Chapter Nineteen: Mistakes
Chris opened his door to a tear-stained, disheveled Emma Nelson. He motioned for her to sit down on the couch. He was embarrassed by the state his apartment was in, but since he couldn't do anything about it, he turned his attention to Emma.
"What happened?" he asked, brushing hair out of her face.
"I had a fight with Manny," she said, trying not to burst into tears again. "I said some really hurtful things to her and she told me that if I didn't appreciate what she's done for me then I should go somewhere else. And here I am."
"Let me guess; the fight was about me," Chris said.
"Yeah, pretty much. Do you think it would be alright if I stayed here? Just for tonight, I mean," she added.
"It's fine with me. I'll take the couch; you can have my bed," he told her.
"No, I'll sleep on the couch. I don't want to make you uncomfortable in your own home," Emma said.
"Emma, you're pregnant. You are not sleeping on this ratty old couch!" Chris told her sternly.
"Well, I'm not sure I want to sleep alone tonight," Emma told him.
"I don't think that's such a good idea…"
"Why not? I am pregnant. What do you think it gonna happen?" she asked.
"You do have a point there. Why don't we go to bed now though? It's getting late," he suggested. Emma agreed, and Chris led her to his bedroom. Emma stood outside, observing the room. It was small, with just a double bed, dresser, and desk in it.
"Think I could change out of my bathing suit?" Emma asked.
"Oh yeah, sorry. I wasn't really paying attention to what you were wearing," Chris said.
"Wow, that's a first," Emma joked. Chris blushed and quickly ducked into his room, returning a minute later with a pair of boxers and a huge t-shirt.
"Sorry, I don't have girl's underwear," he said, handing the clothes over to her.
"I should hope not," Emma replied before going into the bathroom to change. She hung her wet suit over the bar of the shower and made her way back to Chris' room. She found him lying on the bed, already asleep. She lay down next to him and pulled the blankets over her. After twenty minutes of staring at the ceiling, she found herself moving closer to Chris. She snuggled right up next to him, and he put his arm around her, still half-asleep. Emma closed her eyes and easily fell asleep with him so close.
"I can't believe she still hasn't called to let me know she's okay!" Manny complained to Jimmy. She was really getting worried. They had fought around eleven the night before, and it was almost five o'clock the next night. Now Manny was trying to decide what to make for dinner, and hoping she'd be setting a place at the table for Emma.
"I'm sure she's fine. She probably went to her parent's house. Or she could even be at her own house. They still own it and JT's still in rehab," he pointed out. "Besides, I'm sure she's just as upset as you are about this whole fight."
"All I did was try to give her advice, and she insulted the kids! I can't believe she would do something like that!" Manny said, almost yelling. Luckily, all the children were upstairs in their rooms playing. Jimmy didn't want them to hear what Emma had said about them.
"What kind of advice did you give her?" he asked. Manny still hadn't told him all the details of the fight.
"Well, I told her that she shouldn't be messing around with Chris when she's pregnant with JT's baby and he's trying to get better for her," Manny said.
"You have to remember that we're not sixteen anymore. Emma needs to start making her own decisions. And if those decisions turn into mistakes that she'll regret then she needs to work them out on her own," he told her.
"I know that. I just don't want her to get hurt by him. And JT really is working hard for her. I talked to him the other day. He called but she refused to talk to him. He said that he would be out of there sometime next month. It will just break his heart if Emma chooses not to be with him."
"But he did beat her and rape her. Even if he doesn't remember doing it, he shouldn't have gotten drunk in the first place. I think Emma is right to be wary of trusting him. But I also agree with you that she should not have anything to do with Chris. He's not a very trustworthy person either," Jimmy said, stating all of his opinions.
"That's all true. I'm just worried right now though. I think I'm gonna go call Spike and Snake to see if they've heard from her," Manny said. She kissed Jimmy and left the room to make the phone call. As she picked up the phone in the living room and started to dial, the front door burst open and Emma walked in. "Em!" Manny squealed as if she were twelve again.
"Hi," Emma replied meekly. She wasn't sure if Manny was going to be angry or happy or both. Manny answered the question by running over and throwing her arms around her best friend.
"I was so worried about you. I didn't mean for you to leave. And I'm sorry I told you to go. I thought something bad happened. I was just about to call your parents…" Emma interrupted her.
"Manny, you're rambling," she said, letting slip a small laugh. It made her feel like a kid again, and it was a little comforting. "Besides, I'm the one who should be saying sorry. You were right, and I shouldn't have ever said anything about the kids. You know I love them too," Emma explained.
"Of course," Manny said. When she hugged Emma just moments earlier, she could smell Chris' cologne. She also noticed that Emma was wearing his clothes. Her stomach turned at the thought of Emma spending a night with him. She let the feeling slide when she remembered what Jimmy had told her. Let her make her own mistakes, he had said.
"I'm sorry that I worried you, but I won't be staying for dinner. I have somewhere that I really need to be. I just have to get changed, but I'll be back as soon as I can," she explained. At first, Manny thought that Emma might be going back to Chris', but then she realized that Emma wouldn't have come home if she was just going to stay there.
"Okay, I'll wrap up some leftovers in case you're hungry later," Manny said, and left to finish setting the table. Emma hurried upstairs to her room, closing the door and leaning back on it. After a few seconds, tears came pouring from her eyes as she let herself slide all the way down to the floor.
