Chapter 21

To say Nalani was stunned into silence would've been the understatement of the century.

Her mind had replayed that moment repeatedly in her head while Mark drove them back to the house and all Nalani could do was stare straight ahead, tears rushing down her face like two raging rivers. No matter how hard she tried, they wouldn't stop and Nalani honestly didn't even try doing so. She was in too much shock to do so, acting as if she was in another world completely, everything else fading into darkness around her. Though she'd been coherent enough to hear Denise announce the results of the DNA test.

All Nalani could do was sit there and let the tears flow, so many emotions coursing through her small frame. She didn't even want to fathom how Mark felt hearing the results and couldn't look at him, knowing things were about to get very interesting. There was nothing she could do to change the results and half of her wished she could while the other was absolutely ecstatic. Again, she had no idea what Mark thought about them, wondering what was going through his mind and knew he was probably going to leave as soon as they arrived back at the house.

Once again, the man surprised her.

"Come on guys, let's get you inside to watch some cartoons." Nalani coaxed, knowing this had been an extremely emotional day for the twins, getting each of them out one by one.

"No." Matthew suddenly spoke for the first time, backing away from his mother, shaking his head. "No!"

They were so young and it broke Mark's heart, but knew there was nothing he could do for them. Three year olds understanding something this important in their lives wasn't easy by any means and it made half of Mark angry at Nalani for putting them through this. He knew he pushed to have the paternity test because he wanted to prove to her that she was full of lies and deceit. The other half of him needed to know if the twins were truly his or if she really had cheated on him with another man.

Now that he knew, Mark only had one option.

Megan began crying and buried her face in her little hands, Nalani instantly going to her while Matthew began crying. The twins were overwhelmed and Nalani didn't blame them one bit, feeling the exact same way. All he wanted to do was walk inside the house, settle them down and lock herself in her room to cry for several days straight, not wanting to see anyone or anything. She knew she couldn't though because she had two little humans relying on her every single moment of their lives and she loved them unconditionally.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Mommy is so sorry." Nalani whispered, getting Megan out of her car seat, holding both of them as close to her as possible. "Mommy loves you both, you know that right?"

The twins could only nod, too busy crying their little hearts out and breaking Nalani's completely in half, lifting each in one arm. "Come on." She whispered, carting them up the steps to the wraparound porch and unlocked the front door, knowing Mark was probably getting in his truck right now.

Instead, when the screen door went to slam shut behind her, a huge hand grabbed it, stopping from nailing her heels. The kids would've went flying out of her arms if that would've happened and Nalani carried them both inside to the living room. Setting them up with cartoons, Nalani sat with each twin curled up to her side, trying hard not to cry herself as she kissed each of their heads repeatedly, trying to calm them down. Mark simply sat in the nearby chair, not saying a word and stared over at them with unreadable green eyes, Nalani too busy comforting the twins to notice.

It took the twins a good hour before they calmed down enough to just sniffle, the tears still falling while watching cartoons. For once, they didn't bicker about what was on the television, both honestly not caring and Nalani knew it. She kept her eyes focused on the television and swallowed hard when a huge body suddenly came into her vision, those green eyes meeting hers as Mark bent down to be eye level with her.

What the hell was Nalani supposed to say to him?

"They're asleep." He rumbled in a quiet voice, not wanting to wake the twins and extended his hand, silently ordering her to take it. "We need to talk now."

Swallowing hard, Nalani was tempted to stay with her twins and decline his request, but knew she owed him this much. Kissing each of their temples softly, Nalani carefully extracted herself from the twins, her heart squeezing with pain when they immediately curled up against each other, laying a blanket over each of their bodies. She wiped a tear away from her cheek and turned around, taking Mark's still extended hand as he guided her toward her bedroom. He wouldn't hurt her, Nalani knew that, but she definitely owed him an explanation and knew he demanded one.

