Danny watched Chloe closely as she perched on the park bench, gazing out at the landscape, her brain a swirling mist of thoughts. He knew just from one look that she was still in a state of panic, Lee's words really playing on her mind.
"She'll be okay, nothing will happen to her." he said softly, trying to find a way to reassure her.
"Why do I never think things through." she whispered, gazing down at Freyja as she slept soundly in her pram.
"What do you mean?" he frowned, sighing sadly to himself when he noticed that her eyes were brimming with tears.
"I never should have had a baby with him." she said quietly, angrily wiping away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.
"If you hadn't, then you wouldn't have Freyja in your life." he pointed out, shaking his head slowly when he realised how much Lee had managed to upset her. He couldn't help but feel a deep sense of frustration that whenever Lee was around, he always seemed to set Chloe's recovery back. She'd come on leaps and bounds the past few weeks, no longer feeling the need to hurt herself and managing to suppress the intense anxiety and panic that she had been feeling.
"But what sort of life is she going to have though?" she said quietly, her heart sinking at the thought of her baby girl spending her life growing up in the limelight, everything that she did constantly being scrutinised.
"She'll have an amazing life. You're a great Mum to her and I think Lee has been in the business long enough to know how to handle the media and the fans." he said quietly, quickly wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He sighed deeply as Chloe rested her head on his shoulder, snuggling against him in a desperate attempt to find some sort of comfort.
"He didn't protect me from the backlash though did he." she pointed out, angrily wiping away the tears that were still rolling down her cheeks.
"He did when the two of you got back together, I think he learnt his lesson." he reminded her. Chloe shook her head slowly, taking deep breaths to try and suppress the panic that was slowly rising in her chest.
"I need to find a way to protect her Danny." she said thoughtfully.
"And get her away from this world." she continued, swallowing the lump that was rising in her throat when she suddenly realised what she had to do.
"There's nothing you can do Chloe." he whispered, holding her close as he rested his chin on top of her head.
"There is....we can take her somewhere away from everything." she said, slowly lifting her head to gaze at him.
"Like run away you mean?" he frowned.
"Yes kind of, then we can live somewhere off the grid." she suggested, raising her eyebrow as she waited for him to respond. He opened his mouth to respond, quickly closing it again when he suddenly realised that he didn't know what to say to her. His heart broke a little as he stared at her, suddenly realising how upset and panicked she was by the whole situation. That she was prepared to throw her life away to protect her daughter from what she perceived as the worse option out of the two.
"I don't think that's such a good idea Chloe." he said tentatively, not entirely sure how she was going to take what he was about to say.
"I know Lee has been a dick, but he should still be involved in his daughter's life." he added, sighing quietly to himself when she quickly removed herself from his arms, slowly shaking her head at him.
"I think we just need to find a way that he can see Freyja without you having to see him." he tried.
"This is not about Lee, it's not some way of punishing him, it's about keeping Freyja safe." she snapped, her temper slowly starting to rise when she suddenly realised that he had no idea how she was feeling. Danny had always been the one person in the world who seemed to understand her, but now even he was doubting her intentions.
