Chapter 2:
Margo's house.
Hal noticed on the drive over to Margo's house that she was really quiet. Something was definitely bothering her, he thought to himself.
"Earth to Margo, we're here." Hal says, trying to get her attention, noticing that she was staring off.
Hal and Margo get out of the car and walk into the house. Hal notices that the pictures and some other items were no longer in their place.
"Hey, what happened to all the pictures that you had all over the place?" He asks as he looks around.
"I packed them away, along with what I could pack of Tom, Casey, and Daniel's things. I figured there was no use having them around when all they are nothing but a painful reminder that Tom and Casey aren't coming back—that they don't want anything to do with me" Margo says as she sits down on the couch, going through the mail.
"Bob and Kim don't know how to take no for an answer. They both know that I am not interested in attending Chris and Alison's wedding, knowing that Tom and Casey are going to be there." Margo tells Hal when she notices the wedding invitation.
Since the separation, Margo has been somewhat trying to isolate herself outside of work. She has even made an effort to stay clear of Bob, Kim, and the rest of the Hughes family. Bob, Kim, and Lisa have tried reassuring Margo that they still love her and still consider her a big part of the Hughes family even though Tom and Casey moved out, but to no avail. When she did see Bob or Kim, they had asked her if she was planning on being at the wedding. Margo told them that she wouldn't feel right being there because of the separation and knowing that Tom and Casey were going to be there.
"Do you want anything, Margo? Tea, coffee?" Hal asks standing in the kitchen.
"Some ginger ale and some ice would be fine." Margo replies without looking at him.
"So, do you now want to tell me what's going on since you told me you couldn't talk about it at the station? What is really going on with you?" Hal asks, as he walks toward the couch and hands Margo the glass of ginger ale.
"Alright, but you have to promise me that you aren't going to tell Tom any of this. Especially since I noticed that you were talking to him when I came out of the restroom."
Margo implies.
"I won't tell Tom anything. You know I won't tell him unless you want me to, even though he was asking if you were alright earlier." Hal replies.
"There's really no easy way to go about this, Hal. I'm pregnant." Margo tells him.
"What? When did you find out?" Hal asks, with a shocked look on his face.
"Three months ago. I found out that I was pregnant the day before Doc tried forcing himself on me in the women's locker room at the Oakdale Country Club. I'm four months along." Margo replies. "There's more to this, Hal. The reason why I haven't been feeling so good is because I am still dealing with some pretty wicked morning sickness. On top of that, this pregnancy is considered a high-risk pregnancy because of my age, HCV status, and liver transplant."
"Does Tom know about the baby?" Hal asks.
"No." Margo tells him as she looks down, "I didn't get the chance to tell him before he and Casey moved out. If I told him, I know that he would have made the accusation that Doc was the father of this baby and I couldn't deal with that, knowing this is Tom's child. I made the decision to deal with this pregnancy on my own and not let Tom know."
"Margo. You don't have to go through this alone. I'm here. You already went through one pregnancy by yourself when you were in Greece. I don't think you should have to go through this by yourself, especially if it's a high-risk pregnancy. God, Margo, this has got to be hard. Tom has a right to know about this pregnancy, about his unborn child."
"Yeah, Hal, it is." Margo responds. "I want to tell Tom more than anything that we're having the second baby together that we've wanted for so long, but after what happened with the last pregnancy, when I suffered that miscarriage alone while Tom was with Emily that night, I don't think I could put myself through that kind of pain again." Margo says as the phone rings.
"Hello?" Margo says as she answers the phone.
"Hey Margo, how are you doing?" a familiar voice asks.
"John, hi! I'm hanging in there." Margo tells her father.
"It's John" Margo whispers to Hal.
"I have a proposition for you. I am here in Martha's Vineyard and I was wondering if you were able to take some time off and get out of Oakdale for a while." John asks.
"I would love to. Hal's been bugging me to take some time off from work. How long are you going to be there?" Margo asks.
"For the next three weeks. Right now, classes are on summer break and I had been thinking about coming up here for a while now. So, I decided to come up here for a month to relax and maybe get some writing done before the chaos of classes start up again. I was thinking about you last night and I thought you deserve to get away from Oakdale for a while and get away from everything."
"That sounds wonderful. Do you mind if I join you for the rest of your vacation?" Margo asks.
"I would love for you to come up here and spend some time with your dear old dad for the rest of his vacation; I can even make it longer if you need it to be."
"Thanks John, I'll get some things packed and I'll leave here tomorrow."
"Call me and let me know when your flight gets in. I'll call my friend, Alan Sorenson, who is an OB/GYN who deals with high risk pregnancies to let him know that you are coming up—just in case something happens. I'll talk to you later." John says.
"That wouldn't be such a bad idea. I'll call you when I find out when my plane lands. Thanks John. Bye." Margo says as she hangs up the phone.
"Looks like you are going to need some more time off." Hal states.
"I'm sorry to do this to you, Hal." Margo says.
"Margo, it's perfectly fine. You definitely could use the time off and I am glad that you are going to go join John on his vacation to relax and get away from here. I think it will do you some good. Are you hungry at all? If you want, I can go through the fridge and see what you have and make you something to eat—like some soup or something easier on your stomach." Hal says.
"I haven't had much of an appetite today." Margo replies.
"Here, I found some chicken wild rice soup in the fridge-I'll reheat that for you." Hal says as he grabs the container out of the fridge.
"That sounds good." Margo says as she is looking for the number for the travel agent to see about getting a round-trip ticket to Boston or to Cape Cod to meet up with John in Martha's Vineyard.
"Margo, I am glad that you've decided to get out of town for a while—especially with Doc's trial being next week and the wedding shortly after that. It'll be good for you to get away from what's been hard on you and to spend some time with John. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss having you around the station. You need this. Do you want me to say anything to Tom or Casey if they ask?" Hal asks as he brings a bowl of soup over to where Margo's sitting on the couch.
"I doubt they're going to even notice that I'm gone. Tom's probably been busy with work, with the wedding, and Casey's fall baseball and Daniel's soccer games. It's not going to make any difference to them if I am gone. Tom and Casey pretty much want absolutely nothing to do with me." Margo says.
"Does anybody else know about the pregnancy?" Hal asks as he sits down.
"Bob and Kim know, but I asked them not to say anything to Tom or Casey about it. That's it. I haven't even told Katie or Craig either, because one of those two would definitely say something to Tom. I just don't want to deal with any of that right now. Besides, if Katie finds out that this is a high-risk pregnancy because of the liver transplant, she's going to be really angry." Margo says, in between blows to cool her soup.
Meanwhile outside, Tom pulls up in the driveway. He parks the car and walks up to the front door. When he gets there, he looks inside to see Margo and Hal sitting there on the couch together talking. He stands there for a minute, deciding whether or not to ring the doorbell. When he sees Margo lay her head on Hal's shoulder, he decides to leave without either one of them noticing. He walks back to his car, feeling somewhat hurt—thinking that there might be something wrong with Margo and what looks like Hal taking care of her. Tom gets back into his car and feeling somewhat bad for lashing out at her like he did before he moved out, he drives off.
"You know that eventually, you're going to have to deal with him—at least in a professional sense. I told him about you asking Jack to take over the lead in the Kramers investigation and that you were waiting on the forensics on the evidence you had submitted for Jack. He told me that he didn't know and that you didn't notify him on that, even though that you knew you were supposed to." Hal tells Margo, as he stirs his soup around a bit.
"Yeah, yeah. I know I was supposed to notify Tom. The reason I didn't was that I felt I shouldn't have to explain to him why I asked Jack to take over the case because you and I both know he was going to ask, even though I know it's not going to change anything." Margo replies as she's about to take a bite.
"Is there some other reason why you have been totally avoiding Tom?" Hal asks, getting up. "Would you like some more ginger ale?"
"Yes, thanks." Margo says, handing Hal her glass. "There's more to the reason why I have been avoiding Tom. The first is that he lashed out at me pretty bad when he confronted me about what Jill told him. Hal, I told him the truth about what happened—that, yes, I did kiss Doc. But when I told him that I can't, that I shouldn't have done that, Doc got mad and that is when he tried forcing himself on me-slamming me up against the wall. You would think that Tom would believe his wife over someone he barely knows. Boy, I was wrong on that. I thought it would be best if I gave Tom some space and just stay out of his way. About a couple of weeks later, I walked into the DA's office to drop off a case file and I overheard a conversation with him and Jessica and I overheard something that really stung." Margo says, taking the glass from Hal as he sits down.
"What was that?" Hal asks.
"I overheard Tom tell Jessica that the thought of him being in the same room with me makes him sick." Margo says, as a tear rolls down her cheek. "I left. I didn't even leave the file that I was going to drop off."
"Margo, I am so sorry that you had to hear that. What about Casey? Eventually, he's going to come around and he's going to want you there for something important." Hal says.
"I doubt that too. Casey made it pretty clear that he was angry that I hurt his dad like that by kissing Doc. He didn't even give me any chance to explain what happened." Margo says as the phone rings.
Margo looks at the caller id on the cordless phone and sees that it's Tom calling.
"I'll let the answering machine take that call. It's Tom and I don't feel like talking to him." Margo says as the answering machine picks up, playing the greeting that she hasn't changed yet. After the greeting, Margo and Hal are quiet,
"Margo, it's me, Tom. I know you aren't expecting me to call, but I was calling to see if you are alright. I saw you earlier today when you rushing to the ladies' room. I asked Hal if you were okay, but he wouldn't tell me much. I just need to know if you're okay. Please, call me. Bye." Tom says before the beep.
"It's probably a pretense to bug me about the separation papers." Margo says after hearing Tom leave the message.
"You probably have to get going, get back to the office or to Parker and Will." Margo says looking at her watch.
"Are you okay?" Hal asks.
"I'll be fine. Thanks for making me something to eat and being here to listen. Besides, I have a trip to pack for and I need to find out about plane tickets." Margo says.
"You're welcome. Enjoy your trip. Please let me know that you've made it there alright. You know I am going to worry about you. Don't worry; I am not going to say anything to Tom about the baby." Hal says, getting up from the chair.
Margo gets up from the couch at the same time and grabs the two bowls. Hal picks up his coffee cup and the glass.
"You can leave the glass. I was planning on finishing that." Margo says as she walks over to the sink with the dirty bowls.
"Okay. Let me know how long you're going to be gone for. One last thing about the trip, it's probably a good idea that you're leaving town for a while considering that Doc's trial starts next week and the wedding is coming up soon." Hal says.
"It's like you and John both said, I need to get away for a while—get away from everything that is going on here. I don't need to be reminded of Doc and the trial is going to be nothing but a reminder of what happened between Tom and I, and I really don't want to be at the wedding anyway." Margo says as she walks over to the door to see Hal out.
Later that afternoon, the Lakeview Towers—Tom and Casey's suite.
Tom is sitting at the desk, looking over the file of the Kramers investigation that he got from Shanks earlier in the day when Casey walks in.
"Hey, bud. How was school today?" Tom asks, looking up as Casey tosses his backpack on the couch.
"It was alright. By the way, conferences are coming up in two weeks and I was asked today in a couple of classes which one of my parents is coming." Casey replies as he flops on the bed.
"Speaking of your mom, and I know you don't want to hear this, but I saw your mom today and she's not looking real good." Tom says quietly.
"Did she say anything?" Casey asks, looking surprised.
"No, Hal told me that she hasn't been feeling that good for the past couple of weeks and that she's been literally throwing herself into her work and barely taking any time off. When I asked him if he knew what was wrong with her, Hal told me that he didn't know what or how much to tell me and that she couldn't talk about it and that it wouldn't matter to me anyway. I then went over to the house and saw your mom sitting there with Hal. They looked like they were talking. I left after seeing your mom put her head on Hal's shoulder. I tried calling the house, but all I was able to do was leave a message. I'll make it to your conferences." Tom says.
"How bad did she look? Do you think it's because she's working too much?" Casey asks.
"She looked pretty pale—kind of like of how pale she looked right before we found out she had HCV. I hope that the stress of working too much isn't getting to her, but you know how your mom is—she doesn't want to talk much and throw herself into her job." Tom says, looking for his briefcase.
"Hey, are you hungry at all? I haven't eaten yet." Tom asks from the other room, where he finds his briefcase.
"Not really. I got something to eat from Al's after practice. I ran into Jill from the country club." Casey says.
"Did she say anything?" Tom asks.
"All she said is that she hopes we know the truth about Mom and then quickly walked away." Casey said.
"That's all she said?" Tom asks, wondering what she meant about the truth about Margo.
"I don't really want to talk about Mom, or Jill, or anything else related to this whole mess. I've got homework I've got to work on."
"Are you going to be alright for a while? I have to go back to the office for a bit and see if I can talk to Jack or Hal regarding the Kramers case and I've got to work on the case for Doc's trial that starts next week." Tom says.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm going to work on my homework for a bit here and maybe go to bed early tonight. I've had a long day." Casey says.
"Alright, bud. I'll see you later." Tom says as he walks out the door.
Tom checks his cell phone to see if anybody has called, hoping that Margo would at least return his call to let him know how she's doing. He looks at it, disappointed, that Margo didn't call him back.