A/N
I apologize for not properly responding to emails & comments lately, my dad tried some new internet service and it's actually worse than our old one. x,x
I'm not a jerk, I 'm just having trouble replying D
Happy Reading!
"Dead silence theme"
Because this song strangely started to play on my YouTube playlist and scared me. o,o
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"How does Declan filing an injunction preventing an abortion not automatically put him in jail!?" Emily near howled at her attorney. It was maddening after she showed the injunction to the police. Declan was practically admitting to being the father of her baby, and yet, it didn't get the police to arrest him for the rape. His parents craftily filed the injunction stating that until paternity was properly established, the abortion shouldn't be allowed.
They knew as well as Emily did who fathered her unborn child. Trying to pretend anything needed to be established was beyond ridiculous.
Graduation day should've been one of the happiest days of her life. Emily was after all, Valedictorian with an outstanding 4.8 GPA. But, there was a dark cloud constantly looming over her head. Not only did Emily have the silly injunction to think about, but also taunts from classmates regarding her wanting Declan thrown in jail. Team Declan was roaring high ever since Declan had brought his soccer team to state championships. All the girls fawned over him, and all the guys wanted to be friends with him, supposed rapist or not.
Emily had woken up for the Saturday of graduation with hopeful spirits. She was about to graduate, and she would never have to see Declan's face again with the exception of court dates when she would eventually have to testify against him.
After showering, styling her caramel colored hair and dressing in a pretty dress appropriate for spring, Emily was feeling this was actually the first day in nearly two months that she felt hopeful for the future.
She couldn't count the day of kissing Jake as a happy one. Ever since the pregnancy announcement he had remained distant, even when he was sleeping over at her house. He had something to say, and Emily knew it was going to be along the lines of breaking up even though they were technically not even together.
Even though Emily knew a lot of graduation day was going to be hopping around Jake and his attempt to dump her, she still felt hopeful for her future.
Her happiness continued throughout the day as Emily earned her diploma and happily accepted her award of Valedictorian for her 2010 class. She gave a rather nice speech regarding overlooking the dark things in your past to pave the road to your future.
Teachers and students had all gave a standing ovation by the end of it, causing Emily to momentarily forget her chaotic life at the moment.
Emily took pictures with friends and family, and she excitedly caught up with her fellow peers about their plans for college in a few months time. Over all, it was an extremely happy day that altogether went smoothly. However, that happy day ended abruptly when Emily found Roman Donovan conversing with her parents in the parking lot of the high school. He had just arrived from court, and was explaining his inability to toss out Declan's injunction. Even though Emily was no longer going through with the abortion, Emily and her parents in no way wanted Declan to be able to legally control what Emily could or couldn't do with her own body.
"Declan Carter cannot be arrested simply because he stated there is no proof determining who the father of the fetus is" Roman Donovan explained to Emily, sighing heavily. "The injunction does not state he is in fact the father, it simply states paternity has not been established.''
"We hear you, we just don't understand how the smug little bastard can't be thrown into jail after coming out and saying he's possibly the dad of the baby" Tom Daz shot back hotly, causing his wife to gently pat his back. He looked around, remembering to be quiet even though they were currently conversing in the back of the very back of the large parking lot.
"I'm going to use every resource of my arsenal to get this lame duck injunction dismissed" Roman nodded seriously. "Until then, remain patient, and try not to beat the tar out of the brat until we can get a better understanding of what's going on-"
"-What's going on is he shouldn't be able to kill my doctor and then two hours later get a fancy injunction stating I can't have an abortion..." Emily near laughed. "Do you not understand how insane that is?? He's killed someone. Declan admitted to also killing people back on the night he raped me, and he's getting away with it...Now, he's practically admitting he's the father of my baby, and yet he's not getting arrested for rape?! Where is the justice in that??" Emily whispered incredulously.
Her attorney watched her with a sympathetic expression before sighing. He shuffled his papers back into his neat manila colored file.
