Lee sighed to himself as he held Chloe in his arms. Despite the fact that he'd been longing to hold her for months, he couldn't help but wish that it was under different circumstances. She'd been through so much the past few years and he knew that he'd added to her already full plate, but he couldn't help but wish that she never had to feel any pain again. It didn't seem fair that someone as kind and pure as her had suffered so much. His stomach churned with guilt as he thought about what he'd done to her and how he would never forgive himself for hurting the person that was most precious to him. From the first moment that he realised that he was in love with her, he'd been afraid to hurt her, but he'd eventually succumbed to his feelings for her and had ended up hurting her anyway, like he'd feared all along. His mind wandered to the night of the record label party and how that was the first time that Shayne had tried to take advantage of Chloe. He knew that Shayne blamed Lee for losing him his job at the label after that night, he'd even said it when he came to Lee's house. He knew in his heart that he was partly responsible for Shayne's seemingly never ending obsession with Chloe. He wanted revenge on Lee and the easiest way to do that was to hurt the two people that meant the most to him. He would then be able to kill two birds with one stone, to finally take advantage of Chloe like he'd always wanted and to destroy Lee in the process.
He desperately wanted to ask Chloe what had happened to her before he arrived in the alleyway, to know exactly what she had been through, but he knew that she wasn't ready to talk about it, particularly to someone that she hated. Lee sighed to himself when he wished once again that Chloe still loved him, like he knew he would always love her. His actions had slowly turned the love that she had for him into hate and he knew that he would never be able to change that, he'd cut her too deeply. He'd been the luckiest man in the world to have someone like Chloe in his life, someone that was kind, loving, loyal and would do anything for anyone, even to her own detriment. Never before had he met anyone so pure and he'd managed to destroy everything the two of them had. He glanced down at her as she fidgeted against his chest, her whole body still trembling against him.
"I won't let him hurt you or Freyja." he whispered, trying to find a way to help her feel safe. Chloe remained silent, slowly wiping away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.
"I told him that if he comes near either of you again, I'll make him pay." he told her, gazing down at her as she slowly removed herself from his arms.
"I'm not your responsibility anymore remember." she said quietly.
"You're the mother of my child Chloe, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." he reassured her, sighing sadly to himself as he tried to process her words. Even after all of the time that they'd been apart, he still couldn't quite bring himself to accept that it was no longer his responsibility to care and protect her.
"You just need to protect Freyja." she said quietly, a note of sadness present in her voice. Lee opened his mouth to respond, quickly closing it again when he heard the front door open and close loudly. Chloe jumped, quickly glancing at him, her eyes widening in fear. He shot her a small reassuring smile, his eyes flickering to the doorway as Amy walked into the room, glancing between the two of them, her eyes narrowing when she noticed that Chloe had been crying.
"What have you done to upset her this time?!" she rounded on Lee.
"I haven't done anything." he replied defensively.
"Shayne attacked me." Chloe said quietly, biting her lip to try and fight the tears that were filling her eyes once again.
"What?!" Amy exclaimed, her shoulder bag slipping off her shoulder and onto the floor.
"That prick from London?" she added. Chloe nodded slowly.
"What's he doing here?" she frowned. Chloe shrugged, glancing at Lee for a moment as he stood up.
