“Hey,” she said softly, slipping her fingers between his. At the same time warmth spread through him, the warmth of Rose’s love, followed by the desire to wrap him up in her comfort. She was brushing his mind with hers in an attempt to support him. He squeezed her hand in encouragement. The warmth and comfort, Rose herself, grew more intense, and he welcomed them, thinking Thank you, I love you, over and over again.
I hear you.
He looked at her, trying to smile.
It was the moment Paul’s heart stopped.
“We need you to leave now,” Donna said as the alarms on Paul’s monitors went off, bleeping furiously. But the blood had turned to ice inside him. Dave was unable to move. He couldn’t leave his son alone now.
“Dave!” Donna insisted.
“No.”
He knew why the warmth had left him. Rose had let go of him. He was, somehow, aware of her shepherding the children out of the room, Ewan and Evie wide-eyed, while Lucy was so shocked she was equally reluctant to leave.
“I’m staying,” she insisted.
“Come with us, please,” Rose said.
“You’re not my Mum!” Lucy accused.
Rose took a deep breath. “No, I’m not. I’m not trying to be. But please, come with us. They need their space and Ewan needs you.”
Dave, finally able to react, saw the venom in Lucy’s eyes. “Go with her. Please.”
“We need the crash cart!” Dominic yelled at no one in particular. Aquiouk had stepped back from Paul’s bed, knowing that he couldn’t do anything to help the human boy, that he’d get in the way because he wasn’t familiar enough with the human heart.
“I’ll come with you,” he said. He touched Dave’s shoulder before he wrapped his arm around a stunned Lucy and steered her out of the room behind Rose and the wee ones.
Donna was rubbing the paddles together to spread the conducting gel. Dominic had disconnected the ventilator and opened Paul’s gown baring his pale, narrow torso. Donna pressed the paddles to his chest, warned everyone to step away and pressed the buttons on the paddles.
Paul’s body jerked on the bed like a soft toy shaken by an angry child.
“No, please!” Dave murmured at no one in particular. When he looked at the lines on the monitor, they were flat. All three of them. “No!”
Donna looked up briefly at him while Dominic injected Paul with something Frankie had just passed him. “You want us to stop?” Donna asked.
“No. No, I… I just can’t…”
“I think you’d better leave,” Dominic said, looking over his shoulder, dropping the empty syringe. It hit the floor with a barely audible clatter and rolled beneath the bed.
“I can’t,” Dave said.
“Loading!” Frankie announced.
Donna shocked Paul a second time, with a stronger burst of electricity this time. Paul’s body arched on the bed and slumped back onto it. They fixed their eyes on the monitors. The three lines remained flat.
After a long long time there was a spike. And another. And another, accompanied with tentative bleeps. Paul’s heart was beating again.
Dave stumbled backwards, crashing and flopping into the armchair when he realised that his son was still alive. He watched Dominic reconnect the ventilator. They cleaned up Paul’s chest and tugged the gown back into place, covered him up with his duvet that looked more out of place than ever.
Paul was alive.
“He made it,” Donna said. Her voice sounded far away through the rushing in his ears. He looked up dumbly.
“What?”
“He made it, Dave. Aquiouk had warned us this was going to happen. He’s out of the woods now. The cure is working.”
Chapter 40
Rose took Lucy out to lunch after the court proceedings were finished. The judge had granted Dave more than the full amount of the compensation demand submitted by Stuart's firm. They'd expected to get the full amount. Getting more had come as surprise to all of them. If anything, they had expected to get the full amount, but getting more had come as a surprise to all of them. The judge had not disclosed the reason for his decision; he’d only said that the extra had been agreed to by the Glasgow Police. Dave had wanted to stay and find out the reasons, so Rose had taken Lucy for lunch. She had been surprised that Lucy had accepted her invitation without hesitating; she had also been amused at the fact that Lucy had had no trouble at all standing her ground when it came to Anna. Her aunt had asked her to come with them, but Lucy had flat-out refused, which had called on Robin to use all his powers of persuasion on his wife to leave her be. In the end, Dave had stepped in, seriously cross, demanding that everyone accept Lucy’s decision.
Stuart Quinlan had briefly talked to Rose, apparently to make sure that Lucy would be safe with her. It was amazing to see that he had extended his fatherly instinct to protect to his first-born daughter. What had amazed Rose even more was how quickly she had developed the urge to protect Dave’s children. It had left her reeling momentarily, but there would be enough time to explore these feelings later, when she was alone.
They went to a restaurant that was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh because it was quiet, and she thought the space might appeal to Lucy.
“So, does Stuart know you’ve asked your Dad to adopt you?” Rose asked. Having gone through the whole process of adoption and parental responsibility and her birth certificate with Pete, Rose sympathised with Lucy. All that hadn’t been strictly necessary, but Pete had insisted that they get their papers in order. But she couldn’t tell her that. Rose hated having to keep it from Lucy, but given enough time she might tell her that she was an alien. It was just too much too soon.
