A Fresh Start
Chapter Thirty Four
When the plane lands, Sam heads immediately for the agency even though she has the day off, when she steps off the elevator she runs into one of the other doctors.
"Hey Sam, is it true, you're leaving.
"Yeah."
"We'll miss you." The doctor says, stepping onto the elevator.
"Thanks." Sam replies, walking onto the floor.
LaKeisha is at the nurse's station when Sam walks up.
"Hey Sam." One of the nurses says as she walks by
"Hey Mary." Sam replies as she walks around the nurse's station and LaKeisha looks up. "What are you doing here? It's your day off."
"I know. I need you to do something for me." Sam says, leaning against the counter.
"What's up?"
"I want you to draw some blood."
"Draw some blood, what for?"
Sam looks around, spotting and empty room she motions for her to follow her as she walks across the hall. Holding the door, Sam waits until she's in the room before she closes it behind them.
"I need you to run a pregnancy test."
"But why the blood test, why not…?"
"It's too soon for a regular test."
"Alright, let me get the stuff." LaKeisha says, leaving the room. She returns a couple minutes later. Sam is sitting on the bed when she walks in. "Are you ready?"
"No, but go ahead." Sam replies, holding out her arm.
A few minutes later LaKeisha takes the vial and leaves the room. She returns a few minutes later. "Okay I left it with the lab. And I told them to put a rush on it."
"Thank you."
"So, what happened?"
"I forgot to take my pills."
"You forgot to take your pills, that's not like you."
"Yeah I know, but I had a lot on my mind last week."
"Did you tell Jeffrey?"
"No, I wanted to make sure I was before I said anything to him."
"How do you think he'll react?"
"I don't know. I want to think he'll be happy, but his daughter is pregnant right now."
"Oh wow, double whammy."
"Correct. I've got to go talk to Dr. Frost." Sam says, getting off the bed.
"Okay." LaKeisha says, following her over to the door.
"You'll…."
"I'll come get you when I get the results." LaKeisha says, before Sam's opens the door."
"Thank you."
She leaves for Dr. Frost's office. Stopping at her office, she checks her messages before she walks next door, knocking softly on Dr. Frost's door. "Come in." Opening the door, Sam walks in. "Sam, I wasn't expecting you to be in today."
"I know. I had some things to take care of."
"Okay."
"I wanted to tell you that appreciate all that you and Mrs. Frost have done for me."
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, it's time I moved on."
"Then you're welcome. I must say I will miss you when you leave." He says, getting up and walking around the desk as Sam stands up "I wish you all the best." He says, giving her a quick hug as some one knocks on his door. Taking a step back, he says. "Come in."
LaKeisha opens the door. When Sam sees her she nods before she turns to Dr. Frost. "I've got something I need to take care of."
"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes." Sam replies, walking towards the door.
They leave. Sam waits till they are in her office before she asks. "Did you look…?"
"No." LaKeisha replies, handing her the folder.
"Okay." Sam replies, sitting down at her desk.
Opening the folder she takes a deep breath before she looks down. After reading the results, she closes the folder and lays it on her desk. By the expression on her face, LaKeisha knows the results. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know. I don't know if I'm ready for this."
"I think you'll be a great mother. Look at how you are with your cousins boys." There are several minutes of silence before Sam looks back up "Are you going to tell him?"
"Of course I'm going to tell him." Sam replies, getting up and reaching for her purse as she walks around her desk.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"I'll be fine. I need to get home. I've got to start getting my stuff ready?"
"You need to…."
"I know." Sam replies, walking out of her office.
"When are you going to see him again?"
"This weekend."
"If you need me…."
"I'll call you." Sam replies, giving her a hug. "And thank you."
"You're welcome. I'll see you in the morning?"
"Yes."
Sam starts to leave and then turns around. "LaKeisha"
"Yeah."
"Don't say anything?"
"I won't." She replies, smiling at her.
Sam leaves as LaKeisha goes back to work.
Over the next couple days, Richard and Cassie take turns sitting with Will. The doctors are optimistic that the infection didn't affect his liver. They're still keeping him in the hospital till all the infection is gone, but feel confident that he will be released within a few more days.
