Chapter Twenty Eight
"It's alright, Robin, just take your time."
Alex's voice was every bit as soft and soothing as it had always been but Robin couldn't help thinking that she was going into psychologist mode. He couldn't look at her, nor at Simon whose hand was trying to hold his comfortingly, nor Gene who was wafting a large glass of brandy in front of his face.
"You don't have to talk if you don't want to." He heard Simon talking but he couldn't take in a word he was saying, "tell us when you're ready."
Ready? Was there ever a time to be ready to talk about something so gut-wrenching, so heart-breaking, so utterly devastating as losing it all? He didn't think he would ever be ready.
"Here. Get this down you."
The brandy that had been wafting in front of him came at him with a little more force and he practically inhaled the damn thing as it arrived right under his nose. For a truly horrible moment Robin thought Gene was going to force feed it to him. He took it before he could find it shoved up his nostril. It wasn't for some time that he realised he hadn't even said thank you. He felt like the rudest person who'd ever lived, but at the same time he knew too much time had passed now to tack on a 'thank you' out of thin air. He'd seem completely stupid.
"Can you at least tell us what happened to Kim?" Alex asked quietly. Finally Robin looked up. It was the first time he'd moved his gaze anywhere but the floor for the last half an hour. He saw a strong sense of concern on her face. "Is she alive? Will she be alright?"
Robin closed his eyes.
"She's alive," he whispered, "and I don't know if she'll be alright."
"I don't understand," Simon rubbed Robin's hand but knew the gesture couldn't take away the pain, "you disappeared and then… it was only a few minutes, Rob, if that… how can six weeks have passed? And why did you come right back to where you vanished? Does… does that happen?" Simon turned to Gene. It was the first case he'd ever seen of that.
"Sam did," Gene said gruffly.
Simon rolled his eyes.
"Oh, Sam bloody Tyler, I should have known," he sighed.
Gene looked at him, vaguely mused.
"You really don't like him, do you?" he asked.
"Well he took the piss out of me the first time I met him," Simon cried, "and he called me a prat. And then he had a go at me for not getting there sooner when I followed you all the way up here to stop you from going to the bloody pub! It's like he's got it in for me!"
"Don't be so bloody soft," sighed Gene, "you're just pissed off because he wears a leather jacket better than you do."
"I'm not and he doesn't," Simon mumbled childishly.
"It was so bright."
Everyone turned to Robin, surprised to hear him speak at last. His eyes were still fixed downward. He wasn't ready to look anyone in the eye yet. He focused on the glass in his hand, on the floor, on the blood stain on the knee of his trousers, anything to stop him from looking anyone in the eye.
"What's that, Robin?" Alex said quietly.
Robin took a deep breath.
"I felt the light before I saw it," he said, his voice barely above a whisper and shaking with every word, "and I knew what was coming. I remember it… you know, from when I went back before." He didn't look up so he didn't see Alex and Simon nodding slowly. They both knew what that was like. "It was so strong, so powerful… the light just engulfed me completely and then… then there was this split second…" he swallowed, trying to force himself to keep going, "this split second where I knew I was back and I knew who was standing right beside me, and I didn't know how I was going to stop him from pulling the trigger." With a trembling hand he slowly lifted the glass to his lips and gulped down a warming mouthful of brandy. It made his throat tingle and burn. "Turned out, all I had to do was open my eyes."
~xXx~
It was the last thing Layton had been expecting, for the eyes of the man with the gun to his temple to suddenly open and for Robin to be wide awake.
"Oh shit!" Layton stumbled backwards. What the fuck was this? How could Robin be awake? He'd been out cold for weeks, those eyes had been tightly closed. It made no sense – "Fuck!" His lank, matted hair and the stubble on his face were no mask. He may have looked a great deal worse for wear than the Layton that Robin had given chase to but on the inside it was the same desperate, twisted man, just worlds apart.
What do I do?
What the hell do I do?
Can't scream… can't seem to make a sound…
Can I move?
…Nope, not enough.
Oh fuck, now what? I'm back, but there's nothing I… nothing I can do –
He needn't have worried because with drugs in his system but very little food or drink his balance wasn't the best it had ever been and as he stumbled backwards he managed to crash into an equipment trolley, causing enough of a disturbance to alert the nurses on night duty.
"Are you sure it came from this room?"
"It was from this direction, yes."
