Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story


- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:

Willow discovers something life-changing and decides to make a decision behind his back, but her secret doesn't stay secret for long.




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


 

It had only been a week since Willow had returned from her three-week getaway with her husband. Her brown skin had a healthy glow, her dark tresses had a certain shine to it, and her mood was quite bubbly although she was three weeks deep in assignments and tasks with blaring deadlines. She should’ve felt utterly stressed with everything that needed to be done, but nothing could damper her happiness. She chewed on some minty bubblegum and bobbed her head to the music that streamed out of her earbuds as she worked her butt off in her cubicle.

So absorbed in the flow of her work, she didn’t even notice Darlene standing in the mouth of her cubicle until she felt a few taps on her shoulder. She blinked her eyes in surprise and whipped around in her computer chair to face her good friend. Quickly, she plucked out her earbuds.

“Hey, what’s up,” she asked.

Darlene asked in a low husked voice. “You got any wrapped goodies?”

Willow cocked her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“For Aunt Red,” Darlene mumbled.

Willow’s eyebrows shot upward.

“Oh,” she said as she twirled around in her chair and reached for a bottom drawer on her desk. Inside was a variety of comfort snacks and underneath that was an unsealed box of tampons. Willow retrieved one for Darlene and handed it to her.

“I know you’re still daydreaming about your little vacation with your beau, but you’re supposed to remind me about this crap. You know our Aunt Reds are in sync. You’re like two days ahead of me,” Darlene teased in a soft husked voice. For a moment, Willow’s brow furrowed as she thought about her period. Darlene was right. Their periods were always in sync. With everything that had happened within the last seven weeks, she couldn’t quite remember when the last time was she had a period.

“Darlene, there’s a calendar app on your phone. Use it,” Willow said with a roll of her eyes, a smile easing onto her lips.

Darlene pursed her lips. “Never. You are more accurate than a damn calendar app. If you can’t use your friends’ periods to prepare you for yours then life is meaningless.”

Willow shook her head. “Sorry to break it to you, but I’m not as accurate as you think, Dar because I haven’t had mine yet.”

Her best friend blinked. “I’m sorry…what?”

Then the woman stared at her for the longest moment, cocking her head to the side as her eyes scanned Willow from head to toe. Her eyes widened as if she had discovered what she was looking for.

“Girl,” Darlene gasped. “Girl!

“What?”

Darlene slipped her gifted tampon into a jean pocket and grabbed ahold of Willow’s hand, yanking her out of her computer chair, and dragged her out of the cubicle, guiding her towards the women’s restroom.

Once they were safely inside, Darlene crossed her arms over her chest. “Please, tell me you and Sebastian used protection in between sipping on caipirinhas and frolicking across the beach.”

Willow tossed her head back and laughed.

“Are you seriously implying that I’m,” she paused, trying her absolute hardest to contain her laughter. “Darlene, I think you’re jumping the gun here. Before I left for my vacation, I was extremely stressed. You know it’s scientifically proven that stress that disrupt your cycle.”

Stressed was an understatement. Before Sebastian swept her away to a tropical island underneath the Brazilian sun, she had wished she was dead.

Darlene crossed her arms over her chest. “And it’s also scientifically proven that getting dicked down by sexy-ass dudes can disrupt your cycle by knocking you up.”

Just then Sally, a forty-year-old coworker and a mother of three teenaged boys, pushed her way into the restroom.

Darlene’s eyes lit up at the sight of the woman. “Sally, perfect timing.”

Sally cocked her an eyebrow, glancing between Darlene and Willow with a confused expression on her face. “Is…it?”

Darlene gestured her hand to Willow as if to presenting her to their colleague. “Sally, take a good look at Willow for me and tell me what you see.”

The brunette woman sighed, as this wasn’t the first time she had been invited into Darlene’s odd antics. Willow gave her a sympathetic look while Sally tilted her head, observing Willow for a good long moment like Darlene had did back at the cubicle.

“You’ve got a nice glow to you,” Sally admitted casually before her eyes grew in a thrilled surprise as her statement finally resounded within her. “Oh, my god. Are you pregnant, Willow?”

“What? No,” Willow assured. “I’m not pregnant! For once in a very long time, I’m just extremely happy is all. That vacation completely rejuvenated me. As I told you, Darlene, the stress messed up my cycle.”

Sally nodded. “Stress can definitely do that.”

Darlene pursed her lips. “And so can having a bun in the oven.”

Sally nodded once more. “Or that too.”

Willow shot Sally a look, frowning. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Sally.”

“No, I am supposed to be using the restroom,” Sally reminded as she beelined her way to a restroom stall and shut the door behind her.

“Even Sally thought you were pregnant,” Darlene said in a matter-of-factly tone, jerking her thumb in the direction of the stall Sally was occupying in that moment.

Willow closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as annoyance steadily swelled inside her. “What do I have to do to show you I’m not pregnant?”

“Just take a pregnancy test,” Sally suggested from inside her stall.

Darlene wagged her finger at the stall door. “Wonderful idea, Sally.”

Willow exhaled sharply through her nostrils. “Fine, I’ll do it and once I take this stupid pregnancy test and it comes out negative, can we all pretend that this whole ordeal never happened?”