RJ spent as little time as he has to with Richard. Usually staying in his room when they were at home and then hanging out with Will at the hospital. He also starts going over to the houses of some of his old playmates from when he was here before. The Mortimer were the first to invite him to stay with them and the next morning Richard and Cassie both came to get him before they all go to the hospital. Will is sitting up in bed, watching American cartoons when they walk in.
"Mommy, Daddy." Will cries, holding out his arms for both of them to hug him.
RJ stands back and watches this with sour expression on his face. A few minutes later, Will's doctor comes in and Richard and Cassie go out into the hall to talk with him. When the door closes behind them RJ looks at Will, and asks. "Why do you call him that?"
"What?" Will asks, looking at his brother
"Daddy." RJ says with snarl
"Because he's my daddy too, he's Richard, and that makes him my Daddy?" Will says in a questioning tone.
"No! he's not. Richard is dead. He's not a live, Aunt Reva killed him and he's not coming back."
"But Mommy says he's…."
"She's lying, he's not your daddy, and he's not my Daddy. He's no one, he's nobody. He doesn't belong here." RJ yells loud enough to get Cassie and Richard's attention outside.
Pushing the door open, Cassie asks. "What's going on? Why are you yelling RJ? You know your brother is sick." RJ only looks at her but doesn't reply. "RJ, I asked you a question."
RJ looks at Richard, but doesn't reply.
"Cassie, I think we need to take a break from the hospital for a while and spends some time at home." Richard says, as William walks in.
He can feel the tension in the room, the moment he walks in and asks. "What's going on?"
"We're going to take a bit of break and take RJ home." Richard says. "If that is okay with you."
"That's fine. Is Will okay?"
"He's fine, we were just talking with the doctor and he seems to be fighting off the infection and his liver is still working properly."
"I'll sit here with him. You guys go ahead and take RJ home."
"Will, we will see you later?"
"Okay, bye Mommy, Daddy." Will says, as RJ looks at him.
"Bye, sweetie." Cassie says, hugging him quickly before they leave.
On the way back to the villa, Cassie tries to get RJ to tell her what he and Will had been arguing about, but he remains silent. And once they arrive home, he goes upstairs without saying anything as Cassie starts to follow him but Richard stops her and leads her into the living room.
"He'll come around." Richard says, putting his arms around her.
"You heard what he yelled at Will."
"Yes, I did. He's confused and he's trying to hang on to the world that he knows. Eventually he'll realize that I'm not going away again and he'll accept me again. We have to give him time." Richard says, sitting down on the couch with Cassie beside him.
They sit there without talking, until Richard says. "You know, it feels strange to be in this house. The last time we were here together we were on the run from Edmund." Richard says, taking her hand.
"I know. I thought about that the first night I was here. It was bitter sweet."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, thinking about it made me feel close to you, but then you weren't here, either."
"I'm here now." He says, as she moves over by him, laying her head on his shoulder. "Why did you come down here? I know it has something to do with what happened with Josh."
"It was more than that. When he left, I sat down and thought about everything that happened over the last five years, about you leaving, about Edmund and Jeffrey. I thought about getting involved with Josh. And what all that was doing to RJ. I thought about Tammy and loosing her and I realized that I was running, running from being alone, running from you."
"From me?"
"Yes, from facing the fact that you were not coming back and I realized that I had to find a way to pull myself together. After your funeral I didn't take the time to really sit down and accept that you weren't coming back. I knew in my head that you weren't but my heart still expected for you to be there, for your arms to be there to hold me, for you to be there to tell me what to do, with the kids or any problem that I had. I sort of pushed all that aside and I pretend that in a way you were still there. I refused to believe that it was over, that we were over so soon. I couldn't accept it so I went looking for this connection we have. I guess that's why I went to Edmund, even though he had done so many things to me.
And then Jeffrey showed up, if there was ever a time that I did fill connected to you it was with him. That's why I always turn to him or I did. When I have a problem, I know or knew that he could fix it.
"And Josh?"
"Josh is harder to explain. I know I was simply lonely, even though, if I had turned to Jeffrey, he would have been there, but my pride wouldn't let me call him. I tried to fight my feelings for Josh at first, but then he was always around because of the hospital project we were working on for Lewis and I let myself start feeling things that I never should have."
