Falling

"Will you please just let me take you to the hospital?" He asked, yet again, as he deposited her gently on the sofa in his apartment.

She rolled her eyes and pulled a face at him. "No, I'm fine you're massively overreacting. But you can make me a coffee."

"You are not fine!" He cried in despair. "You can barely walk, you could've been killed!"

"It's just a sprain Phillip. You need to calm down." She sighed, lifting her left leg up to put her foot on a pillow on the coffee table to prop it up. She managed to hide her grimace from him successfully. Her ankle had doubled in size and wa beginning to turn an interesting shade of purple.

"Calm down?" He called from the kitchen. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"It's not the first time it's happened Phillip and it sure as hell won't be the last… It's something of an occupational hazard." She pulled a face, knowing he couldn't see her.

"What do you mean it's not the first time?" He frowned unhappily as he walked back through with her coffee and sat down beside her.

"Phillip, I've been doing trapeze for years. Things go wrong, you make mistakes and sometimes you fall. This is nothing, I was like six feet off the ground. Hell I remember once I completely missed W. if someone hadn't caught me I would've fallen about 20 feet." As she turned to look at him and saw his eyes growing wide with alarm she realised she was probably better off just stopping talking.

"Because that made me feel so much better." He muttered. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

She laughed, she couldn't help herself. "I'm fine Phillip, look." Yes- her ankle hurt and her pride was severely dented but it was nothing a couple of days off wouldn't fix. She hadn't realised quite how much he'd worry- he hadn't even seen her fall, he'd run from his office to see what all the noise was about.

"I know." He shuffled a little closer to her, his arm winding around her. "But I love you and I'm going to carry on worrying about you no matter what you say. I'd quite like to keep you in one piece if I can."

"I'll see what I can do." Her head fell back to rest against his shoulder and she felt his lips press gently onto her forehead.

"You scared me." He whispered after a moment, his breath catching in his throat a little at just the thought of her lying there on the floor and not knowing how badly she was hurt. He'd heard the commotion from his office but he hadn't been sure what was going on until he'd spotted her lying on the floor motionless. A million things had crossed through his mind as he'd run across the ring to reach her. It was a short distance but it had felt like a lifetime.

She turned to look at him, her face just inches from his and she could feel his breath on her cheek and see the worry in his eyes. She reached up and smoothed his frown lines with her fingertips. "I am sorry, it was so stupid… My hand just slipped a tiny bit and the next thing I knew I was on the floor."

"What were you doing up there anyway?" He asked. "I thought you were going to have a break while W.D. Is away?"

She nodded- her brother had gone away with his new girlfriend to meet her family in Seattle. At the time she'd said she'd take a break while he was gone, it seemed like the perfect opportunity, she couldn't remember the last time she'd actually taken some time off, but then she'd quickly found herself getting bored and restless. She'd figured half an hour or so couldn't hurt.

"I was bored." She admitted sheepishly. "I can't remember the last time I had a couple of days off without practicing. I thought it would be fun but I didn't know what to do with myself."

Phillip shook his head in despair, but she could see the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. "Does this mean if I want you to relax for a week or two I'm going to have to take you away somewhere where there is no trapeze?"

She laughed. "You might have to.. Should I be worried? Are you planning to kidnap me?"

"Well I wouldn't say kidnap exactly, but you're going to be out of action for a bit." He gestured to her swollen ankle that was now beginning to bruise. "I could talk to Barnum, see if he'd let me take some time off? I don't know where we could go...But it might be nice to actually have some time together- just the two of us?" He looked at her nervously, waiting for her to say something.

"And this." She grinned, stretching up to kiss him gently. "Is why I love you."