"I'm very sorry, Miss Daz. It's 2010. Abortion laws are still rather murky in the state of Texas. Unfortunately, legislature is a bit behind on women's rights. A father of a fetus can actually petition against an abortion-"
"-Even if he's the one who impregnated me by rape!?" Emily whispered furiously, warm tears threatening to spill. It was maddening to even think let alone say.
"Unfortunately, the Rape Survivor Custody Rights is still being heavily debated in Congress" Roman explained mildly. "Around thirty-five states allow courts to terminate the parental rights of rapists, but, most of them require that the men first be convicted of the crime. At this time, all we have is your word that Declan is one who raped you. DNA evidence supports it was someone else. Until we have an open and shut case regarding Declan was in fact the one who raped you and he gets a conviction, I'm afraid I have no legal ability to terminate his parental rights to the fetus if tests come back proving he is in fact the father."
Emily's parents exchanged worried stares, and that's when Emily herself caught wind of the ugly words that came out of her attorney's pursed lips. Parental rights.
Her father spoke before she could.
"Mr. Donovan...." Tom said carefully, leaning forward. "Do you mean to tell us that if the guy isn't convicted of raping my daughter, he could in fact have parental rights to the baby?"
Emily's hands unintentionally flew to her stomach covered by her graduation gown, fear of her little nugget instantly flooding through her. She could already imagine Declan would be getting off of the rape charges. The DNA evidence was the strongest thing against him beside her word. If that got thrown out, she was in a sinking boat. What would that mean for the baby - would Emily have to share him or her with Declan? Would she actually have to hand her innocent little nugget over to that monster every other weekend...? She trembled at the thought.
"Unfortunately Mr. Daz, that's exactly what I'm saying" Roman said with a grim expression before suddenly stretching. "I've got to get going. I have a meeting with an exclusive party regarding women's rights that is going to protest Emily's rights to receive an abortion. After that, we'll discuss more of what happened with what Emily saw at the abortion clinic. Now if you excuse me-"
"-WHAT!?" a voice suddenly yelled angrily.
Emily and her parents all nearly jumped in surprise to find Jake standing behind them. He had a rather large duffel bag over his shoulder as he sported a shocked expression. He ran a hand through his spikey blonde hair, looking incredibly lost and a little angry. "You're still going to try having an abortion??"
Emily stared at Jake incredulously, surprised he seemed so very upset. Emily parents exchanged surprised looked before Roman cleared his throat.
"And awkward teenage tension is my cue to leave" Donovan said brightly, scooping up his suitcase before heading towards his car parked a little ways away. "Keep in mind Daz family, do not try and communicate with the Carters. It'll be easier for me to gain a restraining order against them if you don't instigate anything. Tomorrow we'll talk after I get the inunction tossed. Ta-ta for now."
It was upon his exit towards the front door that Emily's parents exchanged murmured words that perhaps they would meet Emily and Jake at the house so they could talk in the car.
It was only as Emily was left alone with Jake did she see he was still sporting an angry expression.
"What are you so mad about?"
Jake scowled momentarily, throwing his heavy looking duffel bag to the ground. "Oh, I don't know, Emily....Maybe because you didn't even bother to tell me you went in to have an abortion" he pointed out in a snarl. "What the hell is that about? You lie to me saying you weren't having one and then go and try having it? Now what, even after that doctor was killed you're still going to try having one??" he whispered furiously.
Emily felt extremely baffled by his sudden intense anger, mentally noting she never really saw this heavily bitter side of him with the exception of the time he pummeled Declan. Jake wasn't even this angry when he saw her kiss Ian.
"I'm not having an abortion, alright?" Emily spat back quietly. "I decided I didn't want one before even finding out the doctor died....And why is what I do any of your business, Jake? You've ignored me ever since finding out I was pregnant-"
"-Oh really?" Jake fired back. "I wasn't aware coming to see you every-single-day qualified as ignoring you. I stay almost every night in your house, woman!"
Emily rolled her eyes. "Ohh stop beating around the bush already, Jake. I get it! You don't want to date me because I'm pregnant. I get it, alright! I've been expecting it ever since you found out. I don't want to hear you coming out now and giving some lame excuse of it's not working when-"
"-Whoa...whoa...whoa..." Jake said, frowning. "You think I want to dump you?"
