A Love from the Past Ch. 14-15

"I love you more than you'll ever know," Dex whispered.

"I know," Shella murmured.

"Cool pumpkin," Shella told Netalia as they sat in the living room drinking hot chocolate in front of a warm fire.

"Thanks. Uncle Jason helped with the design," Netalia said, taking a sip of her juice.

"Uncle, I love hearing that," Jason said with a grin. Shella laughed and rubbed her belly again. "You okay?" Jason asked her. Shella nodded.

"I swear this kid is trying to destroy my internal organs," she complained. Dex opened his mouth to say something. "And if you say soon, Dexter David Thorne, I swear to God I will shove my foot as far up your ass as I can get it," Shella threatened. Dex swallowed and Tina burst out laughing.

"Can I use that on Tommy?" Kara asked, her eyes twinkling.

"Be my guest." Shella yawned and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Does anyone mind if I go up to bed? I'm exhausted," she groaned.

"Don't feel you have to stay up on our account," Jason said, giving his sister a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, check this out!" Netalia exclaimed.

"That's pretty," Shella said, glancing at the dress Netalia was looking at.

"Shella, is that you?" Shella and Netalia looked up and Shella gasped in surprise.

"Hello mother," Shella said.

"You're looking ... well. Who's your friend?" Sue asked.

"This is Netalia, my daughter," Shella answered hesitantly. Sue studied Netalia closely and smiled.

"I should have looked closer. You look so much like your mother," Sue said with a smile.

"What do you want mother?" Shella wanted to know, counting silently in her head, hoping to calm her racing heart.

"I was shopping for Kirsten's daughter. She's turning eight next week, and I thought I saw you. Your father would have a heart attack if he knew I was talking to you. He'd have a stroke if he knew you were pregnant," Sue said.

"Good," Shella said grumpily.

"Now you don't mean that," Sue said.

"He threw me out when I needed the two of you there with me! And worse, he didn't believe me about Dex being Netalia's father," Shella reminded her mother.

"You know how your father is. He's a very proud man. For you to get pregnant before you were married was a slap in the face for him," Sue told her daughter.

"But I got pregnant by the man the two of YOU decided with Sebastian that I should marry! We were two months off from the date of the wedding!" Shella exclaimed.

"But still two months off," Sue reminded Shella. Shella opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind and sighed.

"Did you find the dress you want Netalia?" Shella asked, ignoring her mother. Netalia nodded and glanced at her grandmother uneasily. "Then let's go, I have to pick up Paul from Tina and Jason's before we head home," Shella said. They turned and walked away. Netalia almost turned around when Sue called after them. "Ignore her, she doesn't deserve to have anything to do with you," Shella said softly.

-Later that night-

"I can't believe she tried to play innocent and blame everything on me! I can't believe she defended my father for throwing me out," Shella complained while she brushed her hair.

"They're married Shel, they back each other up, that's one of the things that makes relationships work," Dex reminded her.

"Like you would throw Netalia out if she made a poor judgment call and got pregnant before she was married," Shella said.

"No, I wouldn't. I'd just kill the boy that touched her," Dex told her. Shella giggled and set her brush on her night stand before settling back against the pillows. "How much longer?" he asked, stretching out beside her.

"A week," Shella answered.

"And do you feel okay?" Dex asked.

"As okay as I can feel at being thirty-nine weeks pregnant. Why, what are you up to?" Shella wanted to know, turning to face him.

"My father is flying in on a red eye flight. He wants to be here when the baby comes," Dex answered.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell are you doing here?" Shella asked, coming to a stop just inside the living room. Her father stood up. "I was invited," Phil answered.

"By whom?" Shella wanted to know.

"By me," Sebastian said from behind her, a frown marring his still handsome features.

"I refuse to eat in the same room with him," Shella said, turning around.

"You will eat because you need to and you will eat with your parents because I want the company of my daughter in law and my old friend," Sebastian insisted. Dex walked in, carrying Paul on his hip.

"Did you know anything about this?" Shella demanded to know.

"Not until about ten minutes ago," Dex answered. He set Paul down who went over to his toys and began playing.

"I can't do this Dex, I can't eat with them," Shella said after Dex walked over to her.

"Just come eat, pacify my father, be polite, when you're done, it'll be time to put Paul to bed and you can stay upstairs," Dex murmured.

"You should give your chef a raise," Phil told Dex.

"I made it," Shella said. Phil looked at his daughter in surprise. "I took culinary arts classes in college. Until recently, I worked as a test cooker for a culinary arts school near here," Shella told him.

"Why did you quit?" Sue asked.

"I have a hard time working with the stove and bending over to take things out of the oven," Shella said dryly.

Sue chuckled. "How much longer?" she wanted to know.

