Wendy felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach as a lump began to grow in the back of her throat. Four words every girl hated to hear! She did all she could to fight back the tears that were beginning to whelm up in her eyes as the doorbell rang. She watched David as he looked at her, before moving toward the door to answer it.
He rested his hand on the doorknob, and looked back at Wendy, his eyes, begging for forgiveness from her. "This is why I never wanted to talk about LA!" He cast his eyes to the floor and took a deep breath before opening the door.
Wendy watched in silence as he opened the door to allow a slender little girl, of about eight and full of life, to crash into his arms. David smiled and picked her up, twirling her around, all in the same motion. "Hey Sticky!" He smiled as the little girl smiled back and giggled. Sticky must've been a nickname he gave the little girl at some point over the past eight years.
"Hi Daddy!" With that, the slender little girl wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him like there was no tomorrow.
David's eyes slowly traveled across the room, before meeting up with Wendy's. He watched as she retreated to a seat at the counter, on one of the bar stools, to collect her thoughts and process everything that she had just witnessed. He could only imagine the thoughts and questions that she was brewing up inside and it nearly killed him. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his lover, his partner, the love of his life.
"Couldn't you of had the decency to put some clothes on other than your boxer shorts, Dave?" A lady with wavy blond hair, walked in behind the young girl with eyes darting everywhere, sizing up the place, until they landed on Wendy. She sized up the young DNA tech before setting her sights back on David. "She's a fucking youngster Dave! What the hell are you thinking?"
"Excuse me?" Wendy stood up in defense, before David stepped between the two women after letting the child down to wander.
"Don't you go coming into our home, shooting your mouth off, Sharon! I thought you had your say back in LA, I know I sure as hell did, and yet now you have to come here?" David stepped up, almost toe to toe with the lady, Wendy only assumed was his ex. "And who are you to come in here acting like a bitch, judging her? You sure as hell got some nerve!"
The blond haired lady leaned in and lowered her voice. "Since when did Davy Hodges grow the balls to defend himself?" She grinned, eying David. "Getting a little thin I see, but then, I am not surprised." The blond poked at him. "Most youngsters either don't know how to cook or not allowed to touch the stove."
"Hey!" David grabbed her wrist with one hand, getting her attention, and pointed to himself. "I am right here! If you are going to talk to me, then look at me. Not her!" David glared at the woman standing in front of him.
"Fair enough! Here's Cassie's travel bag. Her suitcase is still in the hall." The blond that went by the name of Sharon, handed David a bag, then turned to retrieve the small suitcase from the hall.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" David followed Sharon to the door. "What the hell? What are you doing?" David looked at his ex with great annoyance, trying to figure out what was going on. "Oh no! I work nights, sometimes doubles on top of that. I can't have her here."
Sharon simply smiled and patted David's chest. "That's your problem now, not mine. I'm going on my honeymoon, so I'll be back in two weeks. Maybe your little girlfriend can take a couple nights off from the local Burger Joint."
With that Wendy walked over and repositioned herself between David and his ex. "I'll let you know that I hold a double major in Chemistry and Biology and work as a technician at the crime lab!" Wendy flashed a satisfied grin with a touch of attitude.
Sharon couldn't believe the spectacle unfolding right before her eyes. "How dare you.. " She began before Wendy cut her off.
"NO! How dare you! This is as much my home as it is his, and I don't like your attitude." Wendy was about to turn and walk off before stopping and looked back at Sharon. "..And his name is David! Not Dave or Davy, David! If you have a problem with it, then take it elsewhere, cause we don't want to hear it!"
Wendy walked off, leaving the two that were arguing, speechless. She couldn't believe she'd stepped up and mouthed off to someone she didn't even know, the way she did with David's ex. Normally it wasn't her style, though she did have it in her when needed and had proved it in the past with David, himself, but apparently this moment called for drastic measures. She made the b-line to their bedroom feeling her legs weaken and body go numb, as she shut the door and collapsed against it in tears, letting her body find the floor. She didn't know exactly why she was crying, seeing normally, she was the responsible, level-headed one. She didn't even hear David's side of the story yet to even pass judgement and scolded herself for jumping the gun, sort of speak.
