this one was hard to write, I'm not going to lie. I knew where I was going, but getting there was difficult.
a shorter chapter for you all, I hope you still like it.
the next one should not take me as long to write
Emily had made one mistake when she came back to the Hamptons, and it was a crucial one. She hadn't kept up with Jack. Maybe it was by the fear of what he'd think once he would learn about her condition and once he'd also learn who had been responsible for it. But she had to admit that part of her also wanted to forget about Jack. Before Aiden had come to help her, Jack had been who she imagined spending her life with after she was done with the Graysons, and once Aiden came around, she realized she needed more than what Jack could offer her. She needed someone who had the same fire inside of them that burned inside of her, someone she could relate to, and it was no longer Jack. He represented her past, and Aiden her future. And now that was no longer true. Aiden was gone and Jack could not replace him. By avoiding him and any news related to him, Emily had been able to keep those thoughts away. And now, she'd hurt him.
She told herself that she should've told him when she found out. He should've been one of the first to know, before Daniel at least. But he'd already left the Hamptons for the police academy by the time she had found out she was pregnant last November. He'd left town and she had done so too. Jack didn't call her, he didn't bother to keep up with how she was doing after losing Aiden and so she hadn't bothered to tell him or keep him up to date on her life. It had now come back to bite them both. Jack was hurt, and Emily felt bad. She couldn't help but feel it should be the other way around. She was the one who had lost a loved one and he was the one who'd ignored her all winter. Despite this, she knew that if they were to remain friends, she would have to be the one who would have to apologize.
Jack's bar was empty when she arrived. He'd closed it off last winter and hadn't seemed keen to reopen it with the summer coming. He was alone packing up stuff in boxes. Emily shouldn't be surprised that he finally decided to sell after all this bar had seen, it probably reminded him of so many now painful memories with his father, Amanda and Declan.
"I see you're planning on leaving," Emily said as she entered the bar.
"Selling, actually," Jack responded. He didn't even look at her.
"That's a big step Jack, are you sure?" Emily asked.
"There's nothing keeping me here," he said. "The money will go a long way for Carl and me."
Emily sat on a chair not far from Jack. She observed him packing what had been his life in boxes. She sat like that for a few minutes, looking at him and wondering when would be the right time to speak, what would be the right thing to say. Finally, Emily took a deep breath and broke the silence.
"I should've told you," Emily began. "I just didn't know how to. I had lost Aiden, and for a moment I thought I'd still have something of him, I just needed that for myself. But then I realized it couldn't be his and I was too ashamed to tell anyone. And I…"
"You told Nolan," Jack interrupted her. "And you had options," his tone was cold.
Emily was surprised by how harsh Jack was. She'd known him mad, but she'd never heard him talk to her quite like that. Like he was disgusted b the very thought of her. "I didn't. I don't. According to my doctor, there were very few chances that I could conceive after the shooting and even less that I could carry it. This is my only chance to have a family," Emily said almost pleadingly. She needed him to see her side, she needed him to come to terms with it.
"You could've tried again with someone other than him," Jack said, for the first time he looked at her. "He's the one who did this to you and you're having his child."
He seemed disgusted by the very idea and disgusted by her for letting it happen.
"You don't think I hoped every day that there was a chance she was Aiden's?" Emily asked, she could feel tears coming. "Every day from when I found out to my first appointment, I begged the universe to let it be his, but she's not. I'm carrying Daniel's baby and it's my only shot at having my own child. If that's what it takes then it is what it is. There is no trying again, it won't happen again."
Jack still wouldn't turn to face her. Emily felt him cold, just as he had been the previous summer after he'd learned her real identity. The summer he gave her an ultimatum to get out of his life and finish her revenge. And now he still felt the same. Once more, he'd centred himself in the situation. It always had to be about him and his feelings.
Emily got up, ready to leave. But then she thought about every time she took the blame and let him blame her so he'd feel better. And Jack had judged her for it at every turn.
"You know what," Emily asked him. She was over him, over his shitty attitude. "You don't get to judge me. Not about this. Actually, not about anything.
