Searching for His Lost Love

9 They always come crawling back

Blaine sulked into a seat next to his mother as his thoughts returned to Dana and how she was in this hospital because he had left her to chase down Lisa.  Lisa didn’t even need me, he thought, seemed like Ryan just happened to show up at the right time.  Was there something going on between them?  He felt a sharp elbow jab to his ribs that woke him from his thoughts.  Blaine was quick to turn his attention back to his mother and the ranting she had apparently been doing for a while now if her irritated gaze was any kind of clue.

She smiled at him as though he had never been ignoring her in the first place before picking back up in her tirade.  “I’m so glad you have decided to put this nonsense behind you.  I have to say I am a bit relieved, Dana loves you so much.  She even saved your life once if you remember so it is only natural that you would cherish her back just as much as she does you.  It also doesn’t hurt that her family is equal in caliber to our own.  I do have to admit that is part of the reason I have always maintained that you two are a perfect match for each other.”

Blaine started to daze off as she droned on when suddenly the topic of her conversation shifted, as if she realized she was losing him on the issue.  “Besides, that Lisa didn’t deserve you at all.”  He watched as her calm demeanor shifted into a stone mask at the thought of Lisa.  Her eyes holding a barely contained rage, while all Blaine could think of while she talked was Lisa’s beautiful face.  “I swear Blaine; you lied to that blind moron for years for Dana.  You said you only married her so that you would have the blood necessary for Dana’s recovery, but then you saved her mother.  I mean you even took care of that blind woman for three years.  She should consider herself lucky that you even spent that much time on her.  Personally I say you two are even, she gave her blood for Dana and you sheltered her and her mother when you didn’t have to.  I don’t want you to see that woman ever again!”

Blaine couldn’t explain it, but listening to his mother’s rant and constant belittling of Lisa he found himself to be extremely irritated.  Before he could even think better of it he found himself standing abruptly from his seat next to Miranda and looking down on her with a barely contained rage as he shouted mere inches from her.  “Mother, a hospital is a place of recovery and repair.  There is no place here for your negative talk and energy!  I would suggest we wait to hear about Dana in silence.”

Miranda was taken aback by the anger flaring in her son’s voice.  How dare he yell at her!  Yet looking into his raging eyes she found that words evaded her and she was left speechless, something that had never in all her years happened before.  Before she could recover her senses and address her son’s admonishment of her a doctor came through the doors into the waiting room to give them an update on Dana’s condition.

The doctor explained that Dana was very weak and had fainted because she was most likely traumatized by the events that unfolded between herself and Lisa.  He suggested that the best thing for Dana right now would be to remain calm and to rest in order to regain her strength.  He then told them that Dana would be able to see them for a short while but he stressed that keeping her calm and not overtaxing her was the most important thing right now.

When Blaine and Margaret walked into Dana’s private recovery room she was lying on her bed and looking horrible.  Dana looked over to Blaine and reached out a shaky hand in his direction.  Blaine thought she looked so thin and pale and felt his stomach drop to his feet at the idea that he had done this to her.  She parted cracked lips and in a barely audible voice she spoke.  “Blaine, my love, I am so scared.  Please stay with me for a little while; I thought you would never come back from that dreadful storm you ran out into.”

Blaine felt an uncomfortable sensation at the contact of their intertwined hands and pulled his out of her grip.  When she looked at him with confusion in her tired eyes he covered his unexplainable actions by making it look as though he had simply let her hand go in order to tuck the blankets around her in the bed.  He leaned down and kissed her forehead as he whispered to her.  “Don’t worry Dana.  Just relax, I am here now and that is all that matters.”

Dana couldn’t help but blush at the contact and having Blaine so close to her just then.  She craved more though and decided to take the opportunity to milk her situation for as much as it was worth.  She allowed her eyes to fill with crocodile tears as she looked up into his face that was so close she could almost feel his lips brush hers.  “Blaine, I know I have been in a coma for three years but, when I woke up and opened my eyes it felt like I had just been taking a really long nap.  Now, I know that a lot can change in three years and you were with Lisa for so long.  Yes, you divorced her but when I saw you run out into the storm to go and find her I got so worried.  I was afraid that you would abandon me once you brought her back to our home, the home you shared with her after all, and I have to admit I lost my mind a bit.”

