Part 2
It had been twenty-four hours since her life had been torn apart. Since her world had stopped. The kids were in bed and she was sitting on the couch, clutching a pillow to her chest as tears streamed down her cheeks. He never called her back and why would he? He was obviously busy with this other woman, forgetting he had a wife and two kids at home.
A knock at the door drew her out of her thoughts. Who would that be? She wondered, sighing as she got up. She opened the door, her breathing stopping as she stared at the man in front of her.
"Why are you here?" Meredith spat.
"You spoke to Renee?" Derek said. His eyes full of anger that she had never seen before.
"Oh, that's her name? When were you planning on telling me you were shacking up with another woman?" Meredith growled.
"After the divorce papers were signed," Derek said nonchalantly.
"So, that's it? You're done? After nearly eleven years and two kids, you're just done?" Meredith asked, turning around to walk back into the house as Derek followed her.
"What the hell do you expect, Meredith? You brought this onto yourself, you made me cheat." Derek growled.
"I made you cheat?! You're the one that took the job and didn't care to consult me and then decided we were moving our family across the country, Derek! You didn't stop to think how the kids would deal with moving or how I would feel! So how the hell did I make you cheat?" Meredith asked, shocked.
"This job is important to me, Meredith!" Derek yelled.
"Yeah, your career is always more important, always has been, Derek. You're God and nothing can stand in your way, not even your wife and kids." Meredith snapped.
Zola had woken up, disturbed out of her sleep by the noise downstairs. Slowly she climbed out of bed, tip-toeing out of her room as the yelling intensified. This wasn't right, her mommy and daddy never fought. She walked to the top of the stairs, clutching her stuffed rabbit against her chest.
"So you're just going to throw away everything, Derek?" She heard her mother yell. Tears sprang to the little girl's eyes. She didn't like hearing her mommy yell.
"You gave up on this family when you couldn't take into account how much this job meant to me, Meredith!" Derek yelled back. Zola couldn't take it, the loud voices, she wasn't used to this and it scared her.
In between the coats in the closet
She held on to that heart-shaped locket
Staring at a family, flawless
But it ain't a pretty picture tonight
She ran back to her room, hiding herself behind some clothes in hopes that she wouldn't be able to hear what was happening. Her little body trembling as she listened to the raised voices and stuff being thrown, able to hear as glass was shattering.
Mom and daddy just won't stop it
Fighting at the drop of a faucet
Cuts through the walls, catastrophic
She's caught in the crossfire
Puts her hands over her ears
Starts talking through the tears
And she's saying, and she's praying
"Mommy, daddy, please stop..." she whispered tearfully as she clamped her hands over her ears. She wanted it to stop, she needed it to stop. She could hear her brother start to cry and she hoped that would put an end to things. Zola waited for a few minutes but the fighting still continued. Slowly she got up, grabbing her stuffed animal as she headed for her mothers room where she knew she kept her cell phone. She pulled it off the charger before heading to the nursery.
Bailey was sitting up in his crib, tears streaming down his cheeks as the noise had obviously woken him up. Zola didn't know what to do. She was too little to take Bailey out of the crib. She looked around, coming up with an idea as she pulled the rocking chair over, climbing onto it as she still clutched the cell phone in one hand and her stuffed animal in the other.
Slowly she climbed over, plopping herself right next to her brother as her stuffed animal fell into the crib beside her.
"It's okay, Bailey. I know who to call," the little girl said as she wrapped her arm around her brother.
I wish words were like little toy guns
No sting, no hurt no one
Just a bang, bang rolling off your tongue
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
Yeah, no smoke, no bullets
No kick from the trigger when you pull it
No pain, no damage done
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
And just a bang, bang rolling off your tongue
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
"Great, now you've woken Bailey up, are you satisfied now?" Meredith yelled, starting to head towards the stairs.
"No, you don't get to leave!" Derek yelled, following her. He grabbed her arm, pulling her back over to the couch.
"What the hell, Derek? Our child Is crying and you still want to drag this out? He needs me, obviously you don't.
Wish there was a white flag waving
Or that they were both just faking
And it was just a game they were playing
Like shoot-'em-up cowboys
Leave the plastic pistols in the front yard
Throw away the scorecard
And just turn off all the noise
Zola looked through her mothers phone, looking for a picture. She couldn't read, but she knew what the person she was looking for looked like. Her mother had taught her how to use the phone in case of emergencies and to her, this was definitely an emergency.
"Hey, Zola!" Alex's voice came through the phone. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
"Alex, please help. Mommy and Daddy won't stop fighting." Zola whispered, hoping Alex could hear her over Bailey's crying.
"Okay, Zola, just stay there. I'm coming." Alex said.
I wish words were like little toy guns
No sting, no hurt no one
Just a bang, bang rolling off your tongue
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
Yeah, no smoke, no bullets
No kick from the trigger when you pull it
No pain, no damage done
(I wish words like were little toy guns)
And just a bang, bang rolling off your tongue
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
"I'm the one that has been keeping this family together while you've been off "working," Derek." Meredith said, making air quotes with her fingers. "How long have you been seeing her?" She asked, sighing heavily.
"A while now, she supports me and knows this is chance of a lifetime, unlike you." Derek snarled.
Their arguing was interrupted a short while later by the front door swinging open and very pissed off Alex walking in.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Derek growled. "Did you really need backup?" He yelled at Meredith.
"What? I didn't call him!" Meredith yelled back.
"I'm here because your daughter called me crying, saying Mommy and Daddy were fighting and you two can't even get your shit together long enough to notice that she called me!" Alex yelled as he walked past them towards the stairs. "They're staying with me tonight, you two better figure out whatever the hell it is you're fighting about and realize what it's doing to your children. How long has Bailey been crying? How long have you guys ignored him?"
Both Meredith and Derek stayed quiet as Alex shook his head and headed up the stairs. He walked into the nursery, finding Zola, still clutching the cell phone in her hand as her little body shook. Bailey still in tears beside her.
Toy guns
Oh, I wish they didn't cut like a knife
I wish they didn't break you inside
I wish they didn't bang, bang
Make you wanna run...
"Hey, let's get you guys out of here, okay?" He grabbed a bag out of the closet, throwing some extra clothes for Bailey into it along with a few diapers. "Alright big guy, let's get you and your sister out of here." He whispered, picking Bailey up out of the crib as the toddler cried against him. He reached his hand out helping Zola out of the crib.
All three of them headed downstairs, walking right past Meredith and Derek who stood there, Meredith in tears herself. She didn't mean for this to happen, she never wanted her children to witness this. Alex stopped in the kitchen, grabbing a few bottles out of the fridge before heading towards the door.
"You two, figure out whatever you need to while I take care of the kids," he said as he pulled the door closed behind him.
Yeah, like little toy guns
No sting, no hurt no one
Just a bang, bang rolling off your tongue
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
Yeah, no smoke, no bullets
No shot from the trigger when you pull it
No pain, no damage done
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
And just a bang, bang rolling off your tongue
(I wish words were like little toy guns)
Toy guns
Oh, like little toy guns
They both stood there, staring at each other. Meredith with more hurt in her eyes than Derek had ever seen.
"Happy now?" She whispered. "Alex just took our kids because our daughter saw us fighting. Something I've worked so hard to shield our kids from and you blew it." She started to walk away, she was done fighting. "I'll sign the papers as soon as I get them. Goodbye, Derek."