Thanks for your reviews Kelly & EC Brenway! Trust everything will work out somehow, someway...
Kelly - We'll have to wait and see if that's what he has done...
EC - Yep, zero remorse other than that he hurt Chloe but of course can't let on about that! It does sound like that...we'll have to wait and see if that's what he has done... Enjoy this chapter!
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tuesday 26th November 2024
Over an hour after Elly had arrived at the hospital, she finally swung Aster back onto her hip, thanking the nurses as she signed the discharge paperwork, ready to take her daughter home after her car accident. Clarke and Lexa stood behind the mother and daughter, waiting to encourage Elly to seek out Chloe before they left so their friend could see her mate and know she was safe.
Elly relented, allowing her friends to walk with her to Chloe's hospital room, thankful they were willing to wait outside for her. Elly reached out her hand and dragged it through Aster's hair, "You want to come see Chloe with me, Aster? Tell her she's our hero for saving you today?"
"Yes!" Aster exclaimed, "Chloe had to save me, Mum, she's your mate and she's gonna be the most awesomest step mum ever."
"Aster, my girl, you can't talk like that. Yes, Chloe is my mate," Elly hesitantly confirmed to her daughter, "But just because she's my mate doesn't mean Chloe and I will be together anytime soon. This pull I feel to Chloe, knowing that nothing will ever come between us…it doesn't mean that there aren't a whole lot of something's that will come between us and will continue to come between us for who knows how long. We need to be patient. It'll happen…it could take months…years…decades…I'll wait as long as it takes before Chloe is free to be with me…and you…the three of us as a family."
"You won't be waiting decades, Mum," Aster giggled in assurance, "Weeks, I reckon."
Elly wanted to roll her eyes at her daughter but couldn't help but wish she could somehow be right, "Let's simply see if we can go in to see Chloe to thank her for making sure you're still here with me right now, Aster."
After Aster nodded, Elly stepped over to Chloe's hospital room, frowning that the door was closed, but knocked on the door anyway. Elly chewed her lip as Pierce opened the door, "Is Chloe awake yet? Aster wanted to thank her for looking out for her this morning and saving her life."
Before Pierce could respond, Chloe's voice gave Elly pure relief as the blonde answered, "Elly? Yeah, I'm awake, come in and see me. Is Aster okay?"
Pierce sighed as Elly brushed past him, with Aster sitting on Elly's hip all but smirking at him, "The doctor said to limit visitors. Chloe needs more rest; she won't be able to come home until at least tomorrow."
As Elly stood next to Chloe's bed and Chloe smiled wildly up at Aster, making the youngster giggle at how much Chloe was happy to see she was fine, Elly was the one smirking at Pierce when Chloe looked over at him, "Elly and Aster will only be here for a couple minutes, I just want to know they are doing ok. Since I'm gonna be here overnight, why don't you go home and get me some clothes and belongings?"
"I thought I'd call Mark or Aaron to see if they can do that…and tell them they'll need to sort out getting their kids from school and daycare for once," Pierce pointed out.
"I'll be fine here for half an hour without you, Pierce. Why don't you give Paige a call and ask Terese if she can let Paige finish up for the day early so she can get the kids? I'm sure Aaron and Mark will want to drop by here to check on me after work," Chloe reassured.
Pierce stared at Elly, feeling unnerved at leaving his wife alone with her ex-girlfriend but resolved to be more confident in Chloe's love for him, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't go anywhere like to the movies in a car that's not yours cause you really scared me today, Chloe."
Chloe tilted her head at her husband, "Sorry about that. I'll be fine in a couple days…can't say the same for Elly's car…really sorry about that."
"Don't be," Elly assured then before Pierce left the room admitted, "Aster told me the brakes failed on my car. I'm the one who's sorry you ended up being the one driving my car when it happened. Should've been me."
Least with my strength any kind of car accident wouldn't have been enough to kill me let alone harm me.
Pierce couldn't help but nod at Elly, "Isn't that lucky Chloe managed to survive what could've been your fate?"
