Outer Space

Chapter 13 - She Deserves Better (Flashback)

"How long does it say to wait?" Charlie asked Jemma as she walked out of the bathroom. Jemma leaned her back against the wall and slid to the floor, a detached and scared look engraved on her face.

"Five minutes. I set a timer." Jemma said sounding inhuman as she waved her phone through the air to show Charlie the screen that displayed the timer that was counting down by the seconds. Jemma was about to sit through the longest five minutes of her life... on a disgusting floor that probably hasn't been cleaned in months, if ever.

Charlie slid down the wall to sit next to Jemma, not sure what to say, not sure what to do. She desperately wanted to help the girl that looked like she was crumbling apart, but she had no idea where to even start. Charlie looked at the girl next to her and in her head, it clicked, she was the same girl, she had been in the exact same position, she knew how it felt.

"I was 18 my first pregnancy scare." Charlie started and in the process gained some of Jemma's attention. "I didn't have anyone to sit with me though. I also didn't have someone who loved me and would do anything for me. But trust me when I say I get it. I get all of the thoughts going through your head especially the one that is telling you to run out that door and never look back." Charlie kept her eyes on Jemma to watch her facial expression change, but what she didn't expect was for Jemma to turn her head and bury it in her shoulder. Charlie was quick to wrap her arms around the crumbling girl. "I'm here okay." She said hoping that she would be enough for now.

After sitting wrapped in Charlie's arms for what felt like an eternity Jemma heard the timer go off. It was the same annoying sound that told her it was time to wake up every morning at the ass crack of dawn. She despised the sound with every fiber of her being and she had a feeling that she would never be able to hear it again without having a major panic attack.

Jemma stood, signaling with her hand to tell Charlie to stay where she was, that she was going to do this alone, that she had to do this on her own. Jemma didn't shut the door behind her as she entered the bathroom because it comforted her to know that Charlie was right outside waiting for her, that Charlie was there to support her no matter what the stick that she now held in her hands said.

Flipping over the stick she read the results out loud to herself, and she was no longer sure how she was supposed to feel.

..........

"Can we talk," Charlie had texted Maddox about an hour before. He had responded with an affirmative answer. Charlie had told him to meet her at the diner as soon as he could, telling him that it was important.

Having known Charlie for quite some time Maddox figured that important actually meant that she couldn't reach something on a high shelf and she needed him to get it for her. Maybe she was bored and she wanted someone to talk to and since Jemma was occupied at school he was her next best choice. Whatever it was he was pretty sure that there was no real emergency so he didn't bother rushing to get there. Charlie had cried wolf way too many times before for anyone to believe her when she said that she had an emergency.

Eventually, about two hours after Maddox received Charlie's series of demanding texts, he showed up at the diner seeing it was empty as usual. Maddox slid into the booth that was closest to the widow, the booth that he and Jemma always sat in. He figured that Charlie could come to him if she really wanted to talk. He was surprised though when Charlie collapsed into the booth across from him, not a second after he himself had taken a seat.

"What's up." He said casually.

"I told you this was important and to get here as soon as you could... that was two hours. What the hell man!" Charlie whisper screamed at Maddox as he stared at her like she was crazy, which to be honest she probably was.

"What's with the whispering?" He asked still in the same casual and laid back voice that was beginning to get on Charlie's nerves.

"Because idiot Jemma should already be out of school and on her way here. If you had shown up when I asked you to I wouldn't be so worried about her showing up and hearing us." Charlie responded, still whispering, making it sound like Maddox was the crazy one of the two in the conversation.

"Are we like planning her a surprise party or something that she can't know about?" Manson asked, getting more and more confused every time Charlie let a word out of her mouth.

"Look," Charlie said, now sounding legitimately serious and in a real voice. "I'm only telling you this because you have a right to know, you should know, and I know damn well that Jemma will never tell you. Especially with you leaving, yes she told me about that and we will be discussing that later." Maddox was a little surprised that Charlie knew about his enlistment. He was planning on telling her soon, but he wanted to tell Jemma first and that was almost impossible to do.

Maddox was also completely lost on what Charlie was now talking about. What was Jemma not going to tell him? He and Jemma told each other everything. The only thing he had ever kept secret from her was the enlistment. That was only because he knew that she was going to talk him out of it and he knew it was something he had to do.

Not bothering to ask questions, knowing that the answers would probably just ending up making him more confused, he let Charlie continue whatever rant she was going on. Charlie had paused and was looking at him funny, then out of nowhere she said it. "Jemma took a pregnancy test."

If Maddox had had a drink in front of him he probably would have done a spit take at that moment. "W...what?" He stuttered looking absolutely shell shocked and terrified at the same time.

"She's not." Charlie was quick to amend, "But she thought she was. Maddox, she is a 15-year-old girl who has been to hell and back and she thought she could be pregnant." Charlie explained it to him in a way that he was able to understand how bad this actually was.

"She didn't tell me. Why didn't she tell me?" He wasn't asking Charlie, he was asking himself. Why didn't Jemma come to him about this, why did she feel that he wouldn't be able to help her what was going on she always came to him before.

The only conclusion that Maddox was able to come up with was that it was because he lied to her. Then everything hit him like a train. He was leaving her and she had barely even started her life yet. He couldn't just take off and ask her to wait for him. That just wouldn't be fair to her. He's already put her through hell and now he was just making it worse by prolonging the inevitable.

He wasn't going to be there to protect her, to take care of her, to love her and he knew in his heart that she deserves someone who would, someone that would always be there.

..........

Another flashback, but don't worry next chapter is going to get real interesting.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!

-Claire