Ch. 11 Picking up the Pieces
It had been a few days since you left Darren's apartment. You've had a lot of time to think, with a little help from Joey, Lauren, Jaime Lyn, and Brian. Every one of them either called you, text you, or emailed you. They told all told you the same thing, Darren wasn't lying. They told you to call him and fix this because he has been a much better person ever since you came back into his life.
You took everything they said to heart and realized that you needed to let your fears go. You realized that everything Alicia said just scared you. You were afraid of even the possibility that what she said was true, but you realized that deep down, you always knew it was a lie. So you called Darren and told him if he still had time in his schedule, he could come up this weekend to talk to you before seeing Kyra and Braeden.
Darren arrived at your place early Saturday morning. You had dropped off Kyra and Braeden at your parents' house last night in anticipation. You let Darren in and you both sat on the couch.
"Thanks for letting me come over Paige," Darren said.
"Of course, I think we really need to talk," you said.
"Yeah, we do," He said.
"Look Darren, I am really sorry for last weekend. I am so sorry that I didn't believe you, and I walked away. I'm sure you know that almost everyone told me you weren't lying, but that's not what changed my mind. I finally realized that I always knew you weren't lying, I was just so afraid of the possibility that it could be true that I completely freaked out. I am really sorry, I hope you can forgive me, and I really hope we can move past this and continue to be friends because I want us to be friends," you said.
"Thank you Paige, for finally believing me, and I do forgive you. I want to be friends, I do, but we have got to trust each other. This road is not going to be easy, and if you freak out and bail at every hard moment, this will never work. We have to stand beside each other and trust that neither of us will ever lie to each other, especially since we have two beautiful children together," Darren said.
"I know that Darren, and I am so sorry. Please realize that this is so new to me. I am not used to have any part of my life in the spotlight, and agreeing to share this with the public was terrifying to me. That alone was terrifying; add on top of it, that article. I completely freaked out and I am sorry. After these last few days I realized that I can trust you, and that I do trust you, please believe me," you pleaded.
"I do believe you, that's what friends are supposed to do," he smirked as he nudged you.
"Hey! Give me a break!" you laughed.
"Never," he laughed back.
"Evil!" you said.
"Always," he answered.
"So what exactly is going to happen now that that article is out in the open," you asked.
"Don't worry, I talked with my manager and they have already started damage control. I have released statements denying Alicia's claims and if you haven't already noticed, every one of our friends in Starkid came to our defense on twitter. I don't think it's perfect just yet, but we're definitely getting closer," Darren said.
"Really? That's great! I can't believe everyone did that for us. I haven't picked up a computer since last weekend," you said.
"Of course they did, they're our friends," he said.
"Yeah, I know," you said as you rolled your eyes.
"Sure you did," he laughed.
You both kept joking around and then you suggested that you both pick up Kyra and Braeden and spend the afternoon hanging out. He agreed to that and went with you to your parents' house. You picked up Kyra and Braeden and they were both excited to see you and Darren.
"Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!" they both exclaimed.
"Hey babies!" you exclaimed.
"Hi champ! Hi princess!" Darren said.
"Are you guys ready to go home?" you asked.
"Yeah, can we pway wiff daddy?" Braeden asked.
"Yeah, I wanna pway wiff daddy!" Kyra added.
"Of course! That's why he's here guys, to see you!" you said.
"Yeah guys, I can't wait to play with you," Darren said.
You and Darren strapped Kyra and Braeden into their car seats and headed back to your place. The entire car ride back Kyra and Braeden could not stop talking. Darren ate it all up and kept talking with them. You finally understood what everyone meant when they said Darren was a better person with them in his life. You could feel the joy radiating off of him. You arrived at your apartment and spent the rest of the day and evening having fun playing with Kyra and Braeden. You felt like a little happy family (as much of a family as you could be), and you felt like this was really going to work.
A/N: Next Chapter is here! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!