"But that's Mister Thomas's room and he's –"
A growl and a cry from Layton struck Robin's ears as he pushed a nurse to the ground and fled from the room. Robin couldn't see them… he could only hear their voices –
"That was him, that was definitely him –"
"Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine… just bruised my backside…. Quickly, raise the alarm… get security… call the police…"
"Oh, great week to take the guard off the door."
"It's a good thing the patient wouldn't be able to – oh… oh goodness, hang on…"
Footsteps... footsteps drawing closer… slowly closer…
A din of bells and sirens started to ring out around the hospital as the alarm was raised, and a face loomed into view above him.
"Robin?" the young nurse had a warm and friendly smile despite the shock she'd just faced, "Hello, Robin. I see you're back with us?"
I am?
I AM…
"Alright, Robin, here's what I need to do – I'm just going to check a couple of things and then I'm going to bring the doctor in. He'll check you over properly and we'll see how you're doing." Her face was a comfort, a complete contrast to the manic eyes of Layton. "Well done. Robin. You made it."
Robin felt his heart thumping away in his chest. He breathed in and smelt the clinical cleanliness of the hospital. He stared at the light above him and saws swirling patterns of colour in his vision. He was alive.
I made it back.
~xXx~
"They'd only taken the police protection away from my room the week before," Robin's voice was still trembling. Half the brandy had disappeared down his neck and he described to the others how Layton had been scared away by something as simple as opening his eyes. "Weeks… weeks must have passed very quickly after Alex got home. It was four weeks to the day she died." He drank some more brandy and lowered the glass, where a moment later the bottle loomed large to offer a refill. "thanks," Robin remembered to whisper this time.
"How long had you been unconscious?" Simon asked quietly.
"Almost two months," Robin whispered, "it was almost the end of February." He swallowed, trying to keep himself as calm as possible but it wasn't easy. Not when he'd just had his whole life taken away.
"Did you manage to recover?" Alex whispered, her long and painful fight to get back on her feet in 2011 clear in her mind.
"Quicker than I thought I would," Robin whispered, "but I had a good incentive.
~xXx~
He'd been staring at the clock almost from the moment he awoke. When the hell was she going to get there? When were they going to allow her to see him? Had anyone even called her yet or were they waiting until a more respectable hour? He supposed when someone tried to kill you in the early hours of the morning there was likely to be a wait for the rest of the world to wake up to that fact.
"Oh my god, Rob –"
Or maybe not.
The sound of her voice turned his world upside down. It set his heart in a loop-the-loop spin and made his whole body tingle with elation.
Oh my God, Kim…
He tried to turn his head but his body wasn't co-operating yet. He managed to twist it a smidgen but it moved right back. Damnit. He tried again. It only moved around by a few degrees but it allowed him to see her just a little better as she stepped through the doorway. For just a moment she froze on the spot. She stared at him. His eyes were wide open. Oh god, how she'd dreamed of that. How desperate she'd been to see that. Her legs almost went from under her as she saw them; the dark brown eyes that spoke so deeply to her soul.
Quite suddenly she found herself drawn to him like metal to a magnet and she ran across the room with an explosion of tears that ran down her cheeks. She cried out his name again and again as her arms quickly cradled his head and her lips moved towards his. He couldn't move enough to kiss her back but the sensation of her lips against his brought all the life back into his body. He yearned for control of his body and his voice again. Oh god, there was so much he wanted to say, so much he needed to tell her. He felt his eyes misting over as she sat down beside him and gripped his hand. Shit – he didn't want that to happen! He wanted to be able to see her clearly. He blinked a few times and cleared his vision enough to see her face smiling back at him.
There it was; that smile.
His prize. His reward for getting home.
"Shit, Rob," she whispered. He could hear her voice wavering as she fought hard to keep the tears away, "what the hell took you so long? Don't tell me, you got lost on the latte run?" She wasn't sure but she thought she saw his lips flicker just slightly upwards in a smile.
He stared at her. He listened as she explained that he was still mostly paralysed from his medication and that he would regain more feeling and movement soon. He stared at her features, committing every inch of her face to memory. Most of all he just laid back while his mind screamed a silent thank you to both worlds for allowing him back.
The line about absence making the heart grow fonder? Yeah, it was totally true.
~xXx~
"She stayed all day," he whispered, "they tried to make her go home to sleep, she wasn't having it. Stole an extra armchair from somewhere, managed to make a makeshift bed, slept beside me all night." He took another mouthful of brandy and let it swill around his mouth before he swallowed it. His tongue was a little numb now. It didn't make talking any easier, especially when he was still shaking like crazy. "Was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen, the moment she ran towards me. Can't even believe they called her in the night. Must have got her up at a stupid hour… her hair was a mess and she said she's put odd socks on by accident,…. Didn't matter," the saddest of smiles washed over his face as he thought about her.
