Kriss felt so guilty. She wanted to follow her husband but she had seven children under five, what if one woke up? She couldn't risk it. Even if she could follow him she didn't know where he would be, they were on Red Dwarf now, she wouldn't even know where to start!
Kriss decided not to worry too much about it. If Dave really wanted her then they would be okay, if not, he obviously didn't love her that much and she would rather they discovered that now and didn't waste their lives on people they didn't love. Kriss curled up into a ball. She had given birth to lovely twins today and needed some rest. She glanced over at the clock that Dave had mended and put back on the wall – only one hour until Isabelle would wake screaming for her feed, she better get some sleep.
Dave walked slowly down the corridor, going nowhere in particular; Cat came down towards him, Dave was blinded with anger and walked right into him.
"Hey bud" Cat shrieked "everything okay?"
"No" Dave snapped, "everything is not okay, it's all a mess"
"What's wrong bud?" Cat asked
"It's Kriss" Dave started crying "she's been sleeping with Rimmer behind my back"
"Rimmer?" Cat clarified "why is she sleeping with Rimmer?"
"I don't know!" Dave confessed
"Ask her then" Cat suggested, "at least if there's a relatively good reason you will know and you can talk about it"
"Do you know what Cat?" Dave smiled "you're a genius"
"Really" Cat looked really surprised "you surprise me"
"I will ask her" Dave thought about his situation, unless he went back to Kriss he had nowhere, he wanted to go back to his wife, he loved her strongly, deeply, so deeply it hurt. But could he just lie in bed with her knowing that she had been in his bed. Knowing that many times she had been to see Arnold and had sex with him and then came 'home' to him and done exactly the same thing? That was the problem. Kriss had willingly jumped into Arnold's bed, let him make love to her, let him come inside her and then go across the hall and do exactly the same with Dave for seven months. Could he handle that? He decided that he could, he needed to know, and he needed to know now!
"Thanks Cat" Dave smiled "I owe you one"
"I'll hold you to that" Cat smiled back "go on, go and talk to officer bud babe"
Dave felt positive about what he was planning to do and say, he decided that there was a reasonable explanation, but he hadn't given her a chance to explain. When he got to their quarters she had just finished feeding Damien and both he and Isabelle were back asleep in their cots
"Can we talk?" Dave asked "please"
"Okay" Kriss agreed "outside"
Dave agreed and they both went into the corridor
"What do you want to talk about then?" Kriss asked
"I think you know" Dave answered
Kriss simply nodded her head "sorry"
"Tell me, when did the affair start?"
"At the party celebrating that Alicia-May was going to be okay" Kriss told him "I'm sorry"
"Rimmer used the sexual magnetism virus on you, didn't he?"
"Just the once, when Theo was conceived"
"Hold up" Dave became very angry very quickly "so you willingly got into Rimmer's bed and fucked him?"
"I'm sorry" Kriss sobbed "it all ended when we got engaged"
"How do I know?" Dave asked, "how do I know that Damien and Isabelle are mine?"
"I promise you, they are!" Kriss wiped her eyes "I haven't slept with Arnold since we got engaged"
"I'm sorry" Dave broke down "I want to believe you, but I can't"
"Damien's black" Kriss shouted, "He couldn't possibly be Arnold's"
"Okay" Dave agreed "I can see that but what about Isabelle?"
"She's his twin"
Dave didn't have anything to say to that "why did you do it Kriss?" Dave sobbed "why?"
"I'd rather not say"
"I think I deserve to know!"
"his cock is about twice the size of yours, it fills me up, Dave, it hurts when he enters me and in a funny way that's lovely"
"You slut" Dave shouted "you bitch, so first of all you fuck my best mate and then you brag about it to me, you're a fucking hoar Kristine Kochanski, a fucking hoar!"
"I'm sorry" Kriss sobbed, "I love you"
Kriss looked into Dave's deep brown eyes like she had done many times before but this time she didn't see warmth and loving, but hatred and loathing. Very slowly Dave clenched his fist. Kriss saw what he was doing and walked backwards, he followed until she couldn't go any further. Dave raised his fist as she cowered in the corner and as quick as lightening he struck her cheek and caught her lip
"Dave" she pleaded, "why are you hurting me?" Kriss put her hand to her face; all she could feel was wet skin and her lips stung when she touched them. Kriss pulled her hand away from her face and looked at the mixture of blood and tears. She lifted her head up and made eye contact with her husband, her attacker. She tried to say something but before she could she felt Dave's foot strike her side
"Why are you doing this" Kriss pleaded "please, please stop"
Dave didn't listen he punched her twice and kicked her again
"Fucking slut," he yelled in her ear so loud it hurt her "fuck you"
Kriss pulled her legs up to her stomach but it hurt her so much that she couldn't keep them there, she moved her legs back and Dave punched her again in the stomach and on the face
"Daddy Dave" came a small voice "stop hurting Mummy"
Dave turned round and saw Chloë standing there
"Chloë" Kriss yelled, "go back to bed" she could see Dave clenching his fists again "I'll be okay"
"Daddy Dave" Chloë screamed, "You're scaring me!"
"Chloë, just go to bed" Kriss screamed. She got onto her feet but it was too late, Dave hit his stepdaughter in the face, so hard he knocked her over
"No" Kriss screamed, "Hit me not Chloë"
Kriss jumped between Chloë and Dave and was hit and kicked repeatedly until she stopped begging for it to stop. Poor Chloë had seen it all. Dave took one look at Kriss lying there motionless and kicked her once more before running away.
Chloë nudged Kriss "Mummy" she cried "Mummy wake up" Kriss didn't move "Mummy, it's me, it's Chloë, it's okay, Daddy Dave has gone, Mummy, wake up" Chloë pushed Kriss' hair out of the way of her face "Mummy, you're bleeding" Chloë cried as she wiped her blood stained hand on her night clothes "I'll be right back Mummy," she gave Kriss a kiss "I'm just going to get Daddy"
Chloë ran up to Arnold's room as quickly s she could and banged on the door
"Daddy" she screamed "Daddy, Daddy"
Arnold opened the door and saw Chloë standing there, her beautiful face swollen and tearstained
"Chloë, what's wrong?" Arnold saw the blood on her nightclothes "whose blood is that?"
"Daddy Dave hurt me and Mummy" Chloë sobbed "and I can't wake Mummy up"
"My God" Arnold gasped, "I'm coming sweetie"
Arnold grabbed his dressing gown and woke up Jemimah, Lilimay and Junior. They all followed Chloë back to where Kriss was. Nothing could have prepared them for the state Kriss was in when they saw her. Arnold ran to her and shook her to try and wake her up
"Kriss" he called "Kristine wake up"
Luckily she did, she opened her eyes and put her hands to her head. Suddenly she started screaming
"Chloë" she screamed "hit me not Chloë"
"It's okay Kriss" Arnold held onto her "Dave's gone, you're safe now"
"My children" she asked, "who's with my babies?"
Arnold looked at Jemimah and Junior
"It's okay" Jemimah smiled "we'll go"
"Chloë" Kriss asked, "Where's Chloë?"
"It's okay Mummy" Chloë smiled "I'm all right"
"Come on Kriss" Arnold told her "let's get you to bed, I'll get Junior to go and find Kryten, he'll have a look at you"
"Okay" Kriss agreed, "please Arnold, don't leave me alone tonight, Dave might come back"
"It's okay Kriss" Arnold agreed, "I'm not going anywhere!"