"Okay," Christian started to say when he got out of the car along with the passenger next to him when they arrived at Lita's apartment that following Friday evening, "I guess you can wait around outside the building until I take Ethan to the movies and then you can go up and talk to Lita. I don't know if he should see you right now. He'll ask questions and I know you two want to talk about it first before Ethan finds out. Just don't say or do anything stupid. You're lucky she agreed to talk to you now instead of waiting another few days."
"I know." Adam nodded when they walked from the parking spot to the apartment building. He had only been back about a week now and Lita finally agreed into talking to him. Obviously she didn't want to talk to him with Ethan around so Christian suggested he take Ethan to see the new Madagascar movie since Ethan always asked Christian to take him. Lita reluctantly agreed knowing that she probably shouldn't wait any longer, they were bound to have the conversation sometime soon, so why not now?
The duo stopped when they made it in front of the building. "I'll be five minutes." Adam nodded with Christian then making his way to the fourth floor where Lita and Ethan lived. He knocked on the door and chuckled when he could hear Ethan inside screaming in excitement 'Uncle Christian is here!' He also heard Lita tell the little boy to calm down and she'll open the door.
"It's only five thirty. How and why are you already here?" Lita asked when she opened the door and let Christian in.
"Well, the movie starts at six and I came right after I picked up our friend."
Lita rolled her eyes at the last part while closing the door behind her. "He is not my friend."
"Yea, only the father of your child," Christian said is hushed tones so that Lita could hear him but Ethan couldn't.
Lita scowled. "Shut up." She then turned her attention to Ethan who was now in front of Christian. "I see you're ready to go now. Go put on your shoes."
"Yes mommy," Ethan answered excitedly and ran off to put his shoes on. He always did like having Christian around.
Lita sighed. "I'm really going to have to separate the two of you one day. I swear, it's like he loves you more than me. He would be happy with just you."
"That would just be cruel if you did that. And you know that's not the truth," Christian said. "We'll be back by eight...ish."
"You're going to leave me alone with him for over two hours?" Lita asked annoyed. "Why couldn't he come in his own car? You did this on purpose. You stranded him without a car so we would have to talk for that long. Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"
Christian shook his head. "Not recently, no."
"Well I hate you. A lot if I may add."
"Mommy, that's mean," Ethan said when he reappeared next to the two. "Say you're sorry."
"You're right," Lita said looking down at her son. "That was mean." She then looked up at Christian and gave him a smile which he knew was fake. "I'm sorry." ... You asshole. That apology was also fake.
"Thank you." Lita could tell Christian tried his best to bite back the laugh he felt coming and that just made her want to slap him. "Let's go monkey." The two were about to leave until the man turned around to face the woman, "It'll be okay. Just don't start fighting. Try having a decent civil conversation. Just remember who you're doing this for." Lita simply nodded and smiled at the two when they left, shutting the door behind her. She then walked over to a couch taking a seat waiting for Adam to knock on the door within a couple of minutes. She was dreading this, but she knew she had to talk to him. For Ethan.
*Flashback- September 2007*
Lita couldn't stop crying. She had been crying for the past hour nonstop. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. But she knew she had to. There was a stick on the sink counter telling her she had to believe it. She's pregnant. She knew pregnancy tests could be false positive but she just knew this wasn't wrong. She just knew she was pregnant. Either that or her body was messing with her. She had been feeling like crap the past couple of weeks since Adam had left, so she just assumed it was nothing. But then she couldn't stop puking and she felt tired all the time, she just knew she was pregnant. Life was cruel like that. She did want kids one day, but Adam left her. He obviously didn't want anything to do with her since he did leave her, right?
