I know that this is a bit of a rough start to this story, but A Second Chance had been the same way. I just have to get back into the swing of things. :)
Anyway, I'm back!
I might bump up the rating on this in later chapters due to language if I feel the need to do so.
Enjoy!
Fifteen year old Josh Clarke stared at his twin silently before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Did you hear a word I said?" Louisa huffed, her fingers nimbly braiding her long, blonde hair.
"Just summarize it for me." he said, shuffling a deck of cards.
"That's what I was doing. Pay attention this time, Josh."
"I'm listening," he assured her, dealing eleven cards between them.
"So, almost a year ago, mum and dad got married. Mara adopted us. Auntie Amber had Miss Kassidy Rose—cutest baby ever. We are fifteen, and in just a couple weeks we'll be tenth graders! It's Christmas time in the city…" she sang softly with a giddy smile. "I am Glenda the Good Witch in the school's production of Wizard of Oz. Oh, Fiona and Jacob broke up."
"And like, an hour after they got together."
"A month," Louisa said with a small smile, discarding an ace of spades.
"I called it."
"Michael will be going to university soon…um…"
Michael looked up from his laptop. "Is that all that happened this year? Wow, compared to the year before, it seems a bit boring."
"Why?" Gracie questioned, popping a fruit snack into her mouth with Matty close behind her.
"Maybe we should have a family newsletter." Michael joked.
"No offense, bro, but that's a stupid idea." Josh grumbled.
"I'll do it!" Gracie volunteered.
"That's a great idea, Gracie." Alice giggled.
"Did you forget anything?" Mara asked, entering the dining room through the kitchen with her husband on her heels.
"I don't think so." Louisa shook her head.
"Mara's pregnant. You forget that." Jerome said casually.
The Clarke kids' jaws dropped.
Michael was the first to recover after a few moments. "I have to babysit another one?"
"Oh, you won't even be here when the baby's born." Jerome scoffed.
"I have to babysit another one?" Alice repeated.
"More money for you, darling." He father offered.
"Alright," she shrugged.
"Oh my, gosh, this is amazing!" Louisa smiled, hugging Jerome and Mara quickly.
"Give me a few minutes to decide how I feel about this." Josh said.
"I'm going to be a big sister?" Gracie asked excitedly.
"That's right, sweet pea." Mara confirmed, kissing her cheek.
"Matty, me and you are going to be the ones in charge! Come with me, I have a plan!"
The two younger Clarke kids rushed out of the room and after a few more hugs and a very excited discussion about having a new member to the family, everyone retreated to what they had been doing while Mara prepared supper.
Michael leaned back on the kitchen counter, taking a tortilla chip from the bag next to him.
"We'll be having everyone over, Christmas Eve, so why don't you invite Emily over. I guess she's busy with her job and preparing for university. She could use a break." Jerome said. "Plus, we haven't seen her in a while."
"Yeah, um, I don't think that'll happen." Michael said quietly, dragging a hand through his dirty blond hair that matched his father's. "Emily and I…we…broke up."
"What?" Mara asked in shock.
"You cheated on her, didn't you?" Jerome accused.
Michael looked taken aback for a second before he nodded his head guiltily. "I got kind of thrown off by my commitment to her."
"You've never had a problem with commitment before." Jerome pointed out.
"Until I realized that I'd do anything for her. Anything. Including killing her father for hurting her. It was too much for me. I…got scared and reacted in a way I really, really regret. I don't know how to fix it." he whispered, ducking his head.
Jerome and Mara exchanged glances.
"Killing her father," Jerome repeated.
"I got so mad at him that night that he got arrested…I couldn't…I could barely keep myself from doing something incredibly stupid. She was what kept my head on straight."
Mara pulled the pan of meat she was cooking off the burner and turned to Michael, wrapping her arm around his waist. "It's going to be okay, darling."
"It's never going to be okay." He stepped away from her and hopped onto the island in the middle of the room. "She trusted me and I completely ruined everything with just one kiss. One stupid kiss, that meant absolutely nothing, with some girl that I don't even know the name of."
"That's probably not how Emily feels." Jerome pointed out.
"I know."
"You can fix this," Mara said.
"How do you know?" he demanded before sending her an apologetic glance.
"Because you're your father's son." She replied.
"Please, let's not bring this up." Jerome hissed pleadingly.
"You can relate to this, so you can give your son some advice."
"Now he's my son?" he retorted.
"He cheated on me in high school and he had to work for my trust again." Mara explained, facing Michael again.
"I spent so many days on winning her over again."
"He's so lucky I love him."
"She's so lucky I love her."
"Please, don't fight." Michael cut in when they whipped around to look at each other again.
Jerome scoffed, shrugging a shoulder, and wrapped his arms around her. "Who's fighting?"
