Having Faith

[Lise]

Geoff Poor Nic! Leah and Roman are cute. I loved that Faith thought that Aden and Belle had gotten engaged.

[~Zoe~]

Great chapter, hope Nicole will be okay.

[LauraPhilly!!]

Thanks for your lovely comments, guys!

Here's the next chapter!!

Chapter 9

Aden and Belle stayed with Nicole.

It was alone at midnight that Aden went home to check on Faith, leaving Belle with Nicole.

"Thank you Belle," said Nicole, as her eyelids drooped. "For staying."

Belle smiled. "Whenever you want me, or Aden, Nic, just call us ok. We'll come straight over."

She smiled and closed her eyes.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep now," she said.

Belle nodded. "I'll stay with you 'till your Dad gets back. Aden called him, and he said he'd be here soon."

"I can't face going home," said Nicole. "Not knowing that Geoff will be there."

"It's ok Nic," reassured Belle. "I'm sure your Dad will let you stay here as long as you want."

There was silence between them until a key turned in the lock and Roman stepped In through the front door.

"Shh," said Belle, indicating to Nicole, who was now asleep.

"Thanks Belle," whispered Roman, as Belle stood up. "Thanks for coming to see her."

"No problem, Roman," said Belle, as she stepped out the door.

"Will you be ok to get home?" he asked, gazing down the street.

"Yeah I'll be fine thanks," said Belle, zipping up her jacket. "I'll stick to the main path."

"Ok, see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

*

Aden looked up as the front door opened and Belle walked into the kitchen.

"Thank God your back," he said, getting up and pulling her into a tight hug. "I was getting worried."

"Roman had only just got back, sorry," said Belle, as Aden switched off the downstairs lights. "Is Faith asleep?"

"Yeah, she is," said Aden, as they walked into Belle's room. "She wanted to wait for you but she was exhausted so I told her to go to bed."

"Good," said Belle, as she slipped on her nightdress. "I'll just go in and tell her I'm back so she's not worried."

Aden watched as Belle left the room, and then he sat down on the end of the bed and stared at the wall.

Nicole.

He couldn't stop thinking of her. What she was going through? How he and Belle could help her?

Then came Geoff.

What about Geoff?

Belle will have to talk to him, thought Aden. I don't think I would be able to control myself if I saw him.

Aden was still deep in thought when Belle came back.

"Hey, are you alright?" she said, bending down in front of him.

"Just thinking of Nicole."

Belle sighed and nodded. "Yeah me too. It broke my heart Aden, to see her like that tonight. Geoff…I don't know how he could do it."

She frowned briefly as she saw Aden's hand clench into a fist.

"Aden stop!" she said, taking his hand. "It's ok, I'll talk to him."

He nodded and then relaxed his hand, breathing out heavily.

"Sorry, I just can't get her face out of my head. It makes me angry to think that Geoff did that to her."

Belle nodded, and pulled him into the middle of the bed.

"I know," she said. "It's frustrating for me too. But we've gotta keep it together, for Nicole and for Faith."

"Faith?" he said, looking at up her in surprise.

"She stayed awake until I got home, she saw that I had been crying," admitted Belle. "I only told her some of it, not the whole truth. She's just worried that's all. She hates seeing us upset."

Aden nodded. He would have to control himself for Faith.

"C'mon, let's get to bed," said Belle, yawning and tugging at his shirt collar. "I'm exhausted, and you've got work tomorrow."

Aden groaned as he remembered. "Yeah, some family law case tomorrow. Divorce. Yuck! It's like the most boring area of my work!"

Belle chuckled as she pulled the duvet over her.

"Well you chose to become a solicitor!" she reminded him.

"I suppose I did," he said, not sounding too impressed. "But I –

"No, no more talking," said Belle, as she pulled Aden into bed. "Save it for the morning."

"Ok, ok," said Aden, as Belle switched on her bedside lamp.

Wrapping his arm around her waist, he pulled her towards him, and snuggled his face in her hair.

