Chapter Twenty Nine

Kirstie smiled at Lee as she walked into the kitchen and saw him cooking dinner.

"Wow, something smells amazing!" she exclaimed, sniffing the air.

"Yeah well, I'm not a bad cook." he smiled at her.

"I'm making my famous stir-fry for everyone." he added, quickly chopping the vegetables.

"You don't have to make us all dinner." Kirstie told him.

"I know, but I want too. You've been good enough to let me stay here and you won't accept any money, so I thought I'd make dinner." he explained.

"You're secretly quite sweet aren't you Mr Knight." Kirstie said, bursting out laughing when his cheeks coloured.

"You hide it well though." Kirstie added.

"I personally love a man who can cook." Michelle piped up from where she was sitting at the dining room table.

"I think all women do." Lee said, smiling slightly.

"What are you doing up?" Lee said quickly as Chloe slowly walked into the room.

"It doesn't hurt as much now." she told him.

"That's not the point, you're meant to be resting." he said, smiling slightly as she stared at him defiantly.

"I can't sit around all the time; I could help you chop the vegetables or something." Chloe argued.

"Chloe Olivia Evans, you had major abdominal surgery a week ago, so get your arse back on that sofa, before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you there." he told her sternly.

"Alright fine." she sighed, glaring at him. Lee glared back at her, pretending to be angry with her, a small smile playing on the corner of his lips. Chloe burst out laughing, no longer able to keep up her poker face.

"Ow." she muttered, clutching her side. Lee raised his eyebrow at her, nodding his head towards the living room. Chloe rolled her eyes at him and reluctantly left the room.

"Remind me I need to change her dressing in a bit." Lee said to Kirstie.

"I don't think you'll forget." she replied, smiling slightly at how cute Chloe and Lee were together.

"I could do it?" Michelle offered.

"No, it's okay thanks. I was shown how to do it at the hospital." Lee said quickly.

"I am a nurse, I'm pretty sure I know how to change a dressing!" Michelle snapped.

"Even so, it's fine." Lee told her firmly. Michelle shook her head slowly, feeling slightly frustrated with how overprotective Lee was over Chloe. She couldn't help but feel even more envious of Chloe than before. Not only did she have her beauty and figure that caused all the men to swarm around her, but now she had one of the men that Michelle had always fancied at her beck and call. Even though Chloe and Lee weren't together, it was clear that he would do anything for her, she would only have to say the word. Michelle quickly left the room and walked into the living room, smiling at Chloe as Chloe glanced up from her magazine.

"You okay?" Chloe asked Michelle when she perched on the sofa beside her, watching her strangely. Michelle nodded slowly.

"I was going to speak to you about our makeup for the ball." Michelle said.

"Okay." Chloe said, placing the magazine on the coffee table.

"I can change your dressing at the same time if you want?" Michelle offered. Chloe nodded, quickly rummaging in her backpack and handing Michelle the hospital bag. Chloe slowly laid down and lifted her shirt.

"What did you want to ask me?" Chloe asked.

"I just wondered what kind of makeup choices we have?" Michelle asked.

"I can do pretty much whatever you would like, the only slight issue is that I don't have any makeup, so I'll need to use your products." Chloe explained, as Michelle carefully removed her dressing.

"My dress is black, so I was thinking of a dark eye look." Michelle stated.

"I can easily do that for you." Chloe smiled.

"Has Lee been cleaning the wound?" Michelle asked as she inspected the wound.

"Occasionally, just when it needs it though." Chloe replied. Michelle nodded slowly, quickly picking up the cotton wool and soaking it with the hibiscrub solution.

"Anyway, I want gossip, what's going on with you and Lee?" Michelle asked, winking at Chloe.

"I don't know really, I need to speak to him, Kirstie thinks he might have feelings for me." Chloe told her thoughtfully.

"It's difficult though isn't it, I'm really not very brave with things like that." she added. Chloe whimpered quietly as Michelle scrubbed the wound, being slightly rough.

"It needs a good clean." Michelle said quickly. Chloe nodded slowly, biting her lip to try and control the pain.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to speak to him, you know he'll just upset you like he always does?" Michelle asked. Chloe remained silent, unable to focus on anything other than the pain she was in. Michelle eventually stopped scrubbing the wound and discarded the cotton wool onto the coffee table.

"He must feel something for me though, the way he's been over the past week." Chloe insisted, finally able to concentrate now that Michelle had stopped scrubbing her wound.

"I highly doubt it." Michelle said shortly. She picked up a bottle, frowning as she realised that it contained surgical spirit. She glanced at Chloe and then back at the wound.

"Lee said that's for sterilising your hands before touching the wound." Chloe told her.

"Well, it's not, it's for the wound, to kill any potential microbes." Michelle replied. Chloe nodded and watched as Michelle hesitated for a moment before slowly pouring a small amount of liquid onto the wound. Chloe gasped as the cold liquid made contact with her bare skin. She cried out in pain as it slowly soaked into the wound, causing an intense burning feeling. Chloe quickly curled into a ball, clutching her abdomen as she cried out in pain again, warm tears flowing down her cheeks.

