"John, this is ridiculous! I'm not a child!" I spat as I watched him throw his clothes into a suitcase from the edge of the bed.
"I know yer not. That's not what this is about!"
I groaned dramatically and rubbed my temples.
"I just don't understand why yer so worked up about this. I only want to be there for ye!"
"I don't need you to be there for me!"
John shook his head as he walked over to the closet.
"Sadie, I know ye want to be independent, but this is just as much me business as it is yours. I think if ye went by yourself you'd be putting far too much stress on the baby." He replied sternly as he continued packing.
"You're putting stress on me and the baby by pushing this so hard!" I looked down to my tummy and placed my hand on it delicately.
John seemed hurt, and I was immediately ridden with guilt. How could I be so cruel to him when he'd been nothing but nice to me? I sighed heavily.
"Look Sadie, I'm not trying to make ye uncomfortable, I just..."
"John, I'm sorry. You don't have to explain yourself. You've done nothing wrong." I paused briefly and he smiled at me.
"I'm just nervous, okay? I don't know what to do! My parents are probably going to kill me and George... oh god." I felt sick, my thoughts running around crazily.
"See, this is why I want to be with ye. Ye can't handle this on yer own." He said as he took a seat next to me, brushing my hair with his fingers. "Just let me be there for ye... as yer friend...please."
I cracked a half-hearted smile. Though I had my fears, I knew there was no way of talking him out of this.
"Alright. You can come. But I want to tell George about the baby on my own, alright?"
"Sure." John nodded and pulled me close for a side-hug.
"Have ye packed yet?" He asked as he rubbed the small of my back through my shirt.
"Yes, everything is in the guest room." I said quietly.
John grinned and got up to retrieve his own suitcase. We met in the kitchen several minutes later.
"Here." John extends his arm out and hands me a grocery bag.
"What is it?" I ask, furrowing my brows.
"It's a disguise."
"You've got to be kidding me." I let out a small laugh before taking the blonde wig and sunglasses out of the bag to inspect them.
"I know it seems mad but we can't take any more chances after what happened at the hospital."
As stupid as it seemed, John was right about this. I tossed the wig on and brushed it out in the mirror, then placed the sunglasses on my face and did a twirl in front of John. He giggled and reached out to grab a piece of my fake hair.
"I always knew you'd be a pretty blonde." He chuckled again, and quickly got to work putting on his own disguise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flight was smoother than I expected, and thankfully I hadn't gotten sick. There was very little turbulence, and once we took off I was actually able to sleep most of the way.
To my surprise, I felt relieved to have John by my side. As much as I wanted to face my issues alone, I was happy to have his support. He really did make me feel protected.
We'd just been given the go-ahead to exit the plane, so we rose from our seats and began to stroll towards the gate.
~~~~~~~~~~
As John and walk down the ramp that leads to the airport terminal, my heart feels like it's doing somersaults in my chest.
Not only am I terrified of facing George and my parents, but I'm still frazzled from the photographs those reporters took. I knew that returning home was going to be difficult, but only now am I realizing just how unprepared I am to be back, and it's far too late to be panicking.
The moment we pass through the doors and enter the terminal, I take a long, anxious sigh. My breath all of the sudden feels incredibly shaky and my legs feel as if they've turned to gel.
John notices what's going on and takes my hand, lacing his fingers in mine as we walk through the airport to the car waiting for us. It was a small gesture, but it reassured me and made me feel a bit better.
"Evening, Mr. and Mrs. Lemon." The man greets us, making me smirk immediately. John looks over to me and I lose it. We both break out in a fit of laughter as we take our respective seats in the car.
"Lemon?" I whisper in his ear, trying not to laugh more as I fasten my seatbelt. "Had to think on me feet..." John playfully hits my shoulder and we both start to laugh again.
"Where to?" says the man in the drivers seat.
I collect myself and widen my eyes, suddenly realizing that I have no idea where to go.
