TRAPPED - 3

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own any of the characters that you recognise from All Saints but I do own the new characters J.

Notes: I’ve decided to write in paragraph form from now on, time for a change J.

Characters:  Bron Lawson (NUM), Laura Hanson (ward Clerk), Connor Costello (2ic),

Damien Gilroy (RN), Molly Andrews (RN), Brendan Clarke (RN), Krissy McBride (RN), Dr Christopher Lawson (head Surgeon/Brons husband), Dr Kylie preece (surgeon), Dr Luke Forlano (surgeon), Dr Charlotte Beaumont (registrar).

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Bron made her way down the corridor towards her office, she caught sight of Luke talking to Kylie and quickened her pace, she couldn’t deal with him now. As she retreated into her office and sat down Charlotte barged in looking rather unwell.

“I see your looking well” Bron groaned as Charlotte plonked down a chair.

“Yeah… only one problem with drinking isn’t there? The bloody hang overs!” said Charlotte as she tried to grin.

Bron was silent for a moment, her mind was busy trying to figure out what she would say to Luke, she had made a fool of herself. She was having trouble finding something that sounded plausible, all the excuses she came up with were pathetic and she knew that Luke wouldn’t buy into them.

“Bron are you listening to me?!”

Bron snapped back to reality “Huh? Oh, yeah I am.”

“No you weren’t” argued Charlotte playfully “You were off somewhere in fantasy land!.”

Bron shook her head “No I wasn’t! I was just… thinking…” Once again Bron’s train of thought headed back to Luke, she thought about how much of a fool she looked the night before and how easily he could have taken her in his arms and made love to her. But he didn’t. Luke had done the right thing and pointed out that it was wrong even though he was still in love with her.

“Bron!” yelled Charlotte .

Bron put her hand to her head “Ok sorry! You didn’t have to yell though!.”

“Well you weren’t listening!” exclaimed a frustrated Charlotte “What is with you?”.

Bron hesitated before opening her mouth to explain, but before she could get a word out there was a knock on the door.

Luke popped his head in the door “So how are the hangovers ladies?!” he yelled knowing the consequences of his actions.

Both Charlotte and Bron moaned as they brought a hand to their heads in pain.

“Hmm thought so” Luke commented before he began to close the door on his way out.

“Luke” Bron called as the door was about to shut.

Luke popped his head back in “Yeah?”

“Um… when you’ve got… when you have a minute… would “ Bron had trouble getting the words out.

“What is wrong with you today Bron?” Charlotte said laughing “You’re so spacey, you can’t even finish a sentence properly.”

Bron was silent again, she was making herself look like an idiot and she knew it. But she was a bundle of nerves, being in the same room as Luke sent her pulse racing. However it also embarrassed the hell out of her because of the previous nights happenings.

“Don’t worry Bron I know what you’re getting at, we’ll talk later” he said giving her a knowing look before leaving.

As soon as Luke had left the room Charlotte started with the questions, she had noticed the look that Luke had given Bron.  “What the hell was that?!” she asked referring to the look.

Bron leant back in her char “What was what?’

“That look that just passed between you and Luke” Charlotte stated “And don’t tell me there wasn’t one because I saw it.”

Bron sighed as she slumped In her chair. She normally told Charlotte everything but this time she found it harder, she felt so embarrassed about the entire situation.

“Okay” Bron finally said “Last night when he took me up to bed… god this is so embarrassing… I tried to get him to sleep with me Charlotte.”

Charlotte ’s mouth dropped “Oh my god Bron!”

“Don’t worry nothing happened, he put a stop to it all” Bron covers her face with her hands “I’m such an idiot! I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me at the moment!.”

  After Charlotte had recovered from the initial shock of what Bron had just told her she looked Bron in the eye and said “Bron… your medication, I didn’t even think about what would happen if alcohol was consumed… “

“No that wasn’t what happened Charlotte ” Bron interrupted to enlighten Charlotte of something that she should have told her weeks ago “I haven’t taken my medication for three weeks… I wanted to see if I could do it on my own, but I guess I can’t.”

Charlotte felt awful for her friend, she should have picked up on this earlier, she should have noticed the signs at least. “Bron… you know that you need the medication, I know that you are sick of it and sick of feeling like shit but”

“I know Beaumont , I know… I started taking them again this morning” Was all Bron could say.

“So you don’t need a stronger dose then?”

“No”

“Ok” Said Charlotte as she stood up “Now I understand why your so withdrawn today… you know Bron… no one would blame you if you went to Luke”

“ Charlotte !” a shocked Bron exclaimed “You aren’t helping!.”

“Sorry” Charlotte apologised with a small grin “Can I just ask one question though? Are you in love with Luke?.”

Bron looked away as she laughed “I can’t believe you are asking me this Beaumont !.”

“Well are you?!” Charlotte was intrigued, all she wanted was for Bron to be happy, that’s all she had ever wanted for Bron.

“Hey Bron” Called Laura as Bron came out of the NUM office.

“Yeah?” Bron headed over to Laura with some paperwork and placed it in front of her “What’s up?.” Bron noticed that Laura was acting very nervous and almost looked terrified of her.

Finally Laura managed to speak “I need to tell you something…”

“Yeah? Go ahead” Bron said feeling as though she was recuperating slightly.

“After work would be better… it’s not really the place for this” Laura said as she began to walk down the corridor “I’m just going for lunch.”

“Hey” Luke said coming into Bron’s office.

Bron looked up from her mountain of paper work as Luke closed the door and sat down. “Hey” she said softly as she began dreading the thought of the conversation which was only a few seconds away.

