From Forbidden Fruit to Love Renewed ~Chapter 5

The key drops to the floor as he makes his way towards her. One look at her red and swollen eyes and he knows she's been crying. He opens his arms to her inviting her to lean on him. She falls into his open arms and holds him tight against her; the warmth of his embrace calming her soul. He pulls out of their embrace but keeps his arms wrapped around her. One look into her eyes and he was lost.

He reaches down and unwraps the towel, letting it fall to the floor at their feet. She runs her hands up his chest; unbuttoning his shirt; throwing it aside. She reaches down and makes quick work of his pants and boxers until they stand before each other; their damp, naked bodies glistening in the candlelight.

He crashes his mouth down onto hers as he backs her against the wall. He runs his hands between them taking her breasts in his hands, his thumbs slowly caressing her nipples until they harden against his expert touch. Using the wall for support he lifts her and places her over top of him. She wraps her legs around his waist as he enters her. He wraps his one arm around her and begins to kiss her neck as their bodies grind against each other. He turns around and backs up towards the bed, their bodies never losing their intimate embrace.

He pulls her down onto the bed with him; the intensity of their lovemaking matches the intensity of the storm closing around them. Thunder crashes outside as he crashes into her; lightening streaking across the sky as a moan of pleasure escapes from deep within her.

She reaches around and lays her hands on his hips; pulling him deeper within her. The movements of her hips match his thrust for thrust; their need and desire for each other is like a drug; a drug they can't get enough of.

Soon they lay spent; their bodies still connected in the most intimate way. Neither one speaks; words will only get in the way. She is suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of dizziness and breaks their contact. She walks over to the sink to splash some cold water on her face.

Seeing her trying to steady herself, he pulls on his pants, "Are you okay?"

Her grip on the counter tightens, the room spinning around her, she begins to fall to the floor just as he reaches her. Unable to wake her, he pulls the blanket off the bed and wraps her in it and carries her to the car.

He exits the elevator; carrying her in his arms, panic in his voice, "I need help here."

They lead him into an exam room where he lays her down on the bed. "What happened here, sir?"

"She was fine and then all of a sudden she got dizzy and passed out. I couldn't wake her so I brought her here."

"You were right to bring her here. What is her name?"

"Nora, Nora Buchanan."

"And you are?"

"Bo, Bo Buchanan."

"Okay, Mr. Buchanan. We're going to need you to wait outside. I'll be out to speak with you as soon as we know what's going on."

"Okay," looking at her lying unconscious on the bed, "Take care of her, please, she has to be okay."

"We will."

Bo walks out into the hallway; stopping his pacing long enough to watch through the window as they work on her. He watches as her eyes slowly open; his heart stopping for a moment as he looks into her frightened eyes. He watches as the doctor sits down beside her and talks with her. A nurse leaves the room; not closing the door. Bo stands beside the door and listens as they talk.

"I know what caused me to black out, Dr. Kane."

"And what is that?"

"I'm pregnant", she says not noticing Bo has entered the room.

"Pregnant?" She looks up at the sound of his voice and the emotions she has coursing through her body she can see running across his face. Dr. Kane notices the looks between them and excuses himself; giving them time to talk. "You're pregnant?"

She simply nods.

"Is it mine?"

She was going to tell him the truth, but remembers the promise he's just made to Gabrielle, "No, Bo. It's not yours." He just stares at her, "You can go home Bo, I'm fine. I'm sure she's waiting for you."

"I'll be waiting outside." He leaves slamming the chair into the wall, angry that the baby wasn't his, confused by his anger.

He glances back at the room and enters the elevator. He returns a few minutes later with a duffel bag from his car. Why can't he get passed the fact that this baby is not his? He should be happy; no he should be thrilled that the baby wasn't his, but he wasn't. He was angry at the thought of another man touching her. He walks over to the room; pausing with his hand on the doorknob. He can hear her crying from inside the room. It takes everything he has not to go to her, take her in his arms and hold her. He sees the nurse walking towards him.

Unable to bear seeing her right now he hands the nurse the duffel bag, "Give this to her please, and tell her I'll be waiting out here for her."

"No problem."

"Thank you."

Bo sits down in the lobby and waits for her to finish dressing. Dr. Kane approaches him. "Mr. Buchanan?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to be releasing your wife."

"My wife? Oh," he looks towards the room, "She's not my wife, well not anymore."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just assumed."

"It’s okay. Tell me, doctor, is Nora going to be alright; is the baby alright?"

