Author's note: I'm finally moving forward with the plot & fortunately Christmas break gives me enough time to work on the story. Please enjoy and review! :)
Their bags were packed and stood in the living room. Daniel sat on his mother's lap, who at first had prepared everything for them to leave and then taken a seat on the couch rocking her son in her arms and humming a soothing tune.
Amanda was not sure however if she really did that for her son or to calm down herself. The 9-year-old didn't get what was suddenly going on except for the fact that Victoria had told her they were waiting for her Dad. That had been half an hour ago and ever since she had remained in her sitting position on the couch without uttering a single word.
Amanda assumed that she probably did that to block out the storm but still the reason why she had packed their bags was a mystery to her.
"Uhm, Mrs Grayson… Victoria?" She slowly approached the older woman. "Can you talk to me? Please?" Her strange behavior really irritated her. She had never seen her so off guard.
Right in that moment they could clearly hear an engine in the driveway.
"David!" Victoria breathed and lifted Daniel from her lap.
Driven by some inner instinct to leave the now dangerous place as quickly as possible, she opened the door, grabbed two bags and stepped outside in the pouring rain.
When she descended the steps from the veranda she could already feel the immense amount of water soaking her clothes and making them stick to her body. Her long hair was completely wet in less than a minute and the strong wind made it difficult for her to balance herself with the two heavy bags in her hands. Admittedly she didn't even see where exactly she was going but everything told her not to lose any time.
The engine of the car was finally switched off so that Victoria looked up in the hope of seeing David jump out of the vehicle.
That move however distracted her enough not to notice how muddy the ground beneath her actually was. Before she could even realize what was happening, Victoria felt her feet slipping and the weight of the bags in her hands pulling her down abruptly.
The next moment her back hit the dirty ground and for a second it was impossible for her to breathe, so that she opened her mouth in an attempt to inhale fresh air. That quickly turned out to be a stupid mistake for the falling rain immediately filled her mouth forcing her to swallow the water if she didn't want to choke. Unfortunately her body was like paralyzed from the fall and she couldn't move to get up again when someone grabbed her shoulders and lifted her from the ground.
Victoria grasped for air trying to stand on her own feet again.
"Victoria! What the hell are you doing?!" David turned her around staring at her with a horrified expression. Seeing her lying there almost unconscious had scared him to death and he was relieved to feel her hands gripping his arms.
"I wanted to carry the bags so that we are faster." She stammered leaning against David's body.
"Leave that to me, okay?!" He hugged her tightly noticing the mud that now covered parts of her clothes. "Just get into the car with the kids. I'll handle the rest." He kissed her forehead, terrified of the idea of losing her.
"But David, what about Charlotte? What happened to you?" Victoria stepped closer to him as he released her from his embrace.
"Later, okay, V? Discussing this in the midst of a storm is not the best idea." David shrugged her hands off and turned to the house. "Amanda, Daniel, come over here please."
The two children remained standing on the veranda, so Victoria called again. "Daniel, Amanda, come on you'll be save here." She stretched out her arms and her son started running towards her through the pouring rain. His hands were trembling as he reached his mother.
"Get in the car with him. I'll deal with Amanda." David explained and went back to the house while Victoria escorted her son into Charlotte's old pick-up truck.
"What are you doing?" The 9-year-old screamed when she saw her father picking up the rest of the bags.
"We are leaving, Amanda. Get into the car. Now."
"I won't. You did this before. I want to know why we are leaving and why Aunt Charlotte is not with you." The girl demonstratively crossed her arms glaring at her father.
"I don't have to explain myself, Amanda, I am your father. Just get into the car." He raised his voice and grabbed his daughter's arm pulling her outside.
"I don't want to run away again!" Amanda clung to the doorframe protesting against David.
"Amanda, let go!" He dropped their bags to use both of his hands in order to make his daughter lose her grip on the wood.
That day had been exhausting for him. He was tired of things not going according to his will, thus the girl's behavior really made him lose his temper.
