Ready for part 2? ;) ...
"Go fish,"
Harry Harding looked up, a confused expression on his handsome face as he quirked an eyebrow at the redhead across from him.
"We're playing Go Fish?" he asked her.
"For the last hour," Lara sighed. "I take it that's why I've been winning,"
"Well that along with every time you lean forward enough I can see your bra," he joked, earning a small smile from her.
"Forget it," she shook her head, dropping the cards onto the table and sitting back in her chair. "It's not working anyway,"
"What?" Harry asked, gathering the tattered cards and forcing them back into their packet, not caring when a few of them crinkled at the corners.
"This," she gestured around the empty room. "Sitting here playing cards and trying to pretend that this isn't happening,"
"Hey," he frowned at her, jerking his chin over to the leather chairs where Poppy was flat out, her head on her grandfathers knee as he sat with his eyes glued to the window, watching the night grow darker and icier as the clock ticking echoed hauntingly behind him.
"I'm sorry," Lara but her lip, not even being able to imagine how hard this would be on Poppy if something happened. If Allie died right now, where would that leave them?
The thought hit her harder than she had expected and looking at her boyfriend with watery eyes, she shook her head and apologised once more before standing up quietly and bolting from the room.
Richard looked up and glanced back at her with concern.
"I've got it," Harry told him, gently brushing Poppy's hair as he passed her before walking out into the hall. "Lara?" he called, breaking into a jog. "Hey, listen…it's…"
He stopped abruptly almost running into the back of her where she stood in the middle of the hallway, her body rigid with fear as she started down towards the doors where Pete Dunham was sat on the floor, a set of scrubs pulled over his normal clothes, the front of it so saturated with blood that Harry could only guess the true colour of the clothing underneath.
He sobbed into his hands hard enough to make his entire frame shake, the noise echoing through the hallway as he pressed the heels of his hands deeper into his eyes.
"Shit…" Harry whispered shakily. "Oh shit, no, please…"
They approached him warily both of them barely breathing as they came to a stop in front of former Major of the GSE, the shock not lost on them as they watched what had once been one of the strongest people Harry had ever met fall apart.
"Pete?" Lara asked, her voice trembling violently.
He looked up at them and slowly pulled himself to his feet revealing yet more blood on his jeans and making Harry close his eyes, willing the image of his sister's blood away.
"Pete?" Lara sobbed, meeting his eyes. "What happened?"
He looked down at her brokenly, his hand shaking as he wiped them on the sides of the gown.
"They…" he stuttered and closed his eyes for a moment, taking another shaky breath in. "They're ok,"
Lara choked out a laugh and Harry tensed, needing him to finish the sentence before he let himself feel any shred of relief.
"Allie's in recovery," he half sobbed, half laughed. "We have a son,"
Knowing that it must have been the shock hitting him which had caused him to fall apart like this, Lara shook her head and then launched herself at Pete, hugging him so tightly she half expected to hear a rib cracking.
"You stupid bastard," she laughed in his ear, wiping away her tears on the back of her head. "I thought…" she didn't finish the sentence. She didn't want to.
"You jammy fucker," Harry grinned, wiping away his own tears as he pulled Pete into a brotherly hug. "I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to her,"
Before Pete could answer him, the door to the family room burst open and Poppy practically fell into the hallway, Pete's coat still around her as she stared at him in horror.
Looking down he realised that he was still covered in Allie's blood and quickly turning away from her, he ripped the scrubs off, chucking them into a labelled bin.
By the time he had turned back to face her, Richard was there too, his face a mask of worry and panic as he caught sight of the bloodied scrubs before they disappeared into the bin.
"Ay, ay monster," Pete grinned through his tears. "How'd you fancy meetin' your brother?"
Poppy squealed and ran at him, jumping into his arms and burying her face in his neck as he held her tightly, his hands rubbing her back.
"Allie?" Richard stepped forward, the faint tear tracks on his face making him look much older than his 57 years.
"She's fine," Pete told him, reaching out with one hand and clapping him on the shoulder. "She's in recovery but you can go in and see 'er soon,"
"Me first," Poppy told him, her arms tightening around his neck.
"'Course," Pete smiled at her, hugging her again.
They stayed in the corridor for a long time, most of it spent in reverent silence as they contemplated just what they could have lost and how lucky they were that for once, things had gone their way.
Allie opened her eyes slowly, the drowsiness wearing off and alerting her to the slight pain between her legs and around her stomach. Shifting on the bed slightly, she hissed and came to the conclusion that movement only made it worse.
"You ok there?"
