As Jason shuts the door behind him, Nic pulls his t-shirt up towards her face and inhales. It still has his aroma on it and she smiles as she closes her eyes and drifts of to sleep clutching her favourite teddy.
Jason sees Mary into a taxi and pays the driver in advance. "Jason I can afford a taxi ride you know"
"Yes I know you can, but it's my pleasure". He kisses her fondly on the cheek as she climbs in. "See you tomorrow Mary" he says as the taxi pulls away. He turns to us and thanks us for everything we have done. He looks totally shattered, he doesn't look like he has had a decent nights sleep in weeks.
"Look, head home, get you head down, sleep. If you really want her home so you can look after her you need to look after you too" I say giving him a hug.
"I just can't switch off, til she is home, where she belongs and I know that I can be there 24/7 I won't relax. I love her so much, it's breaking my heart that I have to leave her each night". A tear trickles down his cheek. I love that fact he doesn't try to hide his emotions from us and feels comfortable enough to cry around us. It shows just how deeply he really cares for her. Gary turns to me and asks if I would mind if he takes him for a quick drink. He thinks it might just help him relax and maybe help him sleep a bit. I tell him to go but not to be too late and not to chat up any fans on route. He looks at me and raises that eyebrow, "when will you get it in that beautiful head of yours I'm not interested in chatting up anyone, well apart from you of course". He bends his head and tenderly kisses me. He hands me his car keys and says he will get a taxi back later. OMG I'm gonna drive his car, better be very careful, it's his pride and joy.
I head off towards the car as they head the opposite direction into town. As I watch them walk down the street I notice a few girls walk past them, turn and giggle as they realise who they are. Will I ever get used to seeing this!
They head off to a quite pub where they can sit quietly and hopefully not be pestered too much by fans. They talk about the new record and how it's coming along. Gary says they think they should put it on hold for a bit, let things settle and then they can get back on it later on. Jason looks a little relieved at this.
"Oh Gaz, really, that would be amazing, I really don't think I'm in the right place to be thinking about it at the moment."
"I know and I'm sure the others will agree, a little break will be fine"
After a couple of beers gary starts to talk about my birthday. It's in a couple of months. He tells him how he wants to throw me a party and make it a special occasion being the first one we will celebrate together. Jason thinks that sounds like a brilliant idea. He reckons I would be well up for a good party. (Little does he know). He says he hopes that Nic will be much better by then too to enjoy it as well. They have one more beer then decide to call it a night. Jason asks Gary if he can crash at his tonight as he doesn't really want to go back to the house yet without Nic. They call a cab and head back.
When they get back I'm already in bed fast asleep. Gary creeps into the room and tries as quietly as he can to get undressed and into bed without waking me. He almost succeeds too but ends up tripping over his own feet and landing straight on top of me.
"Oh shit, bloody hell, Lu are you ok?" He scrambles to switch on his bedside light as I yell out as he hit on the nose with his elbow when he landed. He turns to me to see me sat holding my nose and blood trickling down onto my hand. He quickly grabs the tissue box and hands it to me. "Omg I'm so sorry, what an idiot" he looks mortified as I clutch the tissues to my face, pinching the bridge of my nose to try and stop the bleeding.
"How many have you had?" I mumble through the the tissues "thought you were only having the one"
"We only had a couple, I'm not drunk, just tripped over my own bloody feet". He sat closer and put his hand on my back and looked at me with his face full of concern. I could see how horrified he was and how concerned he looked. I could not be mad at him if I wanted to. The way he just has to look at me and I melt. It's so annoying at times.
"Stop looking at me like that, it's only a nose bleed, it will stop in a minute". I slowly removed the tissue to see if the bleeding was slowing. It had nearly stopped. I sat there for a few more minutes until it had before heading to the bathroom to clean up a bit. When I got back Gary was sat in bed, his head in his hands. He looked up as I came closer, I could see his eyes were glazing over.
"Lu, I really am sorry, I could have really hurt you then". I climbed into bed next to him and kissed him on the cheek, "yea you could, but you didn't, I'm fine. Come on let's get some sleep, I'm shattered". I lay down and faced away from Gary so he could cuddle up behind me. He snaked his arm across me and pulled me close into his warm body. I smiled to myself thinking of how this was how I would be falling asleep from now on, being held in his arms, laying here, in his bed, in his house, or should I now say our house. I smiled to myself as this thought played in my head. Closing my eyes I drifted off to sleep.
I woke before Gary and headed to the kitchen to make a start on some breakfast. As I walked in I jumped a mile. "Bloody hell, what you doing here?" Jason was already in the kitchen rummaging around in the fridge looking for something to eat.
"Sorry Lu, did Gary not tell you last night I stopped over?" As he turned to face me, he just stared at me, "ermm what's happened to you?" He pointed towards my face. I walked over to the mirror and looked at myself,
"Oh that's just great, thanks Barlow". Jason looked at me worryingly, panic in his voice "Gaz did that to you?"
"Yea he bloody did". Jason came over to me, a worried look on his face. Oh god no, surely he wasn't thinking he had hit me. "He tripped over getting in to bed last night and elbowed me on the nose". I laughed as a relieved look spread across his face.
"Blimey for one minute then I thought"
"No, he didn't do it on purpose".
We both laughed, me because Jason's face had been a picture and Jason out of pure relief I think. Just then Gary came in "what's funny, what have I missed?" As I turned to face Gary, his face dropped, "shit, look at your nose, that bruise". He looked horrified at what he had done. "Hey babe it's fine, it's a bruise, it won't last for ever, and besides I can cover it, hopefully, with make up". I walked over to him and he held me in his arms, kissing the top of my head he kept apologising. "Stop, honestly, it's fine".
We sat and had some breakfast and decided on what to do today. I wanted to pop into work just to make sure everything was ok before heading to the hospital. Gary said he would drive me there and wait so we could go together. Jason finished breakfast and headed straight to see Nic.
Nic was so pleased to see him, she had been awake for hours. She was looking better everyday. She was definitely a fighter and she wasn't going to be beaten. She was missing being with Jason and was determined to get home as quickly as she could. Things were really going well for them. Jason had decided that he would give her the necklace today. He waited til she had gone to the bathroom and he laid it on her pillow with a little note attached. When she came back and saw it she gave a little squeal. It wasn't quite the reaction he was expecting and looked at her. "Sorry" she pulled a funny face at him "mum let slip you had bought me a present"
"Ah that explains your excited squeal, you must have been waiting for me to give it you"
She climbed back into bed and held the box in her hands. She read the note and her hand covered her mouth as she gasped at the lovely words on the card. "Oh Jason, thats so sweet". She opened the box and saw the beautiful heart shaped pendant laying on the velvet material inside. "I love it, thank you" she leant across and kissed him gently on the lips.
"I had it engraved, turn it over". She held the delicate heart in her fingers and slowly turned it over. She read the inscription on the back
Yesterday, today and forever, I will love you always, Jx
She was overcome with emotion. It was so beautiful. Jason moved closer and took the necklace from the box, he placed it around her neck kissing her softly where it fell. "I love you Nic and want to spend the rest of my days making you happy. I thought I had lost you and it tore me apart. I can't be without you, you complete me. Please don't ever scare me like this again". He held her so tightly, like he was never going to let her go. Tears streamed down her face, she just couldn't believe he wanted her, still, after everything that had happened. She felt like she was in a bubble that at any minute someone would come along and burst it.
