Chapter 4

'She has severe concussion, I'm afraid.' Daniel informed Bo. 'And two cracked ribs.'

'I want to see her.' Bo said.

Daniel wasn't thrilled with the idea. 'She's still unconscious, Bo. Besides, Mel's with her right now.'

'Listen, I'm not scared of your daughter. She can't stop me from seeing Carly; she's just going to have to put up with it.'

'Uh, shouldn't we do what the doctor here says, after all he knows best...'

'I don't remember asking your opinion.' Bo snapped, glaring at him. While they waited for Daniel, he'd let the suited imbecile have it full throttle; vowing to arrest him if Carly sustained serious injuries. On the ride to the hospital, he'd held her head on his lap, willing for her to be fine; terrified she might never wake up. 'You just butt out; you've done more than enough!' Turning his back to him, Bo faced Daniel. 'I'm not leaving until I see her so you might as well let me.'

'Alright, but one minute Bo; one.' Daniel stressed, indicating the room by the left. Without a word, Bo left the two men alone.

'Doctor.' The driver moved forward. 'She walked right in front of my car, I couldn't stop on time! I really feel awful... is she going to be alright? I mean no internal injuries or anything like that?'

'She's going to be fine, don't worry about that.' Daniel assured him. 'At least you both got here on time. And I'm sure it happened how you said it did. Carly... well, she's still getting over a very painful breakup so she was probably preoccupied.'

The man looked confused. 'You mean to say that cop's her ex? Because it sure looks to me he's still in love with her.'

'Actually he's the police commissioner and I'm sorry I can't tell you more than that, Mr. ...?'

'Delfino, Tony Delfino. I'm going to be here for a while on business. Look, if I can't see her today, can I see her tomorrow?'

'I see no reason why not. Come back tomorrow Mr. Delfino, I'm sure she'll be conscious by then.' Daniel assured him.

Meanwhile in Carly's room Bo was having a faceoff with his ex sister-in-law who was furious by his presence. 'Get out of this room right now.'

'Let's not do this now, Mel. I don't need your permission or anyone else's to see Carly if I want to. She's still important to me.'

'Just important enough to warm your bed!' Melanie said, scathingly.

Daniel fortunately entered before Bo could dish out an angry retort. 'Mel, come on.' He held out his hand.

'I'm not leaving her alone with him.' Melanie snapped.

'Mel, now.' Was the quiet but firm instruction. Shooting Bo a dirty look, she reluctantly obeyed. Bo barely heard Daniel's reminder about only having a minute; he took a seat beside Carly who was propped against several pillows and hooked to an IV; a bandage covering the wound on her forehead and a brace round her neck. Bo's tears ran freely as he stroked her bruised cheek with his knuckles, not speaking for a while.

'You're so beautiful,' he whispered at last. 'Exactly like the first time I laid eyes on you. And I was such a jerk that day; even with what was going on with my life then I couldn't keep the colour of your eyes out of my mind.'

Carly didn't respond. She couldn't hear him.

'I'm so sorry, Princess.' He sobbed, stroking her hair. 'Believe me I am! You're an unexpected gift. You've always been... you're more important to me than you realise. I can't go through life with you hating me. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you; a way I could get you to forgive me...' voice breaking, he took her hand, pressing his lips against it.

Daniel knocked on the door. 'Time's up, Bo. She needs to rest.'

Wiping his eyes, he kissed Carly on the cheek then lightly on the lips. Daniel watched him, his expression impassive. Inwardly, he regarded Bo as both a fool and a very confused man.

'You call me if there's any improvement.'

'Sure man, sure.'

'You rest now, princess. I'll be back.' He whispered in her ear.

Jennifer walked up to Bo as soon as he closed the door behind him, a harried expression on her face. 'Daniel told me you were there when she was run over.'

'Yeah, I was.'

She hesitated. 'Can you tell me what happened?'

Bo rubbed his eyes. 'We... ran into each other outside the Pub and we ended up fighting.'

'What were you arguing about?'

'What do you think, Jen?' he snapped, irritably. 'Like you even have to ask me!'

'Bo, I tried to warn Carly. I told that you and Hope will always be connected.'

'You told her that?' he barked.

'Yes I did and I was right, wasn't I?' Jennifer snapped back. 'I didn't want you and Hope to spilt up but I also didn't want Carly to get hurt; no matter what, she's still my friend and I know she wasn't responsible for the trouble between you two. But you and Hope have so many years together, I wasn't sure you were committed enough to Carly to throw it all away. If she didn't come back...'

'Let's not go there, alright?' Bo interrupted swiftly. 'This whole mess started when Hope took Ciara and walked out of our house. Everyone pointed fingers and Carly ended up getting hurt. Feelings can't be denied but it makes me far worse than Larry because she trusted me and I let her down!'

Jennifer bit her lip. 'Then you should've closed one door tight before opening another. On the other hand and I hate to say this about Carly, she made her choice the day she left Salem with Lawrence and Nicky.'

Bo flinched, his brown eyes looking daggers at Jennifer. 'You weren't there that day, so don't you dare talk about something you know nothing about.'

He walked away without saying goodbye. No one knew what happened on the boat the day he and Carly parted ways because he never told anyone; not even Shawn Douglas. He could still remember sitting on the deck holding the solitaire ring she'd tearfully returned to him hours after she'd left the boat; when he'd had no more tears to shed. Finally he'd resignedly thrown it into the river.

Ending things with Carly and almost losing her today brought back the agonising pain he'd felt that day. It was too late going over what he should and shouldn't have done; but she was still a part of him even though he couldn't be with her. Love would be a whole lot easier if only someone didn't get hurt in the long run.

