Of all the chapters I've written, in all my stories, this was the hardest cause of what happens. But, don't worry, I know what I'm doing.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
The following morning, the pair woke up and Spiederman realized he needed to go into work to finish recording a song for his band's new album. As the frontman for The Spiederman Mind Explosion, it was up to him to make sure his bass player, Wally Robbins, and drummer, Kyle Bateman, made into the studio on time. Unfortunately, they usually were; he wasn't. When they weren't working on their second solo album, they were still the popular back-up band for Jude Harrison-Quincy, Canada's favorite rock goddess and Nic's sister-in-law. Her husband, Nic's brother, Tommy, was their producer, along with his longtime best friend, Kwest Taylor, who was also their engineer. To them, going to G-Major for the day was like going to their second home.
"Good morning," Tommy said when they walked into the lobby around 11:45. He looked down at his watch. "Spied, you're only fifteen minutes late today," he added jokingly.
"Don't," Nic warned her brother under her breath. "We're having a Monica issue tonight."
Tommy, who had been looking through Jude's latest journal, stopped and eyed his sister. "Excuse me?"
"What's up?" Jude asked, bouncing out of studio B with Lex, her and Tommy's two-year-old on her hip. "Hi, Nic, Spied. Care to ride along as I take the princess here over to Maria's for the day? Sophie's at a friend's house for a weekend birthday sleepover party."
"Aww, that's cute," Spiederman smirked. "No, I gotta go find the guys to work on 'We Won't Go Back to Prison' with Kwest." He kissed Nic's cheek and hurried off.
"So, would you please continue with this Monica thing?" Tommy asked as the three of them settled in a corner. "He gave her his loft so what more does she want?"
Nic shrugged. "No idea. She said it's important and that's it."
"Wait, what's going on?" Jude asked in confusion, putting Lex down to let her run wildly through the lobby. "Since when is Monica calling you guys?"
"Since last night apparently," Nic answered. "And now Spied's all freaking out and I'm trying to calm him down but I'm pretty freaked out by this, too. Like, seriously, when she told me who she was, I could literally feel my heart rate plummet."
Tommy and Jude stood in front of her, unsure of what to say. They were so used to seeing Nic as this strong and independent girl, not intimidated by anything or anyone, but after everything that had happened between her, Spiederman, and Monica already, it was understandable.
"Yo, T, I need you in here today, man!" Kwest called from studio A. "I got three guys on a caffeine high and I slept a whole three hours last night cause Isabelle has a horrible cold. You wanna help while Jude takes Lex to Maria's?"
"Yeah," Tommy agreed. "Lex, come on!" he called out to his daughter. "You're leaving and I gotta go work."
"Alright," she pouted, marching over to them. She jumped into his arms and kissed his cheek. "Bye, Daddy."
"Bye, baby," he smiled, handing her to Jude. "Find me when you get back and we'll work on finishing 'No Secrets,' and then, one more song and your fourth album is finished."
"Yay!" Jude squealed, scaring Lex. "Okay, Nic, you wanna ride along?"
"Nah, I think I'll go help sedate the boys," Nic replied. "Lex, be good today, alright?"
Lex shrugged. "I'll try."
Inside studio B, the boys of SME were playing their instruments to the tune of a funeral dirge as Kwest glared at them warily over the soundboard and Tommy had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing.
"Guys," Nic said, leaning against the doorframe between the recording booth and sound room. "Can't you grow up and realize that the guys in here are, like, old and have kids and
responsibility so you need to cooperate and be nice?"
Kyle scoffed. "Well, never in a million years did I expect to get a 'grow up' lecture from Nic Quincy. My mom, maybe, but not you."
She smirked and rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm a little on edge today, so I wouldn't go there, doll. Why don't you just work on the song and then you can drive anyone who comes into hospitality later crazy."
"Fine," Wally agreed sadly. "I don't like her when she's like this," he whined to Spiederman.
"Usually, I'd say I don't either, but she has reason to be today," he reported. "Got a nice little call from your cousin last night."
"It must've been Mitchell cause there's no way Monica would contact you guys ever again," Kyle cut in. "Right?"
"Wrong," Spiederman corrected. "In fact, we're meeting her for dinner later tonight to find out what she really wants cause she wouldn't say anything on the phone."
"That's scary," Wally admitted. "I mean, I don't speak to her, so I don't know what it is, but it's probably not that she's moving to Russia or anything happy."
After recording 'We Won't Go Back to Prison,' the guys took an extended break for lunch while Nic and Jude, who'd just gotten back, lounged around the lobby.
"Do you honestly think it's gonna be that bad?" Jude wondered.
"I wish I knew," Nic whispered. "I mean, how can it not be? She never got mad, Jude; she never threatened me or attacked me or did anything. It was like she completely understood or something."
"She did," Jude nodded. "I think she understood that you guys were gonna be together the moment they walked into Sophie's performance and the entire mood changed. The chemistry between you two was still there and she, like the rest of us, felt it obviously."
"Yeah," Nic muttered. "God, I just wish I knew what she wanted; not even so much for me, but for him. I mean, Spied's a good guy, so leaving her there, even though it was what he wanted and he knew marrying her was wrong, was hard for him cause he did really care about her."
