A/N: I really hope you lovely readers enjoy this, I've found writing a little blocked lately.
Chapter Sixteen
The second week of August was the third week of the summer holidays and for Jane, this was the week where she would be more anxious than normal. She had taken the journey to the respite centre where she would be leaving Lucy for a whole week so she could get a much-needed break and spend some quality time with her son. For the past two weeks of the summer holidays she had been using a social story the charity had sent to prepare Lucy for her stay. The drive to The Netherfield Trust had been a silent one, just Jane and Lucy with the only sounds were Lucy's happy squeals as she watched Peppa Pig on her tablet. Jane knew that this would be hard for her, she had never left Lucy in the care of people she didn't really know. She could already feel a tightening in her chest as she pulled up into the carpark and switched off the car engine. Unclipping her seatbelt, Jane turned to look at her daughter.
"We're here Lucy Goosey." She said softly, smiling.
Lucy looked up from her tablet and smiled back, handing over her tablet without a fuss which was one of her latest milestones. Jane looked into her daughter's bright blue eyes and spent a few moments memorising her little's girl's face, she knew that she would only be away from Lucy for a week, but it seemed like a lifetime. As she took a breath in, she reminded herself that this respite break was much needed for everyone. Lucy needed it, Jane needed it and Peter needed it.
Jane got out of the car and went straight to the boot, opening the door and pulling out Lucy's suitcase before closing it. Two members of staff from the trust came out the reception and greeted her brightly as Jane lifted her daughter out of the car and walked over to them.
"Hello Lucy, I'm Isla." The first woman said, using Makaton sign language as she spoke.
Lucy smiled and waved as Jane placed her on the ground. The second worker introduced herself and gave Lucy a little picture timeline to show her what they were going to be doing once she was settled into the accommodation. Jane and Lucy followed the two workers into the building, passing through some corridors before heading out into what Isla called the sensory garden and Jane was blown away by how much there was for a child to stimulate their sensory needs. There were different sections in the garden. In one corner there was a padded section with soft play equipment and a ball pit, in the corner opposite there was a tepee with comfortable, brightly coloured cushions and musical instruments; drums, cymbals, hanging triangles on a frame that hung above the tepee, bottles filled with rice for shaking, xylophones for running a stick along. In the third corner a dark tent had been set up with battery operated lava lamps and torches inside. In the fourth corner there were different water features with mini waterfalls and hanging cd discs from the trees that were planted around the water features, sparkling with light as the sun hit them when they spun. But before Lucy could go off and explore her first activity, Jane knew it was time to say goodbye.
Jane knelt down on her knees, taking hold of her daughter's hands and smiled through the tears that wanted to fall freely down her cheeks. She ignored the twisting knot of guilt in the pit of her stomach and cleared her throat.
"I'll see you soon, Lucy Goosey. Mummy loves you." Jane said, using her hands to sign with Makaton to her daughter.
Lucy squealed and spun around really fast, as if unable to stay still.
"Mummy will call you and see you soon." Jane said, briefly stopping her daughter to give her a kiss on the forehead and a little squeeze before turning to Isla.
"We will phone as often as you'd like us to and feel free to call if you're worried. We will be emailing you some photos of what Lucy gets up to. But please try not to feel guilty, it's our place to help families like yours." Isla said reassuringly.
"I'll try." Jane said tearily, "Bye bye my baby girl."
As Lucy stopped spinning, she cocked her head to the side and looked in Jane's direction.
"B-b-b…b-b-b…by..bbyyee..." Lucy babbled.
Jane blew Lucy a kiss and watched as her little girl tiptoed off to one of the corners for an activity as she was led away by Isla and cried happy tears. She had to reassure Isla that she wasn't crying because of the guilt she had been feeling, in fact, in that moment the guilt had been washed away by that strong feeling of pride that her daughter had said her first word. That one milestone that she had been waiting to happen for four years. Lucy had taken two big steps today and as Jane got back into her car and buckled her seatbelt, she wiped away the tears and smiled at herself in the mirror; her daughter was going places and she was thrilled to be part of such a unique journey.
ooOoo
For a week now, George Wickham had been doing some quiet detective work. He knew that he had to tread carefully, he had after all made some very big mistakes in his life. After the consultant appointment, he had been doing some deep thinking about his unborn child's double diagnosis. The chromosome deletion the consultant had informed them their child had, he had to make sure that daughter he had already abandoned didn't have the same chromosome condition that his unborn child had. He had to get some answers from Jane, but he knew that he had to handle the situation delicately, it had been nearly three years since he had left her to raise their twins alone.
