Ella smiled at Roman and ran a teasing finger down his chest.
"Stop!" he ordered. "I'm exhausted!" he grouched.
"I'm sorry, did someone say stop?" Ella laughed and started tickling him.
He grabbed hold of her hands and rolled them both over, pinning her arms above her head.
"Now what was it you were trying to say?" he asked her.
She looked at him with a smirk on her lips.
"I was saying..." she paused for effect "…who was it that said stop?"
Roman leant down and kissed her, trailing kisses down her neck and across her collarbone to the hollow at the base of her throat. He kept one hand pinning hers above her head while the other one familiarised itself with the sweep of her stomach before caressing her hip and round to cup her buttock in his hand. She responded by lifting her leg and rubbing her foot up his calf.
She heard him moan and smirked.
"You are wicked!" he accused her with a laugh. He raised his hand and spanked her playfully.
"Come on, I'm starving and I know you haven't eaten for ages." He told her.
She made a moue of disappointment but let him pull her up from the bed. She pulled on a fresh pair of panties because she noticed the pair she had been wearing earlier were now dangling from the light fitting, and topped it off with one of his T-shirts. He laughed and pointed out that it was on the wrong way round, as he pulled on a pair of faded jeans he'd found in the back of his wardrobe.
"I'm sure you'll take it off me later!" she commented with a shrug.
He held out her bathrobe.
"I'm fine." She told him.
"Put it on." He instructed.
"Stop fussing." She said grumpily, but could tell from the light in his eye that she wasn't going to win. She accepted the bathrobe and pulled it on, muttering something uncomplimentary under her breath.
"El please. " he said.
"I've been taking care of myself for a good many years Roman." She said haughtily.
"Yes, but now that's my job so I'd appreciate it if you were to let me do it!" he told her and smiled, expecting her to smile at the humour.
She pushed away the hand he'd placed on her arm.
"El?" he said puzzled.
"I really want you to stop fussing over me." She said folding her arms across herself.
He walked to the chest of drawers across the room and took out a T-shirt and pulled it on, slamming the drawer shut after. He turned back to her and saw that she was crying.
"El?" he said and walked over to her. He tried to take her in his arms but she shrugged his touch off.
"You should have told me." She said eventually.
"What?" he asked patiently, although he felt far from patient at the moment.
"About Lindsay." She said.
"About?" he began to say then stopped. He thought back to earlier today and her comment about getting other woman pregnant. "El please. " he said finally not really knowing what to say to make this better.
"Why did I have to learn about it from someone other than you?" she sank down to sit on the bed.
He walked over to sit beside her.
"Yes, I can imagine that hurt but I don't think this is just about that I think that we have had a lot going on today." He said calmly. If only he felt calm, he thought He put his arm around her and wouldn't let her move away from him. "Tell me about what happened Ella?" he asked.
"No." she shook her head, fresh tears falling. "You don't deserve to know about it. You weren't there. "
"Ella, honey, I know. And don't you think that if I'd known I wouldn't have done everything I could." He pulled her onto his lap and cradled her in his arms. "You are so strong to have coped with taking care of Mike and Jennie and not only with losing Michael but losing our baby too." He kissed the top of her head as he felt her begin to cry harder. "Maybe we did get married too quickly because we didn't get the chance to say some of the big important stuff before we were living together."
She sobbed harder.
"Hey!" he said. "That doesn't mean that…" he stopped. He caught hold of her face in-between his hands and raised her face to his. He used his thumbs to wipe the tears from her face. "I love you El, and I want you as my wife. You have made me so happy." He told her looking deep into her tear-drenched eyes. "Except perhaps right now because you are kind of scaring me. I don't know if I can say the right thing to you." He added softly.
Her lips moved as though she was saying something but no words came out. She caught hold of his hands and pushed them away from her then stood up and walked away from him into the bathroom.
"Great!" he said to himself. "You handled that really well Harris!" He walked slowly down the stairs and into the kitchen where he poured himself a large glass of wine and then sat down at the table in the back patio. He sipped the wine slowly feeling completely helpless.
He looked up and saw Ella standing in the doorway. He held out his hand to her and she walked over and took it. She sat next to him on the little seat, curling up so that the bathrobe covered her feet. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. She held out her hand for his glass and he let her take it and drink, watching as she wriggled her nose at the taste. She hated red wine but she always took a drink of his. She handed back the glass and pretended not to notice his smile.
