Drugs, sex and a… baby.
Chapter 21
Max Caulfield x Mark Jefferson
AN: The characters (aside my OC) belong to Don't Nod and Square Enix. "" means talking, '' means texting or describing a feeling or attitude, italics means thinking.
Before Max knew it, the Saturday of the appointment had come up. Still feeling unsure about whether she wanted to keep the pregnancy or not, she made her way to the clinic. As the bus got closer, the more nervous Max became.
"It's alright Max. You've got this." Max thought as the bus station came into view.
Once she had gotten off the bus, Max took out the map she had printed the day before and started to walk along the streets. And again, the closer she got to the clinic, the more unsure she felt. At one point she turned around and started to walk back to the bus station, but only a few steps in, she turned around again and continued towards the clinic.
"Come on Max, make up your mind." Max thought again as she was standing outside the clinic. "Just grab the handle and open the door." She thought. Before she could change her mind, the door opened from the inside as two women walked out. Chatting among themselves without as much as looking at Max. Not wanting to stay outside for much longer, Max walked inside before she could change her mind yet again.
"H-hello." Max said as she walked up to the receptionist. "I'm here for an appointment." She continued.
"Name." the receptionist said without looking up from the computer.
"Caulfield, Max Caulfield." Max said.
"Take this form and fill it out." The receptionist said emotionless as she handed Max a clipboard with a paper on it.
Taking the clipboard, Max sat down and started to fill it out. Most of the questions were easy to answer such as her age and name. The trickier questions were why she wanted to have an abortion. Max couldn't answer this question since she was still unsure about it all. And then suddenly, it was as if someone had dragged her up. Max placed the clipboard back on the reception and walked out from the clinic. She just knew that she could not get rid of the baby. But could she do it on her own?
"I'll have to." Max thought as she hurried along the roads back to the bus stop and got on the first available bus back to Arcadia Bay.
Once back in Arcadia Bay, Max made her way up to the old lighthouse. For some reason, she always felt at ease looking out over the ocean. Feeling that she needed to talk to someone, she called her cousin as tears started to run down her cheeks.
"Hey, Max." Ariana said as she saw her cousins name pop up on her phone.
"Ari." Max cried into the phone immediately putting Ariana into high alert.
"Max. Is everything alright." Ariana asked.
"No, it's not." Max cried again. "Are you busy?" she asked as she kept crying.
"I'm on duty and I'm just about to head out on a patrol." Ariana said as her patrol partner walked up to her. "What happened?" Ariana asked urgently.
"I couldn't go through with it." Max cried into the phone. "I don't know what came over me, I just felt that I needed to leave." Max cried again.
"Max, please calm down. I'm coming to get you." Ariana said as she looked at her patrol partner. "And you can stay with me for the weekend." Ariana continued saying into the phone hoping her cousin wouldn't do anything to harm herself. "Where are you right now?" she continued hoping that Max would calm down.
"I'm at the old lighthouse." Max finally said after some crying and silence.
"Stay right where you are Max, and don't do anything stupid." Ariana said as she hung up the phone before turning to her patrol partner again. "Somethings come up with my cousin and she really need me. Her parents live in Seattle and I'm the closes relative she has." Ariana said. "I will check with the boss if there is someone else who can come with you?" she said as she left her partner to go knock on the door to her boss.
"I could always go alone." Her partner said making Ariana turn back to him.
"I know that you are a fresh recruit to this unit, and I know that you can handle yourself well. But there is a reason why we always do patrols in pairs." Ariana said. "And before you say anything else, no, you are not going alone. And that's final." Ariana said as she turned and knocked on her boss' office door.
After sorting out for someone to replace Ariana at such a short notice, she decided to call someone before she drove off to Arcadia Bay. "She's at the old lighthouse." Ariana said as the other person picked up. "Thank you." Ariana heard before she ended the call. "Forgive me Max, but he deserved to know." Ariana thought as she hurried into her own car.
As soon as Mr. Jefferson got off the phone with Ariana he got into his own car and drove over to the old lighthouse. Getting out he slowly started to walk the old path leading up to the overlook hoping to see that Max was still there. As he approached, he could see Max sitting on the bench. From where he was standing, it looked as if Max had lived her whole life and more. Like she was much older than she was. As Mr. Jefferson took a step forward he accidentally stepped on a twig, making it snap. In that moment, Max got up and spun around and came face to face with Mr. Jefferson. Fearing that Max might start running away, or worse, jump off the cliff, Mr. Jefferson rushed up to her and embraced her. Unable to hold back the tears, Max once again started to cry as Mr. Jefferson was holding her in his embrace. Lifting Max up bridal style he sat them both down on the bench overlooking the ocean.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Max kept saying as she sat on his lap in his embrace.
"Shh, Max. It's alright." Mr. Jefferson said as he rocked Max gently in his lap. "We'll get through this together. I'll be there with you along the way." He continued as Max kept silently crying onto his shoulder. "I will not leave you, not now, not ever." He said gently lifting her head with is fingers under her chin and giving Max a kiss on her forehead before slowly closing the distance between their mouths, giving Max enough time to back away. Mr. Jefferson made sure to keep the kiss gentle and when they broke apart Max put her head on his shoulder once more.
