Questions and Answers
A/N : Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, *hugs4u* and lots and lots of chocolate.
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Paul's question was met by complete silence, both my Joanie and her sister. Who could only stare at him wide eyed, thinking of something to say? The silence was finally broken by PJ coming awake.
"Want my momma?" She cried.
Joanie started to go to her, but was stopped by Kathy.
"I'll take care of Jessie," she remembered the right name this time. "You stay here and finish your talk with Paul."
"But we're through here," she started to say.
"No, where not," Paul interrupted. Joanie turned and looked at him. Wanting to say something else, but was again stopped by Jessie's talking.
"Not you," she said as Kathy went to calm her down before she woke up Tommy. "Momma."
"Kathy, why don't you take the twins into the room and I'll be in shortly."
"Okay," she said and started to wheel the stroller into the bedroom, but Jessie sat up and lifted her arms up to her mother.
"Momma, peas," she said with tears in her eyes. "Hold, Jessie."
This was the first real look that Paul had got of either of the twins, and she didn't look like what he thought she would. Both Joanie and Sean had dark hair and eyes, but Jessie had blond hair and blue eyes. In fact, she sort of reminded him of someone, but he couldn't place his finger on it, so he started to walk closer to get a better look at the young baby, but was stopped short by Joanie.
"What are you doing Paul?" She asked as she noticed him starting to walk over to the stroller.
"Uh," before he could answer she turned back to her sister.
"Kathy, please take the twins into the other room before Tommy wakes up," she instructed her sister.
"Sure," Kathy said, as she pushed the stroller with, Jessie still crying. It was tearing Joanie up inside not to be able to go over and pick her up, like she wanted to. But, didn't dare, because of Paul.
"Paul, I really think you should go," Joanie said rather hastily. Hoping that Paul had forgotten the question he asked right before Jessie woke up. No such luck. In fact he was filled with even more question's about the twins than before.
"Joanie, who are PJ & JT?"
She didn't answer him at first, trying to think of something to say. But, nothing readily came to mind.
"Joanie?" Paul repeated.
Knowing she would have to answer, she decided to go with the truth, well at least part of it anyway. "The twins are. Tommy and Jessie are their middle names. Kathy is the only one who refers to them as PJ & JT."
"What do the initials stand for?" He asked, just like she knew he would. And, was prepared with a lie.
"Patricia Jessica and Jacob Thomas."
"Oh," was all he said at first. Just when she thought, his curiosity about the twins was done. He asked another question.
"How old are the twins?"
"They're 10 months old. Why?"
"Jessie seemed older. I mean she was already talking in sentences and from what I can remember of my niece and nephew at that age, they were barely learning to talk, and then it was just simple words like dada and wawa."
"Those weren't sentences," she said. "She only knows a few words."
"Paul your 10 minutes is up and I really need to go see to the twins," Joanie said as she walked over and opened the door. But Paul wasn't leaving.
"Joanie, you said you would hear me out, and I haven't had the chance to say what I came here to say?"
"Paul, now is not a good time."
"Fine, than have dinner with me tonight so we can talk?"
"I can't, the twins."
"I'm sure Kathy won't mind watching them."
"Fine, I'll meet you in the hotel restaurant at 8:00," she said knowing that she had no intention of showing up. Paul was so happy that she agreed that it didn't dawn on him she was lying. If he had been paying closer attention to her face, he would have been able to tell. After Paul left, Joanie went into the room and picked up Jessie, who was still fussy. She then told her sister to start packing and to call the airlines and change their flight reservations to tonight.
"Joanie, why are we leaving a day early?" She asked confused.
"Because Paul wants me to meet him for dinner tonight to talk about things and I fully intend to be out of the State when that time comes."
"Joanie, I really think that you should talk to him"
"No, we said all there was to say to each other the last time. He couldn't even be bothered to ask how the pregnancy was going in Nashville."
"Joanie, I've been thinking about it, and maybe he didn't know about the pregnancy."
"Oh, he knew. I told you I wrote him a letter, and he chose to ignore it."