Once inside the room, Nalani visibly cringed when the door shut softly but firmly, knowing there was no escape from this. The truth was out and nothing could change it, no matter how much she wanted to. Nalani stood there while Mark walked over to sit on the bed, elbows resting on his knees, again remaining silent while she stood before him looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Mark…"

"Why?"

Nalani cringed again, looking away from him as tears filled her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself. "I don't know…" She whispered, feeling like the lowest person in the world right now, which she was. "I'm sorry…"

"All this time…" Mark's gruff voice echoed around the room, gritting his teeth, so many emotions rushing through him all at once. "How could you do somethin' like this to me?"

Blinking, huge tears slid down her cheeks and Nalani felt her knees weaken, suddenly hitting them to the carpet, hardly able to speak. "I-I didn't…k-know…how to tell y-you…" She stammered out through sobs, burying her face in her hands, every part of her body shuddering from head to toe.

Mark stared down at her and waited, watching as Nalani completely fell apart before him, knowing this was a lot for her to take in. She had no idea who the father of the twins were and now she did, now she had to deal with it. As far as he was concerned, Mark only had one thing on his mind and one thing only, having already called Steve to confirm plans as far as CSI was concerned.

"You lied to me." He stated, arching an eyebrow when her head snapped up, the tears continuing to fall. "You lied to me and made me actually start to believe…"

"No I didn't." Nalani knew this was very wrong, but she had to make one last attempt, not moving from being on her knees before him. "I didn't lie to you, Mark…"

Green eyes narrowed down at her, wondering if she was really that stupid or just desperate. "You heard Denise at the hospital, Nalani, or is yer hearin' goin' out?" He demanded angrily, watching her body tremble again, snorting. "I know ya heard it or ya wouldn't be reactin' the way you are. Now I wanna know why ya lied to me. I wanna know why ya left three years ago without a fuckin' explanation. I WANT THE TRUTH!"

As much as Nalani was dying to tell him the truth, she knew she couldn't, slowly regaining her footing on shaky ground. "I am telling you the truth." Her voice was low and soft, staring at him through blurred vision and bloodshot tear-filled blue eyes. "Even after hearing those results, it doesn't change the fact what I did to you, Mark. It doesn't change the fact that I…slept with another man and…"

"BULLSHIT!" Mark exploded, suddenly standing up from the bed and towering over her, his eyes turning to acid within seconds. "Stop lyin' to me, Nalani!" He ordered angrily, slowly backing her up, knowing he was scaring her and honestly didn't care. "You didn't cheat on me, I would've known it!"

"Oh really?" Nalani had to fight back, no matter how shaky her voice was, glaring. "You were gone for THREE days, Mark. THREE days you were away from me and I fucked another man in your bed. I fucked him in every room of that house actually and cleaned up after myself. It was three days of nothing but fucking my ex in every way possible. I made sure to wash everything and scrubbed every inch of the house before you came back. So yes, there was no way of you finding out, but didn't you notice after you got back that I became considerably distant?" When the heartbreak showed in his eyes, Nalani knew she had him right where she wanted him and kept going as much as it hurt her. "I didn't love you anymore and that's why I fucked him, that's why I cheated on you and I couldn't deal with the guilt afterwards. So I started saving money from the diner and left you. I meant what I said, I do love you, but I can't be with you anymore." When Mark just stood there staring holes down at her, Nalani knew she had to go in for the kill. "And that's the truth whether you want to believe it or not. Sometimes the truth hurts, Mark."

Mark felt sick to his stomach at the way Nalani talked to him about screwing another man in his house, wanting to suddenly burn it to the ground. His eyes flashed and Mark never wanted to hit a woman as badly as he did Nalani at that moment, but refrained. It wouldn't do any good or change the fact that she cheated on him with another man while he went away to defend her family's honor…her honor.

He left to track down Scott so he could kill the man who destroyed her life and Mark had to mend her by piecing her back together. He slowly backed away toward the door, suddenly needing to get as far away from her as possible, no longer able to look at her the same as he once did. Just like the night she left, his heart was in shambles and there was no way to fix it this time, Mark would have to learn to move on with what was left of his heart this bitch didn't destroy.