Emily threw up her hands. "You don't talk to me anymore...What am I supposed to think? You know what, I'd rather us just go back to being friends-"
"-Wait..." Jake chuckled with heavy humor. "You think I wanna dump you because of the kid?"
The only noise that could be heard next was people talking across the large parking lot. Emily remained silent.
"Em...." Jake continued, "-why do you think I'm so mad you wanted an abortion?"
Not knowing what to say, she shrugged, causing him to continue. "Emily...." he said, bending down to his duffel bag to undo the zipper, "I want to be your boyfriend. Did I start to freak when I found out you were pregnant? Yeah, but that's because I already knew I was gonna be apart of the kids's life every single day. If you were having seconds thoughts about the baby, I wanted to be apart of it. I don't want you to be alone."
He roamed through the bag, brandishing a yellow and pink pregnancy guide. Emily stared in wonder as he roamed through the bag and pulled out four other pregnancy books similar to the first, with the last large book labeled Babies for Dummies 101.
Emily watched the books he held, confused by what this meant until Jake came over to wrap her in a hug. "I'm sorry I've been distant, but it's not because of you. I started freaking out I was gonna be a horrible teenage dad."
Emily tried not to laugh as she returned his hug. Burying her face into his strong shoulder, her voice came out rather muffled. "Jake....Please don't date me because you don't want to dump me solely for being pregnant..."
Jake started laughing, placing light kisses along Emily's jawline. "Ha, well unfortunately for the kid, he's gonna have to get used to me" he shrugged, gently placing a warm kiss on Emily's lips. "Cause' I'm in love with his mom, and I don't plan on ever letting her go" he finished with a smug smile against her mouth.
Emily laughed before he kissed her again pressing his forehead against hers. She mentally took note of something before she chuckled. "Did you just call the baby a he....?"
"Yeah. It's gonna be a boy, and I'll have a little person to teach how to game. Let's not forget, I get a great excuse to go trick-er-treating again. We're gonna have bad-ass Batman & Robin costumes" Jake nodded seriously.
Emily rolled her eyes at the mental thought while Jake continued to gently kiss her neck. "And if the baby's a girl....?"
"It wont be, but I have a backup plan. She'll be Batgirl" he nodded gravely.
Emily stared sadly at Jake's wistful smile. It broke her heart that he was already planning his life around having a girlfriend who was pregnant with another man's baby. "I wont be offended by breaking up, Jake.....But, I'd rather do it sooner than later...."
"-Fine!" Jake shot back in mock anger. "We'll dress the girl up as a Harley Quinn instead if you hate Batgirl so much" he shrugged halfheartedly, looking as though he was resisting breaking out in a fit of laughter.
Emily couldn't help but laugh at his expression. The randomness was so very funny, it felt great to just to laugh at absolutely nothing too particular other than dressing up the baby for Halloween.
Jake nuzzled his head against Emily's affectionately. "Ooh, we could do a Silence of the Lambs themed costume. I'd be Hannibal, you'd be the FBI agent, and the baby..."
"-You are not pretending the baby's a human meal!" Emily squealed.
"-I was going to say dress him in a lamb costume, but I like the direction you went with that" Jake exclaimed brightly.
They enjoyed a good laugh before Jake gathered his books to toss back into his duffel bag.
"I don't even get a say in whether or not my child participates in Halloween festivities?" A familiar cruel voice asked in his velvety accent.
Emily flinched as Declan sauntered nearby, his graduation gown open to reveal his khaki colored pants and his light blue sweater vest underneath. He was a fancily dressed psycho.
Emily trembled in the familiar way she was prone to doing whenever Declan was around, so Jake was the one who was quick with the draw comment wise.
"Look at that, Emily. The RAPIST is claiming he's the father of your baby. You know, the one created out of RAPE" Jake replied loud enough that a group of passing seniors all grew silent as they quietly passed. Their walking now deliberately slowed as though not to miss a word of the exchange.
