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Chapter Twenty-Four: The Consequences

A/N: Time for another update! yay!

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on." -Robert Frost

When Jayden woke up the next next morning, he felt like someone was jackhammering on the inside of his skull. "Ugh," he moaned. He sat up and wiped his hands across his face. His stomach turned and the world spun as het got to his feet. He managed to make it to his door and out into the hallway. Tiara saw him and smiled evilly. She waltzed up to her brother and shouted in his ear, "Morning!"

Jayden flinched and jumped away. "Can you be a little quieter please?" he whispered.

"No! Why?!"

Jayden hissed. He got the feeling she was doing it on purpose. He followed her to the kitchen and winced at the bright sunlight. Lauren smiled, clearly amused. "Morning Jay."

"Ugh," Jayden moaned. He sat down and put his head in his arms. "My head hurts."

"That's probably your brain trying to comprehend its own stupidity," Ji said coming in. "Here," he put some aspirin on the table with some water. "Take this, it'll help."

Jayden took the aspirin and shuddered. "It still hurts."

"Well your hang over isn't go gin to go away that quickly."

"But I bet some really greasy fries will help," Tiara teased.

"Shut up!" Jayden growled, feeling his stomach lurch at the very thought of food. It didn't help that someone was obviously cooking bacon. "Why're you doing this to me?"

"Because you're in trouble," Ji said. "Jayden what on Earth possessed you to get drunk?! What were you thinking?! You could've hurt yourself! You're lucky Tiara was at the party with you!"

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"Well what did you think you were drinking?"

"I don't know. I didn't know what beer tastes like."

"You should've used better judgement. You shouldn't have been accepting drinks when you didn't know what it was! I thought I taught you better than that!"

"I didn't want Lorrie to think I was lame," Jayden justified. He knew it was a bad answer though when he saw Ji shaking his head.

"Of course. Of course I should've known that girl had something to do with it." Jayden glared slightly at the way Ji said 'that girl'. "That's it! You are forbidden to see her again."

"What?! Whoa," Jayden brought his head up too fast and the world spun a little. "Why?!"

"Because she's not good for you! You're the head of the Shiba Clan and you need to act like it! Not getting drunk at a party because some girl tells you to!"

"She didn't tell me to do it," Jayden muttered.

"Same difference. She is nothing but trouble! Trouble that you don't need! You will not see her anymore!"

"No," Jayden said before he'd thought about it. Tiara and Lauren stared at him.

"What?" Ji asked quietly, almost like he was giving Jayden a chance to change his answer.

"I said no. You're not the boss of me, and I won't stop seeing her. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks. I love her."

"You're not old enough to know what love is!"

"Yes I am!" Jayden snapped, hangover be damned–he wouldn't back down on this. "I'm twenty years old Ji! You can't tell me what to do anymore!"

"I can and will!"

"Well I won't listen! I don't care if I am the head of the Shiba Clan. I. Love. Her. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"Just because you love her doesn't mean she loves you! You're deluding yourself Jayden!"

"I am not! I know she loves me!"

"Why?! What is there for her to love?!" Lauren and Tiara gasped. Jayden clenched his teeth. Ji could tell he wouldn't back down. "Fine. If that's the way you want it. Stay with her. Go to parties, get drunk, do drugs, have sex. Do whatever you want. But when you see I'm right. When you realize how poisonous she is for you, don't come crying to me."

"Believe me," Jayden whispered. "I won't." Jayden turned and stormed out of the room. He went back to his own room and shut the door. He made sure all the blinds were closed and threw himself down on his bed. All he wanted to do was sleep. He turned over and closed his eyes. I'm a grown man, he thought. I won't let everyone else make my decisions. Not this time.

Back in the kitchen, Lauren and Tiara hadn't moved from their spots. They watched Ji carefully, wondering what he would do. Ji simply sighed and left them alone. The two girls looked at each other. "Why is everyone in this house fighting?" Tiara asked. "Am I really the only functional one here?!"

"I can't believe Ji said that," Lauren told her. "What is there to love? I mean..."

"He's just angry. He didn't mean it. Nether of them did."

"But it's so cruel. I mean Ji is honest and straightforward, but he's never cruel like that with Jayden. Or anyone really."

"I know. Just let them cool down. They'll kiss and make-up eventually."

"I really hope so."

"They will. I sure of it."

-Samurai Ranger Life-

Kevin had the day off from work and decided since Antonio had barely moved in three days, a day off of training would be in order. He tried to clean his apartment while watching Antonio stare out at the wall. He sighed and crouched in front of him. "Antonio, you haven't said a word in two days. You haven't even cried." Antonio simply stayed where he was. Kevin shook his head. There was a knock on the door and he want over to it. "Coming." He opened it and stared. "Uh..."

"You're avoiding me, aren't you?" Brooke asked him.

"Well, I was trying." Brooke came into his apartment and Kevin shut the door. "Please just come right in."

"We need to talk."

"I told you this isn't a good time." Kevin nodded his head at Antonio. "I'm in the middle of helping a friend right now."

"And I'm kind of engaged, but I thought I should inform you of this before I tell my fiancé!"

Kevin sighed and went over to Antonio. "Hey," he said. "Come on, I'm going to lay you down in my room for now." He helped him stand up and Antonio shuffled his feet to Kevin's room. Once he had Antonio safely on the bed, Kevin shut the door and faced Brooke. "Ok, what's going on?"

"Do remember that day when we..."

"Yeah."

Brooke looked out the window and sighed. "I'm pregnant." Kevin opened his mouth but no words came out. He blinked several times. "Well say something!"

Kevin shook his head. "I think I need to sit down." He stumbled over to the couch and practically fell on to it. "How did this happen?"

"Well, I think it was when you invited me into your bed." She shook her head and paced a little. "How could you do this to me Kevin?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! How could I do this? Excuse me but you were in that bed too!"

"It was your bed!"

"And you could've stopped it at anytime but you didn't! Maybe I shouldn't have been a nice guy and tired to help you and let you into my bedroom, but don't blame this all on me!"

"It doesn't matter! Right now we need to find a way to deal with this."

"Deal with this?" Kevin asked in confusion.

"Yes Kevin, deal with it. I'm not ready for a baby. It's totally inconvenient for me right now. Not to mention what Jeffery will think. So yeah, we need to figure out what to do."

"What do you want to do?" Kevin asked.

"I think we should put it up for adoption."

"Adoption?"

"Yes. I'm sure somewhere there's someone who wants this baby more than us. I'm not ready to be a parent, are you?"

"No."

"And we have our training for the Olympics to think about."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, I'm glad you agree. That makes this whole thing easier."

Kevin simply nodded. "What're you going to tell Jeffrey?"

"I don't know yet. God, this whole thing is messed up."

"Yeah."

"I should go. I'll be in contact with you."

"Ok." Kevin got up and followed her out. He shut the door behind her and leaned against it. "Oh my god." He pushed himself off and went to his bedroom. He threw himself face down on the bed next to Antonio. "I'm in so much trouble."

Antonio rolled over and looked at him. "You knocked her up?"

Kevin smiled, despite himself. He was glad Antonio was taking again. "Yeah."

"Did you at least use protection?"

"No."

"Yeah you're in trouble."

Kevin sat up and sighed. "Nothing we can do about it right now. Come on, I'll take you back to the couch, I'll finish cleaning, and we'll have fish for dinner tonight."

Antonio nodded and let Kevin pull him up. Kevin led back to the couch feeling a little better. Hopefully Antonio was coming out of this stupor he'd been in.