"Amanda, stop that!" He suddenly screamed in a voice coming deep from his throat and for the first time in her life Amanda was really scared of her Dad. She turned around detecting such rage in his eyes, that she started to scream, desperately clinging to the door frame while her father was in such a frenzy, he didn't even notice the pain he was causing his own daughter.
All of a sudden he felt two hands grabbing his arms and pulling him away from Amanda.
"David! Have you gone mad?!" Victoria shouted, shocked by his violent actions. She had observed the scene from the car and it hadn't taken long until she had decided that something was going terribly wrong between father and daughter. "Don't you see that you hurt her?"
David turned to face Victoria, the rage within him darkening his beautiful blue eyes. "She didn't listen to me when I told her we had to leave."
They both looked at Amanda, and Victoria almost gasped as she recognized the frightened expression in the girl's eyes. What was even more shocking however was that David didn't even seem to notice the effect he had on his daughter.
"Amanda, please, come now." Victoria begged offering her a hand.
"No." The 9-yearl-old folded her arms again. "Not until you tell me where Aunt Charlotte is." Pushing her fear aside, she insisted on her demand.
With the hope of resolving the tensed situation, Victoria pleadingly looked at David. Nevertheless the uncharacteristic angry expression remained on his face.
"David, please, just tell us." Victoria laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Okay." He swallowed, his mimic hardening. "Charlotte is dead."
Both Amanda and Victoria needed a moment to process the information. The girl's eyes slowly filled with tears as the meaning of her Dad's answer became real to her. It was awfully silent except for the sound of the storm and even as the tears started escaping from Amanda's eyes, she didn't make a sound.
"This cannot be true." Victoria finally broke the silence staring at her lover, unwilling to believe what he had just said. Although she hadn't known Charlotte for long, she had begun to like her and appreciate her efforts for their relationship. She also knew what she meant to David, which made her understand parts of his recent irrational behavior.
"But it is." David picked up the rest of the bags and turned to leave. "Can we go now?"
Victoria wanted to comfort Amanda trying to hug her, but instead the girl pushed her arms away.
"I knew that you would do this to us! You destroyed everything. " With those words Amanda ran away and towards the car quickly slamming the door behind her. It dawned on Victoria, that not only the loss she was suffering from caused the heartbreaking expression on Amanda's face, but also the intrusion of Victoria into their father-daughter relationship. What had she done to the Clarke family?
"Victoria!" David called her and started the engine, so that she hurried to get into the car.
David's emotions were boiling as he stepped onto the gas pedal. He didn't care if it was raining. He didn't care if it was windy enough to blow branches of trees against the car or if he could barely see the road. The only thing that he did care about was his aim to leave that place behind. To get rid of the memories. Memories of his childhood, of Charlotte, and with how much love she had brought him up. There were also new memories bound to that place now. Memories of Victoria, of laughing with her, of making love to her, of appreciating her baby bump, and of her, Daniel and Amanda getting along, enjoying their time together just like a real family. Memories of the life he had imagined they would lead.
It was all gone. He needed to get rid of that idea. There was only pain now.
"David, slow down." Victoria's voice was simply a distant sound David chose to ignore.
"Listen to me, David, you are too fast." This time he understood the meaning of her words, but he needed to feel the speed to escape from the overwhelming emotions.
"David!" Victoria now shouted as a piece of wood hit the side of the car causing the children to scream in the back.
"You're going to kill us all! Come to your senses!" She stared at David, who kept focusing on the road, but seemed to react to his lover's pleas as he pulled the car to the side and stopped at an old gas station. As soon as the engine was switched off, he jumped out of the car and started walking away from them.
"Don't worry, I'll go after him. Just stay in the car, please." Victoria forced herself to smile at Amanda and Daniel in the back, before she stepped into the storm and tried running after David.
"What the hell are you doing?" She stopped and had to lean against the small building of the gas station. She felt weak and didn't want to step into the pouring rain again since the roof of the station was at least better than no protection at all. Much to her disappointment she couldn't even see David anymore, so she let out a desperate scream.
