Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. A couple of chapters ago Kairan1979 asked me to explain why Daria backed out on her promise to help Quinn as soon as the Asian boy band extravaganza was over. That explanation is in this chapter and Quinn will most likely feel like an absolute bitch when she finds out. I'm sure nobody is expecting the answer to that question that is given.
Interlude II: Anatomy of a Heart Attack part two
Alternative Title: Life Happens When you are Golfing with Your Ex-wife's Asshole New Husband
Grandchildren were a major part of Jake's original Lawndale fantasy. Of course, he was envisioning car seats and more diaper changing instead of dealing with emotionally guarded preteens. However, he wouldn't trade the girls for anything he just wished the circumstances would have been different.
He found out about Lindsey's death during a business lunch with Sarah and her Sister Ruth. At that point, Five Chicks had 30 restaurants on the East Coast and were branching out into franchising. This lunch was to entice new people into the business. The meeting took place at the Lawndale State location to show how popular the restaurant was with college kids. He was in the middle of his presentation when his attention was drawn to one of the TVs in the restaurant. A newscaster came on reporting the possible death of Lindsey Snow at the hands of party girl socialite, sex tape aficionado, and hotel heiress Astoria Amsterdam. It was a hit and run. The whole thing was caught on security camera and there was a massive manhunt for the socialite underway. At the time, he didn't hear a word of that.
He felt dizzy and numb at the same time. The whole thing almost reminded him of his heart attack. It got worse when they mentioned that an unnamed employee was also killed. His chest was tightening quickly and the room started to spin around. He was absolutely terrified that it was Quinn. What would he do If his baby girl was dead? He couldn't breathe.
Sarah quickly handed him a glass of water and an aspirin as she explained to the others that Quinn worked as Lindsey Snow's assistant. One of the investors was already calling 911 by the time Jake's phone started vibrating. Sarah picked up because he was too busy hyperventilating by that point.
"Jake, it's Quinn. She's okay." Sarah said quickly handing him the phone.
"Princess?" He whispered into the phone as Sarah held it to his ear.
"I'm okay daddy." He exhaled at the sound of her voice never feeling so happy before. "I was with the girls. Lindsey went out for a jog this morning and she didn't come back. I found her body. She wasn't breathing. There was so much blood, oh god." That's when Quinn broke down in sobs. The rest of the conversation served the purpose of calming both of them down.
Everything that happened was just a severe panic attack or at least that was what the EMT told him. He refused to go to the hospital for observations. His baby girl needed him. He was on the first plane to Los Angeles after that. It was good to be needed.
He didn't go to the funeral mostly because Quinn was terrified that he would push Mr. Snow out a window. That man had no reason to call himself a father. Jake could not stand that evil man. He was a monster. He did punch him at the will reading when Mr. Snow started cursing over the fact that his grandchildren received almost everything and said grandchildren would not be going to him. (He only wanted the girls for the money.) The only thing she left her father were her many awards saying that she knew that was the only thing her father ever wanted from her. (In comparison, she left Jake a boat, a few things from her car collection and her golf clubs as well as her 3% stake in People Book and some Banana stock.) Mr. Snow was even more furious to find out that Lindsey hired the best child custody lawyer in the country to make sure that Quinn would get the girls no matter what.
Being around Lindsey's fake friends also did very little for his heart or blood pressure. None of them really knew her. They were as bad as her father except for the fact that Lindsey never realized they were leeches during the course of her life. Nikki actually knew her better than 90% of the people there shedding fake tears for the cameras. Ten months later, many of the same people will be supporting Astoria at her trial and cheering on when she receives the ultimate slap on the wrist of a suspended sentence of six months with two years of community service and mandatory drug counseling.
Quinn didn't want him to cause a scene at the funeral. It was best that he say his goodbyes in private and be there for the twins for the parts of the day that would be too much for them. He decided to honor Lindsey at her favorite country club with 18 holes in her honor. (Lindsey was an excellent golfer and they spent a lot of time on the links together.)
He stayed out of the house that day and only returned in time to see his daughter reading the girls a bedtime story. They were both in Quinn's bedroom as neither child wanted to sleep alone. They seem so broken and Quinn seemed to be the only thing holding the two together. Even though he was sure his father never loved him, the funeral was hard on Jake and he was an adult. How much worse would it be to deal with the death of a parent that actually loved you as a child?