"It'll be fine," Jude assured her, though a little unsure herself. "You guys are solid these days and France isn't calling or anything, so you should be golden," she smiled.
"I can only hope," Nic sighed.
Later that night, Nic and Spiederman got ready in silence, both too nervous and too afraid to talk. He put on a pair of black Armani pants with a white button-up shirt by Marc Jacobs while she wore one of her signature black Chanel cocktail dresses with black kitten heels.
"You ready?" he asked her at ten after seven. "You made the reservations for 7:30, right?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, putting on her dress coat. "Let's go."
The ride to Wyndemere was quiet, the only noise coming from the Oasis CD playing in the stereo of his Jeep. Nic was wringing her hands and Spiederman was tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the music.
"Yeah, hi, reservation for Spiederman, party of three," Nic told the host once inside the restaurant. "I'm not sure if the other person is here yet, but I don't see her anywhere."
The host looked down at his list and nodded. "Right this way. There is no one here yet under that name, but I'll be sure to lead them to you as soon as they arrive."
"Nervous?" Spiederman asked as he pulled Nic's chair out for her, taking the seat next to her.
"Yeah," she answered. "It's kinda hard not to be right now."
"I know," he said, rubbing her back soothingly. "And I know you've been trying to hold it together for me and I appreciate that, but you don't have to. I know this is hard for you cause you haven't talked to her since I left her and that you're afraid, but don't be. I'm here, Nic, and I'm not going anywhere." He paused. "So long as you're not."
She smiled. "Very funny."
Suddenly, Monica appeared at the table, her platinum blonde hair back in a sleek ponytail and she wore a big red sweater and gray pants. "Hi," she said uneasily, taking a seat. "Thanks for coming."
"What's this all about, Monica?" Spiederman demanded. "I told you to keep the loft and let me go."
The young woman nodded and fiddled with her silverware. "Look, I don't want to be here anymore than the two of you do, especially since you were both smiling when I walked up, which makes this that much harder, but it must be done."
"What?" he asked impatiently.
"A couple of weeks ago, I started waking up feeling really sick, throwing up and just really worn out," she began explained, causing Nic to grip Spiederman's hand under the table. "My parents were in Montreal at the time, visiting old friends, so I told my aunt, Julia. She took me to see a doctor and the results were shocking."
"You're pregnant," Nic said monotonously. "Right? I've seen you around and noticed that you looked a little bigger, but I just figured you were depressed about everything that had happened and were filling the void with food. Guess I was wrong."
"Way," Monica breathed. "I'm about four months along now and I'm due around September 23."
Spiederman didn't know what to say. While he joked with Nic all the time about wanting kids, he didn't really; not when he was only 21, anyways. And definitely not with the woman he'd left during their wedding. "How do we know it's mine? How can I be sure you didn't sleep with someone else?"
"Spied, if she's four months along, it would've happened in December, and you guys weren't over until December 28, so it has to be," Nic whispered, almost inaudibly.
"Look, I just want you to know that I don't expect anything from you," Monica interrupted softly. "We're no longer together and I would never want to be the cause of breaking you two up. While I would like for you to know the child, I won't force it onto you. But, if you ever do want to know him or her, it has to be when they're born; I won't have you coming into their life at a late age, announcing you're the father." She paused. "And step-mother, I suppose."
"This is ridiculous," Spiederman said coldly. "You were on that stupid pill."
"The only way to be sure to keep from pregnancy is abstinence," Monica reminded him, sounding like a bad after-school special.
Nic, who hadn't been listening, scooted her seat back and stood up. "Umm, if you two would excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom." Before they could respond, she spun on her heels and raced away, just as the fighting between the soon-to-be-parents escalated.
"Nic?" a calm and familiar voice said into the bathroom twenty minutes later. "Where are you at?"
"The last stall," Nic muttered from her spot on the cold floor.
The door opened and Jude stepped in, wearing sweatpants and a Clash t-shirt. "Spied
called me as soon as you fled the table. Are you okay?"
"Peachy," Nic snapped. "How would you feel if you just found out your fiancé was having a baby with his ex-fiancé? I feel super-duper right now, Judy."
"Don't be mad at him," Jude advised wisely. "When that baby was, uhh, conceived, they
were still together and he's just finding out about this now, too."
Nic nodded and put her face in her hands. "I know, but this is bad. We always say that nothing can pull us apart now, but how can this not?"
"It's not gonna be easy, but it can be done," Jude stated. "Just, don't push him away or pull away yourself, okay? No running."
Nic stood up, dusted herself off, and went to look in the mirror. "Well, I look lovely."
"Eh, you're with famous people, it's cool," Jude smirked. "Besides, even with streaky make-up, you still look a hundred times better than I do."
"Duh," Nic smirked lightly, opening the door and leading Jude back to her table. Monica had left and Spiederman was paying the bill. "Hi," she mumbled.
"Hey," he said, his face brightening at the sight of her. "You wanna go?"
"Yeah," she nodded, taking his hand as he walked outside. "Jude, thanks for coming."
Jude shrugged. "Anytime. Call me sometime tomorrow," she added to Nic before heading to her Mustang.
Like the ride there, the drive back to their apartment was incredibly uncomfortable and quiet. Once inside, Nic changed in the bathroom and immediately climbed into bed, where Spiederman already was. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they fell asleep, not saying a word.