Chapter 35: Jacob Returns

After Caitlin Christina Reid was released from the hospital life seemed to go on as normal for everyone (well for the Russo-Torres's anyway, The Reid's were having quite the time re-visiting the baby stages with their daughter and their son who didn't seemed all too thrilled over his sisters constant noise.). The rest of September and all of October had passed and now the cold weather of November had arrived. Alex was walking the isles of Wal-Mart and trying to find everything on their shopping list (Mitchie had stayed home with the kids and Alex got to take a shopping trip alone, which sometimes worked out better depending on the mood Ariana was in). Alex whipped out her phone quickly as she grabbed a few things for Ariana's school lunches and after a few rings Mitchie had answered.

"Hey baby, how much milk is left?" Alex asked remembering she hadn't checked the fridge as she made her list earlier.

"Um, not very much maybe enough for two or three more bowls of cereal." Mitchie replied.

"Okay I'll grab some more then. Anything else?" Alex asked

"No not that I can thi…Ariana Ryan Faith Russo! You do not do that!" Mitchie scolded halfway through her sentence. Alex could hear one of the twins start wailing in the background and by past scenario's it was more than likely Anna. Even after 16 months Ari still had yet to fully adjust to not being the center of attention anymore.

"What's going on?" Alex asked as she grabbed a box of granola bars.

"Oh, Anna had gotten a hold of one of Ari's books and Ari slapped it out of her hand." Mitchie replied.

"Ariana, to your room now. Don't come out till I say." Mitchie added on the other side. Now Ariana was the one crying as she stormed up to her room and shut the door as Mitchie gave an exasperated sigh as she picked up her still crying younger daughter.

"I'll let you go babe, so nothing else?" Alex said

"Nope nothing, see you in a bit" Mitchie replied.

"Love you"

"Love you too."

Alex placed her phone back in her purse and headed down towards the dairy products.

"Funny, last time I saw you was in a grocery store. How convenient." Came a familiar chuckle from in front of Alex.

"Jacob?" Alex asked as she looked up at the tall muscular man standing in front of her, a baby's car seat inside the cart. His looks hadn't changed at all since high school besides the obvious bit of aging.

"Can I see?" Alex asked. With Jacob nodding Alex went over to Jacob's cart and looked at the baby in the carrier who was asleep sucking on her pacifier.

"Oh my god she's adorable." Alex commented looking at the baby girl.

"Yeah, she's gunna be 2 months on the 23rd." Jacob said as he looked down at his daughter in her car seat.

"Really? So is my friend Alison's baby." Alex replied as she went back to her cart.

"Yeah I saw you in the hospital that day." Jacob told her.

"You were helping.." Jacob began but blanked when he couldn't remember the little girl's name.

"Ariana." Alex told him.

"Find the bathroom in the hospital." Jacob finished. The two continued to talk and catch up as they made their way through the store and grabbed the things they needed. As Alex pulled a package of yogurt tubes off the shelf Jacob asked her if he could meet Ariana.

"Jake, I really don't know. I told you back when I found out about her that the choice you made was the only choice you were allowed to make." Alex said.

"I know, and I totally respect that. All I'm asking is just a quick hello and maybe spending an hour or two with her." Jacob reasoned.

"And if you want both you and Mitchie can be there."

"Let me think about it." Alex replied. The two exchanged numbers before leaving the store and the entire drive home Alex thought about the pros and cons of letting Jacob meet and spend time with Ariana. Yes, he was her biological daughter and he did deserve to spend time with her, but then again he did ask Alex to get an abortion split seconds after telling him. A slight migraine began to form as she pulled up to the house and grabbed the bags from the backseat.

"Hi mommy." Ariana smiled as she grabbed one of the bags from her mother's hands as she walked in the door.

"Hey honey, where's mommy?" Alex asked as she put the groceries on the counter.

"She's putting Anna and Trenton to bed." Ariana replied. After un packing the groceries Alex called Mitchie into their bedroom to talk.

"So I when I was at the store earlier after I got off the phone with you I ran into someone." Alex began as she closed the door.

"Really? Who?" Mitchie asked.

"Jacob." Alex replied, causing Mitchie's face to instantly fall at the mention of her wife's ex girlfriend.

" He wants to see Ari sometime." Alex added.

"I wanted to ask you what you thought of that before I said yes. And he said all that he wants to do is just a quick hello and maybe 1 or 2 hours with her."

Mitchie bit her lip deep in thought.

"Lex, he did say he didn't want her." Mitchie pointed out.

"I know, and he said he still accepted the fact that his choice was his only one. It's just one or two hours how much can it really hurt?" Alex asked. Mitchie gave a slight sigh but agreed to let Jacob spend an hour or so with Ariana, even though she was still angry at him for what he did to her wife just over 7 years ago. Later that night after dinner was cleaned up and the twins were put to sleep Mitchie and Alex asked to talk to Ariana

"Ari, remember how I told you that some kids have a mommy and daddy, and some others have two mommies or two daddies?" Mitchie asked. Not quite sure where her mother was going she just nodded slightly

"Well mama ran into your daddy at the store and he wants to meet you." Mitchie said.

