Ok peeps, here is the last part to my drabble series! I hope you all enjoy and thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
They huddled together at the docks, Maxie prattling on about her ongoing problems with Spinelli, while Johnny stands there transfixed on an incoming vessel. So lost in thought, he barely notices Maxie declaring him as "so out of it."
"Sorry." He retracts. "Just have some other things on my mind."
"Obviously." She grumbles. "God, what is up with everybody? First Sam bails on our lunch date for the millionth time and then you suddenly become deaf to the world. "
Sam. Her name should've just rolled right off of him, go through one ear and out the other like it always had. But that night at Jake's that night wouldn't let him loose. Her fragrance, her skill, charm, body, everything, left Johnny hopelessly addicted. He'd challenge himself, pursue her constantly until she gave him a chance, but the minute she had mentioned a baby, all bets were off.
It was no longer about him, but about them.
Of course, distancing himself was a necessity, but it hadn't stopped him from being curious about their wellbeing. Maybe that's what compelled him to ask Maxie about Sam.
"She's good. I mean aside from being moody, hormonal, and subjected to horrible maternity clothing, everything's fine."
"That's good."
"Yeah it is." She turns and gives him a quizzical look, "But why do you care?"
"I don't." He lies, "But It's better hearing about Sam's pregnancy then hearing about the 101 ways Spinelli can't please you."
--
Her champagne blonde locks burst through his office door in a tizzy, somehow surpassing two fully loaded security guards 'protecting' the office entrance.
"You douche, I can't believe you!"
Johnny eases back into his chair, "Hello to you too, Maxie."
"Oh please, spare me the sarcastic bullshit." She snipes. "It's bad enough you lie to my face but this is low, Johnny, even for you. Ditching Sam and your son for the freaking mob?"
"I didn't ditch 'em Maxie. Sam and I made an agreement that this kid would have a better life without me."
"Oh please." Maxie sneers. "That's probably some lame excuse you created to avoid taking responsibility."
"Maxie, that's not the reason." He groans.
"Well, it sounds like it." She snaps back "You're 'excusing' yourself from your son's life for a job and you may not see it now, but that is going to hurt him a lot more than any mob injury could. Believe me Johnny, I've been there. "
"I know Max." He sighs, recalling her stories about an obscure childhood without Felicia, "But, why are you worried about this?"
"Because Sam's always been there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for her, too. She loves this baby Johnny and wants to give it a good life, like you said." She pauses and softens her tone "But, I think a good life involves you, too."
--
"I know you're the one behind the explosion, so why don't you make it easier on all of us and just admit it?"
His words are meticulously calculated in hopes that it strikes some critical nerve in the criminal across from him. But his berserk chuckling reverberating through the prison cell proves otherwise.
"I'm not blind; it takes someone with an extensive knowledge of our property to plan an attack like that." Johnny leans slightly forward, eying his prey.
"Isn't that right, Dad?"
His smile drops like a dead fly and in place returns the infamous Zacchara scowl.
"That was just your warning Johnny. I run things around here and will continue to run things around here, not you. Got it?" His eyes soften to a distant gaze. "God, you're so stubborn, just like your mother. What would Maria say about this? Maria?"
He's not sure if beckoning his dead mother is merely a hallucination or some sick tactic but, either way, Johnny departs from the prison in a flash.
This type of unbridled, sadistic insanity his father harbored was deadly and shook him to his core. If he was willing to kill his own son, it was likely he'd have an urge to kill his own grandson as well. And Johnny knew damn well he wasn't going to let that happen.
--
Sam clenches her eyes shut forcibly and captures her mother's available hand in her own, careful not to break the poor woman's bones.
This severe and intense pain had ripped through her body for too long. She's dying for relief but more importantly she wants to know what the hell is going on with her baby.
As if on cue, Dr. Kelly Lee walks into the room, and the look adorning her face is anything but comforting.
"Dr. Lee, is everything ok?" She purses her lips tightly as nurses start strolling into the room with various equipment.
"Sam, those pains are labor pains." Dr. Lee confirms. "We have to deliver the baby now."
"Deliver the baby now?" Alexis interjects. "But she's just started her eighth month!"
"I'm sorry Alexis, but it's too late to turn back now. This baby is ready to come, whether we like it or not."
--
Alexander Daniel McCall was brought into the world with a normal, piercing cry but his tiny size and need for an incubator said otherwise.
Her son is a premature baby, struggling to stay alive in his plexiglass encasing, and even though there are promises of Alex leading a normal life in the future, she can't help but weep for her child's suffering.
A comforting hand shakily makes it way to her shoulder. Assuming it's her mother, she grasps the hand back, only to find that it wasn't her.
It was Johnny.
"What are doing here?" She whimpers, both of their hands dropping from their spot.
"Maxie called and told me what was going on." He runs his hand through his hair and in her terms, had the audacity to ask, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because, you made it painfully clear your job reigns supreme in your life. I've been the lowest priority before, and I'm not subjecting Alex to that same fate."
"If my job did run my life, would I be here asking you to be in our son's life?"
--
He watches as the tears slide down her ashen face, cracking that tough girl persona she was commonly known for. Sam was upset, but he knew he was doing the right thing.
For too long he distanced himself, believing it was for the greater good, and every time it only led to others suffering, his mother, Claudia, Lulu, Maxie. This time would be different though. This time he knew keeping away wasn't helping anybody, it was hurting them instead.
Now if only Sam agreed with him.
"I know I said I didn't want any part of this but, somewhere along the line I realized it's not right. No kid deserves to go through what I went through and I wanna make sure that never happens. I want Alex to have everything I never had." He reaches out for her tiny hand and holds it in his own.
"I can take care of both of you. Just let me be there, Sam."
She pulls her hand away from his slowly and just when he's certain the silence filling the room is her way of saying no, she speaks up.
"I-I want you to be there, too Johnny. You and I can give him the life we never had. Together."
He smiles, as if it were the sweetest thing he'd ever heard.
"Yeah, together."
--
"May I have this dance?"
"I don't know. I'll have to ask my date."
She looks down at her baby boy and mockingly asks for his acceptance, garnering a squealing giggle in return. Johnny pulls her up by her free hand, and walks over to the dance floor where they begin swaying to the music with Alex in tow.
"Did you ever think…it would end up like this?"
"What? End up dancing at the wedding of your mother and the police commissioner? Never."
"Not that." She groans, smacking his chest playfully. "I mean, in the end, did you ever imagine us together like this?"
He shakes his head. "No. I mean it looked like you and Morgan were in it for the long haul. But things change, people change, and I can't say I'm disappointed it turned out this way." He draws her as physically close as possible with their two year old still stuck in between.
"I was bound to be a mad man without you McCall. You changed me for the better."
"I'm glad I could coax you out of the dark side Zacchara, because now I can't imagine life without you."
She wished the music hadn't stopped so soon. She wanted to dance forever with Johnny and her son in her arms because for once, everything felt completely perfect.