AN: Thank you for checking back on this fic, I appreciate it. I recently have been extremely busy since November since I enrolled in two academic programs but I recently finished one of those. I also went through a period of thinking that the fics with the most reviews or hits were more important to update but I love this movie, it is one of my top four: Moulin Rouge, Notting Hill, Love Actually, and the animated Beauty and the Beast. I've learned it's important to write things which make me happy. I hope you enjoy reading this. ((I also am thinking of writing a Love Actually – David and Natalie story as they are my favorite couple in that movie.))
Chapter Three
3.1
Anna curled up in a seat in the hospital waiting room. She had never been this exhausted and at the same time she had never been able to sleep as she did now. Her heart was twisting painfully in her chest and she hated how, even with sunglasses and a hat on, she was getting stared at and people were whispering about her. She had been in movies for years but at this point she felt so vulnerable. The most important part of her life, her personal world that encompassed primarily William and Elizabeth.
She looked down at her shoe, her heart sinking with her gut and her body trembling before a nurse approached her.
"Do you have everything that you need?" she asked and Anna stared at her. No. That was the simple answer. No. She did not have everything she needed. She needed Will. She needed to see her husband. Instead she shakily nodded. "Can I have your autograph then?" she asked and Anna trembled slightly as she looked towards her. She felt so frightened for her husband and this woman was still treating her as if she were a celebrity for hire.
"S-sure," she whispered as she grabbed a pen and wrote on the paper and dated it. She was relieved when a doctor approached her before this girl could comment on something stupid like a personal message not being written.
"Miss Scott," he said slightly above a whisper and Anna stared at him.
"Mrs. Thacker," she corrected him. She sat upright as she tried to look into the doctor's expression to figure out what the story was, how badly her William was injured.
"We'll see," the doctor said and Anna looked to him, slowly taking off the glasses to show her wide, bloodshot and tear filled eyes. What did he mean by that? Was William that…that close to death? She would still keep her name the same. She would still keep Elizabeth's name the same. The fame thing wasn't real and William was important to her, so rare of a person.
"I do love my husband. I want to see him," she said and the doctor coughed and the nurse grimaced.
"I don't think you do," the nurse said and Anna stared at her. This wasn't a joke. She was starting to feel her temper flaring up but she managed to control herself, the only thing making it so she didn't snap back at the nurse was her desire to be near her husband.
"We'll see. I believe Mr. Thacker is sleeping right now so you'll be able to change your mind," the doctor said and Anna looked at him, raising an eyebrow and speaking slightly louder without realizing.
"Change my mind?" She asked them. Was that what they thought of her? That she would see him paralyzed or with broken bones and suddenly he wouldn't be 'good enough' for her. She took a slow breath in. She had already heard that Will had been the only survivor from the accident but they hadn't told her the extent of his injuries.
As the doctor gestured for her to follow him, Anna did so without hesitation and with her chin raised. Did they really think that she was going to get upset at him for being injured? Didn't they understand how cherished and loved and most of all safe he made her feel, something which was rare in her line of work. She saw the doctor step into the room and turn on a dimmed light. Anna motioned forwards as she saw how his leg was raised, all the casts and bandages on his body, and how his face had what looked like dirty bandages covering it. She put a hand to her mouth, more tears falling.
"What are his inju-ries?" she asked in a firm and direct manner. She trembled a little as she moved towards him, her heart twisting in her chest. She reached out for him but just let her hand go to the mattress underneath him. She looked back at the doctor and nurse and cleared her throat. "I'd like to know the extent of his injuries," she repeated.
"I think you should take a look at some of the photos we had to take first," the doctor said and Anna nodded as she saw him go to his file. What did he mean he 'had to take' them? "We were able to identify him by his wedding ring."
Anna took a step away from Will, her expression showing her fear. She was one of the world's top actresses, surely William was still known through his association with her. She reached for the pictures being handed to her and froze as she looked at the top one. That didn't look like William. She covered her mouth to make any sobs that she made silent and dropped to the floor. She had seen prosthetics and makeup being used to show burns and injuries but Will…he looked like a villain and not one of those suave handsome ones but one from a horror movie. She closed her eyes as she looked over the picture and then heard Will attempting to breathe from under the oxygen mask.
