As The World Turns

Chapter 42

Marshall rolled over, hoping to snuggle into Jodie, however in his sleepy state he continued to roll. He only noticed that Jodie wasn't in the bed when it was too late and he was tumbling out off the bed, the duvet wrapped around him.

''What the fuck?'' He muttered rubbing his eyes as they tried to adjust to the minimal light in the bedroom. Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes he clambered back up onto the bed so he could reach his phone on his sides nightstand to see the time. The sudden bright white light from his phone made him scrunch his eyes up due to its harshness. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he was able to see the time; 5:00 was the time he found staring back at him.

Figuring out that he should get up and find Jodie, he sighed throwing his phone back down on the nightstand and moved the duvet off himself. Groaning as the cold hit him, he scrambled around in the dark to find something to put on. Once Marshall had finally managed to find some sweatpants and a pullover hoodie (because he was too cold to not wear some sort of top), he made his way out of the bedroom.

It took him a second to work out where he should start looking. His first thought had been the guest room, but upon realising that Jodie wasn't mad at him for anything, therefore, he passed that idea by. His next thought was that she was somewhere downstairs, so that is what he did, making sure that Blink wasn't sat on any of the steps; Marshall noticed that he had a habit for sitting on stairs, especially when you were in a hurry to get up or down them. Luckily this time Marshall wasn't in much of a hurry so he managed to find the furry critter sat placing with one of his fake mice, on the third step from the bottom.

Blink had heard his approach and twisted round to look at Marshall, his green eyes piercing deep into Marshalls own. Letting out a little meow, Blink turned away again letting Marshall pass without a single objection; he did purr when Marshall gave him a little scratch behind the ear, other than that though Blink was very much unbothered by Marshalls random walk in the middle of the morning.

After the first obstacles, Marshall peeked into the living room, he didn't bother turning the light on because it was clear Jodie wasn't and hadn't been in the room. His next and possibly only option was the kitchen, so when he crossed into that room, turning the light on he was completely stumped to find that she wasn't there either. So he stood in the centre of the kitchen by the bar, trying to figure out where in the house Jodie could have possibly gone. He was trying to remain calm, but now he had no idea where she actually was he had begun to panic until a noise caught his attention.

He'd only heard it for a split second, but it was enough for him to know where it had come from. Since he'd been stood in the middle of the kitchen he was very close to not have heard the sound at all, but because the house was deadly quiet he was able to clearly hear the sound of the door leading to the garden down the hallway swing open and on its hinges. He couldn't find Jodie in the house because she wasn't inside, she was instead outside.

Jodie was sat alone, her back against the main wall of the house. She was tucked so discreetly round the corner that Marshall nearly walked straight passed her and he would have if she hadn't let out a sneeze, giving away her hiding place. Sighing he came round to the side of her and lowered himself to the ground next to her.

''Hey, watcha doing out here all alone?'' He questioned, resting a steady hand on her knee in comfort.

''I couldn't sleep. I thought coming outside to clear my head would help. I'm sorry if I scared you,'' Jodie replied turning her face to look at him. Marshall's heart sank a little as he took in her appearance. She'd clearly been crying at some point because her eyes were all red and puffy along with the clear dampness on her cheeks still visible.

''Nah, but you owe me cause I froze my ass off getting out of bed, well I fell out of it to start with,''  Marshall responded, looking a little sheepish.

''Wait you actually fell out of the bed?'' Jodie head to take multiple deep breaths to try and stop herself from laughing.

''Well I expected you to ya know still be there, but nope I rolled right off,'' he admitted and Jodie burst into uncontrollable laughter, ''I'm ok thanks for asking,'' he mumbled after she continued to laugh.

''I'm sorry. I'm sorry, is there a specific place that it hurts,'' she asked batting her eyelashes in his direction, causing him to snort.

''Yeah right here,'' he took her hand and placed it where his heart was located, ''because you laughed at me,'' he pouted a serious expression, which he managed to hold for a second before it crumbled to reveal his smile.

''you're such a child,'' she teased.

''Never claimed I wasn't,'' he pointed out, causing her to begin giggling again, ''now what do ya say we get back to bed? You've got a big day ahead,'' Marshall stood up, so he was now standing over Jodie.

''Yeah, don't remind me,'' Jodie sighed, taking the hand Marshall'd outstretched to her.

''Everything will be ok I promise,'' he reassured her wrapping an arm around her waist, stroking her side as they made their way back into the house.

''I'll hold you to that Marsh,'' she whispered leaning into him a little more as they made their way past Blink, who was now asleep on the staircase, to their room. Jodie got goosebumps when she realised how she'd thought about it 'their room,' Marshall hadn't been lying when he joked that she'd want to move in with him after staying with him for most of the week.

In truth, Jodie was the most scared she'd ever been for what was going to happen in the upcoming hours. She'd been under before, that was for taking teeth out when she was younger and that would be completely different to what was going to happen to her today. She hadn't told Marshall, but she'd been dipping in and out reading the leaflet she had been given by the doctor and had managed to convince herself that knowing her luck she was going to get the worst of the side effects.

Even now as she lay back down in the bed, Marshall gripping onto her as if she was some sort of prized possession, she still couldn't bring herself to close her eyes and sleep because every time she did, she feared that it would be her last time.