Post by rsafan on Oct 6, 2006 6:53:05 GMT -5
Chapter 6
As soon as Shawn closed the door behind him, Mimi turned to Victoria, “Sorry about that, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, I understand that you probably have plans of your own. I just didn’t want Shawn worrying, since he found out about the baby, I haven’t had a moment’s peace.”
“Even though he leaves you at home alone whole day?”
“Even then, he calls to check up on me regularly. The doctor said to take things easy, but she didn’t say I had to stop living altogether. I swear if he could, he’d lock me in here when he left every morning.”
“Maybe you should try telling him how you feel. Or better yet, get your mother, or his mother to tell him.”
“I would, but we haven’t told them yet. In fact, we haven’t told anyone about the baby, besides the two of us, our doctor’s and you, no one knows.”
“Why not? This is the kind of news you’d want to share with everybody, even virtual strangers on the street.”
“If this were a perfect world, maybe that would be the case but as things stand, we don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up only to have them dashed again.”
“What do you mean?”
“The doctors have classified this pregnancy as ‘very high risk’. The fact that we’ve both made it into the second trimester without much incident, is a miracle in itself. I shouldn’t even be pregnant, and my doctor tells me that the chances of carrying this baby to term are very slim.”
“Oh, I didn’t realise. How do you handle knowing that?”
“Shawn handles it by coddling me, I handle it by just taking each day as it comes. The longer this pregnancy lasts, the greater chance our child has. But enough about me and my depressing situation, tell me about this beau of yours.”
“Not much to tell really and I’d hardly call him my beau.”
“Next time try saying that without blushing. Maybe I’d be more inclined to believe you then.”
“It’s new, that’s all. I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it.”
“Then we’ll have to find something else to talk about.” Thinking for a while, then Mimi came up with the perfect topic, “England. Tell me what it was like living in England.”
Hope, taking advantage of her son’s obvious confusion, walked over to Shawn and enveloped him in a hug. “Evening honey.”
Shawn looked at his mother, she was smiling. Something she hadn’t done since Zach’s death, “What are you… never mind, it doesn’t matter.” Turning to his father, “So why did you call?”
It was Hope who answered, “Actually, I was the one who called. Well, I asked your father to call.” She turned her gaze to Bo’s. The looks passing between his parents was anything but hostile.
“We wanted to tell you tonight.”
Shawn looked at his dad, “Tell me what?” but it was pretty obvious.
“After much talking…”
“And apologising…”
“Reflecting…”
“And begging, lots of begging…”
“We’ve decided…”
“We’re not going to go through with the divorce. We’ve been through so much and I, we, don’t want Zach’s memory tainted with such an ugly thing. Zach wouldn’t have wanted our family torn apart.”
“You’ve forgiven him.” He accused his mother.
She smiled at him, “Like your dad said, a lot of begging was involved.”
Shawn didn’t find it very amusing, in fact he was angry at her too, “He violated your trust, he made his choice and it certainly wasn’t us he chose. After everything, you’re just going to take him back?”
Hope was reaching the end of her tether. She could understand that Shawn was angry at his father, but this was really between herself and Bo. It was after all their marriage and their decisions, “We’ve discussed this Shawn, very seriously. Your father understands how he hurt me…us, and he regrets it. Things aren’t all right between us, but it’s certainly getting there, I just want you to understand that.”
“Okay then, whatever. Congratulations I guess.” and he walked out of the room, out of the station.
“He didn’t seem too happy did he?”
Hope shook her head, agreeing with Bo, “No, he seemed distracted. I thought he’d at least lay into you. Something else must be bugging him.” She couldn’t think what it could be, but she was determined to find out.
Chapter 7
“Hello!”
Victoria looked up from the stack of papers she was sorting on her boss’s floor, Mimi was standing in the doorway. “Mimi.”
“I’ve been let out of my prison, finally. I just got back from the doctor’s, my blood pressure’s a bit wonky, but everything else checks out. Shawn dropped me off, I came here to celebrate, you free for lunch?”
