The Patchwork Marriage

Time Heals All Wounds

Disclaimer: This story is based on ABCs Revenge. I do not own the characters and credit goes to the writers for any ideas based on the show. The rest is my writing and own ideas
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Daniel stood on the front porch of the beach house with a bunch of flowers in his hand and the wedding rings in his pocket. He knocked twice and Emily came to the door. He looked into her eyes and thought about everything the two of them had been through, the engagement, the marriage, the shooting, the affair and then the baby.

Aiden had shot Emily on their wedding night while Emily was almost four months pregnant. They'd lost their baby and it took both of them a year to move on a try again. While Emily was still able to conceive they'd had great difficulty and went through miscarriage after miscarriage until a year ago. Emily had finally managed to stay pregnant and grow their baby.

Daniel had found it strange when she was pregnant, she was never really interacting with him and avoided sleeping in the same bed as him. He'd given her space and stayed at the South Fork many nights. Daniel could never understand why she was so distant when they were finally getting what they'd always wanted; a baby. He'd chalked it up to the pregnancy and Emily just needing space, and he was okay with that, because he believed things would be okay once their little girl finally arrived. He was wrong.

It was a mid-summer night and the heat was disgusting. It had always been clear to him that Emily had difficulty sleeping in the heat and that tripled with the pregnancy. Daniel was staying at the South Fork, but he decided to go and see Emily and check up on her. He arrived at the house at around nine and found all the doors locked. It was strange for Emily to lock to doors and straight away he was curious. He walked around to the back and looked for the spare key, only to find it missing. He knocked twice, but was met with no answer. He might have thought she was out, but it was late and her car was in the driveway. Daniel knocked again and Emily came waddling down the stairs with her silk dressing gown wrapped around her body. To Daniel, Emily looked beautiful, her pregnancy glow had well and truly kicked in and her 6 month baby bump was visible. Though, he couldn't get past the fact that her hair looked slightly ruffled.

"Daniel, what are you doing here?" She had asked.

"I just came to check on you, is that okay? Why are all the doors locked?" He questioned in return.

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

"How have you been?"

"Daniel, I really don't have time for this right now. I was just heading to bed, I haven't been feeling 100%."

"Oh yeah, sorry. Of course. Let me take you up."

"No I'm fine really. You can just go home."

"This is my home, what are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing."

Something was up, and Daniel knew he should be suspicious. Emily was his wife and she was hiding something from him. He looked down at her hands.

"Where are you wedding rings?" He questioned as he noticed they were gone.

"Oh," she replied awkwardly. "....My fingers are swollen, it's a pregnancy thing."

Daniel remembered the thoughts that were going through his head when she had said that, and he knew he had been right in being suspicious.

Someone called out Emilys name and Daniel looked up to the top of the stairs.

"Em babe, are you coming back to bed?" The man had asked her.

Daniel chuckled as though the whole thing was a joke.

"Who-who's this?" He said as his chuckled died down and his smiled faded.

"Daniel....." Emily started.

"Who is he?"

"Daniel this is James," she said looking up the stairs to the shirtless man. "James..this is my husband Daniel."

"Husband?!" Daniel questioned angrily. "How dare you refer to me as your husband when I've just walked in on you having an affair with another man!"

"Daniel it's not like that," Emily had replied trying to keep calm.

"Then what's it like Emily?!"

"James is just a friend."

"You don't see me taking my friends to bed with me do you?!"

"I'm not doing this with you now," Emily replied.

"I can't believe you, after everything we went through you're doing this. Is the baby even mine?!"

"What?! Of course the baby is yours Daniel. How can you think that it's not?!"

In that moment Daniel walked out. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to believe. Emily cheated on him and he didn't know if the baby she was carrying was even his.

It was fair to say Daniel had been through a lot. He'd left Emily and only seen her occasionally because of the baby. The two of them had a little girl in the Autumn, three months after Daniel had caught Emily that night. After countless paternity tests it was revealed that the little girl was his and so he'd stuck around for the sake of the baby. They named her Meghan but both Daniel and Emily referred to her as Meg.

Three months had taught Daniel a lot; just how much things could change. Three months ago Daniel was holding a newborn baby in his arms, and now his daughter could support her self in his arms. He found that people never realise how quickly time goes by, the six months he'd spent away from his wife, and the three months he'd spent away from his daughter had felt like a lifetime.

Daniel decided three months had been long enough and he wanted to start putting his life and family back together. So here he was on the front porch of Emilys house, with flowers in his hands and wedding rings in his pocket.

"Hello Daniel," Emily said opening the door for him with a smile.

"Hi, how are you?"

"I'm good thanks. I've just put Meg to bed."

"I actually came to talk to you. Can we sit down?"

Emily nodded and lead him over to the sofa.

"I need to know a few things."

"Okay, I'm listening," Emily replied.

"When was the last time you saw James?"

"6 months ago, I haven't seen him since the night you came around....."

"I want to make this work between us. We've been through so much Emily and I know we've had our rough patches but I'm willing to work on it. It's taken me time to accept what I saw that night but it's also taken me time to realise how deeply I'm in love with you and how much I love our family. I want to move back in, I want to be a father to my daughter and I want to call you my wife again."

Emily wiped the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I want nothing more than that Daniel. I know I stuffed up and it was my fault and I can't thank you enough for this, for wanting to work this out with me. I love you so much, I've never stopped loving you and I never will."

Daniel lent over and kissed her passionately. He pulled her into his lap and held her tightly in his arms. He had wanted this for so long and now he could finally have it. He pulled away from her and reached into his pocket; pulling out her wedding ring and engagement ring. He took her left hand and slipped the rings back where they belonged, as she wiped her tears away with her other hand.

"No more crying," he whispered taking her face in his hands.

"I love you," she whispered resting her forehead against his.

"I love you too."