Mr. Whitfield- By: Riley Rivers

Chapter XVI

The year is 1991. Seven years later from when Nicole and Jesse met...

(Just an FYI Nate is in High School and yes he is only seven but he has a very high IQ). (Also Jesse and Nicole are now thirty-one).

"Oh, it's great to be back." Jesse sighed, leaning back in his black rolling chair. He turned a picture of him, his wife, and seven-year-old Nathan around and chuckled.
"Jesse Whitfield!" Principal Hughes said angrily.
"Yes, boss?"
"I just wanted to welcome you into fatherhood, even though you've been a father for several years."
"Oh, I thought I did something bad, hah." He laughed nervously.
"You did do something bad too, you left my daughter seven years ago." His boss slapped him across the face.
Mr. Whitfield rubbed his face. "I deserved that."
"Don't let it happen again."
"Yes sir." he saluted and his boss left the room.
Nate knocked on the door and opened it. "Hey Dad, I did my assignments."
Jesse looked them over with his intelligent "Mmmhmm" he always did.
"Anything I missed or did wrong?"
"Nope, it looks all clear to me. Good job."
"Thanks."
"Wait. What is this?"
"Oh that's from-" Nate Whitfield grabbed the note quickly and shoved it in his pocket.
"Nathaniel Lee Whitfield, you will tell me what is on that note and who it is from or you are grounded."
"Fine. It's from the new girl, I asked her out and she said yes."
"You're seven years old Nathan!"
"So? You were probably seven when you first asked out a girl."
"Actually I was seventeen, thank you very much."
"You were seventeen? Ew! I bet you had acne all over you."
"Wow, what a compliment son."
"Nearly every seventeen year old has acne Dad!"
"Yeah, but that wasn't very nice."
"I'm sorry." He apologized.
"You're definitely not going on that date."
"But Dad!"
"No, you're too young to be losing your virginity."
"What the hell, Dad! I'm not even that age yet!"
"Ok, well you won't have a date until you're my age."
"Dad! I'll probably be long married to that new girl by then!"
"You better not be married when you're thirteen."
"I can get married when I want to."
Mr. Whitfield scoffed. "Yeah right."
"You'll see, you just wait."
"Oh, I'll be waiting my boy." He snickered, turning the page in his newspaper he used to ignore his son.
"From that look on your face, I know you're trying to ignore me."
"Huh? Did you say something? I couldn't hear you because I was tuning you out."
"Ugh! Damn it, Dad!"
"Hey, don't you ever say that word again or I'll have you grounded." Jesse got up and sneered at his son.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He sniffled.
"Darn right you are."
"Dad, be quiet for a second."
"Will you promise never to say damn again?"
"Yes, yes I promise. Just stop talking."
All of a sudden Jesse's school phone rang and he picked it up.
"Whitfield's room. This is Mr. Whitfield speaking. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh wow, that's-uh that's unfortunate. Yeah, yeah, I'll be over there shortly." Mr. Whitfield hung up the phone with a sigh and looked at his son.
"What's wrong Dad?"
He exhaled sharply and spoke real clearly. "Your mother's in the hospital. She's very sick, Nate."
"Oh, is she ok?"
Jesse choked on tears. "No Nate, she's dying."
"What is it?"
"They don't know. They think it's something bad, Nate."
"Like what cancer?"
"No. It's a virus of some sort. Way worse than cancer, way worse."
"Is it the virus my microbiology class has been studying?"
"Yes, it's Testeris-Osillis or (T-O for short)."
"T-O? How did Mom get T-O?"
"About a week ago I-" He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I had a tickle in my throat. Anyway well, we had hit it off in the bedroom and we, of course, you know."
"Dad, I'm a little uncertain of what you two did in the bedroom. But I'm not sure I wanna know."
"Ok, but when-"
"Nope."
"When I-"
"Please don't tell me."
"When I put my-"
"La, la, la, la, la, la, la!" Nate covered his ears.
"For the love of God, she got an STD!" Jesse said finally.
"Oh sh*t."
"Yeah, **** me."
"Dad, don't beat yourself up."
"Ugh, but I feel bad son."
"There is time to beat yourself up later. Right now we have to go visit Mom."
"Let's head on over there. Go ahead and get in the car, I'll be there in a minute."
Nate got in the car and his Dad cried as he walked to the car.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
"I'm upset, Nate."
"What are you upset about?"
"I'm upset about what I did that night. If I wouldn't have done your mother this wouldn't have happened."
"Everyone makes mistakes, Dad," Nate reassured.
"Nobody makes a goddamn mistake like me!" Mr. Whitfield bawled.
"You have to be strong so you can drive us over to the hospital."
"I'm sorry." He dried up his tears and drove to the hospital.
They reached the hospital and they walked into Nicole's room.
"Babe, Nate." Nicole smiled.
"Hey, Mom." Nate almost whispered.
"Hey, baby." Jesse rubbed her hand.
"I'm so glad you guys could come see me."
"Me too, Mom," Nate said.
"How are you feeling, baby?" Mr. Whitfield asked.
"Tired."
Dr. Sykel stepped in and gave Jesse some news. "She's very weak. I don't know how long she's going to last."
"Did you guys try giving my Mom some RFT?"
"Yes, we have."
"Nate, maybe you should let the doctors do their job."
"I was just asking."
"My wife getting T-O is just hard to bear."
"I know what you mean. My son is gay and his husband died from it."
"I just want to know where I picked it up."
"You can get it from anyone. But it's mainly more common through unprotected sex."
"Seven years ago we hooked up on a table and I was protected. Only recently I wasn't."
"Hmmm... Does your wife take any medicine at all?"
"The only thing she takes is Zidohl."
"Zidohl, huh? I heard there was a recall on that."
"Really? We never heard of such a thing."
"I heard it had begun mutating T-O virus by the millions making it immune to nearly everything."
"That explains why Mom is very sick."
"Exactly!" The doctor added.
"Don't mind him, he's just his daddy's seed." Jesse ruffled his son's hair.
"I have his IQ too."
"You sure do." Mr. Whitfield smiled.
Nicole called out to her husband. "Jesse, will you sing to me?"
He sang to her and held her hand, rubbing it firmly. "And... I'll always be your baby."
"If you l-ove me." Nicole sang back as she gasped her last breath and died.