"Very lucky," Elly acknowledged, not sensing the malice in Pierce wanting it to have been Elly in the accident instead of his wife.
"I'll see you when you get back with my belongings," Chloe re-iterated to her husband, keen to have a moment alone with Elly and Aster.
As Pierce stepped outside the room, he left the door open, seeing Clarke and Lexa sitting on a set of chairs opposite the room, waiting for Elly as they held each other's hands, "I feel like I've seen you both somewhere before…as in not just today at the hotel or the Waterhole."
Lexa and Clarke both shrugged innocently, knowing they had been hanging around the Erinsborough area over the years once every month or so to check in on Elly's family and friends to make sure they were safe without her. Clarke answered for them, "Can't say the same about you. We're just here to give Elly and Aster a lift home as soon as they've made sure Chloe's safe. Then we'll be out of your hair since we can't stay another night in your hotel. Maybe Chloe can come out to visit us one day with Elly and Aster? Elly would love her friends to get along."
"Wouldn't that be interesting," Pierce mused, "I'd love to find out where Elly's wasted the last four years of her life hanging out with you…people."
As Pierce stalked away from them, Lexa looked at Clarke, "I don't even know Chloe and even I can see the girl can do a hell of a lot better than him."
"That guy tracking us down to the cabin just cause his wife could come visit Elly's friends, couldn't think of much worse," Clarke shivered.
Once Pierce had left her hospital room, Aster had immediately reached out her arms to Chloe but Elly held the youngster back, "Aster, Chloe's still sore from the car accident I bet, she needs her rest, not you jumping all over her."
"Get over here into my arms, Aster," Chloe overrode Elly's concerns, "I'm perfectly fine, just exhausted and I need to know you're okay too."
"See Mum," Aster giggled at Elly before shifting from Elly's hips to sit next to Chloe on the bed, curling up against Chloe's arm, grinning up at the blonde, "We were worried you wouldn't wake up, Chloe. Mum was really upset we nearly lost you."
"I was fine…okay a lil worried when Karl said they were still waiting for you to wake up. I was worried about Aster too…of course. Two people I care about being in a car accident is not how I want any day to go," Elly admitted.
Chloe reached out, taking Elly's hand softly, "I'll be fine. Few days on the mend. You might have to be without a running partner for the rest of the week."
"Better than being without you for a hell of a lot longer than that," Elly whispered, continuing to hold Chloe's hand, "I'm sorry my car caused all this mess. Aster told me you saved her life…both your lives…to avoid colliding with a truck."
Chloe stared down at Aster, "You saw the truck? I remember hoping you didn't see the truck…and then I don't remember much after that…just waking up here…Pierce sitting next to me."
Aster continued curling herself against Chloe, wondering how long it would take her mum and the blonde to work out they had to be together no matter what, "You saved my life by swerving into the light post. You put yourself in harm's way. You're an amazing protector, Chloe."
Chloe shrugged, not sure how to take the toddler's words, "I was just doing what anyone else in the situation would've."
"You saved my girl, Chlo. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough," Elly whispered, squeezing Chloe's hand.
"You don't need to, seeing the smile on Aster's face at being back with you when you walked in this room is all I needed," Chloe assured, "Not to mention the look on your face too. You two shouldn't ever be apart."
Neither should you and I, Chlo…
"We won't be cause of you," Elly reminded the blonde, "I'm so glad you're okay."
Chloe reached out her free arm, encouraging Elly to lean down and hug her. Unable to resist, Elly leant down over Aster, before resting her face into the other side of Chloe's neck, burying herself against the woman, with Aster shuffling her arms to hold them around both women and to be part of their hug.
Elly tried hard not to let several tears slip down her cheeks but wasn't able to suppress them. Chloe felt the tears against her neck, "Hey, c'mon, Elly, I'm perfectly fine. It was just an accident. In a couple days we'll have forgotten all about this day."
