Everything Burns

Chapter: 27

Pairing: Robert & Holly

Rating: PG

"When Robert get's here you're going to tell him that I died." Holly replied, calmly "It's the only way."

"Absolutely not!" he said sternly.

"But, Frisco..."

"Holly!" he interjected. "I think you and Robert have suffered through enough faked deaths to last you a lifetime. I'm not going to help you push him and Alexander and Benjamin away, not when you need them the most."

"I can't face them." she insisted. "I just can't."

"You're going to have to." he told her. "Robert's going to be here shortly and he's going to want to see you. He's not going to take no for an answer."

"He will if you tell him that I didn't make it." she replied. "Please, Frisco, please." she pleaded. "Robert will never forgive me for what I tried to do."

"Holly." he said softly. "Even if I told Robert you were dead he would never believe it. He would move heaven and earth to get to you and we both know it."

Her resolve started to crack and her eyes began to flood with tears. "I'm scared." she confessed. "I don't want to see the look of disappointment in Robert's eyes. I couldn't bear it, not after everything that's happened."

Frisco pulled her into his arms. "Robert loves you, Holly."

"Robert loves the idea of me." she replied as she began to cry. "He still sees me as young and sweet and innocent. Once he realizes, fully, what time has done to me he's not going to feel the same way. I'm nothing more than an illusion to Robert."

"I think you need to tell Robert about how you feel." he suggested. "Because he doesn't see you in the way you think he does."

"I led him on, I made him believe that we were going to be a happy family." she said as she pulled out of his embrace. "Being a family was never my intention. I had always planned to go after Cesar and now that half of my plan has failed it still doesn't change anything, we cannot be a family. It will never work."

Frisco gently wiped away her fallen tears. "Once Robert gets here the two of you will talk things over and you'll be able to work everything out together."

"There's nothing to work out." she insisted. "I've made up my mind. The best thing I can do for Robert and Alexander and Benjamin is to put as much distance between myself and them as humanly possible."

Robert walked into the room, catching Holly's last sentence. He felt his heart sink. "Holly." he said just a breath above a whisper. She watched as he came walking toward the bed, causing Frisco to quickly move out of the way.

"I'll be back a little later to check on you." Frisco told her as he started for the door. "Try to get some rest."

"Thank you." she replied as she watched him close the door. Holly had never been so scared before to be alone with Robert. She couldn't bear to look him in the eye, not after everything she tried and failed to do. She was certain that he would never forgive her.

Robert slowly moved forward and sat down on the edge of the bed. He reached for her hand but she quickly flinched away from him, just like the night in the Markham Islands, leaving Robert to come to only one conclusion. "Faison..."

"He didn't touch me." she replied, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Holly." he said softly. "Look at me."

"No." she protested.

He reached forward and titled her chin up. "Look at me!" he demanded, causing Holly to immediately raise her eyes to meet his. Her eyes were filled with such emptiness, such darkness. "What happened?" he asked on the verge of tears.

"You shouldn't be here." she said calmly.

"Where else would I be?" he asked softly. "I've been going out of my mind."

"You should be at home with Benjamin and Alexander." Holly answered. "They need you and I don't want you here."

Robert was taken aback. "You don't want me here?" he asked.

"No." she answered. "I just want to be alone. I want you to go back to Benjamin and Alexander and stay with them just like I asked you in my letter."

"But Faison is dead and you're safe now." he told her. "Everything's going to be alright now."

Holly shook her head. "It's not that simple Robert." she replied. "Cesar is dead, but I'm still alive and that wasn't the plan at all." she confessed. "You need to go back to England with the boys and forget you ever saw me here."

"Holly..." he started. "I don't understand. What plan?"

"I was suppose to die with Cesar."

tbc...

Sneak Peek: Holly sinks farther into the darkness.