REPOSTED DUE TO MY BEING IN A HURRY AND NOT PROOFREADING BETTER :) SORRY!
Thanks to Kennedy's Friday Night Delight and World's Biggest Jericoholic for reviewing!
As promised, this chapter is for you Demi! Thanks for your help with it :)
Chris came back and sat down beside Mollie. She looked stiff and lost in space as she sat looking at the floor.
"You okay?" he questioned.
She nodded as she contined to stare off across the room.
Chris caught James' shrug when he turned to Petey, "Let's see if Alex will go with us to get something to eat. He's gotta be sick of this hosptial food."
"If he's not, I am. I'm starving!" James piped up.
"Sorry, we forgot its all about James." Petey laughed, "Let's go get him."
They all went back down to Aiden's room. Chris knocked softly before they all came in. Alex was kicked back in his chair with his eyes closed.
"Oh well, he probably needs to sleep. We can bring him something back." Petey muttered.
Chris pushed past them. He had to get Alex to go with them. It was really bothering him that Alex had treated Ajay the way that he had, and he knew he wouldn't be able to talk to him in front of Aiden. She always got to far too upset when people argued, he reminded himself.
"Alex, wake up." he said.
He sat up quickly, instantly looking at Aiden and then Savannah, "You scared the shit out of me." he whispered furiously.
"Sorry. We were going to get something to eat, did you want to go?" Chris invited.
Alex stretched and yawned, "I can't leave them alone."
"I'll stay with them." Mollie offered.
Alex's eyes snapped to Mollie's in confusion, "I don't know..."
"We'll make it back before she wakes up, come on." Chris urged.
Alex never took his eyes off Mollie, trying to read why she would make the offer to stay with Aiden and the baby.
He stood up slowly, "You'll..."
"I'll call you if she wakes up." she interrupted.
He stared at her for several moments before consenting, "Savannah should be good, I just fed and changed her, so uh...yeah."
He kissed Savannah and then Aiden, then placed a hand on Mollie's shoulder, "Uh...thanks."
She shrugged off his hand and sat in the furthest corner from the bed. She crossed her legs in the quiet room inspecting her cuticles as the guys left.
Why the hell had she offered to stay with Aiden? Sure she was sorry about what the girl had gone through but it still didn't excuse the fact that she and Alex had used her in their little "hide the bump" game. Not to mention the fact that she was still with Alex despite her best effort to pry him away from her. She was almost one hundred percent sure that Aiden would be done with him after the Bahamas, but hell no! She came prancing back from Georgia and reclaimed him.
How did Alex not see that Mollie was the one for him? Seriously, did he have blinders on or something, was he that disgustingly in love with her that he'd forgotten all the time she had forgiven him for his transgressions? She wasn't uptight or fake, she wasn't sugary sweet and Betty Crocker all the time. How can he be attracted to her and all of that Stepford wife bullshit? He was certainly no Ward Cleaver. He lived for the nightlife, fast cars and women, booze and broads, nights he'd never remember with friends he'd never forget, and now look at him. He had two kids and was married to Marcia fucking Brady.
She cut her eyes up at Aiden who was still deeply asleep. She scoffed in frustration. A near death experience seemed to only brighten the glow that emanated from her. It made Mollie cringe to think of how clingy and overprotective not only Alex would be but also Chris, Ajay, and probably Petey.
She just didn't get it, wasn't that what all the songs were about nowadays, independent women? Certainly not innocent, virginal white, squeaky clean ones. She belonged in a Taylor Swift song. Alex belonged in a Metallica song. He was way too wild for her to tame, even Mollie who knew practically everything about him, had a hard time keeping up at times.
That was the thing about Alex though, he was very hit or miss. When he was good he was great, when he was bad he was fantastic. He couldn't help what was laid out before him, sometimes literally. He played the cards that were dealt him and that was that.
She stood up with a huff and went to the window. She couldn't stand to look at Aiden any longer. Mollie chewed on her lip thinking about the good times with Alex.
The time she had the flu and he came over in a makeshift Haz-Mat suit to deliver her favorite pumpkin soup and Cherry Garcia ice cream. Or the time she had fought with her dad, one of several fights actually, and he had walked with her up and down the beach in Orlando until the sun rose. In the dark, he'd somehow managed to make a heart out of seashells with her name in the middle. When she had fractured her ankle during a match, he carried her around the entire night of her birthday, piggyback style so she could go out and enjoy the night with her friends. She had listened to him talk for hours about what the business meant to him and how badly he wanted to excel in such an unfair sport. She went along with his crazy idea for a half black half white Mohawk hairstyle, even as far as dyeing his hair late that same night because he was so taken by the idea.
