In The Darkest Hour

Part Two - Chapter Thirteen: Being Harassed

Isla sighed staring at the morning paper, she cursed the paparazzi that had managed to snap the pictures of her and Gerard that had ended up in the papers; she hadn't wanted her relationship to come out that way.

Isla's parents had been phoning all morning and she hadn't answered their calls, she had no idea what she was going to say to them but from their voicemails she could gather that they were furious.

Isla peeked over at Milan who was playing on the floor, she had no idea how long it was going to take for things to settle down but she did know that it wasn't going to be easy.

Tracy and Theodore would be back in Barcelona in a matter of days, Isla could only imagine what her parents would do when they reached home and found her living with Gerard.

Isla doubted that they would let any of this lie and she feared that they might try and break her and Gerard up because they didn't like him.

"Have you spoken to your parents?" Gerard asked looking to Isla as he walked into the kitchen, he knew that she was trying to avoid it but she needed to speak to them sooner or later.

Gerard didn't want to make things worse than they already were, he hoped that Tracy and Theodore would realise that their daughter was happy and that was what mattered.

"Not yet," Isla replied shaking her head and looking to her boyfriend, they had barely been together a month and things had already started to get tough; she had work later and she was already dreading the amount of paparazzi and journalists that would be waiting for her.

Isla hadn't wanted things to get this complicated, this fact especially after everything that she and Gerard had been through to reach this point; they had been through enough and things had been going so well.

Gerard sighed walking over to his girlfriend and wrapping his arms around her, he hated that they had been forced into this; he hated the paparazzi that had taken the pictures of them kissing.

"It'll be okay," Gerard murmured brushing her fingers through Isla's hair, he didn't want her being upset because of some idiot; he had no way of controlling any of this and he didn't want people targeting his girlfriend.

Isla closed her eyes and wished that things were easier than this, she hated that they had to deal with this now and that there was no way to get the press to stop.

"What are we going to do?" Isla asked quietly, she wasn't sure what to expect right now and it was worrying her; she had work in a couple of hours and she wasn't in the mood to deal with any journalist that thought they could harass her.

Gerard kissed the top of Isla's head, he had no idea what to do to make this easier on her; most of his friends girlfriends either worked in modelling or journalism, those who didn't usually ended up giving up their jobs.

"I'll work something out amor," Gerard replied shaking his head and holding her close, he knew that Isla loved her job and the last thing that he wanted was for her to give it up for him after everything.

Isla pulled back and looked at Gerard, she was sure that he would do what he thought was right but she still had no idea what she was going to say to her parents after everything that had happened.

"I will fix this Isla... leave everything to me," Gerard whispered kissing Isla, he didn't want her to worry about anything especially when it was because of him that people were so interested in her now.

Isla took a deep breath and nodded her head, she had no idea what her boyfriend was going to do now but she hoped it was something good.

***

Gerard grumbled annoyed running a hand through his hair, it was still all over the news and he had no idea why people couldn't just ignore the fact that he was dating Isla and that he was happy.

Gerard knew that it was all part of his career but already he had been harassed by several journalists and he had been getting messages on twitter from his fans about dating Isla; so far things had looked good even if people did bring up what had happened a while back.

"How are you coping?" Lionel asked carefully, he had seen the news that morning and he had been surprised that the press had been so quick to find out; he wanted nothing more than to help his friend in some way.

Lionel wished that he could offer for Antonella to help but he doubted that Isla would be welcoming to the idea; everyone had been at fault but things had been done that couldn't be fixed.

"It has been a long afternoon," Gerard replied shaking his head annoyed, he wished people would butt out of his relationship and when he had dropped Isla off at work there had been at least twenty paparazzi and journalists waiting for her.

Gerard was just glad that the hospital wasn't able to sack her over this, she was doing nothing wrong and he wasn't going to be letting her suffer for other people being nosey.

"It'll get easier," Lionel murmured patting his friend on the shoulder, training was just finishing up and Gerard was preparing to head home to Milan; Lionel could only hope that the press didn't drive Isla away when Gerard was finally happy.

Gerard could only nod his head, he offered Lionel a weak smile before he walked away; he wanted to get home to his son since his mother was watching Milan for a couple of hours.

***

Isla sighed to herself as she checked some notes, she had been on her feet all day and a part from a couple of journalists that had attempted to gain access to the hospital to speak with her it had been a quiet shift.

Isla frowned as she felt her pager go and she sighed knowing that it was going to be a long shift, she made sure that everything was in order before she put the file back.

Isla knew that things would be a little stressful until the press got bored but she wished that they would stay away from the hospital; she had barely been there two days and already this had started.

Isla headed for the main reception desk where she had been called to, she hoped it wasn't another journalist pretending to be a relative; she was getting tired of being harassed when she had patients to treat.

Rounding the corner, Isla frowned as she heard shouting and wondered what the hell was going on; the voice sounded familiar and she prayed that she was wrong since she didn't want to make a scene.

Isla took a deep breath continuing to the reception desk, she paused at the sight of her mother shouting at one of the poor nurses that just happened to work there.

"Madre... what are you doing here?" Isla asked staring horrified at the sight of Tracy, she hated to think what her mother had been doing before she arrived and she knew this wasn't going to be pleasant.

There was only one reason that Tracy would have come to the hospital were Isla worked and Isla could already imagine the headlines when this got out.

Tracy turned to look at her daughter and frowned, she couldn't believe any of this and she had been so sure that Isla would have gone back to Australia away from all of this.

"Isla Ava Cortez Sanz what the hell are you thinking?" Tracy demanded stalking across the room to her daughter, she wasn't going to rest until Isla was back in Australia away from Gerard.