Wendy could hear them argue once again as she sat next to the door, her eyes puffy and the sleeve of her shirt, tear stained. At least David stepped up in her defense, but then, the young technician didn't doubt him for a minute. Like she had thought earlier, if anything needed to be voiced, you were almost certain he'd step up to the plate and deliver!
The brunette jumped moments later, to the sounds of the front door slamming, and a thud. Probably David hitting his fist off the counter, she figured and then, silence. She looked over her shoulder at the wooden door, in the direction the sounds were coming from, debating on whether she'd take her chances and venture out, or give him a few minutes. She'd never seen David like this before.
She rested against the door until she regained her composure, then stood up. She opened the door and ventured out into the hall as David came from the spare room, where Cassie was staying, frustrated. The trace tech rarely felt or acted panicky, and when he did, he was extremely good at hiding it, but not today. Wendy stopped and looked at the man, as he looked back at her.
"I don't know what I am going to do!" He commented with a quickened breath, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, and turned, heading toward the living room. "I've got to.. "
"I know what you can do, and that's start from the beginning!" Wendy cut the him off with authority in her tone.
David looked up, his green eyes catching her brown, and looked at her for a moment as if trying to figure out the best place to begin. He knew things needed to be explained, but how? He let out a sigh and ran his hand across his face. He looked past Wendy for a brief moment to eye the hall, before looking back. He leaned in and lowered his voice for the young girl not to hear. "Legally, on paper, I'm her father, but nothing more. She doesn't know that though."
The DNA tech looked at him with confusion splashed across her face.
"You can run all the DNA, paternity tests, whatever you want, there is nothing that'll prove otherwise." David found a chair and sat down, lowering his eyes, obviously hurting.
Thick skinned, my ass, Wendy thought as she looked at David, still partly confused. He can be just as vulnerable as the next. "So.."
"So nothing, she's not mine."
"But I don't understand!" Wendy went over and sat down next to the older man.
Explaining things that weren't work related wasn't David's forte, so his hesitation was perfectly normal, at least in Wendy's eyes. He made the attempt to begin, but stopped before any words rolled off his tongue, and the longer he fought within himself, the more frustrated he became.
He finally took a deep breath, deciding it was time. "Sharon worked with the LAPD as did I, when we hooked up. She was a detective. We were married maybe a year later." He stopped as though replaying the memories in his head. "This is exactly why it took me as long as it did to approach you!"
Wendy listened with a stern ear, and encouraged the trace tech to continue.
David laughed with a sadistic undertone in his voice. "They said I had an attitude problem. They said I thought I was entitled. You tell me this. If your wife is sleeping with your boss, obviously behind your back yet everyone else knows but you, then you find out she's pregnant and not with your child, even though you were trying, wouldn't you have an attitude problem? Especially when you eventually find out that it is your boss's?"
Wendy just looked at David in shock, not knowing what to say or if she should even attempt to. She reached for his hand and held it firmly. "What did you do?"
David lifted his eyes from the floor and to Wendy. "Think about it Simms, what do you think I did?"
Wendy shrugged taking a little offense to his sudden attitude toward her, as she continuously told herself this was emotions talking now, a rare side David Hodges actually shared.
"I insisted that a paternity test to be done, big mistake getting it done through the departments lab, but it didn't really occur to me at that point. Two years later, after getting royally fucked over , I received the results only to find that Cassie wasn't mine. Everything went downhill from there. I divorced Sharon, and brought the issue to my superiors."
"And..?"
"They quickly offered me a better job within the department and better pay, just to keep my mouth shut."
Wendy just looked at David in disbelief. "You obviously didn't accept it!"
"Obviously not!" David stopped and laughed again, thinking about it. "I made it verbally known within the department and it wasn't long after I was handed my transfer, and forced to leave LA and Cassie! Apparently they never did tell the child the difference."