Lee's head snapped towards the doorway as he heard Chloe crying out. His initial thought was that Chloe had another nightmare, but as he quickly assessed the situation, he soon realised that wasn't the case. He saw Chloe curl herself into a ball, clutching her abdomen tightly as she cried out in pain once again.

"What the hell is she doing to her?!" Lee exclaimed angrily, when he noticed Michelle sitting beside Chloe, looking slightly smug. Lee quickly threw the wooden spoon onto the kitchen counter and strode into the living room.

"What have you done?!" he said angrily, his heart breaking as he watched Chloe writhing in pain.

"Lee, make it stop!" Chloe cried.

"I put surgical spirit on to disinfect the wound." Michelle quickly explained.

"Well, that was fucking stupid, even I know that surgical spirit hurts like hell!" Lee shouted. Lee turned on his heel and rushed into the kitchen, quickly returning a few moments later with a damp cloth. Chloe glanced up at him as he quickly knelt in front of her.

"Move your hands." he told her. She quickly did as he asked, breathing a sigh of relief as he gently applied the cool cloth to the wound. Chloe scrunched her eyes closed.

"You're such an idiot, you're meant to be a nurse." Lee said angrily.

"I didn't mean to hurt her." Michelle said, suddenly feeling slightly afraid of Lee and his temper.

"You shouldn't have been doing it anyway, I told you I would do it!" he shouted.

"Lee, it's fine." Chloe said quietly, slowly opening her eyes, breathing deeply to get her breath back. Chloe frowned to herself as she gazed into his eyes, in all the years that she'd known Lee, she'd never seen him so angry.

"It's not fine!" Lee snapped.

"She really hurt you." he added, his tone softening slightly as he gazed at her.

"I'm alright." she told him quickly. Lee sighed and gently wiped the wound with the cloth, trying to cool the wound down as much as possible. Chloe sighed in relief as the pain finally stopped.

"Is there anything I can do?" Michelle asked quietly leaning over to peer at the wound. Lee moved quickly, blocking her from getting near Chloe. Michelle jumped slightly as Lee moved towards her quickly, not entirely sure if he was angry enough to want to hurt her or not.

"You can back the hell off!" Lee exclaimed angrily.

"Lee stop, it was an accident." Chloe said quietly, gently placing her hand on top of his, in a desperate attempt to try and calm him down. She knew from experience how nasty Lee could be when he was angry and the last thing, she wanted was for Michelle to be exposed to his temper.

"I highly doubt it was an accident, she knew exactly what she was doing." Lee argued.

"I'm really sorry Chloe." Michelle said quietly suddenly feeling guilty at what she'd done.

"It's fine, accidents happen." Chloe said quietly, glancing at Lee nervously as she slowly sat up.

"Accident my arse." Lee muttered angrily.

"You really think I would do that on purpose?" Michelle asked quietly.

"Yeah, I do, I know how jealous of her you are, and I wouldn't put it past you." Lee said quickly.

"The truth is you have a lot to be jealous of don't you." Lee added, smirking slightly.

"Lee." Chloe said quietly.

"It's true though." he insisted. Chloe watched in horror as Michelle's eyes slowly filled with tears. Michelle blinked slowly, causing the tears that she'd been holding back to slowly fall down her cheeks. Lee rolled his eyes and quickly looked away from Michelle, turning his attention back to Chloe who was watching Michelle sympathetically. Chloe winced as Michelle placed her head in her hands and began to sob. Lee raised his eyebrow at Chloe as she glanced at him, shaking her head slowly.

"How did I suddenly become the bad guy." Lee muttered under his breath. Chloe raised her eyebrow at him, causing Lee to feel slightly guilty under her intense gaze.

"I'm so sorry." Michelle sobbed. Lee sighed angrily, not entirely sure if he believed that Michelle's tears were genuine. Before he could talk himself out of it, he turned to face her and gently hugged her. Michelle clung to him tightly, instantly stopping crying as soon as she was in his strong arms.

"Dinner is done!" Kirstie called from the kitchen.

"Thank god." Lee muttered, relieved that he could finally let go of Michelle. Chloe started to stand up, pausing when Lee gently placed a hand on her knee.

"You stay there, I'll bring a plate through to you." he told her. Michelle rolled her eyes as she walked into the kitchen.

"But shouldn't we eat with the others?" Chloe asked, feeling slightly guilty that they were being antisocial.

"No, I need to keep away from her for a bit." he said quickly. Chloe sighed, realising instantly who he was talking about. Chloe watched Lee as he quickly pulled a fresh dressing out of the bag and carefully applied it to her wound.

"Don't let anyone else do it next time." he told her firmly, before quickly standing up and leaving the room.