"Um..." I quickly mull over my thoughts. Do I go home? Do I go to a hotel? Do I jump into oncoming traffic? Oh god.
"Today, darling." The man speaks again, this time with impatience filling his words.
"Take us to your nearest hotel." John answers for me. The man nods his head and begins to drive. I gulp down the lump in my throat.
"Hotel?" I ask him.
"Sadie, there's no way ye can face George or yer parents tonight. Besides, it's very late. We'll deal with everything in the morning, yeah?"
"Okay." I sigh and take his hand, then look out of the window.
As we ride along, the familiar scenery of home brings tears to my eyes. For so many years this was where I felt most safe and comfortable, and now I would give anything to be anywhere else in the world. How life has changed...
"Hey." I'm broken out of my daydream by John's voice.
"Hey." I turn my head to face him.
"Are ye alright?" He asks as he notices my tear-stained cheeks.
"I'm fine. I'm just..." I leave my sentence hanging for a second. "I'm just scared."
He gives me a half-hearted smile and looks down to my stomach, then places his hand on it.
"I know, Sadie. It's going to be tough but ye got me. I'm right here." He assured me. "I'll always be right here."
Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. We just switched from looking at each other to looking at my stomach over and over again.
After a while I cleared my throat and spoke up.
"John, I want you to know that I really appreciate you coming."
He smiled wide, his precious dimples showing themselves off.
"I know I didn't make you feel very welcome, but I really don't think I could handle this without you." I said, looking down again at my still relatively flat tummy. "It means a lot to us."
"Well ye and the little mean a lot to me." He grinned. "Ye mean more to me than you'll ever know..."
I looked into his eyes and saw that they were a touch watery.
"What's the matter?" I inquired, reaching for his cheek to wipe his tear away.
John began chuckling and briefly looked out of the window, then back at me.
"Can I ask ye something?" He asks, seemingly pensive.
"Of course." I retort.
"Did ye ever think of me?"
My eyes grow, and I raise a brow in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"When ye left New York the first time... when ye and George got back together... did ye ever think about me? About us?"
My heartbeat quickened.
"Of course! John, you're very dear to me and you know that. Why?"
He locked eyes with me, sweet emotion feeling his brown orbs.
"I thought about you everyday." He mumbled.
I waited for a second to reply, processing what he had just said.
"Really?"
"Whenever we'd talk on the phone I wanted to tell ye how much I missed ye, but I couldn't. Ye seemed like ye were happy and I didn't want to ruin that."
"John..."
"Sadie I know when we made love that first night ye were still emotional from George breaking things off with ye..." he paused. "But that night might've created this little one." He grinned through his tears and looked to my belly again.
I chuckled softly and looked with him, then we locked eyes again.
"It's quite something, isn't it?" I said. "But John you know..."
"It might not be mine, I know that." He finished my sentence. "But I'm not gonna be mad if it is." He confessed.
I didn't quite know what to say, so I simply stared at him as he continued talking.
"Listen, I don't want anything to ruin our friendship..." He said out of the blue, his voice quiet and meek.
"Why would anything ruin our friendship?" I asked, placing my hand in his once again to reassure him.
"I don't want to lose ye, Sadie." His tone was so low it was nearly inaudible. "Promise me I won't lose ye." My eyes welled with tears.
"John, You're scaring me... what's wrong?" I was genuinely starting to panic as John became more and more emotional.
John opened his mouth to speak, but before he had a chance to say anything the car stopped abruptly, right in front of the hotel. I couldn't help but notice right off the bat that it was the same one George had taken me to for my birthday. Wonderful.
"Alright Mr. and Mrs. Lemon, here we are!" The driver announces. I don't even react to him, my eyes stay glued to John's face.
"John?" I mumble sheepishly one last time, squeezing his hand tight.
"Sadie, I'm in love with ye."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't even know anymore, ya'll LOL.
Sorry if it seems like I'm making this a John story... I swear that wasn't the intention. I'm just loving how soft he is! Next chapter will include George, don't you worry!