Hi...
Disclaimer: EWW isn't mine. This idea and the OCs are tho... I also do not own the song mentioned in this chapter. All rights go to the respective owners, I'm just an obsessive fan girl.
Jax POV
She's pushing. She's trying to push me away and it's not working, I see right through her. I know I've put her through a lot, but I don't get it. Why is she suddenly so much more... aggressive about pushing me back? What did I do?
"Umm... Em. Andi has Kelsea cleaned up." Phillip says, seeming to come out of nowhere. Emma jumps a little before nodding, getting out of her chair and mumbling a 'thanks', walking to the back. Phillip gives me a confused look, clearly having seen the way we had been looking at each other, and sits where she was.
"Jeez. What's up with her?" He asks, making me sigh and run a hand through my hair quickly, shrugging.
"I don't know. One minute we're laughing like we're the way we used to be, and the next she's telling me that it's 'about damn time I lose for once'." I quote. Phillip takes a sharp breath in.
"Wow. That's gotta be tough."
"You have no idea." I snort, sighing again and leaning my head back. It's so hard to deal with this. I know I deserve part of it, but this is getting ridiculous.
I wish I could just go back to that first night.
Flashback
We were sneaking upstairs, away from the crowd, and we couldn't stop laughing. Every once in a while we'd stop to kiss for a few seconds, until we got to the door of my old bedroom. I pinned her to it and we started making out again, she kept fumbling to fit the key in the door.
She finally managed to get it open and I led her inside, my mouth never leaving hers. The keys were dropped once she locked the door behind us, our shoes going I didn't even know where. We were drunk on each other and the tension was so real.
I pinned her to the wall that faced the foot of the bed, slowly detaching my lips from hers and moving them down her neck, slipping her jacket off as I went. I still remember hearing her moan and feeling her fingers laced in my hair.
I stopped for a moment, moving back up to look her in the eye. I knew we were both sober, but this was a big step. I wanted to make sure she was absolutely, 100% ready, and that it wasn't just the heat of the moment.
"Em. We don't have to do this if you're not ready. I can wait. Are you sure about this?" I asked in a whisper, looking directly into her eyes. She bit her lip for a moment, and then answered.
"I'm sure. Absolutely. I want this. I want you." She whispered in a husky tone, pulling me back in for another kiss. I turned us around, slowly pushing her toward the bed, finally laying her on it and climbing on top of her.
"Jax!" Phillip shouts, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look at him, muttering an 'uh huh'. I'm not happy that he interrupted my flashback.
"Look. Down."
Oh hell, not again! I have got to stop thinking about Emma that way. Oh, for the love of God, they'll be out any second now.
"Ugh! Whatever, that's what magic is for." I say, casting a quick spell and getting rid of it. Right after I do Emma, Andi, and Kelsea come out. Perfect timing.
"Okay, it's all settled. Ready to go?" Em asks, faking a smile. The look in her eyes is clearly one of anger, but she never let's that show in front of Kelsea. I'm grateful for that.
"Yeah."
I stand up, grabbing my jacket from the chair I'd sat in when alk four of us talked, and walk with Emma and Kelsea out the door, waving over my shoulder.
"Mommy, Daddy." Kelsea yawns once we're outside. "I'm sleepy."
Emma smiles, picks Kelsea up, and looks at her.
"See. This is what happens when little princesses don't get their beauty rest, and skip nap time. Lesson learned?" She asks, an eyebrow raided. Kelsea nods, making a half hearted pout face. She's so cute when she's tired.
"Yes mommy."
"Good. You can sleep in the car. I... darn it."
"What?" I ask. She looks like she just realized something really important.
"I... My keys are in my pocket. Um.. here, hold her." She says, handling Kelsea to me. She's so tired that she just snuggles into my chest and yawns. I guess I better get used to having this massive grin on my face, because it's not going anywhere. Em just shakes her head and grins, getting her keys.
Once we get to the car I buckle Kelsea in. She's wasn't kidding about being tired; she's already asleep. Em and I quietly get in the car.
