Let The Rain Fall Down

Revenge Is A Dish Best Served...

The clock on the plain wall showed it was just gone three in the morning and I couldn't sleep, my mind was on my husband, I'd tried sleeping on the small bed but it never came. The last few hours had been Hell itself, I was so scared that I had lost the one thing bar my children that made me complete. Without Lucas, life would be unbearable. I loved him, God I loved him so much and he was lying in a hospital bed and I wasn't allowed to be at his side... I was dying from the inside out.

03.05

The lights of the clock were ticking by slowly, the five minutes I'd sat cradling the large coffee cup that offered no comfort only nausea, I knew that I had to take a risk. I'd already risked my life to keep Lucas safe and now, well now, I would risk it again to be at his side where I belonged. I was his wife, I was the one who should be there when he opened his eyes. First though, there was something I needed to do, the small blue and white box was staring at me from the small table at the bedside. I knew the truth, I was pregnant... but I had to see it for myself, had to see the two red lines appear for myself. Moving into the small bathroom I did as the box told me and waited anxiously for the minutes to go by. There they were... I was pregnant, baby number four for Lucas and I, a real miracle for the two of us. Placing my hand over my stomach I wondered if I had changed a little already, I certainly couldn't stand the smell of coffee any more, as I hadn't with Aeryn so many years before. Grabbing the white stick I pulled on the black hooded jacket once more, something that belonged to Lucas and made me feel so much closer to him when he was gone. I couldn't ride my bike, I had no choice but to call a taxi from the mobile I'd been given from Ruth. Everything I did was dangerous as I left the safe house and walked a few streets before calling for the taxi. There had been no word in so long, hours had gone by since I'd walked away from Beth, Ruth and Dimitri.

* * * *

Walking through the doors of the hospital, I had no choice but to ask for where I could find John Bateman, the name that Lucas used when it became necessary – I despised the name, it went through me like claws on a blackboard. My husband was Lucas North, not John Bateman. Needs must though in this respect, Lucas was alive and on the third floor of this hospital, the lift I was in took too long, I wanted to be with him, wanted to see his face and see for myself that he was safe.

Walking into ward twenty-one I saw the nurse's station, I would be told of course that I couldn't visit, it was too late but I knew how to play it, I was his wife and had only just found out. Tears would fall and the nurse would allow it. No woman could be that cruel as to deny a wife time with her husband, the tears that fell as I moved towards the desk were genuine, I was afraid for Lucas, I needed him and the hours apart were like months...

“I... wondered if you could help me? My... my husband, John Bateman, I was told he is here? Please... I didn't know until now that he had been hurt. Where is he, can I see him?”

The nurse stared at me in disbelief as she glanced at the clock across from her, three thirty four in the morning, time was ticking by and I needed to see him.

“You do know what time it is?”

Nodding softly I tried to explain that I had been away and had travelled back tonight, I'd been out the country and come back to the horrendous news that my husband had been hurt, had been attacked and nearly died.

“We have children, three of them and I need to be able to tell them I saw their father and he is safe and well in a hospital where good ladies look after their Daddy... please?”

The nurse smiled at me, a gentle smile of one woman understanding the pain another was in. She led me to the fourth bay, there in the first bed was Lucas. He was black and blue, his face bandaged and stitched, his hair was cut shorter than before, and even in the dim light as the nurse laid me to him, I could see where his skull had been stitched. My man, the love of my entire life was lying there and I could barely recognise him.