"If the paternity test comes back I'm the daddy, that doesn't mean I'm the one who attacked her on prom night" Declan replied innocently. "It just means we fucked previous to that night-"
Jake started towards Declan causing Emily to throw herself in front of him before attempting to hold him back.
"Jake, think....He's trying to goad you into hitting him again-"
"-Hey if he's up for another ass kicking, who am I'm to stop him!" Jake snarled towards Declan's direction.
"Relax, guard dog" Declan said calmly, his trademark crooked smile attached to him. "I wanted to give my child's mother a heads up."
He started to approach Emily, causing Jake to gently move her trembling body to now stand directly behind him. It took her out of Declan's path, but now, Emily couldn't hold Jake back if he decided to attack him.
"Now...Paternity will take a while to establish. I assume you'll either want to do the unsafe procedure at around fifteen weeks where it poses harm to the baby, or, you'll probably want to wait until after the child's born-"
"-Get to the part where your dumbass make a point" Jake snapped, causing Declan to hold up his palms in a I-come-in-peace motion.
He smiled wistfully. "Although it was another man who unfortunately took advantage of you on prom, I hold no doubt the child will share half of my DNA-"
"-I wonder why you would think such a thing" Emily interrupted coldly.
"-Therefore, my lawyers are going to recommend you drop these silly accusations that I assaulted you. It's insulting to both of us" Declan finished, acting as though he never heard Emily speak.
Jake started to laugh. "So you want Emily to drop the charges that you raped her because the kid will come back having your DNA....Do you listen to yourself when you speak, British Face? I mean, you should really try sometime, because a lot of dumb shit spews out of your mouth-"
"-The charges against me will be dropped upon my first day in court" Declan intervened in a bored voice. "There's no evidence I was even inside that room that night let alone inside Emily-"
Emily worked to keep ahold of Jake's shoulders as he reached for Declan. The latter danced back with a slick grin spread across his red lips, "-however, say there is a sympathetic judge who feels the need to believe your sham of a story, I recommend dropping the charges against me, or, I'm afraid I'm going to have to petition for joint custody of our child when it's born."
Emily's mouth dropped open as her hands fell from holding Jake back as they floated to her stomach protectively.
While she stared at the smug Declan in shock, it seemed Jake was sporting the same stupefied expression she was.
He slowly approached Declan, a look of utter shock and repulse on his handsome face.
"So...You're going to go after joint custody for the baby that's only here because you raped Emily?"
"I did no such thing..." Declan said, making sure his voice held perfect innocence. "But, if Emily doesn't drop these insane allegations, I'm going to have to. Now, joint custody is actually quite generous of me. When the time comes, I should probably sue her for full custody considering dear Emily must be mentally ill to be believe I needed rape to fuck her-"
He couldn't finish his sentence before Jake pounced. His arm had retracted and socked Declan to the nose so very fast, Emily was certain it happened in the blink of an eye. This time, Declan wasn't going to not participate in a fight solely because they were in a police station. He fought back. Declan punched Jake to the face right before Jake pulled an uppercut into his gut.
The force of both tall guys going at each other was so strong it caused the boys to tumble to the cement where they began beating every inch of each other they could reach.
Emily started yelling for Jake to stop, but, it was no use. All the many weeks of pent up rage at Declan Carter was starting to come to a blow for Jake. All Emily was concerned about was making sure he didn't get arrested again for assault. But, there was no way Jake wouldn't. There was a group of witnesses already watching the heated exchange before an even larger group now made their way over to chant words of encouragement to fight.
It was watching Jake take a hit to the head that looked hard enough to daze him that was enough for Emily. She made to move towards Declan to pull him off of Jake before a strong arm wrapped around her waist to pull her back.
"No, Emily. Not in your condition" Mr. Turner said, sparing her stomach a quick glance before he went to intervene with the fight.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mr. Turner shouted, attempting to pull Declan off of Jake. He couldn't move the two fighting teenagers. In an effort to stop him, Mr. Turner roughly shoved Declan. This in turn, just got him punched to the face by the angry Declan.
