Shards of Glass Part Two

"Simon! Stop it, stop hitting her," Nick screamed, rushing over to Leanne and pushing Simon out of the way. Nick held Leanne up and touched her elbow, he looked into her teary eyes. She leaned into his shoulder and faced away from Simon.

"Nick you don't understand! She started it!" Simon shouted back, trying to come over to Nick, who could feel Leanne crying into his suit jacket.

"NO! I saw you! You called her all sorts and then through glass at her! It's not the first time either! That's it- go to your Grandad Ken's! You're staying there tonight. I will check as well so don't even think about doing anything you shouldn't! Go on, get out of my sight!" Nick roared at Simon, who grabbed his backpack off the table Nick had knocked over trying to save his Leanne.

"I don't care! I hate you both!" Simon screamed, before running out of the Bistro.

Leanne suddenly fell to the floor, but Nick held her and eased her down to the ground behind the bar. The shards of broken glass crunched as he moved closer to Leanne, who sat in a crumpled heap- traumatised. Slowly, Nick pulled her nearer to him and held her in his arms as she broke down. It had all become too much to contain on her own. Finally, Leanne was sharing her battle and Nick was completely on her side.

"It's alright Lea; I'm here. I'm so sorry I didn't support you. I am so sorry, it's all my fault."

"It's not Nick," Leanne whimpered, her head resting on Nick's chest.

"I should have seen something wasn't right all those weeks ago. When you said he was off with you. I wish you had told me sooner Lea, I could have helped you. Does anyone else know?"

Leanne took a deep breath and pulled away from the safety of Nick. He caught sight of her face for the first time since Simon had attacked her. The beautiful green eyes he always got lost in were dark and bruised. Her beautiful smile had disappeared. She had a split lip and a shard of glass had cut her cheek. This time, Nick clutched onto Leanne. For his own sake though. He couldn't bare to see the woman he loved in pain. It made him feel worse. He loved Leanne and yet he hadn't noticed her struggle with Simon. The guilt weighed heavy but suddenly, the silence between the two was broken.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up. You've cut your lip and your cheek. It's okay, I'm here." Nick said reassuringly, keeping Leanne close as he helped her up.

Nick held her hand tightly and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leading her to the nearest table.

"I'll get the first aid kit and a whiskey for you. I think you need it."


"Simon?" Ken asked, opening the front door of No.1 with Eccles on her diamante lead Tracy bought as a joke present for Ken. "Leanne wanted to know if I could stay 'ere tonight because erm..."

Ken smiled, "Well alright Simon you can stay tonight but I'll need to speak to Leanne. Is she in the Bistro?"

Simon's eyes widened in fear. "It's not open, her and Nick are sorting stuff out in there I think," Simon lied, trying to usher his Grandad away from the crime scene of Nick's Bistro.

"Well we can take Eccles out and then ring your Mum. Fancy fish and chips for dinner?"

"Yeah, sounds great," Simon walked with his Grandad but couldn't focus. It all came rushing to him so fast he felt he would be sick. His poor Mum had been beaten up by him. She could need to go to hospital because of him. Leanne could have been scarred physically but she definitely was mentally after all of his attacks. There was no bandage big enough to fix that wound.


"Ow," Leanne mumbled as Nick cleaned the cut below her eye with antiseptic. It really stung but she knew she looked a mess and it could have become infected. Steph emerged in the bar, her smile soon fell as she saw Nick nursing Leanne.

"Guys, what's... Oh my god, Leanne! What happened to your face?" She asked, genuine concern written on her face. Nick looked up at Steph.

"It's nothing Steph. I need you to put a sign on the door to say we are shut tonight. Can you phone my Mum too and ask her to clean up the mess?"

Steph nodded, "Is there anything I can do for you Leanne?"

"Er, no, no thanks," Leanne started trembling again.

"I'll leave you alone then," Steph said before heading towards the door to phone Gail.

"Oh and Steph," Nick called, Steph turned around immediately, "Don't tell anyone about what you've seen. Just say we had some questionable characters in during lunch and they left the place in a tip."

