A/N: Dedication goes to a friend, because seriously though, if you haven't read cathartic's stuff, you are wasting your life. She has the best writing I've ever seen. Not just on wattpad. But EVER.
If you haven't read her stuff, stop what you're doing. That's right, don't read any more of this chapter, go NOW and read her stuff.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:
Biological Contribution
Several months ago, when I first came to Emily, it had been immediately clear that her phone had become near useless. It served no purpose but to sit in Emily’s palms, her eyes trained on the screen, her ears strained, waiting for a call that would never come.
It had taken mere minutes for me to find out that, in her frustration, Emily had blocked every number but his.
Hours later, I had called Emily’s service and put a stop to the automatic billing. This had not been a real issue because anyone who knew us knew that they could easily reach Em through me. Emily might have been without a phone, but I still had one.
~Claire Pia
*November 7, 2013 9:58am*
Claire was driving home when her phone rang, Emily sitting in the passenger sear and smiling for the first time in weeks. A true smile, however wobbly. And, for the first time scince she’d arrived, Claire knew that Em would heal.
Her eyes flicked down to the black and white photo clutched in Emily’s hands and her happiness grew. Claire had been certain that the trip would only serve to hurt the other girl; it was half his doing after all, half him, a reminder if nothing else. But she’d been pleasantly surprised.
It was like Em finally had something else to live for. She kept tracing the outlines of the ultrasound, seeming entranced. Claire forced her eyes back on the road in front of her, right as her phone gave out a squealing ring. And Emily, still high off the knowledge she’d just gained and, knowing that Claire couldn’t, answered the it. Claire kept her eyes on the road, but silently applauded her friend’s newfound courage.
“Hello?”
Her voice was softer than her remembered, but still so fundamentally her. And he felt his hands tighten over the phone instinctively.
And all at once he didn’t care.
Didn’t care if she’d cheated.
Didn’t care if she loved someone else.
Didn’t care if it wasn’t his child. Just
Didn’t care.
All he wanted was her. As much or as little of herself as she deemed allow. No matter what that meant. And he breathed out her name.
“Emily.”
Emily dropped the phone like a it was a snake, the device clattering to the ground, her face white. Shooting a glance at her, Claire swerved, pulling over immediately.
“Emily?! Emily, what happened?!”
Emily looked at her, near helpless, before her eyes were drawn back to the cell lying innocently on the car floor. Claire opened the driver’s door and swiftly walked around, opening Emily’s side and picking up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Claire?”
Her face hardened and, without looking at Emily, she shut the door, walking a short distance away before responding.
“Jacen,” her voice was curt and unfeeling.
“Where’s Emily?” his voice was vulnerable, but Claire couldn’t bring herself t o care, not after what he’d put Em through.
“I don’t believe that that’s any of your business, Jacen.”
“She’s my wife. Of course it’s my business!” he was angry. Anger was good; Claire could do anger.
“You lost any rights to her the moment you walked out that door, Jacen.”
There was a small moment of silence as that sunk in, before he spoke.
“Maybe so. But I do have a right to my child.”
The air left Claire’s lungs and, for a moment, she couldn’t answer. Jacen’s was not an idle threat; he had the money, the fame, the ability to follow through. Emily had barely lived through his abandonment; Claire didn’t want to think about what would happen if Jacen stepped in as the father and tried to take away-
“What do you want?” she seethed.
There was a beat, then:
“It’s true,” the acclamation wasbreathless and it took his second statement for Claire to ‘get’ it, “It’s mine.” Claire was infuriated.
“You might have biologically contributed, but if you think that I am going to let you anywhere near those children, after what you did to Emily, than you-”
“Children?” the question came from a chest void of air. She went silent.
“Claire, please. Please.”
She sighed, still angry and reluctant, but answering, however curt.
“What, Jacen?”
“Children?”
“What about it, Jacen?!” she snapped, “It didn’t matter to you yesterday, why should it matter today?”
“Because of my ‘biological contribution’ as you so aptly put it,” his voice was sarcastic, a mask against his fragility, but it didn’t hide the reiterated threat. Claire forced her mouth to open, despite her anger.
“I don’t see why you’re so surprised; it’s in your blood after all. Then again, you haven’t been here to see what Emily’s body has gone through. Bang ‘em and leave ‘em is more your style, isn’t it?” she didn’t wait for his answer, “As for your question, yes ‘children’, as in more than one. A boy and a girl. And they don’t need you. Emily doesn’t need you. Do you understand, Jacen?!”
And then, Jacen showed a little backbone.
“You might have been helping her the past few months Claire, and I thank you for that. But if you think that I’m just going to disappear, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“You did it once, you’ll do it again. And you might kill her the second time ‘round.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What do you think it means? You think it was easy for her when you left? Don’t answer that. You think her capable of cheating; your thoughts don’t have much credibility. You’ll be happy to know, she’s healing. Finally. Asked me this morning about who she should hire.”
“Hire for what?!”
“The divorce.”
That stopped him short and Claire felt perversly triumphant. When he spoke, his voice was hard and determined.
“Where are you?”
“What do you mean?” she was confused.
“Where are you both staying?”
“We haven’t moved; we’re still in Manchester. Why?”
“Thank you, Claire. Good-bye,” and with that, he hung up.
* * *
When I got back to the car, Emily was smiling. The expression was fake, creepily like the dolls we’d seen earlier, but it was firm. And when Emily ignored the fact that Jacen had even called, I was all too willing to play along, ecstatic at my friend’s new strength. It was like that call, the culmination of all she’d wished for for months, had flipped a switch. Emily was suddenly determined to leave him behind.
Maybe she knew what was about to happen.
~Claire Pia
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