"You scared me." He told her.
"I don't know where that came from. One minute I was really happy and the next I was so sad." She explained. She reached a hand up to his face and turned his head towards her. Leaning up she placed a kiss on his lips.
He put the glass on the table and pulled her tight against him kissing her deeply. She wound her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Your not going to start crying again are you?" he asked softly.
She sighed.
"I don't think so but who knows what will happen tonight!" she said snuggling against him and pressing her lips to a special spot on his neck.
He chuckled softly.
"I think we better get you fed before you start anything else!" he groaned.
She flinched at the mention of food and felt an unbidden rush of nausea run through her.
"El?" he questioned.
"I don't think I want anything to eat." She said and carefully put her feet on the floor.
"Sorry sweetheart you need to eat something even if its just a cracker." He stood and pulled her to her feet so that she stood next to him. He tugged her hand and pulled her into the kitchen after him.
"Sit." He instructed and walked over to the fridge taking out a bottle of water and handing it to her.
She lifted the lid and took a long swallow before placing the bottle on the table watching as he pulled a packet of crackers from out of a cupboard. He placed a couple on a plate and put them in front of her. She picked one up, knowing that he wouldn't accept her not eating. She took a small bite and swallowed. The saltiness seemed to settle her stomach and she was able to eat both crackers. He placed another on her plate despite the shake of her head.
She glared at him but he just sat opposite her with his arms folded across his chest and she eventually picked up the cracker and ate it.
"Thank you." He said.
She took several long drinks of water feeling it soothe her throat.
"Now go up to bed and I'll be up soon." He instructed.
She lifted her chin and a fiery look came into her eyes.
"Please" he added with a grin standing up.
She stood and placed a kiss on his cheek as she walked through the lounge to the stairs. She turned to say something and suddenly crumpled to the floor in a dead faint seeming in slow motion. He watched horror stuck and shouted out her name.
"Ella!" he cried running towards her. He cradled her gently in his arms and pushed her hair from her face checking she was still breathing. He lifted her up and placed her to lie on the sofa. Her hands were so cold he thought. She had felt so cold all day. He reached for his phone in his pocket before remembering it was upstairs.
He took the stairs two at a time and flipped open the phone and dialled as he ran back down the stairs.
Rachel answered on the third ring.
"Hello." She said.
"She collapsed." he blurted. "She just crumpled."
"Roman?" Rachel questioned. "Wait I'll be over in a few minutes."
He dropped the phone without disconnecting it and went and knelt beside her.
"Come on El." He said stroking her hands and face. "Wake up love."
Rachel found them five minutes later. She let herself in and walked over to the sofa. Roman stood and stepped away to let her examine her.
"Has she eaten anything today?" Rachel asked.
"Just some crackers, just now. She's had plenty to drink. I don't think she ate anything else." His voice broke with emotion.
She pulled out a stethoscope and checked her heart and breathing, then checked her blood pressure.
"Ok, I'm pretty sure this is just a faint. " she confirmed. "Everything seems normal."
Ella started to open her eyes, issuing a sick sounding moan. She eased up and looked up.
"Hey there." Rachel said to her. "Welcome back. Do you think you could try to sit up? Roman could you get her a glass of water?" she sent him out of the room.
"What happened?" Ella asked.
"You fainted." Rachel said. "I want you to come in for a full check up tomorrow."
"Ok. " Ella said and managed to sit up.
Roman brought through a glass off water.
"What do you think is wrong?" Roman asked.
"Well we won't know more until we do some tests it could be a virus, which is most likely or it could be stress. " Rachel told them.
"Or it could be something serious." Ella said.
"It could be, but I think we need to rule out the simple things first before we start jumping to conclusions. " Rachel reassured them. "Now how do you feel?" she asked her.
"I feel ok." Ella confirmed.
"No sign of dizziness?" Rachel asked her.
"No."
"Ok then. I will leave you to it. If anything happens between now and the morning I'm only a phone call away." She said and picked up her bag and walked out closing the door behind her.
Ella placed the glass on the table and held out her hands to Roman. He pulled her upright.
"Ok?" he asked.
"Yes. " she replied. She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek and turned and walked slowly up the stairs. He stood at the bottom and watched her before reaching down and collecting his phone from where he'd dropped it, a worried look on his face.