The voice made her jump and she snapped her head around, meeting the eyes of the friendly looking nurse who was reading things off of the monitor next to her bed.
"What happened?" she asked with her voice hoarse. "Where's my baby?"
"You're fine," the nurse assured her. "And your son who may I add is definitely the most handsome newborn on the ward is indulging in some male bonding,"
Following her gaze through the window, Allie could see Pete standing with their son in his arms, a huge grin on his face as he stared down at him with Harry, both of them grinning like idiots.
"Am I ok?" Allie asked after a long pause.
"You're fine," the nurse smiled. "Better than fine…you should be proud. After everything you just went through I'm not sure I'd be so perky,"
"Perky?" Allie laughed weakly. "Trust me, this isn't perky,"
"Here," the nurse handed her a large cup of water. "Slow sips, though ok? We've got you on a high dose of saline to rehydrate you but this is just to make sure, ok?"
Allie took the cup gratefully and watched as the nurse walked over to the door.
"I'll let them know you're awake," she smiled. "He's been pacing a trench into the floor the past few hours,"
Allie tried to laugh but choked painfully instead, wincing when she could feel the flap of skin dangling down her throat from where they had obviously given her oxygen in too much of a rush.
She watched through the glass as Pete's head snapped up and he stared at her deeply for a long moment before moving as fast as he could with the baby in his arms and strode into the room.
He looked tired to the point of illness and Allie bit her lip to keep from crying. Daft as it was she knew it was all her fault. Not that she could have helped what was happening. One minute she was in the kitchen with Poppy, the next she was vomiting and screaming in pain, literally having to drag herself upstairs where she then collapsed against the bathtub and prayed for Pete to come home.
Her eyes flickered back and forth between the squirming bundle in his arms and his own blue eyes which shimmered as he looked at her.
"Hey stranger," she smiled weakly.
"Allie," he breathed, making his way over to the bed and leaning down to kiss her, perhaps a little harder than he should have done given how delicate she was right then but needing to feel her, to taste her and know she was ok.
"Fuck," he whispered, pulling back from her and kissing her nose lightly. "I thought I'd lost you…"
"You wish," she joked and he choked out a laugh, rubbing his forehead against hers.
They both looked down at the baby in his arms and Allie felt tears sting her eyes.
"You gonna say 'ello or what?" Pete smirked, handing his son over gently and watching as Allie held him, her hands shaking.
"He's ok," she laughed lightly, it quickly turned into a sob but she smiled down at him through her tears. "Hey handsome," she rubbed his cheek with her finger. "Look at you, bloody trouble maker already,"
Pete chuckled and sat down on the bed next to her, his hand brushing some hair away from her face.
"I almost lost you," he told her, his voice cracking.
"Did you hell," she smiled weakly. "It'll take more than that to get rid of me, Dunham,"
Unable to smile back at her, Pete simply scooted up further onto the bed and slid in next to her, bringing her closer until she was lying back against his chest, his arms around her as she held their son.
He wanted to ask her what had happened, he wanted to scream at her for not calling him, he wanted to go down to the OB/GYN and rip the bastards throat out for not knowing that something like this could happen.
But he didn't…partly because he knew that all of it was useless in this situation.
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss against the side of her neck, feeling her shiver as he located her pulse and sucked lightly.
Her heartbeat sounded through his ears and Pete fought the urge to laugh hysterically as the pure relief flooded through him. She was alive. She was alive.
For a while he was certain that she would die. He'd watched helplessly as the doctors shoved him out of the way and shoved adrenaline filled needles into her arm, the stress of the caesarean making her heartbeat skip and then slow down dramatically.
And then his son was there, flailing and screaming as he was pulled from his mother, Allie's eyes so glazed and barely open that Pete was sure there was no way she could remember the moment he was brought into the world.
"I thought of a name," he whispered in her ear.
"Oh yeah?" Allie smiled, leaning back into him and gently rocking her son. His eyes opened briefly, the bright blue orbs so much like Pete's that she almost gasped.
"I was thinking Alex," he carried on. "Defender of men and all that shit…it's a great name,"
"Alex Dunham," Allie whispered, turning her head to face him. "I love it,"
Pete grinned proudly at her, kissing her forehead and then her mouth, his lips moving slowly over hers, not wanting to press any harder for fear that she would break, or worse that he would wake up in the hallway and discover this was all a dream.
"I love you," she told him as they parted.
"I love you," he told her back. "Too much to be put through that kind of shit again, so next time you want to pull a dramatic stunt, just do what you usually do and leave a receipt for a pair of your shoes on the kitchen counter or something," he smirked. "That way only one of us has a heart attack,"
She giggled and kissed him again, resting her head back against his shoulder and bringing their son closer to her chest where he snuggled into her and yawned.