“Am I ever, I’ve been trying to get these stupid things in some sort of an order, but half of them don’t have dates and…” she sulked, “I thought being an intern would be more fun than this.”
Mimi laughed, “Well, what did you expect? You’re the new kid on the block, that means you do all the menial tasks. Just be glad I’m freeing you from a fate worse than death.” She shuddered, “There is nothing I hate more than filing.”
Victoria stacked the piles neatly together, ready for her to complete when she returned from lunch. Mimi marvelled at her neatness, she did everything so precisely, it was sometimes scary. “So, where do you want to go?”
“There’s this new place that opened last week at Salem Place. Shawn brought me a sandwich from there last week, it was to die for.”
Victoria nodded, “I know the place, Max took me there a few days ago.”
There was a knock on the open door and they both turned to see a delivery guy in the doorway. “Excuse me, I’m looking for a…” the messenger glanced at the package he held, “Miss Victoria Campbell?”
“That would be me.” Signing for the package, she checked out the return address. Her Chicago apartment, must be the things Rex had said he’d send her. Taking it with her, she left the office with Mimi. She’d have plenty of time to look at the papers once she got home.
She placed her coffee on the table, “So now that everything’s checked out, and you’re well into your second trimester, are you going to tell your family? I really can’t believe they haven’t figured it out yet, I mean you’re not exactly maintaining your weight.”
Mimi eyed the coffee wistfully, and glanced at her glass of fruit juice. “Oh thanks a lot, that’s just what I want to hear, that I’m getting fat.”
Victoria moved her coffee mug out of Mimi’s reach, “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’re starting to show, it’s barely noticeable, but take it from someone who’s always known, there’s a difference.”
“Shawn and I have spoken, and we’re telling our families tonight. He’s been dealing with his parents getting back together and as you know, things at the garage are hectic.”
“Tell me about it. The only time I get to see Max, is if I go down to the Garage and drag him away. Speak of the devil…” she picked up her ringing mobile. Mimi’s had rung at virtually the same time. Their conversations were brief, it had simply been Shawn and Max calling to say they would be working late. As they had been doing the whole week.
“Well, I guess we won’t be seeing them tonight. And I guess our announcement will have to wait another day. You want to get together and do something?”
“Sure, your place or mine?”
“Yours, definitely. Shawn can pick me up there, I’m not having you drive home alone.”
She went upstairs and got dressed, she loved her apartment, she specially loved the loft bedroom, although sometimes, she wished it was a lot more private. Standing at the railing, she looked over her apartment. Her dad had found it for her two weeks earlier through a friend and she’d loved it. It was spacious and she especially loved the lack of walls. The living room, the dining room and the study where all one big living space. Her kitchen was more closed off, but one was still able to entertain guests there.
Remembering the folder she’d received earlier in the day, she went to collect it. She wondered what Rex had found out, he’d seemed petty excited on the phone, but they hadn’t been able to talk much. He’d simply stated that she’d be glad of the information. She opened the door to Mimi, still reading the documents. Only barely greeting her, she couldn’t believe what she was reading. “Oh my God!”
Mimi, who had proceeded straight to the kitchen and had helped herself to a glass of water and some chips, called from the kitchen, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, it’s just…” She walked into the kitchen and threw the pages onto the table, the pages slid across the smooth surface and came to rest at the other end. “…those things. I can’t believe what they say.”
Mimi picked up the pages and scanned them, “What are these?”
“It’s a long story.”
“And obviously one you’re very sensitive about. Isn’t it just your luck we’ve got all night?” She sat down, passing the papers back to Victoria, “Start talking and don’t leave anything out.”
Victoria sat down and did just that.
As soon as Shawn closed the door behind him, Mimi turned to Victoria, “Sorry about that, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, I understand that you probably have plans of your own. I just didn’t want Shawn worrying, since he found out about the baby, I haven’t had a moment’s peace.”
“Even though he leaves you at home alone whole day?”
“Even then, he calls to check up on me regularly. The doctor said to take things easy, but she didn’t say I had to stop living altogether. I swear if he could, he’d lock me in here when he left every morning.”