"Where was Reva?"
"She was dealing with the cancer, although we didn't know about that. It still doesn't excuse taking my sisters husband's from her."
"You know that eventually she will forgive you. You both love each other too much."
"I think she already has, at least to some extent. I have to forgive myself. That's another reason I'm down here, to forgive myself."
Wrapping his arms around her, he lightly kisses the side of her head. There are several minutes of silence, while they simply sit with each other, until RJ comes in.
"Mom, I'm hungry?" He says, completely ignoring Richard.
"Okay, I'll fix you something."
"Can we have pizza?"
"I don't know." Cassie says, looking at Richard.
"Why do you have to ask him?"
"Because he may not want pizza. It might be too much for him."
"Who cares?"
"RJ, I know you're upset and confused about everything that has happened but I will not tolerate that type of attitude. He is your…."
"He's not my father. Hart died, Richard died. They all die or leave." RJ says, running out of the room
"I'm sorry." Cassie says, turning to Richard.
"It's okay. If you want to order pizza, it's okay. It's not going to bother me."
"I might have, but after that I don't think I will. I don't want to reward that type of behavior. I've got stuff in the kitchen I can cook." Cassie says, getting up and walking into the kitchen with Richard following behind her.
"Pasta?" He asks, smiling as she turns to look at him.
"No, unless you want pasta."
"I seem to remember that you make very good pasta." Richard says, putting and arm around her waist and leaning in to kiss her. When he steps back, he asks. "Can I help?"
"Ah sure if you'll get the lettuce, tomato, and onion out of the refrigerator and start cutting them up." Cassie says, getting out a pound of hamburger meat.
"Am I making a salad?" Richard asks, taking the vegetables out of the refrigerator
"No, tacos." Cassie replies, putting the meat on the burner.
"Okay."
An hour later, Cassie walks over to the stairs. "RJ, dinner's ready." She calls as Richard finishes bringing the food to the table. RJ runs down the stairs.
"Are we having pizza?"
"No, tacos. Now go wash your hands."
He heads towards the bathroom after glancing at Richard behind Cassie's back. He returns a few minutes later.
"Let me see." Cassie says, as RJ holds his hand out. "other side." He flips them over. "Okay, go on."
RJ walks over to the table. Sitting down on the other side as far as he can from Richard, he picks up his plate.
"RJ, wait." Cassie says, sitting down.
"Why?"
"Because I want to say something. I have never been happier than I am right now. I love both of you and I know this is going to be an adjustment for all of us. But if we work together, we'll be okay."
"Can we eat now?" RJ asks, sounding bored.
"Okay, go ahead." Cassie sighs, as Richard catches her eye and smiles at her as he reaches to help RJ.
"I got it." RJ says, taking the bowl away from Richard.
"RJ…." Cassie starts to correct him but Richard catches her eye, shaking his head no before he starts to fill his plate.
"So RJ, can you tell me about school?"
"It's school." RJ replies, continuing to eat and not looking up.
"Do you have any friends?"
"A few." He replies, still eating.
"What about your teacher?"
"She was alright. Jeffrey helped me get ready for kindergarten." He says, sounding slightly accusatory.
"He did, how?"
"He told me that I would meet my best friend in kindergarten, And that I had to bring him to met him, so that he could tell me if I had picked the right one."
"And did you?"
"Yes." He replies, going back to eating. For the rest of the meal, they eat in silence. When RJ finishes his last taco, he turns to Cassie and asks. "Can I be excused?"
"Yes, but put your plate in the kitchen." Cassie says, as RJ pushes his chair back and stands up. Taking his plate, he walks around the table, going by Cassie instead of Richard.
After putting his plate in the sink, he heads back upstairs while Cassie and Richard stay at the table for a few seconds before Cassie says. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. He doesn't understand what has happened. I was there one minute and then I was gone and now I'm back again. He's going to act out."
"He never acted out with Edmund, Jeffrey or Josh. I know it's hard for him to understand, but he has always been respectful."
"You have to give him some room. He has to get used to this, used to me again and he will, but pressuring him to accept me will only make him push me away and resent both of us." Richard says, walking over to her and putting his arm around her, drawing her to him. "I know you're worried and I know that a part of you wants us to go back to being the family that we were, and we will. But it's going to take time."