"Oh Robin," Alex whispered, her heart breaking for him. He'd fought so hard – how could life have been this cruel?
"Saw the bump right away," he whispered, "she was wearing one of my shirts… trying to hide it a bit I suppose. Couldn't hide it from me though." There was one tear that escaped as he spoke. He reached up and knocked it away crossly. "Oh god, I'd never felt anything like it, the emotions I felt at that moment… I just… I just wanted to reach out and touch it, to make sure it was all real, after what we'd gone through before. I managed to move my fingertips a little and tried to point," he gave the most distant of laughs while his tears started to edge back into play, "she told me she didn't 'speak' finger. " He closed his eyes. The reality of the situation was crushing him, pressing down on his chest and making it hard to breathe. "By the next day I could talk at last and move a little… I… I don't think we stopped talking all day. I mean, I didn't want to stop. I needed to hear her voice, all the time. It helped me to know that I was really there… that she was really beside me." He finally looked up at Alex. "I gave her your message," he whispered, then turned to Gene, "and yours, about the scotch," he swallowed, "she told me.. she told me what she did for you…"
Alex and Gene looked to each other for a moment.
"It wasn't for me to tell you, Robin," Alex said quietly.
"What…. What did she do?" Simon asked.
"She helped me home," Alex said simply.
"Yeah, I knew that, but –" Simon began but Gene shook his head.
"Not the time, Shoebury," he said grimly.
Robin barely heard.
"We started filling in the blanks," he said quietly, "I told her everything that happened after I woke up here. She told me everything that happened since the day I was shot." He stared at the ring on his hand, "even finally got to make the engagement official," his voice cracked over those words. It was something that broke his heart to remember as he realised wedding rings would never have a chance to join the engagement ones on their fingers.
~xXx~
"I don't know where the hell it's gone –"
"Robin… hey, Rob, calm down."
"Kim, thank god you're back, I just woke up a few minutes ago and it had gone."
"What had?"
"My ring! I reached down to play with it and it had gone."
"Well it's not a toy, Rob, that was your first mistake…"
"You know what I mean!"
"Robin –"
"I looked all over… I had the nurses turn out the bed and everything in case it fell off in the night –"
"Oh no, Rob, you didn't?"
"Someone must have stolen it."
"I think you might be jumping to conclusions here."
"It had to be that bloody Layton!"
"Why would he steal your ring?"
"Because he likes sneaking into my hospital room!"
"He did that once and he was going to kill you. I don't think he's on the lookout for finely engraved jewellery."
"Why aren't you more upset about this, Kim?"
"Well –"
"You bought me this ring… It means so much… meant so much to me. And now…"
"Rob, listen."
"What?"
"Do you really not know what's happened?"
"Does it look like I do?"
"Have you no idea what the date is today?"
"Date? No."
"Shit. Rob, you do know this is a leap year, right?"
"It is?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
"And you do know what happens on leap day, right?"
"If you're expecting me to leap out of bed you've got a while to wait yet."
"Shut up and look here."
"…?"
"See?"
"Wha – that's my ring… what did… why did you take it back? I mean, what – oh… oh my god…"
"Are you getting the picture now?"
"I… I think so."
"Good. Because I think we need to make this official. So someone's got to ask the question…"
~xXx~
"She told me not to make her get down on one knee because she'd never be able to get back up," Robin whispered. A tear dripped right into his brandy. He moved the glass away. He didn't want that getting diluted.
"It sounds beautiful," Alex said quietly. She looked at Robin with concern. His face was contorted with a mix of memories that warmed him and a gut-wrenching sadness that he couldn't bear.
"It took two weeks before they let me home. I thought it would be longer but I worked really hard at getting stronger. And besides," he glanced up guiltily. "I pulled an Alex."
"I've patented my 'I'm fine' face," Alex teased, "I'll start charging royalties."
Robin gave her the tiniest smile.
"There was damage," he whispered, "permanent damage from the bullet. I was in so much pain. Took so many painkillers I thought I was going to start rattling. My walking… it wasn't going very well. I had to use sticks. But at least I was out and home. Back in my bed. Back in my kitchen. The night I cooked for the first time, that was when I really believed it."
"Believed what?" Simon asked quietly.
"That I was alive."
~xXx~
"Shit, I've missed your cooking."
"'I've missed cooking it. I didn't get a lot of chance to cook in ninety seven. Nor in the hospital."