Allie felt the pull of sleep on her own body and blinked in surprise when as though sensing it, Pete reached around her and took Alex out of her arms, placing him in the crib next to the bed and keeping his hand on the baby's stomach to soothe him.
"I've got you," Pete whispered. "I'll be here when you wake up,"
"You promise?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded against her. "Well, unless that nurse with the tight uniform and Wonderbra comes back, then you can piss right off,"
She shook her head and slapped his leg weakly, grinning when he laughed against her shoulder and pressed his lips against the skin.
It was a few minutes later, just as the first snow began to fall over London and with her son sleeping soundly in his cot that Allie Dunham fell asleep in the arms of the man she loved.
TWO WEEKS LATER
"You know what's freaky about this lad?" Benjamin squinted down at the baby in the bassinette and smirked. "Is that it honestly just looks as though someone shrunk Pete,"
"Honey, I shrunk a Dunham," Dave quipped, making the Scotsman laugh as he handed him a cup of tea and flopped down on the sofa.
"Two weeks old and already he's better lookin' than you, eh?" Pete grinned, bending down and picking up his son.
The baby opened his eyes and looked up at his father sleepily, stretching languidly before snuggling into Pete's arms and staring up at the Christmas tree which loomed behind him with a mixture of confusion and fear.
Its gold, red and icy blue decorations glittered temptingly in the fire light as Pete sat back down and picked up one of his tiny hands, grinning when a soft, chubby hand tightened around his little finger.
"How's Allie?" Benjamin asked, leaning forward on the sofa and resting his elbows on his knees.
"Yeah, she's alright," Pete nodded. "She's up giving Poppy 'er bath at the moment,"
He smirked and eyed the huge bunch of roses on the table warily.
"You tryna upstage me you cheeky fuck?" he laughed.
"As if I even need to try," Benjamin laughed. "I'm telling you Dunham, all I need to do is click my fingers and that girl is all mine,"
Pete shook his head and then blinked when Alex grumbled in his arms, twisting and turning before letting out a short but loud scream.
"Oi," Pete frowned. "What's up with you, mate?"
Lifting the baby up so that they were eye to eye, he smiled proudly at his son and bounced him lightly.
"Don't you start on that crying shit, you hear?" he warned. "We both know that I ain't good with that…now you wanna talk about football, I'm all ears…"
Alex gurgled and fidgeted lazily, swinging his fist out and almost catching Pete on the face.
"Cheeky sod," he laughed, putting Alex over his shoulder and rubbing his back. "Don't let the fact he's a baby fool you," he warned the lads. "This little bastard's got a right left 'ook on 'im,"
"'Ere, let's ave a hold," Swill grinned, wiping his crumb covered hands on his jeans and reaching out to take the tiny boy from Pete.
"Don't drop 'im like you did with Poppy," Pete warned.
"Aw, come the fuck off it, that was one time," Swill argued, picking up the infant and grinning down at him.
"Yeah and Allie still don't know about it so keep your mouth shut," Pete half laughed, recalling the day all those years ago when Swill had tried to reach for his drink and hold Poppy at the same time. As he had stated either the baby or the bottle of beer had to end up on the floor and there were no points for guessing which one it was.
"Oi," Pete jerked his head towards Bovver as he stepped in from the garden where he'd been sat on the wall, freezing his bollocks off while he had a cigarette.
"What 'appened to you the other night?" he smirked. "Last I 'eard you was with that bird…Carla or whatever 'er name was,"
"Oh yeah," Bovver grinned.
"Cheeky slag," Dave shook his head. "I knew it,"
"A gentleman never tells," Bovver cocked his head and sat down on the huge arm chair nearest the fire place.
"Well it's a good thing there aren't any 'ere, ain't it?" Swill piped up from where he was sat holding Alex.
"Don't speak too soon," Pete joked as Lara padded into the huge room with an almost overflowing bowl of popcorn in her hands.
"What's that?" she raised an eyebrow, coming to sit beside him and propping the bowl up on her knees.
"Bov was just about to tell us about his session with one of the city bikes last night," Pete smirked, grabbing a handful of popcorn and munching loudly.
"Ooooh, really?" Lara grinned. "Hey, don't stop on my account,"
"I ain't fuckin' tellin' you," Bovver snorted.
"What?" she frowned. "Why?"
"Because," he almost pouted. "This is bloke talk, I don't want some posh bird staring at me while I'm giving out all the details about some bird sucking my-…"
"Benjamin!" Poppy squealed, running into the living room and almost falling over on the rug.