There was an awkward silence between the two for several minutes as the young brunette pulled her hand free from his trying to absorb all the new found information. Finally Wendy decided to speak up. "When were you going to tell me about Cassie? Or better yet, were you ever going to tell me about her?" She looked over at the trace tech with hurt in her eyes, as he stared blankly toward his feet. "And be honest with me Hodges!"
David looked up at her. The only time she'd speak to him, using his last name, was when she was upset, aggravated or at work, so it was apparent this had effected her greatly. He shrugged, pressing his lips together, wondering himself. "I don't know! " He looked away, trying to avoid eye contact. "I just wish it could have been under different circumstances."
"We're both grown adults here David, and we will work through this, but I don't understand why you continuously have to lie or avoid telling me the truth about things, important things! Important things like this!" Wendy motioned her hand toward the hall. "I mean, how can I trust you when you pull stunts like this? I just wish you'd learn that, if you just talk to me, things would be so much easier for both of us. A relationship is about communication, and if we don't have it, how long can it actually last?" The young lady hesitated, trying to decide if she slap him for not telling her, just stand and leave without saying another word, or stay and try and work things out.
He dropped his head into his hands, elbows resting on his knees. He knew she was right, she was always right and as much as he kept telling himself to just be open and honest with the young lady, and tried to be open and honest, somehow he seemed to always find a way to screw it up. Was he that incapable of keeping a relationship?
Before long, she stood and stepped over to him, nudging him to lean back. She sat down in his lap, and placed her hands, one on either side of his jaw, smiled and leaned in, placing a rather passionate kiss on his lips. She allowed the tip of her tongue to trace along the bottom lip of the older man, before slipping it into his mouth.
David placed one hand against her shoulder blade, the other, resting on her upper thigh, and kissed her back, allowing his lips to work against hers. After several minutes, David finally managed to break the kiss, and reached up to tuck a few loose strands of hair, behind her ear. After successfully completing the task, he smiled. "As much as I love the idea of this being the solution to all life's problems, I still have a little issue to tend to." He stole another quick kiss from her before he continued on. "But I do feel a hell of a lot better now, getting that off my chest. It was a burden I carried with me for eight long years."
He made the motion to stand up, forcing Wendy up from his lap, and peered into the hallway trying to figure out what to do with the young girl asleep in the spare room.
"Well, I have the night off, and tomorrow as well. You have tomorrow and the following night. Lets work with that for now." She wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled. "Although, I think you should go shower, freshen up and get dressed." She wrinkled up her nose at him. "And as much as I like the thoughts of a half naked man walking around, there's now a child present." Wendy let out a small laugh as she pushed the man away from her and toward the bathroom.
He eyed her with a raised brow, obviously amused by her actions, and pointed at the bathroom when he neared it. He tipped his head several times in the direction of the bathroom, trying to entice the feisty brunette to join him, but all he got in return was a glare and the site of her back as Wendy laughed and walked into the kitchen.
So, this was something new Wendy thought, as she prepared any early supper, while David freshened up for work. Most men wouldn't want anything to do with a child that wasn't theirs from a situation such as the one David went through. Yet there he was, as big as life in the eyes of Cassie, which was admirable thought the DNA tech. Was there more to David Hodges that even he didn't know about, or tried to recess into the bowels of his sub-conscious? It just goes to prove that no matter who the person, good or bad, there is always more to them, more then what they choose to share with others. And just because you think you know somebody, doesn't actually mean you really know them. She couldn't fully blame him for not talking about this, nor be mad at him. Who would want to openly admit to their spouse cheating on them, having a child with the other man, and then have to deal with the issues that were brought to the table after the fact? It was still an open wound to him that would probably never heal!
A lot of things now fell in place for Wendy, explaining a lot about the smartass trace technician she both slept and worked with. Why he was the way he was. It was a defense mechanism! A way to block out the past so he didn't have to deal with the issues of Los Angeles, and she now knew, that talking about it openly, he could begin to work on becoming a better man.