"Okay." Cassie says, hugging him. When she steps back, she looks up. "I missed that."
"Well then, let's do it again." Richard says, hugging her. When he steps back, he asks. "Do you want some help?"
"No, it'll only take me a few minutes to take care of this."
"Okay." He says, leaning over to kiss her softly.
While Cassie is in the kitchen cleaning up, Richard walks out onto the patio. Sitting down in one of the deck chairs, he turns towards the ocean and listens to the waves come on shore and remembers back to when he was a boy in the palace, sitting on the cliffs and listening to the waves. It was the only place he felt at peace during his childhood, especially after Charlotte died.
Cassie finds him sitting there, his head laid back, eyes closed. Walking over to him, she runs her hand over his head as she walks around him. Opening his eyes, he looks up and smiles.
"Are you okay?" She asks, starting to sit down at the end of the lounge but he shakes his head no and pats the open area beside him.
She moves down beside him, laying her head on his chest as he puts his arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head before he replies. "I'm fine. I was listening to the ocean and thinking about when I was a boy."
"When you were a boy?"
"Yes, at the palace. I used to go to the cliffs and sit there and listen to the waves and seagulls. It was the only place I found any peace, especially after Charlotte died and father was so focused on me being prince and learning my duties. He didn't see that I need a father. I needed someone that I could lay my head on his shoulder and cry and not be ridiculed for being weak. He certainly didn't see what he was doing to Edmund."
"Does it bother you being back here? I know when we left here, you wanted to go to Springfield, but so much as changed since then and we didn't really take the time to let you focus on dealing with not being prince and finding out that Charlotte wasn't your mother. You were focused on me and what I needed."
"No, it doesn't bother me to be here again. I think I needed it. This island was such a huge piece of my life for so long and I didn't really say good-bye to it."
"We can stay here as long as you need." Cassie says, hugging him.
"I'll be okay Cassie." He says, feeling the need to reassure her. "We'll all be okay."
RJ is standing in his window, looking down on his mom and Richard. In the back of his mind, he recognizes something that he saw when he was younger, but consciously he still doesn't want to accept that the man down there is his father. Turning from the window, he walks over to the bed, picking up his video game he starts to play.
When Jeffrey is finally able to get to city hall, he has little time to himself to think about anything but the projects and demands of running the city of Springfield. He is finishing up a meeting with one of the councilmen when Stacey buzzes him.
"Sir, a Det. Mallet is here to see you."
"Thank you, Stacey. Send him in." Jeffrey replies, holding down the intercom button.
A few minutes later the door opens and Mallet walks in. "Jeffrey." He says, sitting down in front of his desk.
"Mallet, did you read over his statement?"
"Yes, did you?"
"I glanced over it."
"What do you think?"
"As a former DA, I think we have a fairly good case here, especially if we are able to get the other witnesses to confirm the foreman's story about the jury tampering."
"I've spoken with the Detective questioning the jurors; he's still working on getting some of them to talk."
"Do you know how many he has?"
"I think about half."
"We need more than that. If we go in with only half the jurors willing to testify that foreman pressured them into placing the guilty plea, her attorney will be able to either get the rest to say that it was totally on the foreman or that it never happened at all. We have to make sure we have all of them. And without them, we don't have a pattern of corruption between her and Alan Spaulding. We can't move until we get that."
"I'll see what I can do, but if they won't talk to us. Why do you think they'll talk to her attorney?"
"Because he'll convinces them that talking to him will keep Doris off their back and that we're only out to use them."
"Okay. How are things going with Sam?"
"Fine, she's in DC right now."
"When is she coming back here?"
"She's moving over in a couple weeks. After the hospital finds a replacement for her."
"She's moving here!"
"Yes." Jeffrey says, with a smile.
"Are you going to be able to handle that, with your ex's here."
"Cassie and Sam are friends, Beth, I have very little to do with her. We were only a short interlude that I've already told Sam about. Blake is in a coma, so she can't really do anything. As to Olivia, I'm watching her. I won't let anything happen to Sam." Jeffrey says, walking around his desk
"You forgot one, but then I guess that's understandable, considering. Dinah." Mallet says, walking towards the door
"Yes, how is she?" Jeffrey asks, following behind him.
