Divorce As We Know It- Chapter 5

He stopped at a red light, it suddenly dawned upon him just how desperate he had been about making it work with Serena. He thought about his friends and how they perceived him. They knew; he smiled embarrassed at himself. He was probably a fool, but now nothing could really take Serena away from him. They were going to have a child… and he would convince her that this was reason enough for them to be together. Green light. He switched to second gear and drove off.

There he was, outside her door, knocking. She wouldn't answer him, but he knew she was in there. It had taken him no more than twenty minutes to get to her home, and he'd told her to wait. He was quite annoyed, but he wasn't about to give up. He brought out is cell phone and called her house; he could hear the muffled ringing of her phone. And he let it ring, and continued knocking, if she wasn't going to open up freely then he'd torture her into doing it, if he had to. The answering machine beeped.

"Serena, I know you're in there! Open the door! I won't go away until you do!" he informed her rather loudly. Then he hung up and dialed her up again. He was not going to give up until she gave up, so the noise continued for a little while.

Serena must have gotten tired of hearing the phone ring and the door bang constantly. She picked up and shouted: "Go away! You're disturbing the neighbors!"

Darien did not skip a beat: "I wouldn't be disturbing if you would have been so kind as to open the damned door!"

"No! I never said you could come here. Leave, you don't have the right to be here," she said coldly.

"Serena! We have important things to talk about. Be a bit reasonable… Open the door, will you!" Darien tried to sound calm.

"No! If you don't go away, I'll call the cops," she threatened.

He felt a surge of anger through his system, and he sneered acridly. He then added tartly, "Please, do call them. And since we're now threatening each other, let me tell you that I'm a lawyer. I don't know if you know, but I'm very good at what I do. And I'm sure the officers will see it the way I do: I'm just a man who is trying to take care of his child."

She was silent, but her breathing told him that she had lost her leverage. He did not know that she was white with fear, and that her knees had given way and that the dull thud he vaguely heard was Serena supporting herself against the wall so as not to fall. She was scared witless, and looked it when she finally opened the door.

He wasted no time in letting himself in, a little part of him told him not to give her any chances to change her mind. He glanced at her, she was a sad mess. Not at all like the calm confident woman he knew her as. She looked younger! radiated a different kind of personality, and wore different clothes. She was not recognizable but for the warm, homey emotion she provoked within him that always made him respond to her. He closed the door.

His heart tugged at the sight of her. She looked so frail… had he made her feel this way? He brought her into his embrace and kissed her. Passionately. Channeling all his feelings of joy of fatherhood, compensating for all the times that he'd been denied access to her lips. Only now did he truly realize how much he'd missed her.

She was not responding to him, he noticed after a short while. He released her lips, and she immediately tried to wiggle out of his embrace. But he was not about to let her go.

"Don't!" he commanded with all his masculinity. Serena froze at his command. He sighed, and softened, caressing her face. "Don't worry… Don't you worry about a thing! It's okay, I'm here for you…"

"Don't talk like you're my lover! I don't want you here," she spat, demonstrating an angry face about as scary as a mop dog's. If her word had not carried the designated impact, he probably would have kissed her adorable little frown.

But, he was silent a short while, letting her words sink in. "Why?" he asked quietly.

"I hate you," she explained, her voice thick with emotion.

"Huh?"

She started crying and hitting him on the chest, trying to break free of his embrace.

"I hate you!" She repeated wrathfully several times as she cried.

"What have I done?" he asked concerned, but still in the blue.

"You ruined my life!" she managed in a cold voice.

He let her go, rattled. She quickly walked away from him. He couldn't really argue with that. She wasn't planning this, so he understood that an accidental pregnancy was not the ideal scenario. Nevertheless, he felt that she was over dramatizing it a little… But what did he know? He wasn't a woman. This pregnancy would probably be a nightmare scenario for him too, had he not been that way inclined. So, she probably had every right to feel that her life was ruined. He eyed her softly; he was going to tell her that he was ready to support her in every way, shape or form. But Serena was quicker—

"You didn't need to come here at all. I called you just to ask if you would contribute to half of the abortion costs—" she paused for a second, watched his expression darken, and then added quickly with considerably less authority, "since it takes two to tango."

Abortion? What? Was she out of her mind? He was so angry at her. Did she not see things properly?

"I'm not paying for an abortion. You're keeping the baby," he stated with an iron voice.

"What?" it was her turn to be rattled.

"You heard me. No abortion!" he said, raising his voice a little. He wanted to slap the underserved cuteness away from her face, for having such a ludicrous idea.

"Do you know how much I've wanted a child? There is no way I'm letting you kill it. Besides, you have nothing to worry about: I will assume full responsibility. I don't understand why you are even mentioning an abortion in the first place!"

Serena gave him a cutting glare. "What do you think I am?" she asked, disdain dripping from her voice, "A baby factory? You get to insert your spawn inside and then just leave it to brew for nine months? Do you want a two year guarantee with that too, just in case it's faulty?

He was annoyed. Never had he been so angry at a woman before. Seriously! You'd think pregnancy was contagious. She was driving him completely hormonal!

"Would you calm the hell down! At least invite me in, we can sit down and you can calmly tell me what your goddamned problem is!"

"My problem is that just because you want a fucking baby I have to go unemployed for about a year! Where do you think I'll get the money to survive? Let me tell you, in case you didn't already know, most people aren't rich! They have to work to earn a living!" she shouted, while he let himself in and sat on her couch.