"They're both going to be fine. Your wi..," clears his throat, "Ms. Buchanan was severely dehydrated. She's extremely weak. She needs to get home and take it easy and take care of herself."

"I'll see to it that she gets home safely."

"Thank you, she'll be ready to go in a few minutes."

"I'm going to pull the car around. Let her know I'll be back up for her in a few minutes."

Dr. Kane nodded as he walked towards the exam room. He made a few notations in her chart before knocking on the door. A few minutes later Nora was sitting in the lobby waiting for Bo.

The twenty minute drive back to the motel felt like two hours; neither one of them saying anything, but so much needing to be said. Bo parks the car outside of RM 13 and walks around to open her door. He holds out his hand to help her out of the car. She places her hand in his; immediately removing it once she's on her feet.

"I'm fine, Bo. Go home to Gabrielle. I'm sure she must be worried."

"You're not fine, Nora. I'm driving you home, Dr's orders."

"I'm not your responsibility, Bo. I can take care of myself."

"Oh and you're obviously doing such a good job at it."

"I'm not getting into this with you, Bo. Go home to your fiancée."

"Nora, regardless of what may be going on between us right now you are still the mother of my child,” he notices her hand wander down and rest on her stomach. He shakes off the thought of her having a child with another man and continues to speak, “Now please go get dressed. I'll settle the bill and we'll be on our way."

"I don't want to argue with you, Bo."

Tipping her chin up so she's looking up at him, "Then don't, I'll be right back." He turns to leave before she has a chance to speak.

Nora turns and walks back into the room and changes back into her own clothes. Bo heads over to the office. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I would like to rent out Rm. 13 on a permanent basis please."

"Well, I'm not sure."

He takes out his checkbook, "How about $10,000, for the room? Do you think that's fair?"

Looking down at the check, seeing more zero's then he's ever seen in his life, "Yeah, I'd say that's fair. Don't know why you'd want to keep a dump like that but here you go?” sliding him the other key. "It's all yours. If you don't mind me asking though, why would you want to do this?"

"Let's just say the room holds a lot of memories and leave it at that," he says as he walks away.

Walking back towards the door she runs her hand along the bottom of the bed, trying to burn the memories into her mind, not that she could ever forget. He knocks on the door "Coming," as she throws her purse over her shoulder the heart pendant slipped out onto the floor landing under the bed. Walking out of the room she hands him his sweatshirt and sweatpants. He throws them in the trunk and walks around to help her to the car. She slides in and immediately stares out the window. He closes her door and walks around sliding in behind the wheel. He throws the car in reverse and pulls out of the gravel drive.

They spend the first two hours of the trip home in silence. He turns on the radio; unable to bear the silence any longer.

Lay a whisper on my pillow,
Leave the winter on the ground.
I wake up lonely,
There's a silence in the bedroom; and all around
Touch me now, I close my eyes and dream away.

"Do you love him?"

"Yes," she whispers thinking of how much she loves the man sitting beside her, enough to let him go, "With all my heart."

It must have been love but it's over now.
It must have been love but I lost it somehow.
It must have been love but it's over now.

Their eyes meet for a moment; but they look away as though just a simple look would betray the truth.

From the moment we touched, 'til time has run out.
Make-believing we're together that I'm sheltered by your heart.
But in and outside I've turned to water like a teardrop in your palm
And it's a hard winters day, I dream away.

"Well then I'm happy for you," he says feeling his heart break in two. She set the rules, he had agreed to play by them, now they had to see it through, "I just want you to be happy."

"I wish you and Gabrielle all the best, you deserve to be happy, Bo. That's all I've ever wanted for you," she manages to say knowing she's lost the best part of her.

It must have been love but it's over now.
It's all that I wanted; now I'm living without
It must have been love but it's over now.
It's where the water flows; it's where the wind blows.

Her hand goes to her stomach, knowing she will always have a piece of him with her forever; she has their son and now this unborn child.

He knows they will always be connected because of their son, but it's not enough. Knowing that she has created a life with someone else is driving him insane.

They finish the rest of their trip home in silence. She stared out the window; no longer able to keep the tears from falling. He looks over at her and longs to take her in his arms and take the pain away; but that's no longer his place.

He pulls into her driveway just before midnight. He sees her to the door; taking the keys from her and unlocking the door for her. "Don't worry about your car. I'll have Antonio and one of the other officers pick it up from the motel tomorrow."

"Thank you, Bo," she says as she watches him walk back to his car. Laying her hand on her stomach, "For everything," she whispers before closing the door behind her.

TBC....