“Maybe you should try telling him how you feel. Or better yet, get your mother, or his mother to tell him.”
“I would, but we haven’t told them yet. In fact, we haven’t told anyone about the baby, besides the two of us, our doctor’s and you, no one knows.”
“Why not? This is the kind of news you’d want to share with everybody, even virtual strangers on the street.”
“If this were a perfect world, maybe that would be the case but as things stand, we don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up only to have them dashed again.”
“What do you mean?”
“The doctors have classified this pregnancy as ‘very high risk’. The fact that we’ve both made it into the second trimester without much incident, is a miracle in itself. I shouldn’t even be pregnant, and my doctor tells me that the chances of carrying this baby to term are very slim.”
“Oh, I didn’t realise. How do you handle knowing that?”
“Shawn handles it by coddling me, I handle it by just taking each day as it comes. The longer this pregnancy lasts, the greater chance our child has. But enough about me and my depressing situation, tell me about this beau of yours.”
“Not much to tell really and I’d hardly call him my beau.”
“Next time try saying that without blushing. Maybe I’d be more inclined to believe you then.”
“It’s new, that’s all. I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it.”
“Then we’ll have to find something else to talk about.” Thinking for a while, then Mimi came up with the perfect topic, “England. Tell me what it was like living in England.”
*****
Shawn walked into the police station and spotted his dad immediately. Bo was talking to someone, but Shawn wasn’t in the mood to be polite, “Okay dad, I’m here what did you…mom?” Shawn couldn’t hide the shock at discovering his parents together, having a civilised conversation. Hope, taking advantage of her son’s obvious confusion, walked over to Shawn and enveloped him in a hug. “Evening honey.”
Shawn looked at his mother, she was smiling. Something she hadn’t done since Zach’s death, “What are you… never mind, it doesn’t matter.” Turning to his father, “So why did you call?”
It was Hope who answered, “Actually, I was the one who called. Well, I asked your father to call.” She turned her gaze to Bo’s. The looks passing between his parents was anything but hostile.
“We wanted to tell you tonight.”
Shawn looked at his dad, “Tell me what?” but it was pretty obvious.
“After much talking…”
“And apologising…”
“Reflecting…”
“And begging, lots of begging…”
“We’ve decided…”
“We’re not going to go through with the divorce. We’ve been through so much and I, we, don’t want Zach’s memory tainted with such an ugly thing. Zach wouldn’t have wanted our family torn apart.”
“You’ve forgiven him.” He accused his mother.
She smiled at him, “Like your dad said, a lot of begging was involved.”
Shawn didn’t find it very amusing, in fact he was angry at her too, “He violated your trust, he made his choice and it certainly wasn’t us he chose. After everything, you’re just going to take him back?”
Hope was reaching the end of her tether. She could understand that Shawn was angry at his father, but this was really between herself and Bo. It was after all their marriage and their decisions, “We’ve discussed this Shawn, very seriously. Your father understands how he hurt me…us, and he regrets it. Things aren’t all right between us, but it’s certainly getting there, I just want you to understand that.”
“Okay then, whatever. Congratulations I guess.” and he walked out of the room, out of the station.
“He didn’t seem too happy did he?”
Hope shook her head, agreeing with Bo, “No, he seemed distracted. I thought he’d at least lay into you. Something else must be bugging him.” She couldn’t think what it could be, but she was determined to find out.
Chapter 7
“Hello!”
Victoria looked up from the stack of papers she was sorting on her boss’s floor, Mimi was standing in the doorway. “Mimi.”
“I’ve been let out of my prison, finally. I just got back from the doctor’s, my blood pressure’s a bit wonky, but everything else checks out. Shawn dropped me off, I came here to celebrate, you free for lunch?”
“Am I ever, I’ve been trying to get these stupid things in some sort of an order, but half of them don’t have dates and…” she sulked, “I thought being an intern would be more fun than this.”
Mimi laughed, “Well, what did you expect? You’re the new kid on the block, that means you do all the menial tasks. Just be glad I’m freeing you from a fate worse than death.” She shuddered, “There is nothing I hate more than filing.”
