Chapter 21

They were laid down, side by side, smiling knowingly at each other, on his bed back at university, and she bent slightly to kiss him gently, tongue probing as he pulled her close. Her hands disappeared from around his waist, and he felt a tug at the buckle on his belt, then the buttons popping open one by one.

He reached up, tentatively, his hand cupped and ready, and drew it slowly over her t-shirt, feeling the little bump of her nipple quiver against hand as the cloth rubbed over it. She moaned into his mouth, gently, and he pulled back, running his hand over it again.

"Hmmm" she moaned, in his lap, and he woke with a start, realising he was still on the couch at home.

"Damn..." he muttered to himself, taking stock, then realised he really could feel a nipple beneath his hand. "Arggh." His hand snapped back from under the cover, and he jumped, which stopped the gentle moan of pleasure and started the pained moan of — effectively — a hangover.

"Shut the fuck up, Marcus..." Shawna whispered, "my head's killing me."

"Sorry..." he whispered, stroking her hair gently.

"I... I'm sorry... I said I wasn't going to drink last night... I don't remember drinking..." he recognised the hitch of tears in her voice, and bent down to kiss her cheek.

"You didn't... someone spiked your drink..." he assured her, which settled her a little. "Can I get you anything?" he calmed himself, staring at his hand in wonderment, wondering if he dared put it back.

"A drink of water might be nice." She snuggled against his thigh, and suddenly tensed, realising the response he'd gotten from the dream he'd been having. She reached a slow hand up, brushing the tip of it beneath his shorts, causing him to start.

"Um... coming right u... I'll go get it." He assured, slipping out from under her head, and laying it gently on the seat again. He splashed some of the water on his face, and held himself at the sink until the situation resolved itself and he could stand comfortably. He filled a glass, turning round to take it back, and saw her standing in the doorway, her curves pushing out in interesting places in one of his old t-shirts.

"Was that for me?" she asked, squinting in the light, but smiling nonetheless, more so as he tried to stammer a response. "The water, I mean."

"Oh, uh, yeah." He stepped over, handing it to and stepping back quickly behind the table, trying to hide.

"I'm not going to bite, you know... it's a compliment, if you think about it." And she turned back to the couch, leaving him flustered as he wondered exactly what she had on underneath the t-shirt.

"I might have bloody known!" Mrs Lewis snapped, bringing them both out of their doze. She stood in the doorway to the yard and Marcus guiltily slid his hand away, realising it had fallen back exactly where he'd found it the last time. Shawna, for her part, was having none of it, and reached back to grab it, placing it back squarely over her breast.

"Fuck off, mum." She muttered, and Marcus could feel her wince. "I'm really, really not up to this right now..."

"No call, no message — you could have been dying in a gutter for all I knew."

"Marcus wouldn't let that happen, Mum." She sighed, knowing this problem wasn't going to go away, but hoping against hope that it might.

"Marcus... this same Marcus that's casually groping you there? Hung over, are we? Did he get you drunk?" This time Shawna snapped upright, feeding the pain in her head into the angry retort.

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!"

"Is there a problem here?" Nick asked, from the bottom of the stairs, tying his dressing gown around himself.

"Can't you keep that boy under control?"

"Why don't..." Shawna began, but Nick quieted her with a raised hand.

"No I don't keep that young man under control." He countered, calmly. "I don't need to, he keeps himself pretty well under control all on his own. Like last night when he brought your daughter home after she'd had her drink spiked with something, quite calmly, got her settled here, left you a message to tell you where Shawna was, and then stayed down here on the couch with her overnight to make sure she was alright... didn't need my help for any of it."

"He... she... spiked? With what."

"We don't know." Shawna admitted, leaning back into Marcus now that things seemed calmer. "He was great last night, mum, he really was." She just sniffed, casting her eye on Marcus warily.

"Is that any excuse for the way I found them?"

"As much of an excuse as you have for barging in her uninvited." Shawna pointed out, pulling the t-shirt into slightly - only slightly - better order.

"Does he need an excuse?" Ally asked, appearing behind Nick with a smile. "They're young, they're happy, no-one's hurting anyone... does that need any excuses?"

"He had his hand on... where... he..."

"My boob, mother?" She asked. "Tit? Knocker?"

"Shawna!" Marcus and her mother both gasped at the same time.

"It's mine... I liked having his hand there." Nick flushed the same scarlet as Marcus, and Ally just grinned.

"Were you staying for breakfast, Dorothy?" Ally asked, shuffling across the laminate floor to the sink. "I think we'll be having gypsy toast."

"I... No... No, I think I shall be going." She declared, spinning on her heel and walking away.

"If you're that concerned about me telling you where I am you ought to check your answerphone!" Shawna called after her retreating form, but she didn't get a response.

"I don't know what you're going to do for clothes, now." Marcus pointed out, quietly. "If she won't let you back in I've not got anything that'll fit you to go outside in."

