I Get A Kick Out of You

Chapter 35

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," Cassie quickly, but quietly, said as she held onto her stomach. She was finally eased off her antidepressants, but moved onto another form that's safer for her and the baby. The side effects made her feel more awful than she ever has before.

She wasn't more depressed—as a matter of fact, she hasn't felt this mentally good in weeks—it was that she's never felt this sick. She constantly trembled, constantly threw up and had the worst cramps of her life.

Ben, of course, worried his ass off more than half of the time. Every time a new symptom started up, he would call her doctor and confirm that it wasn't any harm to the baby. They were getting incredibly annoyed by his phone calls, but assured him it was all fine.

They still hadn't told the boys yet, but they didn't question why the had to have a sleepover almost every night, even during a school week. Ben wanted to be there with Cassie as much as possible, especially when she's going through something as unusual as this.

When it came to Joel, Cassie did not want anything to do with him. She refused to answer his calls, emails, texts. When he came to the door, Ben would answer and tell him off. If Ben wasn't around, she just wouldn't answer the door.

Ben was right about her needing some time away from having sex. She thought she would be fine, but ended up getting incredibly uncomfortable when they were naked in bed and he started kissing her neck. She didn't say anything, but he could feel her squirm underneath him. It wasn't her usual this feels so good squirm, it was a let me out from under you squirm.

He didn't feel hurt for himself in the slightest, but felt hurt for her. Their sex life was fantastic and he did everything he possibly could to make her feel comfortable and loved every single time. He constantly put her needs before his own, but not even that could make her forget about the truth of what Joel had done to her.

She didn't want to press charges, saying it would never hold up in court. Ben vowed to fight for her as her lawyer, but she still refused. There wasn't any evidence, except Joel's word. There's no way he would admit what he did in front of a judge and risk losing, not only his job and livelihood, but his son.

Unfortunately, Ben has seen one too many cases where there's plenty of evidence against the man, but he still gets let off with nothing but a slap on the wrist. Thankfully, he's one every rape case he's prosecuted, but it would kill him to lose it for Cassie. He already wanted to kill Joel, he can't imagine what his thoughts would be if a jury let him off.

Today, however, they weren't thinking about any of that. Today, they were taking their sad looking boys to their last baseball game of the season. They weren't said because it was the last game, but because they didn't make it into the playoffs.

"Come on, guys, cheer up," Cassie told them as she drove. "You had fun playing, right? Made some new friends?" Ethan and Cillian sighed and crossed their arms. Ben turned around to look at them. "Hey," he said, "you guys played an amazing season, we are so proud of you. Ethan, you're going to be the league's MVP and Cillian, my boy, you have improved in more ways than I could have imagined! You used to get so upset that you couldn't even knick the ball, now you're hitting doubles and triples! Not to mention, you've made a crazy amount of friends! I'm so, so proud of you."

That made Cillian break out into a wide smile. Ethan, on the other hand, looked a little envious. Cassie saw this through the rearview mirror and felt sad for her boy. It was rare for Joel to tell Ethan he was proud. He craved his father's approval more than anything and it angers her. No boy should seek that from his father.

When they got to the school, the boys took off to the field while Ben and Cassie trailed slowly behind.

"How are your cramps?" He asked as he put his hand over her stomach. Sighing, she told him, "Getting worse. I don't know how much longer I can hide this from the kids. I mean, look at me! I know Ethan's noticed I put on some weight, he's just too much of a gentleman to say anything. I know because I catch him staring at my stomach."

Ben thought for a moment, then suggested, "How about we tell them tonight? We'll make them a gigantic feast of a dinner, get their tummy's happy and hurting on too much sweets, then we'll lay it on them. Personally, I think they'll be thrilled. Cill adores you and he's always wanted a little brother or sister."

As they approached the bleachers, Cassie looked to Ethan happy and talking with his teammates. "I don't think Ethan would take it well," she told Ben. "He's always expressed his disdain for having any siblings. He loves being the only child. I think it's because of how spoiled he is. Not to mention, he connastntly craves my attention, even now."

"Well, he loves Cill like a brother," he mentioned. "They've even expressed how they want us to get married, so they can be actual brothers." Cassie smiled at that. "But," she told him, "not all of my attention is on Cill. I love him dearly, like he's my own, but Ethan knows that I'm dedicated to him because he is my son. Having another baby would devastate him, I know it. With that being said...we need to tell them. Maybe give Eleanore a heads up and I'll...I'll let Joel know."

Ben quickly told her, "You don't have to. I'll tell him, just give me his number." She insisted she could do it, but he insisted that he knew her and knew she wasn't comfortable with it. He was right.

So, she gave him his number and he promised to tell both Eleanore and Joel after the game because right now, their kids needed their support.

The game started out horribly. Not only did Ethan strike out his first two at-bats, but he missed an easy ground ball. Cillian wasn't doing much better, but did get a single. By the end of the game, Ethan didn't get any hits. He was crazy upset to the point where he threw his bat and helmet on the ground when he struck out as the final batter.

Cassie sadly watched as he kicked the dirt and yelled at himself.

"Good lord, I've never seen him like that," Ben said. Cassie shook her head as she told him, "I can thank Joel for that. Whenever he was in a slump, Joel would scold him. Now, if he messes up like this, he gets angry at himself. I'll go talk to him."

She got up and went down onto the field. Ethan was now sitting at the plate with his knees up to his chest. "Hey, baby," Cassie sweetly said. She knelt down next to him, but he didn't look at her. "Ethan, honey, it's okay. Everyone has a bad game, everyone, even the pros! Do you know what they do?"

He glanced over to her. "What?" He asked, his voice muffled in his pants. She told him, "They practice. They practice everyday to ensure the mistakes they made don't happen again, or at least happen less. You're going to have a bad game, bud. You're going to have a bad few games every once in a while. Nobody is perfect. Not even Mike Trout."

That got him to bring his head up a bit. "Yes he is," he defended. Cassie slowly shook her head as she told him, "No, sweetie, he isn't. He has bad games, too. When we get home, you can look them up. I bet he makes the same mistakes you do."

For some reason, he smiled at that. "Come on, kiddo, let's get you home," she said. "Get you in the shower because you reek and Ben and I will get dinner started."

They both stood up and went over to Ben and Cillian. "Ready?" Ben asked. Cassie nodded and put her hands on Ethan's shoulders. "Let's get these two...oh. Oh, wow." She put her hand over her stomach and winced. Ben looked to her with worry.

"Cass? You okay?" He put one hand on her back and the other over her stomach. "Something's not right," she croaked out. "Ben...Ben, something's wrong."