"She really was tired." Emma yawns, clearly trying not to.
"Looks like she wasn't the only one. Are you okay to drive?"
"Yeah. I'm alright. I've spent way more exhausted than this and made it home just fine before."
"Okay. If you say so."
At Home
"Whew. Finally." Em sighs, collapsing on the couch. I just chuckle.
"Tired?"
"The amount of sleep you get in four days is what I get in a bad week. Wouldn't you be?" She asks flatly, opening one eye.
"Yowch."
"Yeah."
We sit there in silence, me in the chair, her on the couch, for a few minutes. Then she says something.
"I'm sorry."
I look up from my lap and over to her. What? She didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one that needs to apologize, not her.
"What?"
"Back there, I said some things I shouldn't have." She pauses, sitting up. "I attacked you, and I shouldn't have done that."
"You didn't attack me." I respond, not missing a beat. "If anyone needs to apologize it's me. I went too far this morning and I knew it. You had every right to react the way you did."
"It's just.. I. I'm going to take a while to adjust. It's mainly been me and her, from day one. And then you come back, and I just. I have two instincts now. And it's hard for me to know which to follow when."
"I get it. Really, I do. You've been through hell and back these past few years. I'd be surprised if you weren't shutting me out." I say honestly. It's true.
"That doesn't make it right."
"No. But it does make you human."
We fall back into silence, and a few seconds later she let's out a yawn, laying back down.
"I need to stay up." She mumbles, trying to sit up. I gently push her back down, shaking my head. To my surprise, she doesn't push me away.
"No. You need to get some sleep."
"Kelsea could wake up at any time."
"I'll handle her. You just worry about yourself for a couple hours. Rest." I whisper. She shivers a little, grabbing a blanket, rolling onto her side, and giving in. I don't know why she shivered; it's really warm in here.
"Okay. Thank you." She mutters, already falling fast asleep. God, she's so peaceful when she sleeps. She looks gorgeous.
I smile, walking into the kitchen to make lunch, since we never actually ate. Once I'm there, I hear her utter one more thing in her sleep.
"I love you."
Emma's POV Dream Land
"Kelsea? Jax...?" I whisper, walking into the old theater. It gives me chills, the memory of defeating the principal here coming back.
"Mommy!" I hear a voice scream. I whip around, seeing Kelsea trapped in some kind of concrete type solution, her arms tied up, over her head. Fear pours into me, and when I try to take a step forward I can't, my feet are also in that solution.
"I'm afraid that won't work, dear." A voice laughs, stepping out from the shadows, on stage where Kelsea is trapped. The person's face comes into view, and I recognize that it's Liana. Oh no.
"Liana? Let us go!" I shout, swallowing my fear. It doesn't work though. She laughs again when I try to cast a spell to escape, and fail.
"Not happening dearie. You can't get out of this. The solution you are trapped in has drained your magical energy." She smiles. Not a happy one, a sadistic, evil one.
"Mommy!" Kelsea shouts again, bringing my attention back to her. She's scared out of her mind.
"Don't worry baby girl! Mommy's going to get us out of here!"
"Ha. Not a chance." Another voice calls. This one I know, even before he steps into the dim light.
"Jax?"
I spring up into a sitting position, ready to cast a spell. My heart rate is a million and my breathing has gone sporadic.
"Woah woah woah! Calm down!" Jax says, instinctively setting a hand on my leg. When did I put on leggings and a shirt? He must've put me in them. I hope with magic...
I calm down, running a hand through my hair as I catch my breath. It isn't real, it isn't real.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah." I stammer, panting. "Just a bad dream."
He nods in understanding, taking his hand away.
I turn so that my legs are hanging over the side of the couch, closing my eyes for a moment.
"What time is it?" I ask, noticing that it looks dark out.
"7:45"
"What?!" I shout, springing upward. Jax grabs my hand, sitting me back down.
"Relax. I gave Kelsea lunch and dinner, helped her clean up her room without using magic, and now she's getting ready for bed. Everything's been done."