"Is he nice?" Ariana asked. Mitchie wanted to say something but Alex interjected.

"I don't know baby, I haven't seen him for quite a while." Alex replied.

"So do you want to meet him? You don't have to if you don't want to he'll understand."

"Do I have to call him daddy?" Ariana asked.

"Not if you don't want to." Alex replied

"Okay."

"So you wanna meet him?" Alex repeated. Ariana nodded her head and after their talk was done Ariana was tucked in and put to bed.

"Lex, I just don't have a good feeling about this." Mitchie said as she and Alex lay on the couch watching a re run episode of Grey's Anatomy.

"I know, a part of me doesn't either but he said we could go along with them if it made us feel better." Alex running her fingers through Mitchie's hair.

"I say let's go with them, I don't want him trying to pull anything." Mitchie said. The next day Alex phoned Jacob and they set up a meeting for the up-coming weekend. When that Saturday afternoon approached both Alex and Mitchie were extremely nervous, thankfully Ariana seemed to be a little curious so nerves were far from her mind. Just after 12:30 a knock was heard on the front door.

"I'll get it." Alex said as she took a deep breath before opening the door.

"Hey Jake." Alex greeted as the older boy stepped in the house.

"Hey, so everyone ready to go?" Jacob asked.

"Almost, Ari's just helping Mitchie get the twins ready." Alex replied as she heard her wife, daughters and son made their way downstairs.

"Ari, can you come here for a second please?" Alex asked as her daughter came down the stairs. Ariana helped Trenton over to the carpet before making her way over to her mother.

"Jacob, this is Ariana." Alex introduced.

"Hi Ari." Jacob greeted.

"Hi." Ariana said shyly.

"You know, you look just like your mama." Jacob complimented making the little girl smile.

"Thank you." She replied.

"So how about me, you , mama, mommy and the twins go out for lunch and go play at the park huh?" Jacob suggested seeing as the winter weather hadn't fully settled in. Ariana nodded and after everyone was ready they made their way over to P.F Chang's and ordered lunch.

"So what have you been up to since College?" Alex asked, holding Mitchie's hand tight under the table knowing this wasn't the most comfortable meal for her considering she had been the one who yelled at Jacob over his reaction over Alex's pregnancy.

"Well I graduated from NYU and got my journalism degree, and while I was in college I met Kelly. We dated for about 2 years before I proposed then a year later we got married then found out we were going to have Madison not too long after." Jacob replied.

"How was Kelly when you told her about Ari?"

"She was a little shocked when I told her, even more when I told her I saw you guys in the hospital a couple months ago, but she seemed okay with it." Jacob answered. The waitress brought over the food and everyone ate and chatted for the next little bit. When they reached the park about an hour later Alex and Mitchie placed Anna and Trenton in the baby swings while Jacob pushed Ariana on the other swings.

"Hey Ari,have you ever been under-ducked?" Jacob asked. The little girl shook her head and Jacob just grinned.

"Okay, hold on tight." Jacob said as he stepped back a bit while holding the swing and ran under the swing as it rose in the air. Ariana laughed hysterically as she continued to pump and keep her self air bourn.

"If me and Jai were playing swing higher I'd be winning." The little girl giggled as she saw how high she was.

"Who's Jai?" Jacob asked.

"Jaiden, he's my best friend." Ariana replied as she continued to swing. After a few more under-duck's and a quick break on the slides Jacob took a seat with Alex while Mitchie pushed the twins on the swings

"You did a great job with her Alex. She's a pretty great kid." Jacob complimented.

"Thanks, believe me she does have her moments. Like just before I saw you last week Mitchie said she had slapped a book out of Anna's hand because it was hers." Alex replied.

"Sibling jealousy, it gets the best of us." Jacob replied.

"I remember I was pretty bad with my little sister, but we got over it."

"Jake! Can you give me another under-duck? Please?" Ariana asked coming over to her mother and biological father.

"Sure, just one more though." Jacob said as he and Ariana walked over to the swing set. Ariana climbed onto the swing and after Jacob had given her the under-duck and the swing had come to a halt the 3 parents decided it was time to head home since the twins were practically falling asleep in the swings.

"Want me to drive her home?" Jacob asked.

"Um.." Alex was at a loss for words.

"Lex, it's not that far, just home and that's it. It'll give me and Ari some time to talk just the two of us." Jacob said. Reluctantly, Alex nodded and Alex, Mitchie and the twins headed into the car as Jacob and Ariana headed into Jacob's SUV. Jacob and Ariana were the first to the park, then Alex and Mitchie followed not too far behind. The traffic light had just turned green a few streets up from the park and Jacob started pulling forward when all of a sudden a black Ford that wasn't paying very much attention to the traffic lights came from the side and slammed into the side of the SUV, knocking it sideways quite a distance. Alex and Mitchie watched the scene in horror as the shock of what they had just seen hit them.

"NO!" Alex screamed as she ripped off her seatbelt and threw her door open to run over to the vehicle that held her oldest daughter.

TO BE CONTINUED

Y'all wanted Drama right? Sorry it had to happen this way but the idea just got stuck in my head and I just had to use it.

R&R!