"You're good with them." Jake said quietly as he sat down on the couch in the bedroom suite once the story was done. Quinn was still in bed with both twins sleeping on top of her.
"I'll try but I wonder if that's enough. Do you think I'm ready to be a mom fulltime?" She asked her father.
"I don't think anybody is ever prepared to become a parent even if you have nine months to get ready. I know I wasn't. Someday I have to tell you what happened at the hospital with the car seat when I went to pick up your sister. I doubt you'll be any worse than I was and you and your sister turned out perfectly fine." He said in a reassuring voice.
"You are a good dad." Quinn said with a genuine smile.
"Sometimes." He said sitting down next to her.
"You were there and mostly sober. You didn't do any of the stupid stuff Lindsey's dad did to her. You drove me to boy band concerts and put up with my shoe habit. You're a good dad." Quinn told him.
"It's good to hear that." He answered simply.
"You really think I can do this? Mom doesn't." Jake really is not surprised. Helen doesn't believe that anybody's capable of anything most of the time.
"I think your mom is just worried about becoming a grandmother before 50." He said joking trying to relieve the tension.
"I thought mom was already over 50." Quinn said laughing.
"Yes, but don't tell her you know that." He laughed as well. They both needed it.
The custody battle was long and drawn out even if all parties involved knew that the Snow family were only challenging Quinn for the trust fund that came with both children. Helen came around to the idea when she saw Quinn was willing to fight for both girls. In the end, writing the tell all book turned out to be a very good thing for Lindsey. There were dozens of audio files that chronicled Lindsey's rough childhood that contained everything from emotional abuse to accusations of sexual molestation. No judge in his or her right mind would give Mr. Snow custody of two young girls. Before her 24th birthday, Quinn was the adoptive mother of two wonderful children and Jake could not be happier.
Motherhood was something Quinn was a natural at maybe because she has already had years of practice. It probably helped that she had a job where she could be home almost all the time. He had no idea that Quinn enjoyed writing so much. That was always Daria's thing. Then he remembered Quinn was always good at coming up with creative excuses of why she was late or anything else. It was obvious to him that she was a natural storyteller. She did a really good job writing the biography.
He did read all her books But only the edited for content versions. Although even he knew Tutor for the Heart was based on what happened to Quinn in high school. He was just glad he was around to know what really happened. He always assumed for his daughter to be able to write like that she most likely did all those things. He just did not want to think about that. He also knew that Quinn was still very mad at Helen for the divorce. There were little things from her life that she put into her stories that told him this. Jake was personally happy that he could pick up on some of them, he wasn't sure that he would have just a few years ago.
Unfortunately, his mother also read Quinn's work and obviously couldn't see the brilliance of it. Even if the subject matter made him slightly uncomfortable he was still proud of her. His mother was not. She referred to Quinn's writing as housewife pornography in public and said much worse things in private. She even favored Daria because she married a respectable young man. No one had the heart to tell her about Daria's real career. He really didn't want to give his mother another reason to be disappointed.
The last thing he ever said to his mother was, "I don't care what Quinn does for a living as long as she's happy. Writing makes her happy and she is quite good at it even if it is not something you like. Unlike you I want my children to succeed." His mother tried to interrupt him but Jake wouldn't let her.
"Don't even bother arguing because we both know the truth. Until you can respect her I don't want you in my house-condo." He said in anger and she just spluttered as she left. He never heard from her again because she died three months later. However, he doesn't regret standing up for Quinn. Quinn was always more like him and that's why he had to defend her.
Maybe Quinn was too much like him. Maybe that's why her marriage did not work out. Even if Quinn always said otherwise he always wondered if there was something going on beyond friendship between Lindsey and her. If it was not sexual then it had to be a sister like bond. Losing Lindsey so soon, after losing Tiffany was just hard on her. It was obvious in his mind that Jonathan Starr was a rebound relationship. He was never right for Quinn. He always seemed more interested in having Melody Powers as arm candy than being there for Quinn. He reminded Jake a lot of Eric. They were both narcissistic dicks who only cared about their selves and getting off.
Jonathan was always making snide comments about Quinn and her work behind her back. He even suggested sending the girls to military school because he did not want to share his future wife with those 'brats' that she inherited. He never told Quinn about this conversation but maybe he should have. That would have saved her a lot of heartbreak.
