Karen came round some time later that evening. Her eyelids fluttered open, finding herself comfortably wrapped up in amongst the bed's blankets.
A coolness lingered around her, soothing the remnants of the fever she had, and she thought for a short time that Chris was still there.
She weakly sat up, surprised that she managed to find the strength to do so. She propped her back against the headboard, still going over what he did with her.
He'd been so careful with her and the fact that he'd spent most of the afternoon with her – simply watching over her while she slept – made her think that there was definitely something else going on with him. After all, why spend the main part of an afternoon with someone who wasn't very well?
"Everything ok in here, mum?" Harry's voice came from the bedroom's door, and she peered up to see him standing there.
She nodded thankfully. "I'm fine, love. Absolutely fine."
"You sure?" His expression told her that everything with her didn't seem completely fine. "You don't want anything?"
"No, no." Karen smiled softly. "I just need to rest, that's all."
Chris got back to his place, finding Clara on her bed in her room. "Sorry if I'm a bit later back." He apologised.
She saw him standing at her doorway with a small carrier. "Queue at the takeaway place?" She teased.
"No, I had to see if my mate was any better." He explained. And that was the truth. Karen was whom he considered a mate– they went out for drinks together and she'd come to him for advice on quite a few occasions.
"Oh, I see." She smirked. "Not a lady-mate, are they?"
He smirked back at her as if to say "very funny". "Hope you're hungry." He tilted his head to the small carrier he'd been holding.
"I am a fair bit." She admitted, feeling her stomach get that tiny bit emptier from being without anything, if not for the decidedly appetising scent not too far from her.
"Good job I thought of that." He made to disappear from the doorway so he could go away and sort that out.
She got up off her bed, following him out. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, taking him by surprise once he'd placed the carrier on the side so he could empty it.
"What's all this about then?" Chris wanted to know, although saying so in a playful way. He didn't dislike the hug Clara was giving him – more so the opposite. But it was contact he wasn't expecting.
"Just wanted to hug you." She nuzzled her cheek against his back, in between his shoulder blades. She took in that familiar musky scent on him, and it was something she found that she couldn't be that long without.
He smiled to himself, finding her embrace a tad bit restrictive. But, if she wanted to hold him like that, he didn't mind. Why would he refuse contact like that from his own daughter? And the takeout he got was going to stay hot for a little while…
He felt her hands press into his stomach, pulling him close into her from behind. He knew she'd lacked being able to express her emotions in such a way and he was more than happy to respect that.
"Dad," she started, unknowingly sending a warm fuzzy feeling to his chest at the labelling of such a term, "you do love me, right?"
He lowered an eyebrow, which she couldn't see from where she was. "You know I do." He turned round to face her, so that her hands moved round to his lower back. The closeness still remained between them. "I know that we haven't spent much time together, but that's changed now, hasn't it?"
"I've still got lots of things to tell you," Clara explained hesitantly, "and I don't know how to go about doing so."
"Hey," Chris smiled reassuringly, "we can talk after we've eaten, yeah? I've got to have something before it gets too late and my stomach won't like it. And I daresay you've eaten at all since I've been out…"
"I don't know how much I can tell you tonight," she admitted, "but at the same time I don't know for how much longer I can go without telling you."
"Then we can talk when you go to bed." He assured her. It became clear to him that what she so urgently wanted to talk to him about could possibly be something that had happened before they encountered each other. "I'll always have time to talk to you, Clara, I promise."
"It hasn't been that way since you took me here." She protested.
"No," he knew she had him there, "no, it hasn't, but that doesn't mean to say I didn't wanna talk to you or for you to talk to me. There've been a few things that have gone on that I've had to deal with and they've had to come first. That's just the way it's all panned out. But now we've got plenty of time to talk. Does that sound ok to you?"
She nodded slowly.
"Good." He pulled himself away from her. "I think we should sort this out before it gets cold."
"That," Clara remarked, giving her empty plate to him, "was nice."
"Glad you liked it." He happily took it from her. "We can't live on these all the time if you're to stay here though." He put both plates on the side and went back over to her.
"Why not?"
"'Cause, young lady," Chris's bright blue eyes fixed onto her more strident ones, "it isn't good for you. Surely your mum told you that?"
She said nothing to his answer, choosing to cast her gaze onto the wall in front of them. She drew in a small sigh, as the unpleasant feelings overtook the more satiated ones from the takeout.
He peered over at her, sensing that he'd hit a nerve with her somewhere. He hoped that he didn't insult her, although how was he to know? Their relationship together had been fairly smooth up till then and a hitch here and there was bound to crop up. No relationship was perfect as such.
Clara slowly got up, going into her room. He followed her, seeing her lying down on her stomach on the bed.
Not knowing what to say, Chris sat next to her and place a hand on her back. He rubbed her there softly, unsure of what else to do.
"My mum didn't really treat me all that well," she slowly explained, starting off the talk between them, "all we ever lived on was takeouts."
"That's not happening anymore." He reassured her. "I'll look after you."
She relaxed from the soothing tempo of his stroking. It was so slow and constant, and it was making her sleepy.
"She had a partner," she went on, "but he wasn't all that nice to me."
He tilted his head in mild concern, deciding to let her continue in her own time. He didn't want to press her by asking extremely intrusive questions. They may not have been that relevant to her case anyway, but he never knew.
"He used to hurt me." Clara looked to him, her eyes almost softening from the tears shimmering behind them.
He felt a slight anger burn up inside of him. How dare anyone do that to a child – especially his own. "I would never, ever do anything like that to you." The stroking slowed somewhat.
"I know you wouldn't," she saw his eyebrows lower themselves in indignation – not towards her, but for the way she'd been treated in the past, "that's why I wanna stay with you."
"And you can." Chris reassured her, taking her into an embrace. "You can stay here for as long as you want."
She drew in a deep sigh when she wrapped her arms around his waist. He did the same, pulling her up against him. All she wanted was for him to hold her – keep her there till she felt comfortable enough to go to sleep. "I wanted to get away from there so, so much. That was why I left in the first place. That as well as the fact that I wanted to find you."
"Which you've done no problem." He smirked playfully, trying to lighten the dark atmosphere over them. "I'm guessing you would've gone back to staying under bus shelters."
Clara nuzzled her face in his t-shirt. "I don't know what I would've done if you didn't want me to stay. I thought maybe you wouldn't love me or wanna know me."
"Don't think that." He made her sit up and he cupped her face softly. "I do love you, sweetheart. It took me a while to feel such emotions as I've never had to deal with a situation like this before, but…you're mine. How can I not love you?"
She made out such intense emotions within his vibrant blue orbs, and it was something she found astonishing. How anyone could clearly express their feelings with their eyes was quite incredible. That was why she felt so sure about trusting him.
Chris looked over at the time. "It's getting pretty late," he admitted, "so I think you should go to bed and get some sleep." He didn't want her to talk for too long, as she'd end up facing exhaustion and he would find himself in the same situation – and he had to work!
Clara sat up against her headboard as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I know it's not what you want and that you wanna talk some more, but I don't want you getting too tired." He went on. "We've got plenty more time to talk tomorrow."
She placed a hand on top of his, taking in the warmth and softness of his skin. "I love you."
"I love you too." He planted a sugar-soft kiss on her forehead. "Go to sleep now."