Title: Life's Lessons
Name: Jules
Rating: PG-15 for now
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own any of the characters, no matter how much I WISH I did. They belong whoever owns DAYS and/or NBC
Classification: (romance, friendship, little-angst)
Summary: Belle's pregnant and the daddy's Brandon . . .
Status: Unfinished
Um, I wrote this last summer, you know, Summer of 2000, ah those were the days . . . LOL!
REWRITE: November 2006
Life's Lessons
By Jules
Chapter 1
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Author's notes: I don't get why SHAWN's always the one with the baby, so it's time for a change!
Ok, anyway, here's the deal. The baby switching thing never happened, but the truth of baby John's paternity came out, he was really Bo's, lets say while Bo was in Paris.
But the truth of what John and Hope did came out, so lets say it caused some MAJOR problems.
Shawn-D ran off, stealing his father's motorcycle.
John and Marlena broke up for awhile.
The truth of what her Father had done nearly destroyed Belle. She seemed completely normal, but she started sneaking out at night and going to bars, dressed so differently, no one recognized her.
One night, she was totally smashed, as was the guy next to her. She seduced him and when they woke up the next morning, in Brandon Walker's apartment . . .well why don't you read and find out!
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Brandon slowly came to, his head was pounding. But he soon became aware there was a warm body in his bed with him. A warm, naked, blond girl, in his bed. At the same time he came to this conclusion, the body next to him stirred.
Belle quickly realized the bed she was hung-over in, was not her own. What the hell had she done the night before?! As slowly as she could, in effort not to upset her churning stomach, she turned over and looked up in horror to see Brandon's similarly expressioned face.
"Oh my god!"
"Holy shit!"
Belle looked down at their naked bodies, "I think I did something very wrong last night." She whispered, propping herself up on her elbows.
Brandon looked at the teen, "You?! I slept with a minor! Oh shit, you're father's going to kill me! He's going to hide my body where no one will ever find it!"
Belle laughed harshly, "My wonderful parents, probably haven't even noticed that I didn't come home last night. Calm down. Even if they do notice, I'll just tell them I went out early. In the off chance they do find out what happened, I'll tell them the truth, I got drunk, got you drunker, and then seduced you. You were absolutely not responsible for what happened last night. Now please, I beg of you. Shut. The Hell. Up. I'm totally hung over and if you don't close you're mouth, or at least keep the volume at the lowest level possible, I'm going to be forced to cause some major bodily harm." Then she eased herself back down and fell back to sleep.
Brandon, wisely, shut up, and decided to process the horror of his actions in silence.
Six weeks later
A free clinic
"You're pregnant."
"Oh fuck." Belle flopped back on the table.
Two hours later
Belle sat on the decks, staring out at the water, tears silently streaming down her face.
Bo and Hope walked along the docks, pushing little Johnny's stroller. It was Hope who noticed the teen, placing her hand on Bo's forearm, signaling for him to stop.
"Bo," She spoke softly, "Isn't that Belle?"
Bo glanced over, "Oh yeah," he agreed in a hushed voice, "She looks upset." He commented frowning.
"That's what I thought. Wait here, I'm going to go see if she'll talk with me."
"Sure Fancy Face."
Hope walked over to the girl and kneeled down next to her son's best friend, "Belle? Are you alright?"
Belle looked up, surprised to see the woman, she considered lying, so she'd be left alone, but was feeling a bit desperate, and honestly shook her head no.
"What's wrong sweetie?"
"Oh Hope. Everything." Belle sobbed, her head falling into her hands.
"Do you need someone to talk to?" Hope tentatively asked, knowing of the volitile and private nature of teenagers.
Belle shook her head, then nodded it. She needed someone to confide in, she was so alone, and feeling completely lost.
"Let me just send Bo home with the baby, then you and I can have a long talk. I'll be right back." Hope promised, rubbing Belle's back.
She stood up, quickly striding over to Bo, "Something's very wrong. And she really needs someone to at least listen to what's happened. I'm going to see what I can do. Why don't you go home with Johnny, this might take awhile."
"Alright, I love you." He gave her a kiss and then went on his way.
Hope returned to Belle's side, "What's happened Belle? Why are you on the docks, crying?"
Belle took a deep breath to calm herself, then let her months of torment flow, "After Shawn took off, I lost my best friend. He never even said good-bye to me! And with him gone, I felt like I didn't have anyone that I could tell about what was wrong at home. My parents are separated, my mother just mopes around, I rarely see my father anymore. I'm . . . stressed. I think that's why I started living a double life."
"A double life?" Hope repeated, horrified by what she was hearing, how could have all this been happening, and no one have notice?!
"During the day I was normal, perky, happy Belle, without a major concern in the world. But at night, I sneak out and I go to bars . . ."
"Oh Belle!" Hope interrupted, knowing exactly what could happen to young, uninhibited girls in bars, not to mention the possible legal ramifications.
