"You're mad," Jax stated as he sat down next to him on the doorstep that Abel had yet to move from.
Abel didn't reply, what was he supposed to say? Hs girlfriend was eighteen, kidnapped, and pregnant, and that was how it was. He was getting really tired of people telling him how he felt, but he kept his mouth shut.
He wasn't mad, he wasn't even surprised, he wasn't anything. Abel was just tired. Something bad was always happening, he solved one problem to be handed an even bigger one, and that was all this pregnancy was, another problem added to the ever-growing stack of them.
He was taking a page out of Thomas' book, and taking things as it became an issue, if Abel ever got Cassidy out of there, then he'd worry about what he was going to do with the tiny little human that came with her. But first, he had to make sure she lived long enough to see her first maternity dress.
"Well I'm not thrilled," Abel said dryly.
"I wouldn't tell her that." Jax said lightly.
"That's going to be easy considering I haven't talked to her in a month," He shrugged, "Doesn't matter anyways, she already knows I'm not excited about it, if she thought I'd be happy about it she wouldn't have asked you to keep it from me."
It wasn't that hard to figure out, Tara had never spoken to Cassidy –Jax had, and that single conversation had changed his entire viewpoint of her completely – only something as drastic as a pregnancy had the means to do that.
"I didn't think you needed another thing to worry about," Jax said as if that excused his deception.
Unfortunately, it didn't. Fortunately, Able didn't have it in him to give a damn.
"What are you going to do?"
"That's a conversation I need to have with my girlfriend, who is just a little preoccupied right now."
Abel's words were short and snappy, but the sentiment didn't echo in his tone of voice.
"You have six maybe seven months, Abel," Jax reasoned, "You have to make some kind of plan."
"I do have a plan, it starts with saving Cassidy, moves onto popping the sucker out, and ends with getting the hell out of Charming, the last two however don't have to be done in a particular order."
"And where do the rest of us fall into your plans?" Jax asked carefully.
"You get to be a grandpa." Abel shrugged.
"I'm not telling you that you have to figure things out right now."
"What's there to figure out? We'll go back to Connecticut, we'll get an apartment, I'll go to Yale, and Cassie will stay home with the baby."
"And if Cassidy doesn't want that?"
"I don't give a shit what Cassie wants," Abel said in a frustrated tone.
Jax wanted him to have a plan? Well that was his plan. Money wasn't an issue, and Cassidy wasn't going to college anyway. They would be one of those stupid old fashioned couples that got hitched at eighteen, popped out two kids by the time they were twenty, had the woman stay home and raise the kids, and had the man go out and make the money. Oh and they'd hate each other by the time they were twenty-three. Happily freaking ever after.
"She's a good girl. She'll be a good mom."
"She'll also be nineteen."
"People have done it at younger."
"Are you happy she's pregnant or something?" Abel snapped his head to look at Jax.
"I think you got your girlfriend pregnant, I think you need to man up, and not blame this on her. I think you should be supportive."
"Man up?" Abel raised his eyebrows, "All I've done in the past month is man up. I have jumped through hoops trying to make all this work, and honestly in the whole grand scheme of things a teenage pregnancy isn't the biggest issue right now."
"You're going to be a dad, Abel," Jax said quietly.
"You think I don't know that?" He groaned frustrated, "That's usually what 'you knocked up your girlfriend means.' I don't know where you got the idea that I'm not going to be supportive, but I will. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about the pregnancy. I'm eighteen, Jax, and my life has gone to absolute shit. You think I don't care that my baby is probably going to be born into all of this? You think I don't care that Cassie isn't getting everything she needs to make this as easy as possible? You think I won't love that kid? Because I will, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."
"You are by far the most confusing person I have ever met," Jax said after a moment.
"Have you seen my life?"
"I just want you to understand how big of a deal a baby is, and the sooner you accept that you are going to be a dad, the better."
"I'm very aware that I'm going to be a dad, that doesn't mean I want a baby," Abel said with complete honesty.
Jax wanted him to accept that he was going to be a dad? Great, he accepted it. However, that didn't mean anyone could force him to be happy about it.
He was eighteen, nineteen in a month, he had a missing girlfriend, a little brother, and a shitload of parents. He had been arrested, and threatened, he didn't have room in his life for a kid. Abel barely had room in his life for himself. So yes the baby was coming, and yes he was going to have to figure out how to raise a kid in all of this, but Jax wasn't even considering the one thing that Abel couldn't stop thinking about.
More likely than not, that kid wasn't going to be born, and if it was, that kid wasn't going to survive. Abel was under no illusions, the road to getting Cassidy back was long, and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to get her back before time was up. Cassidy needed vitamins, and she needed doctor's appointments. She needed a steady diet, she needed to be physically strong enough to be able to carry a child, in order for that child to be born.
And a baby needed clothes, food, water, milk, and probably whole other shitload of things that Abel didn't know about, he could afford to buy those things, but if the baby was born before all this was over, Abel had no way of getting it to Cassidy.
This baby was cursed from the moment Cassidy and Abel had conceived it.