She tried to stop crying, wiping at her wet face as she got up from the bathroom ground where she was sitting leaning against the tub. What was she going to do? She couldn't even get a hold of Adam when she tried his phone getting a message that the phone was out of service. He probably changed his number so she wouldn't bother him. She hadn't even talked to Christian since that day she confronted him when Adam left. So she didn't know anything about Adam, not that Christian told her anything the last time she actually talked to him. She started to wonder if Christian would give her the whereabouts of Adam if she told him what was going on. Would Adam even care? All she knew was she had to somehow get in touch with him because this was something he had to know, she couldn't keep this away from him. She tried to pull herself together long enough so she could go over to Dawn and Christian's place so she could talk to Dawn about this and possibly get some contact information from Christian.
Dawn was pretty pissed off the past two or so weeks. Christian didn't tell her anything about Adam either. She was confused about that situation because not long ago, Adam and Lita looked pretty happy together. She even thought the former couple were going to take the next step within the next year. Apparently, she was wrong. She shook her head as she thought about this whole mess, it just made her hate Adam. She didn't understand how and why he would do this. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the doorbell. She put the laundry she was correctly folding down and went upstairs from the laundry room in her house to the middle floor so she could open the door. She didn't know where in the house Christian was, so she didn't know if he would answer the door or not.
She was surprised when she opened the door and saw a certain red-head. "Hey Li," she greeted her friend who just stood there looking at the ground. She hadn't seen Lita since the last time her friend was arguing with her husband. Lita had been avoiding her the last couple of weeks. Well, she was more so avoiding Christian. "Li, what's wrong?" Dawn asked when Lita didn't say anything and continued to look at the ground. But the pregnant woman finally looked up at Dawn and immediately started to cry once again. "Li what's wrong?" Dawn repeated once again taking her friend in her arms for a hug. "What's going on? What happened?" Lita still didn't say anything as she continued to cry. Dawn moved her a little more into the house, then closed the door behind her. She then started to lead Lita into the living room without letting her go. They finally sat down on the couch with Lita still leaning against Dawn and crying. Dawn was sort of confused, she had no idea what was going on even though she knew it had something to do with Adam. "Li, when you're ready, I'm here. Okay?" She felt Lita nod against her shoulder.
Christian entered the living room a couple of minutes later wondering who it was that rang the doorbell not to long ago. He got his answer when he saw his wife and her best-friend on the couch. Her best-friend who was probably still pissed off at him. He could see she was crying and Dawn was trying to comfort her, so he decided to leave the room, not wanting to interrupt them. But then Lita decided she finally wanted to say something, the next words coming out of her mouth made him freeze in place after he turned around to leave. "I'm pregnant," she quietly said with her sobs getting calm, but it was still loud enough for Christian to hear.
It was quiet for a moment with Christian still frozen, but he had managed to turn around so that he was facing the two on the couch, then Dawn spoke up looking at Lita who finally backed away from the brunette. "That's good news right? Why are you crying?" She knew the answer to both questions, but she didn't know what else to say.
Lita put her head in her hands closing her eyes for a moment. "He's not here Dawn. He just left me. I don't know how to get a hold of him. He changed his number. I don't know where he went. What am I supposed to do?"
"Well, how far along are you?" Dawn wanted to know.
"I don't know," Lita said dropping her hands from her head and lifting her head so she was finally looking back up at Dawn. "I just took the test not too long ago."
"It could be a false positive."
Lita shook her head. "I don't think it is. Unless my body and brain are messing with me, I'm pregnant."
"When are you going to go to the doctors?"
"I managed to make an appointment with her tomorrow. Will you come with me?"
Dawn smiled at her. "Of course."
Lita finally decided to acknowledge Christian's presence. The two women knew he was there, they just didn't say anything. "Look, I know he probably told you not to tell me anything or give me his contact information, but this is something I feel he should know. I know his dad was never around so I'm pretty sure he won't abandon his child even though he hates me."
He doesn't hate you, Christian thought but said something else out loud. "Okay. I can just give you his number."
"Are you kidding?!" Dawn started to say getting completely frustrated with this. "This isn't something she should have to tell him on the phone! I mean, I guess it depends where he's actually at. But seriously Christian. You can't give her more than that?!"
