***Sensitive Topics***
MARY-KATE'S POV
Seeing her walk away from my sister was hard to watch, she had shut down at those two words, Lizzie said to her. I was glad we came over. Their dinner was on the table and Nell had a carton of apple juice in one hand and a bottle of Pino in the other. Her skin was physically drained of colour until her skin looked grey and almost waxy.
She put the bottles on the island and threw up in the sink, Ashley caught her hair before it flew into the line of sick exiting her body. Lizzie looked anywhere but Eleanor. I loved her but she had been so fucking stupid. Nell was a lovely girl, she was understanding and empathic everything Lizzie needed and wanted in a partner and she threw it back in her face. "Nell?" I said when she stood up straight. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her hoodie before looking at me her eyes were dark not a single flick of green in them. Lizzie said that means she's sad. The more green the happier she is. They've been pure green for weeks and weeks since the engagement but now they're just brown. "Um, let me fix you a plate of food." "That's okay." "You can just eat mine. I'm not that hungry." She says turning to the sink and rinsing it out before going to the cleaning cabinet and getting the products to clean their very expensive and nice sink. She didn't say anything else, no one moved Ashley stayed close to Nell as she cleaned the sink out. Lizzie looked outside into her garden.
I walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her, she was my sister and she knows she fucked up. "Are you okay?" "Is she?" "No." "Then no." Her hand rested on her flat stomach the bump not yet visible. "What do you need?" "What I need isn't going to come so just go or stay. I don't care." "What do you need?" I asked again. "I need her to tell me it's going to be okay. But she can't. Because it's not going to be okay. Because I let him fuck me and I'm carrying his child!" She screamed at me. I looked over my shoulder, Nell and Ashley stood looking at us. Nell was conflicted she wanted to comfort Lizzie but she was hurting to much to.
Lizzie turned to look at Nell they shared eyecontact for a few minutes neither of them say anything. "I'm sorry," Lizzie whispered but because the room was completely silent it was audible to the girls on the other side of the kitchen. Nell was already fiddling with her rings as she looked down at her hands. "Please don't," Lizzie said but Nell slipped both rings off her fingers and hesitantly sat them on the counter. "Nelly. Please."
"I can't do this." She looked sick like she was going to pass out any second. Lizzie was shaking her head eyes over spilling with silent tears that cascaded down her high cheeks and dripped off her chin. "You can keep the house and the car. I'll have someone come and get my things." "Nell." "No, it's fine. Really, you're having a baby. You need a house." "I want our home." "Our home is broken, Lizzie. And I'm not prepared to get hurt again in an attempt to fix it. My heart can't take it." "Um... I'm gonna go get a bag together." Her voice quivered slightly and her words came out almost confused like she was processing the situation as she was talking.
She didn't shout, she didn't get angry. She was in pain. She truly loved Lizzie with everything she was, she put everything into this relationship. I followed her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I caught her wrist before she went up the next flight of stairs and she stayed facing away from me firmly. "Eleanor?" Her shoulders shook and her knees buckled. We sat in the hallway her head buried in my chest as I shielded her from reality for a few minutes. I ran my fingers through her hair, her long limbs folded beneath her. "What can I do?" "I need my mum." "Okay, I can do that," I say helping her stand and taking her into one of the guest rooms.
I called her mum, Nell laid her head in my lap as I ran my fingers through her hair. I explained what had happened to Annabella. She was anxious to get to her daughter and asked me to keep her with me, in their house. So I did. I booked Annabella a flight it was the least I could do for Nell. The way Lizzie had treated her. Nell stopped crying and she was just glaring ahead at nothing in particular, lost in thought. Lizzie was crying downstairs and Ashley was doing her thing. She had a lot more understanding when it came to this type of thing.
