Comatose Chapter 4, a casualty fanfic

A/N: Thanks to all who've reviewed so far! Woah, four chapters in a few days... O_o I must really like you guys or something! XD
Just to let you know, the reason I update so often is because I am currently on school holiday (if you couldn't already tell). You should know that I will update far less often when I 'go back'- even when I skip school to take care of my mum when she's really poorly I still study for the majority of the time. I'll try my best to keep up, but please don't expect too much (:
Anyway, on with chapter four. It's gon' be an Adam-chapter! A fairly short one though :D
Lyrics are 'Face Down' by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Hey, girl, you know you drive me crazy,

One look puts the rhythm in my hand.

Still I'll never understand why you hang around,

I see what's going down.

Adam
I drove home with Kirsty curled up in the passenger seat, crying softly to herself. I think she was almost surprised when I offered to let her come home to stay with me for the night; as if she felt she didn't deserve my kindness. In my opinion, she deserved the world.

"Here we are," I said as I pulled up into the driveway. "Home." Kirsty choked out another sob, and I immediately felt guilty. Where exactly was home for her? Was it the place where she was beaten on a weekly basis? That doesn't sound very much like a home to me, but it was what she was used to. I opened the door for her, and helped her to her feet, putting an arm round her delicate frame to support her. She leant into my grasp, and I smiled sadly at her as I lead her into the house. She looked around the hall with big eyes, the traces of a diminutive smile on her lips.
"Here, why don't you sit down in the lounge?" I offered. "I'll make some coffee and we can talk." she nodded, saying nothing and refusing to look at me. I gently pushed her through to the living room and made my way into the kitchen, taking down the pot of my best coffee down from a cupboard and filling the kettle.
"Do you want something to eat?" I poked my head through to the lounge, where Kirsty was curled up in a chair. She shook her head, still not making eye contact.

When I'd poured the coffee, I made my way back to Kirsty, setting a mug down on the coffee table in front of her. "There we are. Nice and strong for you."
"Thank you" she said quietly. She was no longer crying, but her silence -so unlike the Kirsty I had come to know- was heartbreaking. For a while, neither of us said anything, until I decided to break the pattern.
"So when did he... You know..." she shifted uncomfortably, clearly agitated, but answered nevertheless.
"About three months ago... The night we found out about his illness."
"Do you want to talk about it?" slowly, she nodded. I said nothing, wanting her to open up without me pushing her too far.
"I left my phone on the counter... And he read the text I sent you..." she trailed off, leaving me to fill in the gaps. My eyes widened as the realisation dawned on me.
"So... This is all my fault?" her eyes finally connected to my own, and a single tear slipped down her cheek.
"No! No, of course not... He was so angry, but he's never done that before..." she covered her face with her hands again as she started to cry harder. I went immediately to her side, lifting her out of the chair and sitting back down with her on my lap. She buried her face into my shirt, and I wrapped my arms around her, breathing her sweet scent in.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. I stroked her hair comfortingly.
"Shh... Don't be sorry, you haven't done anything wrong..."
"But I have! I drank alcohol tonight even though I knew I was pregnant!" I sighed, and pushed her away from me so I could look into her face. Tears streaked her cheeks, and her eyes were red.
"Kirsty, look at me." she complied, and I brushed a falling tear away with my thumb. "Whatever you did tonight, it does not make you a bad person. We've all made mistakes, and the fact that you'd worry so much about having drunk alcohol at all shows that you aren't a horrible person in the slightest. Okay?" she sniffed, nodding tearfully, and sank back into my arms.
"He hits me a lot" she mumbled. I recalled the bruising she'd had on her arm a few months ago, and kicked myself for believing her excuse that her daughter had clung onto her arm too tightly at a theme park.
"Where?" I stated stroking her hair again, and pushing it out of her eyes.
"Anywhere he could get to." tears started to fill my own eyes. How could I have let this happen to her?
"Oh, Kirst... Anywhere particular recently?" she nodded, and sniffed again.
"My b-badk. It hurts..." a tear rolled down my cheek, but I brushed it away before she could see it. I knew I had to be strong for her so that she felt she could let her guard down for a bit.
"Okay... How about I go run you a bath, and we'll take a look at that, okay?"

Cover up with make-up in the mirror,

Tell yourself, it's never gonna happen again.

You cry alone and then he swears he loves you.

I gently touched one of the marks on Kirsty's back, still slightly damp from the bath. It was one of several, tending from deep blue to purple in colour, and spread all along the different regions of her back. She flinched slightly at my touch.
"Sorry" I mumbled, as I carefully trailed my finger along her spine. "Does it hurt a lot?" she shook her head.
"Only a little." I nodded, and stood up. Kirsty automatically reached for her shirt.
"Wait a second Kirst, do you want some arnica to make you feel better?" I took the small bottle out of the cabinet and showed it to her. She paused, before looking away and nodding, a slight blush rising up her neck. I smiled reassuringly at her.
"Okay" I tossed her the bottle. "Go and lie on my bed and I'll come and help you in a minute. I just need to do something first."

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end,
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

I paced back and forth along the length of the living room, running my hands through my hair in desperation. Why her? I kept asking myself that same question over and over until it was sealed into my memory, and all I could see when I closed my eyes were those words burned into my lids.
On the table still sat the two coffee cups, untouched and stone cold by then. Without thinking, I picked one of them up and hurled it at the wall, blinded by fury. I watched the liquid trickle down the paintwork and stain the carpeted floor.
I then turned, and headed back up the stairs to help Kirsty.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect,
Every action in this world will bear a consequence,
If you wade around forever, you will surely drown,
I see what's going down.

I leant Kirsty a pair of joggers and my smallest t-shirt to sleep in- but however small they were on me, they were still massive on her. We had to roll up the bottoms of the trouser legs, which one way or another prompted a smile from both of us.
"Adam?" I looked at her, smiling warmly.
"Hmm?" She put her arms around me in a hug, which I gladly returned.
"Thank you" she whispered into my shirt. I kissed the top of her head, overjoyed to see her in a relatively happy mood again.
"No problem. I'm always here for you sweetheart, okay?"
"Okay." I yawned. It had been a long day for both of us.
"Time to go to bed, I think." all of a sudden, Kirsty's eyes grew wide and became tinged with panic.
"You won't leave me by myself, will you?" She blushed again, and I pushed a curl away from her face.
"Not if you don't want me to. You can sleep in my bed. I mean, if that's okay." she smiled again, a grateful smile that warmed even the most forgotten crevices of my heart.

When she'd finally fallen asleep, I watched Kirsty's chest rise and fall in a steady pattern. I smiled at how her hands curled up while she slept, as if she was holding someone's hand. I wondered whose hand she'd be holding. I noticed that her nails were bitten down to the quick- a trait I'd never seen in her before. I listened to her mumble distant words in her sleep...
And I held her tightly, trying to calm her down when she woke up screaming from a nightmare.

Face down in the dirt, she said,

"This doesn't hurt", she said,

"I finally had enough."