He didn't know how long they were sitting on the bench. Max had stopped crying and was now peacefully resting. It wasn't until he heard the low rumble of thunder in the distance that he got up. Still carrying Max, Mr. Jefferson walked back down the old path to his car. He put Max into the passenger seat and buckled her up. Just as he got in himself the first few raindrops stared to fall. Not wanting to wake her up, Mr. Jefferson started the car and slowly left the small parking lot. He decided that the best action would be to take her to his home. As he arrived the rain had only gotten worse and there was the occasional flash of lightning across the sky. He didn't want to disturb Max, but he knew they couldn't stay in his car all evening. He decided to gently shake Max awake.
"Max, you need to wake up." Mr. Jefferson said. When he couldn't get Max to wake up, he decided to just carry her inside. The rain had only gotten worse and even though it was a very short distance from the car to the door he managed to get soaked. Grabbing an umbrella Mr. Jefferson went back out to collect Max from the car. He noticed that she was in a semi-awake state and thus managed to lead her back without having to carry her. As Mr. Jefferson got inside Max was still in a semi-slumber and was trying to stay in a standing position but ended up sitting on the floor. After having taken his own shoes off he helped Max get hers off as well.
"Where are we?" Max mumbled as Mr. Jefferson carried her into his living room and placing her on his sofa.
"At my place. Go back to sleep Max and I'll wake you up later." Mr. Jefferson said as he draped a blanket on top of Max.
As Mr. Jefferson sat down in the chair in his office he pulled his phone out and called Ariana to let her know where they now were. About 40 minutes later there was a knock on the door and when Mr. Jefferson opened it he saw that Ariana had arrived, still clad in her uniform.
"Yes sir, I understand." Ariana said as she hung up on her phone. "Sorry for the way I'm dressed. I was just about to go out on a patrol when Max called me. And my boss just called me in to work the rest of the weekend." Ariana sighed as she walked into Mr. Jeffersons home. "Luckily, I had a colleague who could cover for me for today. How is she?" Ariana continued as she walked into his living room, after taking her shoes off, where she found Max sound asleep on the sofa. "I had planned on taking her with me back to Portland to spend the weekend with her, but since I've now been called in I can't." Ariana said as she gently stroked Max on the forehead. "Would you mind letting her stay at your place over the weekend?" Ariana asked as she turned to Mr. Jefferson. "You don't have to, but I would feel better if she had someone with her. And it would keep her out and away from the dorms." She continued.
"She can stay for now." Mr. Jefferson said. "But she does need to be back in her own dorm room by tomorrow evening." He continued. "We don't want any unwanted attention to come our way. Not when we are getting closer to graduation." He said as he too sat down on the sofa.
Looking at her cousin again, Ariana hoped that Max would come out of this with her sanity intact. Gently lifting the blanket, Ariana peeked at her abdomen before putting the blanket back.
"At least she's not showing yet, but I fear it will just be a matter of time before the bump gets visible. Considering her small figure." Ariana said looking in Mr. Jeffersons direction.
Once Ariana left to go back to Portland, Mr. Jefferson took out his phone to call someone. As he was holding the phone in his hand, he hesitated at first but then pressed the call button.
"Hello." Was heard when the person he had called answered.
"Hi Ray." Mr. Jefferson said. "Apologies for calling you on a day off, but there is something I need to talk to you about." Mr. Jefferson continued.
"Mark." Mr. Wells, the principal said. "You don't sound too good. Is everything alright?" he continued.
"Yes and no." Mr. Jefferson said. "Remember what happened between me and miss Caulfield." He continued.
"Yes I do, but you have nothing to worry about regarding that incident. As it turned out that you both got drugged." The principal said.
"Well, there has been a kind of development." Mr. Jefferson said hesitantly.
"What kind of development?" The principal asked.
"Max, miss Caulfield is…" Mr. Jefferson tried to say.
"Go on Mark." The principal said as he could hear Mr. Jefferson struggle to form what he wanted to say.
"She's kind of in a predicament. And I'm to be blamed for it." Mr. Jefferson said.
"What kind of predicament are we talking about?" The principal asked.
"The kind that could make the board force me to resign." Mr. Jefferson said.
"You need to be more specific than that Mark." The principal said.
"She's pregnant Ray." Mr. Jefferson said with a heavy sigh. "I'll tender my resignation by the end of the week." He continued as he could hear the principal sigh heavily as well.
"Mark." The principal said. "Don't do this, I like you as a teacher and we have had a raise in applications to our school ever since you started teaching here. I know that I shouldn't be saying this but, don't quit. I'll try and help you guys to keep it a secret, but you must promise me that the both of you act accordingly to each other." He continued. "We are getting closer to graduation and once miss Caulfield isn't a student anymore, I won't care what the two of you do, but please, try and keep whatever is between you two to a minimum." He finished.
"Thank you, but I can assure you that there is nothing going on between the two of us." Mr. Jefferson said.
"You say that now." The principal said with a dry laugh. "I've got things to do Mark. I'll see you as usual at school. And if I get your resignation, I'll tear it up and burn it, for I will not accept it and that's final." He said before hanging up.
Walking back to the living room, Mr. Jefferson saw that his cat, who is usually shy around others had laid down on top of Max and seemed to be very content in her company.