A/N: Hello! This has taken a little longer than I had thought but finally, it's finished. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Do feel free to let me know what you think, always happy to hear your thoughts.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Casualty belongs to the BBC. No copyright infringement intended.
This chapter is dedicated to Checky.

Twenty-Four Seven
Chapter 8

Nick Jordan stood silently in the doorway, his brow furrowed in concern. Yvonne was still standing in the porch, her back to him as she stared out at the rain that was battering down, lashing against the glass. Her whole posture was tense, troubled and she honestly looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Are you coming in?" He inquired a few moments later, his voice breaking through the silence that had been present between them for a while now.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and nodded, immediately shaking herself out of the trance that she had been caught in. As she spun round to face him, he could quite clearly see the apprehension that shadowed her face, the fear that was still present in her grey eyes despite her attempts to compose herself.

A sad sigh escaped his lips as she moved towards him, slowly stepping into his house. Nick closed the door and turned back to her, gently grasping her right wrist with his left hand so that he could steer her into the lounge. Once they were standing in the middle of said lounge, he began to peel the sodden blanket away from her shoulders, halting his movements as his sharp eyes caught sight of something that he either hadn't noticed or hadn't been allowed to see whilst they had been out in the rain. Something told him it was the latter. Spots of ruby red blood stained the left cuff of the shirt that she was wearing.

"Can I take a look?" He gestured towards her hand. She frowned, confusion evident and glanced down, swiftly following his eye line. Blood was trailing down her hand, the vibrant scarlet liquid contrasting vividly with the paler, creamy colour of her skin. She really didn't know how she'd missed that.

No reply came, instead she just simply held her hand out silently. Nick took that as her way of telling him that he could have a look. He felt her gaze on him as his fingers deftly undid the small buttons attached to the cuff before he pushed the light coloured material a little further up her arm to reveal a large cut on the side of her hand.

He sucked his breath in as he examined the injury a little closer. "Looks nasty," he eventually commented, shifting his eyes to her face. "How did you do it?"

Confusion clouded her eyes, momentarily replacing the haunted, fearful look that her expressive grey orbs currently held. She remained silent as her brain flashed back through the events of the last hour or so, trying desperately to remember exactly what had happened. She could remember her chest tightening unbearably, feeling dizzy, disconnected from the world and then stumbling against the-that was it! The wall, it had to be the wall. There was no other logical explanation.

"Um, the wall. I think I caught my hand against it or something."

Nick nodded, a warm smile flickering upon his features. "Ok. Well we'd better get this cleaned up and once that's done, we'll find you something dry to wear, eh?"

She mumbled something in reply, dropping her head to stare at the floor to avoid his gentle gaze. He couldn't quite make out what she'd said and he wasn't going to waste any time worrying over it now. He had two priorities now, each as urgent as the other. First, he had to clean that cut up for her and then he had to find her something to wear. She needed to get changed into some dry clothes so that the warming up process could slowly begin.

Nick sat her down at the kitchen table, the first aid kit lying open on the bench between them. He glanced at her as he removed the items he needed in order to clean her cut up properly, alarmed to see the tears that were brimming in her eyes, in dire danger of overspilling.

"This might sting a little bit," he told her once he was gloved up and holding a sealed, sterile antiseptic wipe in his right hand. He ripped the top off of the packet and removed said wipe before curling the fingers on his left hand around her wrist, moving her hand into a position where he had easy access to the cut.

He pressed the wipe against the cut, dabbing at the drying blood carefully. Intense pain shot up her arm and an involuntary cry fell from her lips. Instinctively, she tried to jerk her wrist away from him but he kept a firm hold of her wrist, knowing that this needed to be done. The tears that she had been desperately trying to hold back finally took over and coursed down her cheeks in silent rivers as pain seared through her wrist. He muttered an apology, hating that he was hurting her but knowing that this pain was necessary. That cut needed to be cleaned up and once it was done, she would feel better. With this in mind, he continued to clean it, trying to keep his movements as gentle and tender as possible.

"There you go, all done." He finished wrapping a bandage around her hand a few moments later and secured the small knot with a piece of tape. He released her wrist and removed his gloves, squeezing her knee with his bare hand gently in an attempt to offer a little bit of comfort.

"Sorry." She mumbled, two red spots flaring on her cheeks as her eyes roamed around the room, settling on anywhere that wasn't his face. The way she had reacted to him cleaning up her cut was embarrassing to her and she couldn't bring herself to look at him, to see the concern that would be in his eyes. She was being foolish.

Nick shook his head. "Don't be." He moved his hand to her chin, his fingers extending upwards to wipe away the last of the tears that were balancing on the edge of her sooty eyelashes before they had the chance to fully escape. "Right, let's find you something to wear." He stood and offered her a hand, pulling her to her feet when she accepted it.