He tried to talk her out of the wedding but it really didn't work. Quinn is a lot more stubborn than anyone else could ever give her credit for. It must come from Helen. Even though Jake was expecting the phone call letting him know what a bastard his son in law truly was he wasn't expecting it so soon. Nikki's flaky ex girlfriend Kim Brittany had marriages that lasted longer.
Of course, he was never expecting to get that phone call from Chloe. His granddaughter was hysterical and in tears as she told him the entire thing. She was more afraid to tell Quinn than anything else. However, he was able to convince her it was for the best.
Jake was ready to kill. If he ever ran into Jonathan Starr again outside of the courtroom, he was a dead man. Again, within hours he was on his way to Los Angeles to give his daughter a shoulder to cry on. He knew exactly what she was going through. Unfortunately, Quinn easily figured out precisely why he knew exactly what she was going through.
"I knew she was screwing Eric before the divorce. He was always calling like every minute just like the bitch that Jonathan was screwing. That was suspicious right there. Even Lindsey wasn't that needy and she had a severe drug problem." Quinn said screaming as she paced back and forth in the room that she once shared with Jonathan. You could barely tell it was a bedroom anymore with all the broken furniture and torn up comforters scattered around the space.
"I didn't say that." He said quickly. He promised himself a long time ago that the children would never know the true story. There was no point in him badmouthing his former wife.
"You did not have to tell me directly dad. I've always known. There were just so many signs. I'm just surprised I missed all those signs with my own bastard husband. I just want to know how you ever got over it? How could you ever forgive her?" She asked with sad eyes.
"A lot of time and I had good friends that were there for me. Fortunately, you have a lot of those. Lindy has been camped out in your guestroom since it happened. I've discovered in the last few years that if I want to stave off another heart attack I have to let go of my anger."
"That makes sense." Quinn said with a sad smile.
"As for why I forgave her, I did it for me. I have more important things to concern myself with than hating her." He said honestly. He doubted he would be as successful as he was now if he held on to the blinding anger that he felt in that Cluster Burger parking lot years ago.
"I don't know if I will ever be able to stop hating Jonathan. How could he betray me like that? He slept with her in our bed. What did I do wrong?" Quinn said as she sat down on the floor of the destroyed bedroom.
"I don't know why stuff like this happens. Someday you will be able to let go but you have to stop blaming yourself for what happened first. You did nothing wrong. Jonathan is the one with problems not you. He didn't deserve you. It is my deepest hope that someday you'll find someone who does. One day you'll find something or someone that will be worth letting go of that anger for." He said kissing her on the forehead. He hopes she finds that happiness because he hasn't yet and he is sure he never will.
"I hope you're right." Quinn said finally getting up from the floor.
Jake spent several months helping Quinn get back to being Quinn again. He read a lot of rough drafts of her stories in that time but he relies that writing was how she was going to get through this. His coping mechanism was very similar, although, in his case it was finding new businesses to make better.
For a while he considered opening an office in Malibu. He had enough clients on the West Coast to make it very practical but in the end he decided it was best to return to Maryland. He missed life in Lawndale too much. Clients like Sarah would not be happy with the move. He also likes his monthly dinners with Jane, weeknights at Trent's House and bar hopping with Anthony. So what if he didn't have a significant other, he was anything but alone. He had no idea that something drastic will occur that will result in Quinn moving their instead.
In hindsight, Jake finds it highly ironic that he survived the entire Jonathan incident without major chest pains but ended up in the hospital for weeks when he finds out that his wife's marriage is about to go to hell or maybe it was already in hell. Sometimes, Jake wonders why he keeps playing golf with Eric because he's such a bastard but he knows it's because Helen asked him to. In addition, Dr. Carol and his partner Dr. Nicholson were good people. Eric really didn't have that many friends at the club or anywhere else for that matter.
The doctors only played golf with Eric because he was Dr. Carol's cousin by marriage. In an effort to keep up his good relationship with his ex wife he wasn't going to tell her that her husband had no friends because he was a complete bastard. Besides, Helen was too stubborn to listen to him anyway. She always has been.
Jake really wished she would lose that stubbornness when Eric started talking about his desire to screw his assistant Brooke. The girl was Quinn's age. It was disgusting just to hear him talk about her augmented breasts in such graphic detail. Fortunately, she was too loyal to Helen for all her work during the botch plastic surgery case to betray her like that. Brooke was a good girl with a head on her shoulders.
