In The Darkest Hour

Part Two - Chapter Twenty-Three: Emergency Calls

Theodore took a deep breath as he padded into his small apartment, the last couple of months had been hard on him and he didn't know what to do anymore; he wished that he could talk to Isla but she wasn't in Barcelona anymore. 

Theodore didn't even know if his daughter had heard that he had separated from Tracy, he hadn't been able to speak with her after her interview and he was disgusted with what she had done. 

Theodore wasn't entirely fond of Gerard after what the footballer had done but if Isla was willing to forgive him and she was happy then that was all that mattered to him now. 

Tracy was continuing on with her hate campaign and everyone knew that it was her now releasing the stories to the press; she wasn't going to stop until she broken Gerard and Isla up. 

Theodore doubted that Isla was ever going to forgive her mother for what she was doing, he was ashamed that things had gotten this far; he wished he would have noticed what his now estranged wife had been doing before it had reached this point and his family was this torn apart. 

Theodore set down his bag and moved towards the fridge to see what there was to eat, he was starving and he hadn't been feeling well all day; he was sure it would pass when he'd had a good meal and a decent night's sleep. 

Theodore grumbled as his apartment phone started to ring, he moved to check the caller Id and rolled his eyes when he realised it was Tracy; he refused to speak to her after he had walked out of their family home. 

Theodore was speaking to a lawyer about divorce, he didn't want to remain married to someone who could set out to hurt their own daughter; he would wait for Isla to come back before reaching out to her. 

Theodore opened his fridge and frowned at the empty state, he had completely forgotten that he didn't have anything in; he was going to have to order out again.

Placing a quick order to the local Chinese restaurant, Theodore rubbed his chest trying to ease the pain in his chest as he walked over the couch and sat down; he'd had bad indigestion all day and he wished that he had some tablets. 

Leaning his head back onto the couch, Theodore wondered what Isla was doing right now; he had seen in the papers that Gerard had popped the question and he had been a little hopeful that she would call him to tell him the news. 

Theodore wasn't holding his breath, he doubted that Isla would ever willingly talk to him after what her mother had done; he cursed Tracy for causing this rift and he hoped that Isla was happy. 

Theodore looked over at the phone and wondered if he should risk calling Isla himself, he wanted to talk to his daughter; he hated that he hadn't seen her in months. 

Sitting up, Theodore reached for his phone and called Isla mobile hoping that she hadn't changed the number; he chewed on his lip as the phone just rang and rang before he hung up. 

Theodore stared at the phone, he was a little hurt that she hadn't answered but he didn't blame her; Tracy had done a lot of damage when she had started this hate campaign. 

Theodore was just lucky that Kieran was willing to talk to him, he missed his son and he was glad that Kieran was so level-headed; he had told his son about what was going on. 

Theodore heard a knock at the door and he slowly got to his feet when he felt an odd pain traveling down his left arm; he felt dizzy and slowly the world turned dark around him as he dropped to the floor, smashing his head into the coffee table. 

The delivery man called out when he heard a crash and when he didn't get a reply started to panic.

***

Isla smiled staring down at her engagement ring, she couldn't believe that it had really been a month since she had gotten engaged to Gerard; things were just perfect right now and she couldn't have been happier.

Isla had already begun to think about the sort of wedding that she wanted to share with Gerard, she knew it would be a couple of years before they got married and she was hopeful that everything would be perfect. 

The couple had agreed to wait until Euros were over before they made any permanent decisions about their wedding; they didn't know what the future held for Gerard's career right now. 

Isla was more than happy to wait until they knew what was going to happen with Barcelona, they hadn't said anything about Gerard returning to the club after the loan spell at Manchester United was over. 

Hearing the sound of her mobile ringing, Isla furrowed her brow confused and moved to answer it; she had received a call from a strange number earlier and she didn't know who it was. 

Milan was happy watching some DVD that he had picked to watch, it was a nice quiet day and Gerard would be home soon from training; Isla was sure that he had done well since he had settled in quickly to playing for the club. 

"Hola?" Isla greeted answering her phone, she was a little curious about the number that had called her; it was the same one from earlier and she wanted to know who it was. 

Isla had only given her number to select people, she was a little worried about it being leaked after everything that had happened; she didn't trust that her mother wouldn't leak her number to the press. 

"Yes this is she," Isla murmured furrowing her brow at the woman's voice, her stomach turned as she started to think that something had happened back home. 

Isla racked her brain trying to work out who could be in trouble, she couldn't think of any reason that something was wrong but something just didn't feel right.

Gerard stepped into the apartment and smiled to himself, he moved to set down his bag as he heard Isla speaking softly to someone on the phone; he popped his head into the living room and frowned watching his fiancée. 

Gerard could see that Isla was upset about something and he wondered what had happened now; he quietly moved towards her, he could see that she was crying and it made his heart break. 

Isla sniffled hanging up the phone, she couldn't believe what she had just been told; she had never thought that this would happen after how perfect the last month had been. 

"Isla?" Gerard murmured as Milan toddled over to him and clambered up onto his lap, he held onto his son while Isla tried to calm herself down before she spoke. 

Gerard wrapped an arm around his fiancée and held her close, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head; he waited patiently until she was ready to talk to him about the call. 

"My padre had a heart attack," Isla whispered after a few minutes of silence, she couldn't believe this had happened and she had no idea of what to make right now. 

Gerard stared at Isla, he sighed knowing that this couldn't have come at a worse time for Isla; she hadn't spoken to her parents in months and he knew that it couldn't end well. 

"I have to go and see him Geri..." Isla murmured looking at her fiancé, she couldn't remain in Manchester not knowing what was going on with her father; she didn't know what to do if he didn't make it. 

Gerard nodded his head understandingly, he didn't blame Isla one bit and he would support her no matter what she did; he would do what he could to make sure that she got to Barcelona as fast as possible.