One Heart

Nathalie's POV

They say when life closes one door, another one opens. I guess in a way that can be applied to me. Fate closed the door to my old age, but in turn opened the door that led me back to Brian.

“Mummy!”

Instinctively I groaned, rolling over and pulling the blanket over my head to try and drown out the noise. It never did seem to work, but I persisted on trying anyway.

“Mummy! Mummy, wake up!”

“Rae honey, mummy is trying to sleep,” I mumbled, flapping my hand at her from underneath the blanket as an indication to go away. This never worked either, normally just ending up with her beginning to tug on it instead, as she did now. “Go wake up one of the Uncle Sevenfolds.”

My hand suddenly dropped from hers as I listened to her stomp away, presumably to bug someone. Perhaps a minute or so passed until the blanket was ripped from me, making me tumble to the floor in a heap thanks to how I had twisted it around me in my sleep. When my eyes finally peeled open I stared up in bewilderment at Rae and who she had gotten to get me up.

“Mummy shouldn't sleep so late in the day,” Brian said with a grin, dropping the blanket on the chair beside him as he helped me to my feet. “It's not good on her.”

I scowled at him. “Mummy wouldn't be sleeping this late if daddy hadn't been talking to her until 4am.”

“You should have ignored me,” he replied cheerily, crouching down and murmuring something in Rae's ear that caused her to run off before he approached me, wrapping his arms around my waist and whispered to me. “Although I wouldn't personally have called it talking...”

“Don't say things like that!” I twisted and playfully slapped him, unable to resist stealing a kiss from his lips as he pouted. However when I pulled away the uneasy feeling set in again. “You know we shouldn't be doing this.”

“What, because of what you told me?” He shook his head. “I don't see any reason why we can't.”

“Maybe because I can be dead a few months from now?”

He sighed, dropping his arms from around me. “I wish you wouldn't say things like that.”

“Why?” I asked, crossing my arms. “It's the truth.”

“Maybe, but why can't you just for a few moments try not to think of it? Last night was the best night I've had for over four years, so why do you think I would want to hear something like that the morning after?”

Even though I was the one who it was personally affecting, I couldn't help feeling guilty about what he had said. It was true that I was just using my inevitable death against him; not only that, but after a fantastic night.

“I'm sorry.”

“I'll forgive you; on one condition.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And that is?”

“You let me throw you in the pool.”

I shrugged. “Fair enough, just let me change first.”

He stepped in front of me as I moved to pass him, a devilish grin on his face. “Oh no, there is no time for that.”

Next thing I knew I was getting out of the pool, the long Bullet For My Valentine shirt I had worn that night stuck to me, the water dripping into a miniature swimming pool around my feet as I stopped in the kitchen. All the guys cracked up laughing as they saw me, almost choking on the pancakes I guess Brian had made.

Rae’s voice suddenly echoed around me, shouting ‘Mummy’ even though I could see her clearly at the table, tucking into her pancakes. I looked around the room in bewilderment as the voice continued, not realising until Brian started shaking me that he had even said anything.

“Nat?”

“Mummy!”

I felt the kitchen suddenly begin to blur and spin in front of my eyes, and next thing I knew, I was falling into darkness.

--

“Mummy!” I felt a slight tugging at my arm, but my eyes refused to open. “Mummy, wake up!”

I heard someone shush Rae as another person shuffled into the room. “Rae, don’t bother your mother when she is sleeping.”

Sleeping? Is that what people call passing out now?

“But I want breakfast!” She cried stubbornly, my mind conjuring up the image of her pout and crossed arms quite clearly. “I’m hungry!”

What? Breakfast? Have I lost a whole day?

Upon hearing that I forced my eyes to open; finding that I was in my bedroom and not passed out on the kitchen floor like I initially assumed. I exhaled a loud groan and emerged from underneath the duvet that was placed on me. Searching for the older voice, I noticed Brian looking down at me. Instantly I asked the first question that popped into my head. “What happened?”

He mimicked my bewilderment. “Nothing. Rae just came in and wanted breakfast, that’s all.”

“Breakfast? How long have I been asleep? How did I get here?”

His confusion deepened. “Around eight hours? I found you leaning on Rae’s bed asleep so I carried you to your room. Why, what’s wrong?”

