Life’s Strange Turns Ch. 07-08

Somehow we made it into the bedroom. The bed was unmade and she just pushed the sheets aside. She stripped off quickly and I only had on a robe which was immediately discarded. She lay down and I stared. The woman had not changed a bit. She was the most gorgeous creature on the planet and she was back in my bed. I didn't know where to start, but she handled that.

"Dennis, please just fuck me. Fuck me now. Fuck me hard. I haven't been fucked in three years."

Three years? I was getting hard pretty quickly so I lay down on top of her, my dick between her legs and kissed her again. Her kisses and the way she used her tongue could always make my dick stand up like a fucking railroad spike. I was hard in no time and I pushed it forward. She reached down and placed it into her opening, which was getting wet. She rubbed it around and got the head wet and then started inserting it into her. She groaned.

"Oh, fuck, Dennis. I really need this."

Really? I started fucking her hard. At that point I couldn't tell if I was taking out my anger on her cunt, or wanted to make it mine again. I just kept fucking her. She was holding on for dear life now as I pounded hard. She screamed out her orgasm and I just kept pounding, looking for mine. Finally I came, hard, and collapsed on top of her.

I rested there for a moment and then rose up and looked at her. She would not meet my eyes. I rolled off to the side. She suddenly started pushing me away. She was struggling to do it quickly so I immediately rolled back onto my back. She stood up. What was she doing?

*******Jennifer *******

I wanted to feel him again. The man I had always loved and whose child I bore.

We kissed and I told him to fuck me. I used the dirty words to make it sound like I just needed to get laid. I didn't want to ask him to make love to me. That would have been too much.

So he did exactly as I asked. He fucked me. It felt completely physical. When he finished I knew that I had been postponing what I really came for. I was horny, still in love and attracted to him, and satisfied that need before I had to face the task that I had been putting off for over 6 years. It was time to face the music.

I got up, the tears coming as I faced the reality of telling him that we had a daughter and that she was dying.

*******Dennis *******

Jennifer was staring at me now. "I really needed a good fuck, thank you, but I came here for something else and just got carried away."

Well, that didn't make me feel any better. "Perhaps we'd better leave the bedroom." I was heading back to the bottom of that terrible abyss.

She agreed by just grabbing her clothes and heading into the living room. I got up and put my robe on and went into the other room. I watched her get dressed, which was just as sexy as when she got undressed. Fuck, what the hell was going on?

She started pacing. "Look, I really didn't come here for that, but I needed it. I'm sorry."

I wanted to hold her and comfort her, but she kept pacing, moving away from me. "I'm not sorry. I'm glad we made love again. Please, stop moving around."

"I can't. I'm not here for me. I have something to tell you that you may not like." She stopped pacing and turned and looked at me. I sat down. "It's something I tried to tell you a long time ago, but decided that I had to bear it alone." I stared, not sure what was happening. "You met Angela. Well... she's sick. She has what is called aplastic anemia. The doctors are recommending a bone marrow transplant and I don't match up well." She looked at me. I was still confused.

"And...?"

"The doctors want to check the marrow of the father." She looked at me, the tears starting to run down her face.

I stared. Was she saying what I thought? "Are you... I mean are you telling me...."

"Yes, you are Angela's father." At that she broke down, sobbing hard, collapsing on the nearest chair. She held her hands in her face while I stared, trying to understand what had just happened. I thought about that beautiful little girl with the ice cream cone. She was so full of life and just getting started with it. My heart was full of love and anger and confusion. Unfortunately, anger got the better part of me at that moment.

"So you are telling me that I have a daughter, a fact which you kept from me for 6 years?" The anger was obvious.

"Yes." She looked at me, terrified and meek.

"Didn't you think that I would like to know that? You introduced me to her last Christmas and you couldn't tell me that? What the fuck, Jennifer?"

Her eyes were brimming with tears. "Sorry."

"That's it?! Sorry?!"

Now she was angry, too. "What do you want me to say? I wanted to tell you, but you wouldn't answer my calls for three months and I decided I would raise her myself. Too fucking bad for you! I thought you had shut me completely out of your life!"

