Chapter 2

Charlie had been sitting there for almost an hour just holding his hand and caressing his knuckles with her thumb, trying to muster up the courage to actually say something. To say that she was feeling stupid was an understatement, she didn't feel like she had the right to and she was five seconds away from getting up and leave but Heath's face and the desperation in his voice made her stay put. A smile started to spread across Charlie's face as she looked down on Brax's peaceful, handsome face. He would have the same expression when she would wake up in the middle of the night after they had had some "fun" that Brax liked to call it. She would just lay there and study his face, since she never got the chance to so otherwise since he would always wake up before her, and he would always have that same unguarded face.

She moved one of her hands up to his cheek and stroked it for a second before bringing it back to his hand and took a firm grip to keep her sane, at least for a while and after a deep calming breath she was as ready as she could be.

"Hi." Her voice was small, almost squeaky, even though she was trying her hardest to keep it from wavering but her emotions were choking her and making it difficult to speak. "So your brother seems to think that I have you wrapped around my little finger and that I can magically make you wake up. Whether that's true or not you need to wake up Brax, for your brothers' sake! I have never seen Heath like this, he is a mess and he looks like he is completely at loss, you wouldn't recognize him if you saw him."

"I know you're probably tired of fighting and being strong for everyone else, but truth is we don't do so very well without you and they need you, I need you! I have so many things I need to ask you and things that only you can help me figure out. I need to know wh- why you let them take me away, from you… and from my daughter. But I also need you to be happy and if that- if that is with this other girl then fine! But I at least deserve to know why you felt like you could just throw me away. So you just have to wake up because we need you."

Her voice gave out and she gave in to her tears just letting them fall, she didn't have the will nor the energy to hold it in anymore. But boy did it feel good to let it all out, the frustration and all the pent up emotions from all the mysteries in her life that she had no way of solving.

Suddenly she was startled out of her thoughts when the machines started beeping and the displays lit up in the slightly dark room, making her jump up in panic. A groan was heard from Brax and she turned her head just in time to catch him moving slightly, more like stirring, and before she could make any sense of it Sid and some nurses came running in closely followed by Heath and the family and some blonde woman she figured was Ricky. She didn't know the story with her and Brax but there had to be some bad blood because the others totally froze her out, not including her in their little huddle group and let her standing a few feet away barely through the door. But her attention was quickly diverted and she watched closely as Sid and the nurses ran back and forth pressing things on the machines and checking the tubes as they tried to figure out what was happening. Their lips were moving and she could hear their muffled voices but none of it really register accept for one thing.

"He's waking up!" It kept ringing in her ears and eventually it became too much she couldn't take it anymore. There were too many people around looking at her and at Brax like she did some kind of wonder and then it suddenly hit her. Brax. Was she really ready to see him yet? It was one thing when he wasn't conscious but now she would have to meet his piercing gaze and actually have him talk back. Deciding that she couldn't do it Charlie backed out through the door that she had subconsciously moved towards when everyone barged into the room. Once outside the room she ran off, okay not exactly ran off but she walked quickly through the corridors and out the way she came in a few hours earlier.

She spotted an empty bench leaning against the wall next to the entrance where she slumped down and let out a shaky breath, trying her hardest not to hyperventilate. Taking a deep breath she filled her lungs with the clear air, which could only be after a rainy day, and letting the familiar scent calm her down. Once calm again and her breathing under control her mind started spinning, what was she going to do now?

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Black, an eternal darkness was all he could see and it felt like it was everything he had seen for a really long time. But then there was this melodic sound piercing through the darkness and it was like it was whispering in his ear, an angelic voice that gave him some kind of hope and strength.
"You need to wake up Brax… We need you… I just want you to be happy…" The voice was a voice Brax knew and it had his heart racing and beating rapidly. It had been ages since he had heard that voice anywhere else than in his imagination, and sure there was a huge possibility that this was just a fiction of his imagination as well but it felt closer somehow and more real than it usually did. He urged to get closer to the sound and fought against the darkness that kept him from seeing the angel that spoke to him, making him feel safe and at home, when her voice suddenly disappeared and was replaced by other voices he didn't recognize.

