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"Crap." Jack covered his face with both his hands and pressed the back of his head into his pillow.
"That was nice, thank you very much." his new wife glared at him "For your information, I'm not that thrilled to be married to you, either."
Jack ignored her. There was no way he could blame her for being prickly, she got married in one of the worst possible circumstances imaginable. To a stranger, no less. The only reason he himself wasn't being affected by this was because after spending several days per week on other planets and fighting aliens for a living nothing surprised him anymore. And after having woken up unexpectedly married once before it was no longer anything weird. And if that wasn't a cause for worry he didn't know what was...
"For obvious reasons we can't apply for 'annulment'." his words made her blush fiercely. The room reeked of sex and she desperately needed a shower. But that would have to wait until they'd had this talk, which was more important than her current sticky state. "We could file for a divorce, but that would take months to even get to court. And personally, I don't feel like having a 'serial divorcee' written in my file."
He saw the horror on her face and wasn't surprised when she agreed with him. "Me neither. I mean, I don't want to have 'divorced' in my file." He understood her, being divorced is not something you want to have associated with you. People look at you differently if you're divorced. She could never call herself 'single' anymore, if anyone asked her status, she would have to say 'divorced'. It's like a brand, a mark you can get rid off only by doing something extreme, big and life-changing, like getting married again. And someone that young should never be referred to as 'divorced'. Actually, no-one should ever be called that.
"Or we could try to see if great sex is all we're good together at..."
Alyx looked at him dubiously. Raising his hands in defence he quickly added.
"I don't mean: move in together and start living like a married couple immediately. We should take the time and just date for a while, each still living at their own place."
He could see her brain process that thought, then shelve it as she quite obviously switched tracks. "Wait, wait! You're divorced?"
A world of pain came into his eyes and for a second she regretted the question, but then decided she nonetheless had to know. Had the right to know.
"My divorce was final 2 months ago. It took 18 months for it to be completed." was all he said. "You?"
She shook her head, her hair flying in all directions. She quickly stopped and blew a strand out of her eyes. "No, I'm single."
Then rolled her eyes. "I mean I was single before last night. Now, obviously, I'm married." Jack couldn't help but chuckle and after glaring at him for a second, Alyx joined him. Their slightly hysterical laughter lasted for only 8 seconds before they stopped and avoided meeting each other's eyes.
She worried her lip for a moment before jumping right in. "There's something you should definitely know." she started fearfully, afraid of his reaction. Her eyes flitted away from his. "There's no better way to say this, but I have kids."
She was sure this was it, he would be freaking out in just a second. Every guy she'd dated ever since she'd been able to think of being with another man had left her as soon as they'd found out she came with an instant family.
Not seeing him stiffen or even jump out of the bed she decided she might as well go for broke. "Twins. Girls."
Finally she looked up only to meet stormy brown eyes, filled with so much pain it took her breath away. She didn't know whether this unnatural stillness was better than him right now jumping out of the bed, demanding a divorce.
He was still for a long while until she couldn't take it anymore. "Well? Are you going to say something? Demand a divorce? Freak out? Anything!?" she snapped, too tight-strung with roiling emotions to stay polite.
He didn't take offense at her tone, just smiled painfully. "Girls. Guess it will take some getting used to and I'll need your help with how to be a father to them. I don't have any experience with girls."
She definitely hadn't expected that reaction. Puzzled, she canted her head and asked. "You didn't say you have a child." Then the pain in his eyes from just seconds ago made sense. Gently she inquired. "Did your ex take your son and now doesn't let you close? I know men usually lose the children during a divorce, courts are discriminate in these cases, and many times even visiting rights if the woman is vengeful, taking everything she can of his and cutting him off from his children."
He shook his head this time, a quick, snappy gesture. "No, it wasn't like that." He swallowed heavily. Oh, god, this was hard, after 20 months it still had the power to tear his heart apart and make the wound bleed afresh. "He shot himself. With my gun. Our marriage couldn't survive it. This the reason for the divorce."