This meant that Eric moved on to the interns instead. He boasted about screwing some girl barely three years older than the twins when Jake was supposedly out of listening distance getting an omelet from the brunch buffet at the club. He was shaking in rage by the time Eric started comparing his mistress and his wife sometime around the first hole. Even the liquor infused orange juice did little to calm his nerves.
His chest tightened but he didn't say anything. It was his own fault for not taking his medication because he hated his new doctor. Maybe he should have gone to Dr. Carol instead of the guy down the street from his office. However, he didn't want Helen to press the doctor for information and he knew she would. Apparently, Dr. Carol noticed everything including this sweating. There were some other comments that Eric made about his wife but he doesn't remember specifics.
Actually, he does not remember anything else until he wakes up at LMC with Daria's high school friend standing over his bed in a white Doctor's coat. Apparently, he was Jake's new cardiologist, because despite their friendship Dr. Carol refuses to deal with Helen long-term after she apparently terrorized the staff the moment she found out about him being in the hospital. Jake vaguely remembers Helen screaming at someone. He felt old having a doctor who went to high school with his daughter. He also remembers Quinn crying at some point but he was too drugged to really remember anything specific. He wondered if the girls were there but he was sure they wouldn't let them in unless he really were dying. Maybe it was a good sign they were not there.
The next thing he really remembers clearly is Daria speaking. That was strange because his oldest daughter was currently in Asia with Nikki on the boy band reunion tour. He wasn't expecting to see her until sometime this summer.
"Of course, you choose now to have a heart attack." She said with actual anger. This worried him because her voice a rarely had inflection.
"Just because you helped Five Chicks become the fastest growing burger chain in North America doesn't mean you have to be their number one customer." Daria said returning to her normal sarcasm. He wanted to mention something about mostly eating Cluster Burger (not the one where he caught Helen and Eric) now because Sarah had a new significant other but he was still too groggy and his throat felt scratchy. He assumed that at some point he had a tube down his throat. He vaguely remembers something like that.
"I would actually like you to be around long enough to see your new grand baby." 'What are you talking about?' Jake asked in his head but he still didn't say anything.
"Just before I found out about your latest heart attack, I found out I am pregnant. Apparently, birth control and major time differences don't work very well together. I'm a little nervous and I need to talk to my dad. If you can wake up that would be good. Trent can only give so much good advice about surprise children." She joked nervously but Jake was already livid.
"That bastard got you pregnant. I'm going to kill him." He screamed causing alarms to go off.
"Of course, that's what wakes you up." Daria said with a smile just as the room was filled with doctors.
Recovering from a heart attack was a lot harder the second time around. Life now involved lots of pills in surgery. His days are filled with salmon burgers and his nights involved lots of grilled vegetables. He missed French fries and Mystic barbecue. Then there was a fact she was constantly being baby sat by various people including his granddaughters and eventually Quinn's wonderful assistant Kat. There were also lots of doctors' visits and vast amounts of heart medication. The only thing that made it tolerable was Dr. Mike was a cool guy and believed in doing things in moderation. He even said that Jake could have a burger occasionally.
He was not allowed back to work until April and he hated leaving Robbie in charge. That was not good for his heart. He was constantly emailing back and forth until it was pointed out to him that he was acting remarkably like his ex wife. He prides himself on being the ante-Helen.
The only positive about almost dying he got to spend a lot more time with his grandchildren and the rest of his family. He honestly could do without being smothered by his ex wife. He's pretty sure she did not even act like this when he had a heart attack during their marriage. Quinn was driving him crazy with her over protectiveness but she still wasn't as bad as Helen. At least, Quinn will compromise.
Of course, the one thing she would not compromise on was on him living alone. He enjoyed his independence but he knew it would be awhile before he could live on his own again and the thought of being in a senior living community made him slightly ill. He would've been willing to move to Malibu temporarily if Quinn asked but he wasn't expecting her to volunteer to come here. However, he knew that she needed a change after Jonathan. He really did not want there to be another burning of a car incident. Besides, he wanted his daughter home where he could watch her. There was no way he was going to let her marry another bastard like Jonathan Starr. There was a nice girl that worked in his office that would be perfect for Quinn.