"Yes, but we are talking about a child! My child!"

"No. She's my child, you asshole! You haven't done one thing for her except fuck me and get me pregnant!"

"Yeah. What about that? Were you trying to trap me? Did you go off birth control just to get pregnant by me?"

"Fuck you! I didn't do that! It just happened, okay? Birth control pills are not 100%! Besides, it looked like you weren't suffering based on what I saw with Sarah!"

"ARGH! That's none or your business, is it? You fucked around, I found out, and you got what you deserved!"

"I knew this was a fucking mistake. I knew you couldn't get past what I did to you; not even for your own daughter. You've changed, asshole!"

"You haven't! And I didn't say I wouldn't help. She's my flesh and blood. I'll do whatever I can to help her."

That seemed to calm Jennifer down. She looked at me closely. "Okay. I'll give you the information. I'll go out to the car and get it." She walked to the front door, turned to look at me, my face still showing my anger, and went out to her car.

When Jennifer got back in, I had calmed myself a little, but I was still angry. "So why did you have to fuck me? You think that would get me to do it?"

She gaped and initially ignored the question. "It's not positive that you will be a good donor, but we are looking elsewhere and we need to see if you are. You are the best choice right now, so you'll have to be tested and then the procedure performed. If it works, there's about an 85% chance she can lead a normal life. We'll have to do it at the Children's Hospital in St. Louis. That's where she is and I can take her home whenever she's up to it." She turned to look at me directly and said much more softly. "Sorry about the sexual attack in there. I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty about not helping when I asked. I just... I mean...." She stopped and looked at me. "I just need your help this one time."

"Yeah, like it really meant anything."

That set her off again. "Fuck! You really have changed. You are a complete asshole. I guess you haven't found anyone else to fall in love with!"

"No, I haven't. You inoculated me against that bane of man's existence."

She walked over and handed me an envelope with the papers in it. She was starting to cry.

"Please, just promise you will do this for Angela. I'm leaving."

I let her walk out of my apartment and I was kicking myself within 15 minutes of her departure. Fuck! Why was I so out of control? The more I thought about it, the more I knew it was because I had never been able to be angry with her the first time. I was still in love with her and I was taking the reason we broke up out on her several years later.

3rd of July 2007

*******Dennis *******

I arrived in St. Louis just before the lunch hour. I had made arrangements to have the test done at my doctor's in Chicago as soon as I could and they, working with St. Louis Children's Hospital, had determined that I was, indeed, a good match for Angela. Jennifer had made me wait until Angela had been treated with a two month plan to get her ready to receive my marrow before I could meet her and tell her who I was. It was time to face my daughter for the first time as 'Dad'. I was petrified.

I parked in the parking garage and made my way into the hospital. Jennifer had provided me directions and her room number. She told me to call ahead and I called while in the garage to tell her I would be there in about 10 minutes. I made my way there and paused outside the door, gathering my strength.

Jennifer met me outside the room, looking a little haggard, but still beautiful. "Angela is tired. She's had some chemo, so her immune system is low and we can't spend too much time with her. I also want to tell her you are her father, but let's not spend too much time with her after that." She looked down at the large Pooh I was carrying and smiled. "She'll love that, but she can't have it right now. Why don't you leave it at the desk and you can give it to her later."

Before I entered the room with Jennifer, they made me scrub up and put on a mask and gloves. The chemotherapy was designed to weaken her immune system. This would supposed to ensure that the blood cells were replenished by the production of replacement cells from my implanted marrow. Once we got in the room, I could see that Angela did look tired. She also had a tube in the middle of her chest. I had read about this, but it was different seeing it.

"Hello, Angela." I moved towards the bed and Angela. "Remember me?"

Jennifer stayed quiet and looked at her daughter. Angela responded quietly. "Uh-huh. We met in the mall, right Mommy?"

"That's right, sweetheart, this is Mr. Dennis."

"Honey, I want to tell you something important." Jennifer turned Angela toward her, where she had moved to the other side of the bed.

"What, Mommy?"

"Well, remember when we had that discussion about fathers?"

"Yes, Mommy, of course I remember." She was smart and attentive for her age, but still appeared sluggish.

