I Can't, I Won't
Summary: Sequel to Life's Full of Little Surprises. She was the girl that he couldn't forget, he was the man she didn't want to forget. He fell for her on a bus, she fell for him in the rain. After two years apart, they are brought back together. But are they willing to let themselves fall in love again?
Disclaimer- I own nothing but my OC's. It is very sad, but true.
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AznIntegra- Where have I been? Not anywhere in particular, I just haven't had a lot of time to write much. Yes, I did add a little tidbit of Hans' and Jan's pasts and I will bring Liesa into the story much later. I'm glad you liked the addition. Yes, Jeff finally woke up, albeit a little late, but he's a persistent kind of guy; not much will stop him when he gets him mind on something. Thank you!
CrazzyAngel108- Well, whether you stayed up late or got up early, I'm glad that you reviewed. Thank you for thinking that this story is great. It's nice to know that I can surprise you. Thanks again!
Thank very, very much to SilverRain1.3!
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-Chicago, Illinois-
Though she was having a wonderful time, Dani couldn't shake Adam's presence from the back of her mind. Dave was sitting across from her in the small restaurant that he had brought her to as a coming home from college gift and he was being sweet as usual, but it was like Adam was in the room with them.
"Dani?" Dave asked, bringing Dani back to Earth, "You 'kay?" Dani shrugged and nodded, not wanting to lie about thinking about her ex, "You sure?"
"I'm fine." Dani replied. Dave smiled halfway, seemingly convinced. He was about two inches shorter then Dani with messy light brown hair and hazel eyes and only 20- not that much older then her- and he looked it. At first Dani thought that Dave would have a problem with her being taller then him, but he didn't seem to have a problem with it; even if he did, he didn't show it.
After a few moment's silence, Dave finally said, "So how is Boston?"
"Good." Dani replied, "Luckily I managed to get a roommate who was born and raised in Boston, so she showed me around a lot."
"I find it hard to believe that you haven't ever been to Boston before... At least, for more then college visits and stuff." Dave mused, "I mean, skating takes you all around the world, but you've never been to Boston? It's Boston, after all. Not like it's not really well known."
Shrugging, Dani replied, "Skating never took me there. It's probably one of the bigger cities that I haven't been to for a competition or exhibition. Don't know why, it just happened that way."
"It's weird."
"Not really." Dani replied, wondering why Dave was so stuck on the fact that she had never been to Boston before she started looking at colleges. He was pretty obsessive about somethings, but this was something that didn't need to be obsessed over.
Dave sighed and shrugged, knowing that if he pushed the subject then Dani would start getting a little irritated, "If you insist." Dani nodded, effectively closing that topic of conversation. In an attempt to get back on Dani's better side, Dave leaned over and tried to kiss her, but she moved her head so that he kissed her cheek.
There was no conscious decision behind Dani's actions, but it had just happened. However, the moment was cut off by a shocked scream of, "Dave? OH MY GOD!"
"Erin!" Dave exclaimed, looking up at the door at a small bottle blonde, but pretty women who was standing in shock. Her purse was in her hand, but at risk of falling out, "Wha..."
Erin was clearly close to tears at what she saw, but she was too angry to cry, "Dave, what the hell is going on?" She asked as she stalked up to the table, watching Dani like she was something disgusting on the bottom of a shoe or a deadly virus, "Who the hell is this?"
"Who the hell am I?" Dani asked, getting exceptionally pissed off, "Who the hell are you?"
Lifting her hand and flashing a ring set, Erin yelled, "I'm his wife!"
Choking and gasping for air as her throat closed in shock, Dani gazed daggers at Dave. He was clearly uncomfortable and glued to his chair, "His what?" She asked, more to Dave then to Erin, "What the fuck is going on? What else are you lying to me about?"
"I...I...I...I..." Dave managed.
Erin scoffed at her husband and finally cooled her anger a little, "Oh my god..." She said, "You're just a kid. How old are you?"
"18." Dani admitted, still exceptionally confused.
"18?" Erin screamed, slapping her husband across the face, "You're fucking 28 years old, Dave!"
Again Dani's breath caught in her throat, "What?" She screamed, jumping out of her chair, "You told me you were 20!" Erin scoffed in disbelief, knowing by the look on Dani's face that she was telling the truth, "You selfish bastard!" She said. With a small tick of anger, Dani realized that her vision went to Dave's ring finger, "You tan..." She said in a slow voice.
"And he takes his ring off when he does." Erin added, clearly ready to break something. However, she obviously had a lot of self control.
