Edward got home shortly after five, dropped Rubix off at Ben and Marian's as they wanted to spend some time with him so they took him for dinner.
"Hey." He said to Kristen as he hung up his jacket.
"Hi," Kristen said, going over and kissing Edward as he walked in. "How was your day?"
"Let's put it this way." He said before putting on his best southern accent. "I gone done told y'all not to call he no moe!" He said looking annoyed and exasperated at the same time.
"That bad, was it?" she sighed sympathetically, then said: "So … I talked to Lee today."
Edward looked down at her and nodded. "Kristen … I don't think you should do it." He said quietly. "I can do this without you …. I mean …" Ed sighed. "That's not what I meant. I can do this with the evidence that we have."
"But …" Kristen looked at him, taken aback. "I've thought it over, and … I want to."
"Kristen … No." He said. "I know you've thought about it but so have I. I'd like for you to be his mother, but I can't ask you to do that! Not like this."
Kristen shook her head. "But it's not just because of the situation now. I'm doing this because I want to. If …" she paused, a little upset. "If you don't want me to … He's your son and that's ultimately your choice, so I'd understand, but … If you do want me to be his mother, then why can't I?"
"There's multiple reasons why you shouldn't." Edward said sitting on the bed. "I also don't want you jumping into this."
"I'm not jumping into this," Kristen said, crossing her arms in frustration. "I've thought it over and I know what I want to do. You just said a moment ago that you'd like for me to be his mother. If that's not really what you want, then just say so."
"I didn't say that!" Edward said. "It's just better for you if you didn't! Why tie yourself to someone like that, we've only been dating for two months Kristen."
"I know that," Kristen insisted. "But this is still something I want to do. Rubix deserves a family, and I want to be part of that. If things don't work out between us, we could still be adults about it and make sure things turn out okay for Rubix. I'm not pretending to know the future of our relationship."
"Yeah, I've heard that before." Edward muttered running his hand through his hair. "You don't have to adopt him to be a part of his life though …."
"You've heard that before," Kristen repeated, her voice taking on a hard edge. "What does that even…" She shook her head. "Maybe I don't have to adopt him to be part of his life, but apparently I have to do something to convince you that I'm committed to this. Because so far, nothing I say or do seems to be good enough. The whole time we've been together, you keep acting like I'm going to just walk out on you at any minute!"
"So that's why you want to adopt him? To prove you're not going to walk out on me? That's not exactly a reason to adopt a child … And it wouldn't stop you from walking out … It would just make things more complicated."
"That's not why I want to adopt him," Kristen said, exasperated. "I want to adopt him because I care about him. It's not that complicated."
"It is complicated Kristen, and the fact that you think it isn't is proof enough that you shouldn't! This isn't something to take lightly." He said standing up and moving to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.
"Stop assuming I'm taking this lightly," she said, growing tense as Edward walked off to the fridge in the middle of their argument. Her memory jumped back to other arguments held in other apartments, and she half expected him to return with a beer. Even when he grabbed a bottle of water, the image was still there in her head and wouldn't go away. "I know exactly how important this is, and it's kind of insulting that you think I don't. I've been trying to explain that, but once you've decided how things are, you just don't listen!"
"Yeah, of course, I'm a man so I never listen right?" He asked sitting at the table. "When have I ever ignored you or something you've said?" He asked.
"I never said being a man had anything to do with it!" Kristen snapped, pacing across the room. She wasn't able to sit down, wasn't able to be still, and every instinct she had told her that when an argument got this heated, it was safest to get as far away from the other person as possible. "Though, now that you mention it, I'm noticing a distinct pattern of putting words in my mouth! But while we're on the subject, you ignored me pretty thoroughly when you locked me in the damn basement! Not to mention later, when I tried to explain why that scared the hell out of me!" Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, and her eyes watered with angry tears that she refused to let fall.
"Is this just a thing women do?" Edward asked, trying to keep his voice calm and failing. "Just bring up old arguments to validate the current one? We discussed that one already, I'm not apologizing for that again, it was already resolved! Welcome to the present!" He said angrily.
"Stop making everything about men and women!" she gestured wildly out of sheer frustration. "I have heard enough for a lifetime about what men and women are like! You just asked me when you have ever ignored me, and I gave you an answer, just so that you could throw it in my face and invalidate what I'm saying right now!"
"A response to which your only answer is the ONE TIME I A. Killed my father and B. Was concussed because I just had my face beaten into a cupboard! Or perhaps the next day when we had to dispose of a body, I murdered someone else, found a crime boss, harboured him in my apartment, and had to nurse him back to health …." He said getting even angrier. "Bravo …. Can you think of any others? Perhaps you'd like to bring up the incident in the bathroom … I suppose that was my fault too?" He asked.
Kristen stared back at Edward, shaking with rage. It was just the same scene playing out over and over again; only the other actor changed from time to time. Standing there while someone sitting at the kitchen table talked down to her, twisted her words against her, took anything she said in her defence and turned it into a weapon to drown out what she was actually trying to say. Why was she still here? Kristen shook her head, seeming to visibly deflate. "And I thought you were different," she hissed, snatching up her purse and storming out the door, letting it slam behind her.