"Well...." Jennifer looked up at me, tears coming as she prepared to tell her daughter such a secret. "Mr. Dennis is your father." Her voice almost cracked.

Angela looked at me. Then she looked back at her mother in a questioning manner. Her brow was knitted as she tried to understand. Finally, she turned back to me and smiled.

"You're my daddy?"

"Yes, Angela, I'm your daddy." I tried to remain calm under the circumstances, but it was difficult. I was being introduced to my beautiful young daughter, who was possibly dying.

She stared at me for another couple of seconds. "Daddy!" She cried and put her arms up for a hug. Apparently, children were much more accepting of something like this.

I leaned forward and she hugged me hard, squeezing my neck so much that I was almost pulled off my feet. I was surprised at her strength considering the chemo. I was pulling back and she gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Daddy! Where you been? Why haven't you come to see me? Jody's daddy is always around. Can you stay with us? Can you teach me to ride a bike?" And the questions kept coming faster than I could keep up. I guess I had a lot of catching up to do on understanding the mind of an almost 6-year-old girl.

After about 30 minutes of trying to keep up with the questions and meanderings of my newly found daughter, I stepped out of the room. She was fading, her energy sapped, and she needed some rest before they started the bone marrow transplant tomorrow. They were going to "harvest" it from me and implant it into her on the same day. Evidently, it was better to use fresh marrow if possible, rather than freezing it. Somehow I couldn't help but feel like a fish.

Jennifer was waiting for me in the waiting area. She was crying and I wanted to comfort her. I knew that it was tearing her up to see her daughter like this. It was hitting me hard and I just found out I was a father! The problem was that I just didn't know how. I was going to go talk to her, but I was interrupted when her mother and Diane came in.

Her mother was very nice. "Hello, Dennis." She shook my hand. "How do you feel having just met your daughter?"

"It's still a little bit of a shock, especially since she's sick. But she's very beautiful." I tried to smile. She gave me a nice pat on the arm and turned to Jennifer before I could say more.

I turned to Diane, but she was acting cold enough to give me frostbite.

I waited while they talked, but then Jennifer and her mother had to go to meet the doctor and said it would be a while. I decided to head over to my family's house rather than stay with the ice queen.

I arrived at my mother's house just before dinner and everyone was happy to see me. They plied me with dozens of questions and I tried to answer them the best way I knew how.

"You know I met them when Angela was young."

I looked at her. "You told me she had a baby, but you didn't say you met her."

"I was in the mall and she was just under a year old. At the time I didn't think anything about it. But now that I think back on it, I should have recognized the blue eyes and questioned the age."

"It doesn't matter now."

"So what are you going to do now?" My sister Jessica was staring at me with a slight grin on her face.

"I don't know for sure. Would it surprise you to say that I think I'm still in love with Jennifer?"

Susan grimaced, Jessica laughed, and my mother smirked. My mother spoke first. "Not really."

"Yeah, well, she screwed around on me, I got angry, and I couldn't see how I could forgive her."

"What?" None of them knew the entire story of how I found out about this so I told them.

"Well, that's quite a story. You know you've always been a bit of a straight-laced moralist. What did Jennifer say about this incident?" My mother, always the rational one.

Is that what it was? An incident? I thought about it. Come to think of it, I had never heard her side. I had completely shut her out. "I don't know. We never talked again after that."

They all stared at me for a minute and I knew I had to at least ask her that.

5th of July 2007

I awoke the next morning very early and got ready for the hospital. They said it was not going to be painful since it was done under general anesthesia, but I was prepared for the worst.

My mother took me to the hospital since they were going to keep me overnight. I found my way to the station where they had told me to report. Jennifer and Diane were already there. We exchanged short and unpleasant pleasantries and the nurse led me to the area where they'd prep me for surgery. I completed the last of the paperwork, most of which I had done before I came to St. Louis. I changed into a gown and the doctor came in to talk to me. He told me this was called an allogeneic transplant. That meant that it was coming from a relative. He went through the procedure and asked me if I had any questions. I had already been through all the questions with my doctor in Chicago, so I said no and he left. A nurse came in and put me on a gurney, slapped an IV into my arm and smiled.

