Chapter Twenty Four

Chloe glanced up as Danny walked back towards her a few moments later. As soon as he reached her, he quickly held out his hands to her and gently helped her to stand. Danny took the photo album from under her arm and placed it safely in her backpack.

"I found your teddy." Danny smiled, pulling it out of his pocket and showing it to her. She smiled slightly as she gazed at her only remaining present from the 'Eclipse' boys.

"I didn't realise Lee was in that band that you used to work for." he added, gazing at the photo of the five of them on the teddy's shirt. Chloe nodded slowly as Danny put the teddy in the backpack.

"I think I need to sleep." she told him quietly.

"You need to ask Lee if you can stay with him." he told her.

"No!" she said sharply.

"You can't sleep in the cold, you're not well." he argued.

"I'll be fine." she insisted.

"But you don't even have your blankets." he pointed out.

"Megan thinks that she might have a spare." she told him. Before he could say anything else, she slowly began the long walk back to her bench. Danny picked up her backpack and fell into step beside her. Chloe linked her arm through his, leaning on him for support as she walked.

"Isn't Lee going to be annoyed when he realises you've disappeared?" Danny asked.

"Yes probably, but tough. He's not in charge of me." she said quickly.

"If we don't lose him, he's not going to leave me alone in the park." she added.

"Good, you should go and stay somewhere warm." he sighed.

"I can't tell him that I'm sleeping rough." she said quietly.

"Why not?" he frowned.

"Why do you think, it's humiliating." she said.

"Surely if he's your friend, he won't judge you." he frowned.

"I don't know if he would or not." she said quietly, gritting her teeth at the pain in her abdomen as she walked. After what felt like an age, Chloe sighed in relief when she eventually sat on her bench. She closed her eyes taking slow, deep breaths, trying to control the intense pain that she was in. She felt Danny sit beside her, trying to provide some warmth as she began to shiver.

"Well, that was obvious." Danny muttered under his breath.

"What?" Chloe asked, slowly opening her eyes. Danny glanced at her and looked back across the park to where Lee was walking towards them.

"You do realise you're going to have to tell him." he told her.

"I can't." she muttered.

"Why did you wander off?" Lee asked as soon as he reached them.

"You don't have to follow me, Danny is back now, you can go back to your life." Chloe said quietly.

"I need to make sure that you get home safely." he told her, frowning in confusion as to why she was being so dismissive with him all of a sudden.

"It's fine, Danny will take me home." she snapped.

"Chloe...." Danny whispered, trailing off when she glared at him.

"Please just go Lee." Chloe whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"I can't leave you here." Lee said quietly. Chloe blinked slowly, sighing quietly as she felt warm tears slowly roll down her cheeks.

"Chloe, I know you don't want to, but you need to tell him." Danny prompted, glancing up at Lee as Chloe remained silent. Lee's eyes wandered across the park as he saw Megan walking towards them, carrying a blanket under her arm. Suddenly everything finally made sense in his head, the fact that Danny had 'allowed' her to be alone in the park late at night, the two of them knowing Megan, the fact that Danny had needed to steal clothes for Chloe to wear and finally the realisation that Chloe had been carrying around her belongings and clothes in her backpack.... clearly because they were all she had, and she had nowhere else to store them.

"Have you been sleeping rough Chloe?" Lee blurted before he could stop himself. Chloe hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground, wishing that it would swallow her up. She hadn't told anyone about her living situation because she was so embarrassed. Lee was the last person that she ever wanted to feel vulnerable in front of.

"How long for?" Lee asked quietly.

"Almost a year." she muttered, quickly wiping away the steady stream of tears that were flowing down her cheeks. Lee watched her sadly, his heart sinking as he thought of her sleeping on a park bench. She'd always seemed so small and vulnerable to him, like she needed someone to protect and take care of her, yet here she was struggling to get by on a daily basis. He could feel his stomach churning as he thought about the woman that he loved curled up on a bench, shivering every night, as she lay alone in the cold.

"Why didn't you tell me, I could have helped?" Lee whispered sadly, his voice breaking slightly.

"Like you would have cared." Chloe said quietly. She rested her head against Danny's shoulder, suddenly feeling very weak. Lee felt a pang of guilt at her words. He wished that he could find a way to tell her the real reason for him pushing her away and it had nothing to do with him hating her.

"You could help now, she needs somewhere to stay, she can't sleep outside in the cold." Danny quickly piped up.

"Of course, she can stay with me." Lee said quietly, feeling slightly pleased that he was able to do something to help, but wishing that he could do more.

"I don't need to stay with anyone, I'm fine here." Chloe argued.