Oh God, no. She thought as she suddenly felt slight pain in her abdomen. Instinctively, she laid her hands on her stomach. All of this had been too much for her, mentally and physically, and now her child was suffering because of that.
"Baby, please stay with me. I already love you too much." She whispered protectively caressing her small bump.
"V…" Her head shot up again at the sound of a familiar voice. There he stood right in front of her. Her David. Not the man they had seen minutes ago, hurting his own daughter and risking his family's life. Only that now his eyes were red, not from rage, but from the countless tears that were rolling down his cheeks. She had never seen him cry before and the mere sight of him looking so broken and vulnerable made her cry along with him.
"I'm so sorry." She sobbed as David pulled her into his arms burying his face in her hair.
"Don't be. None of this is your fault." He held her as close as he could although both of them were still soaking wet from the rain. It didn't matter to them in that moment.
"Charlotte is gone and I couldn't do anything against it." He muttered and finally let his emotions overwhelm him. "I need you by my side now, V. More than ever."
The pain Victoria had been feeling started to disappear and instead she began grasping for air because of David's tight embrace.
"David, I need air, could you…" He sensed that she was struggling to breathe, so that he loosened his arms around her body. "Thank you." Victoria was relieved and could finally look into his eyes again.
"I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I was not myself then." David leaned forward to press an apologetic kiss onto Victoria's head, but she quickly looked up to meet his lips instead.
"I noticed that." She placed her hands on his shoulders while he wrapped his arms around her body. "I still don't understand how everything could go so wrong. What happened to Charlotte?" Her expectant gaze rested on David's face. He knew that he had to tell her, but it was hard for him to keep his emotions from controlling him again.
"I still… I cannot deal with reality, V." He closed his eyes for a short moment and when he opened them he saw his lover's brown eyes peering at him. Victoria lovingly stroked his cheek.
"Please, David, she meant something to me, too."
"Okay." He swallowed trying to hold back the tears. "I decided to let her do the groceries first and then go to the hospital. So we got out of the car and Charlotte told me that there was going to be a storm and that we had to hurry. And then…" He stared down at Victoria. "Then I noticed her walking more slowly and suddenly she stopped and I asked her if she was alright and the next moment she just… she just…" David held Victoria closer to him again because he needed the reassurance that she was there to support him. "She said that her chest hurt and just broke down. She lay there on the ground and I panicked, so that people came running to us and one of them called 911 and then they started staring at me. Right into my face as if they knew who I was. I looked down and tried to get away from there to call you, what I did, and when I came back the ambulance was already there and I desperately wanted to help Charlotte, but when I was close I heard one of the doctors saying that her heart had just stopped beating. They tried reanimating her and I just stood there and watched. V, I'm a horrible person. I watched my aunt die." There was an empty expression in his blue eyes and besides taking in the new information about Aunt Charlotte's death, Victoria cupped David's face with her hands to calm him down.
"She died there on a parking lot and I was helpless. They said she had a heart attack and asked if there was a relative they could call. Everyone turned around and looked at me, I was so scared. I think they knew who I was. Or better, who they believed I was. That was the moment when I ran back to the car and drove to the farm to save you and the children. That image of Charlotte fighting for her life haunted me ever since. It's like a bad dream but I don't suppose I will ever wake up from it."
As a response Victoria threw her arms around David's neck resting her head on his chest. She didn't know what to say for the story he had just told her was difficult to accept.
"We should've sent her to a hospital sooner. Maybe she would still be alive now."
"Yes, maybe." Victoria wiped the tears from her eyes. "We have to be there for each other now. Charlotte would have wanted us to do that."
They remained quiet in their position for a few minutes when Victoria opened her mouth again. "And you owe your daughter an apology. You really scared her."
"Yes, I remember. I don't know how I could do that, I…"
"Just go and explain to her what happened. It may be best if we stay here since the storm seems to be getting worse. We should seek shelter in the abandoned shop here. It's safer than being on the road."
"You're right. I'll park the car behind the building, just in case… you know, they are looking for us."