"Okay," Steph agreed, looking confused.

Leanne began to cry again as Nick held her in his arms. "Let's get you home," he whispered in her ear before gently kissing her forehead.


Back at No.1, Simon and Ken had returned home and ate their dinner in silence.

"Did Leanne not mention anything else about you staying here tonight? No big booking in the Bistro or meeting she and Nick are needed for?" Ken asked as Simon shook his head.

"Hmm, that's odd. Normally she asks in advance before you stay. Not that it matters, we love having you to stay." Ken smiled as the phone rang. It was Nick.

"Hi Ken, it's Nick."

"Oh hi Nick. Do you know anything about Simon staying here tonight? I can't get hold of Leanne."

"Leanne's not very well and we've had to shut the Bistro for the night because there were some rowdy customers at lunch. They left the place in a state. I'm taking her home and making sure she's okay but I thought it was for the best for Simon to stay at yours tonight. Just in case." Nick was speaking honestly now. He really didn't like the thought of Simon being with Leanne in the flat- just in case he did anything again.

"Oh poor thing. Send her our love. Is there anything we could bring?"

"No. No it's alright thanks, keeping Simon is the best thing for Leanne right now."

"Oh okay, well let me know if you change your mind."

"Will do, thanks, bye."

"Yeah bye Nick."

Simon had listened intently to the whole conversation. There was no mention of what he had done to Leanne. For now anyways.

"That was Nick Simon. Sounds like your Mum is ill, so you'll be staying with us tonight. Not to worry- we'll have a great time! Shall we play Monopoly? You love that game."

"Did he mention anything else Grandad?"

"No, other than he is taking her home and they are closing the Bistro because some customers trashed the place at lunch."

"Oh okay. I'll go get the game then." Simon rushed out the living room and headed upstairs. That was close.


"I'll get you something to eat," Nick said as they walked into the flat. He made his way over to the fridge and got the butter and jam out. She heard the bread bin open and Nick put four slices of white bread in the toaster. He grabbed his phone out of his suit pocket and checked the two messages Erica had left him.

Erica:

Hey, I bought some steaks for dinner and a nice bottle of red. See you later. XXXXX

Nick, where are you? You should have been home an hour ago?xxxxx

Quickly, he formulated a text with the same story he had told Ken just a few minutes ago.

Nick:

Sorry, we had some really troublesome customers in the Bistro after you went. I'm clearing up and have shut the Bistro- I have some paperwork to do as well- I'll be back early morning. Sorry. xxxxx

He felt bad lying to her but he didn't want Leanne's misery to be public knowledge. He could see it now; Norris whispering as she made her way to work, people pointing and judging her. As if she hadn't gone through enough.

Leanne grabbed a pillow of the couch and clutched onto it. She wanted to be a child again. Not relive her own childhood though. She'd want to be a vulnerable and naïve child with both parents and Aunties and Uncles to love her and spoil her rotten; like Kylie and David's baby Lily. She could be loved and held without feeling ashamed for wanting comfort. In all honesty she longed for Nick to come and hold her like he used to. He couldn't do that now, now he had Erica.

Erica replied straight away to Nick.

Erica:

Oh dear! :( Sounds awful. Okay, I'll see you in the morning. XXXXX

"Here you go," Nick handed her her the toast and a glass of white wine he had found in the cupboard.

"Thanks," She whispered, her voice hoarse and raw from all the crying she had done.

After they ate in silence, Nick cleaned the dishes and Leanne poured them both another drink. Nick sat down on the couch and touched Leanne's hands; encouraging her to talk. She met his gaze and offered him a weak smile.

"Tell me Lea, from the very beginning if you can. I understand if you don't feel ready yet, today has been very traumatic, which is why I'm staying here tonight too. I want to make sure you are okay and we can go to speak to Simon in the morning. I rung Ken before and told him Simon was going to have to stay there tonight because you were ill. "

"Thanks Nick, really, for everything. You should get back to Erica though, you don't need to stay here tonight."