She trailed behind him as he moved up the stairs and into his bedroom. She stood in the doorway hesitantly, unsure what she should do next. Nick took that decision for her, gently manoeuvring her so that she was sat on his bed. She watched silently, gently nibbling on her lower lip anxiously as he busied himself with finding something suitable for her to wear.

No words were exchanged between them as Nick went through his wardrobe, easily picking out a shirt for her to wear. It would be way too big on her but that didn't matter too much. It was finding her something to wear on her bottom half that was going to be difficult. He crouched down so that he could get a better view and rummaged through the heap of clothes that sat at the bottom of his wardrobe on top of several pairs of shoes, hoping that he would have something suitable. A few seconds later, his hands fell on a pair of old jogging bottoms.

Triumphantly, he stood and closed the wardrobe. He turned and passed her the bottoms and the shirt, softly telling her to go into the bathroom and get herself changed. He watched as she nodded in acceptance and stood up. She padded through to the bathroom and closed the door, sliding the lock across. He sighed and glanced down at himself, knowing that he had to get changed as well. He just hoped that she would begin to warm up once she had dry clothes on.

Even after a few hours, the weather outside was still just as abysmal as it had been for the majority of the day. Outside the comforting warmth of his house, it was icy cold. The rain battered down and howling, biting wind stung noses, cheeks, hands, any part of the body that wasn't covered if you were one of the unlucky ones that had been caught out in it. It was most definitely one of those freak storms; the sort where the weather just built and built for a few hours like music building to a crescendo and then suddenly, just as quickly as it had started, it all died down, leaving an eerily calm feeling in its wake.

It had been an odd sort of day. One that was filled with a variety of emotions, some good and some bad. He had started the day filled with a welcome happy, contended feeling but that had quickly given away to sadness, concern after she had disappeared...ran away from him, whatever you wanted to call it. In turn, that had morphed into hope once he had received the phone call and now, he just felt exhausted, drained but positive – although he suspected it was nothing compared to the myriad of emotions that she must be feeling. She was still here, she hadn't gone anywhere. She was safe and that was something he was going to be eternally grateful for. Despite the odd way the day had turned out, he certainly hadn't thought after she'd left earlier that in a matter of hours he would be digging out the blankets and the slipper socks in order to warm her up. But then, it was one of those things that nobody could foresee. He was just glad she was here.

He glanced over at the sofa, a warm smile softening his features as he took in the image that greeted him. Yvonne was lying on the sofa, curled up under what looked like a mountain of blankets but in reality, it was probably only four or five – yes, it had just occurred to him that he might have gone a little OTT on the amount of blankets he'd heaped on top of her. Just a little. He wasn't quite sure whether she was awake, asleep or pretending to be asleep. If she was awake then she certainly wasn't doing much in the way of talking and he was in two minds as to whether he should start a conversation or not. He didn't really want to in case she was genuinely was sleeping and also, he didn't want to push her too quickly. Pushing her too far before she was ready would only end badly – he'd sort of found that out already. She needed time, time to mull the events of the day over and time to warm up properly. Once she had done both of those things, well it probably was within the realms of realism to hope that she might feel up to talking. Then and only then, he might just be able to extract something, anything from her. Well that was what he hoped at any rate.

Nick moved closer to the sofa, leaning down to check on her. She was fast asleep, her fingers curled into loose fists. The expression she wore was one of peace, all traces of fear gone for now and her breathing was gentle, even. Her hair was drying slowly, soft curls beginning to form. He sat down in the nearest armchair to the sofa, his eyes staying on her as his mind wandered back through everything that had happened that day, going through the good and the bad before eventually settling on the events that had happened post phone call.

He recalled that once he had arrived, his first task had been trickier than he had originally anticipated. She had been curled up in front of a wall, her arms around her legs in a defensive position as she shook violently. Cold, fear. Both had almost certainly contributed to the almost constant trembling that had seemingly taken over her entire body. He had managed to get her to move eventually, however, and after a lot of coaxing and persuasion on his part, she had given in and shakily clambered to her feet. He had grabbed her waist firmly to steady her when it looked as though she might collapse on him before he had taken her hand and led her over to his car. She hadn't resisted, hadn't told him to get off of her like he had been expecting and although that had relieved him at the time, now that he had the opportunity to think back on it, it worried him. She had been, and still was, painfully quiet. That bothered him.

Once they were safely installed in his car, he had attempted to start a conversation with her but she had retreated straight back into her shell and had refused to speak. Instead she had chosen to answer any questions he put to her with a simple movement of her head. Nothing more, nothing less. He had persisted, hoping that he could get her to react to him with something more than just a simple nod or shake but that time, his persistence hadn't paid off. If anything, it only served to make her more stubborn about her refusal to talk. He had caught on pretty swiftly and realised that he wouldn't be getting anything out of her any time soon. It was then that he had taken the decision to get her back to his and get her warmed up. The talking, the conversation that he was hoping to have with her could wait until she was ready. Sometimes there were certain things that just had to be dealt with in their own time; they couldn't be rushed. This was one of them, that much he had been sure of.

