"Hello you." Chloe smiled, her eyes lighting up as soon as she answered the phone.
"Hey girl, how's it going?" Danny replied.
"It's alright." she replied quietly, glancing up at Lee as she felt him watching her closely.
"Is Lee being okay with you?" Danny asked.
"I've been keeping to myself most of the time." she said quietly.
"I really miss you though." she added, sighing quietly to herself.
"You could always come home." he said quickly.
"I will after Shayne's sent down." she explained.
"I really don't like you being alone with Lee." he admitted.
"Why not?" she frowned.
"Because I told you, I think he's taking advantage of the situation." he said quietly.
"He technically didn't need to go with you." he pointed out.
"We're safer with him though." she said defensively, her eyes flickering to Lee as he raised his eyebrow at her. Despite the anger that she was still feeling towards him, she knew in her heart that he would do everything that he could to protect Freyja from Shayne.
"Shayne can't get to you though, because the police will have seized his passport when they first arrested him, so he can't leave the country." he explained.
"Yeah, I rest my case." he added, sighing to himself when Chloe fell silent.
"So like I said originally, myself or Amy could have gone away with you." he continued, his stomach churning with anger at the thought of Lee taking advantage of Chloe. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop his gut from screaming at him that Lee was secretly rubbing his hands together. Chloe opened her mouth, not entirely sure how to explain to him that Lee was the only person that she felt safe with. It had been proven on numerous occasions that Shayne was afraid of Lee and that he was able to protect her from him. And even though she knew in her heart that Shayne couldn't get to her when she was in another country, she still felt safer being close to Lee, at least until the trial was over and Shayne was hopefully out of her life for good.
"And I think he knew that, but wanted to get you away with him." Danny continued.
"I don't think he would manipulate me like that." she said quietly, trying to ignore the small feeling of doubt that was swirling around her stomach.
"If you say so." he said quietly, sighing deeply to himself.
"Anyway, how's Freyja?" he asked, trying to change the subject when he realised that Chloe was determined not to see what was right in front of her. He couldn't help but wonder if Chloe was still secretly in love with Lee and that was the reason for her trying to paint him in a good light.
"She's fine. She didn't settle very well for the first couple of days, probably because of the different surroundings, but she's getting there." she replied, her eyes darting to Freyja as she fidgeted on her lap.
"Anyway, I should probably feed her, so I'll call you later." she added, squirming slightly as she felt Lee staring at her.
"Okay." Danny said quietly. Chloe nodded to herself, quickly ending the call and placing the phone on the bed beside her.
"I'll leave you to feed her." Lee piped up, his gaze fixed on Freyja as he slowly stood up.
"Before you go, I need to ask you something." she said quickly, watching as he stood beside the bed, raising his eyebrow at her as he waited for her to continue. She opened her mouth to respond, quickly closing it again when she realised that she wasn't entirely sure how to ask the question that she needed to know the answer too.
"Let me guess, Danny is accusing me of something again?" he asked defensively, still not entirely sure why Danny was suddenly so protective of Chloe and Freyja. Even though he knew that Danny was her best friend, he'd never been this protective of her before. Chloe nodded slowly, swallowing the lump that was rising in her throat.
"He's saying that you manipulated me into coming away with you." she said quietly, glancing at him nervously, not entirely sure how he was going to react.
"For what purpose?" he scoffed, his blood slowly simmering that Danny seemed to be constantly interfering in his life and accusing him of things that he hadn't done.
"So that you have to be around Freyja I guess." she said quietly.
"Yeah do you know what...he's right." he snapped.
"What?" she frowned.
"I paid Shayne to do that to you, so that I could be the hero that charged in and saved you both." he said angrily, shaking his head in disbelief.
"He didn't mean it like that, he was saying that the police will have Shayne's passport, so he won't be able to follow me out of the country. So I could have gone away with him or Amy instead." she quickly explained, squirming slightly under his intense gaze.
"Yeah I guess you could have." he said quietly, his stomach churning as she pointed that out to him. He'd been so panicked when she'd told him that she would allow Shayne to do whatever he wanted to her, in order to protect Freyja, that he hadn't been thinking clearly. It had completely escaped his mind that the police would have Shayne's passport, he'd been too busy thinking about how to keep Chloe and their baby from harm.
"You're never going to trust my intentions again are you." he muttered sadly, his heart breaking a little that she thought he would do something like that to her.
"I didn't say that I agree with him." she mumbled, not entirely sure whether Lee was capable of manipulating her into going away with him.
"Well just for the record, I honestly didn't think of that. I was panicking too much after what you said." he said quietly, his heart pounding against his chest as he stared at her, desperately hoping that she would believe him.
"What did I say?" she asked, frowning in confusion.
"That Shayne can do whatever he wants to you, as long as Freyja is safe." he said quietly.
"Or words to that effect." he quickly added. Chloe nodded slowly, glancing up at him as he gazed down at her, his stomach churning at the thought of her allowing Shayne to do whatever he wanted to her in order to protect their baby. He knew in his heart that if Shayne ever raped Chloe, it would break her heart and his in the process. He couldn't bear the thought of Shayne touching her, it made him feel physically sick to his stomach.
"Only if it meant that he wouldn't hurt Freyja." she said quietly, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Well it won't ever come to that." he said firmly. Chloe nodded slowly, trying to hold back the tears that were slowly filling her eyes. Lee shot her a small smile, slowly walking across the room when he realised that he needed to leave her in peace to feed Freyja.
"I don't think you manipulated me by the way." she called after him, watching closely as he paused in the doorway, glancing back at her and shooting her a small smile when he heard her words.
"I'll come back in a bit." he said quietly.