"Joanie, honey, what if he never got the letter? I, mean, think about it. From the way he was questioning you about the twins, it, sure did seem like that he didn't know anything about their existence. I mean he even asked you how old they were, for god sakes."
"Oh he knows, he was just playing dumb."
"Why would he do that? That doesn't make sense."
"I don't know, maybe he's mad that I said Sean was their father. But I know he knows about the twins. Now, help me start packing," she said. Refusing to believe anything Kathy said. Because to do so would mean she had been wrong about so many things.
Joanie, Kathy and the twins were able to get on a 6:00 p.m. flight to LA, where Joanie was set to begin pre-production on her new film. Meanwhile, back in New York, Paul got to the hotel early, so he could wait for Joanie, but when 8:15 came and she still hadn't come down, he went to the front desk to call her room.
"Could you call room 736 for me please?" He asked the clerk, who was a different one, from earlier.
"I'm sorry sir, the people in that room checked out a few hours ago."
"What? You have to be mistaken. We were supposed to meet for dinner."
"No, sir. No mistake, I checked them out myself. Two women, with the cutest pair of babies I have ever seen."
"Did they leave any messages?"
"No, again, sorry."
"Thanks, any ways," he mumbled as he turned and left the building. I guess this was the way it was meant to end, he thought as he drove back home.
But over the next few months, he kept thinking back to that day at the hotel. Some things just didn't feel right about it. Why had Joanie been so nervous when he asked questions about the babies names and especially their age. And, it was right after he questioned Jessie's talking that she wanted him to leave. That just didn't make sense to him.
"Hey, Shawn. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure man, you know you can ask me anything."
"When Connor was 10 months was he talking in sentences?"
"No, that didn't happen until he was about 15 or 16 months. He said a few words like mama and dada, but that's it. Why?"
"Just curious is all."
"Okay, then."
No matter whom Paul asked, he always got the same response, that a baby at 10 months old did not say sentences, even simple ones like Jessie did that day.
Meanwhile, in LA, things were going good for Joanie. The movie was coming along nicely and the twins were finally starting to grow and catch up with other kids their own age. The only sad part was that Kathy had to leave to go back to her job. She was starting to get lonely and miss her sister when Sean called to tell her he would be coming to LA to be with her. He was going to be working for a local promotion known as UPW, which use to be a training site of the WWE. Joanie didn't know how to react to this news. A small part of her had missed Sean, but an even bigger part of her hadn't. Things had been so strained between them before she left, and she didn't want to go back to that. But, feared that they might, because of all the success she was having. Also, because after seeing Paul again, her heart knew that she still loved him, and always would, but her head refused to acknowledge that possibility. So instead she chose to ignore it, hoping that it would go away, but knowing that it never would.
When Sean arrived in LA, things were great for the first couple of weeks. Joanie tried really hard to make things perfect and so did Sean. He genuinely seemed happy and supportive of her, but then things slowly started to change. He started to hang out with Scott Hall again, and that was never a good sign. He got into the habit of staying out all night and drinking and when she would question him about it, they would get into horrible fights. Lots of screaming, but that is where it would always stop. Until one night, when things changed. It was 3:00 am when Sean came home, drunk and reeking of smoke. Joanie was asleep in the room and woke up to find Sean sitting on the bed trying to kiss her.
"What the hell do you think your doing Sean?" She asked as she tried to sit up and get him off of her.
"Aw, come on, baby, just a little kiss," he slurred.
"Sean, you're drunk. Just go to bed."
"No, not until I get my kiss," he said as leaned down and tried to kiss her again.
"I said no, now let me go."
"No, I'm tired of you always telling me what to do. I'm the fucking man in this relationship, not you. And, if I want a god damn kiss, than I sure as hell am going to take one," he snarled as he pushed her down and brutally crushed his mouth against hers. Joanie tried to struggle and get away, but Sean was just too strong. He released her mouth and moved on to her neck
"Sean, don't," she managed to gasp out, but he ignored her. As he came back up to kiss her again she bit his lip, drawing blood.