I stayed up with Nell all night, in the exact position, she didn't sleep she just looked ahead searching for answers in the obis. Lizzie would have tired herself out and fallen asleep at some point. I continued running my fingers through Nell's hair. She was my friend and she was hurting and I couldn't give her comfort. I couldn't trash talk to the person that hurt her because it was my sister and that trumps friend but I was furious with Lizzie. All I could do was count down the hours until her mum arrived.
The morning sun broke through and lit up the room. The house was still silent. The only indication that Nell was alive was the short shallow slow breaths she was taking, almost like it was a chore for her to breathe right now. Lizzie came into the room with a glass of water and a pillbox. I frowned at her and she continued to come in and kneel on the floor in front of Nell. "Please take them." Nell wasn't even in the headspace to notice her right now never mind respond but Lizzie continued to put the pills in her mouth one by one in between forcing her to sip from the straw.
"What was that for?" "She needs them." That is all she did to explain and left the water on the bedside table closing the pillbox and setting that on there too before kneeling back in front of Nell. "You need to give her space, Liz," I say when she hesitates to touch her. "I love her." "You're pregnant with another person's child." She tucked Nell's hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry, Angel." Nell didn't even blink in acknowledgement, the lights were on but no one was home. "Annabella is on her way, she should get here at about 11 o'clock," I inform her. "She asked for a mum?" "Yeah." Her eyes filled with tears before she rested her forehead on the side of Nell's face. "Liz you need to leave her alone," Ashley says from the door. "She needs to eat." "She's not hungry." "But she still has to eat. And she has a meeting this afternoon with Rokh, I'll cancel it for her. and she has dinner with Seb and Mackie. I will cancel that too. And" "Liz, come on." Ashley tugged her arm for her to stand and she did slowly.
"Are you okay?" I asked Nell when the door closed but got nothing from her. She just laid. I heard Ashley let Annabella in, when she come into the bedroom we were in I saw Lizzie sitting facing the door, she looked like a wreck. "Eleanor baby," Anna whispered kneeling on the floor in front of her as Lizzie did a few hours ago. She traced her high cheekbones and nose before pecking her nose. Her head was still on my lap. "I brought you, someone." She tells her going into her purse and pulling out an old looking grey bear with what would have been a baby pink ribbon around its neck. Nell moved for the first time in over twelve hours and reached for the bear burning her face in it. Her mum smiled sadly at the sight and ran her hand through her hair.
"Baby girl, can you sit up?" She sat up slowly and I stretched my legs out clicking my neck. The door was open and Lizzie was standing in the doorway looking in but not passing the thresh hold. Anna placed one hand on each of Nell's wrists and slowly pulled her arms down so the bear lowered from her face. Her mum studied her for a few moments, her own eyes filling with tears. "What do you need from me, baby?" Her mum spoke softly with her just like Nell spoke, she must have got it from her mum, it was a calming tone not patronising but soothing. Nell didn't say anything she didn't show much of a reaction. "You need to speak to me, Bug." "What time is it?" "11:30." She stood up. "I have a meeting." "I cancelled it," Lizzie says. Nell looks at Lizzie the concern filled her eyes as she scanned my sister over. They stood facing each other scanning each other over.
"Baby?" "I want to go to Soho." She says in response to her mum. "Okay, well you get your things together and we'll head there." Nell nodded and she walked past Lizzie and I heard her run up the stairs. "Don't," I warn Lizzie seeing her debating with herself. "Elizabeth, please just let her be." Anna says slightly defeated. "Are you going to take her away?" "Take her away? She's barely here. This is how she was when she came home after Ria died. That's the amount of pain you've put her through. That bear she hasn't held since she left for New York. It was the only bear she had when she cried or get upset. It was called Emosh because she let all her feelings out into it. And she is clinging to that thing like she's 5 years old again waiting for a breakdown. She is already away, Elizabeth. There's no taking her anywhere needed because she sure as hell isn't in the room right now." She wasn't wrong, Nell was barely putting sentences together. She wasn't here so it didn't matter.
