I Can Only See Your Face

Part One

In the street, Patrick repeatedly shoulder barged the door, cursing under his breath as his arm slammed painfully in to the solid wood. Although he didn't want to give up, he knew that he'd never be able to break the door down with brute force. He slumped against the frame, exhausted, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. Patrick knew he'd have to think of a better way of rescuing her, and he'd have to think of it quickly. He remembered his mobile phone in his pocket and fished it out. His large fingers hitting the small buttons clumsily as he hurriedly dialled. Eventually it was connected:

"Hello, I need the police…"

~*~

Tom pushed Holly into her living room, keeping a tight grip on her hair so she couldn't run away from him. Once inside and with the door closed, he flung her onto her sofa and stood over her.

"Why are you acting like this!" he exclaimed. Holly could see the anger flare up in side him, turning his face red.

"L-l-like what?" she asked quietly, trying not to enrage him further.

"As though you don't want to see me?"

Holly didn't understand. What would make Tom think that she did want to see him? As it was, last time they'd spoken, she'd hospitalised him. Why was he there, he should still be in hospital. She looked at him, confused, too scared to speak.

"You came to the hospital, why would you do that unless you wanted to see me? See; you can't hide your feelings from me Holly. I know you. We're soul mates."

All at once, the awful realisation hit her; it was her own fault that he was there. She'd caused it by visiting him. She began to cry with renewed vigour.

"Holly?" Tom moved closer and sat down beside her, reaching round her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. He stroked her cheek with his other hand, trying to brush away her tears. It made her skin crawl.

"Holly, you don't have to cry anymore, we're together now." She sat, as still as stone, hoping that he would let go of her if she didn't respond to his touch. The moment was interrupted by another loud thump on the front door, as Patrick tried once more to force it open.

Tom pulled away from Holly slightly, and she thought, for a second, she saw a look of anxiety in his face. Another thud; and Tom was on his feet nervously pacing the floor. Holly was relieved that he'd let go of her but getting him agitated didn't seem like a good idea.

"What", he said through gritted teeth, "is he doing here!?!" He faced Holly expectantly.

"He… I…Well…" Tom lunged at her, his face just inches from her own.

"I asked what he's doing here Holly!"

"I asked him to come…" She trailed off, knowing as she said it that she shouldn't have admitted it.

For what felt like an eternity to Holly, Tom didn't move. He stood hunched over her, staring at her coldly. Eventually he straightened and looked down his nose at her, dismayed.

"You really are just like all the others aren't you?" he spat, "Just another common tease! Did you think you could play us off against each other? Is this how you get your kicks? Well…WELL?"

Holly sunk deeper into the sofa, in an effort to get further away from Tom. She didn't know what to say to him; his mood changed from one minute to the next. She had no way of predicting how he would react. She knew that he was prone to violence and realised that she'd have to try to placate him.

"No…no Tom, of course not. I wouldn't do that. Patrick just came round for lunch; that's all. Honestly Tom". Tom seemed to relax a little but didn't look completely convinced.

"You can't have both of us Holly. It's not fair, on anyone"

"I don't want both of you" Holly replied quietly, baffled by the irony of Tom talking about fairness.

"Then you'll have to tell him." Tom said decisively.

"Tell who what?"

"Tell Patrick to leave. Tell him that you've chosen me. That you don't love him, that you don't want him. That you want me!" Holly looked up at him, even the thought of saying it made her feel ill, but at least if she did it might buy her some time. It might even give her a chance to escape.

"Well come on then" Tom held out his hand. Reluctantly she took it and hoisted her self off the sofa.

~*~

After calling the police, Patrick composed himself enough for a repeated attack on the front door. It made him feel slightly better to be actually doing something, no matter how futile it may be. As he squared up for a third charge he saw two police cars pull up.

"Here come the cavalry" he muttered. He left the door and walked down the steps in front of Holly's building out into the street.

"You in charge?" Patrick asked the most senior looking officer.

"Yes. I'm Chief Inspector Gellar, you must be Mr Spiller?"

"It's Dr Spiller, actually" The police officer nodded absently.

"Right, so could you tell me exactly what has been happening here please?" Patrick had already explained everything over the telephone and was irritated at having to waste time going through it again.

"Tom Harvey, who your lot are supposed to have in custody, has trapped Holly in there against her will. When I got here they were fighting in the street, but they've been locked inside for a while now."

Gellar glanced down at some papers in his hands.

"That's Dr Holly Miles, is it?" Patrick nodded; frustrated at the lack of action the police were taking. Didn't they ever talk to each other? Didn't they know what Tom was capable of? Yet, they were all still standing around like bloody idiots.

