Without You

46. It's Not His Fault

A/N - Multitudinous apologies for the delay in updating. Real life has been ridiculously busy as of late and up until today I hadn't had a chance to write a single word in over a week! 😢 I am hopeful that, once this horrendous module in my VTNE prep class (review for my vet nurse licensing exam) is over, I'll have a teeny tiny bit more time again. I think this chapter is quite possibly rubbish, but hopefully it isn't completely worthless....Thank you all for your patience and understanding, and thank you for reading! 💗 This story, quite incredibly, was #1 in the #antanddec rankings for the past couple of days, but has now taken second place to kashariak's brilliant "Losing You to My Insecurities." Again, if you've not read her stories you really are missing out! ❤

Also, get well soon to poor Rocky...I swear, he's basically a mini version of Dec: Scrappy Doo! 😂❤

P.S. - I have to share my exciting moment of the week: the official Twitter account for Saturday Night Takeaway inexplicably liked my tweet replying to Ant and Dec's post showcasing the brilliant SNT advert! So that's Ant tweeting me on December 30th, and now SNT liking my tweet on January 31st! Now to get something from Dec on the 29th of February....🤞😂😍💖

Wait, what was that?

Her thumb stilling in its soothing movements just as quickly as it had begun, Ali frowned. Dec had jerked ever so slightly when she first touched his wrist, which wasn't all that unusual in and of itself – the healing wound was still rather sensitive, although whether the tenderness was mental or physical in nature she wasn't sure – but something felt off. It was like there was a sort of crusty line across his wrist. And this definitely wasn't the side he had injured, she was certain of that. Carefully rubbing her thumb across his wrist again, Ali confirmed what she'd felt the first time. And Dec flinched ever so slightly again. What the hell?!

Hurriedly jerking the blanket aside with her other hand, Ali flipped Dec's wrist over before he had a chance to pull away, grabbing hold of his hand with both of hers to prevent him from moving. What she saw ran her blood cold and caused an iron hand of fear to grip around her throat, choking her.

A fine line traversed Dec's wrist, running from one side to the other, a sort of yellowish, crusty substance marking its surface, with just the tiniest bit of blood visible over the most prominent tendon in his wrist. Flexing his hand backward slightly, Ali watched in horror as the line opened, revealing a very shallow cut, a small amount of light, serous discharge seeping out as the wound was reopened.

Dropping his hand in stunned silence, Ali turned to stare at her husband, who had gone completely rigid, not to mention deathly pale, and was fixing his clearly panicked gaze on his lap, right hand still frozen in place over Rocky's smoothly rising and falling rib cage. Rocky whimpered quietly in his sleep, snuggling closer as if sensing his master's distress and trying to provide comfort in some small way.

"When??" Ali hissed, voice a mixture of horror and seething anger, "When did you do this?!?"

Dec started chewing on his bottom lip anxiously, still refusing to meet her gaze. She was about to prod him for information again when he suddenly blurted out, tone dripping with hurt, "We rowed, okay? I-, I thought we were over...I wanted to end it all. So I tried." Now sounding decidedly teary, his eyes welling up rapidly, he whispered, "He saved me. Again."

Ali stared at him in stupefaction, mouth hanging open. "You mean to tell me that scumbag had the audacity to row with you after I told him to go easy on you?!" she roared, eyes sparking with fury. "What the hell was Linda doing, then, helping him? What sort of a s*** therapist is she that she lets her patients row and then turns a blind eye whilst one of them tries to commit suicide?! I'm going to kill that man!!!"