"I don't mind Leanne. I'm here to help you and support you. I will sleep on your couch, you won't even notice."

Leanne held the glass in her hand, swirling the wine around. She wanted him to stay but she knew it was a bad idea. She could just imagine what people would say about her. Leanne's mind didn't have to time to stop her opening her mouth.

"Yeah, I'd like that. You can stay in Eva's room if you want. The bed is much more comfortable than this 'orrible couch." Leanne smiled, Nick hadn't let go of her hand yet but she didn't mind. She liked knowing he was there, it felt like old times. Then she realised why she was feeling that way, the reason he was there with her. It was Simon. He had attacked her in the most violent rage to date. She sucked the tears back and opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't. Nick spoke for her. "It's alright. You don't need to explain if you aren't ready, I underst..."

"It's okay," Leanne began, stopping Nick mid sentence. "It started when I said it did. About two days after Kal's funeral I was helping Alya and Zeedan sort out his clothes and stuff. He was stroppy and stormed out. When he came back we argued a bit and he just flipped. It was like a switch had gone off in his head. "

"What did he do to you?"

"He grabbed the TV remote and threw it at my face..."

"Which is why you came into work the next day with a black eye."

Leanne nodded slowly, Nick could tell she was reliving it all in her head. He squeezed her hand tighter, and she held his hand even more. Leanne gulped down the glass of wine in one. It eased the pain both mentally and physically. Nick poured her another and topped up his glass too.

"What happened after? What did he do next?"

"After France he became grumpier and would hurl insults at me all the time. He said 'I hate you' and 'You're ugly'. Then Dan held us hostage in 'ere. Simon found out about when I was...when I was... a..."

"It's okay, I know," Nick pulled her into his chest again as she sobbed. "If only I'd have known at the time. How I would have paid for bein' on the game in later life. He's right you know. I am ugly and he should hate me, everyone else feels that way about me. Why would everyone I love leave me if they didn't feel that way?"

Nick sighed and held Leanne tighter. He knew exactly what he wanted to say but it didn't feel right. After watching her be viciously attacked by her step-son it didn't seem like the right time to admit she was still the one he thought of first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. "That's not true Leanne and you know it. You are stunning and any man would be a fool not to appreciate you because I know I didn't when I should have. Simon is obviously struggling at the minute and everything he has gone through has probably built up on him. He's cracking and understanding things more now than he would have done at the time. He doesn't hate you, honestly. How could he? You're an amazing mother and he's just not appreciating that right now."

"Thank you. Really." Leanne lifted her head off of Nick's chest and looked into his eyes. There foreheads just inches apart. "It wasn't your fault what happened with us. I shouldn't have left you."

Nick listened and stared at Leanne as she struggled with the words. "Not a day goes by where I don't regret giving up on us. I would give anything to go back to me and you right now. I've learnt me lesson and Kal and Peter were just distractions for me. They never made me genuinely happy and I knew that it wasn't going to last. Because... because they weren't you."

Nick spoke, still gazing into Leanne's beautiful green eyes. They were shinning and glossy from all the crying but he couldn't take his eyes off of hers or her lips. He wanted to feel her lips against his again. "I feel the same way. Every day I pretend that it's Erica or Carla I'm interested in. I can't fake it anymore though. They're not you and they never will be."

Leanne's head was telling her not to but her heart disagreed. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she would collapse on the couch there and then. They leaned closer together, just as the longing became unbearable. Their lips finally crashed together for the first time in years. Passion, regret, love and comfort running through the air of the room. The warmth of his body sent a current running through her body. Their lips joined together and refused to separate. Nick felt the softness of Leanne's lips crash against his as it all became too much for them. A kiss wasn't enough. They both wanted more. They both needed more from the other. Leanne wrapped her arms around Nick's neck as they lost themselves in the moment. It was too late. They couldn't stop themselves. Their passionate embrace continued as they stood and walked towards Leanne's bedroom...


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