Marry me? (BWWM ROMANCE)

Halloween

'This can't be happening' Brendan kept chanting over and over again as he bent down to hold Opal. He saw what once was a tiny red dot grow on Opals lower abdomen. Everything was happening so fast, Brendan could hardly recall what happened after Opal hit the ground. In fact the moment his consciousness came back to him was when he was sitting in the Emergency waiting room. "Brendan we need to talk" Jalen took a seat next to Brendan. It was a little after 10 pm but Brendan had appeared to be awake for weeks rather than hours. "What?" Brendan didn't bother to look up. "Okay, so the Doctor wants to speak to you. I told him to hold off for a moment so that I could be sure you were okay. Can't have you bussin up Docs like you did that Cop." Brendan flinched at memory of beating the fuck out of some rookie cop. While he didn't regret the action it didn't help his shot wife.

"Mr.-"  The timid rookie approached Brendan in the ER waiting room. "Don't" Brendan was in no mood for whatever this boy had to say. He didn't want some fake apology, sympathy, or pity.  He was hanging on by a thread and the only ounce of sanity he can spare is given to his kids. "I just want to say that what happened was a tragedy. I know that no words can fix it." The rookie continued anyway. 

'Are you fucking kidding me!!' Not only did this sorry excuse for a cop racial profile and shoot my wife, then he had the nerve to come up when I gave off all don't fuck with me vibes. To top it all off he didn't even say sorry.' Brendan ran through all this bullshit and took a deep breath. He did his best to ignore this man and focus on twins in the cars seats in front of him. "Shame this all could have been avoided if she just stayed still" The last words the rookie said before Brendan socked the shit out of him. One hit wasn't enough the rookies entire face was bloodied before Jalen could pull him off.  The only reason Brendan got to stay at the Hospital and not in a Cell was because of Jalen's quick thinking to call his lawyer and the massive amount of influence wealth holds in society.

"Yeah thanks for what you did" Brendan snapped out of the memory. "No problem, you ready to see the doctor I can watch the kids." Jalen patted Brendan on the back as wished him luck. Brendan hated hospitals he lost too many friends in places like these when he was a junkie. He knew this moment wasn't about him, Opal needed him to be strong.  So with heavy feet and a heavy heart he walked to the young Black male doctor. "Mr. Manfred" The Doctor looked worried, Brendan nodded too nervous to speak. "Okay so Opal is doing fine the bullet went straight through her chest , she is very lucky no organs were damaged. I believe that she should recover fully, with time and tons of rest." The doctor explained. Finally Brendan took a breath he didn't know he needed. He clutched his chest as tears began to fall, "Can I see her?" he asked shakily. "She isn't awake yet, but you can see her if you want" Brendan was escorted to Opals room, and broke down when he saw the heavy gauze on her chest. 

He wanted to scream,  he wanted to rip that rookie apart, but more than anything he wanted to hear Opal say she was okay, He wanted to hear her voice and see her smile. "Hey O" He approached her slowly, while tears steadily rolled down his cheeks. "The kids are fine, Zoe is great and Adam is a little shaken he misses his mom." Brendan held Opals hand and while he spoke about the kids. " I miss you. Opal I have never been this scared in my life. I have been trying to be the strong Dad, the reliable husband, or just be the upstanding citizen, but I cant. I want to fucking kill that cop, I feel useless without you, lucky 8 month olds don't require a lot of heavy parenting." he sighed. "I need you O, without me you will be Supermom speeding through obstacles like a goddamn pro. Without you I'm just a dad in over my head, trying not to be the distant wealthy father or the fucked up ex junkie....it should have been me" he trailed off silently wondering why it wasn't him although he knew why. He was just the crazy yelling White guy surely the Black woman worried about her child was the real threat. 

After a few more minutes with Opal Brendan sent the twins home with Jalen and settled in the for a long night.

Opal's body was killing her, she woke up with a raging headache and heavy limbs. she tried to sit up but instantly regretted it. "Fuck me" Opal laid back down in failure. "Opal" Brendan shot up. "Hey baby" she winced still in pain from her attempt. "Are you okay?" He appeared by her side.  "Yeah just sore. Where are the kids?" She asked. "At Jalens, they're fine probably drooling or stuff right now." He smiled "Thank God. I was so worried." she smiled back. "Only you can take a bullet to the chest and be worried about someone else." he laughed. "Oh shut up" she shushed him.

After three days Opal was finally released from the hospital, she couldn't do much at work due to her recovery but luckily Raheem was ready to pick up the slack. Brendan became Papa bear on steroids, no one was allowed to so much as look at his family sideways. Every now and again Opal found him gazing sullenly at her wound, she tried to convince him that it isn't his fault, but he isn't buying it.

The first week was rough, the next one was Hell. As expected Julia pressed charges, although Brendan is pretty positive she won't win. He's all but ignored it and decided to pursue the rookie that shot her, bad enough he has single handedly pissed off all of NYPD but he decided to go after who they just found out is a close friend of the commissioner.  Opal pleaded for him to drop it they just managed to skate by without the rookie pressing charges and the last thing they need was more drama. 

Finally the after months of back and forth Julia dropped all charges, just in time for the twins first Halloween.

"Okay babies, smile for Mommy" Opal tried desperately to get the twins attention. They were dressed as Gene and Louise Belcher. "Come on kids one smile so Mommy will let us go" Brendan pleaded in his Bob Belcher costume. He had been excited for Halloween ever since the twins started walking last month. They can't go more than a few steps without falling but they can still Trick or Treat in there decked out Bob's burger food truck Stroller. "Geez you really went all out for this O" Brendan took in the store front back drop Opal put together. "This is our first Halloween as a family." Opal beamed, they were 3 months clean of any incidents and wanted to make the most out of this holiday. 

"Oh my God you guys look amazing"  Maria snapped pics of the happy family outside of the apartment complex. "Alright you ready?" Brendan asked Opal as she reviewed the pics to be sure they achieved maximum cuteness. "Alright" Opal replied like Linda Belcher. 

The kids weren't very interested in the candy they gained from the many houses. In fact they fell asleep about 15 minutes in. "This is nice" Opal sighed  as the family took a break to sit on a bench in a nearby park. Opal leaned on Brendan's shoulder and took in the scene of laughing children, tired adults, and costumed teens. With a deep sigh Opal rested her eyes and let her mind go blank. 

"Babe, we should get going this place is getting crowded." Brendan helped Opal stand, she took in the transformation of the park. As the sun started to set it was clear that the park was becoming drunken adult territory. Opal was almost surprised of the quick turn around if only it wasn't Halloween in New York, Drunk People's XMAS. As Opal and Brendan tried to make there way through crowd one drunk decided it was go time. "Ey man you scuffed my shit" The drunk slurred. Brendan rolled his eyes and continued to walk away, until the drunk grabbed his Shirt trying to pick a fight. Without warning Brendan and the Drunk exchanged blows. Opal was getting tousled by the crowd and tried to keep her stroller upright.  As the task became more and more difficult and the crowd got more riled up Opal began to panic. 

Brendan tried to detangle himself from the scuffle but evidently the drunk had enemies and others kept jumping in. He couldn't find Opal  and the twins in all the anarchy, finally he saw her with the stroller on the outskirts. Luckily a new drunk took up his fight with the first guy and he was free to move towards his family. He was pissed that he let himself become distracted, he was rehearsing his apology to Opal when he saw something that made his heart stop. While the stroller he spotted was most definitely the Twins the woman near them was not Opal.