The darkness started to let up and he could see blurry figures moving above him and after a few seconds the figures became clearer and he could make out who it was. Sid and several nurses were hovering above him shining some kind of light in his eyes while talking at a rapid pace. In the background he could see his family and Ricky watching him intensely but as he turned his head to the side he spotted the person that the voice belonged to. She was standing by the door like a frightened animal ready to bolt at any time with tears in her eyes and a terrified expression on her face. But she was still a vision to be hold and he could almost swear she looked even more beautiful than he remembered, his thoughts didn't do her any justice. Her eyes was still as clear and bright as usual but there was some kind of shield that kept him from seeing into her like he had once been able to. Her hair was longer and slightly lighter but it still looked just as soft and he longed for running his finger through it. His eyes never left her as Sid and the nurses was working on him but then a nurse moved into his line of vison and in the next second she was gone and the door was slightly ajar. He tried to call out for her in desperation but he was not able to speak with that thing he had showed down his throat.

"Brax, mate don't try to speak." He moved to rip it out in frustration but was stopped by another pair of hands that eventually removed the tube and he was free to speak but by then he realized it was too late, she was already gone.

After hours of different kinds of tests and scans, being pinched and asked a million questions Brax was finally wheeled back into his room where he was now half sitting up in his bed while listening to his brothers talk the day away. They filled him in on what had happened with Adam and the cops after he went down. Denny, Casey's girl, was currently curled up in Casey's lap as he held her tightly to him. Adam had taken her and held her as a captive with Ricky and she had gotten a bump to the head but had gotten away with a mild concussion. According to Heath Casey hadn't let her leave his sight since she got back since he blamed himself for her getting hurt, It was their shit not hers. They had not been together for that long for what Brax could tell but he could already see how much the girl had become to mean to Casey, it had been pretty damn obvious when they found out that Adam had taken her. Ricky was there as well, sitting on a chair away from his brothers a little bit not saying anything and his brothers did nothing to include her either. It was obvious what they thought of her and that they didn't want her there but hadn't said anything because of him, but if he was completely honest he wasn't too sure if he wanted her there either. He loved her or at least he thought he did but right now he felt nothing but anger and betrayal when he thought of her and maybe even some resentment. The love he had felt for Charlie had been different and stronger from the one he had for Ricky, so all the things Ricky had done and the fact that Charlie was currently here and hadn't recently messed with his life weighed more than the feelings he had for Ricky. He knew that as long as Charlie was in the picture and willing to be with him Ricky wouldn't matter, whether she had almost killed him or not.

"So are either of you going to address the elephant in the room and tell me where Charlie is and why she's here and not ten feet underground?" He could feel Ricky's eyes on him as soon as he spoke. He had barely spoken since he was brought into the room again by the nurses, he hadn't even acknowledged her and the first full sentence he spoke he asked for his ex-girlfriend. But he couldn't care less about her feelings right now, all that mattered was to find out about Charlie and why she wasn't in the room like everyone else. His brothers looked between each other and him before Casey's lips became permanently attached to Denny's temple and Kyle found the sky outside the window incredibly fascinating, leaving it all up to Heath. He took a deep breath before he started talking and retelling what the Inspector had told him and Bianca earlier and took in every word of it. He felt sick to his stomach as he heard what had really happened and the danger she was putting herself in by being here.

"The coppers took her to a safe-house since she is still technically in witsec." At that he raised his eyebrows, he had seen the looks between Kyle and Casey and knew there was more to the story than that. He didn't have to wait for long before Heath relented and kept talking. "She's not sticking around for much longer mate, she said maybe a couple of days saying something about not wanting to mess up peoples life and everyone moving on."