I waited with Anna downstairs for Nell to come down but she didn't come for ages, an hour passed. "I'll go check on her." I jog up the stairs but when I got to the bedroom she wasn't there. "Nell?" I called out, going into the bathroom, nothing. I went into the walk-in and her bear was sitting on the vanity but she wasn't in here.
I look in all the rooms on the top floor and couldn't find her anywhere. I jog down the stairs and bump into Ash. "Do you know where Nell is?" "Do you know where Lizzie is?" We ask in unison. "No." "They're both missing?" We talk in unison far too often. We rush in opposite directions to look for them. I check out the front and look for their car. It wasn't there.
"One of them has the car," I called back. "Lizzie's not answering her phone, try Nell?." "Nell turned her phone off last night." "Where would they go?" "They walk everywhere. I can't think of where they'd take the car." I say. "Bow bridge?" "They walk." "But if they're trying to just be alone, they may not get out of the car. Or one took the car after the other walked out."
"I'll call your mum, you girls check the bridge." We nodded and left Anna in the house. "I'll take this side you take that side." We both nodded and left, thankfully the paps have decided to have the day off. I kept trying to ring Lizzie's phone but she kept cutting me off.
My phone rang suddenly. "Hello, Lizzie?" "It's Scarlett, can you get to Robbie's old apartment?" "Yeah, why?" "Nell is here, she and Robbie are at each other's throats. Lizzie called me but she's not here anymore." "What?" "Has something happened?" "I'll fill you in later." I hang up and call Ashley and we both try and get there as quick as we can. I cut through the park and keep trying Lizzie. At least Scarlett was there. Hopefully, nothing will happen.
I run up the stairs of the apartment building and see the door open at the end of the corridor and I can hear shouting already. "Nell, leave it, it's not worth it," Scarlett says. "He's not worth it." She tried again. I see Ashley step out of the elevator and we make it to the door at the same time. "She's worth it." She said back. She had Robbie pinned to the floor she sat on his chest her leg pushing down on his throat.
"Eleanor, stop," I say. "He fucking Raped your sister!" She said snatching her arm back and as she did she threw a punch at his face. He tried to hit her but she dodged it once, twice but the third hit her. "Worthless son of a bitch." She said throwing another punch at his face. I was in a little bit of shock with the new information I had. "And she's a worthless piece of meat." Nell grabbed his hair and threw his head back against the floor, she went to do it again but Scarlett dragged her off of him. "Stop. Stop."
"Where is she?" She shouted at him trying to get free from Scarlett and Ashley's hold, he stood up. "Where the fuck is she!" She shouted again getting an arm free but Ashley caught her waist before she could move. "In the bedroom." He said and I pushed him against the counter. "You son of a bitch. What did you do to my sister?" I hit at his chest not completely tall enough to throw hard punches at his face. "I had to deal with it." "With what? I swear to God if you've hurt her in any way I'll kill you. You fucking abusive monster." "Just got rid of the only evidence she had." I kneed him in his crotch so he keeled over and then threw two punches to his face before I was pulled away from him by my sister. "You fucking dickhead."
"Mary-Kate, it's okay, let's just go get Lizzie and get the girls home." I turned and Scar and Nell weren't there anymore I assume they went to find Lizzie. She was laid limp on the bed still in her PJs. Nell was cradling her head. "Baby, please wake up." She says stroking her face. "Call an ambulance." She says tears rushing down her face. "Princess, wake up. Please." She begged her. Ashley called 911 and Nell continued to try and wake Lizzie up.