"There is no way in hell, that you are spending another night in this god forsaken park." Lee said quickly.

"But I don't want to stay with you." she said quietly. Even though Lee had been good to her since she'd been in the hospital, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about living with him. She knew from experience that he could turn on a dime with no warning and she didn't have the strength to deal with his nasty comments and taunts.

"Maybe you should stay here then!" Lee snapped, before he could stop himself. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them. Even though he'd made a promise to himself to treat Chloe better, he couldn't seem to stop himself from becoming defensive whenever she said or did something that hurt him. He'd only been trying to help her, to be there for her in her time of need, but she refused his help. Lee wanted nothing more than to be able to take her home and take care of her, to be able to know that she was safe.

"That's what I've been saying." Chloe whispered, snapping him out of his thoughts. Lee watched her sadly as she slowly closed her eyes, unable to fight to stay awake anymore. Danny glanced at her nervously as he felt her body relax against him.

"Is she okay?" Danny asked quickly. Lee frowned for a moment, before quickly placing his fingers on her neck, a wave of relief washing over him when he felt her pulse.

"I think she's just sleeping." Lee said quietly.

Danny nodded slowly, hesitating for a moment as he glanced at Lee nervously.

"I'm sorry I judged you, I totally misread the situation." Lee said.

"It's fine, it happens a lot." Danny replied.

"She can't stay here though, she's not well enough." Danny added, trying to change the subject.

"I know...I'm not going to leave her here." Lee told him. Danny nodded slowly, watching as Lee leant down and carefully picked Chloe up. Lee gazed down at her as she moved slightly.

"Make sure you take care of her." Danny said quietly, feeling slightly sad that he was now going to be alone in the park. Lee nodded slowly; his eyes still fixed on Chloe as he held her in his arms.

"She's going to be so angry when she wakes up at your house." Danny said, smiling slightly.

"I'll take her to Kirstie's." Lee said thoughtfully, sighing quietly to himself as he once again found himself wishing that he could take her home with him. As tempted as he was to go against her wishes, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her any further. Lee quickly walked to his car, gently placing her into the passenger seat, taking care not to wake her.

He couldn't help himself from intermittently glancing at Chloe as he drove, to make sure that she was still okay.

Chloe's eyes fluttered open, she frowned to herself as she gazed around, her eyes landing on Lee as she suddenly realised that she was in his car.

"What's going on?" she asked weakly.

"You can't sleep outside in your condition, so I'm taking you to Kirstie's." he said quickly. Chloe nodded slowly, not really having the energy to argue anymore. She fell silent, taking slow breaths, to try and control the constant pain she was in. She frowned as Lee changed gear and she noticed that he had split his knuckles.

"What did you do to your hand?" she asked quietly, trying to rack her brain to figure out when she last looked at his hand. Lee remained silent as he slowly pulled into Kirstie's driveway and switched off the engine.

"Lee?" Chloe tried again, when she heard him sigh quietly.

"It's nothing." he said quietly, not quite able to bring himself to tell her what had happened. He couldn't find the words to tell her how it had felt when he stood watching her breaking down in front of him. The deep anguish and frustration that he'd felt and had to find a way of releasing it. As soon as his fist had made contact with the tree, Lee had felt at least some of the anger dissipate.

Lee glanced at Chloe as she picked up his hand and gently pulled it towards herself. Lee winced slightly as her thumb gently grazed over his knuckles.

"It looks sore." she said quietly.

"I think you win on the wound front." he said quietly. Chloe smiled slightly, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"You can sleep if you need too, I won't let anything happen to you." he told her gently, when he noticed that she was struggling to stay awake. Chloe sighed quietly, her vision blurring slightly. As she sat in Lee's car beside him, she suddenly felt lightheaded, almost like she was having an out of body experience.

"I just don't have the energy to fight anymore." she admitted quietly.

"You have to fight Chloe, there are people that care about you." Lee said quickly, his heart breaking slightly at the thought of losing her.

"I meant, that I can't fight how I feel anymore." she whispered. Lee watched as Chloe slowly moved towards him, glancing down at his lips as she did so. At the last second, she moved her head sideways and collapsed against his chest, her eyes finally closing.

"I'm so tired." she admitted, not able to fight how weak she felt anymore. Lee sighed to himself as she instantly fell asleep against him. He gently stroked her hair, trying to provide at least a small amount of comfort to her. His brain swirled with a mist of thoughts as he sat silently, desperately wishing that she'd been able to finish her sentence. He had no idea what she was going to say or whether she even realised what she was saying or who she was speaking too. All he knew was that it felt like she was going to say something important, but the moment had gone.