Chapter Eleven : Coming Clean
Elizabeth squirmed in her seat unable to get comfortable. She let out a sigh feeling completely frustrated as she moved the strap of her seat belt down, it kept sneaking up against her neck and locking down, and it felt as though she was choking against it. She frowned feeling her stomach churn as they ran over another pothole. This morning sickness was going to be the death of her.
She wanted to kill whoever had decided to call it morning sickness considering it was more like all day long sickness. She could barely keep any of her usual favorite foods down. She had been eating a ton of
saltines lately hoping that the crackers could soothe her stomach, but so far it wasn't helping all that much.
Elizabeth gave Crowley a worried look as he slid his hand across the center console and took one of her hands in his. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze trying to soothe her nerves, but she was still unable to feel anything but dread about what was about to take place.
Crowley let out a sigh feeling just as much anxiety as Elizabeth. He was no fool, he knew that telling Bobby everything wasn't going to go over well. Bobby was going to kill him for even daring to look at Elizabeth.
Keeping his relationship with Elizabeth a secret had been a mistake from the start, but it had been what she had wanted. She had insisted that they not tell her father. He was pretty sure that if he had insisted on telling her father about the two of them from the start, then she probably wouldn't have even agreed to give a relationship with him a chance.
He knew that she wasn't the only one to blame though. It had taken two to tango. He'd had plenty of opportunities to talk her into telling her father the truth. He had kept putting it off though, making excuses as to why they couldn't come clean.
They had no choice now though. It was no longer just the two of them. In nine months there would be a child. They had to take into consideration what would be the best for their child, and figuring out a way for Crowley and Bobby to at least tolerate one another was what was best for the child. Elizabeth couldn't imagine bringing a child into the world who would have to know that it's father and grandfather despised each other.
Crowley gave Elizabeth's hand one more gentle squeeze as he pulled his black range rover into Bobby Singer's dirt and rock diveway and put it into park.
Elizabeth took Crowley's hand in hers as the couple made their way up the pebble and dirt walkway to her father's front door. She felt as though her stomach was going to drop right out of her body as she reached forward ringing the doorbell.
The last thing Bobby Singer had ever expected to see when he answered his front door was Crowley McLeod, and he sure as hell hadn't expected to see his daughter standing right beside Crowley.
Bobby dropped his jaw as he stared down at the couples hands taking notice that Elizabeth had a tight grip on Crowley's hand.
Elizabeth let out a shaking sigh as she worked up the nerve to be the first to speak. "Dad, can we come in."
Her father moved aside letting the couple enter the house. Elizabeth cringed when her father shut the door behind him rather roughly. She cringed even more when her father darted across the other side of the room not wiping the glare off his face. He was still staring at Crowley's hand in Elizabeth's.
One could practically cut the tension in the room with a knife as the three stood in silence in the entry way of the house.
Bobby spoke up putting an end to the tense silence in the room his voice raising. "What the hell is going on ?!"
Crowley responded to Bobby unsure of what exactly he could say to explain this entire situation and restore some peace in the room. "I'm in love with your daughter."
He cringed noticing the way Bobby was now looking at him. If looks could kill then Crowley would probably drop dead right now.
Bobby let out a huff as he spoke looking at his daughter. "Is this some sort of joke ?...Elizabeth Ellen Singer have you lost your damn mind ?"
"No it's not a joke...I'm in love with him...we love each other." Elizabeth blurted out as Crowley took his hand from her grasp choosing to wrap an arm around her waist instead.
Crowley quickly realized the act of putting his arm around Elizabeth wasn't the best decision since Bobby stepped forward reaching up and pointing a stern finger at Crowley. "Get away from my daughter you son of a bitch."
Elizabeth spoke up trying her best to defuse the situation before it completely boiled over. "Dad stop it !, Please we didn't plan on this happening. We met at that cocktail party that was thrown for the companies merging and we went out for coffee..."
Bobby spoke up interrupting Elizabeth. "Are you crazy ? Him...out of all the people on the planet you choose this arrogant power-hungry bastard ? He's old enough to be your father."
"We didn't plan any of this Robert. Really we didn't. I promise you that I have nothing but the best of intentions with your daughter. I adore Elizabeth." Crowley stated feeling as though he should be the one to explain all of this.
After all Crowley knew that he had been the one to pursue Elizabeth from the start. He had wanted her so badly that he hadn't cared about how much of a mess this would all turn out to be. If anyone should have to deal with Bobby's wrath then it should be him.
Elizabeth let out a gasp as her father stepped forward moving towards Crowley, his fist raised. Elizabeth moved over in front of Crowley blocking her father's intention to punch her boyfriend square in the jaw. "Dad stop please ! Just stop !"
Bobby glared at Crowley refusing to lower his fist. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't knock this son of a bitch into next week ?"
"Because I won't let you hurt the father of my child." Elizabeth blurted out before she even had time to think about what she was saying.
Bobby dropped his fist giving Elizabeth a look that she couldn't read, a mixture of anger, disbelief.
"What the hell did you just say ?" Bobby asked glaring down at his daughter.
Elizabeth let out a shaky breath as Crowley moved a hand down placing it protectively over her stomach. "I'm pregnant...Crowley and I...we're having a baby."