That got Jack to turn and face her. He looked at her for the first time since she'd walked into his bar.
"You judged me for everything and I let you. I let you blame me for everything that happened the last few years, maybe for some, it was fair, but not for all of it." Emily took a deep breath. "I'm not to blame for Amanda's death nor Declan's. I didn't tell you who I was because I never wanted you involved. You involved yourself in it every time. I took the blame for all of it because I felt responsible, but I never was. I wasn't the one who wanted to kill Conrad, you were. You gave me an ultimatum last year which almost got me killed."
Emilly let it sink in. She knew it hit Jack right where it needed to.
"This isn't about you, you don't get to be mad about this," with that, Emily left Jack alone to back his life away in boxes.
Emily arrived at the manor. Nolan was at the kitchen island, working on his computer as usual. He had probably been there since she left hours earlier. He lifted his eyes from the screen when she came in, giving his friend an empathic smile.
"Jack knows about the baby," Emily told him.
Nolan shut his computer. He knew Emily coming clean to Jack had been hard. There's a reason he had been the only one aware of her pregnancy for so long. "How?" he asked his friend.
"He came by while I was discussing with Daniel," Emily sat down next to her friend. "Let's just say Daniel was not exactly not thrilled to be the one to break the news to Jack."
"And?" Nolan pushed. "How did Jack take it?"
"He, hum, he didn't take it well," Emily answered. She passed her hand through her hair. "And neither did I.
"Can you really blame him?" Nolan tried to reason.
She knew she couldn't blame Jack for being hurt by her pregnancy, that was normal. She'd been hurt just the same by Amanda's two years ago. What she could blame him for was his reaction, his insistence that she could've easily gotten rid of her child and tried again as if it was just some cheap toy she'd be able to get from anywhere, or in this case anyone. Even after she'd explained herself, he'd given her the cold shoulder and worst.
"I can't blame him for not taking it well," she said. "But I can blame him for suggesting I should've terminated and tried again with someone else. As if it was that easy with my condition."
"I'm sorry, Em," Nolan said.
"Don't be," she responded. "It might I've been the trigger for me to finally be honest with myself about him. I've been so taken by the boy I used to know, I let him get away with too much. I said things I can't take back, but they should've been said long ago."
"Is he next on the revenge list?" Nolan joked.
"No," Emily laughed it off. "But I don't think we'll be on speaking terms for a while," she continued more seriously.
It took three days for Daniel to retaliate on the baby front. She knew the cause of it was her stunt from last August to get him down the aisle, now he didn't trust her word which she could not exactly blame him for. Still, she wished he'd done it more privately, but their feud had been everything but discrete since the divorce.
Emily had been at the club, enjoying herself at the spa when a strange man appeared in front of her. He blocked her view of the pool until she acknowledged him.
"Can I help you?" She'd asked.
"Emily Thorne?" was all that he said.
"Yes."
He handed her a large brown envelope. "You've been served."
As the man exited the building, Emily opened the envelope and started reading. It was a paternity suit. Daniel was suing her to establish his paternity over the child that was growing in her belly. She had seen this coming from miles away from the moment she'd shown up in the Hamptons and chosen to make Daniel aware.
"I thought a club like this was supposed to keep them out," a voice in front of her said.
Emily looked up to find her ex-husband. She rolled her eyes as he kept talking.
"Well, I guess they'll let any guest in with a member," he raised his voice as he continued "What a shame though, not knowing who fathered your baby and having to be sued to get your answer."
"I don't need a test to know you're the father, Daniel," Emily said, her voice as loud as his had been. "You're the one who's insecure about it and maybe I would be too if I assumed everyone was sleeping around as much as you are. How many other women did you sleep with while you were with Margot? Other than your clients of course."
If he wanted to make a scene, she'd give him one, but she wasn't about to be the focus of the conversation. They could fight, they had fought many times and every time she had the upper hand. She'd spent a decade preparing to take down the vilest of the Hamptons, it wasn't their spoiled brat of a son that was going to humiliate her.
"If wedding vows weren't able to make an honest man out of you, I doubt Margot could." She said as she packed her thing and left.