I sat up, holding my head in my hand. It was all a dream? The conversation, the kiss, the night... everything?

“Did we... did we not watch a film last night?”

He shook his head. “You were asleep after you had put Rae to bed. There was not time. Why?”

“Nothing,” I quickly replied, swinging my legs off the side of the bed and pushing myself to my feet. It all seemed too real to be a dream.“Where did you sleep?”

“Downstairs on the couch. I used one of your blankets; sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I murmured, swaying slightly as I moved due to the light buzzing that was swimming in my mind. Running a hand through my hair I tried to make sense of everything that had happened, almost walking straight into my door had Brian not caught me and stopped me, his hands holding me by the shoulders until he was sure I was steady before allowing them to drop away. He looked down at me, concern lacing the brown veil in his eyes.

“Nat, are you sure you’re alright? You seem a bit... off.”

I reached up, loosening his grip on me. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just woken up; you know the feeling.” Flashing him a reassuring smile I reached out for Rae’s hand, the feeling confirming that this was the true reality, and not just another dream. “Rae, what do you want for breakfast this morning then?”

“Waffles!” She piped up, the curls she had inherited from me bouncing at her shoulders. “With lots and lots of syrup!”

--

“How are they honey?”

Rae’s smile reached from one side of her face to the other, speaking through a mouthful of sticky waffle. “Wuvley Mummy!”

“Good.” I had just finished cleaning out the waffle maker and tossed the dirty cloth I had used into the sink before joining her and Brian at the breakfast bar, tearing a corner from one of Brian’s waffles and tossing it into my mouth. “How about you Brian? Still as you remember them?”

He grinned. “Better. Last time you used ones from a packet.”

“Learning how to make waffles was a need-to-know skill, especially when you have the Princess of Waffles living with you,” I replied. “Isn’t that right Rae?”

“You betcha!”

Both Brian and I laughed as she continued to shovel pieces of waffle into her mouth, smearing the syrup all over her face and hands. She had just finished off the last one when Jimmy walked in, his lips moving from a yawn to a frown as he watched the last waffle get devoured.

“Man, that’s not fair!” Jimmy whined, crossing his arms in a childlike stance. It was quite a weird thing to see, especially when the person doing it was coated in tattoos, in boxers and was well over six feet tall. “I wanted waffles!”

“Should’ve got up earlier then,” I replied in an uncaring manner, picking up both Rae and Brian’s empty plates and taking them to the sink. “You might have got some then.”

“But...” He sidled up to me, placing his head on my shoulder and looking up at me with pleasing eyes. “Please?”

I laughed, swatting at him with a nearby cloth. “Fine.” I turned to Rae. “Rae, why don’t you go and wake up the others? They might want waffles too.”

“Okay!” She dropped from the stool to the floor, but I quickly called her back, wiping the syrup off her face and hands before I let her go knowing that if I didn’t then the stairs and walls would soon be covered in the sticky stuff. Trust me, it had happened before.

“Did you have a good sleep, Jimmy?” I asked while mixing up some waffle batter, making sure to triple the amount of ingredients just to cover him, let alone the others. “Was your room alright? I changed the sheets since you slept there last.”

Brian looked at him oddly. “You have your own room here?”

“He was here quite a lot when we first moved back and he always used the same room so I just call it his now,” I replied with a shrug. “There are enough rooms anyway to let one be his.” He looked a bit put out at this point, my eyebrow raising as I watched him. “Why, do you wish to lay claim on one of my rooms? You are welcome to, but you might want to wait until the others are awake and- oh, right on time!”

Despite being just woken up Matt looked completely normal as he walked in with Rae squealing on his shoulders, faring a lot better with the interruption of sleep he had received than the other two. Zacky and Johnny grumbled all the way over to the breakfast bar where they grudgingly took seats, looking almost as if they were going to slump forward and fall back into the sleep they obviously wished they were still in. Luckily I was prepared for this and had coffees waiting, something I wish I had been given after being woken up earlier. I passed out the waffles after they were done between the arrivals but ignored cleaning the maker for the time being- I couldn’t be bothered to do it a second time in only an hour.

“So what are you guys up to today?” I asked, leaning against the counter.

“Supposed to be meeting the girls at the beach I think,” Jimmy replied, looking to the others for some sort of confirmation. “I think that’s what Leana said to me yesterday.”