Christian shook his head. "I'm sorry." And he really was. He wanted to tell her more. He really did, but he made a promise and he was going to keep that promise. "How about I tell-"
"No!" Lita exclaimed getting up off from the couch and walking towards Christian, finally stopping in front of him. "This isn't your thing to tell him. It's mine."
"Okay okay. I know. You're right. I just... I really don't think he's going to answer your call," he said truthfully. Maybe if Lita let him say anything to Adam, then Adam would actually answer her call and talk to her. He knew if Adam would talk to Lita if he knew she was pregnant. But apparently the red-head wanted to tell him herself.
"Whatever. But I still have to try. I have to tell him. He left me, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to know." Christian nodded as he proceeded to give Lita his friends new number.
It had been a week since Lita got it confirmed from her doctor that she was pregnant. She had tried calling Adam multiple times, but he never answered the phone. This wasn't even the way she wanted to tell him, but she had no other option. And since she really didn't want to tell him on the phone, she wasn't about to leave this as a voice mail for him.
"He won't pick up," Lita told Dawn and Christian who visited her at her apartment that day. "He's still ignoring me."
"I'm sorry sweety," Dawn said. "Just try again later or something. I don't know what else to say."
"No. If he's not answering my calls now, then I know he won't answer them later. God, this is so screwed up." She could feel her eyes getting watery. She hated that. She had cried so much this past month, she didn't want to cry anymore.
"So that's it?" Christian asked. "You're not going to try anymore."
"I don't know."
"You should."
"And you should tell him to answer her calls." Dawn spoke up.
Christian fought the urge to roll his eyes but lost the battle. "I did. He wants to know why, but Lita said I can't tell him anything."
"Our child shouldn't suffer just because he hates me."
"Just keep trying," Christian urged her. "Maybe he'll pick up one day."
"I doubt it, but whatever. It makes me seem needy and I don't like feeling needy."
"But you have to. For your son or daughter." Lita nodded in agreement. She knew she had to keep trying, what if Adam actually did pick up one day? Too bad she had no such luck and stopped trying another month later. She also tried telling him in another method, but that didn't work either. She just gave up on him thinking he could blame himself if he ever found out of their child. When Christian realized his friend was absolutely avoiding all contact attempts on Lita's behalf, he made a promise to himself as well as to Lita that he would always be there for her and her child for whatever they needed. And he always fulfilled that promise.
*End of Flashback*
*Present Time*
Adam stared at the door for a couple of minutes before he finally decided to get it over with and knock on her door. Lita looked up from the couch when she heard a knock on the door. Boy, was he nervous. The door finally opened and the former couple just stood their staring at one another before Lita spoke up.
"Hey," she said as she moved away from the entrance and allowed him in, closing the door behind her.
"Hi," Adam replied following the red-head into the small living room area and sitting down on the couch when she gestured for him to while she just stood there.
"Do you want something to drink?" She started to ask him. "We have juice and water... and milk."
Adam shook his head. "No thanks."
"Okay," she said taking a seat on the same couch but made sure to put some space in between them.
It was quiet once again for a couple of minutes before Adam spoke up this time. "How have you been?" He asked looking at her, noting she was chewing on her lip while looking at the ground, the former which she did a lot of when she was nervous.
"Fine," she replied still looking at the ground. "And yourself?"
"Same." He waited a beat before he continued. "Look, I'm really sorry for leaving the way I did, but-"
She interrupted him finally looking up and at him, shaking her head. "No. I don't care." Liar. "Don't tell me. You came here to talk about Ethan and that's what we're going to do."
"But-"
"Adam, not right now, okay?" She interrupted him once again. He simply nodded, this could wait, they needed to focus on Ethan right now.
"So why didn't you tell me anything?" Adam asked after another awkward moment of silence.
Lita took a deep breath trying to remain calm as she answered him. "I tried. I called you a billion times but you still didn't answer any of my calls."