He had returned to Meryton on the off chance that Jane had not moved away from her hometown. A part of him suspected that she wouldn't have moved away, Lucy had always been hard work and Jane would've needed support from her family over the last few years and had staked out the bakery from a distance in hope of seeing Jane but had no such luck. After asking around if Thomas Bennet still lived in town, he managed to get the full address of where Jane had lived when the twins were small, he could only remember the street name and made his way over to the Bennet house.
George took a deep breath as he walked up the street and stood outside the front door. He was nervous and trying to prepare himself for the door to be slammed back in his face. But he had to get the answers he needed. For him. For Lindsay. A lot of decisions were riding on whatever the answers were. He closed his hand into a tight fist and raised it to the wooden door, rapping it hard before withdrawing and standing back, his arms tucked behind his back.
The door opened and he was surprised to see it was not Jane standing in front of him, but her younger sister Lydia. The youngest Bennet sister blinked a few times before narrowing her eyes and tried to slam the door in his but failed as George kicked his foot out to stop it.
"What the fuck are you doing here Wickham?" Lydia hissed.
"I need to speak to Jane." George said.
"She's not here. She doesn't live here anymore." Lydia replied firmly.
"Oh…can you give me her address?" George asked brightly.
Lydia laughed harshly, stepping out the front door and used her hands to push him against his chest.
"Get the fuck away from us. You think you can just show up here after three years away and think you can play daddy again? You weren't much of one to begin with and no court will give you access to the children you abandoned." She shouted.
"Lydia, I'm not here for that. I need some answers and Jane's the only one who can give them to me." George yelled.
"I'm not letting you anywhere near my sister nor her children! Go back to the gutter you crawled out of!" Lydia demanded, pushing him until he was out of their little front garden.
"If I have to barge my way into the house that's what I will do!" George threatened with an angry growl.
Lydia shoved into him hard, not hard enough for him to fall but enough for him to stumble a bit as Lydia walked backwards into the garden and shut the gate. He watched as the youngest Bennet crossed her arms and wore a facial expression that he associated with rage; he had seen it on Jane's face many times during their relationship.
"How dare you?! How can you show up here three years after you walked on my sister and your children?" Lydia spat.
"I wasn't cut out to be a dad, Lydia. Jane knew that." George said, shrugging his shoulders.
Lydia scoffed in disbelief.
"Jane thought you just needed a chance. Whatever it was that she saw in you…she thought that you were worth falling in love with. She thought that the four of you were going to be a family! And just because your daughter had some struggles you decided to leave…you are a pathetic, disgusting excuse for a human being…" she said scornfully.
"I didn't come here for a lecture from you. Now you can either tell me where Jane is or I can keep coming back here until you-"
"WICKHAM?! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" a male voice bellowed from the front door.
George turned to look behind Lydia and gulped. Up the little garden path walked an aged Thomas Bennet, holding a cricket bat threateningly and his green eyes filled with rage. At the doorway stood a four-year-old boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes with a confused look on his face. When Thomas reached them, he ordered Lydia back inside to look after her nephew and George met the angry gaze of his ex-girlfriend's father.
"Thomas…I haven't come here to cause trouble…" George said pleadingly.
"Coward. Get the fuck off out of here while you're still able to breathe." Thomas growled through gritted teeth.
"Can't do that. Not until I see Jane." George sighed.
"If you think I'm letting you anywhere near my girl and my grandchildren you've got another thing coming!" Thomas growled, hitting the cricket bat to the ground before raising it up as if to strike again.
George backed away nervously, sensing that he wasn't going to get his answers today.
"I'll be back." He said with a sigh.
"Try it and you'll be losing some limbs." Thomas promised.
George nodded his understanding and turned his back on the man and began to walk away when he passed Francine and saw her delighted expression on her face, but he didn't acknowledge her and carried on walking away but he could still hear the argument between Jane's parents as he turned the corner and disappeared into the afternoon.
ooOoo
"Are you serious? He was here?!" Jane asked.
She had only arrived back at her parent's house minutes ago and straight away upon opening the front door she had been ushered into the kitchen with the door closed to a firm and quiet shut.