"You bitch," he spat as he reached up and back handed her across the face. "You're going to pay for that." He then grabbed both of her hands in one of his and placed them above her head, with his other hand he tore the front of her t-shirt, exposing her bra underneath.
"Sean, I said No!" She screamed and started to buck her hips and kick her legs. Anything to get him off of her.
"You wanna play rough Joanie? Fine, so be it," he said as he tried to rip her bra. He had to let go of her hand to do this, and when he did, she hit him with everything she could. Being that he was already drunk, he went down really hard. As soon as he was off of her, she ran to the twins the room and locked the door. Once there, she called the police. When the police finally arrived, Sean was gone, and Joanie was taken to the hospital to be checked out. After being examined by a doctor, the police took the report and immediately put out an APB on Sean for attempted rape and assault. Joanie was also issued an immediate restraining order. She couldn't go back to the apartment, so her and the twins checked into a hotel for the night. The next morning, Joanie sent for her and the twins things from the apartment, knowing she would never go back. She didn't know where to go or who to turn too, the movie was on a 6 week hiatus, and her sister was currently out of the country. She didn't feel save with anyone else. She was sitting alone in the hotel, when it dawned on her where to go. She would go to Paul, she didn't even question it. She just knew that he would protect her and the twins and keep them save from harm. She was able to get a flight out the next morning. Soon she was on her way to Connecticut.
It was late night and Paul couldn't sleep, as was the norm. So he was flipping through channels looking for something interesting to watch, besides infomercials, when something caught his eye. It was one of those celebrity gossip shows and right before they went to commercial they showed a picture of Joanie and Sean and teased a story. Paul was now hooked and wondered what the story could be about. After sitting impatiently through 2 ½ minutes of crappy commercials the program finally returned. And what Paul saw and heard, made him so angry he wanted to kill. They reported on the attempted rape and assault of Joanie by Sean, the APB and his subsequent arrest. The piece ended with footage of Sean being escorted handcuffed into the police station. There were some fans and reporters standing around asking question.
"How could you do that to the mother of your children?" Someone asked.
"Those aren't by children. I don't know who the little bastards belong too," he spat. "They were already born when we met last year. In fact, they're older than she tells everyone they are. They were born 3 months premature, that's why they are so small. But they're really a year and a half instead of just a year," he managed to say before he was dragged inside.
Paul was still furious as hell, but confusion had also set in. Sean had to have been lying. He just had to have been, because if he wasn't, that could only mean one thing. The twins were his, he was their father. Desperately, needed to know the truth and not having any clue on how to contact Joanie, Paul decided to search for the missing letter again. And this time he wouldn't stop until he found it, even if he had to tear the fucking house apart.
After hours of traveling Joanie was finally at Paul's. It had been an exhausting day. Her flight had been cancelled and she had to wait standby and when she finally did manage to get another flight out it was one with three different stop overs, and what should have been a three or four hour trip at the most turned into a twelve hour one and to top it off, the twins were starting to get sick. But, it was all worth it because she was finally going to see Paul, and tell him the truth about the twins. She had, had a lot of time to think today, and what her sister said to her in New York, made a lot of sense. It did seem like Paul had no idea about the babies like she always assumed he had, and just chose to ignore their existence. They had so much to talk about. It was late when she reached the house and the twins were asleep in their stroller. She took a deep breadth and knocked on the door.
Paul practically did tear his whole house apart, looking for the letter, that he found in the drawer of the desk he never used. He was just about to open it, when there was a knock at the door.
"Who, the fuck is knocking on my door at 2:30 in the morning?" He wondered. He was going to ignore it and open the letter, anxious to know if it said anything about the twins, when the knocking came again. Louder and more persistent.
"Damn it, this better be import. . ." he started to yell, but stopped when he noticed the person on the other side of the door.
"Joanie," he breathed quietly
A/N 2 : Sorry the chapter sucked, but it was the best I could do, I must have rewrote this one at least 5 times and nothing ever seemed right, and this is what I finally settled on. Go ahead and flame me, I know I deserve it. But, writers block for this chapter was a total bitch. The rest will be better, I promise. Remember *hug4u* and chocolate if you review, even the bad ones. L8R ; )