He wasn't fooling himself with any false hope, he wasn't lying to himself, it wasn't practical to think about the what-ifs, but in this situation the what if's were very real possibilities, and Cassidy and Abel were better off preparing for the bad outcomes than the good.
Jax was trying to be optimistic, and Abel – well he had never felt so pessimistic in his entire life.
"Abel, I-"
Whatever Jax was going to say next was lost as the sound of motorcycles began roaring down the street, but that wasn't what had caught his attention, what had caught his attention was the girl that was running down the sidewalk.
Long light brown hair flew behind her, as her bare feet hit the tarmac, her hands clutching at the sleeves of her sweater, as her lips formed his name.
"Alena."
He recognized the girl he had met for all of two minutes a week or so ago easily, and didn't hesitate to launch himself off the doorstep and meet her halfway.
"They took him, Abel!" Alena cried falling into his chest her hands fisting his t-shirt as the members of the club stormed into the house, all with their guns drawn, "It all happened so fast, we were walking, and they came out of nowhere, they just came out of nowhere."
"Alena," He cried over her, "What are you talking about?"
Panicked hazel eyes met his own, "They took Thomas, Abel, some guys came out of nowhere, and they just took Thomas."
(Cassidy)
Cassidy knew something terrible was about to happen the second Scrugs showed up at the doorway with an apologetic look on his face.
After Cassidy's stunt with Abel and Father Kellan sent her downstairs she had been left to herself for two weeks. Downstairs had turned out to be the kind of kidnapping that Cassidy actually associated with kidnapping, and not the way she had been staying before.
She had been tossed in a room with nothing but a cot and a metal toilet in the corner, and had been left there since.
Scrugs – who she seemed to grow on, and had become her closest companion in this world – brought her three meals a day and snuck in books to keep her occupied.
"Come on," Scrugs said holding out his hands.
Cassidy took them allowing him to pull her up and, and then pick her up, wincing as she did so. Her knee still hadn't healed, though she hadn't actually been treated. When they reached the top of the staircase, Scrugs gently put her down, as someone she didn't recognize handed her, her crutches.
"What's going on?" She asked as Father Kellan stood up from his seat.
"Why don't you come with me? You can of course bring Eric if you'd like."
Cassidy glared at his back, she didn't need a baby sitter, nor did she need a protector, not that either thoughts kept her form silently begging Scrugs to come with her with her eyes. He didn't hesitate and simply fell into step with her.
She briefly wondered if this was the part where they finally killed her off and where just done with it.
"How much do you know about Abel's family, Ms. Somers? His birth family, I mean."
"Why?" She asked cautiously.
"Amuse me."
"His dad's name is Jax, his mom's name is Tara, and he has a little brother – Trey or something." Cassidy said stating the only things she knew, she had one conversation with Jax with consisted of her telling him that she was a knocked up eighteen year old – not the best first impression, and that was it.
"His name," Father Kellan said grabbing a door knob and swinging it open, "Is actually Thomas."
Cassidy blinked as she wasn't sure what to make of the scene in front of her.
There was a boy – who couldn't have been older than her age – who was sitting on the ground, his hands tied back to the leg of the kitchen table, a scowl etched onto his face, and bruises staring to form on him – whoever this kid was he had put up a fight.
He had dark blonde hair that was cut short, and dark green eyes that were filled with anger, a set jaw line, and features that overall despite the differences, looked terrifyingly familiar.
"What is he doing here?" Cassidy looked at Scrugs accusingly.
"I don't know." He said quietly.
"Scrugs!"
"I don't know, Cassidy!"
"He's here because we are about to give the Sons of Anarchy their next job," Father Kellan said, "And to get them to do what we want them to, they are going to need a better reason than you. No offense, love."
"You're Cassidy."
The boy who had otherwise been simmering in his anger in silence, stared at her with a newfound fascination, like she was some kind of rare article, like she was something he had never seen before.
"I – yes."
"So you're the baby momma?"
"I guess so," She said sheepishly looking down at her stomach – that was starting to form the smallest, but still barely noticeable bump.
"You aren't what I thought you'd be."
"And what did you think I was going to be?"
"I don't know, someone more hell hath no fury," He shrugged, "You remind of a mouse."
"You're?" Cassidy's voice broke slightly, she knew who this was, there was no doubt about it, but actually asking him for confirmation would change everything.
If he was who she thought he was, then everything was about to change, the stakes of this game they were playing, the outcome of who lived and who died, and who was really going to get out of this hell when the time came, it was all going to change. If this was who she thought it was, then everything was about to become different.
Alone she was a force that could make mountains move for her. But together with him? These people could make the Sons move not just mountains, but trample the entire world.
"You're Thomas, aren't you?"
I'm sorry it took so long to update, I just can't seem to get this chapter to be perfect the way I want it, and have decided to just post it. I wanted to quickly explain something about Abel. I know some of you might not like the fact that he doesn't want the baby, but I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible, and realistically what eighteen year old guy wants a baby? I didn't make him a complete asshole, and if you read between the lines, you can tell that Abel does care about the baby – he even admitted that he would love it – but it doesn't change the fact that he doesn't want it.