Belle smiled and put her arm on top of his, and after a few minutes, they drifted off to sleep.

*

"Ok, I gotta go babe," said Aden, stuffing the slice of toast in his mouth, and grabbing his briefcase. "I'll see you later."

"Wait!"

Aden stopped in his tracks. Belle smiled and bent up on her tiptoes kissed him deeply.

"I'll miss you," she said, as she let go.

Aden grinned, pecked her on the cheek and flew out the door.

"Faith, get up your going to be late for school!" called Belle.

"I'm coming," said Faith, drowsily as she trudged into the kitchen.

"I'm going to drop you to school this morning ok," said Belle, pushing her daughters cereal bowl in front of her.

"Why?" asked Faith, as she opened the milk carton and split half of it down her front.

"Oh I just want to talk to one of your teachers," said Belle, quickly throwing Faith over the tea cloth.

"Would this teacher happen to be Mr Campbell?" asked Faith, curiously.

"Possibly," said Belle. "Now hurry up and eat or your going to be late! I operate the same times as the bus!"

"Mum, that's not fair!" complained Faith, as she began shoving the cereal down her throat.

"Tough, I'm your Mother, I'm not meant to be nice!"

Faith mumbled something to herself, but finished her breakfast cereal and went back into her room.

She immerged moments later, her uniform on and her face peppered with foundation.

"I didn't put too much on did I?" she asked, as she examined her skin in the mirror.

"The bus would be leaving about now!" said Belle, looking at her watch teasingly.

"Ok, ok, let's go!" said Faith, grabbing her school.

"But seriously," she said as they got in the car. "Did I put too much foundation on?"

*

"Class would you all take your seats please," said Geoff, as his students assembled into the classroom. "The bell is about to ring."

He saw a few students snigger at him, and the group of girls giggle, but he tried to ignore.

Their behaviour was to be expected.

"Mr Campbell," said Faith, as she entered the classroom.

"Yes, Ms Taylor," said Geoff, turning to look at her enquiringly.

"There's someone looking for you at the office."

Geoff froze but managed to nod at Faith, who took her seat quickly.

"I shall be back in a few minutes, class," he said. "Meanwhile, please open the chapter on Geometry 3 and start reading."

"Whatever you say, Mr Campbell," said Tom Jones, sniggering at him.

Geoff ignored him, and walked out the door.

He groaned quietly as he headed towards the office. He expected this confrontation to come about soon. The word had spread around the school, obviously Miles had heard about it.

"Get use to your last days of employment Geoff," he murmered.

He was therefore surprised to see Belle sitting outside the office. He knew immediately why she was here when he looked at her face.

She had already seen Nicole.

Belle stood up and walked towards him. She stopped, leaving a few feet between them.

Geoff took a chance and looked up into her face. Her expression was cold.

"How could you Geoff?"

He looked down at his feet quickly.

"I wish I knew that answer myself," he said sheepishly.

Belle made a scathing noise, which made Geoff look up at her in surprise.

"Is that your excuse?" she asked, coldly.

"I know nothing I will say will make you feel any different towards me," he said. "I deserve whatever you throw at me."

Belle looked at him, her expression not changing.

"I'm not here to give you a hard time Geoff, others will probably do that for me. I'm here because of Nicole…you don't know what she's going through Geoff. You've broken her heart!"

Geoff didn't know what to say, so he remained silence. Belle glared at him even more.

"Don't you care, is that it? She is over that with Roman, crying her eyes out, trying to figure out where she went wrong! She thinks this is her fault! Her fault!"

"But it's not!" cried Geoff.

Belle shook her head in disbelief.

"Well you try explain to her then why you won't sleep with her, but you'll sleep with some complete stranger!"

Geoff shook his head, and turned away from Belle. Running his fingers through his hair, he really didn't know what to do.

"I'm going to go now, Geoff," said Belle. "But I hope what I said makes you think about what exactly you have done to Nicole. And if I was her, Geoff, I wouldn't be forgiving you to quickly. So don't go praying to God now, because he's not going to help you!"