"She's doing good. She loves WSPR."
"Good." Jeffrey says, as he looks over and sees his next meeting is waiting. "My next meeting is here."
"I'll be in touch."
"Okay."
Mallet leaves, as Jeffrey shows another councilman into his office and closes the door behind them.
Olivia gave Simmons, three days to get the room in order before she went back out there. Pulling up into the drive way, she gets out as Simmons walks out of the Inn. "Where's the other guy?"
"He's watching him."
"Is the room ready?"
"Yes ma'am." Simmons replies, stepping aside to let her into the Inn. He follows her back to the room.
Opening the room, she looks around. "Better, are you sure he can't get the boards off?"
"Yes, they are nailed all the way around."
"You got all the sharp stuff out, there's nothing that he can use as a weapon."
"No, nothing. I took out everything that could be breakable or sharp. And I put the lock on the outside, that way he won't be able to unlock the door and get out that way. We'll be here the whole time to make sure he doesn't go anywhere until you're ready."
"He may be here for a very long time. It depends on him." Olivia says, looking around the room one more time before she walks out and back into the main room of the inn. "Okay, when are you?"
"My partner hasn't contacted me with his movements, once we have enough information about that we'll decide when to move."
"Okay."
"I'll let you know when we're going to make the move."
"How are you going to do it?"
"I'm think that since he is who he is; we'll use something to knock him out until we can secure him."
"Alright, but let me know so I can make sure that I have an alibi for whenever you move."
"Are you suspecting trouble, because if you are we can take care of that too?"
"I'll have to see if that becomes necessary." Olivia replies, walking out of the inn.
"Yes ma'am." Simmons replies, following behind her.
When Sam reaches her apartment, she unlocks the door. Slowly opening it, she looks inside before she walks in; just to be sure that no one is inside. Closing the door behind her, she locks it and then sits down on the couch. Laying her head back, she closes her eyes. On the drive home the only thought that was running through her mind was that she is pregnant. Her first instinct is to call Jeffrey, but she doesn't want to tell him this over the phone.
"So do I wait till he comes this weekend?" She asks her self. "I can't do that. I won't be able to hide that something is wrong over the phone. He'll know. But then I can't go to Springfield, I just got back and I've got patients." 'Dr. Frost will understand.' "Will he?" 'As often as you've been there, as many times as you've come through for him, he can do this for you. You're leaving anyway.' "But still, I don't want to leave like that." 'This is an emergency.' "Not really, it can wait till he gets here this weekend." 'Are you sure about that?' "I don't know." Sam says out aloud, getting up and walking over to the window.
Staring out at the kids playing in the park she tries to imagine her little boy or girl playing one day. Would he look like Jeffrey, or her? Would they have Jeffrey's eyes, or his smile? Or would they look totally like her?" She is so lost in thought, she jumps when the phone rings, turning she waits till the answer machine picks up.
"Hey, Sam. Are you back yet…?"
Sam runs for the phone, grabbing it before Megan hangs up. "Meggie, I'm here." Sam says.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Megan asks.
"What? Why do you think something's wrong?"
"Because, you only call me Meggie, when you have a problem."
"I don't want to get into over the phone, can you come over here?"
"Sure, are you okay?"
"I'm, well I'm as good as I can be with the problem I got. Just come over and I'll explain."
"I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Thank you." Sam replies, hanging up the phone.
A few minutes later, Megan knocks on the door to Sam's apartment. Getting up, she walks over and opens it, letting her in. They hug before Megan sits down and asks. "What's wrong?"
"I got a problem, a potentially serious one, depending on how Jeffrey takes it."
"You're pregnant."
"How did you guess that?'
"That's the only thing that it could be. I don't think he would leave you."
"He might after this."
"Do you really think that?"
"I don't know."
"Have you asked him?"
"I asked him if he thought about having anymore kids."
"And what did he say?"
"That he hasn't thought about it."
"Well, he probably hasn't."
"So he probably hasn't but he didn't say that he'll be overjoyed, or that he wants more children."
"You two just got back together, it's a bit much to expect him to say he wants to have a baby with you."
"He could have…."
