Loving Edyth Swan
Chapter Two

13/11/99

Nerves skyrocketed in the pit of Jonathan Attwood's stomach as he gingerly approached the big, white building.

Hospitals had always given him the creeps.

There were so many sick people laying in beds, catching bed sores, that it made shivers run down his spine. He never wanted to grow old and end up in the hospital.

He had been hoping when he joined the Air Force that his death would be quick and painful, long before he ever began to sprout grey hairs.

He figured the harder he worked, the more dangerous the missions would become, and they did, and he still miraculously lived through every one of them without so much as a scar.

'If I could live despite the constant bullets hurling at me on the daily, how come Edyth can't survive a damn car accident?' He thought to himself bitterly as he approached the front desk.

Life seemed ridiculously unfair to him at this point.

He was someone begging for death and yet it never called back to him.

On the other hand there was Edyth, who was full of so much life and love the day he'd left her, now lying in one of those ugly, white beds.

He felt like Death was taunting him, reminding him that it was going to take whoever the hell He wanted and no matter how hard he fought back, he was going to lose.

Death seemed to be teasing him, taking people he cared for one by one, to show that nobody in the world got the choice but Death itself.

He'd lost a few people before he'd joined the Air Force and maybe that had been one of the deciding factors for him when he had chosen to pack his whole life up and leave without a trace.

He'd been hoping he hadn't left a single memory behind but the more he walked closer to that stupid desk, with that ridiculously happy teenager monitoring it, he realised that people still remembered him.

Rian Williams was one of them, for sure.

Jonathan believed he'd been long forgotten the moment he stepped on that plane at nineteen, but fate had other plans for this pessimist.

"Hi, how may I help you?"

Jonathan went to open his mouth, only to realise that she was talking to someone on the phone. He scowled, feeling as if the girl was being entirely rude for no reason.

"Hi yeah," he started, waving his hand in her face.

"I'm looking for," he started before trailing off.

With a roll of his eyes, he realised that he wasn't going to catch any attention doing that.

He thought for a moment before he gestured at his dog tag and the uniform he was sporting.

"I'm from the Royal Australian Air Force," he said, a little louder, quirking his left, barely noticeable, eyebrow at the girl.

The girl instantly got off the phone, staring at him with amazement.

He smirked, pleased with himself.

"Now," he started, "Can I find out what room Edyth Swan is in?" He asked, tapping his fingers on the desk.

The girl nodded vigorously, "Of course, sir," she said, typing away on the computer in front of her.

He hadn't known his position within the RAAF would actually come in handy in the real world. He'd only tried because Adam said it always made people listen to you because they thought you were of some importance in the world.

Jonathan snorted to himself, realising that the silly redhead was right after all.

"She's in room 809W," she said, nodding to herself before looking up at Jonathan.

She began batting her eyelashes, "Is she your sister?" She asked, in a flirtatious tone.

Jonathan snorted, "No, she's an only child," he answered back, rolling his eyes.

"I'm an old friend," he added before heading off to the elevators.

He left the teenage girl wide-eyed in his wake.

The pilot was slightly pleased he still somehow had it with the ladies but it also made an unrecognisable feeling erupt in his tummy. He shook it off as he got onto the elevator, hitting the button that said eight on it.

Edyth Swan was deathly afraid of heights and she was on the highest level of the building itself.

It was ironic to Jonathan because he knew if she ever woke up, she'd go pale and freak out that she was way too high up.

No wonder she was fighting for her life, she was on level eight for crying out loud.

As he exited the elevator swiftly, he nearly bumped into a little kid.

Jonathan loved children but as he had grown up, he'd closed that part of his life. He pretended he was deathly afraid of them to get out of meeting Adam Doberman's two children, Jessi and Denis.

He didn't want to fall back into old habits.

He used to watch his sister's two children before he'd left for the army.

Allison Attwood was Jonathan's sister-in-law, whom he loved dearly, that was raising two little girls all on her own.

His older brother had died in a construction accident which had put Jonathan off from ever wanting to be a tradesman.

Alli was strong and independent, having never quite moved on romantically. Jonathan admired her strength but felt she deserved new love after all this time.

He knew that his brother, Connor, would've been perfectly okay if she had chosen to move on. Jonathan knew that she too deserved to be happy and she certainly didn't have to put her life on hold for his deceased brother.

Elena and Erica were the cheekiest twins that Jonathan adored to pieces.

They were five years old when he'd left for the Air Force and he had almost wanted to stay solely for them.

They had those faces that made you want to give them whatever they wanted. They had screamed and kicked when he'd told them he was going away for a while.

He'd broken their little hearts and it broke his too to see that.

Alli had told him he was welcome to stay with them whenever he was down for Christmas and yet he never was.

He had assured her he would, but he never had the heart to come back at all.

The little boy in front of Jonathan looked no more than three years old. He had short, curly, black hair and piercing blue eyes.

The little kid ran around his legs, as if they were old friends. Jonathan had no idea what to do.
The boy had a familiar face that seemed as if he knew the boy but he knew he didn't.

The kid was smiling widely, pointing at the crests that were sewn into his jacket.

"Awmy," the little boy said, pointing at it with a quizzical look.

Jonathan felt himself chuckle a little bit, despite the fact everything inside him screamed to get the hell out of there.