“Yes,” Lucy said, sipping her water. “He wasn’t happy, but I suppose he knew that I’d make a decision one day. I really like him and his family, but Dad’s… Dad. And Paul, Ewan and Evie are my family. They know me best.”
“You know, when you told me I’m not your mother,” Rose began.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said, meaning it, but there was also something that she wanted to add.
“I don’t want to replace your Mum, because I can’t. But I hope you understand that, although we are friends, sometimes I will have to be the adult and support your Dad’s wishes,” Rose said. “I know it’s hard to accept. I really do, because I went through the same thing.”
Lucy was silent for a while, and Rose was beginning to think that she’d lost her, when Lucy said, “It must be difficult for you.”
Rose smiled. “Yeah, it is. When I met your father I had no idea about you four. Five.”
“You’re not…” Fear flared up in Lucy’s face.
“No. I couldn’t,” Rose said, genuinely alarmed by Lucy’s fear. “I love your Dad. So much. And I really like you too, and your siblings. You have… Well, your Dad wouldn’t be the man I love if it weren’t for you.”
Lucy blushed and worried the edge of her damask napkin. She probably wasn’t used to being treated like an adult, and for a moment Rose feared she’d overwhelmed the girl. “I’m glad that Dad has you,” Lucy said. She took a deep breath before her leap of faith. “It’s just… it’s so soon. I thought that Dad had forgotten about Mum.”
Rose reached across the table for her hand. “He hasn’t, and he won’t ever forget about your Mum. She’s your Mum. She gave you and the others to him. And I know I won’t ever be able to replace her. I don’t want to.”
Lucy smiled in relief, and so did Rose. Apparently, she had managed to assuage the girl’s legitimate fears. She’d expected Lucy to give her a much harder time than she had, particularly after what had happened between them before and after Paul’s treatment.
Their food arrived, and for a few minutes they concentrated on their meals, praising the taste and texture. Rose was glad that Lucy liked the place; she hadn’t been sure where to take her. She'd wanted it to be a nice place, maybe one that could become their 'special place' where they went when Lucy needed to talk.
“Why did we get more money than Stuart’s friend asked for?”
“I have no idea, sweetheart,” Rose said. “Your Dad’ll find out.”
“Can I ask a favour?” Lucy asked.
“Sure.”
“Please don’t call Dad ‘your Dad’ when you’re talking to us. Just use his name, aye?”
Rose smiled. “I will.”
-:-
That night, Dave went to Rose’s house. Lottie looked after Lucy, Ewan and Evie while Paul was at the Priory for one last night. He was recovering well, and fast, given the severity of the Illness. Aquiouk was still there. He decided to stay on for a bit to do some research. Dave had been very reluctant at first to agree to him using Paul as a guinea pig. He’d explained that Rita would have gone ballistic and he didn’t feel too comfortable with the idea either, but he also understood that Aquiouk’s research would potentially help others. Just how that worked, he had no idea because humans were obviously so different.
Dave had an overnight bag with him, a nice one made of leather that was a bit scuffed from use. It was obviously a favourite. Rose smiled when he put it down carefully and drew her into his arms for a kiss hello. He seemed a little less shaken than he had that morning in court, but Rose knew that this night was going to be intense.
“You’re a million miles away,” he said, breaking the kiss. He didn’t let go of her and Rose cursed herself for adding to his worry.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“I’m still a bit shaken,” he admitted, “but I’m here now.”
She smiled. “We’ve been worried about you.”
“We?”
“Lucy and I, when we had lunch.”
“Ah,” he smiled. His eyes softened and he closed them, taking a deep breath. “I went to Rita’s grave. After court.”
Rose rubbed his arms.
“I haven’t been there since the funeral. I just… can’t bring myself to go there. It’s… the idea that her body’s there is just too…” He faltered and clicked his mouth shut. He leaned forward and their foreheads touched.
“I know the feeling,” Rose said. “It’s the same with Dad’s. Well, was.”
He nodded, never breaking contact with her. They stayed like that way for a while, and Rose remained silent when he didn’t speak. Eventually, he turned his head to kiss her cheek. “I’ve got something for you.” He bent to get a flat, white box out of his bag. She had seen this kind of box at his studio; photo paper came in it. He had wrapped a red ribbon around the box. Evie had written “For Rose” in her best handwriting on the lid; Rose could imagine the girl’s tongue sticking out in concentration as she carefully drew the letters with one of her fat coloured pencils.
Rose accepted the box with a smile.
“It’s from the bairns,” he said, shrugging.
“Oh?” Rose was surprised. She’d thought that Evie had insisted on writing her name on the lid, but she’d never expected a gift from the children. “Why don’t we go to the lounge?”
Dave shook his head. “I’ve got something for you too, and it’s not something for the lounge.”
Rose raised an eyebrow. “What would that be?”
