Chapter 13

I wasn't certain when Mark came back into the room, but he sure was there when I woke up the next morning. He was standing up in front of the window looking out at the brand new day. It was very sunny outside and I could hear birds chirping. I cleared my throat so he would know I was awake, smiling when he turned and faced me.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey." I responded as I sat up. "How are you holding up?"

He shrugged and sat down on the side of my bed. "I don't really know Serena. I just can't believe her right now."

I looked over at my baby who had just moved in his little crib. "I'm sorry…"

"For what? You didn't do anything wrong." He said.

"But I did…I knew about my sister not being able to have children." I said softly.

He glared at me, "How long did you know?"

"She told me shortly after I got here…" I said.

He stood up, "And you didn't tell me?"

"I couldn't! Mark I didn't want to be in the middle of all that at the time."

He sighed and covered his face. "Damn Serena…is this why you've been pretending to cheer me up whenever I brought up kids?"

"Pretending? I was…I was only trying to…." I fell silent, knowing he was right.

He folded his arms over his chest and took a deep breath before looking at me again. "I'm sorry, I know you were in an awkward position…so it's alright."

I dropped my gaze from his, wondering what I was going to do once I got out of the hospital. My sister technically was the one who gave me a place to stay…but I wasn't sure if Mark would still let me live there long enough to save up some cash. "So what now?"

He was quiet for a moment which made me feel uncomfortable. I got up and went to check on Michael, who was smiling up at me.

"You're going to get your GED and then get yourself into a good school." He said bluntly.

I looked over my shoulder at him completely confused about where that came from. He glanced at me and then at the crib.

"I'll watch Michael in the mornings, while you're gone and he'll be all yours when you get home." He said.

I blinked at him, "You're still going to let me stay with you?"

"Of course Serena. You need help with Michael and that job you have isn't going to help pay for you and your son."

I glanced back at Michael with a smile, "Wow…thank you."

He nodded, "No problem…I just figured since we've both been hurt in this situation, we should move on together."

I smirked, "I would like that a lot actually."

"Good." He said. "Because I wasn't giving you much of a choice."

I giggled, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he said.

I picked up Michael and walked over to the bed. "Since you're barking orders…can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." He said as he took a seat on the bed.

"Why did you decide to help me out?" I asked.

He smirked and looked at me, "You want the truth?"

"Of course." I said with a smile.

"Because you had my Godchild, and…I care for you a whole lot." He said.

I smiled and started rocking Michael, who was making little noises. "Well that's good to know. I care for you too and that's another reason I didn't want to tell you about Tracy. I didn't want to see you heartbroken."

He chuckled, "Well at least you care about my feelings….can I see him?"

I nodded and handed Michael to him. I loved how he always cooed when Mark talked to him. It was so cute to watch especially when Mark's face lit up.

When I got out of the hospital, Mark took us to another area of Houston that I had never been to before. There was a huge stretch of open land leading up to a large ranch. I instantly recognized this place to be the house seen in most of his pictures and a few times on TV.

"So this is really your place?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, your sister hated it a lot so I had the new house built."

I glanced at him, noticing the slight change in his voice. "You don't want to be reminded of her do you?"

He sighed, "You read my mind girl."

"Well what about my-"

"-It's all here already. While you were in the hospital I moved them here for you. Is that ok?" he asked.

I nodded, "yeah that's fine."

"I had a room done for Michael too. I wasn't sure if you wanted him to have his own room or not but I made it just in case."

I smiled, "You made Michael's room?"

He nodded, "yep, it's light blue."

"Awe, thanks Mark it really means a lot." I said.

"No problem, you just do what I told you to, and we'll get along just fine." He said.

I smiled and kept looking out at the open field as we rode up to the ranch. It was a very beautiful place. I had no clue what my sister was thinking trying to move away from a place like this.

"It's so beautiful out here." I said as I spotted an area full of daffodils.

"I'm glad you like it." He told me. "You don't have a problem with dogs do you?"

I shook my head, "Oh no, I love dogs."

"Good, because I have two of them." he said with a cute smirk that made my heart beat just a little faster.

"I think I'm going to like it here." I said.

He parked the truck inside of the garage and then helped me get Michael out of the backseat. We both reached for the car seat at the same time, and his hand came down on top of mine. I smirked at him and he smirked at me before I released my grip on it.

"You can get him." I said as I grabbed his diaper bag.

He smiled at me and went to work on un strapping the seat. Once he got him out, I shut the door and followed him into the house through a door in the back. It opened right into the kitchen which was bigger than I was expecting. It was a lot like mine from the guest house but it had more pots and pans hanging on a rack that was suspended above the stove in the middle of the room. There was also a sliding glass door that led out to the pool area. It was fenced off which was nice, and had plenty of room for guest to come over and relax.

"Come on, let me show you around." He said as he headed out of the kitchen. I followed him with a soft smile, admiring his butt…

He showed me the living room, the game room, and a room that had a hot tub in it. Was my sister retarded? He then showed me to the laundry room which was at one end of the house. I felt slight secluded being back there but it was nice with him around. Last he showed me to our bedrooms. Michael's was first, sitting just off to the right at the top of the steps. It had plenty of room and was painted light blue like he said. There was a white crib in the corner of the room with plenty of blankets and small stuffed animals in it. I took them out and sat them on the dresser before asking Mark to put him in the crib. He was already sound asleep so, I felt like it would be nice for him to get to know his surroundings. I even took a moment to look around his room, finding plenty bottles, diapers, pacifiers, and baby formula in the room. There were also wipes and a baby changing area in his room. Mark watched me quietly until I turned and smiled at him.

Soon after, he took me down the hall to my room which was just as big as Michael and fully furnished. There was a queen sized bed to my left when I first walked in, with white curtains tied off to each bed post. The room was my favorite color, candy apple red…with a matching carpet.

"I hope this is nice enough for you. There's a bathroom right across the hall and there's a little baby monitor on your nightstand." He said.

I smiled at him, "Thanks Mark, it's perfect."

"Good," he said. "Now my room is the last one down the hall. If you ever need something just come down and knock. If I'm not in there, I'm probably in the garage, the gym, or in the den."

I nodded, "Ok."

"If you're hungry, feel free to go cook something. I don't do a lot of cooking but…I mean if you want to you can. This house is now your house too alright?"

I nodded, "Alright Mark."

He smiled and then turned to leave me in peace, "Hey Mark?"

"Yep."

I sighed, "Thanks again…and I'm real sorry about everything."

He smirked, "You're welcome and none of that was your fault."

"Ok." I said before watching him leave. I smiled to myself and finished looking around my room, finding that everything I needed was already there. Goodness he was a much better guy than I gave him credit for, but I couldn't understand why he was so mean to me before. Why did it take us both getting our hearts shattered for him to start acting like this? My head started hurting from thinking, so I laid down in my new bed. It was so comfortable that I ended up falling asleep almost instantly. I wonder how this arrangement was going to work out and if Mark and I would ever become closer than what we were now.