"Yes, your father threatened him away with a cricket bat," Francine tutted, "Such a shame. You need to give him a second chance, Jane. Those kiddies need their father in their lives."
Jane rolled her eyes.
"They don't need a waste of space like George. How can you even say that they do?" she demanded.
"All children need a father, Jane. And you need a husband!" Francine tutted.
"I'm not going to keep having this conversation with you. I had two children out of wedlock, I am raising said children on my own. One of them has special needs. Get over it." Jane stated firmly.
Francine mumbled something about being right and turned her attention back to her coffee. Jane took a mouthful of hers, not caring that she drank it too quickly and it burned her throat as she swallowed.
"The nerve of him coming back here," Thomas growled, "How can he show his face after what he's done?"
Jane sighed, the news of her ex being back in town and requesting to see her had thrown her. The thoughts of her week with Peter and her plans for a date with Charles had gone out of the window with feelings of anxiety over what it was that George could possibly want.
"Well apparently he wants answers and I'm the only one who can give them to him." Jane sighed.
"Apparently. He is up to no good, Jane. Just like always." Thomas muttered.
"People can change." Francine chipped in brightly.
"A leopard never changes it's spots, mum." Jane reminded.
"And in that prick's case, he's got a lot of spots." Thomas muttered.
"Well…surely he deserves a second chance? Oh Jane, it will be so good for the kiddies to have their daddy back." Francine urged.
Jane frowned.
"Why are you so desperate for me to allow George back into our lives?" she questioned suspiciously.
"Well it can't come as a shock to you that I believe you should have been married to George." Francine tutted.
"End of discussion. Now, I'm going to get my son and spend some quality time with him whilst Lucy is away for the week. Thank you both for watching him." Jane said dismissively towards her mother.
"What are you going to do about Wickham?" her father asked sternly.
Jane shrugged; she did not know what she was going to do. Right now, she did not want to focus on the fact her ex was lingering around Meryton. She didn't want to think about the reasons why George had returned or what questions he had for her.
"I don't know what George wants from me but what I do know is he's not having access to my children without a fight." Jane promised her father.
Kissing Thomas on the forehead, she left the kitchen and called Peter's name and both mother and son left the house and got into the car to have their day out together.
ooOoo
The rest of the afternoon was spent laying on a picnic blanket in the park near to their house looking up at the sky and watching the clouds go by. The sun had moved far eastwards during their play on the swings, on the slide and the monkey bars and even more so as they sat and ate an ice-cream that they had bought from the ice-cream van. For the first time in a long while, Jane felt at ease that she was getting some much-needed one-on-one time with her son because she often felt guilty because Lucy needed a high level of care.
"Mummy, look at that one, it looks like a rabbit!" Peter exclaimed happily.
"It's ears are gigantic." Jane chuckled.
"Maybe it trips over them and the other rabbits laugh at him." Peter observed.
"Maybe. But being different isn't a bad thing." Jane said proudly.
"Mummy?"
"Yes sweetheart?"
"When I start big school, Will Lucy be there too?" Peter asked curiously.
"She'll be in the same building but she's going to be in a different part called the unit which is for children who have struggles like Lucy. It just means that she'll be taught things in a different way." Jane replied reassuringly.
Peter nodded thoughtfully, turning his head to the side to look at his mother. Jane copied his motion, smiling at her son.
"Mummy, who was that man? The one that made Grandad cross?" her son questioned.
She paused, she didn't know whether or not to tell Peter the truth about George. The twins had never really bonded with their father during the first two years that George had stuck it out, so it didn't surprise her that Peter didn't recognise his father. A part of her didn't want the threat of George to destroy her life with her and the children but she knew that while there was a chance that Lucy may not understand the conversation she knew she would have to give them one day; she knew that Peter would. And lying to her children or not talking to them about their father would only prove more damaging in the long run.
"He's your father, sweetie." Jane sighed.
Peter frowned.
"But he left. Why is he back now?" her son asked.
"I wish I knew baby; I wish I knew."
"Why did he leave?"
Jane felt her heart twist at the question, it was the one she had been dreading to answer since the day George told her he couldn't cut it out being a dad. She wanted to prevent her children from ever feeling like they weren't wanted, ever since she had fallen pregnant, which hadn't been a planned pregnancy, she had never wanted her children to feel that they weren't wanted or loved. And since George had left her to do this on her own, she had tried her best.
"He didn't feel like he could be your daddy or be part of our family, so he left the three of us." Jane replied softly.
