What A Tangled Web You Weave

Chapter 28 SNEAK PEEK ONLY

A/N: I planned to have this chapter finished by this weekend but we've been super short handed at work due to covid and between working all the time, and just being exhausted I just haven't had much time. I write a few paragraphs a night before I go to bed and I'm pretty close to finishing it, but its been so long since the last update that I wanted to give you guys something. So this is JUST A PREVIEW Its NOT A FULL CHAPTER. The Full chapter is getting to be almost as long as the last one was. I hope this somewhat makes up for the long wait between chapters D: 

Blaire

I pulled into the driveway late friday night and took a deep breath. I had gotten up around 3 in the morning to make the drive to New York for a tour of my new school, The trip was paid for by the school, but I didn't care to stay overnight in a hotel room by myself, so I made the drive back and because it was a tour for a college, I was excused from school today. It was Friday, and usually the only teacher who gave homework over the weekend was Killian so I wasn't too worried about missing more than I already had.

I had left my phone off all day, If I was going to end up going to New York by myself next fall I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to last a day without calling David for help. The tour was a little overwhelming to say the least. This was a really good school, and I wasn't sure I was exactly up to par with a lot of the artists there, I brought a small portfolio of my work, and they seemed to be impressed with some of it at least so there was that.

I turned my phone back on and scrolled through my messages, I let everyone know before hand that I was leaving my phone off for the day so most of the messages were just typical good luck and drive safe messages. My personal favorite was from Jacob, telling me to make sure I came back because he needed me at work sunday. I clicked on Killians message telling me to call him when I got home. It was around 2 in the morning right now but I knew if I didn't call him before I went in and went to bed I'd wake up to a thousand text messages asking if I was okay. I hit the dial button and put the phone to my ear.

It rang a few times before I heard the phone pick up. It took a couple of seconds before Killians groggy voice came through.
"Hello my love." He said sleepily.
"Hello." I chuckled. "Sorry to wake you, I just wanted you to know I was home."
"Already? The school paid for a hotel didn't it?" Killian asked.
"It did..but..I didn't want to stay alone in a hotel so far from home." I said.
"So you drove all the way back??" Killian asked "What time is it even?" He mumbled "Bloody hell its two in the morning you've been almost up for 24 hours."
"And I'm feeling it." I said.
"Well go to bed." Killian said.
"You are grumpy when you get woken up in the middle of the night." I giggled.
"Not grumpy. Concerned, we know what lack of sleep does to you love, I just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, I called Archie this morning to ask if skipping a dose of my sleeping pill was going to be okay for one day. He said not to make a habit of it, but it was fine."
"Any more sleep paralysis episodes?"
"I've had a couple, but nothing as scary as that one." I said. "Archie said its my body getting use to the meds still, he said it could take a month or so to get used to it." I said.
"Well you should probably get some sleep soon to avoid triggering another episode. I was doing some research."
"I thought you said googling medical stuff was a bad idea."
"I wasn't googling I was going through my old psychology notes from University." Killian defended himself.
"You kept all of that stuff?? I throw away homework assignments as soon as I get them back." I laughed.
"Well see now, it comes in hand sometimes." Killian said. "Stop teasing me and go to bed, lass."

"But I like listening to you talk." I pouted.
"Well come over tomorrow and i'll talk your ear off." Killian said.
"I can't I have plans, I'm going to the gym tomorrow to sign up and get back into boxing, and then I was thinking of working a short shift at O'malleys in the afternoon."
"What about sunday?" Killian asked.
"I'm working all day sunday and after I get off David wants to have a family night." I said. "So I guess Monday at school?"
"No such luck, School is out Monday to prepare for parent night." Killian said.
"Oh.. what's that?" I asked.
"Its basically like parent teacher conferences. No students, just parents and staff. There were papers passed out on Monday for it. Didn't you have parent night in Oregon?"
"Something like that, but my mom was working and my Dad didn't go. I don't remember getting a paper for it." I sighed.
"Well that's okay, David is on the list for both You and Emma. At least as far as my classroom meetings go." Killian said.
"Well, thats good at least someone has it figured out." I said. I raised my eyebrow as I watched what looked like someone lurking around the side of my house.
"Hey, I'm going to let you get back to sleep and I'm going to go to bed." I said.
"Alright love, maybe after parent night you can sneak over for a bit."
"I'll try, in the mean time I'll text you. Love you."
"Love you too. Get some sleep."
"Will do." I said and hung up.

