Part 17

A week after the kidnapping Rachael returned home from the hospital. Roy had arranged for Dinah to look after the children while he picked her up and brought her home, and Rachael was delighted to see Lian waiting for her as soon as they walked in the door, Dinah had already put Sam down for his afternoon nap, and after a peek in the room at the sleeping toddler, Rachael settled on the sofa.

Lian climbed up beside her, looking concerned as she inspected the bruises on her face that had slowly begun to fade.

"Do they hurt?" she asked worriedly.

Rachael reached over and stroked her hand reassuringly down the childs silky hair. "Not much sweetheart...my ribs still hurt a bit, but the rest is nearly better."

"My Daddy sometimes gets owies like that, but they go away after a while...He gotted broken ribs once too, he said they hurt a bit but they got better too"

"Well I'll get better soon as well."

"A bad man hurt you, didn't he?" Lian asked, an angry frown forming on her face.

"A very bad man honey."

"Did my Daddy beat the bad man up? 'Cause he's good at that...well, 'cept for the ones that beat Daddy up first."

"No he didn't Uncle Batman did, and you need to let Rachael rest." Roy said as he walked over intending to move Lian away...He didn't want Rachael getting upset by having to discuss what happened with the little girl.

"Aww Daddy."

"She's ok Roy...I'm just so happy to see her again, you know I love having her around."

"Yes...but you need to rest." Roy said as he reached down and picked Lian up.

Rachael looked up at him, all week he had been tip toeing around what had happened, she knew he was only trying to protect her but she needed him to stop, otherwise she found herself having to push him away emotionally...she couldn't cope with dealing with her thoughts and feelings as well as worrying about what he was going through.

"Roy stop fussing." She snapped, more firmly than she had meant to.

A look of hurt flitted across Roy's face. "Sorry." he mumbled.

Rachael sighed."I think we need to talk." she said softly.

Dinah, who had been in the kitchen listening to the conversation, spoke up. "Lian honey, get your coat and we'll go out for a while to let Daddy and Rachael have some time alone."

Roy lowered the little girl to the floor. "Thanks." he said, nodding at Dinah.

"No probs Boyo...call me on my cell when your ready for us to come back." she said as she held the door open for Lian to go through and followed the little girl out, closing the door behind them.

"Roy...come here." Rachael said patting the sofa beside her.

Roy sat down and Rachael moved to lean against his side as he wrapped an arm around her, carefull not to hurt her ribs.

They sat quietly for a moment, both savoring the physical contact.

Finally Roy sighed. "Baby I just wish I could take this all away and make it right again...I wish I could fix things for you." he said softly.

She looked up at him, "You don't have to fix it, I love you for wishing you could, but I don't need it fixed...I just need time that's all. I need to deal with a lot of this in my own way..I may never be able to talk about everything that happened, but I know I can work through it, I've been through some of this before after the last time Ryan tried to destroy my life...granted things were worse this time, much worse. But I have an advantage I didn't have the first time..this time I know I'm strong enough to deal with it...and I have you.

Roy kissed the top of her head, and gently stroked her hair.."I just feel so damn useless..I don't know what to do to help."

"You can help by not trying to protect me so much...I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love any man, I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you away but when your crowding me in by being so darn protective I have to...Just let things return to normal...I know I still have things to work through emotionally but I can do that with time..you understand don't you?"

Roy placed a gentle kiss on her lips." Yeah I understand." he said, he knew exactly what she meant..sometimes no one else can make things right, he faced enough problems in his life to realize that.

"Good..Now if you need to fix something Mr fixit..you can go and fix us both a cup of coffee." she said giving him a gentle shove.

He laughed as he rose and headed for the kitchen "Now that's something I know I can do." he said.

end 17