Peter frowned.
"But you always say we should try harder…. didn't he try harder?"
Jane shook her head sadly.
"No baby, he didn't really like to stick at things."
"He sounds like a poopoo head." Peter said matter-of-factly.
Jane nodded in agreement, smiling at her son's summary of their conversation.
"If you wanted to know more about him that would be okay darling." She said reassuringly.
Peter shook his head.
"I don't need a daddy; I have the best mummy ever."
Taking her son's hand, Jane gave it a light squeeze and the two stared back up at the sky. It was only then that Jane silently decided that it was best to get the whole George thing out of the way with sooner rather than later.
ooOoo
Elizabeth sat on the grass at the local park, cheering as Mia completed a cartwheel properly for the first time since she had been learning the skill. She leant back on her hands and looked up at the sky, enjoying the rays of sunshine as they hit her face, smiling as Mia sat next to her.
"Am I getting better, Lizzy?" Mia asked.
"You are," Elizabeth replied encouragingly, "You're so talented."
"Thanks."
Mia looked at Elizabeth curiously as the adult turned her head towards her charge, raising an eyebrow beneath her black sunglasses. The more time she spent with Mia the more she noticed little quirks the little girl shared with her father. Mia's look of curiosity was another trait that father and daughter shared.
"Yes Mia?" Elizabeth chuckled.
"Do you like my daddy?" Mia questioned with a tone of curiosity.
Elizabeth felt her cheeks redden as she blushed at Mia's question. She had been careful not to step over the line of professionalism and personal feelings whenever she was on the clock.
"Of course I do, he's a good friend." Elizabeth answered softly.
Mia raised an eyebrow and smirked. Another trait she shared with her father. And one that Elizabeth found she couldn't resist smiling at.
"Do you like him like him?" Mia whispered, "I won't tell anybody."
Elizabeth laughed.
"I think your daddy is amazing, Mia. You are so much like him."
Mia giggled, her curly hair bouncing slightly as she did.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I think we should talk about other things…like what would you like for your birthday?" Elizabeth deflected.
"It'd be okay if you did ya know…" Mia sang.
"Birthday presents." Elizabeth laughed.
"Fiiinnnee!" Mia grumbled mockingly.
"What toys are you into at the moment?"
"I like LOL surprise, Disney, LEGO, Barbie…Unicorns, Mermaids…I like sport stuff…"
Elizabeth nodded, taking note of what Mia said she liked. It was great to get an idea of what Mia was into brand wise at the moment but she didn't want to just gift Mia something that she would outgrow in a year or two before moving on to the next popular brand as all kids do. She wanted to get Mia something that she could cherish. Something that was significant to their growing bond.
"But you don't have to get me a present, Lizzy. Just come and spend the day with me and my dad." Mia insisted.
"Oh…I'll have to talk to your dad about that…" Elizabeth muttered.
"It's my birthday, Dad says that I choose who I want to spend it with." Mia stated happily.
Elizabeth checked the time on her phone and picked up her bag. Mia copied her actions but as both stood up, Elizabeth felt a cramp in her leg and dropped her bag, a pile of papers and leaflets falling out of it. Mia bent down to pick it up frowned as she looked at the papers that she was holding.
"Are you starting a business, Lizzy?" Mia asked, handing the papers to Elizabeth.
She took the papers and folded them back into her bag as she stood up to full height. She looked down at Mia and gestured that they should head back to the house for lunch.
"I'm thinking about starting a childminding business. Once my divorce goes through, I can start the next chapter of my story." Elizabeth replied.
"So, you're still married?"
"Legally. But I don't love him anymore."
Mia smirked again as they carried on walking back to the house.
"Because you love my dad?" she teased.
Elizabeth ruffled Mia's curly hair and grabbed her by the waist, spinning her around as Mia laughed gleefully.
"Come on you little rascal, we need to get you fed!" Elizabeth laughed.
The two carried on walking, finding a lot to laugh about together despite the heat of the day. Little did they know that a certain red head was watching them from afar.
ooOoo
Will got out of his car and closed the door, tucking his briefcase under his arm as he clicked the automatic lock button on his car keys. He walked the short distance on the driveway from his car to the front door, sorting through his keys to find the one for the house when he stopped and saw a note pinned to the front door.
Will,
Look down and you fill find a fully loaded Nerf gun. Mia and I are waiting in the garden to do battle. Loser loads the dishwasher after dinner. May the odds be in your favour.
-Lizzy
Will grinned as he looked down and saw the Nerf gun on the doorstep waiting for him. He bent down and picked it up, unlocked the door and stepped inside. Alice greeted him in the hallway as he hung up his briefcase and took off his shoes. He hung his suit jacket over the stair banister and took off his tie.
"They're waiting for you in the garden. Have fun." Alice laughed.
Will chuckled as he rolled up his sleeves, walking through the house until he stepped out into his garden. Sure enough, Mia stood a few metres apart from Elizabeth, both holding up their Nerf guns while wearing a toothy grin on their faces.
"Where did you get this idea from?" Will called, pulling back the trigger on his.
"Mia said that the two of you used to battle from time to time so we went to the toy shop after lunch and bought a third one so we could all participate." Elizabeth replied.
Will laughed, pointing his Nerf gun at Elizabeth and pressed on the trigger, a foam dart came flying out of the gun. Elizabeth squealed as she moved to her right, dodging the dart by an inch as it hit the fence behind her and fell to the ground. Mia, seeing an opportunity as Will's attention was on Elizabeth, pulled the trigger on her dart gun back and aimed straight for her father's arm. Will flinched as the dart made contact with his skin and looked in his daughter's direction. As Will went to return the action to his daughter, Elizabeth shot a dart out of her gun and the dart made contact with Will's leg.
He looked from Mia to Elizabeth and laughed, shaking his head as it became clear that prior to his arrival home, the two had obviously come up with some secret pact about their dart gun battle.
"Double teaming me. That's not fair." Will tutted jokingly.
Elizabeth shrugged as she looked and Mia. Mia grinned in reply and the two females shot their dart guns, hitting Will in legs as they ran around the garden laughing. They continued to fire darts, missing targets by inches. Mia had been hit in the arms a few times and had managed to get Elizabeth twice and her father another three times before she ran back into the house squealing to avoid being hit by the adult's darts. Will and Elizabeth continued firing until they were both down to their last dart.
They were stood mere inches from each other, dart guns raised as they pressed it into each other's abdomens.
"Loser loads the dishwasher." Will quoted quietly.
"Question is, who will it be?" Elizabeth said teasingly, "Right now it's fifty-fifty."
"Well I could be nice and let you win…" Will grinned.
"You are a nice man…" Elizabeth whispered appreciatively.
"So…are you going to shoot me, Miss Bennet?"
He studied her carefully, watching as her lips trembled slightly and her green eyes closed as she took a deep breath in. Leaning forward towards her, he lowered his dart gun and cupped her cheek.
"Does it make you uncomfortable being this close?" Will whispered softly.
Elizabeth opened her eyes for a second before she closed them again and pressed her lips to his in a soft but brief kiss.
"Being close to you makes me forget myself." She admitted quietly.
Will smiled, a skip in his heartbeat at her admission. But despite her admission, he could see that it troubled her.
"Shall we go inside? We could call it a draw?" Will suggested.
Elizabeth looked up at him and smiled and both placed their Nerf guns on the ground and followed Mia inside the house.
ooOoo
Dinner had been a calm affair as they ate the chicken fajitas that Alice had prepared for them all. Elizabeth had helped Mia get ready for bed and then Will had tucked his daughter into bed after they read a chapter of Harry Potter together. When Mia was drifting off to sleep, Will came downstairs, having changed out of his work clothes.
"I'm off for an early night," Alice announced, "Thank you both for loading the dishwasher."
"Goodnight Alice." Elizabeth called, watching as the housekeeper walked up the stairs to her bedroom.
Elizabeth sat on the sofa, watching as Will joined her and flicked through the channels on the TV.
"Nothing on…" he commented.
"Well that's a shame…I can't stay for much longer anyway." Elizabeth sighed.
The two shared a look as Will scooted closer to her on the sofa, she didn't hesitate as he cupped her cheek again and held her gaze.
"I'd much rather kiss you for the short while before you have to go…" Will breathed.
Elizabeth brought her lips to his, kissing him lightly. The pace was slow, their foreheads touching together and their noses gently bumping as the kiss deepened. The TV flickered between adverts on the channel and the low volume of the TV filled the room but it was just background noise for Elizabeth. She could hear the hiked breath, the sound of their lips moving together growing in a more desperate pace. Will placed his hands on her hips, lifting her on to his lap as their kiss grew more heated.
His tongue moved in rhythm with hers, teasing her with the taste of chocolate ice-cream they had all had for dessert. The softness of his lips pressing hard against her own only made her shiver in delight, his fingers twitching at the waistband of her shorts and the hem of her t-shirt, but staying still. Will broke away from her lips, breathing heavily as he looked at her with a gaze filled with desire.
"Mmmm." Elizabeth moaned as Will moved his lips to her throat.
His lips kissed a tender spot on the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder and it caused her to let out a little giggle as his hands tightened on her back and squeezed her closer to him. Her hands combed through his hair, holding her to him until she pulled him gently away from her neck and pressed her lips to his urgently. He met her heated pace quickly, melding his hips to hers as they fell on to their sides, laying down side by side on the sofa as the heated kiss continued. Her legs wrapped around his waist, melding her hips to his as his hands moved lower, exploring the curves of her hips and her the tops of her thighs.
The way he kissed her with so much passion yet so much affection made her melt and drift into a blissful haze where there was nothing in the world around them whenever she was with him. Whatever it was that they were, Elizabeth was realising that Will was her safe place. She felt so at ease and could be exactly who she was with Will and he surprised her each time he did ensured that she was happy.
Will broke away from her lips, his hands gliding slowly over her bare legs, stopping at the base of her shorts. He kissed her neck, hitting a spot which made her breath hitch and her heart race faster with excitement.
"I think I've found a sensitive spot." Will whispered into her ear.
Elizabeth felt a shiver travel down her spine which only made her jerk her hips into his which caused him to groan.
"It seems I'm not the only one with a sensitive spot…" she teased in a low voice.
Will looked down at her and cupped her cheek before catching her lips again and kissed her heatedly. The pace was filled with a mutual need for each other. When Elizabeth was with him like this, her reservations didn't matter, she felt at ease and her growing need to be with him was all that mattered.
She felt a hardness press against her as Will ground his hips into hers as if involuntarily. Elizabeth moaned breathily as she broke off the kiss. As much as she wanted to…it wasn't the right time. She wasn't ready for that step just yet and she didn't want to cross more of a line tonight.
"We should stop…" she breathed with regret.
Will bit his lip but nodded, closing his eyes for a few moments and tried to regulate his breathing. He sat up, pulling her with him as they smiled at each other.
"You drive me wild." Will breathed happily.
Elizabeth smiled, giving his hand a squeeze.
"I'm sorry…I just think we still need to take this slow…"
"Don't apologise, I understand completely." Will replied softly but reassuringly.
Elizabeth stood up, giving him one last kiss before bidding him goodnight.
ooOoo
The sun was hanging low in the sky behind The Red Lion pub, the sky a mixture of blues, reds and purples as sunset was looming. It made the glossy red painted bricks on the building shine brighter as the sunlight bounced off it, causing Jane to close her eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. She had not set foot in this pub since before her pregnancy, but she knew that it had been the place George liked to frequent during their relationship. If there was one place that George would visit while back in Meryton, it was his old pub.
Opening her eyes and channelling the anxious beating of her heart into her force of determination, Jane stepped through the open doorway of the pub and entered the building. The interior hadn't changed, unless you counted the fading upholstery of the chairs and the chipped wood of the bar as changes. Her eyes scanned the half empty pub, noting that the regulars who had occupied it when she had last come here still frequented the pub. Her eyes fell on a man sitting at the end of the bar, drinking his usual pint with a sullen look on his face. Jane felt a surge of determination rush through her as she marched over to her ex and snatched his pint glass from him, pouring the remainder of his drink into his lap.
"HEY! Easy!" George yelled.
Jane slammed the glass down on to the bar before folding her arms across her chest, a look of anger etched on her face.
"What the fuck are you doing here? I'm not letting you anywhere near my children!" Jane growled.
George stood up from his bar stool and grabbed the dish towel the barman had left on the side of the bar, dabbing himself with it as if he stood a chance of drying himself completely.
"For the record, you wouldn't have those children if it weren't for me." George said with a grin.
Jane didn't even flinch at the sound the slap made as her right hand connected with George's cheek. She didn't even flinch when she saw the red mark or the sting she felt in her hand which indicated just how hard she had slapped him. The person she had been prior to her children had been born would have been remorseful for hurting George but now she didn't care how much her ex suffered.
"I hardly have you to thank, it's more the broken condom that's to thank. Now, what the fuck are you doing here?" Jane demanded.
George threw the dish towel back on to the bar and sighed heavily.
"I'm not here to interrupt your life or demand access to Peter and Lucy. But there are a few things I need to ask and you are the only one who can answer." He sighed.
Jane scoffed in disbelief.
"I assume you're not even going to ask about your children." She scolded.
"I know they're fine. You were always the better parent." George argued.
"Correction, I was the ONLY parent. Now get these questions out of the way so I can pretend you don't exist." Jane said impatiently.
George sat back down on the bar stool, looking at her with worry. She had never seen this look on George before, it nerved her.
"There's a woman that I'm involved with and she's having our baby-"
"Are you for real?" Jane laughed harshly, "You abandon the twins and then get someone else pregnant?"
"It's different!" George said weakly.
"How is this different? Are you going to marry this poor woman? Are you going to change? Nothing you can say to me can make me believe you're genuine towards this woman." Jane sneered.
"The baby has Down's, Jane." George said quietly, "And a chromosome deletion."
Jane's heart skipped a beat. Now she knew why George had come searching for her.
"Oh…"
"Is Lucy's condition inherited?" George asked desperately.
Jane shrugged.
"I know she didn't get it from me. I got tested, as did Peter, but you had already bolted the moment we got her diagnosis, so we don't know if she inherited it from you or not. It could be-"
"I took a note of the one detected in Lindsay's baby, is this the same one as Lucy?" George interrupted, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.
Jane took the paper and opened it up and saw the same letters and numbers that she had seen on her daughter's diagnosis letter three years ago. George's unborn child had the same chromosome deletion as it's half-sister. There was no way that this could be a coincidence. The chances of a parent having multiple children with the same deletion without it being inherited was exceedingly rare. She handed the paper back to George and nodded.
George banged his fist down on the bar, causing several of the customers to stop their conversations and look in their direction. Jane shifted uncomfortably where she stood.
"Fuck sake! I passed it on, didn't I?" George uttered angrily.
Jane shrugged.
"I can't give you that definite answer. You need to have a blood test and have it sent to the genetics lab. A geneticist will confirm if you have it or not." Jane said simply.
"It's not a fucking coincidence that two of the children I've spawned have the same fucking medical condition. This baby is already fucked because of the Down's, so what is this chromosome thing going to do to it?!" George spat.
Jane slapped him again, this time harder. She tried to restrain herself, but she couldn't fight it. How dare he say those things?!
"If that's going to be your attitude then that baby is better off never knowing you!" Jane growled.
George looked at her through narrowed eyes.
"Save the 'every child is a blessing' talk. What the fuck am I going to do now?" he demanded.
"How old are you?! You sound like a stroppy child! The twins have better manners than you!" Jane scolded.
"Can you guarantee that this baby will be okay? This one will be more disabled than the one I couldn't handle three years ago!"
"It doesn't matter how 'disabled' the baby will be George. The chromosome deletion is the reason Lucy has her struggles. The epilepsy, the sleep disorder, the autism, the speech and learning delay – all of it is hard. But do you know something? Life is fucking hard. Life isn't fair. Lucy didn't ask to be born this way, she just was and as her mother, I never give up on her the way you did. You couldn't see past her struggles and dismissed her as unworthy of your time, love and commitment. She learned to walk a year ago and she's just said her first word. With the right support, she will go so far. Further than you could ever imagine. This new baby will be the same. It's just a shame that in three years, you haven't changed for the better."
"So, what am I supposed to do, Jane?" George pleaded desperately.
"You go back to this poor woman and tell her the truth. You tell her that you need to get tested for the deletion and you tell her that you have two other children that you abandoned. You tell her what a worthless piece of scum you are and tell her that you have nothing to do with the children you abandoned because you couldn't handle a child with a disability. You tell that poor woman that you don't pay child support and you can't commit to anything. You get tested to confirm if you have it and then get the fucking snip because someone as irresponsible as you should stop breeding!" Jane replied bitterly.
With nothing more to say, Jane left her ex-boyfriend sitting at the bar and left to walk home.
Little did she know that in The Red Lion carpark, Lindsay Younge was sat in a taxi watching as George ran out of the pub and ran over to Jane, grabbing her arm and pleading with her. And all Lindsay Younge felt was the crushing and sinking feeling in her chest as her hand absentmindedly cradled her growing baby bump.