Chapter 8 – You're trembling
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting
Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chick
One phone call that was all it took.
One phone call and Anna immediately turned into a frightened 5 year old girl and her entire world was tipped on its head once more.
It was disturbing the impact four little words could have on a person's life. The waves of crushing emotions it could invoke. One phone call, lasting less than 2 minutes and Anna was left devastated, hiding away in the locker room as she struggled with the overwhelming emotions rushing through her.
Sat with her head in her hands, Anna attempted to control her breathing needing something else to focus on besides the aching inside her. So lost in this, she didn't hear footsteps, or her name till two warm familiar hands wrapped around her own, tugging them gently away from her face.
"What's happened?" Danny asked, worry etched deep into his features as he took in the shrunken demeanour of Anna.
Anna opened her mouth to reply, to tell him but the words became stuck in her throat. Looking into Danny's eyes she felt her heart give another painful thud when she saw the worry there. Taking a calming breath she wiped away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks, "My Mum called me...my Grandfather's...he's passed away..."
Danny's arms were quickly around her, holding her tightly, "I'm so sorry..." he whispered, unsure of what to say or do. Clearly there wasn't really anything he could say that was going to make this easier for her, "Your trembling..."
"I just...I spoke to him 2 days ago and he sounded fine...it's just not right" Anna pulled back out the embrace shaking her head, biting back the sob threatening to escape.
Taking another breath Anna looked down at her hands were they were clutching the front of Danny's shirt tightly, closing her eyes she leaned into him, sighing when his arms wrapped around her once more. It was comforting, his embrace, his scent; it was allowing her to breathe properly. "Mac's letting me go back...back to Australia for the funeral..."
"Do you need me to come with you?" Danny asked, already knowing he was going to ask Mac. Anna though shook her head,
"You don't have to do that Danny, I'm a big girl, and with you there it'll be too much." Anna leaned back slightly, her hands cupping his face. "There's some other stuff I'm going to need to deal with, stuff you don't know about..."
"What stuff?" Danny asked, not missing the way Anna's whole body tensed and she pulled away,
"Nothing...look I need to get home, call the airline..."
Danny stood watching with a frown when Anna bustled over to her locker, wiping her face dry with the sleeve of her shirt. "Anna...?" he placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her gently back to him.
Anna kept her eyes downcast as she struggled to find it in her to tell him. It wasn't like she didn't want to, she did, and she wanted Danny to know everything about her but the words never came.
Biting her lip she looked up into his eyes, not stopping the flow of tears. Taking a deep calming breath, Anna reached up, taking Danny's warm hand in hers and squeezing it gently. Not looking away she guided his hand to the top of her forehead, to the scar tracing 2 inches along her hairline.
"I told you this was from accident I had as a kid..." she whispered, leaning into Danny's touch slightly before she carried on, "I lied. It wasn't caused by an accident. My Dad, he was a drunk, a mean drunk and he used to...he used to beat me, pretty badly...it really didn't start off so bad, a smack upside the head when he'd had too many but over the years it got worse...one night he got drunk and I ended up in hospital with a fractured skull because he knocked me down the stairs in a rage. My Grand-dad took me in when I got out of hospital I lived with him till I headed off to Uni"
Danny fell into a seated position on the bench behind him, his hand tugging at hers and pulling her to sit on his lap. Anna's words were difficult to process; it sickened him that a Father could do this to his own blood, he wanted to physically hurt the man who'd hurt her in such a way, now he knew he'd have to go with her.
"I'm not going to let you go back there alone." He told her with conviction in his voice. Anna smiled through her tears, her hand resting softly against his cheek,
"Danny I need to do this alone. I appreciate the offer though." Leaning in she pressed a soft yet chaste kiss to his lips before moving away from him.
"Fine, but I'm taking you the airport!" his tone left no room for arguing, and standing he headed outside to find Mac and request a few hours off.
True to his word Danny got the hours off to take her to the airport, the entire ride had been spent in complete silence. Not the uncomfortable kind but it still worried Danny. To say he felt useless would have been an understatement, he didn't know what to do, how he could help her, he hated the fact she was going back to a place where she'd been hurt in such a horrible way alone.
So when they stopped at the security check in, and Anna turned to say goodbye Danny wrapped his arms tightly around her smaller figure and buried his face into her curls. He didn't want to let her go, it didn't sit right with him she was going to be alone.
"There's still time for me to get a ticket." He whispered as he pulled away, never once relinquishing his hold on her.
Despite the deep ache and fear in her chest Anna found herself smiling softly, the palm of her hand resting over his chest. "Danny..." she shook her head, looking up into his eyes.
Danny just nodded and sighed, letting his forehead come to rest against hers. "I know, thought I'd give it one last shot." He chuckled lightly; he brought his hands up to cup her face as he pulled back slightly to look into her eyes, before pressing a soft kiss onto her lips.
Anna leaned into him, her hands resting on his waist as she returned the kiss wanting nothing more than to forget anything she'd learned today and just go back home with Danny. All too soon though, Danny broke the kiss, sighing deeply as he pulled back from her, a thoughtful look on his face.
Before she could open her mouth and ask him what was wrong, Anna watched as Danny clasped the chain around his neck and slowly brought it over his head, the dog tags he held dangling between them. "I'm here, you need anything, day or night..." his words we soft as he carefully put the chain with the dogs tags on around her neck, "I'm just a phone call away, alright."
Anna felt herself tearing up again as she wrapped her fingers around the tags. It was a sweet gesture and at least now she'd have a part of Danny over there with her, giving her the strength she knew she would need.
Nodding her head she looked back up at Danny, whose hand rested on her cheek, and felt her heart skip a beat as it so often did when she was this close to him. Leaning into him she softly pressed her lips to his, already missing him.
Reluctantly though, all too soon in her opinion Anna had to pull away. "I'll be seeing ya..." Danny whispered as she stepped back. Anna nodded, her hand lingering in his before she gently pulled it from his grasp and turned away to get in line.
As Danny watched her go he let out a deep sigh, as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. It was going to be a long few days, he already missed her.
Okay guys here's my update. Thanks to everyone who took the time to review! They each made me smile so thanks!
Special thanks to Donna once again for all her help!
Kayla – The chemistry between them blew my mind, I just love these two. Anna's Mum is someone she's not spoken to in so long, and as you can see there's a lot of badness between her and her parents, so I think you can understand why she froze when she called. Let me know what you think of this chapter.
Sch – It was definitely a worry for Anna hearing those words and I think now you can understand why she reacted the way she did. Anna's not one for hiding how she feels and I don't think Danny is either, their having fun together and they don't care who knows it, but like you said I doubt they could hide it if they tried lol. Try not to worry about the resemblance thing, at least not too much right now :D
Sam – Now you know what the conversation between Anna and her mother was about, so what do you think? Understand her reasons for freezing now? Hope to hear you thoughts on this chapter.