"Yeah, sorry they wouldn't let me bring you the bloody Easy Bake oven you asked for…"
"Look, can you stop bringing that up? They'd just changed my medication, I didn't know what I was saying!"
"That would explain the three choruses of Echo Beach you serenaded me with as well."
"How about you shut up and eat your pizza?"
"How about you shut up or I'll pierce your arse?"
"The arses are back! The arses are back!"
~xXx~
"That was the kind of thing I'd missed so much," Robin whispered, "just… being stupid. Picking on each other. Hearing her laugh." He sipped his brandy and rubbed his eyes. "I'd been home about a week when Kim went back to work. Light duties. She was getting bigger by then. I think she was glad to get back to it, even though her DCI kept hassling her about that fast track thing and DS Fullerton was trying to start a campaign to clear the name of DI March over the whole… Nick Nailer cut out business. I think he'd ben inspired by Beard Relief."
Alex turned cold.
"They actually went through with that?" she whispered.
Robin nodded.
"It was a partial success," he said, "Lots of people donated… unfortunately an equal number of people were so distressed and traumatised by the show that pretty much all the profits went on lawsuits to provide compensation to those affected. But the message behind the campaign seemed to get across and Evan is growing a new beard as we speak."
"Why do I suddenly have the strangest urge to buy a new razor?" Gene mumbled.
"When I'd been home for a couple of weeks Kim had her scan," Robin whispered. He closed his eyes as it became harder to speak, "they told us it was a girl. Fit, healthy and strong. She teased me that I should have been the one on the table, getting the scan done. Said I was going to give birth to a big tin of beans." He looked at Alex, "While we were there… while we were in the hospital…" he paused and swallowed, "she took me to see her." He bit his lip, "your baby." The look on Alex's face broke his heart all over again. He didn't know if he'd done the right thing by telling her that. He saw her eyes immediately filling with tears and her lower lip began to tremble. "She's beautiful, Alex," he whispered, knowing full well his own eyes were filling all over again, "so tiny, but fighting. Fighting so hard. They gave Kim hassle at first, stopped her from seeing her because she wasn't a relative. But they relented eventually and Kim visited her every day."
"By 'relented'," Gene began, "you mean –"
"Were scared of Kim, yes," Robin nodded. He looked back at Alex. "Alex?" she looked up at him, tears silently falling, "there's one other thing you need to know. About your baby…"
~xXx~
They both felt out of place sitting in stuffy clothes in the middle of the solicitor's office. Kim looked like she'd been forced into the outfit to go to Sunday school and Robin thought he looked like he was going to a funeral.
"While adoption isn't our main area of expertise I am sure we'll be able to help you here," the solicitor scanned a document before him, "your close friendship with the child's deceased mother and the fact that you were the representative adults involved in her own care are both weighing heavily on your side."
"What about the pregnancy?" Robin asked, "Will this affect our chances?"
"It's unusual," the solicitor admitted, "but quite often the situation occurs the other way around. A couple will be going through the adoption process before discovering they're having a baby of their own, quite often by surprise in cases where the woman has been told she's unlikely to be able to have children naturally. I shouldn't think that this will complicate matters. "
Instinctively they reached out to each other and linked hands
"Do you really think that we have a good chance?" Kim asked quietly.
"You have a lot to offer an adopted child," the solicitor said, "secure income, stable home life – if you're happy for me to proceed I'll put the wheels in motion and begin the process."
Robin and Kim looked to one another, their smiles anxious but excited.
"Let's do this," Robin whispered.
~xXx~
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," Robin whispered as he watched Alex frantically wiping away tears.
"No, no," she whispered, reaching for a tissue and not finding any, "No, you had to, I'm glad you did, Robin. I… you both…" she closed he eyes and took a staggered breath. She fought the tears as hard as she could but she started to cry and knew it would be hard to stop.
"What happens now?" Gene's tone was low and quiet and his face was grim, "now you're here?"
"I don't know," Robin whispered, "I don't know whether Kim will be able to go ahead with the adoption… Oh god, I hope so. It's the only thing… the only thing…"
He stopped and closed his eyes tightly, gripping his glass for dear life. He knew he had to calm right down if he was going to continue. He took a very deep breath and let it out slowly. It didn't help that much but he tried again and again until finally he felt able to continue. He looked back at the floor.
