The Great Escape

19

I woke up later in the evening, still naked, to hearing Anna cry.
Groggily, I stood from the bed and pulled a pair of pants, not caring who's they were and quickly ran to my to my daughter and not bothering to button the pants.
"Mark?" I called as I exited our room. I saw Anna flailing her limbs around as she laid in the floor in her play pen.
"What is it baby girl?" I baby talked as I leaned down to pick her up. Assuming she needed a change, I checked and sure enough I was right.
Still whining after her change she needed to be fed now.
I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing a bottle and stuffing it in her mouth. Her screams stopped and she grabbed at the bottle. That's new.
I waited until she was done before walking around the house while burping her to find Mark.
I finally found Mark in his-our recording room. He fell asleep while looking a something. It was his email. It was pulled up on a message with the subject of... Jamie Lewis.

Dear Mr.Fischbach, reffering to your question of the trials date and the number of convictions against Jamie Lewis, I write back to tell you that you and yor partner, Sean McLoughlin, will be attending his trial to testify against him on the charges of, kidnapping, rape, child endangerment, and aggravaed assault.

Well he's not wrong.

As for the trial date, it willl be held exactly one week from now on the 17th at 9:30 am.
Sincerely, Judge Mikal.

Oh fuck. My god, I... I didn't even know about this. Well maybe because it was sent 16 minutes ago. But still, he could've told me about the previous emails.
I reached down and shook Mark's shoulder.
"Mark. Mark wake up." He murmured in his sleep. Deciciding to resort to drastic measures, I leaned down to his ear, careful of Anna, and spoke loudly.
"Mark please help!" Knowing he would throw his head quickly, I lurched back as reeled back and fell to the floor, taking his chair with him and landing with a thud. Anna giggled making her slobber all over her onsie and my bare chest.
I snickered as he yelled at me.
"Jesus Christ Jack what the fuck?!" Anna's giggles turned into laughs quickly. I suppose deciding he couldn't stay mad since Anna was full in cry laughing, he laughed too and picked himself up.
"Are you-" I tried to ask him if he's alright, but Mark kissed me instead. Surprised, I widened my eyes and saw his tired coffee colored eyes staring back at me.
Forced to pull away by Anna who was pushing Mark away, he sighed and stared at me, sadly.
"Don't pout baby, I can't be everybody's daddy." I smiled and tickled Anna who laughed and almost fell backwards.
"No. It's not that." He picked up his chair and gestured for m to sit down. I took his offer and sat. He woke up the monitor and pointed to the email I'd already seen.
"I saw it when I came to wake you up."
"Ok. I mean no it's not! It makes me so fucking mad that anyone... Anyone could treat anybody like that! Rape, kidnapping, child endangerment, and aggravated assault..." Mark exploded with rage. Anna didn't care and tried to stuff her fist in her mouth. Since I didn't have her pacifier I didn't stop her.
"Mark." He looked away. "Listen, he'll go to jail and get what he deserves. I know he will." My voice wavered while tears started to roll down my face.
I got up and rushed out of the room so I could go to the living room and set down Anna to play with Chica. Busying myself to get my mind off of all the shite that just happened, I started a late dinner. I picked out a box of hamburger helper and read the directions to defrost the meat. Starting it, I turned around and saw Mark looking at me.
"Sean... I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't act like this. I should be strong for you. For the people I love." He looked down. I sniffled a bit and took a few steps so that I closed the gap between us.
"Mark... You don't need to be sorry for having a... You don't need to be sorry for being mad. Mark... you saved my life, you saved my daughters life. Our daughter." I smiled through the tears as I whispered. He looked at me, his face red and eyes bloodshot.
Mark pulled me slowly into a loving embrace.
"Sean. I love you so much. You shouldn't have been treated like that."
"But if that didn't happen then I wouldn't have Anna. And I wouldn't have you."
Suddenly we each felt a pushing at our legs and pulled apart to find Chica nosing into the hug.
I giggled as he leaned down with a smile and hugged the lab.
"Can you go check on Anna? I'm gonna work on dinner."
"Ok." He stood back up and left the room with Chica following him. All of a sudden he stopped and turned around.
"Your wearing my pants." He smirked.
"Dude! My infant daughter was crying and I didn't want her to see me naked!"
"Keep 'em on. You look shmexy af."
Laughing, I turned around and got to work.