"I'm sure I can get you shopping if I need to, but she can't keep me out of the house, and if she could I can always get Lotty to fetch me some stuff.

"So there is a plus side to having a sister, after all that." Nick asked with a smile.

"Sorry?"

"Last summer you came over and spent about three hours complaining how terrible it was to have a sister."

"Oh, did I? I wonder what she did..."

"Borrowed your pink ruffled top, scratched your Cardigans cd, stole one of your lipsticks and you were sure she'd gotten a stain on your white jeans, but you couldn't prove it." Marcus recited, instantly. "I'm going to get a shower, I'll be back in a minute."

"I'll come." Shawna told him, standing a little unsteadily. "Damn, I need something to eat..."

"You alright?" Ally wondered, a little concerned.

"Yeah... I just get dizzy when I need to eat... can I get a slice of bread to go?" she asked, and Nick threw a slice over from where he was working at the counter. Marcus just looked a little stricken.

"Marcus..." Nick pointed out with a gentle smile, "she's not the only one who's perfectly within her rights to say no, remember."

"Oh... you... sorry." She blushed. "I didn't mean the shower... well, I do need a shower, but I wasn't coming in with you... unless you want me to?" she ended it with a wicked little laugh that set his Adam's Apple bobbing uncomfortably. "Go on..." He flitted up the stairs ahead of her, silent and graceful whilst she clumped up unsteadily behind him munching on some bread.

"Um... could you... like... turn away?" he asked, as she followed him into his room.

"Why, I'm going to see it all in a few days anyway." She pointed out. "I want to really see what I'm getting into." She grinned, settling herself on top of the chest of drawers by the door.

"I'm... please?"

"What is it that you think you have to be ashamed of, Marcus?" She reached down and pulled the t-shirt over her head in one easy motion, leaving her in just a pair of white panties that didn't leave much to the imagination. Marcus spun away, flushing furiously.

"Shawna!"

"What, it's not like you haven't seen them before..." Her voice trailed off as she recalled when he'd seen them before, after her run in with Connor MacNamara. "And you had your hand on them all night." She added, brightening again.

"Come on, just your shirt..." she reached out, running her hand down his back, and started suddenly. "What the hell is that?" Then she realised he was... crying! "Marcus, honey... what is it, tell me." He reached down, slowly, lifting the thin t-shirt up to reveal the muscles of his back, and she felt the little tingle deep in her belly as they moved over each other under the skin. Higher up, though, she felt her heart clench as she stared at the network of ridged, pink scars that criss-crossed his back up over his shoulder-blades. "Oh, sweet jesus Marcus..." She breathed, tracing one of the longer scars with her fingers, gently. "Do they hurt?"

He shook his head, and she could feel the tension in him as he pulled the shirt off, turning slowly to face her. There were a few more of the scars across his chest, fewer though, and he half-raised his hands to cover them.

"Don't... you don't have to be ashamed of them." She said, leaning forward to gently kiss one of them. "How come I didn't know about these?"

"I keep them hidden... I usually wear thick tops, too..."

"I meant... why? Why do you keep them a secret? What... what happened to you?"

"My father — my real father — tried beating lessons in to me for a while, when nothing else worked. This was a car aerial..." he pointed to his chest. "Most of the smaller ones were a belt buckle." She leant in close and crushed him to her as best she could, pressing the small mesh of welts against her cheek.

"You know, no-one is so badly behaved that they deserve that."

"I know... but... imagine what I must have been like to have driven someone to that."

"Imagine my arse, you don't drive someone to that, Marcus, if they're capable of that they're sick already."

"That's what Nick says."

"And you listen to what Nick says the rest of the time."

"It's not that simple, real people never are."

"Marcus, you are real people... and it is that simple. Some things are just... just wrong."

"Like r..." he began, but cut off as her hands went over his mouth.

"Yes, even that, but we aren't talking about that right now... we aren't talking about that again for a while... I need to sort that out in my head. You need to sort this one out... none of these are your fault."

He didn't agree, but he didn't argue, which she was willing to accept for the moment. "Go on, in the shower with you. Then you can explain to me what Gypsy Toast is while I try and find something in your wardrobe to fit me."

"You ready to go back?" Shawna asked, settling beside him on the couch, nestling in tight as his arm slipped around her shoulders.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I'm... apprehensive."

"About what? University? Work? Friends? Us?"

"No, no, a little... yes."

"Well, your friends are unbelievably happy for you, right now — you might not have thought to talk to any of them since we've been on holiday, but I have."

"I don't have any of their numbers." He confessed.

"You so need to get yourself a mobile..." she pointed out. "Elspeth's all giggles, but that could just be from spending that much time with Briana — she says that it's the first time she's gotten clothes for Christmas and not tried any of them on! Tony's rooting for you, says he thinks you're an idiot for waiting until you get back to Uni to try anything."