Yesterday | Seth Clearwater

Chapter 29

Something still to break the silence

There are spirits in this house

Sure the streets are filled with pirates

But honey, let's go out

~ Handsome Ghost "Vampires"

"I understand that you aren't happy with the current situation, but it's too late to change anything— not that I would ever change anything if I had the choice. Brooke and I are happy, and we are having this baby, and there's nothing that anyone can do or say that's going to change that. And quite frankly, I would have thought that as Brooklyn's parent, you would respect that we're both taking responsibility for the situation," Seth said.

Brooklyn and Seth had been arguing with her father for a while now, and Seth was getting frustrated.

"I do respect that you're taking responsibility for all of this, but I don't respect that you two were irresponsible enough to let this happen, and I think it's a mistake that's going to ruin both of your lives," Steven replied. "It's not too late to give the baby up for adoption."

"Dad, what the fuck?" Brooklyn exclaimed.

"Let me make this very clear," Seth said angrily. "My daughter is not a mistake, and our decision to keep her isn't ruining our lives. Sure, things are going to be different than we had planned, but this, our family, is not, and never could be, a mistake. But, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that that's the stance you're taking— you pretty much abandoned Brooke once things stopped being convenient for you."

"That's an unfair assessment of what happened," Steven defended. 

"Is it?" Brooklyn retorted. "Then what would be a fair assessment?"

"I admit that I was wrong for leaving," Steven said to Brooklyn. "And I'm sorry that I did, but I'm trying to step up and be the father that you deserve. As your father, it's my job to protect you and steer you towards the right path."

"I don't need you to protect me anymore," Brooklyn said. "I can protect myself, and when I can't I have my mom, and Paul, and Seth to help me. And I don't need you to tell me what to do with my life— I can make my own choices. I just need you to support me and love me unconditionally regardless of what choices I make. Back when I first started staying with you, you told me that you would try your best to be happy for me. So either try harder, or we can't have a relationship anymore. I made it this far without a dad, I can manage the rest of my life without you."

With that, Brooklyn stormed out, and went to her room with Seth in tow.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked as she shut the door.

"Yeah," she replied. "But I think we should leave. I don't want to be here anymore."

"Alright," Seth agreed. "If you're sure that's what you want, then we should figure something out for the night. We're both tired, and it's a really long drive home. I think it's a bad idea to start driving right now."

Brooklyn huffed. Seth had a point. "Fine. We can leave in the morning then."

Seth nodded. "It's been a long day. Let's go to bed."

"Okay," Brooklyn agreed. She had missed having Seth next to her at night— his presence was soothing to her, and she was able to fall asleep easier. Plus, he was still the only one who could get the baby to calm down.

Brooklyn woke up early the next morning, the sun was barely rising, and the house was still quiet. She wasn't really sure what had woken her up, but the fading ache in her lower stomach told her that it was something baby related. Honestly, she had been woken up by painful kicks to the ribs before, so she just kinda figured that the baby had found a new place to kick that she had never felt before. It was also extremely plausible that it was more Braxton Hicks contractions— they had become a lot more frequent since the baby had dropped, and as her due date approached. Not to mention, pregnancy caused a lot of weird pains to develop in a lot of weird places. She still had a couple more weeks to go though, so she wasn't too worried.

Brooklyn got out of bed, careful not to wake Seth. She wanted to get a head start on packing since she was already awake. As soon as Seth was ready, they could finally go home.

She began folding her clothes and putting them back in her suitcases— this was easier said than done with a huge belly in the way. It took her a lot longer than she thought it would, and she had to stop a couple of times because of some painful stomach cramps. She was starting to worry that she might be in labor, but she was hoping that it was just false contractions. The baby wasn't supposed to be born for another two weeks, and she wasn't allowed to come early. Brooklyn hadn't even been home to finish getting ready for the baby. The crib wasn't even built, and she was over a thousand miles away from her OB/GYN, Dr. Wilson. So, Brooklyn decided that it had to be nothing because she really wasn't ready for it to be something.

Brooklyn decided to get breakfast while she waited for Seth to wake up. Knowing Seth, it would be a while before they could leave. Seth slept like the dead, and he had been known to sleep well into the afternoon. And as much as Brooklyn wanted to go home, she felt bad waking him up. He had just spent this entire year dealing with vampires and grief and regular teenage bullshit— the least she could do was let him sleep for a few extra hours. 

Brooklyn opened the fridge to survey the contents. She grabbed the bread so that she could make some toast, but she was stopped in her tracks by another pain in her abdomen.

"Ow," she groaned under her breath.

"Are you alright?" 

Brooklyn turned to see who had spoken. It was Kathy.

"Uh, yeah," Brooklyn said. "I'm fine. I think it's just Braxton Hicks."

"Are you sure?" Kathy asked. "I've experienced Braxton Hicks, and that looked a lot more like labor."

"Shit," Brooklyn said. "I was really hoping that it wasn't."