"We tried to get back to normal," he whispered, "or as normal as things ever got. We looked for a bigger place, we were going to start viewing properties. Started to plan the wedding. I went for a visit at work, got given another stupid award to add to my collection along with the anti-beard award and the lump of shitty plastic I got for catching Nailer. Spent half my time cooking, getting back into my kitchen. I had to cook all the time to keep Kim's stomach quiet, shit - that eating for two thing isn't a load of bollocks, is it?" He downed the rest of his brandy and placed the glass on the floor between his feet. "I was even going to start going back to the gym, spoke to an instructor about therapeutic exercise to help get my strength back with the injury I had. And I," he paused and flinched for a moment at the memory, "and I even –" he rolled up his sleeve slowly. The bottom of a piece of artwork peered out, "She drew this for me while I was unconscious," he whispered, "I'm so glad I was able… so glad I had the chance…"
He felt a hand on his arm as Simon reached out gently to give him the support and strength to go on.
"She's got a real talent," he said quietly.
Robin looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected a compliment for Kim to come from Simon.
"She has," he nodded slowly. His head turned again and his eyes focused on the ground. "Six weeks," he whispered, "almost six weeks to the day I woke up…" he saw Gene filling his glass again. He was grateful for that.
"Here," Gene said gruffly as the glass found its way into his hand.
"Thanks," he whispered. He took a deep breath, his voice quiet and disjointed as though trying to disconnect himself from the memory. "It was just a normal morning. We made breakfast. Took the piss out of each other. Had a conversation about which Pokémon Gene would never be able to ca-" He glanced guiltily at Gene, "I mean, discussed how Gene would be an excellent Pokémon master…"
"That's more like it," said Gene.
"And I just kissed her and waved her off to work. Normal day. No idea what was about to happen." He swallowed as his hands began to shake all over again. "I-I saw it on the news before I even got the call. They didn't say who had died or who had been injured. I started trying to call her, I was scared shitless."
"What happened, Rob?" Simon asked quietly.
"Layton was totally unhinged by then," he whispered, "Whether it was a slow decline in his mental state from the years of drug abuse or everything he'd done…" he shook his head, "he'd changed his appearance. Cut his hair, grew a beard… I hope that wasn't an Evan thing… all so he wouldn't be recognised." He took a deep breath. "He called in an old favour, so they say, to get inside the station. Some copper with a habit actually agreed. Thought Layton was going for the seized goods. Didn't realise he was trying to seize lives."
"Was he going after Kim?" Alex whispered.
"That's the theory," Robin whispered. His speech became broken with tears as he continued. "No one was prepared, so… so when he walked in and just… just opened fire… no one was prepared to respond. DCI Huston was the first to take a bullet. They think he died almost instantly. But he didn't stop there, he just carried on firing until he had no bullets left, and even then it didn't stop him. Amazing how much strength desperation can give you. One officer he punched so hard that he hit his head against the wall… cracked his skull."
"What happened to Kim?" Alex whispered.
Robin's head lowered. His voice became strained.
"He shot her twice," he whispered, "in the stomach."
The audible gasp that came from the others in the room would almost have been funny if it hadn't been for the circumstanced. Synchronised gasping. He couldn't bear to look at their faces. He could barely stand to carry on talking. His hands shook and his voice trembled as he whispered, "Yes. Before you ask, she lost the baby."
"Fuck," Simon found himself raising his hands to his head. He felt sick as Robin's words sank in. It didn't matter what his own thoughts about Robin and Kim had been, or how horrified he was at the thought of them procreating, he would never, ever have wished this upon them. Not for a moment.
"Oh my god," Alex's voice was tearful as she absorbed the facts.
"She lost so much blood, no one knows how she survived," Robin whispered. The tears were falling so fast that his face was awash with them. "There was massive internal injury and bleeding. She was under the knife for hours while they patched her up. It took her forty-eight hours to regain consciousness. I don't know if I moved from her bed for more than five minutes."
"Robin," Gene's use of his name made him look up, "Stringer… when she was out… did she…?"
Robin knew what he was asking.
"No," he shook his head, "At least, she didn't think so."
"What do you mean?"
Robin closed his eyes.
"She couldn't explain."
~xXx~
"Did you… I mean, were you there?"
"No. I… I don't think so. It's all so much of a blur."
"What do you mean, Kim?"
"I… I don't even know myself. I remember some things… I think I was somewhere but –"
"But what?"
"It certainly wasn't Fenchurch East."