Elly dug her face further against Chloe's neck, desperately trying not to stay there holding the woman in her arms for as long as she could without Chloe realizing how deep she had fallen for her. But she needn't have worried as Chloe suddenly took a sharp breath, whispering, "Ow."
Elly pulled back from Chloe, swiftly sitting herself next to the woman on the bed, "What's wrong?"
Chloe lifted her shoulder and tilted her head to the side, "Nothing, just my neck where your face was…suddenly it just really hurt having pressure there…weird. I probably just have a bit of whiplash or pulled a muscle there or something."
Elly took a closer look at Chloe's neck, "I'm sorry, Chlo, I didn't see this before. There's one stitch in the back of your neck…from I dunno like a puncture wound. That's so weird. How do you get a puncture wound from a car accident?"
"Not sure, I wouldn't worry about it if it's stitched up," Chloe decided.
"Will you make sure you ask the doctor what that wound was from next time he comes in here to see you, Chlo?" Elly asked the blonde to promise.
"I will, I'm sure it's nothing, just a nice lil reminder of what I've gone and done to myself," Chloe shrugged nonchalantly, then smiling down at Aster, "Now, what about you, Miss Aster? Please tell me you escaped the car accident without any injuries and your mum is taking you home to tuck you up into bed in a few minutes."
Aster stared up at both the women, wanting nothing more to be the center of their attention for as long as possible, "I got some bruises on my body from the car seat straps keeping me safe in the car seat when the car crashed. I'll be okay."
"Aster, if I teach you anything…play the card of not being well and the only cure to your bruises is lots of ice cream and cuddles from your mum," Chloe joked happily.
"Oh my God, Chlo, you are as bad as Aster!" Elly teased, "I'll have to pick up a tub of ice cream on the way home now, won't I?"
"We'll be bad together," Aster giggled at Chloe before nodding at her mum, "Ice cream!"
Elly shook her head at the pair of them as Chloe continued conspiring with Aster over what other things she could get away with over the next few days whilst Elly was still in shock over how close she'd come to losing her daughter.
This…I want this forever, the three of us being a family. Only the three of us. Chloe being the fun parent who spoils Aster every moment she can and me trying to bring these two into line and stop them conspiring against me and breaking all the rules all the time… When will we get this future?
Pierce drove back into Ramsay Street; frustrated Chloe had sent him away for such a menial task of getting her belongings to spend the night at hospital and that he was going to be away from her for the night. Whilst leaving Chloe to spend time with her ex-girlfriend and Elly's daughter unnerved him, despite knowing he now had an element of control over Chloe.
Pierce frowned as soon as he turned his beamer into the street, uttering, "What the?"
Pierce parked his beamer in front of his house instead of driving it up the driveway, unconcerned he'd need to drag a bag with Chloe's belongings back to it. Getting out of his car, instead of walking up to his house, Pierce crossed the street to the Kennedy's driveway to inspect the car that had his full attention from the moment he spotted it.
A 2024 edition of the Maserati.
Pierce stared at the car with his mouth hanging open, "Elly's car was destroyed not three hours ago. How the fuck does an unemployed woman like her get a replacement car so quickly? Let alone a fucking car like a Maserati and the most recent version of it to boot! This car would've cost a fortune!"
Pierce suddenly noticed the card sitting under the window wipes of the car. Picking it up, the front of the card simply had Elly's name written on it in old-school handwriting. Flipping it over, Pierce read the card's message:
'Sorry to hear about your car. Hope you, Aster and Chloe are safe and well after the car accident. Thank you for being part of our family, Elly. We look after our family whether you are with us or with your own family. If you ever need anything, you don't even need to ask. Romulus.'
"Who the fuck is Romulus? And how the fuck has someone like Elly found herself to know someone who can just drop a Maserati off for her like it's nothing?" Pierce demanded to no one as he was alone.
Pierce then looked at the card again before tearing it into small pieces several times, "I really…hate that girl!"
Next time - Chloe's back on the mend and exercising with Elly. When Elly goes to invite Chloe to a group dinner will she catch Chloe out for something surprising?