thanks so much for the reviews and follows! it means so much to me to hear from you! hope you like this update :) (i'm bringing in some stuff from the start of season 2 now so...potential SPOILERS if you haven't watched yet!)
When It Rains, It Pours
Heather had left the house with the boys, leaving Kelly and Lacey there with her parents. Lacey went into the kitchen with Sarah to help her clean up from dinner, her mother continuing to gush about her excitement for the new baby. Sarah didn't care if Lacey and Kelly were married or not. She was just thrilled to be getting another grandchild. Mark, however, wasn't as enthused as his wife.
Sure, he was glad to be having another grandchild and he was happy for his daughter. The way he looked at it though, his son's best friend, who had pretty much grown up in the Darden house with them, had been sneaking around with his daughter. Then, they moved in together after they had only dated a few months. And, now, she was pregnant; as of now, there wasn't a ring on her finger. He might be happy for Lacey, but it wasn't exactly a father's dream come true for his little girl.
"I know what you're thinking Mr. Darden," Kelly said first as they sat in the living room alone. Kelly hoped that speaking up first would help settle his nerves; it hadn't.
"You wouldn't know," Mark shook his head. "Not until after that baby is born and you're a father."
"I love your daughter sir," Kelly told him right away. "We've already talked to our other roommate, we're going to start looking for our own place. And-"
"Are you going to get married?" Mark interrupted. That was what he wanted to know.
"I asked," Kelly admitted to him. "But, we decided that we wanted to wait. We don't want to get married because we feel like we have to."
"Uh huh," Mark nodded, looking the young lieutenant over. He was clearly skeptical of this entire plan. "You love her?"
"More than anything," Kelly nodded.
"Then you better take good care of both of them," Mark said back.
It had been two months since the news about the baby broke.
Lacey was home alone that morning, Kelly and Shay already having left to go on shift; she was home now for spring break. This upcoming weekend, Lacey and Kelly were going to be moving into their own place. The timing was perfect, with the lease up on the apartment; Shay had a place of her own already lined up. Today was Lacey's weekly doctor's appointment and Kelly was disappointed he wasn't able to go with her. She reminded him that there would be plenty of opportunities for him to go with her and that she would be fine on her own today.
Sitting on the table waiting for the doctor, Lacey couldn't help but occasionally bounce with excitement. With everything working out, she was starting to get really excited about having a baby and she knew that Kelly was too. Her doctor was busy with another patient, so a nurse came in to get her appointment started, even pulling up her ultrasound. The nurse was very quiet and Lacey figured it was just her demeanor as she excused herself to get Dr. Hooper. While Lacey thought that it was odd, she didn't really think much of it.
"Hi Doctor Hooper," Lacey smiled at her when she came back with the nurse. Dr. Hooper only gave a half smile back, which immediately alarmed Lacey since that woman was almost all smiles. She pulled up the ultrasound again, looking closely at the screen. Right now, Lacey thought that the sound might not be on since they hadn't heard a heart beat yet. When Dr. Hooper looked at her though, she knew that it was something else.
"What is it?" Lacey asked in immediate concern, though she wasn't stupid. She needed to hear it though, to confirm it.
"I am...so sorry Lacey," Dr. Hooper told her sadly. And that was all Lacey needed to hear to make the tears well up in her eyes.
Immediately leaving the office, Lacey drove to the firehouse. She couldn't go home and wait, she needed to find Kelly and talk to him right away. It was hard to believe that, two months ago, she wasn't even sure she was ready to have a baby. And now, just as she and Kelly had started to make the appropriate plans and get excited, she had lost it. Her baby was gone, before she even had a chance to meet them. Life could be so unfair.
"Hey Lacey," Shay greeted her with a grin as she came into the common room. "How-"
"Where's Kelly?" Lacey cut her off. She wasn't trying to be mean, but she needed to get to Kelly before the floodgates opened back up. Shay pointed back the hall and Lacey sped off in that direction, knowing Kelly was most likely in his quarters for now. Matt tried to stop her to say hi, but she pushed right by him.
"What's up with her?" Casey asked Shay once Lacey had gone.
"Something's wrong," Shay said uneasily; she knew that the doctor's appointment had been today.
Lacey walked back the hall, avoiding eye contact with anyone that passed her. She hadn't let anything out since the doctor's office, only welling up during her appointment. But now, thinking of Kelly and telling him the news, she felt like she was just going to erupt in a fit of tears.
"Hey!" Kelly grinned when he saw her coming. He was excited to hear about her appointment. Ever since the news really set in, Kelly was beyond thrilled to be having this baby with Lacey. They had even planned to name the baby Andy, if it was a boy. When Kelly saw her face though, the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, he knew that something wasn't right.
"What's wrong?" he asked right away, bringing her into the room and closing the door behind her. "What's going on?"