Geoff turned back to see Belle walking out of the front door.

When she was gone, he collapsed into a head on the floor, burying his hands in his face.

"I'm so sorry Nic," he said to himself.

*

Having got so wound up talking to Geoff, Belle decided to call work and tell them she wouldn't be able to go in today.

Instead she decided to go home and work on the paperwork that she had been putting off for ages.

"Aden will be home," she said to herself.

She smiled. Just having Aden with her, even just thinking of him, made her feel instantly better.

As she turned into the driveway, she was not surprised to see Aden cleaning his red sports car. He grinned as she stepped out of the car.

"Aden, it hasn't rained once this week," said Belle, walking over and standing beside him. "How did this thing possibly get dirty again?"

"Babe, please don't call my baby 'a thing', you'll hurt it's feeling," he said, grinning at her.

She laughed, and walked towards the front door, muttering 'men' as she went.

"Why are you home so early anyway?" asked Aden, as he followed her in. "Didn't you have an appointment this afternoon?"

Belle sighed, and collapsed into the armchair.

"I did, but I didn't feel great after talking to Geoff, so I decided to give myself the day off."

Aden frowned and pulled her over onto his lap. "You ok?"

"Yeah," she said, resting her head into the hollow in his shoulder. "I got a bit carried away I guess. It was hard not to, with the image of Nicole's face at the surface of my head."

Aden nodded, understandingly, as he slipped his fingers through hers.

"Did he take it well?"

"I don't know," said Belle, letting out a heavy sigh. "I left before I lost it completely."

Aden nodded his head, and then smiled at her.

"How about I make you your favourite peanut butter sandwich!"

Belle grinned and hid her face in his neck.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," said Aden, carefully sliding her off his lap and walking into the kitchen.

"Leave the crusts on please!"

She heard him laugh and then she stretched out on the sofa, laying her head on the soft cushion. Suddenly she felt oddly tired, and closed her eyes for a moment.

What seemed like minutes later, she felt Aden shaking her lightly.

"Babe, wake up, are you ok?"

"How long was I asleep?" asked Belle, rubbing her head as she sat up.

"About an hour," said Aden, glancing at the clock.

"I left you off at first because I guessed you were tired but then you started moaning in your sleep –

"Mum! Dad! You've gotta come quick," said Faith, bursting in through the backdoor. "Aunt Nicole, she's gone!"

"Ok, slow down," said Aden, putting his hands on his daughters shaking arms. "Now what happened?

"I went over to Aunt Nicole's place to bring her some flowers so she knew I was thinking of her," said Faith. "After knocking a few times, I just left myself in. She was gone. There was a note on the table!"

"What did it say Faith?" asked Belle, calmly.

"That she was going away," said Faith, as she burst into tears. "She said she wouldn't tell anyone where she was going because she didn't want to be found. She said she's sorry, and she loves us all so much."

Aden shot a quick glance at Belle, as Faith burst into tears.

Belle looked at him worriedly.

"We have to go to the cops!"

Thanks for reading..!!

...xXx

[tessalove]

Good chapter!! i hope Nics ok!! and she comes back safe!!

Stupid Geoff!!

[rocknroll]

thanks for the great update

now i really hate geoff.. i hope they find nic soon!!

update soon!! xx

[amz89]

i loved that, hope nicole is found soon.

[HeavenForbid]

Oooo, I loved the updates Loved how you now have Nicole and Geoff in there. Sleeping with a year 10 student...That is just wrong! Poor Nicole =( I hope she comes back. And I hope Max doesn't lol

Fab updates Update soon

[Lise]

Good update. I hope they find Nicole or she comes back! The fluff with Aden and Belle was sweet.

[LauraPhilly!!]

Thanks for you lovely comments!!

Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 10

"Belle, babe, please sit down!"

"Aden, Nicole is out there, alone and desperate, and here we are doing nothing," she said, as she paced the room.

Aden sighed and looked up at the desk. Angelo was standing behind it with the phone pressed up to his ear, and his pen scribbling across his notepad hastily.