Victoria stacked the piles neatly together, ready for her to complete when she returned from lunch. Mimi marvelled at her neatness, she did everything so precisely, it was sometimes scary. “So, where do you want to go?”
“There’s this new place that opened last week at Salem Place. Shawn brought me a sandwich from there last week, it was to die for.”
Victoria nodded, “I know the place, Max took me there a few days ago.”
There was a knock on the open door and they both turned to see a delivery guy in the doorway. “Excuse me, I’m looking for a…” the messenger glanced at the package he held, “Miss Victoria Campbell?”
“That would be me.” Signing for the package, she checked out the return address. Her Chicago apartment, must be the things Rex had said he’d send her. Taking it with her, she left the office with Mimi. She’d have plenty of time to look at the papers once she got home.
*****
They were sitting at the new café, enjoying their lunches. Victoria was catching Mimi up on all the gossip she may have not heard from her mother. Two months in Salem, she couldn’t quite believe it. Time certainly flew when you were having fun, she no longer cursed Rex for persuading her to move to this town instead, she had vowed to by him a new telescope or some other scientific gadget he had wanted for a long time. She had work, and friends, mainly from work, she had her own apartment and best of all, she had Max. Max Brady was most responsible for her being so happy.She placed her coffee on the table, “So now that everything’s checked out, and you’re well into your second trimester, are you going to tell your family? I really can’t believe they haven’t figured it out yet, I mean you’re not exactly maintaining your weight.”
Mimi eyed the coffee wistfully, and glanced at her glass of fruit juice. “Oh thanks a lot, that’s just what I want to hear, that I’m getting fat.”
Victoria moved her coffee mug out of Mimi’s reach, “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’re starting to show, it’s barely noticeable, but take it from someone who’s always known, there’s a difference.”
“Shawn and I have spoken, and we’re telling our families tonight. He’s been dealing with his parents getting back together and as you know, things at the garage are hectic.”
“Tell me about it. The only time I get to see Max, is if I go down to the Garage and drag him away. Speak of the devil…” she picked up her ringing mobile. Mimi’s had rung at virtually the same time. Their conversations were brief, it had simply been Shawn and Max calling to say they would be working late. As they had been doing the whole week.
“Well, I guess we won’t be seeing them tonight. And I guess our announcement will have to wait another day. You want to get together and do something?”
“Sure, your place or mine?”
“Yours, definitely. Shawn can pick me up there, I’m not having you drive home alone.”
*****
Victoria got home later than she expected, Mimi would be arriving soon. She found it strange that Mimi spent more time with her, than she did with her own best friend, who lived right across the hallway. Something was obviously up with those two, all she had heard about Belle Kiriakis, was that they’d been friends since kindergarten, they certainly didn’t seem that close. She went upstairs and got dressed, she loved her apartment, she specially loved the loft bedroom, although sometimes, she wished it was a lot more private. Standing at the railing, she looked over her apartment. Her dad had found it for her two weeks earlier through a friend and she’d loved it. It was spacious and she especially loved the lack of walls. The living room, the dining room and the study where all one big living space. Her kitchen was more closed off, but one was still able to entertain guests there.
Remembering the folder she’d received earlier in the day, she went to collect it. She wondered what Rex had found out, he’d seemed petty excited on the phone, but they hadn’t been able to talk much. He’d simply stated that she’d be glad of the information. She opened the door to Mimi, still reading the documents. Only barely greeting her, she couldn’t believe what she was reading. “Oh my God!”
Mimi, who had proceeded straight to the kitchen and had helped herself to a glass of water and some chips, called from the kitchen, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, it’s just…” She walked into the kitchen and threw the pages onto the table, the pages slid across the smooth surface and came to rest at the other end. “…those things. I can’t believe what they say.”
Mimi picked up the pages and scanned them, “What are these?”
“It’s a long story.”
“And obviously one you’re very sensitive about. Isn’t it just your luck we’ve got all night?” She sat down, passing the papers back to Victoria, “Start talking and don’t leave anything out.”
Victoria sat down and did just that.