"Admit it, if you weren't in this situation right now you wouldn't be thinking about this."
"I don't…." Megan looks at her. "Okay, so maybe I wouldn't but I am in this situation, and I'm not at all certain how he will react."
"Have you told him?"
"No, I wasn't for sure until I got back today. I didn't even suspect until yesterday."
"How did this happen?"
"I forgot to take my pill for a few days last week. I know it's not like me."
"No, it's not."
"But with everything that was going on, I forgot about it. After the break in I wasn't thinking about those pills, I was just freaked out and then Jeffrey came. I wasn't thinking about anything but that I was happy that he was here."
"You're thinking that he's going to be mad at you because you forgot the pills."
"No, I don't know. I would like to think he's not the type of man that would blame this on me and deny this baby. But how well do I know him. We've been apart for several years."
"Sam, a man doesn't change his fundamental beliefs just like that. Is there any reason for you to think that he's going to be upset with you?"
"No, my gut says he'll be surprised maybe a little unnerved by the whole situation, especially with Ava being pregnant too but…."
"Ava! Who's Ava?"
"He's daughter, I told you about her when we…."
"Yes, I remember. What does she have to do with you being pregnant, unless…."
"She's pregnant too?"
"What are you trying to do a Father of the Bride kind of thing?"
"No, this wasn't planned."
"Well, neither was it in the movie."
Sam looks at her for a few seconds before she finishes what she had been about to say when Megan interrupted her. "I think he won't walk away, he'll be there."
"So what's the problem?"
"How do I tell him? I don't want to tell him this over the phone. I can't tell him this over the phone." Sam says, getting up and walking over to the window.
"So then don't."
"I can't just go across town. He's in Springfield."
"When is he coming back here?"
"This weekend?"
"Can you wait that long to tell him?"
"I don't know if I can keep him from realizing there's something wrong. He knows me too well." Sam says, turning from the window.
"So, why don't you go to Springfield?"
"I just got back. I've got to go to work tomorrow. And there's something else I need to tell you."
"Okay."
"I'm moving to Springfield."
"You're moving, when?"
"Two weeks, I gave my notice before we went back for the 4th."
"What are you going to do there?"
"I haven't really decided. We looked at some office spaces while I was in Springfield. I'm thinking about opening my own practice."
"Are you going to be able to handle that with the baby coming?"
"It's not going to be any less stressful than working at a hospital."
"You don't need stress right now?" Megan says.
"I can't stay at home all day. I'll be bored out of my mind."
"I think Jeffrey is going to insists that you take it easy."
"You're probably right, but I can't just sit around and do nothing. Besides, I'll get to be as big as a house if I'm not busy."
"You're expected to be as big as a house when you're pregnant. Are you going to go tell him?"
"Of course I'm going to tell him, I just don't know how I going to tell him. I can't just call and tell the agency that I'm not going to be there tomorrow."
"How much personal time do you have built up?"
"I don't know."
"I'll bet it's years, they can survive without you for a few more days. I think you should go."
"Megan!"
"What, this is something you need to tell him in person. You said it yourself. You have plenty of time built up, I say take it, before you leave."
"I'm not going just leave them short handed. They have been good to me, even if I wasn't to happy about going back in."
"You deserve some time. You've worked harder than anyone I've known for the last twelve years."
"It's been more than that."
"See, even you think you should…."
"I think I need to tell him this and I need to tell him in person." Sam says, reaching for the phone.
"That's my girl." Megan says, smiling at her.
Sam dials the number to Dr. Frost's office after a couple rings he answers. "Dr. Frost, its Sam."
"Yes, I know. I'm calling about something else. I've got to take some more of my personal time."
"Okay, thank you." Sam says, hanging up the phone.
"He's said it was okay."
"Yes."
"Then get on the phone and book a flight."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes." Megan says, nodding towards the phone.
"Okay." Sam says, dialing the number for the airlines.
When she gets off the phone, Megan asks. "When do you leave?"
"Six."
"Okay, we've got time. You want to go get something to eat."
"Sure, where are Patrick and the kids?"
"He's taken them camping for the week, and you know me."
"Yeah, if it doesn't include hot water and air conditioning you're not interested."
"That's so true." Megan replies, as they walk out of the apartment.
34.13