"It looks like we've got some news," said Angelo, putting down the phone and walking towards them.

Aden jumped up and stood beside Belle.

"Have you found her?"

"Well no," said Angelo. "But about an hour ago a lady saw a young woman, fitting Nicole's description, boarding a bus to the city."

"Well someone get out there, and find her!" snapped Belle, as Aden put his arms on her shoulders lightly.

"Babe –

"Shh," said Belle, shrugging off his arms.

"Look we've got everyone out there looking for her, ok," reassured Angelo. "I'm sure we'll find her soon."

"Soon isn't soon enough!" snapped Belle, as she threw herself into a chair.

Aden and Angelo exchanged a surprised look, then Angelo went into the office and Aden sat down beside Belle.

"Babe, she'll be fine."

"We don't know that Aden," said Belle, desperately. "She's not in the right frame of mind. She could have got off at the wrong stop, and wondered off someone."

"Belle, Nicole is not a hopeless teenager," said Aden, calmly, putting a reassuring hand on Belle's leg. "She knows her way around."

Belle looked at him, and then sighed.

"Yeah, I know. I'm just worried."

"So am I, babe," he said, as she resting her head against his shoulder.

*

Geoff sat out the main office, the next day, his legs hopping slightly due to his nerves, his brow sweaty.

"Geoff, please come in," said Miles, opening the door.

Geoff stood up and slipped through the door.

"Please sit," said Miles, indicating towards the seat in front of his desk.

Geoff remained silent as Miles took his seat.

"Now, I'm sure you know why you're here, Geoff."

"I think so sir," he said, not meeting his former teachers eyes.

"So you are aware that the girls parents have spoken to me over your conduct, and they demand they you are to be removed from the school permanently.

"Yes sir, I am aware of that," said Geoff, as he fidgeting with the loose button on his shirt.

"Having spoken with the board of management," said Miles. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go Geoff."

Geoff looked up and nodded.

"I'm sorry for my behaviour sir," he said, as he stood up. "I apologise for dishonouring the school and you sir."

Miles looked at him gravely.

"I'm afraid apologises aren't going to help you this time Geoff."

"I understand sir, thank you."

Miles watched as his former, A* pupil left the room and closed the door.

He sighed.

"Had to be done."

*

Belle moaned with pleasure as she lay across Aden's lap.

He smiled down at her.

"I love you," she said, as his fingers curved her cheek.

"I love you too."

She smiled lightly and then looked quickly at the phone.

Aden sighed. "Belle, looking at the phone isn't going to make it ring."

Belle frowned but nodded in defeat.

"I just hate not knowing anything."

"No news is good news," Aden reminded her as she played with his fingers.

"I'd still prefer to know something Aden!"

Before Aden had a chance to answer, the phone rang beside them.

Aden grabbed it.

"Hello!" he said as Belle scowled at him.

"You have!" he said, leaning forward and nearly pushing Belle off his lap.

She grabbed his arm quickly to balance herself.

"Great, we'll be straight there!"

What?" asked Belle, still scowling at him.

"They've found her!"

"They have!" said Belle, jumping off his lap. "Is she ok?"

"They found her in a bush," said Aden.

Belle gasped, and clapped her hand to her mouth.

"She's ok," reassured Aden, quickly. "They've taken her to the hospital though to make sure she's ok."

"Ok, let's go there now!" said Belle.

"I'll drive," said Aden, grabbing his keys.

*

"Nic," said Belle, rushing over and throwing her arms around her friend's neck. "Thank God your ok."

"How you feeling?" asked Aden, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

Nicole shook her head, avoiding their eyes.

"Nic," said Belle, sitting down opposite Aden. "Please talk to us."

Nicole looked up and looked directly at Belle.

"I didn't want to be found," she cried.

"WHY DID YOU TRY FIND ME??" she screamed.

"Nic, we were worried about you," said Belle, desperately.

"WORRIED ABOUT ME! WORRIED ABOUT ME!!"