He knew that was the truth. He got angry with Christian for giving her his number. He was tempted many times to pick up her calls because he wanted to know what it was that Christian said was important. He also just wanted to hear her voice which was probably why he called her with his number blocked a few times over the five year span while he was gone and hanging up after he heard her. "You could have left a message."
"Are you kidding with me right now?!" She was starting to get angry, her eyebrows furrowing. "You didn't answer my calls, you could have deleted the messages before you could even listen to them. And I never imagined telling you I was pregnant on the damn phone in the first place, so why the hell would I want to leave you a voice mail like that?!"
"Well, maybe you could have let Christian tell me then."
She groaned in frustration. "Are you even listening to me?! If I didn't even want to tell you on the phone, what the hell makes you think I would want to let someone else tell you?!"
"That was your only other option."
"Not really."
"What do you mean?" He asked with confusion present on his face.
She looked away for a second trying to calm herself down before she continued. "I sent you a letter, did you get it?"
Oh shit. "Yea," he nodded. "I just never opened it. I kind of ripped it up and threw it away."
She nodded. "I figured that much."
"How did-"
"Christian didn't tell me your address," Lita interrupted him knowing what he was about to ask her. "I asked him if he would send a letter to you. He told me he would send it to you. And I waited for a reply, a call, anything really. But you didn't say anything, so that's when I decided I was done trying to get a hold of you."
"I'm sorry."
"Whatever. You did what you did, it's over with. Let's just talk about Ethan, okay?" He nodded knowing that she still didn't accept any of his apologies and he didn't blame her. "I honestly don't know what to say to him and how to say it so you have to be a bit patient with me."
"I can help you with telling him."
"No, he doesn't even know you right now. I think it's better if I tell him myself." She paused before she continued. "So how are we going to do this when he finds out? Obviously, I'm not going to push him into getting to know you, but he's a pretty friendly kid, I know he won't push you away. He's a little kid, he doesn't understand what's going on, but he asked about you a couple of weeks ago. And then he asked who you were when you came to the door."
"What did you tell him?"
"The truth... sort of. That you're his Uncle Christian's friend."
"So what are you going to tell him?"
"I really don't know. I'm going to have to think about it. I mean, I've been doing that for a while now, even before you came, but this makes it even more difficult. Or maybe easier. I don't know. But I just know I just have to sit him down and explain to him how you're his father. I don't know how I'm going to tell him why you weren't here, I mean I don't even know that much." She continued before she could say anything. "Anyways, I don't know how we're going to do this. Like I said, it's up to him how much he wants to get to know you and I think he does when he knows he actually does have a father. I guess we can figure it out soon." She took a brief pause before she continued. "Did you move in yet? Dawn was telling me how..." she trailed off.
"I'm moving in tomorrow."
She nodded before she got up from the couch. "So you might want to see pictures." She then disappeared into her room and came back with a couple of photo albums. "I don't know how many pictures you want to see, but Dawn made a couple of photo albums for me." She put the pile on the table in front of them and then picked up the one that was on the top. "This is from his first year. Dawn gave it to me for his first birthday." She then handed the album to Adam who started to look at the pictures of his son when he was a baby. He looked at some other albums as well, wanting to see memories of his son, when he flipped through one of the pages and saw a picture of Ethan with his grandmother.
"How's you mom doing?" He always did like Lita's mom, she was a nice and loving lady. She didn't say anything, so he looked up away from the album and at her seeing tears form in her eyes. "What did I say? I'm sorry. What..."
"She's... she's not... she's not with us anymore," she whispered.
Wow. He definitely missed a lot in the five years he was gone. "I'm sorry to hear that." He didn't know whether or not he should ask her anything else, fortunately for him, he didn't have to.
"It was actually three years ago. She was in a car accident, dying right at the scene. It was snowing and the other car slipped and hit the drivers side of the door and the impact..." She tried not to cry, but she couldn't help it anymore.
