomorrow, I'll have to show my face before she's taken back."
"I'll go see Greg and Hayley," Clara told him.
"You can stay here if you want you know?" Danny told her and Clara nodded but he could sense her unease and didn't press any further.
They relaxed back for a while but around half an hour later both his parents came and sat down adjacent to them, "we were hoping we could talk to you both."
"We're both here," Danny replied and Clara hit him gently.
"Don't be cheeky," she told him.
"I like her already," Danny's Dad chuckled. "Alright, well we were thinking we should get to know Clara better so we can understand this. We can both see that this is serious and that's difficult for us to take in when you're still so young."
Danny felt Clara tense next to him although she did a good job not to show it externally. "Like right now?"
"Oh gosh no we appreciate that's unfair. Tomorrow, we're not in the cafe so we were thinking we could go somewhere? If you'd like, you guys can pick," he asked.
Danny looked at Clara and then back, "can we just talk about it? We'll pop upstairs and I'll come speak to you in a bit."
They agreed and both teenagers stood up and made their way up to the bedroom. Clara sat down on his bed cross legged and watched as Danny paced up and down the room. "What on earth is wrong with you?" Clara asked, somewhat bemused at his behaviour.
"I don't know how to tell them no," he sighed.
"Why would you tell them no?" she asked again, still confused.
"Well because… you know…."
"Me? Danny it's fine, I have to get to know your parents sometime. It's not easy for me meeting new people but it will be okay, they have to get to know me for who I am."
Danny nodded, "what do you want me to tell them?" Clara shrugged, "I'll see how it goes. Where do you want to go?" She shrugged again, not able to think of anywhere, "nowhere busy right?" Clara nodded now. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Honestly, just go speak to them, I'm fine," she smiled and Danny looked at her for a little longer before giving in and nodding, going off to speak to his parents. Clara lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to relax.
#-#-#-#
His parents were chatting in the kitchen when he got down and Danny walked in, shutting the door behind him. "Clara wants to go tomorrow, but we really need to think carefully about where we go."
"We understand that with her background. We were thinking about the country park out near the river?" His Mum suggested.
"Yeah, that'd be good," he told them.
"You look worried," she pointed out, "it'll be okay you know? We're not monsters."
"I know Mum, it's just such a big thing for her," he sighed, "I worry, maybe too much, but I don't want to lose her."
His Mum walked over and hugged him, "you're a good lad Danny, and you've finally found a decent girl too. You really care about her, that's good, we'll be right here for you too."
"Thank you Mum, I should get back," he smiled.
There was a nod and she turned around to grab something off the side, "here, I found cake in the cupboard," she winked, and there's two mugs of tea for you.
"You're amazing, thanks Mum," he smiled and jogged off upstairs. Danny opened the door to his room and found Clara curled up on his bed. "You awake?" he asked and there was a small noise. "Are you okay?"
Clara slowly uncurled and sat herself up, "yeah, sorry. Did you speak to them?"
Danny put the tray down on the table and joined her on the bed. "We're gonna go to the country park, it's not too busy there and there's plenty of space if you need to just get away. Is that okay?"
"It sounds perfect, thank you," she smiled and kissed him, leaning against him, "is that tea?" she pointed at the tray and Danny chuckled.
"Yes, yes it is. Mum found some homemade cake too, you fancy it?" Clara grinned and he handed over the mug and put the plate with the cake on between them.
"You know me well young sir," she grinned and sipped at the tea, "damn I need this."
Clara smiled and sat with him. Danny put his telly on and they watched something fairly mundane as they sat there, simply enjoying each other's company till bedtime.
#-#-#-#
Arriving at the country park was nice, there really weren't many people around and Clara realised she couldn't remember the last time she'd really been out like this. They climbed out of the car and Clara took Danny's hand, but actually felt rather relaxed as they started walking around the park as a group.
"So you've been at the school a little while now?" Danny's dad asked.
Clara nodded, "it made sense, it's what had been planned for me anyway and then when Dad couldn't cope anymore it was the logical solution. It's been great though, really helped me get back to relative normality, especially thanks to certain people," she nudged Danny who grinned.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it, and it does seem you're doing wonders for Danny, his grades have shot up and apparently that's your doing," his Mum replied.
Clara chuckled but shook her head, "not really, I could see he was cleverer than he let on from the moment I met him, just needed some coaxing," she smiled up at Danny who was blushing a little. "We'll make a genius of you yet."
"Yeah right, nobody gets near you missy," he gave her a look and Clara quickly shook her head to tell him not to say anything. "Oh come on, it's nothing to be shy about whatever my supposed friends say. You're gonna go far," he told her.
"That's really not what we are here to talk about Danny." It was Clara's turn to blush now and she hid slightly in his shoulder while it passed. When she stood back up properly she realised both of Danny's parents were smiling at them. "Sorry."
"Oh don't apologise, it's lovely to see you both interacting naturally," his Mum smiled.
They kept walking, Clara kept being questioned about her life and eventually had given most of her life history, missing out some of the rubbish bits and nobody was going to ask about the story with her Mum just yet. "Why don't we stop at the café?"
"That'd be lovely Mum," Danny replied, "we'll join you in there." He waited until both his parents had gone before he turned to Clara, "how you doing love?"
"Yeah, good I think," she smiled, "it's lovely here, I haven't been since before Mum got sick." Danny smiled at her, "you have a lovely smile." Danny didn't quite know how to respond to that and just kissed her gently. "Come on, we should go in before they come back out." Clara took his hand and led him inside.