"Aye, aye," the Scotsman grinned. "There's my girl," he hoisted her up into his lap and grinning. "How are we?"
"Good," she smiled at him and then kicked her feet out. "I got new slippers,"
Laughing, Pete looked over at his daughter and winked at her, she tried to do it back but ended up blinking as normal and frowned, making him laugh harder.
"Those are pretty damn cool," Benjamin told her, picking up one of the little feet and staring at the bear paw slippers with feigned envy. "Can I try them on?"
"No, silly," Poppy shook her head. "You're feet are too big,"
"And you know what they say about people with big feet don't you?" Benjamin smirked at Lara who winked back.
"No," Poppy blinked. "What?"
"We have huge shoes," Benjamin told her and she started giggling, shaking her head as she kicked her feet.
"Moving on," Lara shook her head at the handsome Scotsman and shoved some more popcorn in her mouth.
"Benjamin," Poppy looked up at him and tugged on his shirt. "Do you want to play fairy dress up?"
The boys bit their lips to keep from snickering whilst Pete who had had to suffer the emasculating torture that was fairy dress up more times that he'd care to share stared at his mate in sympathy.
"There is nothing that would make me happier Miss Dunham," he winked.
"Daddy?" she looked over at Pete whose eyes widened in horror.
"Uh, I 'ave to look after Alex," he stuttered.
"No," Lara patted his knee. "You girls go have fun, we've got everything covered here,"
Pete glared at her as he subtly elbowed the redhead in the ribs, coaxing a yelp out of her before she slapped his arm hard enough to leave a mark.
"Pipe down, Dunham," Benjamin smirked, taking Poppy's hand. "Real men aren't afraid of a little dressing up,"
And I've got glittery face pains," Poppy chimed in, dragging him towards the door.
"Oh Jesus!" Benjamin looked at the rest of the group in horror as they all waved at him.
"Bye Benji!" Lara called, laughing at the muffled shout she got in reply.
Pete laughed and turned to look at her and frowned when he saw she was still rubbing her side.
"Oi," he nudged her gently. "I didn't get you badly, did I?"
"What?" she looked at him and saw the concern on his handsome face. "No, no," she laughed. "I banged it off a desk a work earlier, its just a little sore still…come on Petey, it would take more than a big fat tart like you to hurt me,"
Tossing a piece of popcorn at her head, Pete looked back at Bovver and raised his eyebrows expectantly.
"Come on then," he smirked. "The minor's left the room so start talking,"
Alex gurgled loudly from where Swill was still holding him, Dave gently rubbing the infant's feet.
He couldn't believe that something this small could be so cute; but then he remembered how the boys had all fawned over Poppy when she had been born, the same way they did now. Little did she know it but that girl had the entire GSE wrapped around her little finger.
That in itself was a scary sight: the members of the GSE cooing over a baby.
"Christ," Dave muttered aloud as he shook his head.
"So come on then," Pete hurled a piece of popcorn across the room. "Even Alex is waiting to 'ear this…"
"Right," Bovver smirked, leaning forward and lowering his voice. "So you know that rumour about 'er bein' pretty…flexible?"
The boys all looked at each other and nodded.
"Flexible how?" Lara frowned.
"Shhhh!" Matt hit her. "You're interrupting story time,"
Rolling her eyes she carried on listening and focused her attention back on Bovver.
"Well, let's just say I found out the good way, that it ain't no rumour…"
"And did daddy tell you that I got the best…the best sticker in my class because I was the only one who finished my writing book before Christmas?"
Benjamin grinned down at the pint sized blonde as she dragged him along the upstairs hallway.
"He told me," Benjamin nodded. "And he told me that you get to look after the class hamster this holiday,"
Actually Pete's exact words had been "I can't believe I'm stuck with some fuckin' ball of fur until January. If it starts making the house smell of shit, I'm hurling the little bastard off London Bridge," but Benjamin figured now was one of those times to sugar coat what he said to the kid.
"Yeah, his name is Weetabix," Poppy told him.
"Weetabix?" Benjamin raised an eyebrow. "Your teacher named the class pet after a breakfast cereal?"
"Uh-huh," the blonde nodded as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Pushing her bedroom door open, Benjamin followed her in and blinked in surprise at the size of the room.
It was a sad day when at the age of 30 you realised you could fit almost your entire flat into a five year olds bedroom.
"I've got pink wings or purple wings," Poppy told him, digging through her toy chest and holding them up. "Which fairy do you want to be?"
Benjamin was just about to answer her when a bang from the end of the hallway pulled his attention away from his God daughter.
