Immaculate

We've lost her

Part Eighty

Mr Blackbourne's POV

If the circumstances were any different I might feel awkward, maybe even a little bit creepy. She was on her back, one arm above her head, the sheets down around her hips. Her head was turned to one side, her hair covering her face, the tank top she was wearing was high, caught under her breasts, leaving a perfect expanse of skin on show that I just wanted to kiss.

She wasn't sleeping well. I had taken over from Luke at 4am this morning and she had been tossing and turning all through his shift. He had taken over from North at Midnight. She shifted again now and I couldn't help but watch the sheets slip lower. I closed my eyes and turned my head away. We just had to be aware of her, we didn't have to sit in front of the screen glued to it. I had started off my shift doing some paperwork looking up every couple of seconds. But she was captivating even in sleep and as she moved restlessly I had ended up abandoning my paperwork and just watched her. I opened my eyes and looked back at the screen. She was shifting about again and then she was sitting up and I realised she was awake. I watched as she sat there, checking the time of her phone. She slumped back down, covering her face with her hand. I would get Sean to give her a sleeping tablet tomorrow, she needed to get a decent nights sleep. What I really wanted to do was crawl into bed with her and hold her, but I knew this was the best possible chance we had of catching Volto.

She was getting up and then with a jolt I realised she was getting dressed, her tank top sliding up and over her head. She had forgotten we were watching her. I looked away hastily, curling my fingers into my palms, I would not violate her privacy.

I looked back relieved to see she was now in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I swapped the camera to the hall watching as she went into the bathroom. I heard a noise behind me and I turned and saw Sean leaning in the door jam looking totally shattered.

"Bad shift?" I asked him quietly.

"Yeah, had to go across to the ER for the last three hours, multiple pile up on the freeway. Two were DOA and we lost three more an hour after they came in. Drunk driver," he said and came in to stand beside me, looking down at the screen. He rested a hand on my shoulder.

"She's up already?" he asked, it was just before 6am and that was early for Sang.

"Yes," I nodded. "Think you can sleep?" The bathroom door opened and we saw Sang coming out and making her way down the stairs quietly.

"Yeah, I'll go in a minute," he said. "Just see if she eats anything first."

"Have you eaten?" I asked him with a grin and he snorted and squeezed my shoulder.

"Yes, dad," he chuckled and then sighed when the downstairs camera saw her avoiding the kitchen altogether and head out into the garage.

"We don't have a camera in the garage," he said.

"No, I'll put up the outside ones instead," I said and clicked over the keys until I had four camera feeds up. One of inside that rotated through all of the rooms, one by the front door, one that showed the garage and one that showed driveway.

"I'll bug her about eating later; let me know if she does eat anything," he said, patting my shoulder and then moved off towards the door. I decided to talk to him about the sleeping pill later, he needed to sleep, he was already worried about her, if he knew she wasn't sleeping as well, it might be enough to keep him awake too.

"Victor is here by the way," I told him. "He's crashed on the sofa in the snug. George and Jasmine were going head to head last night and he wanted to get out of it."

"Don't blame him," he snorted. "Gabe not around then?"

"It was too late, he didn't want to disturb Pam," I murmured. "I was just going to bed, so it must have been just gone midnight."