There was silence for a few seconds before Bron finally worked up the courage to speak “I… I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am about… about last night. I was….” She trailed off she knew she was going incredibly red from embarrassment. Slowly she composed herself then tried again “I was wrong and I’m sorry for putting you in such a horrible position.” There she had finally said it! It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, she could breath easier now.

“It’s ok” Luke retorted “You were drunk, I guess you were upset as well… look Bron… if you want to forget everything that’s been said and done over the last few days we can.”

Bron nodded, she couldn’t believe he was being so good about the situation “Yeah, I think that would be best.” She wanted so desperately to forget everything that had happened between the two of them, she wanted to forget the words that had been exchanged, the moments that had passed between them but most of all she wanted to forget those forbidden feelings that she was feeling for Luke. She had to forget, she had to, it was wrong to be having these feelings for a man other than her husband. Although she hated herself for getting involved with Chris in the first place she owed it to him to be faithful, those wedding vows weren’t just words to her, she meant them.

“Luke… I love you and I want to be with you, but I just can’t.”  Although Bron had meant her wedding vows and chose to remain faithful to her husband she still put all the cards on the table. She did want Luke to know how she felt as long as those feelings didn’t go any further than just being feelings.

“Hey Bron, these are for you” Brendan said as he came into her office with a large bunch of red roses.

A smile instantly appeared on Bron’s face “Oh how beautiful!” She exclaimed as she stood up and made her way over to Brendan.

“Sadly they aren’t from me” joked Brendan as he handed the flowers to Bron.

Bron grinned as she opened the card, she hoped like hell that they weren’t from Luke.

“So who are they from?” asked a somewhat curious Brendan as he stood wearing a cheesy grin on his face.

“Is Laura back yet?” asked Bron coming out of her office.

Molly looked up from the paper work that she was doing “No, I haven’t seen her sorry Bron.”

“Wasn’t she due back from her break ages ago?” Connor asked as he punched something into the computer.

“Yeah” replied Bron with a puzzled look on her face

“I saw her on my way up here” Kylie added trying to help “It looked like she was on a bit of a mission.”

Bron nodded as Luke went past into room three “Well she better hurry up and find her way back before the phones get too busy. Hey Connor would you mind the fort for a tic?.”

“Yeah, no worries Bronny, where are you going?”

“Just to see Chris”

Brendan smiled “So you can thank him for the roses?”

“Maybe… I won’t be long” she said as she walked away.

 As Bron reached for the doorknob she could hear voices.

“Chris I don’t care what you think I want to tell Bron about us! Its bad enough that I have stolen you from her, I can’t keep lying to her! Don’t you feel horrible about this?!”

Bron gasped as she pulled her hand away from the doorknob at the recognition of Laura’s voice.

Soon came Chris’s reply “Listen… we’ll tell her soon baby, you know she isn’t well.”

“This is getting ridiculous Chris! You need to make up your mind! You have been telling me this for months! I could understand at the beginning but now… you can’t have both of us!”

Bron leant against the door breathing heavily as tears began to well in her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. One of her best friends was having an affair with her husband. Bron couldn’t control herself any longer, she needed to see it with her own eyes, to confirm her suspicions.

Slowly she turned the doorknob and quietly pushed the door open. Her fears became reality as she witnessed Chris’s lips come down hard on Laura’s.

“What the hells going on?!” Bron’s voice boomed through the room.

Both Chris and Laura looked up startled.

“You bastard!” Exclaimed Bron as her anger continued to overflow

“Bron what’s wrong? I don’t know what you think you saw here, Laura was just-“ Chris tried to defend his actions.

“I KNOW WHAT I SAW CHRIS!!!!” exclaimed a furious Bron

“Come and sit down, you obviously aren’t well” Chris said as he reached for his wife’s hand.

Bron quickly backed away “Don’t come near me!” she said before rushing out the door.

As Bron stepped onto the ward she knew she wouldn’t escape the questions, someone would see her and they would know that something was wrong. She quickened her pace and tried to make it to her office unnoticed, but failed.

Connor had caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye. Instantly he knew that all was not well. It was written all over Brons face. “Bron what’s wrong?” he asked knowing that there was a chance that Chris was the problem.

Bron looked at him briefly “Connor you’re in charge” she said flatly before heading into her office without any further explanation.

Bron sat in her office gazing out the window, she wanted to jump. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Just when she had started to believe her life was getting back on track, everything started to spin out of control again. She found herself wondering if her life would ever be normal again.

Tears began to well up in Bron’s eyes as she thought of how stupid she had been. Thinking back she had realised that the signs were there as plain as daylight. In the back of her mind she knew what was happening, but for some reason chose to block it out. Her thoughts were interrupted with a knock at the door.

Bron froze, she hoped like hell that it wasn’t Chris at the door, she wanted nothing to do with him, not now, not ever. He had hurt her far too much.

“Bron?” Connor tried to be as gentle as possible, knowing that one wrong word or phrase could see his best friend and colleague explode with anger. “Bron are you alright?” he tried not to push her to hard with his questions.

“He’s been sleeping with Laura” Bron blurted out bitterly “He’s been sleeping with her.”

“What?!!!” Connor could hardly believe his ears. He knew that Chris was a bastard but he never thought that he would stoop to something so low and hurtful.

“I saw them together… in his office” Explained Bron softly.

Connor placed his arm around her before pulling her in for a hug “That bloody prick… I can’t believe he’s done this to you Bron.”

“Well believe it” Bron whispered as tears fell from her eyes rapidly. “Ah Connor I’m going to go home… can you-“

“Yeah of course” Said an understanding Connor.

“I just need a few minutes on my own… if he comes up here will you tell him I’ve left?” asked Bron softly as she wiped the tears away.

“Yeah, ok.”

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To be continued

feedback: mrs_forlano2003@yahoo.com.au