"Kelly, I can't..." She broke off into sobs, tears streaming down her face, choking on her words as she attempted to speak. "I'm so sorry...I-"
"Hey, hey," Kelly said, taking her face in his hands as he tried to wipe the tears off her face but they just kept coming. "Don't be, don't be sorry." He didn't even know what happened or what she could have done, but with how upset she was he was never going to be angry with her. He pulled her in to kiss her forehead. "Just tell me what happened," Kelly pleaded, sick with worry himself.
"I..." Lacey still struggled for the words, more tears surfacing. "I lost the baby Kelly," she finally told him.
"What?" Kelly asked softly, feeling his heart stop.
"She said it could just happen," Lacey said, wiping off her face as she talked about the doctor. "That no one did anything..." She started thinking about it more and more again, another flood of tears ready. "But...but I don't know...if there's..s...something wrong with me or-"
"No," Kelly shook his head in protest, though he honestly had no idea himself. "Come here," he pulled her into his chest, just letting her cry. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you," Kelly promised her. He didn't want her to think that it was her fault that they weren't going to have a baby. That wasn't fair.
"I'm sorry," Kelly told her sympathetically, running his hands up and down her back. "I'm so sorry babe." He kissed her head. "It's all right...it's all..." He knew that it was a lie.
It had been a few days, since Lacey had told Kelly what happened. He took it on himself to tell everyone, stopping to talk to her parents after the shift and calling Heather. She was upset enough as it was, he didn't want her to have to go through that process of reliving the news again and again.
With the move coming up, he was even quick to hide the boxes of stuff they had already gotten for the baby. A lot of it was stuff left by Clarice that she and Shay had bought, a crib, a changing table. There was other stuff too, stuffed animals Sarah couldn't wait to start getting. The last thing he packed up before Lacey got home was something from his co-workers, a white onesie with CFD on the middle. Finally taking a moment to feel sad himself, Kelly felt a couple stray tears slip out of his eyes. He had been excited for the baby too.
Kelly got back from the storage unit in just enough time to find Lacey at the house. Her dad had come, helping them with the move. They were only moving a few blocks away, to a new building into an apartment that was about the same size. It didn't have the spiral staircase though, they didn't want that for when they had the baby. Instead, it was just one floor. Walking in, there was the large sitting room and then the kitchen to the left. To the right was a hall that lead back to the bathroom, master bedroom, and then the extra room. Once Mark had gone and Kelly had thanked him for the help, Kelly caught Lacey staring into the empty bedroom. He walked up behind her, putting his arms around her middle.
"You all right?" he murmured. Clearly, she wasn't and hadn't been for days, barely talking to anyone. She just nodded.
"We can get some of my old furniture from my parents' house," Lacey said, turning to him. "Make it a guest room." Kelly's expression softened.
"We can try again," Kelly told her. "If you wanted." He knew that he wanted to eventually, since right now wasn't the right time to try that again.
"I don't know if I'm ready for that yet," Lacey admitted and Kelly nodded, kissing her forehead.
"I don't have to go in tomorrow," Kelly told her, since he was on shift the next day. He had finished his shift after he found out the news, but once Chief Boden found out what happened, he told Kelly he didn't have to come in for the next shift if he needed to take some time off with Lacey. "I can stay here, we can get the place set up."
"It's ok," Lacey shook her head. "I, um, have the boys tomorrow."
"Right," Kelly nodded, remembering now. The next day was Andy's birthday. Having a hard time with it, Heather's friends were taking her out, making her celebrate it rather than feel sad about it. Lacey had volunteered to watch her nephews, not really wanting to go out after what happened or spend her brother's birthday that way.
Kelly left for work the next morning, feeling bad for leaving Lacey alone. After everything that happened in the last few days, and now today would have been Andy's thirtieth birthday. She wasn't someone that liked to be smothered though, so she asked him to leave her alone and he left it. Figuring a night with her nephews was what she needed, he went in on his shift not thinking much else of it.
Lacey was trying as hard as she could to feel as normal as possible. When Heather dropped of Jack and Sean that afternoon, she took them out immediately to rent movies to watch all night and get popcorn; she even let them rent the scary movies that their mom wouldn't let them watch, but not too scary. Bringing them back, she ordered pizza for them, just enjoying being an aunt for now. Spending time with the boys though, made Lacey want something more. She wanted to be a mom, she wanted to have kids with Kelly. The doctor had told her if she wanted to try again, she would have to wait a few weeks, but Lacey definitely wanted the spare room to be a nursery, not a guest room.
Falling asleep that night on the couch, Jack had his head on her shoulder and Sean had curled up with a pillow in her lap. Her phone buzzing on the coffee table was what woke her, making her carefully move around so she didn't wake up the boys. By the time she had maneuvered her way off the couch, she had missed the call but saw that it was from Kelly. Confused about why he was calling her this late, she immediately called him back, stepping into their bedroom so her voice didn't wake the kids.
"Hey," she said when he answered. "What's going on? Are you all right?" It was close to one in the morning. Now that she thought about it, where the hell was Heather? She was supposed to pick up the boys at eleven.
"We have kind of a situation," Kelly said, not sure how to tell her. He wanted to tell her in person, but couldn't leave his shift and he didn't want her to bring the boys to the house. This was the only way to do it.
"What kind of situation?" Lacey asked in confusion.
"We got a call tonight, about an accident," Kelly tried to explain. "A DUI." He sighed. "Lace, Heather was driving."
"What?!" Lacey gasped in complete shock. "Is she on her way to the hospital or-"
"She wasn't hurt," Kelly went on. "They..." He was still shocked by all this as well. "They arrested her Lace, they had to."
"Oh my God," Lacey sighed, sinking onto their bed. "What should I do?" She had no idea what was going to happen next. "Should I call my parents, get her bailed out or..."
"They're not going to let her out right now," Kelly said gently. "The, um...the other passenger, she didn't make it." Lacey didn't have any words. "Heather's looking at manslaughter."
"Oh my God Kelly," Lacey said, running a hand through her hair. "What do I tell the boys?"
"Tell them, they got to have a sleepover," Kelly came up with the idea quickly. "I'll be home in the morning, I'll try to talk to them."
"Ok," Lacey sighed, falling back onto the bed. "Love you."
"I love you too," Kelly told her. "Just try to get some sleep."
Kelly knew that was some crappy advice, knowing that he wasn't going to be sleeping that night. Everything that happened with the baby was hard enough. Now, with what was going on with Heather, everything felt like it was spiraling out of control. He had other concerns too. Earlier in the day, their first call on shift, was a fire in their district. It just seemed like another fire, but very quickly it looked to be arson. And strangely, and pretty frightening, his badge number was spray painted on the side of the building.
Not able to sleep anymore, Kelly got up and went out to the common area. There were left overs from dinner in the refrigerator, so he started picking through them. A couple of the other guys were up, watching tv. They nodded hello to him, but didn't say much else. No one really knew what to say to him these days.
"Do you guys smell that?" Kelly asked. He had smelled this before, it was the same smell of the chemicals used to start the fire at the house they went to earlier that day. Going outside to investigate, they quickly saw what the smell was coming from. Someone had set fire to Kelly's car.
"Oh shit!"
The firefighters all ran back inside, getting the fire extinguisher until they could back the truck out and use the hose. Kelly knew for sure now, he was the target of an arson.
The boys were up bright and early the next morning. Lacey explained to them that their mom wasn't feeling well so she let them sleepover with her. After making them pancakes for breakfast, she told them that Kelly would be back soon. They were excited for that, hoping to hang out with their uncle. They had no idea what was going on though and it broke Lacey's heart.
"Hey," Kelly nodded when he entered. Casey had dropped him off, with Kelly not wanting Lacey to have to come get him. He was carrying an envelope that had been taped to their door.
"What's that?" Lacey asked as he opened it. As Kelly read the letter, he started laughing. It was a funny laugh though, it was more of a you have to be kidding me laugh. "What?"
"We have to move," Kelly told her, handing her the letter as he explained. "They sold our building and we have thirty days to relocate."
"But we just moved in!" Lacey complained, keeping her voice low since Sean and Jack were at the table having breakfast still. "Why would they let us sign a lease last month if they were going to sell the building."
"Because they weren't selling it last month," Kelly shrugged, frustrated. "We need to talk about something Lace." He had to tell her about the arsonist.
"We do," she agreed, though she nodded her head back at the table. Kelly knew that talking to the boys came first. And, really, they should be alone to talk about the things that were going on with the fires.
"Hey Kelly!" Sean called from the table, waving at him.
"Hey guys," Kelly said, half smiling at them as he went over to sit. Lacey walked over with him, standing by our chair.
"What are we doing today?" Sean asked.
"Where's our mom?" Jack added now.
"Your mom," Kelly said slowly, looking between the two of them, their eyes big and innocent. "She's ok," Kelly added right away. "But, um, she had an accident with her car last night."
"Is she at the hospital?" Jack asked.
"No," Kelly said hesitantly. How did you tell two kids that their mom had been arrested?
"Someone else got hurt," Lacey interjected now. "So she, um, has to stay with the police...for awhile." Kelly looked up at Lacey and she shrugged. He hadn't exactly come up with a better plan on what to tell them.
"Mom got arrested?" Jack asked, being the older of the two boys and clearly not stupid. Sean was still too little to get it.
"Everything is going to be fine," Kelly lied. How was he even supposed to know that? These days though, it just came out of his mouth naturally. "You guys...are just going to stay with me and your Aunt Lacey for awhile."
Or maybe we'll be staying with them, Lacey thought internally, remembering that they were being kicked out of their building.
thanks for reading! :) so...what did you think? please let me know! :)