Chapter 7 – Fathers and Cops Have Common Laws Too
The bathroom flooded with steam, and the steam fogged every square foot of the bathroom. She turned the water off, and with the sound of a click the water halted from pelting against her skin. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped a towel tight around her body.
Catching sight of Luka's pants sitting on the bathroom counter, her face contorted. Her smirk was shaken off when she shook her head, and reached for his pants. My, what a surprise, she was sure that's what he wanted – steam pressed pants.
She opened the bathroom door a crack, the steam rushing out in a hurry. The television was blaring through the walls and the slightly open air, and it caused her to roll her eyes. The last thing that she wanted to do was be her boyfriend's mother, but it seemed as though he needed to get into some trouble right now.
"Luka," she said, poking her head out of the cracked door, "turn the TV down. Some people in this hotel might be trying to sleep." He looked over at her, his pursed lips forming into an apologetic smile. His index finger pushed down on the volume button, and the noise went respectively silent. "Why do you have it up so loud anyway?" she asked, twisting around the corner only to see him staring at the TV.
"Something had to keep me awake while you were in the shower," he shrugged, his eyes never leaving the television. She sighed, laughing into the back of her throat. She stared at him, and she was sure that he could feel her eyes boring into him. His eyes drifted towards her, and his lips formed an a circle. "What?"
"Nothing," she said, frantically shaking her head. She turned back into the bathroom, moving from his view. She snatched his pants off of the countertop and peeked back out of the doorway. "You need to get dressed," she called out, throwing his pants at him. They smacked against his chest, and she turned as he warily clutched his pants in his hands.
"Why are they wet?" he called back, and she could tell that he was climbing from his comfortable position on the couch. She ran the sink water while grabbing her toothbrush from the other side of the counter. The door creaked open at the gentle push on the other side of it.
"You shouldn't have left them in here. You knew I was going to take a long, hot shower. You should have gotten your pants out of here before," she said, smirking at him in the mirror and shoving her toothbrush into her mouth. He narrowed his eyes at her in the mirror. He lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry. Did I miss something? Are we fighting?" he asked. Her eyes glanced up and reflected into his in the mirror. She paused the toothbrush slightly hanging out of her mouth.
"No, we're not fighting," her voice muffled by the clamp her mouth had on her toothbrush. "I'm just brushing my teeth," she shrugged. His eyes left hers as he looked down to pull his pants on over his boxers.
"Yes, but I do sense the hostility in your voice. I have to say that I don't like it," he said, shaking his head. He buttoned his pants and zipped them up, his belt's metal ends clattering against each other. He did his belt, and rested his hands on his hips.
"I guess that," she paused to pull the toothbrush out of her mouth and wash it off under running water. "It' nothing really. I'm not mad, and we aren't fighting," she said again, shrugging as she set her toothbrush down beside the sink.
"Oh, okay," he relented, nodding his head. She walked passed him and into the room that contained the bed. Her clothes were lying on the bed, ready to be worn, and as she began to pull them on, his eyes drifted over to her. "So, you're not mad?" he asked again.
"I'm not mad," she said, glancing up at him from the clothes in her hands. She continued looking at him with a blank expression, nervously reaching up and dragging her hand through her hair. "Besides, uh, you know, we need to get going. Alex is probably worried sick considering we were supposed to be there, 20 minutes ago," she added, checking her watch.
"Come on, he knows how we lose track of time," Luka shrugged, shoving his hands into his damp pockets. She glared at him from the tops of her eyes, and soon shook her head. Attempting to turn her attention back to getting dressed, she glanced back at him.
"I cannot believe that I left him there with my mother. He has to be bored out of his mind," she laughed, shaking her head. Dropping the towel to the floor, she pulled her shirt on over her head while continuing to speak, "I'm surprised that he hasn't called and begged us to show up."
"When we do show up, maybe we should show up with some clothes," he suggested, advancing into the room. She laughed, shaking her head and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She reached to the floor and lifted Alex's bag onto the bed, digging through it for a clean change of clothes.
"He's not walking around with me wearing dirty clothes," she shook her head and glanced up at him as she continued to dig through his bag. "And neither are you," she added, tossing a pair of Alex's pants onto the bed. Underwear, socks, and a t-shirt quickly followed the pants.
"It's not like you have much of a choice. You either get me in these clothes or you don't get me at all," he teased, gently grabbing her wrist. Defiantly arching an eyebrow, she dropped everything down onto the bed and cocked her jaw at him. He pursed his lips, as his eyes grew slightly wider.
"How about no clothes at all?" she said in the back of her throat. She roughly pressed her lips against his. Not quite knowing how much time had passed, he pushed her back onto the bed, surprised when she willingly agreed.
She would have ripped through the front door, she really would have, but she wasn't sure that it would be best considering they were over an hour late to her parent's house. They were bound to be angry, or even yet, disapproving. Not including, none of them had been informed about the baby, and she wondered if they should even be told before her, Alex, and Luka left.
