Born To Fly - Part 31
"Save your energy." The teenaged girl instructed smoothly, "You don't need to worry about apologising. Christine's told me everything that you told her, about what happened all those years ago. It's okay, though. I forgive you and everyone deserves a second chance." Her silky fingertips continued to stroke her mother's hand.
Nikki grimaced again. Her discomfort was becoming more noticeable despite her best efforts to conceal it. The more conscious she became, several of the drug concoctions fading from her body, the more alert she was to the dull yet potent pain in her leg.
She blew out a breath and murmured, "I'm..still sorry...y-you shouldn't have..had to find out like..that."
The woman was still exhausted, floating in and out of consciousness, "We can talk properly when you are better, perhaps we can even all be a proper family." Eve was still so calm and collected, reassuring her mother and trying to get her to conserve her energy. She was to face greater challenges that warranted her strength more.
Her azure orbs fluttered, colour beginning to flush her skin to a more natural, rosy shade, "My baby...is the baby okay?" The words were a faint whisper, free hand shifting to rest protectively on the swell of her stomach.
"They're monitoring you both closely. But yeah, she is. They've performed a couple of ultrasounds and she has a healthy heartbeat and isn't too distressed." The younger brunette simply repeated the details she had been informed.
Nikki's eyes flickered open, glittering with a sparkly joy as her lips weakly twitched into a smile, "She? It's a baby girl?"
"Yeah."
The mechanised door sailed open harshly, the headmistress stalking into the confined room with Tom sharply behind trying to talk some sense into the infuriated female, "Come on, Christine. You need to calm down-"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" She hissed icily, pirouetting briskly, "You have no idea, no idea. Oh...Nikki's awake. Good." A bitter laugh followed her words as she stepped towards the bedside.
"Christine?" The injured female murmured. Her eyes were closed again, head aching and hazy. She had slowly identified the voices to belong to her wife and Tom. Though she sensed some anger in the atmosphere and perplexity filled her.
"Is it true?" It was all the blonde could currently think about. She wanted answers, and she wanted answers now, purposely ignoring Tom's implores for her to leave it for now at least, "Have you been screwing someone else? Lorraine maybe? Or perhaps Hector. It could be both even."
"Wha?!" Her brows furrowed, features creased with bewilderment as she tried to fixate her gaze on her lover, "What are you...talking about?"
She scoffed austerely and spoke bluntly, "Lorraine says you've been cheating."
"Implied." Tom corrected, although it didn't aid the situation.
"I haven't...I wouldn't." She tried to master all the strength she could to put power into her voice. But she failed. Manner no more than a feeble whisper. "What's happened? I..I don't understand."
"Then why is Lorraine saying that you have or are having an affair?!"
The blood pressure machine was starting to bleep, indicating that Nikki was becoming stressed, "It was just a kiss! One kiss." She had tried to shuffle, desiring to sit up. Laying so flat made her feel even more timid and vulnerable. Everyone had a towering advantage. Her teeth were gritted, face crinkled with agony as she groaned at the pain in her leg.
"A kiss?!" Christine scoffed, fury burning inside her and escalating, "Who did you kiss?!"
At that point, a nurse dashed in having being alerted to the beeping of the machine. "Okay, Nicola. Deep breaths, let's try and calm you down." She encouraged as she injected a dose of strong painkiller into the cannula, intending to regain control of the pain as quickly as possible, "how bad is the pain on a scale of 1-10."
"6...7, maybe."
"More like a 9 or 10 then." The nurse concluded as she attempted to make the brunette more comfortable, "I don't know what's going on in here but right now everyone's aim should be to keep Nicola calm. She's had serious surgery and there's been a severe amount of strain on her baby. She does not need extra stress. I'll be back shortly."
"Come on, Christine. I think you should go now."
The latest ripple of pain had left her body and she had managed to steady her breathing, "No...stay. I'll tell you what you want to know...if you promise to stay calm and not get angry."
The blonde paused momentarily, glancing between mother and daughter. Eve sat there so tranquilly regardless of all she had learnt lately about the ex army captain. She had located forgiveness within her and was allowing for a second chance. Just like that. Perhaps it was only fair she did the same.
"Okay," She nodded meekly and perched on the chair.
Nikki sucked in a deep breath, "It was Lorraine...it meant nothing. It was a stupid, irrational mistake. I fucked up - majorly. I couldn't tell you...I couldn't put you in the position of having to suspend me. I spoke to her, she hadn't started back at Waterloo Road...she gave me a glass of wine to calm me down and then she kissed me." The tale slowly tumbled from her lips as she reminisced the events with Gabriella and then the illegal shots to poor Lenny falling ill.
"I'm sorry, I really am. This was never meant to happen." She was feeling incredibly drowsy again, words drifting and muted. Teardrops pooled in her eyes, generating a glossy film over her pupils.
"Nik," Christine tenderly pressed her lips to her wife's forehead, planting a lingering kiss, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have judged and presumed. And I shouldn't have tackled you over it now, not when you're in this state. But you're on the mend. And we're going to be fine - there are still gaps in our relationship to work on but we should be concentrating on getting you better and the baby, right now. And Eve, of course."
Her hand moved from her baby bump to squeeze the older woman's fleetingly, "I'm sorry...I can barely keep my eyes open...I love you."
"I love you too." She whispered genuinely, "Get some rest, sweetheart. We'll be back later."