Too Far Gone (Urban)

13| Oh, Baby!

A few hours earlier...

After the meeting was dismissed, Pierce agreed it was the perfect time to go check on Jayden. It was early in the afternoon, and school would be over for his boy soon. Pierce was personally glad Jayden was back in school in normal classes. The boy needed his education. He didn't want Jayden to end up like him, who decided to run the streets instead of go to college like he could have.

For his last few days of summer school, Jayden reported that Moscow hasn't been bothering him lately. Pierce found it odd, but didn't dig in on it. As long as his boy was fine, he was fine.

He arrived at his house by taxi no more than fifteen minutes later. All the lights was out as expected. The inside of his house was much cooler than the outside, feeling below 50°F verses the 58°F outside. It very quiet to the point the silence became it's own still noise. It was a perfect time to work on his first Ronin mission, and he already knew what he would do. Just as he seated himself with a paper and a pencil in each hand, his cell phone rang. He slipped it out his pocket to see Trinity's name on the screen.

"Sup." he answered, placing his paper and pencil on the table.

"Can you come here? I need to tell you something." Trinity whispered.

"Uh, can it wait? I'm kinda busy right now." Pierce added, "And why are you whispering?"

She pleaded, "Please!"

Pierce peeked down at his blank paper and sighed.

"Alright, be there in 10."

❦

Trinity was waiting outside by the time he got there, and already he noticed she wasn't as polished as she usually was. Her commonly sleek hair was like a lions mane, her face was bare, she wore loose baggy clothes, and looked back and forth frantically. What issue can make one so dishevelled?

"Are you okay?" Pierce asked, remembering she was just fine yesterday. She shook her head.

"No!" Trinity whined, bumping her fists on her knees.

"What's wrong then?" His eyebrows formed a frown.

"I-I'm..." she bowed her head shamefully, muttering, "I'm pregnant..."

Pierce stiffened and cleaned out his right ear with his pinky. Did he hear her correctly? He inspected his finger to find no earwax or anything that could've blocked his eardrum.

"Uh, what?" he questioned. He crouched down to be level with her, attempting to look at her face. She would not look up at him, and when he tried to lift her head up forcefully, she covered her face and sniffled.

"I'm pregnant." She repeated in a squeaky voice.

Pierce couldn't believe what he was hearing. She had seemed just fine before all of this, and now here she was saying she was pregnant. Had she been showing signs of pregnancy this whole time and he had been too caught up with work to notice? Trinity sobbed quietly to this, burrying her face between her knees.

"But-" he stopped himself. This event was seeming all too familar to him. This bad omen was all because of what he did to Claire. It had to be! Claire was the only one he did wrong in his past. It was all catching up to him.

"Don't be upset baby, it's not that bad." Pierce consoled, yet he couldn't even convince himself this was okay. Now was not the appropriate time for her to have children. She just started working at a salon, and he just joined a gang who seems to have quickly gained enemies as soon as the press spoke of their resurrection.

"Not that bad? It is bad Pierce, it's fricking bad!" Trinity screamed at him. Wiping the tears off her reddened face, she went on. "The timing is just perfect. How am I supposed to work with a baby on the way now? I just started working, you don't make enough money-"

"I have a second job now, baby." Pierce interjected. Trinity half-laughed.

"Let me guess, you're making music again. Oh, wait, you're in a gang now?"

Pierce quickly looked elsewhere and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You did, didn't you?" Trinity did not give him any time to answer before shouting, "See! Got damn it, Pierce! How is this good? You're telling me, me being pregnant is 'not that bad', yet you just joined a gang. A gang Pierce, not no rap group, a gang! Not only are you putting me in danger, but this damn baby as well!"

"Trinity," He attempted to calm her down. "it's-"

"It's not okay!"

People who were walking by stopped to listen in and be nosey. A small crowd slowly began to form. Pierce peered at the crowd, then back at Trinity.

"Can we talk about this inside, please?" He whispered softly. He could see the fear and sadness in her red teary eyes.

"Please?" he asked again, taking her delicate hand in his. She nodded and sniffled, and he helped her stand up and go inside the house. Once inside, he seated her on the couch and noticed there was a pregnancy test stick sitting atop a stack of magazines on the coffee table. He picked it up, and surely enough, two vertical bars on the screen. There's no faking it, she's pregnant.

"Trinity..." Pierce sighed. He didn't know what he could say to console her, but he did know the one person who could. "I'll be back okay? Don't go anywhere."

He gave her a quick peck on her forehead, and then, cupping her face, he kissed her tenderly on her lips. Using his thumb, he wiped a stray tear away and kissed her again, longer this time.

"I'll be back." Pierce repeated, a doleful expression painted on his face. He exhaled sharply, fixing his composure before heading off to search for the one person who understands her best: Chenelle.

✝