I sigh in relief, furrowing my eyebrows and looking at him, now sitting next to me on the couch.
"You did all that?" I ask with a smile, slightly surprised. He grins at me and nods. When he does I feel a mixture of gratitude and slight butterflies in my stomach.
"Thank you. That... was really sweet." I smile.
"Don't thank me. That's what I'm here for: helping you."
We stare at each other for a while before I remember the time.
"Well, uh. I better go and, tuck her in."
He nods at me and I stand, walking to Kelsea's room. When I open the door I see her reading a book, her pajamas on and her hair brushed thoroughly. He brushed her hair too? Jax never helped me or Jessie with that. I find a grin on my face at the thought.
Kelsea turns to look at me, smiles, and puts the book on her bookshelf before laying down under the blankets.
"Bedtime?" She asks, her smile becoming a fake frown. She's tired, she just likes to be a pain.
"Yes."
"Okay!" She perks up, grabbing for me when I walk over and sit on her bed.
"So, what's it going to be tonight princess? Story or song?"
"I want a song, Mommy."
"Alright baby. Which one?"
"The movie one!"
"Okay."
Jax POV
Emma left the door open behind her when she went to tuck Kelsea in. I snuck around the corner so I can watch. What? There's something so nice about watching a mother tuck their child in.
"The movie one." I hear Kelsea say. What? What movie?
And then it happens. Emma starts singing probably one of the only Taylor Swift songs I know.
I zone out for about a second, and come back on a bad verse thingy. It's not bad lyrics, it just hits me hard.
"Six months gone and I'm still reaching, even though I know you're not there. I was playing back a thousand memories baby, thinking about everything we've been through. Maybe I've been going back too much lately, when time stood still, and I had you."
That one hit me hard. I see Kelsea spot me by the door, and quickly put my finger to my lips, to say 'don't say anything'. When she doesn't I take a second to thank Emma for teaching her so well.
"Come back, come back, come back to me like you could, you could if you just said you're sorry. I know that we could work it out somehow. But if this was a movie you'd be here by now."
Guess that offer expired two years ago. Because she sure as hell doesn't want to work it out now.
It's so hard to deal with this. She hates me half the time, and the other half she's either asleep, close to it, or I'm distracting her from her resolve. I'm starting to wonder what would happen if I just let her be for a day.
I hear Em's singing voice fade out, and realize that despite how heavy my thoughts were, I'm smiling.
Quickly, I move back to the living room and sit down on the couch, turning the TV on low. She'll be out any moment.
Yep, I was right.
"Okay. Kid's fast asleep, I don't think you left me any work to do, and that nightmare apparently reversed the effects of sleeping for four hours. So, I think I need some caffeine." I shoot her a weird look, and she shrugs, walking to the fridge.
"What? Beats wine. Plus, don't have to see you any longer than the next hour or so if that happens. And over twenty four hours with you is already bad for my sanity. And your safety. I don't want to see what happens come forty eight."
"Ha ha. Very funny." I say sarcastically, though she knows I'm laughing on the inside. She comes back with two mugs of tea. Guess coffee is too much.
"So, how are you doing? You seemed pretty shaken up earlier?" She really scared me. Last time Emma did something like that she almost punched someone an hour later. And I want to make sure that won't happen to me.
"Yeah. I'm alright. Spent so long tending to her nightmares mine just shakes themselves off."
We sit in slight silence after that and I can't help it. I think of what she said in her sleep earlier, and something just rebuilds my will to make sure I never lose her again.
"This place holds some pretty great memories, huh?"
She looks around with a snile, and nods. "Yeah. I guess it does."
"You know what my favorite is? Well, the first favorite." I smirk. She furrows her eyebrows, and I know she knows I'm up to something.
"The one where you tried to tell me I can't predict the future."
"Ha. Yeah, like you can."
"Oh, I can. And I'm seeing something right now." I smile, pressing two fingers to the side of my face, pretending to think. Emma just rolls her eyes and laughs.