Dave laughed; it was a most welcome sound. “Not what you’re thinking.”
“And I spent so much time making myself pretty for you,” Rose sighed theatrically.
Dave smiled. “But that would be a gift for me, wouldn’t it? Go on, open it.”
“What about your gift?”
“I promised the kids I’d give you theirs first.”
Rose undid the bow and lifted the lid. Wrapped in bright yellow tissue paper was a picture frame. The kids had put the frame into the box face down. Rose glanced at Dave before taking the frame out. It was a photo of him with the kids in the park. They were crouching, with Evie sitting on Dave’s thigh and looking at him. They were flanked by Paul, Ewan and Lucy, all of them smiling at what Evie had just told Dave.
“It’s… this is lovely,” Rose said, flabbergasted. She hadn’t expected such a personal gift from the children, particularly not so soon after meeting them. But then again, they had gone through a traumatic experience together, and obviously that had led to them bonding with her more quickly than she had expected.
“Show me,” Dave said. “They wouldn’t tell me which one they picked.” When Rose showed him the photo, his smile was a sweet mixture of wistfulness and joy.
“Tanya took this the day before Rita died,” he said softly, taking the frame from her. “We went to a match to give her some space. She was revising for her exam. Maths. She was foul that day — her words, not mine.” He returned the frame to her.
“Happy days, then,” Rose said, even more touched by the gift now.
“Aye. They really like you, you know,” he said.
“How’s Paul?” Rose asked. She hadn’t been at the Priory since early Monday morning.
“He’s doing great. Apparently, he’s more than happy to help Aquiouk with his research.”
Rose knew how Dave felt about that. “He’s an amazing boy.”
“Aye.”
They held each other’s gaze for a while, and Rose couldn’t shake the thought that she might not be able to have Dave’s baby. Sadness wrapped its fist around her heart and she had to look away.
“Hey? Rose, what is it?” Dave asked, touching her arm.
“It’s… nothing,” Rose said, smiling the fear away. “You said you have a gift for me as well?”
Dave frowned for a moment, debating if he should let this drop or press her for an answer. She willed him to leave her be with an intense gaze, and he did. “I do.” He picked up his bag, grabbed her hand and led her upstairs to her bedroom.
“So I was right after all,” Rose chuckled as she followed him, staring at his bite-able bum before her.
“You, Rose Tyler, have a very dirty mind,” he said, turning around so she was looking at his crotch.
She tucked the tip of her tongue into the corner of her mouth and looked at him from beneath her lashes. “You think?” His eyes dropped to the line of her shirt, which from his vantage point revealed the curve of her breasts and a hint of her lacy bra.
He grinned at her.
“Come on, you,” he said, tugging at her hand.
He steered her to sit on her bed facing the window. “Now close your eyes.”
She obeyed, wondering what he was up to, if maybe he’d be naked by the time he allowed her to look. She could hear him taking something out of his bag, the rustle of newspaper and, finally, the floorboards creaking under his weight as he moved to her bedside table. No naked Dave, then.
“Open your eyes, my love.”
Rose blinked into the brightness of her room until she saw Dave crouching in the corner. He was holding up a battered picture frame that seemed to come straight from one of the collections of the Old Tate. The picture it held was their handprints on the wall.
“It’s a bit rubbish compared to the gift from the bairns,” he said, shrugging.
Rose blinked again. They’d shared their first kiss after making the pair of prints. It was the last thing she looked at before going to sleep and the first thing she saw when she woke in the morning. “It’s not,” she said, her voice cracking.
The frame was the perfect size for the prints, and she loved its flaking paint and chipped artwork, and intricate pattern of vines and leaves. There even was a flat bit left for the tag. It was the only new bit of the frame. She rose to read what the label said.
“That’s… very true,” she said. “Thank you. I love it.”
Dave smiled, slumping a little in relief. “I picked it up a car boot sale and thought it would be perfect for... us.”
“I love you,” she added, taking the frame and carefully leaning it against the wall. They were in the same position they had been the day they had made the handprints. She leaned in for a kiss. This time, it wasn’t tentative. They deepened it almost immediately, and Dave’s arms came around her. Th
ey shifted, never breaking their kiss, until Rose was sitting between Dave’s legs. They kissed for a long while, holding on to each other, just revelling in each other.
Eventually, Rose leaned her head on his shoulder, draping her legs over his thigh. They sat in silence, lost in their thoughts. Dave’s heart was slowing down as his breathing evened out. She undid two of the buttons on his shirt and slid her hand inside. He wasn’t wearing a vest, so she curled her fingers into his chest hair before smoothing her palm against his pecs.
“The judge refused to explain why he upped the amount of the compensation,” Dave said, covering her hand through the material of his shirt. He turned his head to kiss her forehead.
Bigger on the inside: Space, Time Travel, Alien Criminals (A Space Time Travel Mystery Book 1) Page 44