"We're not fighting." Mara smiled when Jerome kissed her cheek.
"Can I please just have some help?"
"Yeah, of course," Jerome nodded and Mara went back to the stove. "If you really love her, you got to show her that, and if she really loves you, she'll give you a second chance. However, you can't screw up that second chance because you probably won't get another one."
"How do you suppose I could start trying to get her back?"
"That's up to you. You know her better than anyone, so you have to figure out how you can do it."
The phone rang in the other room and Louisa shot up from the dining room table. "That's probably Sarah, I've got it!"
Jerome looked back at Michael.
"Okay, I can do this." He mumbled, thinking deeply.
"Dad, it's Uncle Eddie," Louisa said, handing him the phone.
"Hey, Edison, how's it going?" Jerome greeted, lifting the phone to his ear.
"Patricia just went into labor, thought you guys would like to know." The American said.
"Is everything okay?"
"Peachy, except for the fact that—" his voice drifted a little as if he had taken the phone away from his ear briefly. "Patricia, you're going to break my arm!" He addressed Jerome again. "So, yeah, if you could get ahold of the others, which I couldn't—ow—that'd be great. We're on the way to the hospital right now."
"Yeah, alright, we'll be down there in a few minutes."
"Thanks, man—ow, Patricia, come on!" he grunted, hanging up the phone.
"Patricia just went into labor; they're on their way to the hospital."
"Oh my, gosh, we should get down there." Mara said.
"Can we come?" Gracie asked, running up to her father so she could hang on his leg.
"Monkey, you're getting to big to be hanging on me." Jerome told the seven year old.
"Please?" she squealed.
"Don't you want to eat?"
"I want to see the baby!"
"Okay, go put on your coats." Jerome sighed, patting her butt as she and Matty ran out of the room. "Who else wants to come to the hospital?"
"Me!" Louisa and Josh called, raising their hands without looking up from their game.
"I'll come, too," Alice chimed in.
"Mike?" Jerome hollered, shrugging on his coat.
"Um, I'll stay here…" he said.
"Clean up dinner for us then?"
"Yeah, sure,"
"We'll be back later," Mara said, kissing his cheek quickly and rushing out the door to the minibus.
Louisa sat in the chair next to Danni Miller in the hospital waiting room. "Hey, how's it going?"
"Fine," the brunette shrugged. "I was just minding my own business when suddenly Justin and I hear, 'Weasel Face, you idiot, don't touch me, just get me to the hospital!'"
"It didn't help that she was in a bad mood all day." her brother commented from across the hall.
"It's a boy, right?" Alice asked, sitting down, putting Jenna Lewis between her and Justin.
"Yeah," he nodded, "They've fought over the name for like, two weeks now."
"You know what name is perfect?" Fiona Rutter asked, sitting next to Danni and poking her shoulder. "Your parents should name him Dimitri."
Danni blinked. "Yeah…no. Dimitri Miller? No."
"Then I'll take that name for my first born son." She huffed.
"You do that, if you want him to get beaten up." Danni laughed.
Eddie squeezed Patricia's hand that was intertwined with his.
"You still have circulation in that hand?" she joked, letting her head roll back onto the pillows behind her.
"Guess so—"
"How would we know with all your screaming, you big baby?" she scoffed.
"You can break my hand any time you want, Yacker. You know why? Because I love you."
"You're such a sap, Slimeball."
"Here you are, Mrs. Miller." The nurse interrupted to hand the baby to Patricia gently.
"What are we going to name him?" Eddie asked.
"Cody."
"Now you like that name? What made you change your mind—?" he stopped grumbling when she leaned over to kiss him. He grinned. "Your surprise kisses will never get old."
"Cody Andrew. You like that?"
"Yeah," he nodded, kissing Cody's small head, "Hey, buddy."
"You agreed on a name?" Justin asked in shock, entering the room after the doctor let him and Danni in.
"That's a first." Danni smirked, squeezing onto the bed with her mother. "Hey, little bro."
"Careful, Dan, you might scare him with your face." Justin hissed, poking her side.
"Says the baboon."
"Hey, he looks like me." Eddie cut in.
"Exactly." Patricia responded.
"We just had a moment and now you're insulting me again."
"You should know by now that that's how our relationship works."
Review?
So, yeah, rough start. It'll get better, I promise.
If it's not obvious, this takes place about a year after the last chapter of A Second Chance. :)
Also, I'll be starting my 12 Days of Christmas thing soon. I've been procrastinating, though, with both this and 12DoC, watching Cryaotic play video games because I love his voice more than I need my right hand. So yeah. Hopefully I'll pull myself out of this in time. :/
"So save yourself because the tide is rising high. It's sink or swim, it's hit or miss, what will you pick? So take some action, don't let the undertow grab hold..." -Sink or Swim, Falling In Reverse
-Rachel