They ordered food and sat down at the table together, Danny and Clara opposite his parents. "Thank you so much…" Clara started but realised she didn't know how to address them.
"Gina," his Mum introduced herself and then pointed to his Dad, "Phil, you're welcome to call us that honestly. You're certainly giving off a good impression."
"Thanks, I've never really done this so… I don't really know what I'm meant to do," she chuckled nervously and took Danny's hand under the table. He squeezed it gently in return, taking over conversation.
"So you understand now?" he asked.
Gina smiled, "a little yes, it's still strange for us to handle the idea. We never believed it would go anywhere with Jackie, but this is very different that much is clear."
The food arrived just as she finished speaking and they all setback to allow them to put it down. "It's nice to eat something I haven't made," Clara smiled, "and that isn't school food. Good as it can be, gets a little repetitive. This place is sweet though."
"You do the cooking at home?" Gina asked. Clara was beginning to realise she was the more talkative of his parents.
"When I'm home yeah, Dad's cooking is… questionable. Mum taught me to cook when I was young, told me it would always be an important one day - she wasn't wrong," Clara smiled at the memories and started eating.
There was relative silence while they ate, but not awkward in any way. Clara realised this was the most comfortable she had felt in a while and it was lovely. Danny's parents were so welcoming and really trying to understand their relationship, something she wished her own father would do.
When she'd finished eating Clara sat back, smiling contently and watching Danny finish, not quite realising she was doing so until she noted Gina smiling at her, "now if that's not a look of adoration - he gives you a similar look." Clara blushed a little and Danny gave a nervous smile as both his parents chuckled at them.
"I'm going to visit the loo," Danny told Clara as he finished, "you alright here?" She nodded, smiling at him when he stood up and went off.
Clara could tell Gina was going to take full opportunity of this moment and it didn't take long. "So you really love him?"
"Yeah, at first I thought I was just being a teenager but the more time goes on and reading something my Mum wrote about my parent's relationship I really know I'm not making this up. It's special. Danny really cares about me and makes me so much more relaxed about everything," Clara spoke truthfully, beginning to feel like she could open up to them.
"It's lovely to see," she started, but they were interrupted.
"Clara?" a voice came from behind her and Clara spun around to see one of her old school 'friends', Hayley, standing there with a couple of others. They'd let her down after her Mum died, abandoned her when she'd needed her friends the most and ended up more as bullies than friends. She could feel herself getting more stressed even with them being close. She went to turn back and ignore them but they kept talking and she was too embarrassed to argue. "How the posh school?"
"Good thanks," she replied bluntly.
"Made any friends or has everyone found out how weird you are?" Megan, another one of the group asked.
"Turns out some people actually see me for who I am, I've got some lovely friends" Clara shrugged, but her hands were shaking under the table.
"Yet you're still sat with… who even are those people?" Hayley gestured to Danny's parents who were looking a little confused at the situation.
"Nothing to do with you, can't you just go and sit down and stop bothering me?" Clara plucked up the courage.
"Oh no, we want all the gossip," Megan chuckled and Clara stood up now, increasingly embarrassed by this.
"Please, just go," she sighed, taking a step towards them and keeping her voice down as she continued, "I've moved on, why can't you?"
"Oooo she's got all brave girls," Hayley grinned and the rest of them followed suit, it was pathetic. Clara could feel herself go light headed as they started laughing, the noise becoming an echo as she stumbled back. Danny appeared in the corner of her vision at that point, but she couldn't hear what he said, only feeling his arms around her, catching her before everything went black.
When she woke up Clara realised she must have fitted, she felt absolutely shattered. There were loads of people around her and she didn't know how to react. Danny already spotted that and she could see him shooing people away as she came round. She could see blue lights of the ambulance, how long had it lasted? Then there were voices, paramedics, trying to ask her questions but she couldn't make them out. They had put monitoring on her, she didn't have the energy to fight back.
Danny pulled her up onto his lap now and bent down, obviously sensing her discomfort, "you're alright, you're safe here, just let them do what they need to do love. The fit went on for a little longer than normal, you're gonna need checking out sweetheart," he ran his hand through her hair gently and kissed her head. "I love you," he added. Clara settled there, letting the paramedics do what they wanted and just focussing on Danny's arms around her for comfort.
"Is she going to be okay?" That was Megan's voice. They were still there then? Feeling guilty by the sounds of it.
"No thanks to you," Danny spat back. "Why are you still here anyway?"
"She was our friend once," Hayley replied now, sounding a little angry at Danny.
"Exactly. Once. This doesn't look like the result of resounding friendship to me," he wasn't going to let this one go. Clara wanted to tell him to leave it, but she couldn't.
"Danny let's just focus on Clara love," Gina told him and looked up at the other girls, "I think it's best you just go and eat or leave don't you?" That seemed to do the job and they eventually gave in and left, putting the focus back on Clara.
"She's still not responding to me Mum, it's not normally like this," Danny was so worried.
The paramedics seemed to have finished their early checks and spoke to them, "we'll have to get her in. Clara's not responding as well as we'd like, but she is conscious and breathing so it may just be a slow response. Who's coming in the ambulance?"
"You go Danny, we will drive up and meet you there," his Dad said.
Danny followed the paramedics in as they put the brakes on the trolley and shut the back doors. One of them was sat behind Clara, watching the monitors. Danny sat in the chair opposite, leaning over so he could grab her hand. "You're gonna be fine love, I'm right here and it's all going to be fine."
Clara watched as his eyes teared up, she went to reach up her arm to wipe them away but it just wouldn't move. What was going on? Something wasn't right and she was powerless to help.