Mr. Turner's head swiveled as his lip was now bleeding. Jake slugged Declan to the jaw once more before a retaliation was quickly countered.
Mr. Turner launched himself at the obviously more reasonable Jake. He grabbed his shoulders holding him back, causing Jake to immediately stop struggling. But, Jake was not anticipating Declan to throw an attack while he wasn't looking. Declan launched a powerful punch to Jake's eye, causing him to go down to the hard ground.
Mr. Turner looked about ready to tackle Declan before someone else beat him to it. Declan was suddenly pinned against a nearby car, his face roughly smacking against the roof of the small red BMW.
"Looks like I'm a little late to the party" Mr. Frise said nonchalantly, keeping Declan pinned by using his arm to hold the back of his neck. "Noah, you alright, man?"
"Fantastic" Mr. Turner growled, sparing Declan a look of absolute loathing. He quickly turned to eye Emily, his mouth now lightly bleeding. "Are you alright? He didn't hurt you or the baby, did he??"
"Er..No..." Emily said, quickly moving over to where Jake kneeled on the cement. He looked horrible. His bottom lip was swollen and heavily bleeding while his left eye was now red and blood shot, no doubt the starting of a really bad black eye.
"Let go of me...HE started it!" Declan growled, struggling only for Mr. Frise to press his face harder against the car. "He attacked me first, I was just defending myself!!"
"If you stop struggling, I'll release you" Mr. Frise said calmly, seemingly on the verge of trying to hold his patience. "You attacked a teacher, Mr. Carter-"
"-That TEACHERS AID-" Declan clarified, "-hit ME first by shoving me. That's ALSO self defense you overpaid waste of space-"
Mr. Frise took a deep breath through his nose before roughly pinning Declan against the car. The impact caused Declan's head to roughly smack against the roof of the car. The teacher was strong. Declan couldn't escape his grasp.
"We're going to play the time-out game" Mr. Frise said calmly, in a voice saturated with heavy sarcasm. "If you behave like a good little boy for the next full minute, I'll release you. Now, you group of students...." he trailed off, nodding his head at the watching crowd. "Either be kind enough to fetch a security guard, or disband right now."
With murmured response people started taking off either for their cars or for the school where a security guard was stationed inside.
"Wait until my father hears about this!" Declan snarled vehemently, casting horrible looks to Emily, Jake, and Mr. Turner. "Both of you are going to be booked for assault, and you Mr. Frise are going to be out on your arse after you're fired for assaulting me-"
"-Do shut up, Mr. Carter" Mr. Frise sighed tiredly. "You're doing that really annoying thing again."
Even while Declan's face was roughly pressed against the roof of the car, he tried glancing at Mr. Frise in puzzlement.
"You know..." Mr. Frise continued seriously, before releasing Declan. The movement caused him to drop in a slump on the ground. "-That thing you do when your lips are moving and words are coming out. It's enough to make ears want to bleed."
If looks could kill, the teacher would have dropped dead from the beyond cold look Declan was casting him. "You're all going to regret what you just did-"
"-Right" Mr. Frise sighed, rolling his blue-green eyes. "You got this?" he asked Mr. Turner.
"Yeah, Matt, thanks" Noah Turner muttered, casting Declan a blank look that Emily found was rather frightening.
"Er.....Can you see what happened to Cartwright? He was supposed to present the seniors with those athletic awards and he never showed."
"Yep" Mr. Frise said, throwing a thumbs up. "After that, I'm going to be in a corner contemplating how overworked and underpaid teachers actually are" he muttered crossly before turning his attention to Emily and Jake. "Mr. Moseley, Miss Daz, stay golden" he yawned, turning on his heel and exiting.
Emily mentally smiled knowing that quote was from the novel The Outsiders.
After helping Jake up, she grew fearful that Mr. Turner was going to have Jake arrested as Barney Garrett the security guard came over.
"Well I dunno about you guys..." Mr. Turner said, sparing Emily and Jake an innocent glance. "-But I feel if Mr. Carter is willing to pretend nothing happened here, we don't need to inform the police that he attacked Mr. Moseley. Isn't that right?"
