Chloe sighed in relief as she climbed into the bath and relaxed into the water. She picked up the sponge from the counter and scrubbed her skin, desperately trying to remove the lingering sensation of Shayne's touch. She gasped in pain when she rested her back against the bathtub, forgetting for a moment that she was injured. Her eyes misted with tears as she started down at her abdomen, a sudden wave of fear washing over her. She sat in silence, desperately racking her brain to try and remember if Shayne had done anything that might have caused harm to her baby. The events were on a constant loop in her mind, she remembered how she had desperately curled into a ball as Shayne kicked her, in an attempt to protect the baby. She blinked slowly, sighing to herself and resting her elbow against the side of the bathtub, her heart pounding against her chest at the idea of losing the baby. Her heart had broken when she lost their first baby, and she knew that she wasn't strong enough to go through the process again, particularly when she was further along this time and regularly felt the baby move inside of her. The deep and intense love that she felt for her baby was like nothing that she had ever felt before and she knew in her heart that Lee felt the same way. Chloe took a deep breath, trying to supress the panic that she was feeling, and splashed some water on her face, quickly scrubbing her neck with the sponge. She suddenly felt a deep surge of anger at what Shayne had done to her, particularly when she'd never done anything to hurt him, but yet he seemed hell bent on destroying her life. She placed her hands on either side of the bath frame and gingerly lifted herself up, wincing at the pain in her back. Tears continued to fall from her eyes as she carefully pulled on her clothes, a small squeak of pain escaping her lips when she twisted. She sighed deeply to herself as she carefully sat on the bathroom floor and crossed her legs, staring in silence at her hands that were resting in her lap. She watched as her tears slowly rolled off her chin and dripped onto her lap, her heart breaking a little every time her eyes wandered to her bump.
"I love you so much little baby." she whispered, carefully placing her hand on her bump and softly stroking it with her fingernails.
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"Why do you keep staring at me?!" Lee snapped when he could no longer stand Duncan staring at him.
"Because I've never seen you so upset and angry, and I'm worried about you." Duncan told him, as he sat beside Lee on the sofa.
"Well what do you expect?!" Lee exclaimed, angrily flinging his phone onto the coffee table when he'd finally sent the email to the police. Duncan sighed deeply, staring at Lee as he tried to rack his brain for what he could possibly say to help him feel better.
"This is not your fault." Duncan told him, his stomach churning a little when he thought about what Chloe had been through. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of anyone doing anything to hurt Chloe's kind soul. Given how upset and angry Duncan was feeling, he couldn't possibly imagine what Lee must be feeling, given how important Chloe was to him.
"Of course it's my fault." Lee said shortly, snapping Duncan out of his thoughts.
"But you can't blame yourself, you can't be with her twenty four seven." Duncan pointed out.
"I know that, but how come whenever she needs me I'm never there, I didn't stop her from being stabbed and now I let her get assaulted!" Lee said angrily.
"You weren't even together when she was stabbed." Duncan pointed out.
"And like I said, you can't always be with her, just in case something happens." he added. Lee nodded slowly, sighing deeply when he realised that Duncan was right. Despite the fact that he knew Duncan was correct, it didn't ease the intense guilt that he was feeling for letting Chloe down in her time of need. He couldn't help but feel slightly resentful of Michelle, as he knew in his heart that if he hadn't left the house to fetch her clothes for her, he would have been able to protect Chloe from Shayne.
