The Choice We Make
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Part One.

Part Fourteen: Parents

"Your mom was like more evil than usual this morning." Veronica commented to Duncan as they drove to school.

"Yeah, I noticed she was harsher than usual with you." Duncan agreed. He had no idea what his mother's problem with his girlfriend was, but it seemed to have increased since she'd moved in on them.

If Duncan didn't know better, he'd swear his mother actually hated Veronica. But that couldn't be true, could it? Why would she hate her?

"She was probably just in a bad mood." Duncan dismissed.

"Probably." Veronica agreed, then she smiled. "Your dad was nice though. He gave me his credit card and told me to go buy some new clothes and then he asked when the next pep squad performance was, so he could make sure he was there."

Duncan frowned, that was just a weird, in a totally different way. His father was usually too busy to be actively involved in his children's lives, had barely shown up for anything of Lilly's.

Duncan shook his head, it was probably just his father's guilt. He had messed up with Lilly and now she was gone, but Veronica was there.

"My parents are weird." Duncan told Veronica with a smile. "You'll get used to it."

Veronica laughed. "All parents are weird. It's a fact of life."

"True. Mine are just weirder than most." Duncan said with a laugh, then decided to change the subject. "What do you want to do tonight?"

"She should have been mine." Jake commented softly.

He was meeting Lianne for lunch, to discuss Veronica's custody arrangements amongst other things. Lianne was delivering the forms that gave the Kanes' legal guardianship over the girl.

Lianne looked at him sadly. "A lot of things should have been different, Jake, but they weren't and she's not."

"Not biologically." Jake agreed. "BUt I've always thought of her as mine and that hasn't changed. I love her, Lianne, because she's part of you."

"Jake..." Lianne said softly, not sure they should be having this conversation. He was a married man after all and there was too much history between them. Too many roads untaken. Yet, it felt so natural to talk to Jake. It always had.

"I screwed up twenty years ago and a million time since then." Jake told her quietly. "I should never have slept with Celeste, should have forced you to listen to me, should never have married her, should have left her after Lauren's wedding, should have walked away so many times. I kept repeating my mistakes."

"Jake..." Lianne said softly.

"I'll leave her." He said suddenly. "You give the word and I'll leave her."

Lianne closed her eyes. How many times had she wanted to hear that over the years? But the truth was, for all that she'd loved to tell him yes, she couldn't... Because, it wasn't about them anymore. They had children to think of. Duncan and Veronica needed stability, not to have their parents run off and be together.

"No." Lianne said finally. "Jake, you can't... Not now... It's too late for us."

It was true, hard to say, but true. She loved Jake, had always loved him and would always love him, but their time had passed them by. They had both made a lot of mistakes over the years, but it was too late to fix them, too late to go back.

"I'm sorry, Jake." She said quietly.

He looked at her. "So am I, so am I."