"I'm not gonna stay outta my kids' lives just 'cause their momma is a cheatin' whore." Mark informed her coldly, gritting his teeth when all Nalani could do was nod, feeling disgusted that he'd wasted the past three years of his life pining for a woman who never gave a damn about him. "So we're gonna have to make this work somehow and I'm not leavin' Dallas until that happens. I can't even look at you right now though, so I'm leavin' to stay in a hotel. I hope yer happy with what you've done, Martin." With that said, Mark stalked out of the bedroom and slammed the door so hard, the walls shook violently.

Nalani dropped on the bed and buried her face in her hands, finally allowing all the emotions to pour forth, curling up on her bed. "I'm sorry, Mark. I had no choice, please forgive me. I love you…" She whispered, just like she had for the past three years, feeling her heart shattering all over again.

~!~

Two months passed since the results of the paternity test came about, which Nalani still couldn't believe even after all that time. She remembered how nervous she was to sit in that waiting room, pondering who the father of Matthew and Megan was. Mark had actually grabbed her hand and Nalani hadn't fought him off, both of them needing the strength to hear the results together, no matter what. It was do or die, there was no more running or hiding and Nalani had nearly lost her breakfast.

After finally convincing Mark that Nalani cheated on him, he kept his distance and only came to see the kids, not speaking more than a few sentences to her. He would take the kids for the day three times a week, making sure they didn't miss daycare because Nalani explained to him how much they loved it. Mark reluctantly agreed, after doing a background check on the place and forced Nalani to draw up new birth certificates with him being named as their father. He wasn't being screwed out of being a father, not after Nalani screwed him over by having sex with another man.

Mark moved to Dallas from Houston, selling the house after serious contemplation of burning it down. He honestly couldn't live in a house that reminded him of the past, knowing he had to move forward. So Mark lived in a hotel room for two months and had a new house built by contractors who knew how to get the job done fast at the right price. It was a two story house that had a wraparound porch along with a full swing set for Matthew and Megan to play with whenever they were at his place.

He kept them every other weekend while still running CSI, having moved his entire headquarters to Houston, after making sure it was alright with Steve, Kevin and John, his partners. They all understood why Mark had to leave Houston, especially after finding out the shocking news that Mark was the father of Nalani's twins. All three wanted to beat the hell out of her though for breaking their friend's heart, but Mark assured them that she was atoning for her mistakes and would continuing doing so for the rest of her life.

Just like he was.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and Nalani was off work, spending time with her twins, blinking when red Toyota RAV 4 pulled up into the driveway. Nalani recognized that car immediately and sat her book down on the porch swing, the twins inside taking their naps, swallowing hard as the figure came stalking toward her angrily. She had a feeling this was coming because Mark had told everyone that he was a father and the twins were his children, acting like a proud father that Nalani knew he always would be.

"You have a lot of explaining to do Nalani Olivia Kensington-Martin."

She cringed at the full name and watched as Kaci stalked up the stairs, looking madder than a bull. "I don't know what…"

"Don't you even THINK about pulling that shit on me!" Kaci snapped, shoving her friend down on the porch swing, her once pregnant stomach flat once again.

She'd had her baby two months ago prematurely, which was a beautiful little girl named Giselle Tyne Orton with gorgeous blue eyes like her father and her mother's raven hair. Kaci had worked hard to gain her body back and was nearly there, having just a little bit more baby fat to get rid of before she was a smoking hot mother again. Right now though, she looked like she wanted to rip Nalani's head clean off of her shoulders and roll it down the steps.

"Enough lying, I want the truth and I want it NOW."

Sighing resignedly, Nalani stood up from the porch swing and held her hands up, knowing this was not going to be easy for Kaci to hear. "You'd better sit down then if you want to hear the whole truth." When Kaci did, Nalani took a deep breath and placed her hands in Kaci's, proceeding to finally tell her everything that really happened.