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The phone rang throughout Cecilia's apartment. She was busy with Juliet, so she let it ring a few times. Two rings, three, four. She dashed out of the bedroom and over to the cordless in the other room. "Hello?" she said like she always did. As soon as she answered, though, she got a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her parents? No, she wouldn't feel that way. She had more power over them than they had over her at the moment.
"Cecilia?"
He'd found her. Cecilia just felt like she wanted to grab Juliet and run away as far and fast as she could. "Hello Simon," she said in a curt manner.
"Gee, you remember who I am. What a shock."
"Excuse me?"
He laughed a little on the other end. "It was a joke. Lighten up babe."
Cecilia was in no mood for laughter. "Did you call for a reason?"
Simon was hurt that she wanted to get down to business so soon, but if that was the way she wanted it then so be it. "Yeah. I wanted to see how you are doing."
Although she knew he meant the singular "you," she answered for her and her daughter anyway. "We're both fine, no thanks to you."
"What?" He sounded astonished that she would say such a thing to him. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had a place to live."
"First off, your grandparents took me in, not you." She noticed she was beginning to raise her voice, so she made a conscious effort to cool down a bit. "And second, if it weren't for you I never would have been pregnant."
"Is something wrong sweetheart?"
Cecilia was ready to scream. How could he not be getting this? What had happened to him since she last saw him? She never knew that anything could change that much. "Everything was fine until you called," she said, choosing to just answer his question and not comment on the "sweetheart" ordeal.
"Now, come on…" Simon said something else, but she couldn't hear him. Juliet had started crying in the middle of his sentence.
"Simon, I have to go." More than that, she didn't want to have to deal with him anymore. "It was a pleasure chatting with you, really, but your daughter is calling.
The tone in his voice completely changed. "Daughter? It's a girl?"
A twinge of compassion rose in Cecilia's heart. "Yes. Juliet Holly Smith."
"Wow," he mumbled.
Cecilia instantly got notions in her head of them being a family, or him helping her out, or at the very least Simon acting more normal than he had been since she told him she was pregnant. But she knew none of that would ever happen. She had a new life now and she didn't need him. Hopefully, she'd be able to cut off all ties with him and lead as normal of a life as possible. Still, there was no real reason to be mean to him. Not yet, anyway.
"Yeah, that is definitely in the 'wow' category." She paused and remembered about Juliet. "I'll talk to you later Simon. Bye."
Cecilia put down the phone, and after taking a second to regroup, she went in and got Juliet. She picked her daughter up out of her crib and her wailing ceased. It was time for some breakfast. As she set Juliet down in her highchair, Juliet's eyes seemed to probe Cecilia's mind. She wanted information, or at least that was what it seemed.
"That was your Daddy on the phone," Cecilia explained as she fed her strained peas. "You've never met him because he was mean to Mommy before I came to live here. He lives in California. I lived in California, too. So do all of your grandparents." Cecilia started to get reminiscent. "You'd like it there. There were lots of kids, and it was warm almost all year round. Everybody knew everyone and it was just a great town.
"But I guess everybody knowing everyone was what made me come and move out here. Your great-grandparents let me move in with them until I had you. That sounds like a nice thing, but it wasn't that great. And then I had you and we moved here. I like it here, don't you?" The baby seemed to agree. "Good.
"I thought that if I moved us here and I didn't tell anyone where we were going- our address, our number- then we'd be safe. No one could find us. Everything just might be OK. But now…now I don't know honey." She started to get choked up and looked away from Juliet. "He scares me. He scares me so much. I'm afraid he is going to hurt me again. And I can't let him hurt me because I have you now."
Juliet started to babble in a manner that conveyed that she understood, almost like she sympathized with her mother. Cecilia looked up, bent over, and kissed Juliet's head lightly. "I knew you would understand."
There was a knock at the door and Cecilia jumped. She went over and answered it; Billy and Wilson stood on the other side donning jackets and carrying playthings. "Any chance you ladies would like to join us men at the park?" Wilson asked her.
She smiled a weak smile. "Sounds great. Could you give me five minutes? I have to change her and get her dressed and then we can leave." She stepped aside and allowed them to enter.
"Getting off to a late start this morning, are we?"
"Yeah, well…" Cecilia grumbled and took Juliet into the other room.
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Wilson and Cecilia walked out of Cecilia apartment quietly, gently closing the door behind them. They went over to Wilson's and Cecilia set her baby monitor down on the counter. Wilson put one hand on the small of her back and the other on her upper arm. It took her a second to make herself turn and look at him.
"What's wrong? You've been strange all morning."
"Nothing is wrong." She wanted to end it there, but she figured he would still be pressing her for more information if she did. That was just the kind of guy Wilson was. "I got a phone call from back home this morning."
"Anyone special?" he asked as he moved and put his hands on her hips.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Kind of, not really."
"Oh, I see." He looked into her eyes and grinned. "You don't want to talk about it, do you?"
Finally she cracked a smile. "Not really."
"OK. I'm flexible."
She went in and kissed him lightly. "I bet you are."
"Really, I am. I can put my right foot behind my head."
