All Areas Accessed - Sequel to Access All Areas

Chapter Sixteen

"Wow!" Is gasped from out of Clara's enthralled mouth as she soaks up the sight of the abandoned Georgian mansion.

This moment.

Her smile.

Makes it all worthwhile.

Letting people down and pissing everyone off, just to see Clara smiling the way that she is now, makes it so very worthwhile.

Throwing my famous weight around, just so I could give my girl something to remember me by, was absolutely necessary.

Before I get on that plane, I need her to know how special she is. How special I want us to be. So the surprises today, are to show her how much I really do care.

I cared enough to surprise Clara where she works. Now, I'm caring enough to bring her to this derelict house. "It's used by film and TV companies." I proudly tell her; proud, because I know that she's just loving my surprise. "Let's have a look around." Threading my fingers through hers, I know that Clara is just itching to get closer to the decaying period property.

"How did you find this place? Where are we?" She asks with deepening awe. The more close we get to the abandoned Georgian building, the less able Clara seems to steadily walk.

Grinning on account of how mesmerised she seems to be, I am really keen to answer her. "We are near North London, not too far from the M25. I had Jules find it for me. It's not open to the public but he managed to sweet talk the owners into letting me bring you." With Clara increasingly struggling to walk across the unkempt terrain in her heels, I look down at her shoes with a smirk. "Maybe I should have got you to change your shoes first?"

Also looking down at her heels, she laughs at the dirty sight of them. "Yes, you should have." But my girl doesn't really care about her stilettos being smeared with thick mud, all she cares about is the grand decaying house that seems to be calling out to her. Using my arm to support herself as we keep trudging through the overgrown and uneven grass, we are soon standing beneath the shadow of this once affluent house. "Isn't it beautiful?" Clara asks me, her eyes now so open with impressed delight.

Truth is, I just see the shell of a big old house. To me, it's just that. But I came here for Clara, not for me. So with an honest smile, I just tell her what I'm thinking. "It's a really cool house. A really big and cool house." My thumb lightly strokes hers, giving her just a little more of my honest smile.

Clara giggles as she cuddles my arm really tight, her eyes becoming so beautifully bright with amusement. "It is cool...and very big." She's still giggling at my very simple and very truthful first impression of the empty and lonely-looking building.

Knowing that I've amused her, I smirk down at my girl, knowing that yet another surprise awaits her. "Let's get your very British butt to come and see the back of this place." Holding Clara's hand, I lead the way. Jules explained to me where I was to go. He said that the owners warned us to be careful where we were stepping, as there was lots of longer grass, big stones and rotting timber everywhere. So carefully, we navigate ourselves through and over it all. And still, Clara doesn't care. The more she sees of the decrepit place, the more in love with it she becomes . "Be careful." I say, worried that her eyes are too locked on the house and not on the treacherous  ground. I must admit, I'm glad when we safely reach the back of the house. Daylight is poor. The sky is darkly overcast and the air is damp and cold. By the time that we do finally leave here, the skies will be darker still. So I'll make sure that we are escorted back to the car with a torch, I think it will be the safest thing to do.

As I'm figuring out how to eventually leave this place safely, Clara snuggles up against me, wrapping her chilled body around mine. "Thank you for bringing me here, it's a gorgeous place."