Bobby moved away as he spoke. "I can't talk to you right now...I just don't understand...how you could lie to me...just get out of my house. I can't deal with you right now."
Elizabeth felt her eyes begin to well up as tears threatened to work their way out of the corners of her eyes. "Dad please."
"Just leave...now, get out. I'll expect you to be gone when I come back downstairs." Her father said moving farther away from Crowley and her.
Elizabeth spoke up pleading with her father as she watched him leave the room. "Dad don't do this...please come back. Let us explain."
She moved forward tempted to follow him upstairs, to talk to him, make him listen. Tempted to somehow talk some sense into him.
Crowley moved beside her placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Just give him some time darling. We just dropped a huge bombshell on him. He just needs some time to cool off and think."
She frowned staring straight ahead, the way her father had looked at her. The anger on his face. She knew he wasn't going to cool down anytime soon.
She stood there for a long while her knees beginning to shake underneath her as she realized that her father wasn't going to come back downstairs.
Crowley and she were all alone in this.
Crowley only made it a few roads away from Bobby Singer's house before he couldn't stand to listen to Elizabeth's sobs any longer.
He pulled over on the side of the road causing the dust cloud that had been trailing behind them to finally catch up with the suv surrounding them for a moment before it completely dissipated.
He put the car into park being sure to put on the hazard lights before he unfastened his seat belt and turned to face Elizabeth.
He stared at her having no idea what to say to make any of this better. It was as though he was silenced by an overwhelming sense guilt.
A little voice in the back of his head kept reminding him that they could have avoided this pain if he'd stepped up in the first place and told her father.
Crowley reached out for her pulling her as close to him as he could with the center console in between them.
Elizabeth sobbed against him her tears practically soaking his black dress shirt. She finally spoke as a sudden realization hit her. "I can't go back to work."
She paused for a moment before she spoke again beginning to panic through her tears. "I'll have to quit. I can't work with my father when he's being like this... And I'm going to have a find a new job. How in the hell am I going to find a new job ? No one is going to want to hire a pregnant woman knowing that she's only going to be able to work for a few months before she has to take of for maternity leave."
"Don't worry about that right now darling. Just focus your attention on the baby. We'll be fine financially." Crowley stated doing his best to soothe her despite the fact that she was now having a teary panic attack.
"I should have a job though. It isn't fair not bringing any money in when we're trying to buy a house...and crap...how are you supposed to be able to work with my father. I don't think you can just stroll into the office Monday morning without having some kind of run in with him." Elizabeth argued the stress of their situation fully setting in.
Crowley rested his head against the top of her head as he let out a huff. She had a point when it came to the subject of him working. He couldn't work civilly with a man who now wanted to kill him. It wasn't fair to any of the employees. And it especially wasn't fair to Elizabeth.
He took a deep breath knowing that he had only one reasonable option. "I can work from home. No matter what house we buy I'll have an office. I have everything I need in my office to work from home. All I need is the internet, my email, a few files that I can pick up from work at any time, and a phone with all my work contacts."
She nodded her head knowing that him working from home would at least take care of his problem, but it still didn't take care of the fact that she was now pretty much unemployed.
Being unemployed was bad enough but being unemployed and pregnant was just a whole other can of worms.
She knew that she could always work for her aunt at the roadhouse, but she was pretty sure that Crowley wasn't going to be willing to let his pregnant girlfriend work around a bunch of rowdy drunks in a cigarette and music filled roadhouse.
"You can't be the only one working though. That wouldn't be fair with us planning on buying a house." She pointed out once again.
Crowley ran his hand up in down her back in an attempt to calm her. "I have enough money to take care of us. With my inheritance and the investments I've made in the past, we have no reason to worry about our income. We'll be fine if you can't find a job."
He paused for a moment before he spoke again trying to get through to her that she had nothing to worry about. "We'll be just fine. Think of this as a chance to work on your art. It'll be like a little break. Just don't stress about it, okay. Stress will do you nor the baby any favors."
Elizabeth let out a huff not exactly thrilled with his answer. She knew that he did have the money to take care of them and the child they would have nine months from now. But the idea of him having to be the sole breadwinner in their relationship made her feel guilty.
She hoped that her father would calm down enough that he would at least accept that this was really happening. If that happened she could go back to work without a problem.
She knew that it wasn't going to happen though. This was reality as Crowley and she knew it for who knows how long.
She felt dread wash over her as she realized that her father could never forgive them. This could be their lives from now on.
The little joke Crowley had made this morning about moving to New York was seeming more and more like a good idea to her at the moment.
She buried her face against his chest as she let out a heavy breath. This was horrible. It wasn't fair her father acting like this.
She knew that Crowley and she were to blame though. They had made this mess themselves with their dishonesty and their secrecy.
She took a deep breath trying her best to calm her nerves. Crowley was right the baby was the most important thing right now. They needed to consider its health above any stresses in their life.
Still Elizabeth knew that things weren't going to calm down anytime soon. Not once everyone found out the truth.
She shook her head slightly knowing that there was no way to go back now. Crowley and she had made their bed and now they had to lie in it.
She just hoped that the bed wouldn't get any messier.