"I predict, that you're going to trip on your way to the kitchen. Again."
"Ha. Nice try. I'm not going anywhere if i have no reason to."
And just like that I cast a spell, making some kind of pink suds down the wall and into the sink like a waterfall.
"Oh, you did not!" She scolds, her voice soft because Kelsea is sleeping. The moment she enters I put a pillow in her path and teletransport to her, just as she falls. History repeating itself. But the suds had leaked water everywhere, so she fell harder than I planned, and my hand slipped under the shirt I'd used magic to put her in earlier while she slept.
"Gotcha. Again." I whisper in her ear with a smile. I see her shiver, standing up and stopping the bubbles with magic.
"I'd thank you, but you're kind of the reason why I tripped in the first place."
"I still predicted the future." I remark, casting a spell to dry us and clean up the mess.
"Thank you, but it's not predicting, it's causing."
"Same thing." Honestly, I'm just messing with her head.
"Whatever. Seriously though, I'm getting sick of you. I'm going to go change."
"Why not just change out here? There's a basket of clothes."
"I don't like using magic to change." She reminds. I smirk, an idea coming to me.
"Who said anything about magic?"
She gasps and gapes at me, making me laugh and cross my arms.
"Oh come on, Em. It's not like there's anything under there I haven't seen before."
She stares, flushes, clears her throat, and realizes I'm kidding.
"You... are messing with me. This is all a joke. And I uh, I'm not buying it. Now, I'm going to change." She stammers, grabbing her clothes and racing off. What she doesn't know is that I recognize the old sweatshirt she grabbed. It used to be mine. She kept it. I'm starting to realize she's kept a lot of things of mine, especially for someone that claims to have no emotional attachment to me.
Ha. Yeah, she's not fooling anyone. I know that's all bs.
How long is she going to fight me. It's hot, don't get me wrong, but it's also exhausting. Why won't she just admit it? She loves me. Just like I love her.
The more time goes on the more I wish I'd just told her about that damn threat. I would've found out about the baby, she'd still be okay with loving me, and Kelsea... her life wouldn't have been fast forwarded. She literally is growing up too fast. And I can't help but blame myself for it.
If only I'd listened to the instinct I had. I knew there was something wrong with Emma, but I ignored my instinct. And now my daughter gets looked at like she's a mistake because of my mess up.
"Ehem. Earth to Jax!" Emma chuckles, waving her hands in front of my face. What? How long was I thinking? A while, Emma is a slow changer. She's now in a pinky purple pair of sweatpants and my old gray sweatshirt.
"Oh. Sorry. What were you saying?"
"I was saying that you should go home. Too much time with you is making me aggressive."
I chuckle. Like she can hurt me.
"Okay. I am kind of tired." I give in, heading to the door.
I stop at the door, turning around. "And Em."
"Yeah?"
"You always have looked great in my clothes." I say with a wink and a smirk, flashing out and casting a spell so that I can see what she does. Her jaw is dropped, and she eventually shakes her head with and smile.
"Damn you and your charm Novoa." She mumbles, heading off to bed. I just smile.
Oh, she definitely likes our little game.
Ooh... Emma likes it. o.o
Soo... here we are. At the end of the chapter. I tried very hard to make this as tense as possible. Also, we are approaching the 100,000 total word mark! It's totally crazy for me to look back on less than year old work and see how much I've improved. And as all authors do, I cringe. I just wanted to thank every single one of you. Whether you've been here from the beginning or are just getting here. It means a lot to me to have people that like my work out there. Okay, I'm done. Lol. XD
angelcreature13: I'm replying to both your reviews, cuz you said good stuff. :) Yes, Dia was surprising. I don't think I will touch on it much more, if any. At least in the first volume... Of course Mr. Alonso still likes him, he's charming af! XD.I agree, dang it Kelsea! I made that as tense as possible, to make it interesting. And yes, he knows! Thank you for the reviews.
TotalFanGirl: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy my stories. I most definitely will! :)