"Nic, please calm down," said Aden, calmly, putting a restraining arm on her shoulder. "Or we'll have to call in the doctor."

"FINE CALL HIM IN," she screamed at Aden. "NONE OF THEM WILL MAKE ANYTHING BETTER!"

"What is it Nic?" asked Belle, desperately. "What do you want made better?"

"YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND!!! YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND!!!"

"Nic, please calm down," said Aden, standing up and put both his arms around her, as Belle went out to call a doctor.

"NO LET GO OF ME!! LET GO OF ME!!!"

"What's going on?" asked Dr Buckton. "Nicole!"

"Rubes, please help her!" cried Aden.

"Nic, I need you to calm down for me ok? Deep breaths, in and out, in and out!"

"NO, NO, I WANT TO DIE, I WANT TO DIE!!"

"Maybe, you guys should go," suggested Ruby, as more nurses came in to help her restrain Nicole. "I'll call you when she calms down."

"Ok, ok, we'll go," said Aden, grabbing Belle's arm, and pulling her to the door.

"But Aden, Nicole –

"Babe, we'll go see her later ok," reassured Aden, as he closed the door behind them. "When she's better ok."

"Ok," said Belle, as her eyes grew red.

"Hey, are you ok?" said Aden, wrapping his arms around her.

"Yeah," said Belle, as a few tears fell from her eyes.

"C'mere," he said, pulling her into a hug.

"It'll all be ok," he said, rubbing her back.

"I know it will be," said Belle quietly. "Because I'll have you the entire time."

Aden smiled and kissed her on the forehead.

"Always."

*

Geoff awoke suddenly as he heard the front door ring.

He groaned, got up and trudged over and opened it.

A young blonde girl stood in his doorway, her arms wrapped around her torso. She was crying.

"Mr Campbell, please can I come in?" she cried. "My parents have thrown me out. I have nowhere else to go."

"Lucy, I don't know –

"So what, you're going to just abandon me and your baby, and go back to your psychopath wife."

"Hey, don't say that about my wife!"

"Fine," said Lucy. "But she didn't look sane when she was in the hospital earlier."

Geoff frowned. "What?"

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "You didn't know? Your precious wife ran away last night. They only found her about two hours ago. Rumor is she cracked up.

Geoff let out a gasp, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Fine, you can come in," he said.

Lucy smiled ungratefully.

"Where you going?" she demanded, as she saw Geoff grab his jacket.

"Where do you expect?" snapped Geoff. "I'm going to see my wife."

"What so your just going to leave me here?" she said, as Geoff ran out the door.

"Geoff! Geoff!"

*

"How is she?" asked Annie, as Ruby closed the door to Nicole's room.

"She's not looking good," said Ruby, sadly. "We're going to have to give her a sedative if she doesn't calm down soon. She seems to want someone but she hasn't said his or her name."

"I wonder if it's –

"Geoff, what are you doing here?" asked Ruby, as Geoff came running into the ER. "You can't be here, you have to go."

"I have to see Nicole, please!"

"No Geoff, I'm sorry," said Ruby firmly. "Nicole's not fit to see anyone at the moment."

"Nicole, oh my God, what are you doing out of bed," said Annie rushing over, as Nicole opened the door.

Nicole seemed not to have heard her. Her gaze was fixated on Geoff.

He walked towards her slowly. "Hey Nic."

All eyes were fixed on Nicole.

"Hey Geoff," she said quietly.

He smiled and they walked towards each other, Nicole walking maybe a little faster.

When there was almost no space between them, Nicole wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.

Geoff smiled and rested his chin on hers.

Ruby tapped Annie's shoulder gently, and pointed towards the reception. Annie nodded and they walked away, leaving Geoff and Nicole alone."I'm – began Geoff.

"Shh," said Nicole, not lifting her head from Geoff's chest. "Don't ruin the moment."

Thanks for reading..!!

...xXx

[tessalove]

Great!! Poor Nic, I hope evrything works out ok!!

Update soon!!