She wrung her hands together, making at note as to when she started doing that, and nervously planted her feet to the ground in front of the front door. She could almost swear that she was sweating, and if not that, her head was glistened. She felt his fingertips brush across her back in an attempt to soothe her.
"It's okay, Sam. They don't have to know now. We can tell them whenever you're ready," he said, wrapping his arm over her shoulder and leaning towards her. It was as if he knew what she was thinking – he was inside her head. She reached across herself to place a hand on his arm. Rubbing his arm, she looked over towards him.
"How can you say that, Luka? My parents will freak. In fact, as soon as they know, you'll be a dead man. My father will not react well," she said, shaking her head. He sighed, turning towards her and his hand dropped to her lower back. Looping his other index finger in her belt loop, he scrunched down to meet her eye to eye.
"I would think that the fact that I want to be with you would make this different," he said, sliding his hand up to her face and cupping her cheek. "If you don't want to tell them today we don't have to," he shrugged. She reached a hand behind her and entwined her fingers with his.
"But we should. It's better to tell them in person."
"Okay, then. We'll tell them," he smiled with a slight nod of the head.
"Maybe we shouldn't. They don't know you that well," she decided to say. "And I love my Luka. I'd hate for my father to kill him," she said, her mind wandering passed him. Her palm met his chest as she leaned into him.
"Then, we won't tell them," he shrugged. He wrapped his other hand around hers. She glanced up at him, and closed her eyes. She leaned her forehead into his chest, and he released her hands to wrap his arms around her backside.
"Maybe you should just spend some time with him. Get to know my father a little," she said, her voice slightly muffled against his chest.
"Really? You never seemed like the kind of girl that needed her father's approval. But, I'll do whatever it takes," he said, burying his hand into her hair.
"I'm not that kind of girl. But I never got to do the girl thing where you introduce your boyfriend to your parents," she sighed, pulling herself away from him.
"Let's just go. I want the third degree thing to be over with," he smiled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. His hand slid down to entwine their fingers, and he knocked on the door with a heavy fist from his free hand. "It sucks," he added.
"Oh, and I want nothing to do with it," she said right before the front door swung open. Mark smirked at them from the other side, holding his left hand up to check his wrist. Trying to fight his smile, he looked away from them – quite passed them to find a freedom from the encounter.
"You guys are late," he said through a restricted laugh.
"We tend to do that," she said, shifting her gaze from Mark to Luka and back to Mark. She felt his hand squeeze around hers, and she glanced at him. He gave her a look as though he felt she was sharing to much information, but she just pursed her lips squinting at him, and shifted her eyes back to Mark.
"Dad is so going to grill you for that," Mark teased, stepping aside so they could step in. She stepped in before him and tugged him in behind her. The tug was gentle, but it showed possession and he noted that it was possession that she hadn't used before. It was a possession that she had gotten scared of using – the last time that it was nearly used was when she had tugged on his hand and dropped it before they could ever take a step out of the ambulance bay.
Every other time there was that kind of possession used in their relationship, he had used it. Her act of possession was impeccable, her parents eyes sure to begin burning holes into him as soon as they saw them together. The night before they had seemed distracted, but their eyes were drooping low to give away that they were very tired. With her hand pulling on his, his grip grinding against her fingers tightened. Their fingers were locked, arms loose, and possession tight.
"Mom! Luka!" Alex screamed as soon as they walked into the kitchen. "Uncle Mark is so fun! We stayed up all night playing video games," he screamed out, shoving a piece of toast into his mouth.
"All night! You better not have stayed up all night," she said, sitting down in the seat beside him and passing him a sharp glare. Luka laughed, shaking his head as he stopped behind her chair. Mark stood in the doorway, waving Alex towards him. Alex shoved the rest of the toast into his mouth and took off down the hall towards Mark.
"Have a seat, Luka," Sam's father said, crushing his palm against the chair between him and Sam, the seat that Alex had been sitting in. Luka nodded, his fingertips brushing across Sam's back as he moved to sit down beside her.
"Thank you," he muttered with a smile as he took a seat. He glanced at Sam, doing his best to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. She noticed that he was trying, but he was still very uncomfortable and in desperate need of saving, so she reached over and slid her hand into his. He grip on her hand was loose, so he squeezed her hand into both of his palms. He leaned his elbows on his thighs, and he rested their hands in between his knees.
"Sorry that we're so late. We had to wait for Luka's pants to dry," she said before either one of her parents could ask a question. Luka shifted in his seat, glancing at Sam with narrowed and questioning eyes.
"Right. My pants were wet. From the shower. From when she was in the shower," he said with a stutter. "I'm still working on my English," he added in a soft, quiet voice as he shrugged. He glanced at Sam, and she had a cocked jaw with a joining arched eyebrow.