He was pulled from his thoughts and placed firmly back in the present as he heard her stir, forgetting for the moment about everything else that had happened and just concentrating solely on her. Nick moved out of his seat and a little closer to her, ensuring that he was in her line of sight before he spoke. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, blinking at him sleepily from underneath the mound of blankets. The resulting image was one that he found incredibly adorable.

"Do you need anything?" He questioned softly, leaning against the sofa and resting his forearms on the padded sofa arms, his gaze never leaving her face.

Yvonne shook her head, flopping back down and nestling her body back into the cosy cocoon of blankets as her eyes drifted sleepily shut once more. Nick watched with a heavy heart as she allowed herself to relax for the minutest of seconds before forcing her eyes open once more, attempting to fight against the powerful waves of exhaustion that were no doubt racing through her body.

"No, no, don't fight it. Go back to sleep, you could do with some rest."

As he spoke, he quietly shuffled round so that he was sitting next to the middle of the sofa. He carefully arranged the blankets back around her as best he could from his current and slightly awkward position on the floor, his free hand snaking around her waist and moving up to her hair. He gently combed his fingers through her soft dark hair, feeling her lean instinctively into his touch. The warmth of the room combined with the blankets and his caresses soon sent her back off to sleep and he hoped that when she awoke once again, he would be able to begin to find out exactly what had happened between her leaving his and the phone call. He just wanted to help her.

Sometime later – exactly how much time had passed, she wasn't sure – she awoke with a start, one hand immediately flying to her chest as she leant forward, trying desperately to catch her breath and alleviate the tight band that had clamped around her torso. Small fists gripped the blanket tightly as she struggled for what seemed like forever but in reality was probably only a couple of minutes at most before mercifully regaining control over her body. As her breathing came back under control and began to return to normal, she ran a hand through her dark hair absent-mindedly, ignoring the now familiar feeling of tears stinging her eyes.

Yvonne sat there for a little while longer, the blankets pooled around her legs. As she re-adjusted back to the present, she became aware of cooking smells coming from the kitchen. Suddenly curious, she pushed the covers aside and got off of the sofa, letting them fall back into place. She padded quietly through to the kitchen to find Nick standing at the hob, stirring a pan of something that smelt suspiciously like tomato sauce.

"Hey," he turned and flashed her a cheeky smile once he realised that he was no longer alone in the kitchen. Concern gripped him once more as he noticed her flushed skin and the remnants of fear in her grey eyes. He hated the thought of her struggling alone with her demons. "You're awake," he remarked, keeping his tone light as he turned down the heat so that the sauce wouldn't be ruined. Nick moved over to where she was standing, gently placing the back of his hand on her forehead, peering at her worriedly. She was ghostly pale, her skin clammy. "Are you ok?"

She nodded, a tiny smile flickering on her features in an attempt to alleviate his apparent concern for her. He had noticed but she couldn't tell him. It was just a dream, just a stupid dream.

"Good." Nick returned the smile, his hand dropping to his side. They stood there for a few more moments until it became apparent that she wasn't going to elaborate any further so he returned to his cooking. He was willing to let it go for now but he knew that he had to get her to open up to him at some point whether that be tonight, tomorrow or a little further down the track. He just wanted to help and he was hoping that once she felt a little more settled then she would slowly start to talk to him. "Hungry?"

She nodded again, once more choosing not to speak. She wasn't sure whether she could ask him and she certainly wasn't sure whether she should just go ahead and do it. She hated being so indecisive but she really didn't want to do anything wrong. Her eyes shifted to his face, looking for some indication that he would mind. When she found nothing, she timidly inched forward so that they were standing a little closer together, their shoulders brushing gently. He didn't move so she glanced at him again, chewing on her bottom lip with her teeth worriedly before deciding to take a leap of faith and see what happened. She lay her head cautiously against his upper arm, tears flooding her eyes and relief swamping her when he simply wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed his lips against her head in a show of affection, of comfort. Those little actions told her more than words ever could. In that moment, it was like they had never been apart, like the three years had just melted away or had never existed in the first place. It was like the way things had been before between them.

A peaceful silence fell over them, each of them content to stand there in silence in the other's company. Nick continued to stir the sauce, knowing that she needed some sort of comfort, reassurance right now. He was quite happy to offer that and he was just pleased, relieved that she had sought him out for that comfort rather than struggling alone. Perhaps some progress was being made but only time would tell.

Of course, she would never tell him, never admit it out loud to anyone but he just knew.

If you have time, I would love to know what you thought. Thanks for reading.