Chloe sighed to herself as she sat on Lee's sofa, gently tucking her legs under her frame and glancing up at Duncan as he sat beside her. Even though she felt trapped when she was in Lee's house, she had spent the whole of the past two days that she was in hospital, desperate to get home. She placed her hand on her bump, gently massaging it, still thanking her lucky stars that Freyja was safe, and still inside of her, developing in the way that she was meant to be. Chloe glanced up as Lee walked back into the room and tentatively handed her a mug of tea. She smiled her thanks, keeping her gaze focused on her lap as he sat beside her on the sofa. Her eyes flickered to his hand as he placed it on her knee, stroking soft circles on her leg. Her stomach churned slightly under his touch as she tried to resist the urge to move away from him.
"Can I ask a favour?" she asked Duncan. He nodded slowly, raising his eyebrow at her as he waited for her to continue.
"When you go home later, could you give me a lift to the cemetery?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah of course." he replied.
"I can take you Chlo?" Lee offered, glancing between the two of them.
"It's fine, Duncan said he'll take me." she said shortly, not even able to bring herself to make eye contact with him.
"I need to visit my Dad, since I missed the anniversary of his death." she continued, trying to keep talking to distract from the awkward atmosphere.
"Really?" Duncan frowned.
"I was in hospital wasn't I." she said quietly, shooting Lee an angry look. He frowned at her for a moment, his stomach churning when he suddenly realised what she was suggesting. Even though he knew in his heart that it was his fault that Chloe had fallen down the stairs and the two of them had almost lost their baby as a result, but never for a moment did he think that she would blame him.
"I'm happy to take you." he tried, swallowing the dry lump that was rising in his throat.
"I said no." she snapped, the anger starting to build in her stomach.
"But then I could wait for you and give you a lift back." Lee pointed out, desperately trying to get her to allow him back into her life. He couldn't stand how distant and cold she was being with him. Even though she hadn't gone anywhere, he couldn't help but feel like he was slowly losing her.
"I can walk back." she argued, her blood slowly starting to boil that he was being so persistent. Lee opened his mouth to argue, quickly closing it again when Chloe cut him off.
"Stop being so possessive of me." she said angrily.
"I'm not, I just want to protect you, there's a difference." he argued, his stomach churning at the thought of something happening to her, particularly when she was still recovering from her ordeal. Even though he knew that he was being a bit unreasonable, he couldn't help but feel the fear that he'd felt on the night that she disappeared and he was terrified that something had happened to her and their baby.
"You'd better lock me in a tower then and never let me out." she said quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"This isn't helping, maybe the two of you need to talk." Duncan suggested, sighing sadly to himself as he glanced between the two of them and noticed how miserable they both looked.
"What's the point?" Chloe sighed, staring down at her bump as she stroked soft circles on it.
"When are you going to stop pushing me away Chlo?" Lee said quietly, when he couldn't stand it any longer. Chloe shrugged, not entirely sure what to say.
"Why don't the two of you talk, I'll go and make some dinner." Duncan said, quickly standing up and leaving the room, before either of them could argue with him. Chloe sighed to herself, her eyes fixed on her hands as the room suddenly fell silent.
