As Lisa was rushed down the corridor of the casualty unit in Chelmsford General, she tried to ignore the excruciating pain, and focused on the cold white lights on the ceiling speeding by above her. Richard was running beside the trolley, and he held her hand until they reached the doors of the emergency room where he was told he could go no further. As he reluctantly let go, Lisa looked up at him, her eyes full of pain.
 
     “Tell Alan I'm sorry. I didn't know…”
 
     Assured by the nurses he could do no more, Richard went to the front of the hospital so he could use his phone. He was still shaking when he spoke to his aunt and told her what had happened, before asking her to find Alan and to get a message to him immediately. If Lisa was going to die, it was only right that he should do as she asked, whatever the consequences.
 
     As Richard paced the corridor outside, Lisa slipped in and out of consciousness, oblivious of the doctors and nurses working on her. All she could see in her mind’s eye was Nick's face before they crashed, and all she could remember was the pain that followed. She knew Nick was still alive, and that he had tried to kill her in the way he had tried to kill Alan. As she lay in the emergency room, Lisa tried to come to terms with the fact that if she had never run off with Alan, or she had phoned Nick and gone to the Isle of Man - none of it would have happened.
 
                                                                            .....................
 
 
 
 
     Alan sat in the bar and nursed his drink as he listened to his friends' idle banter. Since he'd split up with Carla the week before, he had sought their company more and more, in order to get out of the house where his mother's constant fussing was driving him mad. Kevin asked him if he wanted a drink, and he shook his head wishing he could. The medication he was on wouldn't allow him to drink alcohol, and neither would his conscience since the accident. The possibility that what he’d drunk beforehand might have contributed to Mike's death, would never leave him. Having said that, a part of him wished he could get rat arsed and reach the place his friends were already at - drunken oblivion. No, he would never drink again.
 
     When his mobile started to vibrate, he took it out of his pocket, and seeing that it was his home number, he switched it off. It would only be his mother checking up on him again…
 
                                                                                 ..................
 
 
 
     It was past midnight, and Lisa was still in theatre. She had been in there for over two hours, and no one could tell Richard anything except that she had internal bleeding, and that her condition was classed as critical. It didn't look good, and he was told her pregnancy only made it more complicated.
 
     He decided to go outside for some fresh air and try phoning his aunt again, because Alan still hadn't turned up. He scanned through the numbers in the memory of his phone, and when he found the right one, he was just about to press the call button, when he heard the screeching of brakes and saw Alan jump out of a taxi. He came bounding up the steps towards him, and Richard let out a sigh of relief.
 
     “Thank God you're here, Alan. I thought you weren't going to show.” he snapped.
 
     Alan looked back at him with tormented eyes, and ignoring the acidity in Richard's voice, asked him how Lisa was.
 
     “Not good, I'm afraid. She's still in theatre.”
 
     Alan closed his eyes as though saying a silent prayer before turning back to Richard and asking him what had happened. Richard wasn't sure where to begin. He opened the door and gestured for Alan to go in, and waited until they were inside in the corridor before he answered him.
 
     “Nick stole my car when I stopped for petrol. Lisa was asleep in the front seat and didn't know anything about it. I think he was trying to kill them both when he drove the car off the road.”
 
     Alan remembered back to his accident and the terrible fear that had gripped him when his brakes had failed. He could imagine how terrified Lisa would have felt if she'd known what was going to happen.
 
     “Why would Nick try to kill her - or himself for that matter?” He asked, his voice shaking with anger.

     Richard remembered that Alan knew nothing of what Lisa had told him that morning.
 
     “Lisa was trying to get here to expose Nick for his involvement in your accident. She'd left him when she found the evidence, and he followed her.”
 
      Seeing the confusion in Alan’s eyes as he tried to absorb what he was telling him, Richard gestured to a line of chairs in the reception area.
 
     “I think you better sit down, Alan, I have a lot to tell you.”
 
     As Richard recounted what Lisa had told, and shown him that morning, Alan kept shaking his head. When he told him about Carla answering his mobile, convincing Lisa that they were back together, he broke down completely. When he remembered what he had said to her on the phone, he realised how spiteful he had been. He could now understand why she was convinced he didn't love her. It had been his sole intention to make sure she believed that he didn't. The only thing that didn't make sense, was the speed with which she had turned to Nick before he'd even spoken to her.
 
     “Why didn't she wait?” he asked Richard, desperate to understand how Lisa could forget him so quickly, especially if she really loved him.
 
      Richard shook his head realising that Alan had no idea just how much pressure Lisa had been under. It had all made perfect sense when she’d explained it to him that morning in his office.
 
     “Lisa didn't run back to Nick. I think you can blame that one on her new friends at the school. They read an unopened letter from him, and mistook her heartbreak at not being able to get through to you as a sign that she still loved him. They were the ones to contact Nick and set up the whole engagement thing that was in the papers. She didn't know anything about it until Nick arrived and proposed to her. By then she was totally convinced that you and Carla were back together.”
 
