For Those You Love

Chapter 21

"W-what the fucking hell was that?!" Lee asked, looking at Carley in confusion. Only then, though, did the words hit him. "Her… her real father? What did he mean her 'real father'?!"

"I don't know, Lee!" She replied, not hearing any words after his first question. Her mind went into overdrive. How long had her precious baby girl been talking to that man? What had she told him?

"Carley, did you hear me?!" Lee asked, trying to keep his voice quiet, as not to wake the girl. Somewhere, someone knew what was wrong with him. What he lacked. "I asked you what the fuck he meant by her 'real' dad!"

Carley froze, looking at him in disbelief. Did he honestly think what that man said was true?! That she had cheated on him and lied to him? How could he even think that?!

"Please tell me you aren't saying what I think you're saying…" She said quietly, shaking her head and taking some deep breaths.

Lee simply frowned at her and looked out of the driver's cab window. This hurt him a lot. To know he couldn't have kids (or with a lot of difficulty) and then have that kid he so loved ripped away from him.

"For fuck's sake Lee! You don't honestly think I've cheated on you, do you?!" Carley asked, not bothering about waking Clem now.

"Well I don't know! A week before she was supposedly conceived, we split up, remember? You left me for a couple days! How am I supposed to know you didn't change the date?!" He countered, glaring slightly. He knew he shouldn't have snapped, but this was too much.

"You know what? Think about what you're saying. I'll be in the boxcar." Carley snarled, walking over to the cab door and only stopping to say one last sentence. "Don't even think about following me until you're ready to grovel."

And with that, she was gone, leaving her husband growling to himself as he plopped back down into his seat. He looked across at the sleeping girl and frowned, thinking back to the day they had split up. Of course, it wasn't for long. But it was a blazing argument, resulting in her walking out and spending time at her parents'.

Flashback

Lee groaned, following Carley around their bedroom as she packed her suitcase, ranting at him all the while.

"You are… unbelievable! All this time and you just wanna give up?!" She shouted, throwing the shirts she was holding down and shaking her head.

"You know I didn't mean-"

"Oh, so what did you mean, huh?" She asked, pausing halfway on her path back to the chest of drawers. She spun around to look at him, her hair falling out of its loose ponytail. "Go on, tell me!"

"I was saying we should give it a break for a while!" He shouted back, groaning in frustration. "For fuck's sake, Carley! We've been trying for three years!"

When she went to speak again, he cut her off, finally losing it.

"No, Carley!" He said, clenching his hand and yanking off his tie. "Do you have any idea what's going on right now?! Do you even know how bad I feel that I can't bear to think about making love anymore?! I'm sick to death of having sex with my own wife! How bad is that?!"

He stopped, breathing heavily. He knew exactly what he had said. And he understood exactly what she was about to do. She shook her head, glaring and resuming her paths to and from the chest of drawers.

"Well, seeing as I'm so undesirable now, I might as well leave." She growled, closing the case and picking it up. Hey, you might find someone who doesn't repulse you anymore, seeing as I'm not good enough in bed now."

"No, Carley!" Lee said, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping as he followed her out of the room, practically throwing himself down the stairs after her. "You know I didn't mean-"

"Fuck off, Lee." Carley replied simply, yanking the door open and taking out her car keys. "I'll be at my parents. Don't follow me."

She opened the trunk of the car and threw the case inside, seething. She sent one last glare in Lee's direction before slamming the trunk and getting inside the car, flipping the ignition.

"Carley!" Lee shouted, running down the path and watching her pull away with a look of heartbreak on his face. And as he walked back inside, a lone tear made its way down his cheek.

Half an hour later, Carley pulled up outside her parents' house, having held in the sobs and not letting her grief stop her. She grabbed her case from the trunk and made her way up the garden path, ringing the doorbell.

And thankfully, Jennifer opened the door (albeit dressed in her nightdress and curlers).

"Oh honey, what's wrong?" She asked, taking one look at her daughter, who was crying freely by now. She glanced down at the case and gestured her inside, closing the door behind her and pulling her in for a hug. "What happened?"

"L-Lee… Oh god…" Carley sobbed, just clinging onto her mother as she let it all out.

"Come on… through to the living room. Your father's out with his brother, so it's just us two." Jennifer said, smiling sadly as she saw Carley walk through. And she trailed after her daughter

"Alright," She said eventually, sitting down beside Carley and taking her hands softly. "Care to explain?"

Carley took a couple of breaths, trying to steady herself before she spoke. "I-I took another test tonight… it came out negative and Lee said… He said that we should give up trying for a while…"

Jennifer just listened, pulling her dressing gown tighter around her and crinkling her brow.

"So we had an argument…" Carley said, now a lot calmer. "A-and he said he dreads making love! Like I'm disgusting and he doesn't want to anymore!"

Safe to say, within the hour Carley was asleep, curled up in her old room. And Lee sat at home, just getting completely drunk.

End Flashback

Lee sighed loudly as he thought back to then. It was awful, and he hoped she didn't make a repeat of it.

Just then, Clem started to wake up, stirring in her chair and looking around, mumbling all the while. What would he tell her?