His touches sent chills up her spine, his kisses were electric, his heart….wasn't hers.
It belonged to Aiden now, and for all the awful, horrible, two-timing, man whorish things he had done in their on again off again relationship, Aiden was the dagger to Mollie's heart. She was the kryptonite that brought the whole thing down. Mollie laughed angrily fighting tears at the unexpected flood of memories.
Savannah stirred and let out a small coo from the corner. Mollie looked over her shoulder at the flailing baby. She had kicked her blanket off and was kicking her feet excitedly. Another coo, louder this time, eager for acknowledgement. Mollie took a few steps to close the distance to the bassinet and sat down in Alex's post, between the baby and Aiden.
Mollie smiled reluctantly at the little girl. She had to admit, Alex did make very pretty babies. Aiden's eyes stared up at her from Savannah's face.
"Babies should have such piercing eyes." Mollie teased softly.
The little girl broke into a smile, happy she'd finally gotten a response.
Mollie sat watching her kick and blink in her little crib, "No wonder she was sick all the time, look at you."
She let out another coo, this time loud and long. Mollie stole a glance at Aiden to see if she had woken up. Still sound asleep. The baby's lip poked out then, her eyes filling with tears. Mollie looked back at Aiden, unsure of what to do. When Savannah started to cry, Mollie sighed and reached into the bassinet to pick her up.
She sat back in the chair looking down at the now content baby. Mollie took her finger and wiped away the little tears she had shed, a few escaping from her own eyes as well.
She had pictured this moment quite a few times in her life and only with one man…Alex. She had pictured their wedding day, small and informal, probably in a small church somewhere, with flowers in her hair, just the two of them. She had pictured herself waking up to him snuggled to her womb cracking jokes about ridiculous off the wall names they should name their baby. She could see him strutting around backstage with their child and her father chatting amicably.
She sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"What are you looking at?" She asked as the little girl smiled again, "Stop being so cute, you're making this a lot worse than it should be."
She kicked and held her hands into fists at her face, oblivious to Mollie's suffering.
She held her finger out for Savannah to grab onto.
She laughed looking up to the ceiling as she cried harder, "You're killing me here kid."
When she looked back down Savannah was falling back to sleep finally. She looked back over at Aiden surprised to see her awake and looking over at them.
"Umm, she was fussy, so I…" she muttered awkwardly, moving to put her back in the bassinet.
"I don't mind if you hold her Mollie." Aiden stopped her quietly.
Mollie pulled the baby back to her cursing the tears that fell when the she snuggled closer to her.
"I owe you an apology Mollie." Aiden admitted, gingerly rolling on her side to face Mollie.
Shel aughed again, "Figures you would apologize to me after I seduced your husband."
Aiden was quiet then, lost in flashbacks of the Bahamas trip and her visions while she was comatose of Mollie playing step-mommy to her baby. It was very surreal to look at her holding Savannah.
"I of course didn't expect things to go that far." Aiden said matter-of-factly.
"Then maybe Alex should be the one apologizing instead of you." Mollie stated.
"I don't think he will." she sighed.
"Of course he won't, he's never really cared about my feelings anyways." She scoffed carefully shifting Savannah in her arms.
"I'm sorry for that, for what I did." Aiden said.
"No you're not. If he cared about me, he wouldn't be with you. You knew he didn't care about me that's why you picked me out as a target, you knew he wouldn't leave you for me." She shot back.
"That's just it, I didn't think. I was so scared of everyone finding out about me, Alex, and the baby that I wasn't considering all the possibilities and consequences. I really am sorry for what I did to you." Aiden admitted softly.
She shook her head, "I hate you Aiden. I can't stand you or your relationship with Alex. I hate that you're with him, that you got him to marry you, that you had his baby, I hate that he ever bumped into you. I hate that he ever met you."
Aiden stayed perfectly still, reeling from Mollie's honesty.
"I never expected to be here, to be with him. I could have never guessed that I would end up dating a guy like Alex, he certainly wasn't the kind of person I usually went out with." she stated.