"I know, it was totally stupid. I even have this great fake id and I would get absolutely smashed. Six weeks ago, I found out that my friend Mimi has been homeless for the last couple of months. I never even noticed anything was wrong! So the night after I found out, I went out and I got totally drunk, and in my missory induced stupidity, got the guy sitting next to me, whom I didn't recognize at the time, even drunker, then I seduced him. I woke up in bed with him the next morning at his apartment."
"Oh my god." Hope gasped, what had been happening to Belle?!
"I went to the doctors today Hope . . ."
Hope braced herself for the worst, HIV, some sort of STD . . .
"I'm pregnant."
Ok, that wasn't exactly what Hope was worrying about, but it was still life changing, "Oh sweetie." Hope enveloped her in a hug.
Belle started crying again, "I don't think I can stay at home anymore . . . . I want to keep the baby . . . but living there, with Mom being the way she is, and Dad acting so strangely, causes so much stress, and isn't stress bad for the baby?"
Hope closed her eyes, her mind raced with possible solutions, the one it kept coming to, was one that wasn't perfect, but the best she could come up with in the time she had, "Belle, would you like to come stay with Bo and me? Johnny doesn't sleep through the night quite yet, but I'm sure it would be less stressful for you."
"Really? Could I?" Belle looked up to her with hope in her eyes for the first time in a long time.
"Of course you can. Plus, being around Johnny could be good training. Would you like me to come with you and help you pack your stuff?"
"Yeah, that would be good." Belle stood up, brushed off her pants and wiped away her tears, "Thank you Hope. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along."
"Any time sweetie. Any time."
Two hours later
Bo was in the kitchen, making dinner like a good husband, when he heard the door close. Throwing the towel he was using on his shoulder, he walked into the living room to greet his wife, "Good, you're home! I was just making dinner and . . ." he stopped when he noticed Belle there, tear stains on her face and lots of luggage at her and Hope's feet, "What going on?"
Hope quickly answered, "We told Marlena that Belle was going to be moving in with you, me, and Johnny. She wasn't too happy about the idea and they got in a fight. Belle's just a little upset." The tone of her voice signaled Bo to ask questions later.
"Ok, well, welcome to Casa Brady Belle. I'm sure you'll like it. I was just starting dinner, so you have some time to get settled."
Belle weakly smiled at Bo in thanks.
Hope led Belle to the room, which would be Belle's, "You can decorate it however you want. There are just a few rules for living here. No loud sounds while the baby is asleep. Curfew is 11 pm once school begins, midnight during summer, weekends, vacations and special occasions and you are to call if for some reason you can't get home by then. If you ever need Bo or me to come pick you up, don't hesitate to call, or if something holds you up, so we don't worry."
"I think I can handle that." Belle smiled weakly, just grateful to have somewhere else to stay.
"I thought you would be able to . . . are you ready to tell Bo what's going on? I have a feeling that getting everything out sooner rather then later is best."
Belle nodded her head in agreement.
20 minutes later
Once everyone was sitting around the table Bo finally asked, "So, are you two lovely ladies going to tell me what's going on now or what?"
Belle nodded her head, then launched into her story of what had happened, " . . . and now I'm pregnant."
Bo took a deep breath and sighed, "You've definitely gotten yourself in a big load of trouble Belle . . . and we are going to have to explain it to your parents, eventually."
"I know." She mummered.
"Who is the father?" Bo asked, but everyone could tell it wasn't really a request.
Belle bit her lip and swallowed, "I kind of want to keep that bit of information to myself right now. Atleast until I tell him, it's only right that he hears it from me."
"That's ok." Hope assured her, "You tell us when you're ready."
Belle nodded her head, "May I be excused, it's been a really hard day and I just want to sleep."
"Of course. Bo and I will clean up, you just go rest."
Belle quietly got up, then promptly disappeared, leaving Bo and Hope alone.
"My God, what a mess." Hope was finally expressed out loud. She'd been holding it in all day with Belle.
"You can say that again. She's not even 17 for Pete's sake! She shouldn't be dealing with all of this. Damn that Dimira, none of this would have happened if it hadn't been for him."
"Well, I wouldn't blame the whole situation on him, but he definitely contributed to the circumstances. You don't mind that I told her she could live with us do you?"
"No!" Bo quickly insisted, "I'm glad you did. As much as I love John and Marlena, they obviously have no idea what the heck they are doing to their daughter right now."
"I didn't want to say anything in front of Belle, but, I think Marlena was drunk while Belle and I were there, she was just a bit tipsy."
It was silent in the kitchen for a moment, then Hope remembered what Bo was planning to do that day, "Have you heard anything about Shawn-D? In all the excitement I forgot that you were calling Abe today."
"Yeah, actually there is. They managed to track down my motorcycle. He sold it though, and bought an even better one with the profits from the bike plus some money, which I have no clue where the hell he got. This was in South Carolina, about a week ago, but other then that, nothing. The person who bought it described Shawn-D perfectly, and said that he looked ok."
"Thank God." Hope wilted with relief that her son had been seen, and that he'd looked fine, "I'm so worried about him Bo."
"He'll be ok Hope." Bo promised hugging her, "He'll be ok."
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