The doctor came round later that day, and Chris took him straight through to where Clara was sleeping.
"I'm really sorry if I dragged you out during the weekend." He noted apologetically.
"No, it's not a problem. Once my secretary told me how urgent it all seemed to be, I cancelled any other triage appointments to get here."
"She's sleeping at the moment," he explained, "that's really the only time she'd let you do anything with her."
"In that case," the doctor sat on the other side of the bed as she remained asleep, "if you want to go through her behaviour with me, that should be ok for now and when she gets more used to the idea of staying at the home, we can arrange for her to go."
He drew in a small sigh. He went through everything with him, including her behaviour the previous night – how she left and the state he found her in.
"That doesn't sound good at all." He noted, looking over at her. "She sounds like she could be very badly traumatised."
"So you can't take her for now?"
"Unfortunately not," he could see how weighed down the young male looked, "not without her consent. By the look of it, it'd be a huge weight lifted from you but it's not going to be fair on her if she's taken against her will."
"I just want her to get better." Chris peered over at her, sweeping her dark hair back over the pillow. "That's all I want."
The doctor could also see how devoted he was being with Clara. "If it makes you feel any better, you can always give her something to help calm her down."
"S-so we're talking drugs now?" He didn't like the idea of drugging his angel, but if it meant it'd help…
"Just a simple sedative," he fished around in his pocket and managed to pull out a small bottle, "give her one or two teaspoons of that before she goes to bed. It'll help her to relax."
He reluctantly took it from him. He didn't think for one minute that he could get her to take the medication, and there was no way of hiding the fact that she had to take it.
Clara awoke some time later when it came to early evening, and she felt a wave of relief wash over her at finding herself still lying in bed with the blankets over her.
"Feel any better?" The young male stood in the room's doorway, seemingly knowing that she was going to wake up.
She nodded slowly. "I'm sorry." She watched him come into the room and sit next to her on the bed. "I'm sorry for going out when I shouldn't have and for being sick…"
He drew in a small sigh and parted the long shiny ends of her hair to one side so it all cascaded over the front of her shoulder. "I'm just glad I found you when I did."
"I guess you're wanting to send me away now." She couldn't blame him for becoming a little bit worried about her.
Chris looked to her carefully. "I don't want to, that's the thing." He twirled a few wavy ends of her hair around his index finger. "I know it's something you don't want and that's what's putting me off taking you."
She watched him get up and she noticed he was holding a small bottle. "What's that?" She asked out of interest.
He couldn't lie to her. Not to his own daughter. "The doctor gave it to me to give to you."
"D-drugs?"
"He said it was something to help you sleep." He explained, immediately knowing that she wouldn't like the sound of that. He watched her free herself from the blankets. "Maybe if you give it a chance…"
"No," she retorted angrily, "I won't. You're supposed to be helping me."
"I am helping you." He protested. "By taking this, you'll feel better."
She shook her head.
"Clara, I'm sorry, really I am. I'm sorry if you don't accept what I'm trying to do for you, but believe it or not I wanna make this as painless as I can without you getting taken to a mental home."
She cast her gaze down to the floor sadly. Painless? What does he know about painless?
"Please," Chris placed a hand on her shoulder, "at least see if it helps for one night. And if it doesn't, I won't get you to take it again."
Clara felt his hand squeeze her there softly. She knew he meant well and that he was only trying to help her, but he obviously knew enough to know how sick she was and how to go about treating it. "Ok," she agreed eventually, "if you want me to take it, then I will."
He felt a small relief wash over him. He didn't want to resort to medicating her, but the doctor approved of it so it must be ok.
When it came nearer to the time for her to sleep, he came back into her room with the bottle and a spoon.
"I've got to have it now?" She pouted, sitting up in amongst the blankets.
"Afraid so." He sat next to her on the bed and carefully poured out one teaspoon for her.
She let him give it to her and she made a few interesting faces as she swallowed it.
He laughed a little. "Medicines aren't supposed to be nice."
"Wish it was nice and sweet."
"Well, it isn't, so you've got to put up with it, I'm afraid to say." He got another spoonful ready. "Want your second one?"
"No." She grimaced.
"Tough," he playfully smirked, "you're having it."
Chris kept beside Clara, keeping a close eye on her for the first few signs of drowsiness. It was only when the time approached close to ten minutes that she started to rub her eyes.
"You wanna lie down?" He suggested, noticing she was getting tired quite quickly. He didn't expect the medication to be so fast-acting.
"I'm not sleepy."
"I think you are." He teased, getting her to lie down properly on her back under the blankets. He swept a hand over her forehead, softly caressing the smooth contour above her eyebrow with his thumb. That action only made her sleepier. "Close your eyes now."
She tried to focus on something, to keep her from falling asleep. But the effects of the medication were overtaking her and she felt that she had to give in to it. His stroking wasn't helping either!
Her eyelids flagged more, and she couldn't stay awake any longer.
"Good girl." He carefully rearranged her long dark hair so that it scattered over her pillow. "Sleep well."
Monday morning.
Karen had come back into work, knowing straightaway of something she really felt she should do.