He closed the photo album and moved a little near her, not knowing how she would react but didn't care. If she wanted to flip out on him, she could, but he was going to try to comfort her. He felt she need it. He pulled her against him, which she was reluctant to at first, but finally gave in. He didn't know what to say to her so he just held her in his arms, stroking her hair. She hated it, but she felt calm in his arms. She pulled away from him when she became aware of who she was with. She wiped at her wet face, looking away and then looking back up at him. Right in his green eyes thinking how they were her favorite things about his features after his smile. She always thought he was the most handsome man she ever came across. Damn it, she thought. She wasn't supposed to be thinking this. Unknown to her, he was thinking the same exact thing about her. He always thought there was no one more beautiful than her. He wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss her, but he felt she would slap him. Too bad he didn't know she wanted to do the same thing. Neither of their feelings really left no matter how much the duo tried. Lita finally looked away from him deciding she didn't want this. She didn't want to get hung up on him again only to probably be disappointed again. She was doing this for Ethan so she was only going to think about him. That was the same reason Adam stopped himself from kissing her.
"Um... So how's you mom?" She decided to ask him changing the subject a bit.
"She's pretty good."
"So, did you... did you tell her anything?"
Adam shook his head. "I was actually going to tell her after I got to talk to you about Ethan first."
She nodded, not knowing what else to say. "Do you want to drink something now? Or maybe something to eat?"
"Some water would be nice."
She nodded as she got up to get him a glass of water and handed it to him. She almost dropped the glass when his fingers brushed against hers. She didn't understand the logic of that, he just got done hugging her, how could the mere meeting of their hands do this to her? Luckily for her, he had a hold on the glass and didn't notice when her hand jumped when their fingers brushed. Or maybe he notice but didn't say anything. She was about to take a seat again, but this time on the chair away from him until she heard the door knock. Had two hours really gone by already? She thought it was probably Christian and Ethan, her suspicion being confirmed when she opened the door.
"Hey," she smiled at the duo. "How was the movie?"
"Awesome! You have to see it!" Ethan exclaimed but then he started to frown when he saw his mother's face. "Why were you crying mommy?"
Damn it. "I just, been thinking about grandma," she truthfully answered following Christian and Ethan in the .
"Is that why you cry a lot?" He asked, suddenly grabbing Adam's attention even though he already had it. Lita didn't know what to say, but thankfully, or maybe not so much, Ethan spotted Adam. "Hi," he smiled at him taking a seat next to him with Christian sitting on the chair Lita was about to sit on before she heard the door knock. "I'm Ethan. Mommy said you're Uncle Christian's friend."
"Hi," Adam smiled back. "I am." He was about to say something until Ethan interrupted him, Lita standing at the side watching the father-son's interaction.
"What's your name?"
"Adam."
"Mommy said that's my daddy's name." He turned his attention to Lita. "Right mommy?" Lita felt her heart stop for a moment. Ethan was only four and a half, but what if he put two and two together before she could tell him especially with the next question that left his mouth after she simply nodded in confirmation. "Did you know my daddy? Mommy said he was Uncle Christian's friend."
Adam looked up at Lita who decided to look away. Fortunately for them two, Christian took Ethan's attention away from them. "Ethan, why don't you tell mommy and... my friend what happened in the movie?"
"But what if they want to see it?"
"It's okay," Adam started to say. "You can still tell us."
Ethan nodded. "Okay." He then turned his attention to Lita. "Mommy, come sit next to me," he said as he moved a little closer to Adam letting Lita sit on the other side of him. He proceeded to tell them about the movie he and Christian came back from watching. Christian sat across from them noting how they looked like a family, with both parents on either side of their son. He wanted to take a picture of the moment, but he thought Lita would pick up one of the photo albums on the table and hurl it at him. He just hoped everything would turn out for the best for the three. They deserved it, especially Ethan. He shouldn't have to suffer because of his parents situation which he was pretty sure Lita still didn't know the truth about.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews.