A/N: I'm quite excited, there's a large amount of plot I have planned. Enjoy!
She sits uncomfortably on the shabby orange chair. The silence was getting louder with every tick of the clock. The receptionist looks at the girl in the chair, rolls her eyes, and goes back to the monotony of the paperwork on the desk.
He sits tensely on the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. Worry is etched into his face, as he plays a gentle lullaby on his ropey old guitar. A slight dark haired girl walks into the room.
"I'm worried about her," he murmurs.
He cannot read the strange expression on the girl's face.
"There's something bad going on that she's not telling me," he continues.
The girl's eyes widen and dart down to the floor, her cheeks flush, and she mutters something unintelligible before bolting from the room.
Somewhere else entirely, Molly rolls over in her nest of pillows (she always found beds to be quite restricting) hits the cold wooden floor, and awakens with a shock.
The slow realisation that either she has had an extremely vivid dream or that Jude Feeney is sprawled on her couch, most probably hung-over, (and lying next to his possible son, she recalls in horror) hits her like the previous coldness of the floor.
Molly doesn't want to take any chances either way, so she hurriedly brushes her teeth and throws on a dressing gown. Glancing hurriedly in the mirror, she hopes she looks semi-presentable.
She tentatively creeps down the stairs. Her heart leaps in a mixture of happiness and dread when she sees Jude slumped on the couch, his face buried in his hands.
The stair creaks loudly as Molly steps on it, and Jude jolts out of his apparent stupor.
He stares at her in befuddled disbelief.
"Molly?" he asks groggily, rubbing bleary eyes, "...I forgot for a moment..."
"So did I."
She didn't intend to sound so cold, or to cause the awkward silence that follows. Still, the fact remains that she has responsibilities, and cannot put her life on hold for one devastatingly handsome man.
Stop thinking like that.
Molly crosses the room and checks on the sleeping infant, whose existence she had momentarily forgotten. Slipping into routine, she prepares the baby food almost on autopilot. Eventually she turns round, and starts as she sees the look of horror on Jude's face, which had previously gone unnoticed.
"What the hell's the matter?"
Jude is goggling at Teddy like the child is some kind of demon spawn.
"His eyes are brown...really brown. He's....not mine...is he?" There is a fearful tremble in his voice.
Shit.
"Oh...don't worry, no! Not at all!"
Jude raises an eyebrow suggestively. Molly curses inwardly. She forgot about his dirty mind.
"No! I didn't...sleep around or nothing!"
"Phil Sculley then?" he says with distaste.
Molly nods quickly, slightly ashamed.
"He's decent though. Well....he was. Kicked him out after the third bit on the side."
Jude snorts, attempting to contain his chuckles. After a moment, and despite her pride, Molly begins to giggle too. It is quite ridiculous really, the idea that Phil Sculley, possibly the least suave man on the planet, could have even one "bit on the side."
Their laughter eventually dies down; Jude still sporting a devilish grin.
"Jude, I..." she starts, as Jude simultaneously blurts out "Molly love..."
She laughs, embarrassed.
"You first," she says.
"I just wanted to say thanks, really," Jude says simply, "For letting me stay. Anyone else would have chucked me out, but not you."
The harsh statement questioning the length of his stay dies on her lips. Her heart softens.
"Let's go for a walk, I need to buy stuff."
It has been forty five minutes, and Jude and Molly have been stopped by a total of nine relatives and friends for a 'nice little chat'. Various awkward questions have made their current situation more obviously difficult, mainly the infamous, 'So, are you two back together then?'
Molly heaves a sigh of relief when she slumps down onto the smelly, yet soft bus seat, dumping the shopping bags which have been cutting into her hand. Jude has not spoken for the past ten minutes, and Molly feels she cannot stand the tense silence any longer.
"Jude? Y'alright?"
He shakes his head slowly. She raises an eyebrow quizzically.
"I don't know what's going to happen, love. I don't know what happened to Max, why Lucy's angry with me, how JoJo can be so blind."
He sniffs, his voice growing louder as he continues speaking, painfully slowly.
"What's wrong with Max, Jude? What made Lucy angry?"
Molly keeps her voice soft and patient, not wanting to provoke him back into refusing to talk to her.
Jude shakes his head quickly. She opens her mouth to protest but he puts an arm round her.
Any other day, Molly would have been perfectly content with this situation, but she knows that it's to shut her up and nothing more. Her well repressed anger and curiosity reach its limit and she wrenches Jude's arm from around her shoulder as the bus grinds to a halt on Smithdown Road.
She yanks him up by the sleeve and practically drags him off the bus; a forced polite nod to the confused driver as she goes.
Molly says nothing, but Jude can see her lips are thinned with rage. and her shoes thump angrily on the stone floor as she continues to pull him towards her house.
"Molly?"
She shakes her head furiously, beckons him into the kitchen and slams the door savagely behind her.
Jude looks down at her. She glares furiously back at him, breaking the eye contact with a turn on her heel. He sits at the table tentatively as Molly angrily prepares their tea, the beans into a pan, noisily retrieving plates out of the cupboard.
Jude knows well enough that Molly will not utter a single word until he does something further to annoy her, and then the rage bubbling inside her will completely erupt. And, as usual, he will be on the receiving end.
When a plate of beans on toast is banged in front of him, he attempts to break the ice.
"I can see your culinary skills have become more sophisticated."
However, when her frosty blue eyes widen dangerously, and the ketchup bottle she is clutching slowly begins to overflow, Jude can see he has said the wrong thing.
"Well, go ask Lucy to do it then!" she snaps at him.
"Love, I..." he begins gently.
"No, Jude. Don't you 'love' me. You are going to sit there, and you are going to tell me why you are here, what has happened, and what you plan to do about it."
His face contorts into a grimace.
"Molly, I don't think I'm ready to.."
"READY?!" she bellows, surprisingly loud for her small frame, "I HAVE TAKEN YOU IN TO MY HOUSE, DESPITE MY MOTHER'S PROTESTS, HAVE ALMOST IGNORED MY ONLY CHILD, TURNED MY BLOODY LIFE UPSIDE DOWN, AND YOU SAY YOU'RE NOT READY?!"
"Listen, I..."
"NO, JUDE FEENEY, YOU LISTEN. SINCE MY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY, YOU HAVE EXPECTED ME TO CATER TO YOUR EVERY WHIM. I REFUSE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU ANY LONGER. I HAVE MY OWN LIFE! JUST BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN HOPELESSLY IN LOVE WITH YOU, DOES NOT MEAN I AM BLIND TO THE SHIT YOU GET UP TO! I COULD HAVE TOLD YOU NOT TO LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT, BUT NO, I LET YOU STAY ON MY FUCKING COUCH!"
Every bitter and resentful thought that has been bothering Molly since Jude arrived comes erupting out of her, like she is some kind of volcano with anger management problems.
Jude stands there, stunned, his mouth hanging open gormlessly.
"THEN, YOU STRUT BACK FROM AMERICA HAVING LEFT ME FOR SOME RANDOM BLONDE WHO YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TELLING ME ABOUT! IF THERE'S SOMEONE WHO ISN'T READY JUDE, IT'S GOING TO BE ME!"
There is a loud silence, punctured only by Molly's heavy breathing.
Jude lets out a low whistle.
"Sorry, Mol," he says sincerely.
"It...it's fine. Really." She touches her cheeks, to find that they are wet from angry tears. Jude leans forward and wipes them away with his baggy sleeve.
This simple touch of affection makes Molly's heart flutter softly and for once, she doesn't condemn it.
Jude sighs.
"I suppose you deserve to hear this, really. But it's a pretty long story.
Molly looks around at her disgustingly messy house, the content baby babbling to himself in his crib (oblivious to the stench of his soiled nappy) and the pile of steadily growing bills on the counter top.
"Go for it Jude, I've got time."
Sorry for the cliff hanger, but I will post the next chapter very very soon.
All my chapters could benefit from concrit, or any reviews whatsoever.
Even bad reviews! Always nice to hear from people who hate this story!