She bit her lip as she took in his reaction to her words.  Was this working?  She thought she saw a promising response and chose to push it a little bit further.  She took a breath that shuddered as she pretended to try not to cry.  “I know that you explained that she was just a tool for your release while we were apart but honestly Blaine the idea that you were with her every day, living together and being intimate makes me so jealous.  I was so cruel to her because I felt like she had taken my life, she had been living the life I should have had if her father hadn’t put me into a coma, and I was so jealous that I couldn’t stop myself.  Blaine I need to know, please, that you didn’t fall in love with her in the three years that you were married.”

She reached out her cold hands and forced Blaine to look her in the eyes.  He was stunned by her confession of how she had felt and her fears.  He drew his eyebrows together as he thought about what she had just asked him.  Did he fall for Lisa in the three years that they were together?  He had married Lisa in order to get the blood he needed for Dana and because he felt that her family owed Dana for what Lisa’s father had done.  How could he have possibly fallen in love with her under those circumstances?  That would be absolutely crazy!  He looked down into Dana’s pleading gaze and his own features softened as he looked over the woman he had loved before all of this had happened.  He made sure his voice was clear as he told her.  “No, it is not possible that I could have fallen for that woman.  No amount of time together would have changed that Dana.”

Dana felt her heart skip a beat in happiness at his words.  She leaned against his chest as she allowed a smile to curl her lips.  “Oh Blaine I should have known you would never have feelings for Lisa.  You were kind to her out of pity because she couldn’t see, not love.  You only married her to avenge me and so that you could get me the transfusions I needed in order to come back to you my love.”

Blaine allowed her words to sink into him as she clung to his shirt.  He wondered about what she said, did he really only care for Lisa out of pity alone?  Was there nothing else to it?  He looked down and caught the smile on Dana’s lips and averted his gaze only to see the same calculating smile gracing his mother’s features.  He stood up abruptly practically causing Dana to fall off of him and flop into the bed.  He found himself upset by the way they seemed to be enjoying relegating his treatment of Lisa to the same as one would do for a hungry homeless dog.  He couldn’t leave the room fast enough muttering words about having a ton of work to do and coming back later to check on Dana.

He walked into the doors of his own home expecting to be able to breath only to find that the same weight was compressing his chest here as it was in the hospital.  Blaine looked around the room that should have held cheer and joy but was instead lifeless and cold.  Everything around him had not changed a bit, the only thing missing was the woman who used to sit on the sofa day after day and wait for him to come home from work.  He felt tension pull his muscles tight as he walked through the darkened hallways to their bedroom.

Opening the door he quickly crossed the floor to the closet doors.  He yanked them open with more force than necessary, the hinges complaining at the abuse.  He looked over the contents before him and took in all the neatly arranged rows of clothing and the full box of jewelry he had bought Lisa over the years.  True to her word she had actually left without taking a single piece of anything with her.  While all the items were left behind and she was gone her scent lingered in the room reminding him of what was there no more, or rather who was no longer there.

She had spent three years with him, arranging every detail of their home piece by piece.  Then suddenly she had left him without a bit of hesitation.  It was as if she couldn’t wait to escape him.  She had drawn a line in the sand, she would take nothing from him when she couldn’t have his heart, and she had stayed steadfast in her decision.  Blaine felt anguish wash over him at the realization that she was really gone before he crudely stomped out the emotion.  He felt a cold smile of determination replace it.  Sure, she had left him.  Yes, it had blindsided him and completely thrown him for a loop that she had even found the spine to be able to go through with it.  However, she was well and truly blind and would not have the foggiest idea of how to take care of herself out there in the world.  Blaine had provided for her, protected her from the wolves at the door, and taken care of everything.

He nodded to himself as the truth he found he believed in rang through.  She may have left him but she had no job, no home and no way to take care of herself out there.  Yes, she left him, but now he was confident all he had to do was continue waiting patiently and she would come back to him.  Yes, he thought, she would soon come crawling back.