"I'm due next week," Shella answered. Paul took this moment to wave his arms around and let out and angry screech, sending the plate with his food flying off the table.

"I've got it," Dex said quickly. He cleaned the mess up off of the floor and returned to the table.

"Where is his father? The kid has too dark of a skin tone to be Dex's. What, did he leave you when you got pregnant?" Phil asked in a tone that revealed he was certain that was exactly what had happened.

"He's dead. He was attacked in our apartment right before I found out I was pregnant," Shella said softly. The hurt was almost over shadowed by her anger.

"And they were married," Dex added, reaching for her hand under the table.

"That must have been horrible," Sue murmured. Shella looked at her mother and for the first time in years, was comforted by the look her mother was giving her. Everyone looked up as Jason and Tina walked in.

"What's wrong?" Shella asked. "Where's Parker?"

"Nothing is wrong, Parker's with my mom. We were supposed to come over and plan Kara and Tommy's surprise party," Jason said.

"I completely forgot! Sebastian dropped in for a visit and invited the terrible duo over there," Shella said, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"It's okay, we'll come back another time," Tina said, giving Jason a look of concern.

"Unless you'd like us to stay," Jason added.

"You're welcome to, there's plenty," Shella said gratefully. Sebastian opened his mouth to object but Dex grinned and stood up.

"Let me get you guys some food," he told them. Jason and Tina sat down at the table.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I can not believe you did that!" Dex shouted to his father later that night after everyone had gone.

"Phil and I are old friends, and I haven't seen him in close to twenty years! I'm allowed to see my own friends!" Sebastian exclaimed.

"You should have asked first! Shella doesn't need any stress right now and seeing her father is very stressful for her," Dex said.

"I think she needs to get over it. He had her best interests at heart," Sebastian told Dex. Dex clenched his hands into fists, walked over to his desk, opened a drawer and pulled a small box out of it.

"Get over it? You mean this?" He snapped a picture down onto the desk. "Or this? And what about this?" He slapped picture after picture down on the desk for his father to see. "These are the bruises he caused when he literally threw her out of the house. He refused to allow her to take any of her clothing or possessions. She was only allowed to take what she had on her the day she found out she was pregnant. This is what your friend did," Dex said harshly. He studied his father's reaction as his father looked at the pictures.

"I don't believe it," Sebastian said.

"Call him," Dex insisted, holding out the phone. Sebastian took the phone and dialed. While his father was talking to Phil, Dex slipped out of the library to go check on Shella. "Shel, what's wrong?" Dex asked, walking into the bedroom.

"Nothing," Shella said with a shaky smile. "But you'd better call Billy, my water just broke." Dex stood there, staring at it her like she had suddenly grown a second head. "Dex, today would be great," she added, taking a deep breath. Her eyes closed and she clutched the foot of the bed and groaned.

Dex fumbled in his pockets for his cell phone. "Billy, it's Dex. It's time," he said into the phone.

"How are you doing kid?" Billy asked Shella as he watched Dex and Darius assemble the birthing pool.

"I think I'm going to castrate Dex personally," Shella answered with a wince. Billy slipped his hand in hers and rubbed her back with the other.

"Are you sure you want a water birth? It isn't going to be easy and I would feel a lot safer if you were at the hospital. Especially since this isn't my area of expertise," Billy reminded her.

"You're an emergency room doc Billy, you've delivered babies before," Shella panted.

"But not yours and not multiples," Billy said.

"The midwife is only a few minutes away," Dex interjected after rejoining them.

"Call her and have her here. An emergency could come up at any time and I don't want to take any chances," Billy told Dex.

"I'll be fine Billy," Shella said.

"After what happened to Dex's aunt, I want all precautions taken," Billy said firmly.

"Okay, but she'd better hurry," Shella moaned, holding on to Dex's arm.

"Darius, get that tub filled now!" Billy exclaimed.

"It's done," Darius announced. Billy and Dex helped Shella carefully into the tub. "Do I have to stay and watch this?" he asked.

"No," Shella panted. Darius headed for the door but stopped when he heard Shella call his name. "Will you call my mom?" she asked.

"Are you sure?" Darius and Dex asked together.

"I'm sure," Shella said. Billy smiled at her over Dex's head; he was sitting in the tub across from Shella, waiting for Billy to give him the final instructions.

"What made you ask for me?" Sue asked forty-five minutes later.

"I wanted you there when Netalia was born, and I sensed that you didn't agree with what dad did and ..." Shella's sentence turned into a loud moan of pain.

"Breathe," Billy told her. He looked up as the midwife finally walked into the room.

"Where are we doctor?" the midwife asked.

"Ten centimeters," Billy said after a moment.

"Let's go then shall we," the midwife said, washing her hands carefully and pulling on the gloves.