The gazes of the restaurant patron's were boring threw Dani as she felt tears of anger well up in her eyes and her face burn red in embarrassment, "Oh my... I didn't... I wouldn't... I have to go." She said quickly, picking up all of her things at top speed and attempting to run.
"Dani..."
Dani stopped for a moment and said, "Don't ever talk to me or think about me again, jack-off." She then turned to Erin, "I'm sorry."
Erin didn't seem to want to deal with Dani, she just wanted to dig into her husband some more, "Did you think about anything? Me? Our kids?"
"You have kids, too?" Dani asked, her eyes bulging.
"A boy and a girl." Erin responded.
The look on Dani's face was one of someone who wanted to puke. She gasped for air as she ran out of the restaurant and prayed that Dean, Alec, Caleb, and her parents would accept her apology. They had been right all along about Dave; something about him had rubbed them wrong, but she hadn't trusted their instincts because she didn't want to be alone with only memories of Adam. "Why didn't I listen to my parents?" Dani asked herself as she raced down the streets of Chicago to her home.
-Portman Home-
Kal, Alyssa, Alec, Dean, and Caleb sat rigidly in the dining room while they ate their dinner. Felix could sense the tension in the room, but he didn't know what was causing it and therefore he was slightly less affected. The five clearly knew that Dani had gone out to dinner with Dave and none of them liked it. The silence in the room was getting too much for Alyssa to handle, so she finally spoke, "So... How's school been?"
Both Alec and Dean knew that that had been addressed to them, "Fine." Alec replied, "About the same, no problems."
"That's good." Alyssa said, "Isn't it, honey?" She asked her husband.
"Yup." Kal replied, still to stuck on the fact that his daughter was out on a date with a guy he couldn't stand. Alyssa shot a glare at Kal because she couldn't elbow him, "Oh... Well, how's Cami?"
"She's good. She would have come back with me, but she has a paper due the first day back and she wants to get that done." Alec replied, "She's coming for Christmas and New Years, though."
Alyssa nodded, "Wonderful. Dean?"
"School is school." Dean replied, "Not bad, though."
"And Julie?" Alyssa asked.
Dean smiled, "She's good. Glad that she didn't have to get a dorm on campus. At first she was worried about getting to know people, but you know Julie. She's outgoing, so that wasn't a problem."
"That's nice." Alyssa said, "I... A little bird told me that you two where living together... Is that true?" Kal's eyes grew, Caleb perked up in interest, Alec chuckled, and Felix ignored everything as he was too busy playing with his mashed potatoes and peas.
"Um..." Dean said, "I... Well, I guess you could think of it like that." Alyssa sighed heavily and Kal dropped his fork onto his plate loudly, "What? Nothing has happened. We're not sharing a room or anything. She offered because she knew that I didn't want to have to stay in a dorm."
Alec chuckled again, "Just don't give me any nieces or nephews anytime soon."
Scoffing, Dean retorted, "I'm more likely to get one from you!" Alec's jaw dropped, "Oh come on. It's not like you and Cami haven't slept together; something, I might mention, Julie and I haven't."
Alec shot up from his seat so fast that his chair fell over, "Look you little..." The rest of Alec's sentence was overlapped by Dean and the two started yelling at each other at the top of their lungs. Caleb leaned back in his seat, as far away from the fight as he could, while still watching with interest and Felix crouched down so much that only from his eyes up could he be seen.
Kal and Alyssa jumped up as the latter whistled shrilly and yelled, "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Alec and Dean immediately quieted, but she wasn't finished, "Why can't we have a nice, normal dinner with everybody here and not have an argument?" She sat down, shoved her plate out of the way, and rested her head in her hands.
"Honey?" Kal asked, "Are you okay?"
After taking a deep breath, Alyssa nodded, "I'm just a little stressed."
The atmosphere in the room calmed a little and everyone sat back down, Caleb leaned forward again, and Felix slowly popped back up. Just as the calm conversation was about to begin, the door slammed and Dani entered the room, "Hello all." She said in a chipper voice that showed she was pissed off, "Could someone please explain to me why I broke up with the only guy who wasn't a complete jackass?" She didn't wait for an answer as she made her way to the other end to the dining room and walked up the private staircase that led to her bathroom and bedroom.
No one knew what she meant, but at the same time the did. Everyone quickly stood and followed Dani up her staircase, passed her bathroom, and knocked on the secondary door to her room, "Dan?" Kal asked, "Can we come in?"
"Whatever." Dani replied, allowing them to spill into her room, "Are we having a family meeting in my room?" She was sitting on her bed with her knees brought up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees.
"That depends." Dean said, sitting on the swivel chair that she sat in to do her homework, "Is there a reason behind a family meeting?"
Dani sighed as her parents sat on either side of her bed, Alec leaned against the wall facing her, Felix sat on Dean's lap, and Caleb sat on the floor next to her bed, "Is an apology a reason behind a family meeting?"
"Apology?" Everyone asked.
Dani nodded, "Yeah. I'm really sorry." She said, "You guys were right about Dave... All of you. There was some stuff that he was lying to me about." Dean and Alec jerked like they were going to say something, but thought better of it.
"What happened?" Caleb asked, looking up at his older sister with concern.
Sighing again, Dani said, "He's married, actually." Everybody stared at her, "And he has two kids... And he's 28."
"What?" Dean shouted, "I'm going to kill him!"
"Get in line." Alec replied.
Dani chuckled, "I think you'll have to wait until his wife gets a shot at him." She said deadpanned, "She wasn't too happy at the restaurant but she had self control. I don't want to know what will happen when she gets him behind closed doors."
"Honey..." Kal said, "Are you okay? Really?"
Dani nodded, "I'm fine, daddy." She replied, "I'm not really all that shocked, surprisingly. I didn't expect him to be married, but I expected something. Don't know why." Shrugging, Dani went on, "Like I said before, I broke up with the only nice guy that I've ever dated because I'm an idiot."
"You're not an idiot!" Caleb said quickly.
Smiling and giggling, Dani replied, "Thanks." A few seconds later, Dani heard her cell phone ringing, "Oh, shoot! Where is it?" She asked herself as she lunged to the foot of her bed, pulled up her sheets, and looked under the bed, "Where is it? Where...? There it is!" She said triumphantly as she pulled it to her ear, "Hello? Hello?"
"Dan, you didn't open it." Dean said.
"Oh..." Dani said, losing herself to a fit of giggles. She opened the phone and said, "Hello?"
"Hi... What's so funny?" Teresa's voice said.
"Nothing." Dani replied, gaining control over herself, "What's up?"
Teresa stayed quiet for a minute, clearly trying to get her thoughts on her friend's strange behavior straighted out, "Um... Okay then. Anyway, not much really. I just called to say that I was sorry for leaving your earrings at Charlie's place. Adam told me that he brought them to you."
"Yeah." Dani said, "And that wasn't awkward at all."
"I'm sorry!" Teresa replied, "I totally forgot that I'd taken them off. Charlie started a flour fight, so I took them off so that they would get dirty, and I forgot."
"A flour fight?"
Teresa squeaked a little, "We were making brownies."
"Making brownies?" Dani asked as an idea popped in her head, "Oh, is that what they are calling it now?" Teresa sputtered and managed to say several unintelligible sentences before Dani said, "Joking, joking. Relax."
Sighing heavily, Teresa said, "I hate you."
"Oh, but I love you."
"Sure you do." Teresa replied, "Anyway, how about yourself? How are you? Anything new back home?"
"Nope." Dani said, "Not really... I broke up with my boyfriend, but other then that..."
"Really?" Teresa asked, perking up, "How are you holding up?"
"Good." Dani said, "I'm a bit relived actually." Teresa made an odd noise that told Dani that she was thinking about Adam, "Don't even think about it, missy."
Teresa gasped, "Now what are you insinuating?" She asked, "I am sure I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about?" Dani laughed, "Well, I'm glad that you think it's funny. By the way, Charlie says hi."
"Tell him I say hi back." Dani said.
"Will do." Teresa replied.
A few minutes of silence rang through the phone, "You're looking at him now, aren't you?"
"Uh-huh."
"And why do I have the impression that you aren't exactly looking at his face?" Dani asked. She could sense that her parents and brothers were looking at her with shock and confusion, but she didn't really care.
Teresa sighed in thought, "Well, he does have quite the lovely little posterior."
Dani's eyes widened as she shook, "Ew! Too much information, Teresa. Too much information! For crying out loud this is Charlie we are talking about. I can't know that!"
"But it's true." Teresa replied innocently.
"Sure..." Dani said, "I'll see you at school."
"Okay." Teresa said, "Bye."
"Bye." Dani replied as she hung up, "Ew!" She said to herself, "Gross?"
Dean whistled shrilly to get Dani's attention, "Charlie? As in Charlie Conway?" Dani nodded, "What's so gross?"
"His girlfriend was talking about his 'lovely little posterior'." Dean gagged slightly, "Her words, not mine!"