     Now it all began to make sense. Alan put his head in his hand, remembering the bitterness he’d felt when he'd seen Lisa and Nick engagement splashed all over the papers.
 
     “I couldn't answer the phone - it was still at my flat when I was unconscious in hospital. I didn't know anything about it, Richard – honestly. I had no idea Carla had answered my phone, she never told me.” Richard put his hand on Alan's shoulder,  feeling genuinely sorry for him.
 
     “I'm sure if Lisa had known about your accident, none of this would have happened, but she didn't even find out about it until after Nick raped her, and she found the press cutting about it in his safe.”
 
     As Richard's words sank in, Alan's face contorted with anger.
 
     “He raped her?” he shouted, jumping up from his chair.
 
     Richard looked up at Alan and nodded.
 
     “That’s why Lisa came to me, she didn't know what to do - and she seemed to think you didn't care. She needed to get the evidence to the police in Chelmsford to help you, so I agreed to take her. That’s why she was in my car when Nick took it.”
 
     Alan sat down again and put his head back in his hands, still unable to take in the enormity of what Lisa had been through. The fact that she had put her life at risk trying to help him, made it ten times worse, especially after what he had said to her. He couldn't forgive himself. Richard watched him and knew that he had to tell him about the baby. It had to be better than him hearing it from a stranger.
 
     “I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, Alan - but there's something else I have to tell you.”
 
     Seeing how grave Richard's face was, Alan wondered what could possibly be worse than what he had already told him. Richard took a deep breath and was about to speak, when the doctor came through the swing doors at the end of the corridor. He was still in his green theatre clothes, and he introduced himself to Richard, assuming, from the description he’d been given, that he was Lisa's partner.
 
     “Mr. Clark?” he asked, offering Richard his outstretched hand. Richard reciprocated, and confirmed that he was.
 
     “I'm glad to tell you that Lisa is going to pull through, but I'm afraid she's lost the baby - I'm so sorry, there was nothing we could do.”
 
Richard looked over at Alan's stricken face, before turning back to the doctor.
 
      “Does Lisa know yet?” he asked, wondering how she would take the news.
 
      “Not yet. I was hoping you would be with me when she wakes up, and I tell her. Do you mind me asking if you’re the father?”
 
     Richard looked at Alan again and seeing his ashen face, wished  he'd had a chance to break the news to him more gently.
 
     “No, no I'm not. I'm just a friend, but I do know who the father is, and it's not Nick Corday, the driver who was brought in before her.”
 
     Richard was saying this more for Alan’s benefit, than the doctor’s, and looked over at him to gauge his reaction. If he looked pale before, he now looked deathly white. He was obviously in no fit state to see Lisa; in fact,he would probably make things worse. Richard frowned, and looked back at the doctor.
 
     “I think it would be best if I come with you when you break the news,” he said, looking back at Alan sympathetically before continuing.
 
     “I don't think the baby's father knows that Lisa was pregnant. It might be best not to involve him at the moment,” he added.
 
     The doctor agreed, and Richard diligently followed the doctor down the hall way to the recovery room.
 
     Alan sat in the chair for a couple of minutes before he let the tears fall. Finding out that Lisa had loved him all along, and it had only been because Carla answered his phone, and her school friends getting it wrong, that she’d agreed to marry Nick again, was hard to take in. He vowed to himself that he would do whatever it took, to make it up to her. He prayed harder than he had ever prayed in his life, that she would forgive him...
 
                                                                              ....................
 
 
 

   
      Lisa lay on the beautiful bed, and looked up at the cream drapes above her. It was just as she remembered when she'd been there before with Alan, only this time she wasn't a virgin, and she didn't have to rush home with a bottle of wine for her mother.
 
     When they'd made love, it was as though they had never been apart, and the pain and heartbreak of their separation, and the horror of being raped by Nick, disappeared. Lisa rolled onto her side and watched Alan open the bottle of champagne, his hair still tousled from their passionate love making a few moments before.
 
      Alan had shown her how much he wanted her the moment they'd walked through the door. When he’d kissed her, she’d responded immediately, and her body had come alive again, her fears banished. Every touch, every kiss, was as electrifying as the first, bonding their bodies with a force as natural as sunlight. Before long he was inside her, reawakening their love with every thrust.
 
      He walked back to the bed, a glass in each hand, and put them on the gilt bedside table, before taking Lisa in his arms. He kissed her again, this time slowly, and less urgently than before.
 
     “Are you happy?” he asked, looking into her eyes.
 
     “Very,” she answered, reaching across and gently touching his face.
 
     They both looked across to the floor where the red dress lay abandoned, forgotten as their bodies had merged and become as one.
     