I got out of my truck silently, leaving my things in the trunk. I even left the door open a bit so it didn't make a noise when I shut it. I crept up towards the house and saw someone who had been kneeling down, stand up with his back to me. I picked up the shovel that was leaning against the garage and stalked towards him.
He turned to me and I raised the shovel but he put his hand out to stop it before it hit him in the head.
"Blaire! Its me!" He whispered.
I took my phone out of my pocket and shined the flashlight at him.
"Neal! What the hell??" I hissed. "You are either really stupid or really brave. Haven't you done enough?" I asked.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Neal asked.
"Well you knocked up my cousin." I said and shrugged. "Whats your game plan here?"
"Are you questioning me at 2:30 in the morning about my intentions with your cousin?" Neal scoffed.
"Sure. Why not?" I shrugged again.
"I'm trying to get out of here before we wake up your uncle." Neal said.
"Then answer my question." I said and stopped his path away from me with the shovel. "What happens when the baby gets here?"
"Emma says she's keeping it, so I guess we're keeping the baby."
"You guess?" I asked and stepped in his way as he tried to go around me the other way. "There is no guessing Cassidy. You're either sticking around, or you're not and if you're not, then you need to tell her now beforehand." I said.
"I'm not going anywhere Blaire. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Neal asked.
"Yes actually. You may be worried about what my Uncle will do to you when he finds out about all of this, but its nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you if you made Emma a promise to her and that baby to stick around and you don't follow through." I said. "Understood?"
"Okay. I got it.." Neal sighed.

The porch light flipped on.
"Fuck!" Neal hissed.
"Go through the back gate. Hurry." I whispered and snuck back over to my truck as the front door opened so I could make it look like I was just getting home. I pulled my bag out of the back of the truck and put it over my shoulder and waved at David who stood on the porch.
"I thought you were getting a hotel." He yawned.
"I just wanted to come home and sleep in my bed." I shrugged. "I traded the hotel voucher for an extra food voucher and grabbed food on the way back so don't worry, I've eaten I'm just exhausted." I smirked. I walked up on the porch and David smiled and hugged me.
"How was New York?" He asked as we walked into the house.
"It was good. I'm really excited for fall." I said and smiled. "And I'm nervous. You don't know how many times I wanted to call you to ask for help with directions, especially since my GPS brought me to a really shady side of the city at one point. I mean I used to live in a town where every side of town was shady..but this was a new level of shady. I also felt a little overwhelmed after my tour and almost caved then too." I said.
"You could have called Blaire. Anytime." David smiled.
"How am I supposed to survive living up there part time if I have to call you for everything?" I asked.
"I don't expect you to jump right into life in New York Blaire, I don't think anyone does. I expect phone calls, Hell, i want phone calls, if you want to tell me about something exciting, great, if you want to vent about anything, thats okay too. If you're scared, or overwhelmed I don't even care if its the middle of the night. I'll be here to talk you through it. Emmas staying here in town and I know theres going to be plenty of phone calls from her too. Kind of makes me wish I could be two places at once."
"Well...maybe SBU has art classes that will work, maybe I don't have to leave." I said.
"I think you do." David said. "As much as I would love you to stay close, you need to go. You didn't just win that scholarship from luck, you won it because someone saw your art and thought that this kid is going places and we'll get her to the next step."
"You said you wouldn't kick me out." I smirked.
"I'm not kicking you out, this is always going to be your home. But I'm not about to let you give up on New York." David smiled.
"I'm going to miss these 2am pep talks Dave." I chuckled.
"I'm always a phone call away." David said.
"Thanks." I sighed and hugged him.
"You're welcome. Now go get some sleep, You have plans in a few hours don't you?"
"Yep. I'll get some sleep. I was going to see about going in and picking up a small shift at work today, but I think after my plans I'll just come home and chill since I'm working all day sunday."
"Good plan." David said. "See you in a bit." He said. I walked up the stairs.