“I thought Sarah said we were meeting them at mine,” Johnny said, looking confused.

“Wasn’t Chloe getting her hair cut today?” Zacky asked. “I thought the others were going with her.”

“Val told me she was going to the movies with them,” Matt added. “Either that or I gave her money for something else.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the different places each of them had come up with for the girls, knowing that each of their supposed theories was wrong. “Come on guys, its obvious where they are.” All their heads snapped to me. “They are females. What do females love to do?” None of them answered. “Shopping of course! Geez, you would have thought I just asked you the hardest question in the world.”

It took them all perhaps a minute to digest this information before their expressions all turned to complete and utter horror, each saying in unison, “I gave her my credit card!”

They all shovelled whatever was left on their plates into their mouths and ran from the kitchen, each shouting their thanks as they sped out the door, the sound of squealing tires filling the air as Matt’s car pulled out of the drive and vanished down the street. This left Brian and I to look at each other in disbelief.

“You think that after this amount of time together, that giving your girlfriend your credit card means she will go out shopping,” I thought aloud, shaking my head as I collected up their plates and dumped them in the dishwasher along with the waffle maker. “Men are not the smartest creatures.”

“I am still here you know,” Brian pointed out, holding Rae on his knee. He then frowned. “They just left me here.”

I shrugged. “You are welcome to stay.”

“Yes! Stay!” Rae said, bouncing on his knee. “Rae wants her daddy to stay!”

“I don’t think I have much choice, do I?” He said with a smile, picking Rae from his knee and setting her on the floor. “Why don’t you go and play on the swings for a moment, I’ve just got to ask mummy something.”

She nodded enthusiastically and raced out the back door to the swing set, giggling insanely as she swung herself higher and higher. The girl had no ounce of fear in her body- the bane of a four year old. Still I knew better than to worry and reluctantly tore my gaze from her, looking at Brian with a frown.

“What do you have to ask?”

“If you don’t want me here, I’ll go,” Brian said, taking me by surprise. “I’ll get a cab home.”

“What makes you think that I don’t want you here?”

His eyes fell. “You don’t have to force yourself to like me because of Rae you know. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me.”

After last night’s dream, I doubt I could hate him even if I tried. “You shouldn’t obsess over things like that Brian.”

“I shouldn’t?”

I shook my head. “Life is short to obsess over small details like the past. You should live in the present. You never know when your time would be up. Someone told me that.”

He smiled. “They sound smart.”

“They are.”

--

For the most part Rae was kept entertained with a pile of Disney films that either Brian or I just kept on changing whenever they finished. I wasn’t really up for another fun-filled day that involved a lot of things to do, even though I had a perfect adequately length of sleep I was still feeling as if I hadn’t slept at all. I knew I would get to this stage eventually as my remaining time slowly dwindled, but I certainly didn’t expect it to come across this suddenly. It almost made me wish that it hadn’t been a dream in which I had told Brian everything, yet I knew deep in my heart it was the best thing for him. Plus I couldn’t be sure the way my dream-Brian felt was what the real one thought as well.

“Mummy, the film has finished!”

My eyes opened wearily from where I had ‘rested them closed’ somewhere in the middle of Lilo and Stitch, finding Rae who was looking at me expectantly, another film clamped in her arms. I yawned and stretched as I picked myself up from where I had been laying across the couch, stumbling half-blind over to the DVD player in order to replace the disk for The Little Mermaid, a film that I had to admit I liked as well.

When I finally collapsed again onto the couch and hit play I realised that Brian was no longer in the room. “Rae, where has daddy gone?”

She shrugged, her eyes glued to the screen. “Daddy said he had to go meet the Uncle Sevenfolds. He told me not to wake mummy.”

“Oh.”I pushed myself up against the arm of the couch, raising my hand to stifle the growing yawn. “When did he go?”

“When the big dummy came and stole Stitch and Lilo away!”

If you had never seen Lilo and Stitch before, the ‘big dummy’ was basically just the bad guy in the film and that was his nickname given to him by the little girl in it. Rae simply just carried on the name. From the amount of times I had sat through the film with my daughter I knew that was around half an hour from the end, something that did make me feel a bit put out that he didn’t even bother to wake me and say goodbye.

Real Brian certainly was a different person to the dream version I had in my mind.