"Inspector, I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation. Tom Harvey is a maniac. He's been stalking her for months, he's already tried to attack her once…"

"I assure you Dr Spiller, we take hostage situations very seriously" Patrick was shocked to here it described as a 'hostage situation'. It made the whole thing sound even worse, but all the more imperative that something be done to get Holly out of there safely.

"So what exactly are you going to do about it?" Patrick manoeuvred himself in the way of the inspector so he couldn't avoid giving an answer.

"Please Dr Spiller, if you could just let us get on with our job…"

"If you had done your job in the first place, none of this would be happening now!"

"I understand your distress…"

"My distress? My… Holly is trapped in there with a psychopath. And you're doing nothing to get her out" Gellar took a deep breath trying to avoid a confrontation with Patrick in the middle of an already very sensitive case.

"We have armed officers taking positions in the area, and as soon as they're set up I'll begin negotiations with Mr Harvey. So if you'd just wait with one of the officers over there," he pointed further down the street, "then we'll get this situation sorted as soon as possible." Patrick wasn't used to being spoken to in such a manner. Usually it was him who told people to go away and let him get on with his job.

"I'm going nowhere" Patrick replied, but moved out of Gellar's way. He looked around at the surrounding buildings trying to see where the armed officers were, but they were too well hidden. He couldn't believe that things had escalated so far out of control so quickly. The police were the best people to deal with it, he knew that, but he felt so useless. Everything seemed to be taking so long and all the time Tom could be doing anything to Holly. He wanted to get in there and have it out with Tom himself. He wanted to protect Holly.

All of a sudden, the front door opened, revealing Holly standing there. It was clear from her expression that she was scared stiff.

"Holly!" Patrick shouted as he rushed forward again; Gellar caught him by the arm before he got very far.

Holly strained to see past the railings and down into the street, but she couldn't move far. Tom had hold of her arm and was twisting it behind her back in a vice like grip, preventing her from escaping. Tom himself stayed back in the shadows, out of view. He didn't know the police were there but he knew that Patrick would not try to attack him if Holly was in the way. Holly saw the panda cars all around the front of the building and didn't know what to do. Any relief she felt from seeing them was short lived when she realised that Tom was likely to go crazy when he worked out that he was trapped. She tried to stay inside the doorway, blocking Tom's view of the road.

Gellar leaned toward Patrick.

"This is our chance. Try to lure Harvey out in to the open, but don't get too close to him, we want a clear shot." Patrick nodded. Then it hit him just what Gellar had said.

"You're going to shoot him?" Usually Patrick would have protested that it was unnecessary to go to such extreme lengths. As a doctor, the thought of shooting anyone was abhorrent to him, but he realised as he stood there watching Holly that the sooner this was over the better.

His heart thumped in his chest as he climbed the steps to the front door. As he came closer to Holly he could clearly see the agony etched on her tear streaked face, and it hurt him just as deeply to see her in pain. She looked pleadingly at him to help her. He tried to communicate a reassuring expression back to her.

"Holly. Are you all right?" He knew it sounded pathetic, but what more could he say?

"Yes", she replied, although her eyes told a different story.

"Patrick, I have to tell you something" He looked at her, trying to understand what was going on, how she'd managed to get to the front door but wasn't leaving the building.

"What?"

"I have to tell you that I don't love you. I love Tom" She tried to keep her voice level, but Patrick could see by her expression that she didn't mean it.

"What? I don't understand"

"Tom wants me to make it clear to you" she tried to gesture with a small movement of her head that Tom was standing right behind her. Patrick understood, and if Tom was just inside the doorway, it shouldn't be too hard to get him to show himself. His mind raced frantically for a way of bringing Tom out in to the open.

"So you love Tom?"

"Yes" she replied flatly.

"Then I suppose I should give up chasing you…" Holly looked at him blankly. He tried to signal to her to play along.

"Eh?" Holly hesitated. Tom strengthened his grip on her.

"Y-y-yes. Give up, Patrick" she said trying not to scream out in pain.

"But Tom could never love you as much as I do, how do I know that he'll look after you? How do I know that he wouldn't hurt you" Tom listened from behind Holly. How could Patrick doubt that his feelings for Holly were real?

"I need him to tell me that he loves you, before I give up on you" Patrick said meaningfully. Holly caught on; she turned round towards Tom.

"He won't believe me, he wants to speak to you" she reiterated. Tom grunted with annoyance, and started to push her forward.

"Movement from inside the house, looks like he's coming out, over" buzzed Gellar's radio.

"As soon as you get a clear shot, take it" he responded.

Tom pushed Holly forcefully through the door so they were both standing just outside the house. He still had his grip on her arm although it was no longer twisted behind her back. On seeing Tom so brutally holding Holly, Patrick instinctively bolted forward to help her.

From across the street a shot rang out, causing it's victim to drop heavily to the ground.