"Angel." "Yeah, I'm here, keep your eyes open for me." "The baby." "Help is coming okay, and they can check the baby over." She promised my sister. "I'm sorry." "Shh, it's okay. You have nothing to be sorry for." Lizzie was tired but she still tried to move her hand to Nell's cheek, Nell helped her and rested her hand on her cheek holding it in place with her own. "Promise me we're okay?" "We're okay," Nell says back not missing a beat. "Is it going to be okay?" "The doctors are coming." She says. "You just need to keep looking at me and talking okay." "Okay." "We can talk about the colours." "Emerald... It goes with your eyes." "Yeah? Sage goes with yours though." "Emerald." "Okay, we can start looking for dresses and ties when you're all patched up. And we can get everyone fitted and it'll be okay." Nell tells her. "Don't cut your hair." "Talk to the bosses." "Don't cut her hair again," Lizzie says looking at me and Ash she was hazy her eyes barley open. We cut Nell's hair a few weeks ago for a campaign ad and Lizzie nearly killed us. "You got it, dude." We say in unison trying to lighten the mood a little and hopefully make our sister smile.
"My tummy hurts." Nell moved her hand to Lizzie's tummy and rubbed it slightly. "Where's the ambulance?" She asked. "It's coming, they're close," Ashley says. "It's okay," Lizzie whispered as I sat on the bed to hold her hand. She squeezed it with all her might and I softly squeezed her hand back. "He got what he wanted." "What?" "The baby...I'm bleeding." She whispered. "It could still be okay. I bled with Rose." Scarlett tried. "It's too early." My eyes landed on the bat stood up by the nightstand. I swallowed the lump in my throat as images of him brutally hitting her with that thing to get rid of their baby flashed through my mind.
"Why did you come here?" I asked her. "I needed him to tell her what he did..." "I would have listened to you, baby." "But I let him." "No, no you didn't," I tell her. After what seemed forever help came. I handed Nell a ring from my hand and she slipped it on her wedding finger. "Go with her we'll meet you there." "Tell my mum I'm okay." I nodded and kissed her forehead before she climbed into the van.
"What happened?" I asked Scarlett. "I got a call from Lizzie saying Nell came to Robbie's old apartment and she needed help. She sounded almost drunk." I guess that's because she was almost passing out. "And when I got here Nell and Robbie were screaming at each other and he hit her and told her what he did to Lizzie she just threw him to the ground and lost it with him and they did their thing and I called you guys because I assumed something had happened because why else would Lizzie be here." I nodded. "And you came and yeah." She explained quickly.
"Need a ride?" She asked. "We'll take the girl's car to the hospital." "I'm going to come up in a while, give them some time." "Okay." "Is Nell okay?" "All Lizzie told her was she slept with Robbie and she's having his baby. She didn't tell any of us what really happened." "Nell took that well?" "She threw up from the shock I think," Ashley says. "And she took her rings off. Both of them." She added. "But she didn't shout, she didn't get mad she said Lizzie could have everything." "Of course she did." "Nell was in a bad way though but everything will be okay. As long as that baby is okay, everything will be okay." Ashley said sure of it. Scarlett and I shared worried looks. "The baby will be fine," Ashley demanded and I held my hands up in defence.
We got into the car and drove to the hospital I filled mum in and they were coming too. We were directed to the VIP wing and Nell was sat on the floor in the hall holding the door shut as things banged in the room. "Nell?" She snapped out of the trance she was in and looked over to us her arm was tensed as she held the door when Lizzie pulled at it. "What's happening?" "She lost the baby." She chocked back the tears. "oh my gosh." "She threw her IV pole at the sonograph machine." "Why aren't you in there?" "I've had a very long night and I'm worried if I get "It's your fault" screamed at me one more time I may lose the little tiny shred of will to live I have." "She said that to you?" "She's just upset. I know she doesn't mean it." "Good."
We all sat on the floor waiting for Lizzie to run out of steam. Our parents came down the hall. "Is she in there?" We all nodded, Nell's arm still holding the door closed. "She lost the baby?" "He made sure of it," I say mum let out a shaky breath. "Nelly!" Lizzie cried. "Nell, please." Nell let her arm fall and she stood up. "I'm okay, mum." She assured Anna before going into Lizzie's room. The second Lizzie saw her she started to sob, I got a glimpse of Nell wrapping her in her long arms and kissing the top of her head before the door closed.