-Flashback-
Emma woke up in the morning to find Chris' arms still around her. She smiled and rolled on her side, looking up into his eyes. He brushed a stray piece of hair from her eyes and smiled back. She couldn't remember the last time she even felt like this. She was so used to being beaten up and then running to the office to spend a restless night on the couch.
"Chris, I…" but he put a finger to her lips, silencing her. Emma didn't mind, seeing as she forgot what she was about to say anyway. Chris stroked her lips with his finger, then used it to pull her chin up, towards his mouth. He kissed her passionately, and she gladly kissed him back. Emma laid her head on Chris' chest and held onto his hand. She just wanted to lie there in his arms forever.
A few minutes later, Emma kissed Chris and slipped her tongue into his mouth. They made out for a little while, and then Emma's hand started trailing down to Chris' pants. He had fallen asleep in his jeans from the day before. She pulled the zipper down and snapped open the button before Chris stopped her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Emma, you're pregnant," Chris said, laughing a little.
"So what?" Emma asked. "I can still do this when I'm pregnant, it doesn't hurt the baby," she added.
"It might be a little different if it were my baby," Chris told her. "But it's not." Emma's face fell as she tried not to cry. "Look, Emma…" he started to say.
"No, don't say anything, please. I feel like an idiot." She stood up off the bed and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, grabbing her car keys in the process. "I just thought that we had something…" she stopped mid-sentence, waiting for Chris' reply.
"Emma, I like you, I really do. But, I think this was a mistake. You're having a baby and JT…" she interrupted him before he could finish.
"Leave him out of this!" She crossed her hands over her chest and glared at Chris, angry with him for ruining her moment of happiness. He stood up and walked over to her, wiping a tear that had fallen down her cheek.
"If things were different…" he ended it at that. He kissed Emma on her forehead before she ran out, jumping into the car. She drove and drove, trying to get as far away from Chris as she possibly could. After a half hour, she stopped the car in an abandoned parking lot and cried. She had cried for hours, until she knew what she had to do.
-End of Flashback-
Emma stood up and wiped her tears away. She changed out of Chris' clothes and threw them into the small garbage can in the corner of the room. Grabbing her cell phone off her bed, she stormed out of her room, stopping only to check in on her nieces and nephews. Then she left the Brooks' house and headed off to the only place she could think of going.
"It's a girl," Emma said. "I found out a few months ago, but I never told anyone. I guess I was saving it for you."
"That means a lot to me Emma. I know that apologizing can't ever take back what I did, but all I can do is try to get better," JT said, holding her hand across the table. Emma had visited him in rehab for only the second time since he'd gotten there, but he was grateful.
Lightly squeezing JT's hand, Emma looked around. The place felt like a prison, but she knew from JT's letters that they treated him well. She just couldn't help but feel restricted by letting out her true emotions. The table between them was like a force field. JT broke the field when he got up and sat down next to her.
"JT, I realized something in just this past week. I kept all my anger with you bottled up inside. I finally exploded today. I was a mess, just crying and crying and crying. And I realized that I wished you were there, holding me, and telling me that everything was gonna be okay," she told him, holding back more tears.
"I wish I was there too. But I don't want to be the one making you cry Em. You probably deserve someone much better than me," JT said, also on the verge of tears.
"No, I don't. JT, I love you, and I miss you. Well, I miss the person that you used to be. I fell in love with that person, and I want to fall in love with him all over again," she said, letting a few tears spill out.
"Emma, I promise that the minute I get out of here, everything will be back to normal. I love you too much to ever let you go," JT told her, kissing her. Emma knew instantly that she felt more in that small kiss than she ever had with any other guy, Christopher Hawkins included. She realized that she had only attatched herself to Chris because she wanted the attention, she craved it. She missed her one true love.
"James Tiberius Yorke, will you marry me?" Emma asked. "Again?" she added.
Emma strolled into Manny and Jimmy's house around ten o'clock. She found the two lovebirds asleep on the couch, cuddled up together. She shook them both awake, then sat down beside Manny.
"Sorry for waking you up, but I had to tell you that I had the most amazing night ever," she said.
"Where'd you go?" Manny asked, a little suspicious. She was almost afraid of the answer.
"I visited JT," Emma said. Manny relaxed into Jimmy's arms and smiled.
"I knew you would do the right thing," Manny said.
"That's not all," she told them. Manny sat right back up again, eager to hear what happened.
-Flashback-
"Of course I'll marry you. Emma, I love you so much. I just have one more question," he said.
"What's that?" she asked happily.
"What are we gonna name the baby?" he put his hand on Emma's stomach. Instead of answering him, she threw herself into his arms and kissed him.
-End of Flashback-
"I asked him to marry me!" she squealed. "And he said yes!"
"Congratulations Emma," Jimmy said.
"I'm so happy for you," Manny added.
"And we picked a name for the baby. Jaime Emilia Nelson-Yorke," Emma said proudly.
"It's a girl?" Manny squealed.
"That's beautiful," Jimmy said.
"It's a combination of both of our names," she told them.
"I can't wait until she's born," Manny said.
"I can't wait until JT comes home," Emma said.
"I can't wait until I have more friends over. You girls are killing me," Jimmy joked. The three of them laughed until it hurt. It felt good to be happy again. Especially for Emma.
A/N: At the end of chapter 13, I asked you guys to say whether Emma should have a boy or girl. Since Qtpye was the only one to suggest something, I decided for her to have a girl. This is the longest chapter I've ever written and it took forever!