Despite his obviously steel-like control of his emotions, a single tear still slipped through.
She didn't know what to think and could only mutter an "Oh."
Not feeling sure enough of trying to comfort him by taking him into her arms, even though they'd had sex, until now they hadn't shared any kind of intimacy, so she settled for a gentle, yet hesitant, hand on his strong forearm. Somehow she knew any kind of platitude would be unwelcome right now, so she just stayed quiet, trying to offer him a silent support.
As a mother, a parent, she could only imagine the kind of hell he must've gone through, what he was still going through and it sent cold shivers down her spine. He had not only lost a child, but also his whole family at the same time. The guilt he was carrying around had to be tremendous.
"Do you still trust me with your daughters?" she saw the shutters come down, the way he closed himself off from emotions, and she recognized it. She'd seen it numerous times before in another man in her life. Though they hadn't discussed it yet, she had a feeling what he did for living and, frankly, she didn't know how she felt about that. She wasn't a supporter of the military and was apprehensive of how his profession would affect their marriage, their possible future relationship and her family.
"If you keep your gun far away from them." she eyed him carefully.
His nod was a quick, sharp gesture of instant, non-hesitant and immediate compliance. "Of course. It's hidden in a safe place, there's no way your daughters will be able to find it, much less open it, when you're visiting my place."
She immediately spotted the statement about visiting each other and not about them all living together. It made sense, even though she and Jack had had sex, and she couldn't even say they'd made love, they were still perfect strangers and to anyone, even themselves, to expect they'd just ignore that and move in together and start living like a regular married couple, with kids no less, was just plain unrealistic. She was glad that if she had had to marry someone while drunk then at least she had married someone grounded, someone with common sense.
Yet there was still something in her that didn't like his unilateral decision for them all to keep on living apart, to just be 'guests', 'visitors' in each other's homes, the something that yelled that spouses and immediate family members should never be just guests and visitors. It was a remnant of her upbringing, that had drawn very strict and clear picture of how a family should look like. Even though she'd parted ways with her parents' religion and especially the Catholic Church decades ago, the principles on marriage and family still stayed with her, because it was the way her parents had raised her.
But in the end she knew he was right and that that was the smartest way to go about it if they really intended on giving this marriage a try.
Well, at least her new husband had experience with being married and from everything she'd learned his had fallen apart only because of his son's death. It wasn't the first time this had happened, she'd heard a lot of stories of marriages who'd been destroyed by the death of their child. She didn't know him yet, but she still had the feeling he wasn't the kind to cheat on the woman he was with, so at least she got herself a good man hopefully.
For her this was her first time being married and quite frankly she was grateful they'd be going slow so she'd have the chance to adjust to her new status and way of life.
She'd never been anyone's wife before, girlfriend yes, fiancee yes, but not a wife, and she was actually curious what the difference was.
Because of which she had never seriously considered whether she'd take her husband's name upon getting married or not, so she didn't know whether to be surprised she had completely ditched her last name and taken his, or not. In any case, she'd have to notify her professional acquaintances, partners, change referrals, etc. She'd wait to see how this marriage thing would work out, how her twins would like this man and whether he would like to adopt them, before changing their last names to O'Neill as well.
She had a great instinct about people, in her job she had to, and didn't sense any bad vibe from this one. Of course, he'd have to withstand the real screening when he'd meet her father, who could read people as nobody she had ever seen. She knew when she'd be as old as her father she would be just as good in that as he was. The only reason why she wasn't yet was because she didn't have as many years experience. Alyx really wanted to see what he'd say. That was the only reason she couldn't wait to introduce them, cause mainly she dreaded telling her father the news. It was nothing to be proud of... an intelligent, educated woman of 29 years of age, almost 30, having gotten so drunk she'd married and had sex with a complete stranger.
Wonder what his parents would say...
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