What would you do? (A Bastille/ Dan Smith fanfic)

66. Support

DAN’S P.O.V.

Ally came back to the group of us but without Kaley. I was secretly happy, annoyingly even seeing Kaley made me feel nervous and awkward. But considering how much of a vicious bitch she had been in the past, I sort of had a right to be uneasy around her. I could sense Ally felt uncomfortable around her too and I don’t like seeing her upset, it tears me up inside.

I had also just been speaking to Lou. Ellie had been asking after me and so Lou was going to bring her to the park to enjoy the sunshine with us. It was the perfect chance for Ally and all the boys to meet Ellie. Even though I had only known Ellie a week, and she didn’t yet know the full nature of our relationship, I wanted her in my life as much as possible.

Another hour or so passed of relaxing in the sunshine before Lou and Ellie arrived. As soon as Ellie spotted me her eyes widened and she sprinted (as fast as a toddler can) through the busy field and jumped straight on me.

“AAANNNN!” She shouted as she jumped in my arms. Her language obviously wasn’t properly developed yet and she called me ‘An’ as she couldn’t pronounce the ‘D,’ it was hilarious and so cute.

“Hello beautiful!” I laughed as she began tickling me.

“Hey!” Lou smiled cheerily as she neared the group. “Long time no see.” She nodded towards the boys. “You alright Ally?” Everyone smiled and greeted Lou back.

“Mumma An play?” Ellie asked us, holding both our hands and dragging us towards the park.

“Ellie, hold up a minute!” Louise laughed as Ellie pulled us along away from the rest of the group.

“What have you been doing, keeping her locked inside all day and feeding her sugar?! Where has all this energy come from?” I joked as we were being yanked straight towards the swings without any of the others having a proper chance to meet Ellie.

“She had a mega long nap which might explain it, that’s why we took so long.”

We constantly laughed as we played together with our daughter. She was so overexcited today, dragging us from the swings to the slide to the climbing frame and back around again. I don’t know how Lou deals with looking after her all day every day. I mean, I love Ellie dearly but she’s a total handful and it’s so knackering looking after her, I find myself constantly running around. Lou manages to do it all the time though and still manages to look perfectly flawless. I found myself just watching her play with Ellie, Lou occasionally looking up and smiling at me.

Lou’s phone rang after a while and she left me and Ellie on our own whilst she took the call. I kept an eye on Lou and saw her rubbing her temples and tears escaping her eyes. I immediately ran over to her when she got off the phone and she basically collapsed into my arms.

“That was my brother, Mum’s just had a heart attack.” She said between sobs.

“Oh shit.” I thought for a minute. “Lou you go to the hospital, I’ll keep Ellie.”

“Are you sure? Will you be okay?” She worriedly stuttered.

“Yes, of course. You go.” I held her close for a few seconds and watched her as she quickly ran to Ellie and kissed her and ran off.

Ellie ran up to me soon after. “An where Mumma?”

“She’s just gone to see Nanny, sweetie. You’re staying with me tonight!” I tried to stay upbeat and positive and Ellie never guessed anything at all was wrong. That’s the beauty of children, they are able to see past the worries and get on with things, something I’ve never been able to do.

We stayed at the park a while longer and me, Ally and Ellie headed back to mine when we got hungry, leaving the boys to go on to a bar and get drunk. Right now though, all I wanted to do was care for Ellie whilst her mum was going through a difficult time.

Later on in the night, just as Ally and I were about to take ourselves off to bed I got a call from Lou. She was in an absolute state, barely able to get a word out.

“Dan.” She kept on repeating, unable to finish her sentence. “She died.” I gasped quickly. What the fuck do I say to that? I’m awful at consoling people. “Dan, I need you.”

“Uh.. Uh right okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom, where Ally was washing her face. “Al, I need to go, look after Ellie for me will you?” Before Ally got the chance to reply I was out the door and down the hall, sprinting towards the taxi rank and towards the hospital.

When I got there I anxiously rushed around, trying to find the room that I had been told she was in. I got to the corridor and saw Lou sat on a chair crying with her head in her hands. I approached her and sat down on the chair next to her. She turned to face me and her eyes were red and puffy. Without saying a word she leaned into me and sobbed loudly, letting all of her pain out.

“Shall we get you home?” I asked after a long while of sitting in our embrace. She nodded slowly in agreement. I helped her up and she linked her arm in mine. We talked to Doctors for a while and I could tell that Lou wasn’t paying any attention so I made sure that I was listening so that I could tell her any important information that she had missed.

We made our way into a taxi and back to her house. She was still in a state of shock as I helped her to her front door and into her house. We sat down on the sofa and after not speaking for the whole night she finally spoke.

“Thank you.” Lou turned to me with a weak smile. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be stupid, it’s fine.. I’m sorry about your mum.”

“So am I.” She sighed. I could see her eyes welling up again and so I wrapped her into my arms again, holding her tightly. I couldn’t bear to see anyone this upset. “She’s gone.” Lou kept on saying whilst crying as I shushed her. I had no idea what to do, but right now this seemed like the best thing. I had to be there to support Lou. After all, my daughter had just lost her Nan.