"You know that people can understand you just fine, don't you?" she asked, a smile peeking through her cocked jaw. She rolled her eyes. He pursed his lips together, his eyes darting around the room giving away the panic that he was trying to hide.
"No," he said, shaking his head.
"We'll give you a minute to talk," Sam's father said, standing up and tugging on his wife's sleeve only for her to slap his hand away. "When you're done, you could just join us in the living room," he added through clenched teeth. Sam's mother stood up and gathered the dishes, placing the pile on the counter beside the sink before they both disappeared from the kitchen.
Luka's eye shifted to Sam's, and he slid his hands across her hand, her skin becoming warm beneath his touch. She exhaled deeply, looking at him with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. His face did the same before he laughed in the back of his throat.
"Maybe this is a bad idea, Luka. We should just get Alex and leave," she shrugged, taking her hand from his. She stood up, hugging herself for warmth from the slight breeze seeping through the kitchen. His eyes followed her upward, and he reached his hand out to her arm.
"We cannot do that, Sam. If there is one thing that gets done today, it's that we should tell them that you're pregnant," he said in a soft, nearly silent voice. He enveloped her arm with his hand, and he stood up beside her. "You were right about telling them in person. It's much better," he shrugged, his chin tilted into his chest.
"That may have been what I said, but I was just saying stuff to get you to tell me how you really felt about it. You're just now telling me how you feel about it, Luka. I didn't actually think we'd be telling them today," she said shaking her head. Her eyelids were brimmed with tears, and this prompted him to wrap his arms around her. Shaky fingertips brushed down her back.
"I know it was hard when you told them that you were pregnant with Alex, but you're not that girl anymore. You're not a little girl anymore, Sam. You're an adult, and you're not alone in this," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath trailing across her neck.
"You're right. I have to trust you, baby," she whispered back as they both pulled away. "Let's get in there and get this over with," she sighed. He lifted his hand up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her hair. "Just don't get too comfortable," she added warningly, grabbing his hand and leading him into the living room.
"Yeah, hey," he said, following her lead to sit on the couch. "Look, before you say anything I think that you should just know something," he said, rubbing his palms together within the wide gap between his knees. "I know how it hurts when you realize that there's nothing else you can do to save your child," he said, all nervousness clearing from his body.
"Do you have kids, Luka?" Sam's father asked.
"I had a boy and a girl back in Croatia. Yeah," he said breathlessly. He wasn't sure that they deserved to know. He didn't like to talk about it, and he'd never talked to Sam about it. But then again, if he were serious about her, he'd tell her parents whatever it was they wanted to know.
"So, you know what it's like to lose them? You know what it's like to know that they don't need you anymore?" her father asked. Luka shifted in his seat, glancing at Sam with sad eyes.
"In a sense I know what it's like," he said, "but the difference here is that Sam can take care of herself," he added immediately after his words. Sam became uncomfortable. He was going to share things with her parents that he'd never opened the door to with her. It made her long to be away from him.
"We know that Sam can take care of herself. She did a really good job doing it, too," her mother said, releasing the breath that had been invading her lungs for quite sometime.
"She's turned out great. Alex too," her father added. Luka glanced at her, noticing how she felt like she didn't want to be there, he turned his attention towards her.
"I never wanted to tell you here or like this, but when I saw Alex it reminded me of what it was like to be a parent. It reminded me of how much I had been missing my children, and he helped me to fill a void that I didn't know needed to be filled. I never had any intentions of sticking around for as long as I have, my plans were to go back to Africa once I was better. But you saved me – you and Alex saved me," he sighed, reaching over and taking her hand into his.
"You don't have to do this," she said, shaking her head.
"Sam, I think that I really do," he said, biting his bottom lip. His intense gaze ripped past the walls that she had built up in this one moment. "When I look at Alex, I know that he's not my child. And it just kills me to know that I have no ties to a great kid – I have no ties to how he was raised. I have no ties to you, but when you told me about the baby," he paused, his eyes falling to their entwined hands.
"The baby?" her mother asked when Luka paused.
"When you told me about the baby it gave me a chance to have those feelings back again. You've given me more than I could have ever asked for in just a short time," he said. Her father glared at Luka for the next 20 minutes, as he was clearly unable to form the words to express what it was he wanted to say. Sam tried to ignore the hostile gaze that her father was dropping on Luka, but there was no luck.
"Look, dad, it was obviously a bad idea to tell you, and if you can't just accept that that's the way things have worked out maybe it's best that we just don't come around here anymore," Sam said, standing abruptly. She grabbed Luka by the collar and pulled him up and dragged him towards the door. "Come on, Alex! We're leaving!" she called exasperatedly, pausing in front of the front door.
"Look, Sam. It's fine," Luka tried to reason.
"Shut up, Luka!" she said through clenched teeth. Luka shut his mouth as he was dragged out of the front door. Alex quickly followed, protesting the entire way.