Danni snatched up her phone as Lucas' ringtone blasted from it. Was he finally returning her calls? "Hello?"
"Danni?"
It took her a while to register the voice, and then she simply sank onto the edge of her bed, in shock. "Christan?" she managed to choke out. What was he doing calling her?
"Listen, Danni, you need to come round."
"What? Why?"
"It's Lucas."
That was all she needed. The worried edge to his voice made her heart race. "Is he okay?"
"Not really."
"What's going on?"
"He needs you."
"Christain, please!"
"I think he... I think he tried to kill himself."
"What?!"
"Just get here."
"I'm on my way." She hung up without another word and grabbed her jacket, racing down the stairs and out the door.
Danni ran up Lucas' drive and, completely forgetting that she still had a key, hammered on the door. Christan answered, looking like he hadn't slept in days.
"Where is he?" she gasped.
Saying nothing, Christan stood to the side, pointing up the stairs. Danni paused for a moment, trying to slow her heart down and catch her breath, so that she at least appeared calm when she saw him for the first time since... Okay, don't go there. Still breathing hard, she nodded to Christan and started to make her way up the stairs.
She knocked tentatively on Lucas' door and paused, but there was no response. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered her, but after what Christan had said on the phone, the lack of sound coming from his room was scaring her. She tried the handle, and found it unlocked. She found him sitting on the floor, soaking wet, with his back to her. She staggered as a horrendous wave of pain crashed over her, and then tears were streaming down her face, and she sank to the floor next to him. Reaching out to him, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her, smoothing his dripping hair back from his face.
"I'm here, Lucas," she breathed, kissing him; his shoulder, his neck, his jaw. "I'm here." She sat there with him for a long moment, just holding him close, feeling her tears soak into his already-saturated hair. She closed her eyes, rocking him gently, relishing the fact that he was finally back in her arms, despite the circumstances. After a while, though, she couldn't contain the question that was burning a hole in her heart. "Why, Luc? Why would you do something like this? Your dad needs you, I need you. You can't do it to me again, Lucas, don't do this to me again. Please." She pulled him round to look at her, her hand on his face, her thumb lightly caressing his cheek, and looked into those beautiful blue eyes of his. "I love you," she breathed, her own eyes pleading. She was terrified; he couldn't leave her again, she wouldn't survive it.