Of course, once he arrived at Quinn's new house he realized it was the twin's idea. They were trying to seem altruistic but he knew the real reason why they were here. They both absolutely despised their posh private school in Malibu. Actually they hated Malibu. There are too many bad memories there. Bianca hated anybody overly pretentious and that school was filled with the pretentious. However, in Chloe's case she was just starting to realize that unlike all her friends she was not into boys. She was afraid that they wouldn't like her and therefore she was following in her biological mother's footsteps by putting on the heterosexual facade. He was happy that Dr. Mo decided that the girls should see the school psychologist even if it led to his daughter being reintroduced to the man who broke her heart at 16.
Being back in his old house was slightly surreal, but it helped that it was nothing like it was when he lived there with Helen (except for what would become Bianca's room). He did imagine quality time with his grandkids in this house and he was now getting his wish, although living with teenagers again was not doing anything for his stress levels. How did he survive that the first time around? He wondered if buying her old house was Quinn's version of buying Fighting Joe action figures because she was not allowed to play with such things because Mad Dog thought that it made him week? He decided it was best not to say anything. Mad Dog related rants were also bad for his health.
He liked his new first floor bedroom with its own bathroom. He did miss living on his own but he realized that was not an option right now. Every time he got in a fight about salmon burgers he told himself that Quinn was a lot more tolerable than the alternative of living with Helen and Eric. That would make him want to die despite the baby on the way or at least the baby that was supposed to be on the way.
He was the only one who knew about the future grandchild besides Trent. Even Jane did not know yet. Nikki and Daria wanted to wait until the end of the first trimester. They were planning to tell everyone when they came to visit in April after the reunion tour of Asia and Australia was done. As soon as the April visit was canceled, he knew something wasn't quite right. After witnessing the shouting match between sisters, he decided to call. Good thing he knew exactly what time it was in Hong Kong.
"I just wanted to see if you were okay kiddo." He told Daria when he called her.
"Everything's perfectly fine. Something just came up and we can't get there until late May or early June." By the way she said it Jake knew something wasn't quite right.
"I understand." He said not understanding at all. "Hey, how is my new grand baby doing?" Instead of answering, the line went dead. He called back only to have Nikki pick up the phone.
"Hi Jake." Nikki said picking up this time.
"I guess we got cut off there." He said laughing.
"Not really. Daria is not in the mood to answer baby questions at the moment or really deal with anybody who actually knows her. Unfortunately, she used her 'annoyed at reporters' technique on you. I'm sorry about that." Nikki apologized but his words just made Jake more concerned.
"What's going on?" Jake asked with concern.
"There's not going to be a grandchild, at least not for a little while. Daria had a miscarriage." Nikki's voice was shaky as he spoke.
His words instantly transported Jake back several years when he heard the same words from Helen. They were not trying to get pregnant but it just happened, stupid antibiotics. It was a horrible time for new kid. His boss was a dick, the fridge just broke, and the school psychologist was calling them in all the time because Daria wasn't 'normal'. Despite that, he still wanted the child but it wasn't meant to be, Helen lost the baby. The fighting just kept getting worse to the point where he checked himself into a hotel because he just couldn't deal with it. He understood what was going on with Daria.
"Is that why she's not coming? Daria doesn't back out of her commitments without good reason." Jake said sadly.
"I just don't think seeing her baby sister with her happy children is the best thing for her right now even if Quinn did not give birth to the girls. You know that she loves you but…" Nikki trailed off.
"I understand." He said sadly. Daria needed some time alone and he would give that to her.
"I will have her call in a few days." Nikki assured him.
"Do you want me to tell Quinn what is going on so she will stop ranting about being stuck taking care of everything? She is under a lot of stress right now and she is taking it out on everyone."
"Daria doesn't want anybody to know. We definitely don't want this to get to the press and the less people that know the better. " Nikki explained.
"Of course." Jake agreed knowing that it would be better for everyone involved if Quinn knew.
"Is it really that bad?" His son in law asked.
"You do remember having to use your corporate pull to get Chloe out of jail?" Jake deadpanned.
"Okay, it's that bad."
"I think I am making it worse by not following doctors' orders. I'm a grown man and I can have a cheeseburger if I want one, damn it. She has imposed forced nap times. She worries too much and takes too much on. Besides she thinks she has to do everything herself." Jake said sadly.
"If you want to live long enough to see more grandchildren or the twins graduate from high school I suggest salmon or at least lean ground beef and baked sweet potato fries." Jake just kept quiet on that.
