Chapter 6

The sound of voices penetrated the fog in her mind. For a while she lay listening to the sounds around her, unable to differentiate between what was real and what was a dream. She felt strange; not herself at all. Her body felt immobile and slightly numb. Where was she?

"I think she's coming round." The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking at the bright lights in the room. The pale green walls swam in and out of focus, but gradually everything became clear.

"Hey," Rob said as she tilted her head to look at him. He had a large dressing taped to the side of his head and he looked terrible. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm not sure. What happened?"

"You can't remember?"

Nicole sifted through the mess in her head. "I remember the club ... thereafter it all goes hazy. Why am I here and what's happened to your head?"

Rob sighed. He glanced across the room and Nicole followed his gaze. She saw the uniformed officer standing in the doorway with a grave expression and she began to feel frightened. It must be bad if the police were there.

"We were attacked by two men. I got knocked out." He pointed to his head. "When I came round, you weren't there. I yelled out and a couple came running from a nearby house. They said they'd heard some screaming — guess it must have been you."

Nicole shivered. She didn't remember much of it.

"We found you in a garden, lying in the rain with your leg all twisted. You kept drifting in and out of consciousness, saying stuff that made no sense." He gripped her hand tightly and she saw the worry etched across his face.

"There was no sign of the two men - they must have run off before I came round. Somebody called an ambulance and here we are."

"What time is it?" Nicole craned her head, but she couldn't see a clock anywhere. It appeared to be night time as the curtains in the room were closed.

"You've lost a day — it's just gone ten o'clock. Not only did you break our leg, you also bashed your head as you fell. They had to operate on your leg when they brought you in — hence the nice plaster cast on it." Nicole felt the rigid plaster encasing her right leg and felt faint. How on earth was she going to manage for the next month or so? There was no way she could work while her leg was in plaster.

Tears pricked her eyes and she tried to stem the tide of emotion before it erupted. "I can't remember anything!" she sniffed as she held Rob's hand. Her head was beginning to ache and her leg throbbed. The pain killers must be wearing off.

They both looked up as the policeman entered the room. He stood at the foot of the bed and showed them his ID card. "Detective Constable Higgins, Ma'am. When you're feeling up to it, I need to take a statement." He smiled kindly and Nicole felt slightly reassured. Surely the police would catch whoever did this; they had to.

"I'm trying to remember it all — but so far it's a blank." It was so frustrating. Vague images fluttered at the edge of her mind but as soon as she tried to grasp them, they swam away into the ether. Tiredness began to wash over her once more and she yawned heavily.

A stern looking nurse strode in and said; "I think this lady needs some peace and quiet for a while."

The policeman nodded and walked out into the corridor.

"I'll be back in the morning, okay?" Rob bent over the bed and kissed her gently. Nicole's eyes began to close of their own accord and she murmured something unintelligible. "Love you," he whispered into her ear, but she was already asleep.

"Come on now, you need to get some rest too. You'll be no good to her if you end up back in here!" The nurse waggled her finger at him and Rob took the hint. He left the room with a last lingering glance at Nicole's wan face on the pillow. She looked so vulnerable and lost.

The policeman was waiting for him in the corridor. He had lots of questions and plenty of time. They were directed to an empty room near the nurses' station where Rob took a seat and told the man all he knew. He just hoped it was enough to give the police something to go on. He couldn't bear the thought of anything else happening to Nicole. She meant far too much to him.

Nicole was lost in thought, staring out of the window at the sunshine. The sky was deep blue with no clouds to be seen. It looked like a beautiful day outside, yet here she was, stuck in here for the time being. It was horribly depressing.

The doctor had been to see her that morning and checked over her leg. He told her she would have the plaster on for at least eight weeks as the break had been serious. She would need lots of physiotherapy to rebuild the muscle tone. It couldn't have happened at a worse time, all things considered. How the hell she was going to manage was something that she hardly dared to think about.

Rob had been there as soon as visiting time began and had only just left. He'd promised to be back later in that afternoon and already she was missing him. Danni had sent a message to say she'd be there that evening.

Her leg itched terribly. She had tried to look at it now that her head had cleared and she felt a little better. The bruising was evident and her foot was currently a lovely shade of purple. God only knew what the rest of her leg looked like. It was unlikely to be a pretty sight for a while.

The door opening attracted her attention and she looked up expecting to see either one of the nurses or Rob. Instead, in walked a huge bunch of flowers attached to a pair of denim clad legs. Nicole's curiosity was piqued before her face broke out in a huge smile.