Shoving the papers back at the doctor, Anna went to his side, looking over him with fear and desperation but also the unconditional love. Those pictures didn't matter to her. There were skin grafts and surgeries and things they could do but if he let it destroy him, she couldn't take losing the man she had fallen in love with and fell in love with every day. He was charming, considerate, intelligent, funny, and he loved and accepted her for who she really was. She couldn't bear to lose that part of him.
He turned in her direction, his eyes and mouth the only things not bandaged up. "I'm here," she whispered as she reached for his bandaged hand, she very softly touched it and he looked at her and then moved to stare at the ceiling. "I'm here."
"We wanted to move him to a more…elite suite but after fighting the sepsis we thought it better to leave him here," the doctor said and Anna trembled again before nodding. She let her finger brush against his palm, drawing a heart over it.
"Nobody would blame you if you left after seeing those pictures though. I mean, a Hollywood star with a freak," the nurse said and Anna stopped what she was doing. Her back straightened as those words echoed through her head. Did this woman just call William a freak?
Anna stood, her eyes showing the depth of her anger. "How dare you," she said in a tone that was both chilling and angry. "My husband is barely alive and he's fighting to survive and you call him a freak? Yes, I've seen your pictures of him and I love him. There's very little that can be done that will stop me from loving him. I know that you idolize me but if that's the case the least you can do is treat him with respect. I don't want to hear you or anyone else in this hospital treat him with such….undeserved and I'm certain unprovoked disdain."
"I do apologize," the doctor said and Anna took a deep breath as if to continue lecturing them before she heard Will's voice.
"A-anna?" he asked in a whisper before coughing and she looked to him and saw the respirator in his hand. She went back and took it from him.
"I'm pretty sure you need to keep this on, honey," she told him before very gently kissing him. She knelt down and very gently placed it back over his mouth. "Please provide me with all the information you can on his injuries and his treatment. I thank you in advance for not keeping anything from me," she said before this time standing and grabbing a chair. "And you," she said her expression softening. "You need to use all of your energy to rest. I'm not going to leave you," she promised him. "Just try to sleep, okay. Your body needs to heal. Everything else can be dealt with later."
Will looked up at her and nodded. Anna saw that the hand with his wedding ring wasn't bandaged and picked it up. The ring looked damaged as well as if it had been scraped against something and then covered in thick mud.
3.2
It had already been three days and Will had hardly spoken to her and when he did, his voice didn't sound the same as the charming British accent he had always had. Still, today, they were going to allow her to see them changing the bandages. Maybe she could have some answers to his speech then and why it was so painful for him. Was it purely physical or was there a deep psychological reason as well.
As she entered his hospital room, she turned to the flowers in his hospital room and switched them with some new ones she had just bought. She turned to look at Will who was still asleep but didn't have to have the mask on any longer. She sat in the chair next to his bed and lifted his hand, trying to blink back the tears.
She knew that soon the media would know where she was and why she had disappeared from filming and she wanted to prepare him for that. She saw that the food tray had been barely touched. Was he having difficulty physically or was he refusing to eat? She took a slow inhale before letting it out. Along with the breakages, Will had hurt his spine but not so much that he had become paralyzed, that had been a silver lining.
"A-Anna?" she heard and turned towards him with a smile.
"Good morning, honey," she whispered. "How are you fee—"
"C-can you l-leave?" he asked her and Anna's eyes widened. That was the longest sentence he had said yet and it was a request for her to leave? Usually he spoke in single syllable or multisyllable words but this was a sentence…or a request.
"No." Anna shook her head. "I'm sorry but I can't do that. I can't leave. I refuse."
Will stared at her sadly. Anna knew that she looked exhausted and that she wasn't able to either eat or sleep whilst he was in the hospital but…but she couldn't leave him. As Anna tried to figure out what to say next, a male nurse knocked on the door and came into the room.
"Is it okay to change the bandages now?" he asked and Anna turned to Will who nodded and attempted to sit up, Anna rushed to his side to help him. She let her hand touch his shoulder and then run against his back hoping to be more affectionate towards him. It was hard to be physically close with his injuries.
