Aftershocks | Calum Hood

17

11 weeks

Calum could barely remember what city he was in. The days had all begun to run together into one long continuous stretch of missing Mack, his Mack.

The only positive was that after she'd heard his interview she'd started answering his calls again. Things weren't back to normal but he at least was aware of what was going on in her life again.

They'd gotten back into the routine of nightly FaceTime calls, night for him, morning for her. They were still walking on eggshells with each other but he would take what he could get. Now that some sense of normalcy was returned he hoped they'd be able to have a rational discussion about a paternity test.

He checked the clocks app on his phone and saw it was seven AM in LA. She was sure to already be up, she had always been an early riser.

He flipped over to her contact and waited for her to pick up the phone. It was only a moment before her beautiful face filled the small screen.

"Hey Cal." She said with a smile and a small wave.

"Hi gorgeous." He replied, loving the way her cheeks blushed red from his compliment.

"How was your day?"

"It was alright, I guess. We just hit a few radio stations, played an acoustic set, met some fans." He shrugged not really interested in his own life at the moment.

She nodded and let out a yawn.

"You tired?" He questioned.

"Yeah. Still crazy lethargic and puking twenty four seven. The doctor said it'll go away after this trimester so hopefully only a few more days of this."

"Shit. You're already that far along?"

"Twelve weeks on Sunday. That's the approximation based on my size, we don't know exact conception date of course." She said glancing down and beginning to fiddle with her fingers nervously.

"Mack," he said slowly, wanting to start a conversation not an argument.  "Can you tell me why you're so against the paternity test? Just help me understand."

She sighed and stood up, the camera focusing on her face again as she paced the floor of his home.

"It's complicated I guess." She started. "It's multi-faceted really. I don't want the baby to be Tanner's." She said bluntly releasing a big breath like she had been holding in this information and with it off her chest she could finally breathe. 

He felt his eyebrows raise in surprise. That wasn't the answer he'd been expecting but it stirred a sense of pride in his chest.

"Why don't you want the baby to be Tanner's?" He asked, carefully. He wanted, no needed, to hear her say it but he didn't want to further upset her. 

"Cal,"

"Please, Mack. I need to hear you say it." He forced out as his throat grew tight from his emotions. 

"Because Cal, if I'm going to have a baby, I want it to be with you." She said, never breaking their eye contact. 

"Thank you." He whispered to her through the screen. He hadn't realized how badly he had needed her to affirm that her feelings for him had not completely evaporated. "You said there was more to it though?" He questioned.

"Yeah." She paused. "At this stage they want to do it through amniocentesis which could hurt the baby. Plus, it's just, I grew up without my dad... I don't want that for my kid. If the baby is Tanner's I think I would feel obligated to try again with him. To try to find a way to be happy, for the baby's sake."

"So you would throw all of this away, everything you and I have just because it's his kid?" He asked, ignoring most of her statement while failing to hide the judgement in his voice. 

"For my baby to have a chance at a happy family? Yes." She replied.

"I'm sorry Mack but that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How would it be a happy family if you couldn't be happy? I don't understand how you can even say that to me when this entire fight was because I said I didn't know how I would feel about raising someone else's kid and now you're telling me that I wouldn't even have the option? That you would go back to someone who you would never be happy with, who you would never love? Have you forgotten how vile he was to you when we got back?"

"I left him at the alter Cal, he was heartbroken."

"So now you're defending him?"

"He's come around since then, he was just hurt. I talked to him"

"You spoke to him?" Cal repeated, disbelief coming across in his tone. 

"I guess my mom bumped into him at the store and told him about the baby and he wanted to know if it might be his." She replied sheepishly, averting her eyes.

"Jesus, Mackenzie." He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he processed his frustration and felt the prick of tears at his eyes. "I'd do it for you, you know." He said after a moment. "I'd raise Tanner's kid with you. Hell, stepparents are a thing, people do it all the time. I'd find a way to love them as much as I love you because it would be part you. Sure, I would much rather raise our own kid but if that's what we're tasked with, I'll do it. Please Mack, give me the chance, we could be the happy family. I love you."

"This has just been so much. I'm so stressed out and the doctor keeps telling me it's bad for the baby but I don't know what to do. I'm so emotional all of the time and Harper has been great but its just not the same as-" she trailed off. 

"Not the same as what?" He asked, hoping he was right in his assumption of her answer.

"It's not the same as when I have you here." She confessed. 

"Mack, I just. I'm so confused on where we are with each other at the moment. You say things like that, but then you tell me you're ready to run off with Tanner at the drop of the hat if the baby turns out to be his. I don't know what you want from me. Do you want me to drop everything and be there for you no matter what? Because if you say that's what you want I'll do it. But Mack you have to let me, and right now I don't know if you can do that. You could end so many of your problems, take away so much of your stress by just getting the test. This isn't me trying to pressure you we just have two different points of view on the topic. Just promise me you'll think about it, okay? I'm really worried about you both and there isn't much I can do half a world a way." He said sullenly hoping she would really take into account his words.

"I'll think about it." 

"Thank you. I hate to end our talk on that note. I wanted to hear more about your day, I'm sorry we got dragged back into talking about this mess."

"My life is the mess." She said with a dark laugh. 

"Yeah, well. I'm sorry it's felt so tense every time we've talked. I miss the old us." He said, letting his thoughts drift back to their perfect week in Sydney. What he would give to go back to then, things had been so much less complicated. 

"Me too." She replied.

"We've got an early start in the morning I should probably get to sleep."

"Have sweet dreams, Cal." 

"Have a great day, Mack. I miss you." The line clicked dead and he wished he would have told her he loved her. Let her know his feelings still held true just in case she'd forgotten how much she meant to him, while he had been busy being a dick. 

AN: Hmmm do you agree with Mack not wanting the paternity test?

Cal comes home soon, how do you think that goes? How will he and Tanner deal with one another and each's desire to have Mack and the baby?

Let me know what you're thinking!

Vote and Comment!

ILY

Sav