Cecilia shook her head at him and leaned her forehead on his shoulder. He held her exactly right, and for the moment everything felt good. Every time that happened, she wondered why that was. Her and Wilson's relationship was kind of complicated in an unspoken and simple way. It might seem to be facile and ordinary, but they both had too much going on in their lives to have anything be perfect. And Cecilia and Wilson weren't perfect, but they felt right. That was all that mattered.
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The telephone rang. Cecilia sensed it was Simon. It had been two and half weeks since they had last spoken, but she just knew it was him on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Hey CeCe."
She groaned loudly. "You know I hate when you call me that."
"Sorry. It just…reminds me of the good times we had."
"Well, guess who ruined that." Her tone was full of spite.
"Cecilia, I really want to see the baby- my baby. Juliet, right?"
The young mother was caught entirely off-guard. "I can't do that right now."
"Why not Cecilia?" He was practically screaming at her. His voice had her cowering in fear at the other end.
"You seeing her would mean that I would have to see you and I am not ready to do that yet. I am still too angry with you Simon."
"Why? We both had sex."
"I'm angry because you didn't take responsibility for your own actions. You seemed almost giddy to get rid of me." The receiver should have frozen due to Cecilia's coldness.
"But I am ready to start taking responsibility. I want to see her," Simon pleaded.
"No. "
He audibly gasped. "I have a right to see my child."
"See, I think you gave that up when you left me."
"You left!"
"You made me leave!"
Simon sighed heavily. "All I can think about is you and the baby," he said calmly. "Please. I'm trying to reason with you."
"I can't do this right now," she said with extreme honesty.
"Fine." He hung up.
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Conversations like that one went on just about every other day for two months. The fighting was tiring Cecilia out, and she was already tired from carrying on a romantic relationship and raising her daughter. Each call, however, got more intense. Simon would get more and more insistent. Her conviction did not waver, and that angered him more than anything else. The little bit of love and playful banter they had once clung to was gone from their chats.
Every time Cecilia hung up the phone, she got more and more afraid. Before, she was just afraid of Simon. Now, after talking to him so much, she knew that it was not just him that she was afraid of. She was scared of what he was capable of. His voice, his words- they made her lose sleep almost every night. There was no getting around the fear.
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Cecilia went downstairs to her mailbox and pulled out her mail. It was mostly small envelopes, but upon closer inspection she saw that a rather large manila packet was smushed to fit the perimeter of the box. She slid it out and read the address. It was from a lawyer in GlenOak.
The downstairs room started to spin and she quickly went up to her apartment. Flinging the other mail aside, she carefully opened up the biggest one of all. She skimmed the contents of the papers inside. Damn him. Damn him to hell. Simon had gone to a lawyer to get custody of Juliet. Cecilia slumped down in a chair and blubbered like her baby daughter often did.
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It took her nearly seven hours of crying and holding Juliet tightly for Cecilia to finally pull it together. After that, she decided she needed to get out. She took Juliet with her in her carrier and knocked on Wilson's door. When he answered, she realized how late it actually was. He was in nothing but pajama pants and squinted as he looked at her.
"Cecilia?"
"Could I come in?"
"Sure." Cecilia walked inside, put Juliet's carrier down on the coffee table, and Wilson led her into his bedroom so that they could talk without disturbing the children.
He took a good look at her; it was easy to tell that she had been crying her eyes out. Instead of asking what was wrong, though, he waited. He assumed that that was why she had come over so late at night.
"I-I…I," she stammered, "I'm sorry I woke up."
"That's OK."
"Could I ask you a favor?" She was practically panting to try and keep from crying again.
"Anything."
Cecilia didn't say anything; she just went over to Wilson and leaned against him. He wrapped his strong arms around her and she cried silently, unnoticed by her protector. They stood that way until they couldn't any longer.
"Cecilia, it's late," he eventually whispered.
"I know, I'm sorry. I'm leaving."
"No, I meant…" Wilson picked up her hand and led Cecilia over to the bed. He turned down the sheets a little and patted the cool surface. He looked at her, as if to pose a question, and she nodded.
Wilson climbed in first, and then she followed. They lay with her back against his front, his arms wrapped around her stomach and her hands atop his. Oddly enough, this felt OK. Not necessarily right, but OK. After a little while, she rolled over to face him. Their lips were centimeters apart, and after a moment of gazing into each other's eyes, they shared a passionate kiss.
One kiss led to another, and then another. Soon their emotions had gotten the best of them. Cecilia straddled Wilson's stomach, still joined at his lips, and his hand went lazily up the back of her shirt. They both knew what they were about to do. Wilson pulled away from Cecilia, unsure. He looked deep into her eyes and saw no fear or apprehension. She nodded to him, and they commenced with the most intimate act their relationship had seen yet.
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A/N: This is super long. But I felt bad that I hadn't updated in a while, and plus I am going on vacation. I hope you guys enjoyed it. The premise of this whole story, initially, had been that Wilson and Cecilia had this big, sex driven relationship. It's not turning out to be such, but I still had to throw a little of that in here. I hope no one was too skeeved.
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Ooh la la! Saucy! What will they do next? Review.
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