"Rob!" she laughed in delight. "You didn't have to buy the whole shop!"

"Who's Rob?" asked a man's voice and Nicole turned ashen white, her smile vanishing in a heartbeat.

"Sean — what are you doing here?"

The flowers were placed on the side table and Nicole's ex boyfriend came to stand by the bed, a very contrite expression on his handsome face.

"The Police told your mum and Kate. She told me."

"You're still together then?" Nicole said bitterly. Sean reached out to grasp Nicole's hand but she snatched it away. "Oh just don't!"

"Nicole ... I..." He struggled to find the words. "We're sorry for what happened. We never meant for you to find out like that." He slumped down on one of the hard plastic chairs and looked at the floor brokenly. For a moment Nicole felt her anger wavering as she realised how upset he was. Then she reminded herself what he'd done to her and she felt her feelings harden again.

"Why?" she said. "Just tell me that much at least."

Sean looked up, his face a picture of conflicting emotions. "I can't tell you why. It just crept up on us." He glanced away and went silent for a few moments.

Nicole watched him, trying to understand why he had come here. Was he looking for some kind of forgiveness? If so, she wasn't so sure she was ready to forgive and forget yet.

"I loved you, you know." His use of past tense did not go unnoticed and she felt something finally wither and die inside as he continued, "I had always been attracted to Kate — she was so different to you in so many ways. It was only when she got drunk at Miranda's birthday party that I realised she felt the same way."

"Didn't I leave early that night?" Nicole remembered now. She'd been suffering all week from the flu and on the night of the party she had gone home about nine o'clock, after making a token appearance for Miranda's sake. She recalled that Sean had gone back to the party on the pretext of talking to Rich about some bike ride they were planning. Clearly riding bikes was not the only exercise he had had in mind.

"Nothing happened that night," he said hurriedly when he saw her dark expression. "We just talked and that was all. I honestly believed that nothing was going to come of it. She was your sister for God's sake!"

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive...

Who wrote that, thought Nicole as she saw her pain mirrored on Sean's face. It seemed very apt all of a sudden.

"Well apparently your conscience deserted you fairly quickly after that, didn't it?"

Sean visibly flinched at the sarcasm in her words. But he knew it was the truth so he didn't deny it. He wasn't here to try and sugar coat what had happened. He was here to make amends and to convince Nicole to forgive Kate somehow; the pain was killing all of them.

"Do you love her?" She was surprised how much this mattered to her.

"Yes." His reply was short and sweet and told Nicole all she needed to know. She sighed. Strangely, she found she didn't care any more. Much of the pain and horror had passed and she needed to move on with her life. Lying here, immobile in her hospital bed, she looked at the face of the man she had loved so deeply and found it hard to understand why she had ever loved him at all. He seemed so much smaller and less worthy than he had before. He was the past, not the future.

But Kate was her sister and despite the terrible hurt she had inflicted, Nicole recognised that she needed to forgive her. She couldn't hate her forever. Nor did she want to.

"Where's Kate?"

"She's back at the flat. She wanted to come, but I thought it was better that I saw you alone first. Will you see her?"

Nicole turned away and stared out of the window again. Gulls wheeled and soared high in the sky. They were so free, she thought wistfully. How she wished she could fly away like they did. Instead she was stuck here, in this bed.

Did she want to see Kate? She thought about it and realised that yes, she did. She had missed her these last few weeks. She'd missed talking to her, sharing silly gossip over cups of tea and chocolate biscuits. Just doing all the things sisters did. She even missed Kate stealing her clothes and leaving them dirty and scrunched up on the bathroom floor.

Despite everything, she loved her sister and she needed her in her life. Okay, so it was going to take some getting used to seeing her and Sean together as a couple. But she had Rob now. Her face lit up in a smile when she thought about him.

"Yes, I'll see her. We need to clear the air," said Nicole quietly as she turned to face Sean again.

He looked visibly relieved at the news. "Thank you, Nic. It means a lot to both of us."

In all honesty he had not expected Nicole to even give him the time of day. He had warned Kate not to get her hopes up, but she had insisted that they try at least. Kate had been wretched since the whole damn mess had erupted. Guilt was a terrible burden to carry and it mattered to both of them that at least some of the bridges were mended. They knew the clock could never be turned back, but at least this was a step in the right direction.