He shouldn't have come back, and he shouldn't be talking to someone else's child.

"Yes, the army," he said, deciding to crouch down to eye level with this child.

"But I'm a pilot," he said with a wink.

"I fly the planes," he added, ruffling the little boy's hair.

The boy grinned back, "I wanna be a pilot too in da planes," he said, attempting to touch the crest on Jonathan's left arm sleeve.

He chuckled back, shaking his head, "Please don't pull it off. My boss will be very mad with me," he said, in a child-like voice.

He was very good with children even though he really wished he wasn't.

"Jaxson leave the poor soldier alone!"

Jonathan's eyes widened as he looked over at the woman standing in the hallway with a scowl on her face.

She was short and slender. She had long, sandy blonde hair and the same piercing blue eyes. She looked attractive for a thirty-something year old.

She was dressed in a long, flowy, summery dress. It was blue and purple. It had a few flowers scattered on it for taste. She had paired the outfit with pumps.

She looked pretty stylish for a mother, it almost weirded Jonathan out.

Jaxson glared at his mother, "But I wanna play wif the man. I wanna play guns!" He said, pouting, arms crossed.

Jonathan chuckled, shaking his head. "Maybe next time, buddy. Listen to your mum," he said, quietly as he stood up.

He wasn't here to get involved in their business, only to see how Edyth was really doing. The woman approached them and Jonathan for a moment wondered if he was in trouble until she'd smiled widely at him.

"I'm Ellis," she said, holding her hand out.

He hesitantly shook her hand back, "Jonathan," he replied with a barely-there smile.

Ellis smiled warmly, "Thanks for protecting our country, soldier," she said, nodding in approval.

Jonathan chuckled, "I only fly the planes, Ma'am," he commented.

Ellis waved him off, "Call me Ellis," she said.

Jonathan nodded, "Nice to meet you, Ellis."

"Nice to meet you too, Jonathan."

"Is mummy flirting with the soldiers again," came an all too familiar voice.

Jonathan turned towards the aging man with eyes as wide as saucers.

The man was short and round, grey specks within his short, curly black hair.

He wore square-rimmed glasses upon his nose and his brown eyes began widening in shock as they fell upon Jonathan himself.

"What are you doing here," the cold voice of Corey Swan said as he directed a harsh glare in the pilot's face.

Jonathan flinched back a little, knowing he deserved that.

Corey may not have been around the entire time that Jonathan had dated Edyth, but he was still her father.

Jonathan had attempted a friendship with the older man in hopes of making Edyth happy, even if Corey was hardly around at the time. He'd worked late hours and usually missed dinner whenever Jonathan had stopped by.

He'd only had a few conversations with the man during his fleeting romance with his daughter.

All utterly awful discussions too.

"To see Edyth," he said, simply, directing a hard gaze at Corey.

He didn't like Edyth's dad one bit. He'd hated the man the entire time he'd known him.

He reminded him a lot of his own father, a complete deserter.

Jonathan knew that he got most of his harsh traits from his own dad, but he was glad that Edyth never took on the personality of hers.

Corey fixed another glare at the twenty-four year old, shaking his head.

"You had five years to see her. You didn't come once. You don't get to pick and choose when you grieve. She's been lying in that hospital bed for years now!"

He huffed, his face slowly growing redder by the minute.

"Her condition hasn't changed a single wink. And you, Jonathan, have overstayed your welcome already," he shouted, refusing to allow Jonathan a chance to explain.

With a sigh, Jonathan walked closer to the older man.

"I didn't know she was here until Rian wrote to me a few days ago. She asked me to come. I just want to know what happened and if she's going to be okay," he stated, slight sadness pooling in his green eyes.

Corey's hard features faltered for a moment as Ellis took his hand in hers.

"Let the boy see her. It can't hurt her any more than she already is, Corey."

"I suppose, but you only get five minutes," he said gruffly as he moved out of the way.

"She's down the hall to the right," Ellis said, smiling sadly.

Jonathan frowned but nodded anyway.

He vaguely heard Ellis ask Edyth's father how he knew his daughter. He supposed the man was insulting him as usual.

Corey Swan had hated the ground Jonathan walked on and it was very clear from the beginning.

He'd get piss drunk and tell Jonathan that he was a good for nothing user and that he would never deserve the heart of Edyth.

The truth was, Jonathan believed him at every second. His words spoke to a deep, dark part of him that was filled with insecurities.

He squished it back down, swallowing the bitter truth. He never did deserve her and that is why he broke her heart shamelessly that night.

As he stepped foot into that room, he wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted him.

There in the bed, lay Edyth Swan, hooked up to various machines just to stay alive.

Her hair was longer than he had remembered it. Her hair used to be short and dyed-blonde, curling around the ends.

Today, it was long and curly everywhere. Her regrowth was brown – the colour it had been the day they'd met. The blonde now sat at the ends.

Her features looked fairly older but still as beautiful as he remembered them. She was dressed in a typical hospital gown, the very one she used to say she'd never be caught dead it.

Oh how she was eating her own words nowadays.

It almost was a little comical, but Jonathan knew a sober occasion such as this held no room for laughter or amusement.

Just lone tears of regret and sorrow.