He shouldn't have done this, she thought to herself. Now she had to retaliate.
April 20th
Emily had had a long week. The confrontation with Jack, then with Daniel. Sometimes she wondered if the satisfaction that came from torturing Daniel with her pregnancy was worth all the trouble it was causing. He had petitioned for a paternity test to be done as soon as she had given birth and it had been granted. Not that her daughter could be anyone else's, but she hated the fact that he could get
Emily had been reading in the sitting room when she heard her front door swing open. The footsteps were heavy and fast. She knew it couldn't be one of her friends with that pace. As she put her book on the table next to her chair, Daniel entered the room with an envelope in his hands. Emily could only assume he had just been served and he was less than happy about it.
"You're suing for full custody," Daniel let out, almost screaming. "She's not even born yet and you've decided to keep her away from me?" Daniel threw the envelope on the coffee table.
Emily uncrossed her legs and got up from her chair. "You thought I wasn't going to retaliate? After your pathetic little stunt for the paternity suit? I thought you knew me better than that after all this time"
"This isn't a game Emily. This isn't our marriage or the past three years," Daniel's arms were on his pelvis and he was passing back and forth in the small space in front of the coffee table. Emily could tell he was furious. "This is our child, and you're not pushing me to the side."
"I'm not playing a game, Daniel," She said. "I'm looking out for what's best for my daughter and that is staying away from you. You're not exactly stable with your drinking and all."
"I'm the one who's not stable?" Daniel asked outraged. "Who the fuck do you think brought me to drink like this? If anything you're the unstable one. You're the one out to ruin lives."
"I was gone for seven months, what made you drink then?" Emily asked. "I'm doing what's best for my daughter and that's staying away from you."
"Our daughter," Daniel corrected. "She's our daughter…" Daniel continued his rant.
Emily didn't feel it at first. It was warm on her skin, running down her thigh. At first, she thought she had peed on herself, but then the pain came. Pain she had never known. Even worse than the Braxton Hicks contractions she had been having for the past month. She knew this wasn't normal.
"Daniel," Emily said, trying to be calm. She knew her voice cracked when she called his name.
Daniel continued his rant. "No, let me finish. You came back and told me about her, now you expect me to stay out of your lives? If that's what you wanted all along, then you shouldn't have told me about it."
Emily felt the floor sink beneath her, her legs couldn't hold her anymore. She felt the blood going down her legs, she knew this wasn't good. Her doctors had warned her this could happen if she chose to go through with the pregnancy. She knew the risks and she had accepted them then. But now, faced with the reality of them coming true and faced with her own mortality, she wasn't sure.
"Daniel," Emily cried out. This time she hadn't controlled her voice. She'd let the fear show in her tone. Emily was scared, she was afraid for her daughter, and she was afraid for herself.
Daniel turned and looked at Emily. When he saw her fall, he plunged to her side. He took her in his arms, holding her tight while he looked at where the blood came from. There was so much blood, too much blood. "Em," Daniel's voice trembled when he said the endearing nickname.
"Daniel," Emily called his name again. She looked terrified. He'd never seen her like that. Well, maybe once last year when she couldn't remember who she was. But this felt worse. "Save her," Emily told him. "You choose her," she affirmed as she looked into his eyes.
"You're going to be okay. Both of you," he tried reassuring her. He didn't know if they would, he couldn't know.
Emily could feel consciousness escaping her. "Don't let her die," she let out, her voice trembling with every word. Tears filled her eyes.
She looked so scared, Daniel thought.
"I won't. Em, I promise you I won't," Daniel said, pressing her body against his. He couldn't help but think about the night she almost had. Did she also call his name? Did she cry out that she wanted to live? Rapidly, Emily lost consciousness. "Emily? Em? Stay awake."
Daniel dialled 9-1-1. He hoped they'd get there in time. He had to save her. He had to save their baby.
The blood kept coming and Emily's skin kept on losing colour. Now Daniel was wondering if this would be the last time he would hold her in his arms.
"Come on, Em," he called out.
so... what do you think?
a little bit of a cliffhanger here...
