Tuesday afternoon.
Chris came back home after work, seeing Clara curled up on the sofa when he came in. "Not falling asleep, are you?"
She sprung up from where she was lying. "How long have you been there?"
He smirked playfully. "I've only just literally come in." He dropped down next to her, giving her a big hug. "How's my princess then?"
She glowed inside at him calling her a 'princess'. "I'm ok," her voice told him something completely different, "how about you?"
"Oh, I'm fine…just a normal day at work to be fair." He loosened his grip on her. "Everything is ok with you, love, right?"
She shrugged. "Why wouldn't I say it is?"
"I just…" Chris sat back on the sofa. "I'm getting the vibes from you that it isn't."
Clara cast her gaze down to the floor.
"Clara, I know how hard things have been for both of us and especially you, but don't ever feel like you can't talk to me about anything."
She sighed a little, feeling a wave of guilt crash over her. "I've already said that I'm ok."
"I don't think you are." He rubbed her down her back softly. "Did something happen while I was out?"
"I don't think it'd be something you'd understand."
He remained quiet for a few seconds. "What about it wouldn't I understand?"
She didn't like it when he became pressing. She knew he only did that when he was inadvertently worried about her, and he had every right to be worried about her as he loved her.
"If it's something you don't wanna talk about," he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed her there, "then at least write it down. Don't keep thoughts and feelings to yourself."
"That's what I have been doing." She got up sharply, not wanting him to talk any more about it. "I wanna have a bath…so I can sleep better."
"Sure." Chris let her go. "You know where everything is."
Clara tried to relax as she went to take her bath. That was the main reason she wanted one. It wasn't because he was having a go at her, as he was doing nothing of the sort. She had trouble sleeping and she knew that she did, so what better way to help with that than a bath?
He hated the thought of going through someone else's room. Well, he'd never done it before, and it wasn't really Clara's room to start with – she moved into it. But he had to know what was bothering her.
He presently came across her notebook, and he flicked onto the first page. He had no idea that she used it as a diary.
"Friday, January 7th
Mum's gone out again – I don't know where she goes but I know she has this habit of disappearing every Friday night and leaving a trail of strong perfume behind her. She doesn't take him with her as he just sits around in the lounge watching TV and gets himself hammered. Maybe she goes out to bingo or something."
The next entry:
Saturday, January 8th
Mum didn't come back till the early hours of this morning. I didn't realise bingo went on for so long. He shouted at her when she came back and he demanded to know where she went, but I thought he knew she went out every Friday night. I didn't know what happened but I'm sure I heard her crying.
I hope he didn't hurt her."
Chris went through the last two entries, which didn't even go to the back of the book:
"Monday, September 5th
I've been staying with my dad for a little over a month now. He's been so good to me, but I still keep getting nightmares and I don't know why. It isn't as though I haven't told him about what had gone on between my mum's boyfriend and me but I don't understand why these feelings and thoughts won't stop. I don't want it to get to the stage where I should kill myself and let it end now."
He felt tears start to well up behind his eyes.
"Tuesday, September 6th
Maybe I should end it all right now."
He froze. Clara could well be thinking of doing such things at that very moment.
He rushed straight into the bathroom, inwardly thankful that she didn't bolt the door locked and came across her fully submerged in the bath.
He pulled her out, not caring if he saw any bits he really shouldn't have. Her safety was more important than what he did or didn't see.
He had a feeling she didn't do it that long ago, so not a lot of time elapsed between that and when he found her. He placed her down on the floor on her back, tilting her head back so that he could start to resuscitate her. Never did he think he'd end up having to do that all again.
"Clara," he softly swept her long, wet hair back away from her forehead, "I need you to breathe for me, love…" He hadn't have done very many attempts, but it wasn't good if she wasn't breathing for herself. "Come on, honey…you don't wanna do this."
He pressed his lips to hers once more, breathing into her a little more powerfully than before.
She coughed violently and stirred under him as he leant over her and placed a hand against her forehead. She couldn't believe how disgustingly soapy the water she'd breathed in was.
Chris sat back against the side of the bath when she sat up after getting her breath back.
"Y-you saved me."
He looked to her weakly. "I couldn't let you go – you should know that by now."
"I didn't want you to intervene."
"But I had to." He pointed out.
"Why couldn't you have just let me die?"
"Don't talk stupid." He inched over to her and took her into an embrace. "Not since you're my daughter."
Clara drew in a small sigh, yet felt her bad thoughts and feelings get diffused through his contact. She was damp to the touch and was showing parts of her anatomy that he shouldn't really see, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to be held.
"Tell you what," he said after a few elapsed minutes of them simply sitting on the bathroom floor huddled together, "the school I work at has got a late summer party taking place at the end of the week. You can always come along if you want."
She smirked wryly. "I don't go to the school."
