Roman Holiday

Guilty As Charged

Carrie turned her face to the wall and closed her eyes.  She never wanted to see anyone ever again.  She was a Jonah and she had caused the accident.  In her mind she was to blame.  Not the lorry diver, not the sun that had blinded him, but her.  She had made Tom love her and now he was dead.

Tom was dead.  She was sure of it.  The last thing she had seen was him lying on the ground, unmoving, pale and still.   She had screamed and cried so much they had to sedate her.  It was the only way to get her to the treatment she needed.

Now, as she lay in the small white room, she was haunted by visions of the day.  The sun, the sea, the picnic and... the sight of Tom lying in the road.  She started to cry and whimper again, the pain almost unbearable. She wanted to die too.  She wanted release from this hell she was in.  A hand on her shoulder made her wince.  Who could possibly want to see her like this. 

"Cara mia, you're ok" the voice of Papa broke into her thoughts. She opened her eyes and slowly turned over.  Without even stopping to think of how he could be here, she raised her arms to him like a child.

"Papa" she wailed "Papa what have I done?  Papa...." she dissolved into hysterics again, a mixture of relief and sorrow and desperation. 

"Cara...  Jessie... " he soothed "Nothing my little lamb, nothing.  You'll be ok. I promise, Mama and I will look after you.  You are not alone." he kissed her head and she settled into a tearful embrace.

"He's gone Papa.  He told me he loved me and now he's gone. It's all my fault." 

"Oh Cara, he's not gone. I promise.  He's just not here.  He's not gone for good, you have him in your heart and your mind till you meet again." 

What neither of them knew was that they were not having the same conversation.

Tom groaned and slowly came to, his head pounding. He must have fallen asleep, he could have sworn he dreamt they were heading back to Rome, he had confessed he loved her and she had accepted him.  Was it all a dream? He turned, expecting to see Jess next to him and finding only a nurse.  A nurse?  What the hell? Where was he and where was Jess? He tried to sit up and found he was strapped to the bed. And the bed was moving!

"What the hell?  Where am I?" he gave voice to the rising panic in his mind. "Where's Jess? Where is she?" he wrestled with the restraints and the nurse stood and came to him, sitting down next to his bed.

"Mr Hiddleston, please don't. Please, relax, it's just while you were unconscious we wanted to make sure you wouldn't fall if there was turbulence." she smiled gently and undid the buckles "there you go." 

Despite his pounding headache he sat up immediately and rounded on her.  He was on a plane! What the bloody hell?

"Explain!" he almost snarled, he was so afraid of what she might say he was almost feral in his anger. "WHERE. IS. JESS?"

"Shhh, please, calm down Sir." the nurse looked almost afraid and glanced over at a dish with a syringe in it, filled with a sedative.  Tom followed her gaze and realised what he must look like.  Dropping his head, he sighed and apologised.

"I'm sorry, I'm just confused.  What happened and where am I and please, where is my girlfriend?" he pleaded with her as she guided him to a seat to the side. It never occurred to him to call Jess anything else.  Covering him to the knees with a soft blanket, the nurse sat next to him.

"You were in a car crash, you have concussion and you broke your collar bone.  You were lucky, these old cars don't have much in the way of safety features.  Thank goodness for Ferrari engineering." she smiled "When you were brought in, they recognised you immediately and called Mr Windsor." Tom , like a lot of people had an I.C.E. contact in their phone.  Who should be called in the event of an accident and so on. Luke Windsor, his PA and good friend, was his.