Victoria took David's hand into hers and together they made their way back to the car. She convinced the children to follow her and sitting behind the counter of the gas station they waited for David to return.
When he joined them, he stood true to his word, which meant that he apologized to Amanda first, trying to make her understand that he hadn't been himself and would never do that to her again, and then he went on to inform them about Charlotte's death.
Of course, it was difficult for Amanda and Daniel to understand why exactly Charlotte had to die, but both of them needed their parents to deal with the loss of the woman, they had grown so attached to the last couple of weeks.
Fortunately, David had brought their bags inside, so that Victoria and he could improvise a sleeping bag made of their clothes and other belongings for their children.
As usual, Daniel was the first one to fall asleep and exhausted from the amount of tears she had shed Amanda closed her eyes only a few minutes later.
Outside, the storm was making frightening noises and the rain was now beginning to run down the window through a crack in the pane.
Victoria decided to leave her son's side and seated herself on David's lap, who leant against the counter.
"They're very brave." She nuzzled her head against his chest. "Our children, I mean."
"Yes, they are." David closed his arms around her and began caressing her thigh under the floral summer dress she had changed into. He sensed her muscles relax in the embrace, feeling proud of himself for being capable to cause that reaction in her.
It had been a horrible day, but as long as the four of them stayed together and he could hold the woman he loved close, he told himself that things could be worse. After all, he neither got caught today nor did anything happen to them in the storm. He heard Victoria's steady breathing in her sleep, so that his eye lids also began to close.
"David, I saw you two today." Charlotte addressed her nephew sitting next to her on the porch.
"Hm? What do you mean?" He was puzzled by her statement and looked up from the book he had been reading since Victoria was already asleep upstairs. It felt good to know that she was able to get the rest she needed now.
"This morning when you finished breakfast and you saw the baby bump showing through her shirt."
David smiled as he thought of that moment. It had been the first time he had noticed her growing belly through her clothes. He had been so proud.
"What about that?" He was still confused about his aunt asking him about it.
"I saw the look in her eyes."
David made it clear to his aunt that he had no idea what she was talking about.
"She looked at you, David, and I could see that she really is the one for you. She is so tired of rescuing herself, she wants you to be her hero."
"Okay, that is, well… I didn't expect you to say that."
"I'd like you to remember the words, because you know as well as I do that the worst is yet to come." Charlotte squeezed his hand. "And there's something else: I'd really like to spend more time with my second great niece or nephew and see her or him growing up. I missed having Amanda around here and now she is already so big. Can you promise me that, David? That you will visit me more often with Victoria and the children?"
He had to swallow at the sentimental turn of the conversation. It was a rare occasion that Charlotte was so open about her feelings.
"Of course, we will. You do so much for us. We will be forever grateful for that."
His eyes shot open and he hit the back of his head at the counter behind him because of the sudden awakening.
Victoria had moved on his lap, which had caused him to interrupt recalling the conversation he had had with his aunt only some days ago.
"I didn't mean to wake you, sorry." She mumbled sleepily and leant back against his body.
"It's alright. It's better if I stay awake anyways. You never know what might happen." David gently tilted Victoria's chin up to make her look into his eyes. "Charlotte did a lot for us and for our relationship. She made me promise to always visit her with you and the baby, because she really wanted to be part of our family. It destroys me to know that she will never meet our child."
"We will find a way to honor her. And you will tell our baby all the great stories about your aunt." Victoria softly kissed David's lips. "We'll make sure that she'll never be forgotten."
"Definitely so. But now go back to sleep, I don't want you to worry." She obeyed his wish and soon David felt her falling asleep again.
"V, you can be sure that I'll be your hero from now on." It was important to him to hold on to his aunt's realization and right in that moment he sensed Victoria's lips turning into a light smile against his chest.
How could he ever live without Charlotte's wise words helping him to keep his life from falling into pieces?
I could've written many more chapters about their life with Charlotte on the farm, but I felt like they needed to move on. I have to admit that it was hard for me to let Charlotte die, but since she also died on the actual show, I wanted to use that storyline.
Hope you liked it! xoxo