"It's hard when roles are reversed. You're used to taking care of her instead of her taking care of you. There's bound to be some problems. Then there's the fact that Quinn is Quinn and always takes too much on. Lindsey said she was a workaholic. I've heard stories about her going out with three guys in one night because she didn't want to disappoint anyone. She needs help. Maybe she should get an assistant or maybe a boyfriend." The last part was probably meant to be a joke but Jake did not like it.
"She's trying to find a suitable assistant but the interviews did not go very well. As for the boyfriend then, I just had a heart attack. Don't joke about that sort of thing, son." Jake said feeling just a little dizzy.
"Of course not, I need to get back to my wife. I'll call back later." With that, Nikki was gone and Jake had thoughts of his daughter with another version of Jonathan Starr to keep him obsessing over his loss grandchild.
Eventually Quinn did find an assistant and an old friend in the process. He felt guilty for not giving Quinn her old friend's phone number but he really just forgot. Having Stacy around again was good for her. Even better Bianca's new job at Feisty kept her away from any interested boys. He was also happy that Quinn had more female friends around.
Quinn's guy friends did not help his stress level until he realized that they really were just friends. How was he supposed to know Joey had a husband? He will not confirm or deny that he was so fussy about the food in retaliation for the guy friends. Although now he liked Joey a lot mostly because he had a new friend to golf with as soon as Dr. Mike says he can hit the links again.
Because of her renewed acquaintance with Stacy, she was introduced to Kat who was wonderful. He liked Kat. She was a good assistant and she definitely made Quinn's life easier. He also liked her because she did not treat him like a child. She was always very respectful and good to be around. She was a good listener and never thought that his rants were completely crazy. He got to know her very well when Quinn was in Malibu to take care of some loose ends during spring break. Kat was very observant as well.
"You do realize that your ex-wife was still in love with you and is trying to get you back." Kat told him one morning during breakfast after the girls left for school and Quinn locked herself in her office to work on her new book.
"I'm not sure about the love part. I think she just needs something right now. Her current husband is a bit of a bastard." Jake said quickly. He personally believes that was why his ex wife is there all the time, in addition to trying to control every aspect of Quinn life. Even going so far as to try to sabotage her love life. He would love to tell his ex wife that Ted would never be interested in Quinn because he was currently in a committed relationship with Jake's number two Robbie for the last three years. Jake even suggested that Chloe spend time with Ted because being around him may help Chloe get more comfortable with herself. Jake doesn't tell other people secrets. Helen knew full well that his daughter was completely interested in someone else but she wouldn't back off.
"No kidding. That moron already propositioned me twice." Kat said in anger.
"Did you tell Quinn about that?" He asked really not wanting to get into it.
"No. I need this job to pay for rent and Rahman noodle."
"She's not going to fire you for that." He reassured her.
"I don't want to take any chances. So are you interested in your ex?" Kat asked without hesitation.
"A part of me will always love her. However, the more practical part knows we are much better off as friends. Our relationship is stronger now. I think it would be destroyed if we went back to what we had before."
"You're a very wise man." Kat said smiling.
"No I just think that I've lived a long time." He said getting up.
"Are you interested in ever dating again?" Her question caught him off guard.
"Why do you ask?" Jake asked hesitantly.
"I think you would be perfect for my mother. She's an English teacher at one of the most pretentious preparatory schools in the metro." Jake just sighed at that.
"I don't like being setup. Besides this is not the best time." He said as an excuse.
"Probably not but I'm not suggesting doing anything that could raise your heart rate. You know that we are all planning on giving Quinn the night of her birthday party off for 'private time'." Jake was pretty sure that private time referred to David but he didn't say anything.
"Anyway my mom performs at the Lawndale Hills busboys and poets on the weekends. Maybe you and your friend Anthony could check out her performance. I know you're looking for something to do to avoid Quinn's birthday party being thrown by the happy couple."
"Maybe." Was all Jake said.
Other than his ex wife driving him slightly crazy, the other thing that was keeping his blood pressure up was David. The first time he saw the two together as adults he knew there was something there. Whenever Quinn talked about him her face lit up completely. He has never seen her that happy before, not even when she thought that she was in love with Jonathan. Just her being around him made her less stressed. He helped her with the girls and it was obvious to Jake that he liked both girls immensely. Whenever she returns from one of her 'sleepovers' she was unbelievably happy. (Jake really hoped that she was telling the truth when she said that no sex was involved but Jake knew better. Quinn was just too happy.)