He felt slightly panicked every time he thought of her not sticking around long enough for him to see her and every day that passed without him seeing her the bigger the chance of him not seeing her at all go. She consumed his thoughts and every night before he went to bed he wished for her to be there the next morning and the whole night he would dream of the exact same thing only to wake up and find the room empty. He would then wait around subtly all day though he could tell that his brothers and Ricky knew something was up with him, but they were wise enough not mention anything after he looked towards the door for the hundredth time that day. The hours passed and soon visiting hours were over and she still hadn't showed up to see him.

After a week Brax was starting to give up of her coming around and accepted the fact that she had gone back to where she came from and that he would not see her again. He couldn't help but feel angry though, the excitement and happiness from the news of her being alive had begun to wind down, that she couldn't even come to see him after everything. They believed she died two years ago and when it out that that was not the case she couldn't even be bothered to talk to him… It really bugged him and he couldn't figure out what he had done that would make her that mad.

The door to his room opened and he was to irritated and frustrated to bother look up to acknowledge his brothers and just kept staring at the opened magazine in his lap. But when they did not speak and he couldn't hear any nearing footsteps he looked up to ask them what was wrong and he could have sworn his heart stopped for a second. His chest tightened with emotions like it was getting ready to explode, because the person by the door was not one of his brothers but the person that had been occupying his mind for the past week. She was truly there and she looked even more beautiful than he remembered. Her skin had a fresh tan that indicated that she still spent a lot of time at the beach wherever she lived now and her hair had grown so that it now reached her lower back. It was still the same golden brown tone that brought out the blue in the eyes he could spend hours looking into, eyes that used to sparkle with happiness and mirth but was now glimmering by unshed tears. During all the tests he had started to believe that it had only been his imagination but when Heath and the others told him she was truly alive he had never been so happy, and now she was standing less than ten feet away looking straight at him.

She stood rooted to her spot a few feet from the door, her eyes never leaving his face as she tried to gauge his reaction to her presence. Right now though he couldn't be bothered to care about all the secrets and unanswered questions, all that mattered was that she was here with him. All Brax wanted was to hold her in his arms to feel the touch of her skin again, breathe in her familiar scent that could calm him in his worse rage just to make sure that she really was there and that it was not just one of his dreams. He beckoned her over with his hand making a come hither motion when he couldn't find his voice as he tried to hold back his tears which he covered up by plastering his trade smirk on his face. His eyes followed her intensely as she slowly moved towards his bed and perched herself carefully on the edge without touching him, but close enough so that he could still feel the heat radiating from her. It was that same familiar heat that used to keep him warm and at ease at night, a heat he had missed terrible and as he watched her nibble her lower lip all of his resistance came crumbling down. Not wasting another second he moved his hand to her neck and firmly, yet gently, pulled her closer to him and crushed his lips against hers. It didn't take long for her to respond and their lips were soon feverishly moving in familiarity, moans slipped from both at the contact they had both missed terribly. He was kissing her like a man starving, he just couldn't get enough of her it had been too long since he had tasted her lips. Every emotion he could find inside he tried to pour into the kiss and show her because he wanted, no needed her to know how he felt. They kissed until they could feel their lungs burning and it was absolutely necessary for them to break apart for some air.

"I've missed you so much, Charlie!" He mumbled quietly against her lips as he leaned his forehead against hers. His hands found their way to her waist and held her close to him and never once faltering, he wanted to keep her close to him and never let go.

"I've missed you too!" She whispered back as if it was a state secret while running her hands through his hair like she used too, an obsession of hers that he had at first been very annoyed with but had grown to love when he realized it was a way for her to show him some comfort and that she cared.

After minutes of just staring into each other's eyes, stroking and getting re-acquaintance with the other's body he finally dared to ask the question he had been dreading to ask.
"Are you staying?" He held his breath as he waited in anticipation, he hated showing weakness and the few seconds it took for her to formulate felt like an eternity to him and he was ready to run away.

"I'm not going anywhere.