Sing Me Your Song

Chapter 10

The rest of the ride was silent and when he finally parked in front of his house, he let out a huge sigh. He got out and opened her door, taking her bag and helping her out. He did not care if anyone saw them together. All that mattered was to get her inside.

He quickly dialled Stella’s number to ask her to send some security over to his street because of paparazzi. Stella never asked too many questions, something Neal highly appreciated. And she also picked up the phone whenever he needed her. As much as she sometimes annoyed him, he was glad to have her on his side as his manager.

The two of them finally got to his apartment and Neal breathed a huge sigh of relief as he locked the door behind them. He looked at Emma who stood in the middle of the room, hugging herself as she looked around.

“Do you want something to drink? Some water?” He asked softly and she nodded. He put her bag down and went to the kitchen to fill them both big glasses of water. His own hand started shaking slightly, as the tension of the last half-hour slowly fell off of him.

When he went back to her, she was seated on the couch, rummaging through her bag. He put the water next to her on the table and looked at her as she pulled out a small bag of what looked like to be medical supplies.

“Let me have a look at your face. You don’t want that to bruise too badly.” She said softly but determined and he shivered under her gentle touch as she shimmied closer and prodded the bruise around his eye. She took out some sort of lotion and gently worked it into his skin.

“There. It won’t stop it from bruising but it should skip the ugly violet part. The rest can easily be concealed with make-up. I can leave you some of the stuff I usually use for that. How’s your head, do you feel sore anywhere else? Let me check your ribs. Can you breathe properly?"

She let her small hands fly over his body in a schooled way, apparently checking for some sort of swelling or bruises or other things that were out of place, asking him questions here and there. That is until he stopped her, by taking her hand and forcing her to look at him, actually look at him.

“I am fine, Emma. I promise. It’s just some bruises. But what about you?” He asked softly, and she shrugged, avoiding his gaze.

“Nothing I can’t handle. Can I use your bathroom real quick?” She asked and he nodded. She took her bag and made her way to his bathroom, surely to use his mirror to take care of her own face.

He followed her with his gaze as she walked as if she were in a daze. Neal let his head sink into his hand, puling at the roots of his brown hair. He was frustrated, he was confused, he was sad, he was hurt.

He could not comprehend what the hell had happened today. He was almost sure now that this was not a one-time occurrence to her. The way she was handling the situation right now seemed more like a routine.

And even as she tried to keep it together and act strong, he could almost feel her sadness and innermost despair. She obviously had not wanted him to know. And that could be the answer to many of the questions he had had, but at the same time only rose more and more questions.

All he had ever wanted was to keep her safe and he could not understand how this smiling and happy girl that he had gotten to know and cherish could look after his bruised face as if it was nothing.

She should not have to know how to deal with injuries, should not have to carry lotions against bruising in her bag. He looked over at the bathroom again, the door was open a tiny bit and he could hear her wince.

“Em?” He called out softly and stood up to walk to the bathroom. He knocked on the door.

“Can I come in?” He barely waited for a response before he pushed the door open and almost stumbled at what he was seeing.