He finally knew that this guy was gonna be around for a long time when he came over for Chinese and helped Quinn work on her story. Finely Quinn had somebody she could bounce ideas off of other than the twins. That's when Jake realized that Quinn finely found her other half. David appreciated her in ways that her ex did not. He valued her writing and her children. Jake did not believe the just Friends thing at all. Certain marks on his daughter's neck made that impossible. Also he's pretty sure he saw her underwear tucked into the couch cushions.
The next day he used picking the Twins up from detention as an excuse to see David. It was time for the two to have a very serious conversation.
"I doubt that you're here to talk about the twins." David said as he took a seat.
"They didn't blow up anything today did they?" Jake asked knowing that it was possible.
"Not that I'm aware of." He said honestly.
"Oh good. No, I'm not here to talk about that. What's going on between you and my daughter?" Jake asked quickly.
"We're just friends." David said halfheartedly as if he did an even believe it anymore.
"I was young once, son. My heart may be in bad shape, but my eyes are working perfectly fine." He said purposely glaring at David.
"What did you see?" David asked hesitantly
"It was hard to miss the gigantic hickey on her throat last night." Jake heard something that sounded like several curse words being mumbled under breath.
"Do you love my daughter?" He asked getting to the root of the issue.
"I'm getting there. It's hard not to." He can tell by his tone that David was being sincere.
"She has that way about her. She had two Gay guys chasing after her." Jake said laughing.
"I've heard." David said with a laugh before becoming serious again. "Nothing happened when she was a teenager. She wasn't ready for something real."
"I know. I heard everything. You did the right thing even if you did it in the wrong way. You know that you were the only person to ever really break her heart. I don't even think the ex was that successful." Jake told him sadly.
"I know." David said not looking at him.
"Don't do it again." Jake said forcefully.
"I will try not to."
"Good, welcome to the family." Faith said extending a hand.
"Now if only your ex was so welcoming." David said accepting.
"She'll come around eventually... or maybe not." He said thinking better of it. "Maybe you can do some sort of contract. Sometimes I think legal forms are the only thing she understands."
"Maybe." He said almost dismissively as if he thought nothing was going to make Helen like him.
"I will try to talk to her." He said before leaving to find the Twins.
The conversation did not exactly happen as planned and it happened a lot sooner than expected. For reasons known only to her, Helen crashed the family dinner that night. She also got into a major fight with Quinn when she pushed the David issue.
"I can't believe she kicked me out." Helen said seething. "I'm just trying to keep her from making the same mistake again. You can't trust a guy like that."
"Helen, you need to back off before Quinn kicks you out of her house and life permanently. She's a big girl with her own family, if she wants to date Dr. Dave then that's fine with me." Jake said giving his daughter his full support.
"You don't know him." She said with anger.
"I know David better than you do. I know for a fact that nothing happened when she was 16. He walked away because he knew she was not ready for that type of relationship." Jake defended Quinn.
"I can't tell you how I know but I just know that's not true." She said cryptically.
"The only reason why you wouldn't tell me something is if it is attorney-client privilege information. Unless you spoke to a student that he has had an improper relationship with, I don't want to hear it. I sincerely doubt that." Jake said resolutely.
"It was not a student but his former fiancée who came to me. I can't say anything else." She told him and he wanted to laugh.
"You mean the one whom left him at the altar for his older brother and then had a baby by him less than six months later? I'm not sure I would trust anything she said. I think you need to get to know him yourself." Jake argued.
"You have a valid point." Helen said grudgingly as she tried to grab his hand but he wouldn't let her.
"Helen, you're the mother of my children and my best friend but it's never going to be more than that again. You lost the chance and I'm not going to go backwards. You have no right to be jealous of other people, especially Sarah. I'm a grown up too. I know you want me to help you deal with whatever is going on with you and Eric. I can be your friend but I can't be your lover. You can't use me to get revenge on your husband." He told her honestly.
"I'm not looking for that. There's nothing wrong with my marriage. I'm not trying to get back at Eric. Everything's okay." She said this in a way that made him automatically not believe her.
"Why are you here all the time? Why are you trying to act like you're still my wife when you haven't been for a very long time?" He asked her the question that has been on his mind for a while.
"I'm not doing that." Helen argued back.
"Of course you're not." Jake said taking a deep breath trying to stay calm using one of the relaxation techniques that Dr. Mike gave him.
"Do you know why I had another heart attack?" Jake asked seriously.