"No, but you are special." He tried to persuade her. "And you might like it." Even his first thoughts on the event were that he didn't like the sound of it at all. He just saw it as an excuse to fritter away the school's finances.
But, it was all Tom's idea that he and Karen sanctioned and he was considered a mate of his, so why not both of them go?
"Think of yourself going as a VIP." He added.
She gave him a reluctant look when she wrapped herself up with the towel he handed to her. "I guess, but people will know of my connection with you if I go."
Chris shrugged. "It's not exactly a scandal, is it? Me and Karen's relationship is more so." He pulled her into a hug. "Come on, don't be so miserable."
"I'm not being miserable."
"So what are you being?"
She shifted about a little in his hug. "I don't know what to wear."
"I'm sure that with the amount of stuff you bought all that time ago, you'll come up with something." He smirked playfully. He looked to see what time it was. "You'd better think about going to bed, young lady."
Clara pouted. "Don't wanna go to bed."
He laughed. "Well, that's tough. It's coming up to that time," he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her back up into a standing position, "and you're probably getting very sleepy by now."
"No, I'm not." She couldn't stop a yawn that came from her, proving her wrong.
"I think you are." He got her into her room. "Go to sleep now."
Friday soon came round.
Chris finished earlier in the afternoon. His last set ended at half-past two, and he got home to see Clara getting ready.
She didn't waste any time, he thought to himself. "See, thought it was something you couldn't wait for." He teased, watching her skilfully twist her long dark hair with her straighteners. He couldn't get over how beautifully the strands fell into waves when she released them and moved onto the others.
"It'd give me a change of scenery, I suppose."
"And that's done you some good, from what you've been telling me."
"I hope you're going to look nice as well," she saw him disappear from his leaning position against her door panel, "and that it isn't going to be just me."
"Would I do that to you?" He made to take off his t-shirt, only for her to take a glance at the flash of fair skin underneath at his waist before it vanished under the dark fabric again.
Wow, she breathed in amazement. She felt incredibly lucky that he happened to be her dad!
He drove them both to the school, parking up in his usual spot and opening the door at Clara's side so she could get out.
"That's what I call service." She noted, slipping out of the front passenger seat.
"I aim to please." He quickly locked the car and allowed her to link his arm with hers.
"So what's Karen like exactly?" She asked nervously.
"Find out for yourself." Chris smirked playfully. "We'll go and see her together."
Karen was overseeing Tom try and sort out the barbeque with his apparently infinite supply of matches. She saw both of them approach her, and she went over to talk to them.
"I don't know," she noted blankly, "the mastermind behind all of this is having trouble lighting the barbeque."
He smirked at her little taunt at Tom. He inwardly hoped he didn't hear her. "You didn't wanna bring any of your lot along?"
"Bex came home from uni unannounced yesterday. She offered to look after the little one whilst Jess does her own thing. Harry's about though…somewhere."
"Well, I brought mine." He realised Clara had her arms wrapped around his hips and he didn't want to prise her off him. He knew that she had problems connecting with new people and he respected that. "It's ok, love…don't be shy."
After a shy self-introduction from Clara, she left the two adults alone together whilst going off with Harry once he came back.
"So Jess didn't wanna come then?" Chris wanted to know.
Karen shook her head. "I don't honestly know what goes on with that girl. She gets on fine with looking after the baby, and then all of a sudden she does things wrong, ends up endangering her and then…I don't think she knows what she's taking on."
"Maybe what she's doing is normal for her situation." He supposed loosely. "It could well be her way of using it as an outlet for how demanding looking after a baby is."
She giggled a little at what he said. "You sound like a shrink."
"I don't honestly know why she does what she does." He shrugged. "It could be anyone's guess. But in my opinion, she's not doing any harm and I shouldn't worry about it."
"But she can't keep doing it."
"I don't think she will." He reassured her. "Everyone has their ways of using something as an outlet to take their mind off something else, don't they? Like Clara – she writes to express the way she feels."
"On that note," Karen took a small mouthful of wine, "Chris, she's absolutely beautiful."
"Well…" Chris shyly cast his gaze to the floor. "We did both try really hard…"
"I think it's fair to say she got her good looks from her daddy."
"She and Harry seemed to have got on quite well from what I can see." He noted, seeing them sit on the grass together.
She nodded softly. "He gets on well with most kids." She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "As for us…"
"What about us?" He was wary that Tom wasn't far away and could probably see what the two of them were doing. That was if he'd either given up playing with the matches or gotten one of them to light the barbeque.
She leant further forward, pressing her lips to his. "I think we get on very well together." She noted huskily, caressing the dewy-soft skin under his jaw. "Well enough to do things like this…" She moved her hands to his hips, working them around the back to either side of his rear.
What she'd felt was incredible.