She went to Chris's room, finding him perched behind his desk and trying to get on with some marking. He seemed just as preoccupied as she had been herself.
He didn't have a set, so she obviously caught him at a good time.
He stopped what he was doing as she came in. He didn't know what she was going to say or what she was going to do. For all he knew, she could be coming in to say that their relationship was over. He decided to keep quiet.
"I heard what happened Friday." She started, casting her gaze to the floor.
He tilted his head in mild confusion. A lot of things happened that day, what could she have possibly heard?
"What you did was very brave, Chris."
He peered down at the floor. "Anyone would've done it. Not just me…" He knew she must've meant Clara falling or jumping into the swimming pool.
"No one like you." She came closer to him, looking straight at him as he darted his gaze to her.
"I know I said some pretty harsh things the other night, but…"
"No, you were right. After talking to the doctor yesterday, it turned out Jess had been laying the baby down in a strange position. But she's been taught how to lay her down in the proper way now."
"That's good news." Chris went back to what he was writing, but was stopped when Karen's hand placed itself on his arm and squeezed him at his bicep that was uncovered by his t-shirt. It was contact he hadn't expected, but it did feel good.
"I really missed you during the weekend." She caressed the soft dewy flesh there teasingly. "I wished I could've seen you…"
He swallowed hard as the caressing moved up his arm.
"…Slept with you…" She slid in front of him, leaning over and placing her hands on his thighs.
The touch prompted him to jump.
"…Touched you…" She was close to sitting on him, and she was sure he wouldn't have minded.
Sure enough, he didn't mind. He wrapped his arms around her as she placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Doing such naughty things to you…" She caressed him under his jaw with an index finger, prompting him to tilt his head up to look at her. "…Things that'd make you go." She saw the young male's eyes mist over with pleasure. She wished she could have him right there and then, he looked so tempting!
Chris shivered slightly in excitement as she leant forward and pressed her lips down onto his. They shared a very shy kiss but it became more teasing when their mouths oscillated playfully.
"Are you up to anything particularly important?" Karen huskily wanted to know, sliding her index finger from the underside of his jaw to the side of his neck. Such beautifully soft skin…
"N-not really." His answer prompted a dark, naughty smile to form at her mouth.
"Well then," she continued the tempting touch, "maybe we should put this time to good use."
He tried to resist the stimulation but found it hard to do so when their lips connected again. He whimpered cutely at her fingertips sliding themselves through his dark bangs.
"My…" She took a mixture of mild amusement and pleasure at hearing his adorable little sounds. "You are getting excited, aren't you?"
After their little bit of fun was over, she slid off his lap, watching him edge back behind his desk the way he was before. "Are you sure everything is ok with you, Chris?"
"Me? Sure it is." There was something in his voice and body language to suggest that everything was not ok. He had a habit of losing eye contact when he fibbed or kept something to himself.
"Are you sure you're not telling me porkies?"
Chris kept his gaze to the paper he was writing in, before swiftly darting it to Karen. "You're not the only person who's worried about Harry."
She frowned. "What do you mean? Has he told you something?"
"I marked a paper of his the other day." He explained, his expression becoming more perturbed. "He didn't get a single answer right."
She leant against his desk as he pulled himself out slightly from under it. That action prompted her to cast her gaze to his slender legs, which were spread out to draw attention to his hips. It was a sight she didn't mind seeing.
"I know things at home have been quite bad, but…I mean for him to not concentrate is unusual in itself."
She drew in a small sigh. "I don't think he's been really that focussed on what he's been doing in here."
He acknowledged her answer.
"I think he's given up, to be fair."
"Well that's not good." He pointed out. "You have to explain to him, you're his mother."
"Why don't you go round and see him?" Karen snapped at him, prompting him to jump a little. "After having that fatherly talk with him when you gave him that medication that day."
"Karen, I had no intention of trying to be anything I'm not," he protested, "he wanted to talk to me, and that was fine. He wouldn't have found it that easy to talk to you, he wanted to be more private about it."
She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to have a go at you. It's just been really stressful at home lately. What with having an extra little one to look after and after her being poorly as well…this with Harry is the last thing I need."
"Does he still feel quite bad, is that what it is?" Chris leant forward over his desk, his eyes sparkling in the low sunlight.
"I just…I don't understand him. I used to be able to read him like an open book, but now…" She suddenly came over very weighed down, which concerned him. "He told me I didn't love him anymore."
Outwardly he didn't appear to show any emotion, but inside there were feelings going on that even he wasn't sure of.
"Can you believe that?" She smirked wryly. "After everything that's happened, and he could think something like that."
"I think he just feels left out still. After all, he was the youngest before the baby was even thought of." He noted. "Give him some time and he'll stop all these thoughts and feelings."
She smiled softly, feeling reassured by his words. Even though he didn't have any past experience himself, she felt she could trust what he was saying.
"No offence to him, but he is quite a changeable kid." He admitted. "It'll take a while, but the resentment he has will go away, I promise you."
"Thanks for that." She placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing him there softly.
"Not a problem." He placed a hand on top of hers. "That's what I'm here for."