:::::::::::::

When Carly finally opened her eyes, somebody was gently stroking her hair and whispering soothing words. She moved, wincing at the excruciating pain in her head. She opened her eyes warily after it subsided.

'Mum? Mum... can you hear me? It's Melanie.'

Carly peered at her daughter through half opened eyes, everything was fuzzy. 'Mel?' she whispered as Melanie slowly came to focus.

'Yes, Mum.' Melanie sounded tearful. 'I'm right here.' Inwardly she thanked God with all her might.

'What happened... where am I?'

'You're in the hospital, Mum... you had an accident. No, don't do that.' She prevented Carly from touching her throbbing head.

'Accident?'

'You walked in front of a car. You've had us all worried,' Melanie sniffled, 'it's been two days since you've been out cold. Adrienne and Jennifer left half an hour ago, I promised to call them as soon as you came to.'

Part of the fog in her mind cleared. She dimly remembered arguing with Bo... then darkness.

'Bo brought me?'

'Him and the guy who ran you over. He came by yesterday after Bo left.'

'Bo was... here?'

Melanie's face clouded. 'Yeah. He would've camped here if Dad and Lexie had let him. He even brought roses... no don't.' She said firmly when Carly tried to turn her head towards the nightstand. 'Please don't try to move your head. You have concussion and two cracked ribs.'

Carly closed her eyes, trying to gather her weakened faculties together. 'Okay, okay... I'll be good.'

'Mum, I'm really worried about you.'

Carly opened her eyes again.

'What I mean is, I'm worried about your state of mind. When you came back from D.C I thought you've gotten over what happened. But what with the glass and then this, it's pretty obvious you haven't. Mum, you can't go on like this. Lexie's worried too, she's thinking maybe you need more time away. Just say the word and you'll get another month.'

'I don't need more time.' Carly protested. 'I'm going to be alright.'

'You're not!' Melanie insisted. 'I really thought being with your brother did you a lot of good. Mum, is there something you're not telling me?'

Carly was silent. Melanie looked at her miserably. 'I... I know I'm the last person you'd want to confide in after the way I treated you. But while you were away I swore to myself I was going to take care of you from now on. I'm begging you... what happened?'

Carly had kept secrets from Melanie for very good reasons and unfairly paid for them. She wasn't afraid of her daughter's reaction right now but Melanie's eyes were so anxious and worried that she relented. Maybe she would understand this time.

Slowly and quietly, she made her confession; letting Melanie know she'd been the one who'd pilfered the hospital's drug cabinet then wrote falsified prescriptions to continue her supply. Melanie's hold on her hand tightened as she was made aware why Carly had gone to D.C in the first place. But her lips trembled when Carly got to the part about her miscarriage , burying her face against Carly's bosom, sobbing. Carly's head was aching terribly from her effort but she hardly noticed; her daughter was sharing in her grief and a small part of her drew comfort from it.

Melanie finally raised her head, her cheeks wet with tears. 'Hope did drugs over something she brought on herself in the first place and everyone rallied round her like she was some helpless creature even after she hurt Bo and Brady and Roman... but you're the one who had to go through being left behind and everybody acting so hateful, including me! Can anybody call this justice?!'

'Melanie...'

'No, stop trying to make it easy with excuses! I made you apologise for giving me up, I didn't care about what you must have through after Lawrence didn't let you keep me; I made it all about me!' Melanie cried. ' And to think I gave you and Bo a hard time after Mickey died when I'm so much worse!'

'Honey...' Carly said weakly. 'You didn't do anything wrong with Nathan, Phillip had no right to do what he did...'

'I stole Phillip away from Stephanie!' she sobbed. 'I got between them, on purpose! Afterwards... I refused to follow what my heart said, that it was Nathan I really wanted. I brought my own troubles on myself and I acted like a self righteous hypocrite! How can you still love me, Mum?'

'Because I just do.' Was the soft, simple reply.

More tears slid down Melanie's cheeks. 'Oh Mum...' she whispered, so angry and sad at what her mother had gone through.

'Does... does Bo know? About the baby?'

'No. And I'm never going to tell him. Whatever regrets and guilt he has won't change anything.' Carly closed her eyes. The loss of her unborn child was a huge wound in her heart. He or she represented the one part of Bo Hope could never take away from her. During rehab she'd gotten some counselling and truly thought she was strong enough to return to Salem. Even if she did tell Bo, he'll still be married to Hope and their baby will still be dead.

'Mel, I really need to be alone now. I'm very tired...'

'Oh lord... look at me, keeping you up with all this talk. Here...' she adjusted the blankets over Carly, kissing her on the cheek. 'I can't change what happened but it's going to be alright from now on, I promise. I'll go tell Dad you're up.'

'Okay, honey.'

Carly lay in bed, her fevered mind fixed on Bo. Right now she was tired of being angry with him, being angry only got her injured. But all the same she could never pretend their time together never happened. Maybe she should consider moving to D.C.

Yet, she was no weakling. The drugs made her forget who she was, thus the need to save herself and get back on her feet, for her own sake as well as Mel's. All through the years of pain and loneliness before and after Salem, nothing broke her inside because she never allowed it. Lawrence realised too late when she'd stabbed him that all he'd done was hurt her body, not her spirit. And she wasn't going to allow hurt and disillusionment ruin her life now.

'I won't let anyone hurt you ever again.' Bo's eyes were sincere as he held her face between his hands. 'I love you; and I won't let anyone take you from me. Never.'

'You liar.' she whispered.