Chapter 12

Izzy was all too aware something was wrong with Caroline the moment she walked into the gallery two days after the anniversary party.

First her computer wasn't working correctly and it had all her music on it. Second the florist they had asked to do the showing decided at last minute that it couldn't do it and backed out. Third the gallery was supposed to be transformed into a forest path and nothing had been done.

When the woman went to throw a twenty-five pound stepladder, Izzy finally intervened. She snatched the thing and made sure it was out of her way. Something was definitely wrong.

Caroline retreated to the office, something she never did. Izzy followed her to make sure she didn't do something stupid. She found her sitting beside the window as she tried to reboot her computer. When it didn't work, Caroline growled in frustration.

"Okay," Izzy said as she pulled up a chair. "What's wrong?"

"What would be wrong?" Caroline replied. She smacked her computer with vengeance then shoved it to the floor. "My computer doesn't work and you've seen everything that's been going on out there. Everything's just peachy."

"We may not be the best of friends, Caroline, but I know when something's wrong with you."

"Tophyr's in the hospital and I have to deal with all of this on my own."

"Not on your own, dummy. I'm here and so is Derek. You have us at your back to pull this whole thing together. So that's not it."

Caroline didn't divulge anything else so Izzy sat back with a sigh. "I guess that means I have to talk to Toph about this. She'll tell me everything."

"Leave it alone, Izzy. If I don't want to talk about it, I won't."

"I'm just saying it will make it a lot easier if I know what's wrong."

Caroline groaned and slid a piece of paper towards her. "Just look at this. It's the floor plan I want to use for the showing."

Izzy looked down at it and smiled. "This is really good. You want the biggest portrait right in the center. Is it a collection?"

The other woman nodded. "I haven't decided what I'm going to call it just yet. I was thinking maybe 'Stark on the Rise.'"

"Why were you thinking that?"

"It's been three months since Damian quit his job with National Geographic. That's what he was known for. What if he could re-establish himself as a high end photographer? It essentially means he's on the rise again. If he can pull this off, he'll be the highest photographer in demand. I want to pull this off."

"You sound desperate to do it." Caroline didn't answer but it was answer enough. Izzy turned back to the door with the picture in hand. "I'll get started on it."

Caroline sighed as the other woman walked away. This wasn't something she wanted to deal with. Waking up in Damian's bed had been something she had never really dreamed of doing. Now she had the vision of waking up beside him every morning in her head and it wouldn't go away.

She kept seeing his calm face as he slept on his side of the bed. She saw the way his sculpted chest rose and fell with every breath he took. She remembered the look in his eyes after he had just woken up, the mussed hair and the easy way he moved just after waking.

She wondered if he always ate breakfast at home or on the run, if coffee was his primary choice of morning beverage, and if his morning workout coincided with his need to have a perfect life.

When she had looked around the condo the night before, she had noticed he had expensive tastes but there hadn't been too many things expensive. It actually looked as if his mother and sister had decorated it because he refused to.

Caroline didn't blame him. Her mother had done the same to her, dictating what she should wear and what she should say when she was around pleasant company. He honestly didn't know how lucky he was to have a family who cared so much about him. She had never had that luxury. Her mother only wanted her to marry someone with money so the family name would stay intact.

There had been no love lost between them when her engagement to Dayton had ended.

She glanced down at her right ring finger where a simple silver band encircled it. After she had gotten over Dayton and learned he had gotten married, she went out and bought a promise ring to herself. She would never marry a man simply for money. He had to have everything she needed to have a happy life with him. He had to love her for her.

Caroline sighed heavily and stared at her computer screen. She was getting nowhere fast. She stood up and began to move around the office.

***

Derek lay with Tophyr in the hospital bed and watched her sleep. She had had a rough morning. Something had gone wrong and the doctors had sedated her for the time being. He was scared for his wife and unborn child. He had no idea if there was anything he could do and that scared him.

There was a knock at the door and he looked over as it opened. Dayton and David, his father, stepped through. They cast one look at Tophyr and their already grim faces became even grimmer. They soon occupied the two chairs in the small room.

"Is there anything we can do, son?" David asked.

Derek shook his head then sat up, throwing his feet over the edge of the bed so he didn't interrupt his wife's sleep. "There's not much any of us can do. She was supposed to go home today. As the doctor was doing his final exams, her blood pressure shot up and she started hurting. They sedated her."

"Do you think they'll force her to deliver?" Dayton asked.

"I don't know. I really don't want the baby delivered until it's full term." He ran his hand through his hair, making his already disheveled locks even more so.

"Der, there's not much you can do. You just have to do what the doctor says," his father said.

Derek hated when his family was correct. He ran his hands across his face then just sat there. He refused to cry but his deepest fear was that something was going to happen to his wife and child.

"Derek?" The younger Stark looked up. Damian was standing in the doorway with his hand pressed against the doorjamb.

"Everything okay?"

"Not really, no."

Damian slipped into the room and leaned against the wall beside Dayton. "I hear you, buddy. Caroline basically ran out on me this morning."

David blustered. "Caroline? Caroline as in Caroline Rochester?"

Dayton took control. He lightly patted his father's gut then crossed his arms again. "Not now."

"She stayed at your house last night?" Derek asked as he stretched out beside his wife. She tried to roll towards him and whimpered when the IV needle pulled on her hand.

"Yeah. By the time we left here, it was close to one. I told her she could crash at my place. I thought I'd be gone by the time she awoke but I was sadly mistaken."

Derek's eyes glistened with humor. "You slept with her didn't you?"

Damian let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his reddening neck. "I didn't mean to. It just happened. When I got up, she was cooking breakfast. Then she told me not to come to the gallery until all of this was done."

"Damo, the two of you have been working together for the last month and a half. Basically since you got home. I can tell that what you feel for her. You've always been the type to wear your heart on your sleeve," Dayton said.

"You're not mad at me?" Damian was a little shocked at his cousin.

Dayton shook his head. "No and I never was. I was just a little shocked that you would be going after a girl who obviously tried to take our money. But as I watched you with her, I noticed that you weren't interested in her simply because she was a woman. You were interested in her because she was the woman for you. I can't tell you who to love."

Damian slanted his eyes at him and pulled a face. "Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?"

Derek laughed. "He's behaving. Izzy told him to behave or he has to sleep on the couch for the rest of the week."

David patted his son's back. "Poor child. Learning the hard ways of marriage."

Damian's eyes suddenly lit up. "Thanks, David!"

His uncle and cousins were clearly confused as he ran out of the room. David looked at his sons. "What did I say?"

Derek shook his head. "I have no idea but it must have been good for him to run out of here like he did."

"Must have been."

His dad and brother stayed a few more minutes then said their goodbyes because they had to go back to work. Derek hunkered down next to his wife and started counting ceiling tiles to pass the time.