     As they drank the champagne, they lay entwined on the bed until the sun started to set and the swans had gathered in family circles of togetherness in the bay in front of their bedroom window. Before long their need to be united returned, and they made love again, this time less urgently.
 
     It was after six when Alan checked his watch and kissed Lisa tenderly on the lips, before getting up.
 
     “I'm sorry, Lisa but I'm going to have to go,” he stated matter-of-factly, before getting dressed.
 
     Lisa stared up at him, a puzzled frown on her face.
 
     “Where to?” she asked, genuinely confused.
 
     Alan looked back at Lisa with an irritated expression on his face.  
 
     “Back to Carla of course...” he answered, and then walked towards the door…
    
 
     Lisa slowly opened her eyes and tried to focus on Richard's face. It was full of concern, as was the doctor's behind him, and she knew it had all been a dream. She tried to talk but her mouth was so dry, her voice was reduced to a cracked whisper.
 
     “I've lost the baby haven't I?”
 
Richard nodded, and looked down at his hands as the doctor came closer to the bed and looked down at her sympathetically.
    
     “I'm sorry, Lisa, but you're going to be fine, and there's no reason why you can't conceive in the future. Sadly, the baby didn't survive the impact of the crash.”
 
     Lisa turned her head away, and closing her eyes, tried to hold back the tears. Now she had nothing to live for at all.
 
     When the doctor left them alone, Richard took Lisa's hand and told her that Alan was outside. He hoped the news would cheer her up. It didn't, and only seemed to make matters worse.
 
     The dream had reminded Lisa that, although she hadn't known about the crash and how Alan couldn't answer his phone, he had chosen Carla instead of her. She had believed everything he’d said on the phone, and accepted the fact he had never loved her.
 
     “I don't want to see him,” she said, turning her head away again. This time she let the tears come, unable to hold them back any longer.
 
     “But I thought you wanted me to tell Alan what had happened?” Richard asked. This was the last thing he had expected.
 
     Lisa shook her head slowly and looked back at him. She had thought she was going to die when she’d asked Richard to tell Alan she was sorry. Now, she wished she had.
 
     “I only wanted you to tell him that I was sorry for ruining his life. If he'd never got involved with me, Nick wouldn't have tried to have him killed, and Mike would still be alive. I wanted you to explain that I didn't know about his accident, nothing more...”
 
Richard looked embarrassed, remembering everything he'd told Alan. If Lisa didn't want to see him, he assumed he would be devastated.
 
     “You're tired and upset, Lisa. I'll tell him that you're not up to it just now. Perhaps later…”
 
Lisa interrupted him, her voice hysterical, her face twisted with all the pain and grief she’d endured.
 
     “NO - I told you," she cried. “I don't want to see him - there's no point. Alan never loved me. He told me he was only using me while he was waiting for Carla to come back. If he's here, it's only because he feels sorry for me - so please, tell him to go away.”
 
Richard watched with embarrassment as the tears rolled down her cheeks and the sobs racked her body.
 
     “Alan knows about the baby, Lisa. He was in the corridor when the doctor told me. I'm so sorry. I would never have let him find out if I'd known any of this.”
 
Lisa looked back at him and smiled bitterly.
 
     “Well he should be pleased then. He more or less told me that if I ever got pregnant, he would want me to get rid of it. It looks like Nick's done him a favour.”
    
 
 
 
     Alan jumped up from his seat when he saw Richard coming towards him, his face stern and angry. He looked like he was going to hit him.
 
     “Why the hell didn't you tell me that you didn't love Lisa when we were talking earlier?” he asked acidly, his face white with anger. Alan stared back at him open mouthed while he continued.
 
     “No wonder Lisa doesn't want to see you. If I'd known you were just using her while your precious fiancée was away, I would never have told you everything that I did. You're a heartless bastard!”
 
     Alan tried to explain, but Richard wouldn't listen.
 
     “Did you, or did you not, tell Lisa that you didn't love her, and that you were just using her till Carla came back?' he asked, his courtroom experience taking over.
 
    “Yes, but…” Alan stammered.
 
    “And did you tell her that if she got pregnant, she would have to get rid of it?”
 
     Alan couldn't believe what was happening. The memory of the conversation he’d had with Lisa came flooding back.
 
    “Yes, but I only said that when we were talking about the stupidity of teenage girls getting pregnant and…”
 
Richard interrupted him again and came up to him, his face inches away from his.
 
     “Then, as they say in my profession, I rest my case,” he spat at Alan, amazed that Lisa could ever have fallen for such selfish, egotistical bastard. If it was down to him, he would make sure Lisa never had to suffer him again.
 
     “Well, I tell you this, Alan. If I see you anywhere near Lisa in the future, I'll make what Nick did to you look like a walk in the park,” he hissed. “Do I make myself clear?”
 
With that Richard turned and marched back down the corridor towards Lisa's room, leaving Alan alone…