"Oh let me guess, rich, preppy, graduated from some school with a huge football team with a degree in business, president of his daddy's frat, following in his footsteps. All you would have had to do was don your big southern belle Scarlet O' Hara hat at the debutante ball and all the boys would trip over themselves to get to you. Then you would have led a wonderful life, raising babies, cooking lavish dinners, and hosting tea parties to talk about how great you are. What would all of your mama's friends say if they knew you married and had a kid with some guy from across the tracks from Detroit?" Mollie spat out.
"They do know about Alex and that I was pregnant." Aiden shot back, angrily, "What does that matter? You act like you weren't raised the same way I was Mollie."
She laughed ruthlessly then, "That's exactly my point…NOBODY was raised the way you were. None of us skipped through life as naïve and sheltered as you! Nobody has ever been like you, you never falter, you always say the right things, even when you say stupid shit everybody smiles and awws and pats you on the head going 'Isn't she adorable?' Seriously, isn't it exhausting being you? 'No, I love waking up in the morning to singing birds and butterflies on my window sill." Mollie mocked answering her own question.
Aiden blinked letting tears fall down her face, "Why are you so mean?"
Mollie rolled her eyes laughing again, "There you go again. That doe eyed, weepy bullshit doesn't work on me. I don't care if you cry. Be honest don't you want to yell and scream at me? Aren't you mad right now? You do have other emotions right? Everything isn't always sunshine and fucking rainbows with you or am I wrong?"
"Yes, but I feel sorry for you more than anything." Aiden cried.
Mollie shook her head, "No, lets be honest with each other right now. Go ahead and say what's on your mind there's nobody here to see you tarnish your image by being real for once. Go ahead and tell me Aiden, come on."
Aiden shrugged, "I'm not playing your stupid game Mollie."
"Why not, I played yours. Come on, tell me, don't hold back, I didn't with you. Go on you can do it." She prompted.
Aiden shook her head still crying.
"Don't you want to finally confront me about going down on Alex at the beach? How we spent that night together and how he didn't even think twice about you because of me. You're not mad that I'm holding Alex's baby? I bet you're picturing the way things might have been if you never showed up huh?" She pushed.
Aiden was stirred then by the images of Mollie and Alex arguing and her baby being caught in the middle.
Those emotions and the anger surged forward then, "It still hurts when I think about what happened in the Bahamas. I was so mad, and embarrassed more than anything." She stopped then debating internally quickly, she didn't want what she saw while she was in the coma to effect her in reality, but the images were so fresh in her mind.
She was staring blankly as she watched the scene with Mollie and Alex again their loud voices filed her head and made her ears ring. She was sure Mollie could hear them too they were so loud in her head. She saw Savannah huddled under the table with her ears covered tears spilling on to her porcelain cheeks.
"Help me Mommy." She cried.
She had started shaking again, her breathing coming in short gasps.
"Aiden?" Mollie questioned seeing her sudden demeanor change.
Aiden closed her eyes watching the scene play out before her before she spoke.
"You'll never know how glad I am that I survived all of this so that you wouldn't have Alex and my baby to yourself." she stopped opening her watery, sunset eyes, "I am so sorry that I pulled you into this mess and gave you the opportunity to do what you did. I shouldn't have done that, but I forgive you because if I don't I'll be bitter and resentful just like you."
Mollie turned her head sideways and lifted one shoulder, "For a half ass attempt that didn't completely suck."
Aiden was fighting the urge to scream at Mollie to give her her child and to never touch her again. The visions were making her paranoid and she was fighting the delusions.
"I would really like to try to be friends with you Mollie." she said.
Mollie snorted, "That's never gonna happen."
Aiden sighed, "Okaaayyy….fine, but can we at least have a truce until I'm feeling a little better please. You're a really stressful person and for right now I'm asking you to please just wait until I'm out of the woods with this and then you can continue to hate me."
"Ohhh….I get to know what it feels like to be you? I get to know what it feels like to be a selfless little saint?" Mollie mocked, batting her eyelashes.
Aiden heaved out an angry breath, "If that's how you want to look at it."
She smiled down at Lexie, "Fine, but once you're feeling better all bets are off, deal?"
Aiden gritted her teeth as she glared at Mollie, "Deal."
Demi, my dahling, I hope you enjoyed it :)
Please review...next chapter is when Chris and Alex finally have their talk...that should be interesting!