John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 46 - Cry Me a River

The angry squeal of tires on the asphalt faded as Marlena's car skidded to a halt. The horn of the other car blared, and Marlena vaguely saw the driver gesticulating as the car sped by her with mere inches to spare. The shock of her near miss began to sink in as her heart thumped deafeningly in her ears.

Easing her stiff hands from the steering wheel, she realized that she was physically shaking. Again, she swallowed, as the queasiness threatened to overwhelm her. She had been so close to.... *So close*. An utterly desolate feeling of loss flooded through her, and she began to weep for what she had lost and what she would now never have.

The stream of tears flowed into a torrent as Marlena wrapped her arms around her and sobbed her soul dry.

******

Q opened his eyes as he heard the sound of a little throat clearing. In front of him stood Brady, in one arm a light blanket that trailed behind the little boy. In the other hand, he held the arm of his favorite teddy bear. He looked, Q reflected, like he belonged in a storybook.

"Where's Mommy?" Belle stirred restlessly in Eugene's arms, and he looked down at the little boy with unusually soft eyes. "Your mother had to go and see someone Brady."

"Did she go and see Daddy?" It was obvious that the child missed his father and held an unexpressed hope for the future. It wasn't surprising considering Marlena's behavior lately, especially when John was around.

"I think she might have Brady, but don't expect too much okay kid?" Q tried to be kind, in case things didn't work out the way the children hoped. "Your mother and your father have a lot of things to work out."

The child's large eyes welled with tears and his lower lip quivered. "I miss Daddy."

"I know you do Brady." Q shifted a now awake Belle and allowed Brady to climb onto the bed. "I know it's hard for both of you. But if you are a little patient, then you don't know what might happen."

He looked at the unsure little faces and sighed. He'd never been much use around small children. Maybe it was time for the secret weapon.

"Tell you what kids. Why don't we head downstairs and search out that ice-cream that your mother has hidden in the freezer?"

The agreement from the children was unanimous.

******

"I think you should probably go now Kristen." John walked past her to the still-open door of the loft. He suddenly felt numbingly weary, and he couldn't wait to get Kristen out of his home so he could head for bed.

Kristen looked at him for a moment, making him wonder if she was going to do the unforgivable and refuse to leave. But she acquiesced with a silent nod and walked to the door awkwardly. She wasn't the sort of woman to wear a pregnancy well and every movement she made screamed that fact.

At the door, she turned around to face her ex-fiancée. The silence was oppressive between them.

"Goodnight Kristen. I'll call you," John muttered, wishing her gone already. He began to slide the door between them, but Kristen's hand on his shoulder stayed him.

"Goodnight John." Without hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She felt him flinch, but it didn't worry her disproportionately. The devastation and hurt she had seen on Marlena's face had been enough to convince her that it was all but over between she and John. All Kristen had to do was ensure that Marlena continued to believe that.

******

Finally, the tears abated. She had begun to wonder if she could ever stop. But with a muffled moan and a hiccup, finally she managed to regain her composure enough to stem the flow. She wasn't any less miserable, but she wasn't quite as over-wrought as she had been ten minutes earlier.