The nurse pulled up a chair and slowly unwrapped the bandages around Will's head and Anna tried to prepare herself. She took a few silent inhales as the bandages were removed and she saw the scars, how his nose and jaw had hurt, he had lost a few of his teeth and she wasn't sure about the swelling or the bruising but his face had somehow become distorted, disfigured. She could understand W why they were having a hard time placing him from how his face looked.
Will kept looking down at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with her. Anna put a hand to his cheek and he looked away, flinching as she touched him and still refusing to look at her. Anna felt herself choke again but she tried to silence it. The damage was gruesome. Still, there were treatments and surgeries and whilst Will would never go back to looking the same, hopefully she could help him heal inside.
"Ple-please leave," Will repeated and Anna stared at him. She moved onto the floor and tried to kneel where he was looking to make eye contact with him. Seeing him from that angle was even worse but that didn't matter to her. She loved him for being him, for loving her and their daughter, for not changing to fit in with the Hollywood A-listers. At this point Anna would give up her career in a heartbeat if he asked her to.
Anna reached up and very carefully placed her hands on the side of his neck. "William, I love you. I want you to repeat that to yourself if you ever start to doubt it. I love you. Everything else we'll figure out together but I love you. Please don't push me away. I don't think I could handle leaving you right now."
William gave a short laugh before almost whispering, "Y-You're a…a glamorous…mo-movie star and…I-I'm gro-tes—sque." He struggled, some of the words sounding a little off due to the missing teeth but Anna still had hold on his neck. Tears started to slip from her eyes despite how strong she was trying to be.
"Not to me. To me you are our daughter's father, to me you are my husband, to me you are William. Nothing else matters to me. My most important world begins and ends with the two of you." Anna wanted so badly to kiss him, to prove to him that together they were going to be okay. She didn't want to lose him and she definitely didn't want him to lose himself.
"You need to g-go back to w-work," he said trying not to look at her and she shook her head stubbornly. He was broken by all of this and more than his physical body. Anna feared that if she were to step away from him that he would wither away and die.
"I can work after you're better. I've always been known for my work ethic so…so they can make some compromises for me and if they don't, they'll cast another actress and I can stay with you even longer," Anna did her best to reassure him but Will looked away.
"I don't want y-you here," he said as he looked away from her. "Please, Anna, please leave."
"I think that it's best if you do leave," the nurse interjected and Anna looked up at him. She felt as if she had been kicked in the chest as she heard that. She closed her eyes before very very slowly and delicately kissing William on the lips and then the forehead. She took his hands and took a step backwards. "If he doesn't want you here, it could impede the healing."
"Fine," she said quickly as she tried to push the tears away. "Fine. That's fine. I'll…I'll be back when you call for me. So..so just tell me when you want to see me."
"I won't," William said as he looked away from her and then slid off his wedding ring. "I can't…I don't love you anymore," he said and Anna walked over to him and put a hand carefully on his chest, resting it above even more bandages.
"You can tell me that you don't want to see me but I won't let you ever tell me that lie again. I know you're hurting but don't you ever tell me that you don't love me when you are the person I love most in the entire world. If you really don't love me, look at me and say it, but I know how you feel about me."
William looked at her, the pain in his eyes. "I…I…" he stared at her unable to say more than that because in his eyes it showed how much he loved her, how much he would always love her and how happy and lucky and amazing just being near her made him. "I…I apologize."
"Good," she said as she took a step forward and looked at his lips before imagining how sore they were so she kissed his forehead instead. As he reached out for her, she positioned herself to kiss his lips and risk hurting him slightly. "I'm leaving now despite how much I want to yell at you and tell you that I don't want to. You're ill and I don't want to disrupt your healing but the moment you want me, call for me, and I will be back in this hospital room as soon as I can be. I love you."
"I love you, Anna," he whispered and she walked away. As she slipped her sunglasses on again she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide the pain that she was feeling. Despite Will being the one who had so much damage it was hard to recognize him, she felt as if she was the one being rejected. As she neared the exit to the hospital she heard two of the nurses chatting about her.
"If you ask me she should have left him. He looks disgusting. I don't know if she's doing it for the press or because she knows she'll come off as a bitch if she asks for a divorce but I certainly wouldn't stay married to him."
End of Chapter Three
Thank you for reading
Thank you to those who left a comment on Chapter Two
Charlozzz