"Benjamin?" she asked nervously.
"Its already sweetheart," he told her with a smile. "I bet you its just the wind," bending down he picked the purple fairy wings out of her hand and grinned. "Tell you what, why don't you get everything ready and I'll go wash my face so you can make me look beautiful?"
"Ok," she grinned happily at him and with a quick ruffle of her hair, he stood up and made his way back out into the hall.
He moved quickly down to where the thud had sounded, past the pictures of friend and family until he came to the half open bedroom door.
Stepping into Pete and Allie's huge room, he flinched at the cold, noticing the balcony doors were open, allowing the December wind to sweep in. The face down picture frame on the floor near the open doors answered his question about the noise but not the one of where the hell Allie was.
Just as he was about to call her name, a muffled but distinctly violent cough sounded from the bathroom and stepping down the small corridor, he peeked into the room and saw Allie standing against the sink, her arms braced on the cool marble as she stared down into it.
Taking a shuddering breath, she used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth and sighed heavily before switching on the taps and rinsing the last of the vomit from the bowl.
Benjamin tensed as she looked up into the mirror and smoothed her hair back from her face before applying some lip balm to her soft pink lips and taking a deep breath.
"Ok," she whispered to her reflection. "You're ok,"
She wasn't though. That much he could tell.
The bags under her eyes and weakness in her posture made her seem much older than her 28 years and as she looked into the mirror again, she shrieked, catching sight of the handsome brunette as he stared back at her.
"Fucking hell!" she exclaimed, pressing a hand to her chest.
"Sorry darlin'," he forced himself to grin and pretend that everything was normal. "I was uh…just wondering if you had any baby wipes or anything. Your daughter is about to terrorise me with face paints but I have a date later and as charming as I am, I'm not sure that I could offer a valid explanation as to why there are pink, glittery love hearts on my forehead,"
"Sure," Allie laughed, bending down and grabbing a pack of face wipes from the cabinet and handing them to him.
They stood in silence for a while and Allie tapped her bare foot nervously against the floor, hating the fact that he was still looking at her.
"Are you…" he cleared his throat. "Allie, are you alright, darlin'?"
"Me?" she laughed. "Oh God, I'm fine. Cleaning up after madam's bath," she rolled her eyes. "And then I've got to get Alex's changing back ready for tomorrow morning when I take him to the doctors," she gestured to the pile of nappies and wipes on the large counter. "You wouldn't believe how much shit one of those little things needs."
"Right," Benjamin nodded slowly and again, they descended into silence. Looking at the young woman who had become such a close friend over the past eight years, he cleared his throat.
"You know you can talk to me about…anything, don't you?" he met her eyes and dared her to look away, reaching out and cupping her face when she tried to.
"What?" Allie laughed nervously. "Where's all this coming from? You're not going all soft on me are you, Ellis?"
"I mean it, Allie," he told her, not even the slightest hint of humour in his voice. "You're one of my closest mates," he shrugged. "You can talk to me about anything,"
"I know," she smiled timidly and shoved her hands into her pockets.
"Benjamin!" Poppy's voice drifted from up the hallway and they both jumped.
"Duty calls," Allie told him, pointing to the face wipes. "Don't you go losing them,"
"Nah," he shook his head and held them up. "Something tells me they'll be my saving grace,"
With one last look at her, he padded back out into the hallway and grinned when Poppy threw herself at him.
"Come on!" she tugged on his hand. "We have to hurry …I've only got an hour till bedtime,"
"Ah-ha," Benjamin raised an eyebrow. "We better get a move on before Cinderella turns back into a pumpkin,"
"Cinderella was never a pumpkin," Poppy shook her head.
"My mistake," The Scotsman winced. "I really do need to get back up to scratch on my fairy tale trivia,"
He laughed as the little girl tugged harder on his hand almost making him trip up as they bundled back into the room, neither of them noticing the shadow on the stairwell.
Pete's fists tightened on the bars as he stared through into the bedroom from which Benjamin had just left. He'd watched them talking, watched as Benjamin had touched Allie's face, said something to her to make her laugh.
It was all innocent, he told himself as he turned back around and trod numbly down the stairs, ignoring the tiny voice in his head which kept asking him…what if it wasn't?
Oh come on, you weren't expecting everything to turn out nicely with a big bow on top were you? ;) I would love for you to review. It would actually make my day and I need cheering up because I start work tomorrow. That's right...no more embracing the student lifestyle. Summer is here and that can only mean one thing: work :( So please for the love of God PLEASE leave me a nice review. Come on...I'll be your best friend :D