~xXx~
"She talked of darkness and pain," Robin whispered, "It scared her. It frightened the shit out of her. She'd come close to dying, more than once, and always felt like she was a whisker away from coming back here, but this was different and she couldn't understand why." He hung his head. "Losing the baby… It destroyed her. I don't think she stopped crying once. The only way that I managed to…" he flinched as he thought about it, "was by focusing on the thought of catching that bastard. I begged to be allowed back to work to help with the manhunt. I did everything I could but they told me I was just too closely connected and I had to stay away." His face twisted up in devastation. "And look where staying away got me."
"What happened?" Alex asked gently.
"It was the first time I'd been home in four days," whispered Robin, "I didn't want to but the hospital made me. They insisted I got some rest. Plus, my feet were setting off the smoke detectors so they said I needed a shower." He swallowed. "I heard the sound of the door opening. I hadn't even thought to put the latch on and breaking in somewhere was no problem for someone like Layton." He shook his head. "He said it was personal now. He said there were voices in his head telling him to kill me. And although I tried to fight back… tried to stop him… I was still weak… I mean, my body was…" he trailed away and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He'd tried so hard.
"Robin, I'm so sorry," Alex whispered.
Robin swallowed. He drank a lot of brandy and closed his eyes. The alcohol was just starting to turn him numb. Good.
"He didn't even hesitate. He just fired, again and again," he whispered," I remember… I remember closing my eyes as soon as I knew he was going to fire. I didn't want to see the bullet heading my way… didn't want to see the blood. I could feel myself falling. The pain was so bad that it… it hit some other level, like it went way off the scale until I couldn't feel it any more. And then," he drew in a deep breath, "and then I opened my eyes. And I was right there. The doorway. Right where I vanished." He shook his head angrily as his bile began to rise. "I could hear him… hear his footsteps running into the darkness. I just followed, like I had some kind of inbuilt instinct where to go. It was so dark and as I went into one of the rooms he jumped me, but… but I guess my anger was stronger than his desperation because I threw him right off me and I fired. Honestly?" he looked up, "I wanted to kill the bastard. But I think I only hit his shoulder. It was so dark, I couldn't see properly anyway." He squeezed his eyes closed before he could start to cry again. "He dropped to the ground and started swearing his head off at me. I started to cuff him, and that's when…" he paused and drew in his breath, "that's when this little TV in the corner of the room switched on… just pinged into life. I saw them." He could hardly speak now, "the ambulance crew. They tried to revive me but it was… it was hopeless, and…" he swallowed, "and they stopped trying. Time of death, ten fourteen a.m. No sooner had they said so, the telly flicked off and that was that. My life. Over." His face began to crumble, "everything I cared about," his voice gave out, "gone."
He'd fought the tears so well but he couldn't fight them any longer. The sobs he descended into shook his body and filled the air with painful sounds. No one knew what to do. There were no words or actions that could take the pain away from him. There was nothing that could be said or done to help him when his world had ended after fighting so hard.
"I'm sorry –" that was all he could hear around him as three people realised that there was little else to say. All the arms around his shoulders and glasses of brandy thrust into his hands couldn't take away the fact that his fight had been for nothing.
Six more weeks; that was all he'd had.
But every moment of them would be engraved on his mind forever.
~xXx~
#...She takes the back road and the lane
Past the school that has not changed
In all this time
She thinks of when the boy was young
All the battles she had won
Just to give him life
That man
She loved that man
For all his life
But now we meet to take him flowers
And only god knows why
For what's the use in pressing palms
When children fade in mother's arms
It's a cruel world
We've so much to lose
And what we have to learn, we rarely choose
So if it's god who took her son
He cannot be the one living in her mind
Take care my love, she said
Don't think that god is dead
Take care my love, she said
You have been loved
If i was weak, forgive me
But i was terrified
You brushed my eyes with angels wings, full of love
The kind that makes devils cry
So these days
My life has changed
And i'll be fine
But she just sits and counts the hours
Searching for her crime
So what's the use of pressing palms
If you won't keep such love from harm
It's a cruel world
You've so much to prove
And heaven help the ones who wait for you
Well i've no daughters, i've no sons
Guess i'm the only one
Living in my life
Take care my love, he said
Don't think that god is dead
Take care my love, he said
You have been loved…#
~ You Have Been Loved – George Michael
~xXx~
A/N: Yes, I feel like an arsehole for doing this to Robin and Kim :( This chapter was written at stupid o'clock this morning when the two youngest members of the household decided to get an early start to the day. I am sort of thinking about writing a fic based on the six weeks Robin was home but I'm not sure yet. I don't know if anyone would even read it but there's such a lot I'd love to expand on from this chapter. Anyway, I promise lighter stuff in the next chapter so no tissues needed!