He was perplexed. "They are firing you because you're pregnant? You know they can't do that, I could very well represent you on that… if nothing else it would get them to reconsider—"

Serena interrupted him with a loud, teenage-like sigh. "I'm an actress! Pregnant people don't audition! How the hell are they going to get any roles?"

He stared blankly up at her. So Amara was right, was all he could think about. It took him a while to even think of anything to say. If she was able to fool him so well then she was a damned good actress… what was she doing being poor? What else was Amara right about? He tried to remember what else she'd said. He watched her sit down on the sofa across his couch.

"Look, I was researching for a play…" she explained.

"What else have you lied to me about?" he questioned her distantly. He noticed how young she looked. "Mind telling me your real age? It would be good to know if I've just broken any laws."

"Don't make a cake of yourself! I'm 26, like I told you. Are you going to ask me my real name now?" she spat. "Besides, I'm not the only liar in this room. What makes you think I would want a child with a married man? I don't want anything to do with you! It was all a big mistake. Have you even thought of how this kid's life would be if it were born? Do you plan of hanging out with it a couple of hours a day, and then to home to you pretty little wife and pretend like it doesn't exist while I have to wake up in the night and feed it?"

Oh, so that is why she disappeared, he thought. He chose to ignore the fact that he had just been a guinea pig for one of her roles. "I'm getting divorced," he stated.

"Oh, that is so much better!" she commented sarcastically, standing up again, pacing the room. "Don't you see that this child can't happen? We're just two strangers, for god's sake!"

"We're not! There is nothing stopping us from getting to know each other better. And why would you, as a woman, want to abort a baby when you don't have to? Do you think that later in your life you'll feel good about this decision?" he said carefully after a moment of reflection.

Then he sat quiet, thinking, while Serena paced the room. He had hit the right keys, he could tell she was apprehensive about the abortion. Her decided expression now became more pensive. He let himself finally be aware of his surroundings; he couldn't say she was very neat or organized. Things lay here and there around the living room, mostly papers which were probably scripts, and glasses of wine, books. On the far end of the room he got a glimpse of the dirty dishes in her kitchenette, and to his right by a window facing the sun outside, her desk showcased a laptop surrounded by a pile of papers. Even so, he felt like it was a place with life, a place of refuge, a place one felt like coming home to. Perhaps it was because the furniture and decorations around him were so obviously feminine that he was left feeling that just being in the room was almost like being cuddled by a loving lover… And suddenly he and an idea!

"I have a proposition," he said at last, causing her to stop and look at him with doubt. "Keep the baby: you don't need to think about getting another job because I'll sponsor your living costs for as long the baby needs your care. You won't have to worry about a thing during your pregnancy."

"You are paying me to be some kind baby incubator?" she questioned him defiantly.

He smiled, and added sheepishly: "I will only agree to do it under one condition: that you let me live here with you during the pregnancy."

"I knew there was a catch!" she frowned. She was so cute! he thought as she continued muttering in a low voice to herself, while pacing toward the window. "Although it's not a bad deal… I'll have more time to write, and no worries about the bills…"

She had reached the window and leaned against the window pane, and he watched her as the light hit her from behind. It made the stray hairs on the top of her head extra golden, so that now it almost looked like a halo… and she could have been taken for an otherworldly creature, what with the strange hairstyle she had today.

"It will be annoying to have him here, but then again he'll probably be at work all day, so he won't bother me that much."

Her pink blouse with puffy arms looked brighter, but also translucent, and now he could see vestiges of a black brassiere.

"But where will he stay? I only have one room—"

The baggy fit jeans looked more faded, and they hung a little low so he caught a rim of the soft skin just below her belly button as she leaned back a little and supported herself with her arms. He had touched her there before, and right now his finger tips tingled to touch her there again.

"Eeek! This sounds disgustingly bad…"

What was she on about? That sounded pleasurably bad to him! the kind of badness that could only do good. She turned to face him, and the light hit her eyes turning them to a vibrant shade of blue.

"I will agree to your proposition only if you agree to my conditions," she said.

"And what are they?"

"You have to sleep on the couch. And don't even dare to try doing anything indecent!" she stated sharply.

He blinked a few times, was that all? He was expecting something more cumbersome… not that sleeping on the couch was comfortable. And he couldn't say he liked the platonic road their relationship was heading… he had to admit that it would be hard to resist the temptation to touch her indecently, but it was manageable.

"Great!" he concluded the deal, sitting up straight and taking a deep, satisfied breath. "I'll get my things and move in today, then!"

"Humph," Serena acknowledged unexcitedly. She reached for the half filled wine glass that stood at the other end of the window pane, and quickly drained its contents.

"I hope you enjoyed that glass of wine, as it will be the last alcoholic beverage you consume for the duration of your pregnancy!" he stated in a displeased tone, looking at her hard.

"Yes, boss," she replied apathetically.

"I have to go back to work now, are you going to see me out?"

"Since you're now living here, I stand no ceremony towards you. You can see yourself out," she scoffed.

He stood up and walked towards her. He grabbed her face with a hand, and looked down at her. "You make me so mad!" he whispered harshly, "But you're too damned beautiful." He gave her a bitter kiss.

As he headed out, he called casually, "I'll be back in the evening to torment you some more, you grouchy little girl!"