Never Again.

Chapter Nineteen

"Here, I grabbed two, and some ice."

"Thanks Lily." I swallowed the pills, without the water she handed me, and placed the ice pack on my wrist, I winced as my other shoulder hurt. 'I'm so sick of pain.'

"Dani? Is it too cold?"

"What? No, just moved my shoulder funny."

Kane removed my hand, took the ice pack from it, moving it back so my shoulder didn't hurt, and held the ice pack on my wrist gently.

"Better?" He asked nervously.

"Perfect. Thank you."

"I'm going to lock the door, do the dishes and wipe down the tables," Lily said as she got up.

"I'll help," Kat said and placed her hand on mine, smiling.

"Thank you, both of you." They nodded and walked to the kitchen.

It was just Kane and I sitting there. He was holding the ice pack on my wrist, and our hands were in the middle of the table.

"Kane-"

"Dani-"

We both said it at the same time, stopping in unison as well.

"I'm sorry." I told him looking down as I put my free hand in my lap.

"No, Dani, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about! You've stood up to Charlie twice on my behalf, and the only thanks I gave was not talking to you."

"No, Dani. I stood up to Charlie, but let you fall twice in the process. I hate what he did to you, but I'm not making it any better. I should be helping you, but I can't even stay focused around you. I just want to hold you and never let go. I don't even know what to do to make it right."

"That's just it! You don't have to do anything. You've already done so much." 'Even if it was forced,' "Charlie would've had me again if you hadn't have been there, I would have even more bruises if you hadn't of saved me from fighting the floor last night, and you carried me over a mile!"

"Dani." The way he said my name made me worry. He sounded really serious, and kind of nervous. It was a weird combination, and I looked up. He was looking at our hands, with his on mine as he held an ice pack on my wrist.

"What?"

"I need to know something. But I need an honest answer."

"What?" Now I was really worried.

"I just- Were you mad at me earlier?"

"No, I wasn't." But he didn't look like he believed me, "I was mad at myself."

"I'm sorry for whatever I-" he then realized what I had said, "Wait no? Mad at yourself?"

"Yeah."

"What? Why? It's not your fault."

"What? No, I was mad at myself, because of you." He looked really confused.

"So you were mad at me...?"

"No. I was mad at myself," I paused, this was way too personal, but after everything, he deserved an answer, "because I thought you wanted to be here, spending time with me. But when you said that Lily asked you to watch me it clicked that you were just doing her a favour. I got mad, because I wanted to spend time with you, but you had to spend time with me."

"No, Dani-"

But I cut him off, "I've told you more than anyone else, and care about you more than I want to admit. I still flinch when Lily, Kat or anyone else touch me, and I know it hurts them, but yours is fine. It doesn't bother me, even laying beside you. And it scares me that I care that much about someone who is only here doing someone else a favour."

He was stunned. He sat there with a shocked face and stuttered a couple times.

"I'm sorry," I got up to put the ice pack back and when I reached for it he put his hand on mine, stopping me. I looked up and he was looking right into my eyes. I felt as if he could see through me, not just into my eyes.

"I asked Lily, while we were hanging the lights, if I could stay with you today. She said that she trusted me because she knew you did, and that was more than good enough for her. She made me promise though, that I wouldn't let you do anything that required too much effort. It was one condition, we even shook on it. She said she was going to spend today with you, but I begged her. I couldn't leave you. Not even if I tried. I would've ended up coming back. I just wanted to hold you. After last night, and especially after you told me about him, I couldn't even think about leaving you." His face was bright red and his voice was kind of shaky.

"It wasn't a favour to Lily? You wanted to be here?"

"No it wasn't a favour. And yes, I wanted to be here, beautiful."

My cheeks heat up as Kane slowly wrapped his arms around me, almost asking if it was okay. I put my arms around him, and he pulled me close. I put my head against his chest and we just stood there.

A few minutes later he silently lead me upstairs and we sat on the couch. Lily had turned the lights on, on the Christmas tree and had decorated it. There were even several gifts under it. I told Kane I would be a second, and walked to my room, grabbing the two gifts and placing them under the tree, "Sorry, I didn't get you one."

"That's a relief, because it would've been awkward since I didn't get you one either."

"Good."

"We're good now?"

"Yes. Better than good."

"I'm glad."

I heard footsteps and Kat walked in.

"Did we wake you? I'm sorry."

"No, I just got out of the shower. Aunt Lily and I always pull an all-nighter Christmas Eve and open late on Christmas. We're only open for dinner, and we're closed Boxing Day."

"Oh. That's nice."

"Yeah, so we do our gifts Christmas Eve. She'll be coming soon."

On cue Lily walked in with a smile on her face. "Gift time!"

"You're like a kid on Christmas, Aunt Lily."

"It's the little girl in me." She said and laughed, we all joined in, even me.

"That's the first time I've heard you laugh. You have a beautiful laugh Dani," Kane whispered in my ear as I went bright red.

"Thanks." And we all sat down as Lily handed out the gifts under the tree.