"Good luck." She then injected something into the IV access port. "This will get you started before the surgery. Thank you for doing this."

I looked at her and wondered why she was thanking me, but soon I was barely able to tell where I was. I just remember seeing the lights flash overhead as they moved me. And then I woke up in a room, feeling nauseous. As I woke up, I realized that my mother and sister, Jessica, where there. There was no sign of Jennifer. I asked with my cotton mouth if they had finished with Angela yet. My mother gave me some water and I sucked greedily thru the straw.

"No." She took the water away and looked down at me. "We haven't heard a word from the Hausman's."

"What time is it?"

"It's a little after 1. They were supposed to start on Angela at 11. They said that it can take up to 5 hours to give it to her. I understand that it's just done similar to receiving a blood transfusion. We'll try to find out. I also have my new cell phone and can give my number to Jennifer."

"Okay. Thanks. How long you guys going to stay?"

"Ummm. Not too much longer. Do you want us to stick around long? I brought you the new Lee Child novel that you wanted."

"Nah. You guys can take off if you want." She left to see if she could find any members of the Hausman family and I was left alone with my sister, Jessica. She was looking at me expectantly and I didn't know why.

"What?"

"I have a good friend who knows Jennifer and I've wanted to tell you this since you got home. She said that she's known Jennifer for 15 years now and that she's never seen anyone so in love as she is with you. Even now."

I stared at her. "I haven't spoken to her but once in 6 years. How was I supposed to know that?"

"Well. What she told me was that once Jennifer found out she was pregnant she wanted to tell you. When you wouldn't talk to her she still decided to keep the baby. Her family wanted to tell you, but she didn't. Jennifer knows you very well. She figured that you would either think she was trying to trap you or get you to marry her. She was more sure that you would try to marry her because of the type of person you are. She also felt that if that happened that it would poison your relationship. She only wanted you back if you wanted her because you loved her. The baby couldn't be part of your reason."

I sat and stared. I knew I had acted harshly, but I didn't know about this.

"But I never knew she got pregnant. All I knew was that she had slept with some guy while we were being exclusive and then didn't tell me. I had to find out at a party when she was telling her girlfriends. I was just angry. I assumed that we had both gotten along with our lives."

She looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world. "You are really clueless about this, aren't you?"

"What are you trying to say?" My mind was still a little fuzzy and I couldn't understand what she was trying to say.

"Neither of you have gotten on with your lives. You both love each other so much it's not allowing either of you to move on."

"You don't know that."

"Don't I? I see the way you light up whenever she's around and then the way you become depressed when she leaves or the incident with that other guy is mentioned. Geez. You can't even see what's going on. She did that because she was young, in love, and scared. Why do you think there are so many problems between men and women just before marriage? They are both feeling that. She was 22 years old, for fuck's sake. Get over it. You love her and she loves you. I'd give anything to have what you to have."

I stared at her. Jessica was the peacemaker in the family. I had never heard her use the word fuck and speak to me so harshly. I think that's what woke me up to what she was saying. "That still doesn't make what she did right."

"No. It never will. But you have to decide if you can forgive her. She made a mistake when you guys were dating. You weren't married, you weren't engaged, and you weren't really even going steady. Christ! Guys! No wonder men and women can't seem to get together. They can't even get out of their own way long enough to build a solid relationship."

"But..."

She cut me off. "But what?! There are no buts. Just get off your ass and go after her! She'll fold in a microsecond."

I smiled at her. "Are you working on becoming a couples counselor or something?

She looked at me, ready to blast me for that remark. But she saw the humor in my eyes and realized I was joking. "If that's what it takes to get you together with the love of your life, yes!"

I motioned with my hand. "Come over here." She stood and walked to me. I reached out, pulled her down and gave her a big hug. "Thanks, sis."

She stood back up. "You're welcome!" She punched me in the shoulder and grinned. "Jerk!" Then she looked over her shoulder at someone coming into the room, but it wasn't our mother, just a nurse. She checked my vitals and left. Jessica remained standing. "I'm going to go get something to drink. You need anything?"