"WHAT!?!" Declan howled in anger. "You can't honestly think you'll get away with such a farce-"
"-I'm good with not telling the police he attacked me after threatening my pregnant girlfriend" Jake said, his eyes not leaving Declan as he defensively stepped in front of Emily. None of this was true. Jake threw the first punch, but, Mr. Turner seemed dead set on turning this back towards Declan.
"There were witnesses!" Declan snarled. "They all saw this hoodrat attacked me-"
"-I clearly saw you throw the first punch, Mr. Carter" Mr. Turner lied smoothly. "I'll have the same story from Emily, Jacob, and even Mr. Frise; a respected teacher of this community. Who do you think the police are going to believe?" Mr. Turner pushed, his voice filled with venom. "The snobby brat who already has rape charges against him, or four other people? You can try to fight what happened here today, but trust when I saw you will not win" he finished in such a darkly cold voice it caused Emily to be quite thankful she wasn't on Mr. Turner's bad side.
Declan's cruel looks dropped slowly almost as if a dawning realization was slowly forming on him. "I know you..." he muttered, his upper lip bleeding as his eye looked to be swelling from the hit from Jake.
"You were there....That night at the party-"
"-Good bye, Mr. Carter. Please keep in mind that I won't always be around to halt Mr. Moseley from kicking your pompous ass" Mr. Turner replied coolly, his penetrating ice-blue eyes narrowing into slits.
Mr. Turner then explained to Barney it was a false alarm after Declan obviously felt it was a good idea not to push the matter of the fight to the security guard.
Emily and Jake made their way to the truck, Emily thankful that the situation hadn't escalated to the police being called. From her experience with dealing with the Austin PD the last few weeks, they weren't very talented at punishing the right people.
Emily pulled herself into Jake's truck, her hands caressing her stomach after she closed the door. After everything that had just gone down, there was only one thing she could concentrate on. Fear started to pool in her thoughts thinking of Declan's previous words. Could he actually sue her for custody of the baby once he or she was born? There's no way he could legally do such a thing.....right?
She had a very bad feeling his threat may not have been all fluff.
"SonOfABitch" Jake breathed as one word, his un-swollen eye staring across the parking lot.
Emily's gaze drifted over to where he was looking at the faculty part of the parking lot. Coming out of decent sized black sedan with tinted windows came Coach Cartwright. The tall man stood up straight as he made sure no residue people from graduation were looking in the direction he was. Casually, the coach zipped up his fly and stretched himself before he quickly headed into the back side entrance of the large school.
It wasn't him Jake was watching. Emily's eyes widened as she took in the familiar girl exiting the truck soon afterwards. Miranda Carter carefully looked around to make no one was paying any attention to where she was.
She was fine - no one was looking. The teenager attempted to fix her hair that looked a flyaway mess that could only happen from lying down in the back of the car.
No one beside Emily and Jake noticed the compromising position Miranda was just in with the coach. The few remaining stragglers in the parking lot were either happily conversing with themselves about the graduation ceremony or others were talking animatedly talking to family members.
As Miranda wiped at her mouth as well as buttoned the last two pearl-white buttons of her red blouse, she caught sight of the two people who were watching her across the parking lot with wide eyes.
Miranda hurried away rather quickly, but, she hadn't been fast enough. Jake and Emily still caught on to what she and Coach Cartwright had been doing in the back of the car. It had been nothing academic or sport related.
"Of course on graduation day we get the biggest scoop of our high school club's year and we don't even get to use it" Jake scowled. "I guess both Carter kids are scum balls, huh?"
Strangely, that wasn't what Emily was paying attention to.
Miranda Carter had obviously been the one having the illegal underage romance with the older coach, but, she hadn't been in her own car. Miranda scurried over to the other side of the parking lot towards her own parked black sedan with tinted windows.
Emily couldn't place her finger as to why this irked her, but, she realized Coach Cartwright and Miranda Carter both drove the exact same model of car.