"You eat way too much Cluster Burger. If you didn't want to cook you could've always come over. You know my door is always open to you." Jake wanted to mumble something about how that would have done very little to help his blood pressure but he didn't say anything.
"No, I spent an entire pre-golf branch listening your husband talk about his assistant wonderful 'assets' and the intern that he's fucking." Jake spat out bitterly realizing that he needed to tell her the entire truth.
"He's not doing that." She argued back but the argument was weak.
"Yes he is and you already know that. Why exactly is Brooke your assistant now?" He asked poignantly.
"She just needed a change." The excuse seems flimsy to both.
"You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met. You're not going to believe me until you're ready whether it be about Eric or David." Jake said fishing in his pocket for his key and giving it to Helen.
"I probably won't be returning to my condo for a while." He said not telling her that he was already thinking about buying the house down the street so he could be close to Quinn but without risk walking in on her acting the scene from page 172 from Tutor for the Heart. "When you're ready to be as brave as your youngest daughter you have a place to stay." Jake turned around and walked away before she could say anything. When he got back in the house Quinn was already on the phone with David. Why wasn't he surprised at all?
On the morning after Quinn's 28th birthday, Jake slowly walked back into the house. He actually had a pretty pleasant evening with Kat's mother. Cassandra was a really nice woman and he found the poetry reading very pleasant. It was more entertaining than when he did that sort of thing in college.
He decided it was in his best interest to stay out of the house that night because he really didn't want to find out about his adult daughter's sex life that meant returning to his old familiar couch at Anthony's house. He may really like David but there are just some things a father never wants to know.
Fortunately he walked in to see his youngest daughter and her boyfriend sleeping on the couch fully clothed and wrapped around each other. They looked adorable in a heart wrenching way. If he was still a gambler he would put $50.00 on having a new son in law by Christmas.
"Hi daddy." Quinn said yawning.
"Did you have a good birthday, Princess?" Jake asked as he kissed her on the forehead.
"It had its moments. David had a contract made where he promises to be loyal to me and mom left Eric. That alone is the best present ever." It took all his strength not to smile at that when Quinn told him.
"She actually left?" Jake asked disbelieving her
"She caught Eric and his brand new assistant Cherri, yes that is her real name, practically screwing in public on top of his vintage Jaguar at the hotel across from the Cluster Burger by your old office building." You would really think that the bastard would choose a different hotel? Jake absolutely appreciated the irony of the moment but he wouldn't say I told you so. He also wouldn't start humming his son in law's old song Karma's Payback.
"Where's your mother?" He asked quickly.
"Upstairs in my bedroom, she fell asleep after breaking that horrible statue that Eric sent as a housewarming gift." Quinn told him but Jake was already halfway up the stairs. Jake slowly opened the door to the room that used to be his bedroom when he was Helen's husband.
"Are you here to say I told you so?" An obviously crying Helen asked him.
"No, but if you want to talk about how big of a bastard Eric is I'm here to listen." He said sitting next to her.
"You probably already know everything I can tell you. You knew before I did." She said bitterly.
"So what are you going to do now?" He asked moving on to safer ground.
"I already started divorce proceedings although the papers won't be filed till Monday morning. I hired Eric's ex wife as my lawyer. She knows how his mind works better than anyone else" Jake wanted to ask which one but kept his mouth shut.
"The divorce is going to be the easy part. Thanks to you, I already have somewhere else to live for a while at least. The hard part will be having to work with him every day."
"You don't have too."
"Eric blacklisted his last wife from every law firm in the beltway region. She eventually got another job but it took a switch to family law." She explained definitively.
"So start your own firm?"
"It's not that simple." She said sighing.
"Helen, I help people start new companies all the time. I even know a landlord who owns a building downtown that will give you a break on your first few months rent. It's feasible." He says with reassurance.
"You're going to help me start my own law firm?" She asked skeptically. "Do you have any idea what that will entail?"
"Yes and yes." He's been thinking about her doing this for years. "I know you can do it. Half of the clients at your firm are there for you. Startups are what I do. We can discuss the details over breakfast."
"Okay, what do I have to lose at this point?" She said in defeat.
"Eric." he said smiling as he moved for the door to let her get ready.
"Do you think I'll be able to get Ted to come with me?" She asked as he walked to the door.
"Considering his boyfriend works upstairs probably." Jake said leaving the room as Helen mouth the word boyfriend.