“Absolutely,” Darlene agreed.

“I won’t say a word,” Sally chimed in.

“Awesome,” Willow said flatly. “At lunch time, I’ll go to the drugstore down the street to get a test and take it right there in their restroom, just so you can get off my back.”

“Fine by me,” Darlene paused, holding up a finger, “but what happens if it turns out positive?”

Willow assured, “It won’t.”

{}{}{}{}

Eight letters stared at her tauntingly. P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T. Pregnant. She was pregnant. She was absolutely fucking pregnant. The digital pregnancy test fell out of her hand and clattered on the tiled restroom floor in the handicap stall.

“Is everything alright in there,” Darlene asked from the other side.

Willow closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to root herself to reality and gather her thoughts. She suddenly felt a queasiness swimming around in her stomach and her heart pounded violently in her chest. Slowly, she picked up the plastic stick and stood up from the toilet seat, unlocking the stall door and walking out with heavy feet. She felt gravity push down on her cruelly, smothering her on all sides.

Darlene arched an eyebrow. “And?”

Mutely, Willow handed her the pregnancy test without a second glance and made her way over to the row of restroom sinks, turning on the faucet and cupping her hands underneath the cool stream.

“Oh.” That was all Darlene could say.

Willow splashed water onto her face, shivering as she felt the cold droplets streaming and dripping on her skin.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Willow reached for a brown paper towel from a dispenser and dried her face and neck with a few pats. “I don’t know.”

It was true.

She didn’t know what the fuck to do.

She hadn’t planned on this happening.

At least, not for a long while.

At least, not until after her sister’s wedding, after she’d announce her marriage to her family, after she convinced Sebastian to walk away from his father and Juliette, after she was someone’s wife for a few years, after she enjoyed a sense of normalcy with her husband, after Sebastian got some help with his issues, after she got some help with her issues, after…

“Fuck,” she said softly then much louder, “FUCK!”

Willow let out a shaky breath. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

“No, you’re not,” Darlene said. “Things like this just happen sometimes.”

Willow shook her head as she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to look at her own reflection in the restroom’s dirty mirror. “This is the last thing I need right now.”

Darlene asked, “Have you and Sebastian ever talked about having kids together?” 

No, they were too busy dealing with his involvement in Simon’s murder and trying to repair a broken marriage. They had never spoke about a future with children because she believed neither of them were ready for a child. She was too fucked up for such a responsibility and so was he.

They weren’t ready for this.

“No,” Willow admitted, sniffling.

“You should set up an appointment and—”

She sniffled once more and cleared her throat, nodding as she cut Darlene off. “You’re right. I do need to set up an appointment…at an abortion clinic.”

“What?” She could hear the utter shock in Darlene’s voice

Willow swirled on her heels to face her friend. “Trust me, Dar, when I say it’s for the best.”

Darlene frowned deeply. “Don’t you think Sebastian should have some say in this?”

“A say? It’s my body. I can do whatever I want to it,” Willow countered. “It’s not illegal for me to have an abortion, Darlene. Nor do I need to have his consent to do it.”

Darlene shook her head. “This is all wrong, Will, and you know it. I only know about Sebastian from what you’ve told me and he sounds like a man to be reckon with. I know you two haven’t talked about having children, but you aborting this pregnancy without talking to him first probably isn’t going to blow over well.”

“And I do tell him, it isn’t going to blow over well either,” Willow replied.

Either way, it wasn’t going to end well.

“Willow, I really think you should think long and hard about this before you make a very rash decision. Yes, it is your choice and I totally respect that, but Sebastian deserves to know. Even if he blows the hell up on you, he deserves to know,” Darlene advised.

Willow casted her eyes to the floor. “I’m ready to go back to work now.”

Darlene glanced at her phone. “We’ve still got about twenty minutes left. Plus, you haven’t even gotten anything to eat yet. You need to eat now that you’re eating for tw—”

Willow shot Darlene a glare, which interrupted the rest of the woman’s statement.

Darlene held her hands up in surrender. “You still need to eat, Willow.”

“I’m not hungry,” Willow said as she shrugged on her purse’s strap and headed towards the women’s restroom door.

It took about five minutes to get back to work. Willow returned to her cubicle and plopped down onto her computer chair, chewing hard on her bottom lip as she resumed responsibilities as the organization’s graphic designer. Even as she concentrated all her efforts into what she was doing, constant thoughts of the tiny life growing inside of her disrupted and disturbed her. She plugged her earbuds back in and drudged through the rest of the day. Quite often, Darlene passed by her cubicle to assess the damage, but Willow ignored her.

At the very end of the work day, all of her colleagues began their daily rituals of logging out of their computers, packing up, clocking out, and heading home, but Willow decided to stay behind to catch up on her workload—and prolong her going home.

Darlene stopped by her cubicle once more.

“I forgot to give you this,” she said as she handed her the pregnancy test she had passed to her hours ago in the drugstore’s restroom.  

Willow stared at it for a long moment before clearing her throat.

“Thank you,” she said as she put it inside her purse just to rid herself of it.

Darlene turned to leave, but stopped herself and stated, “You know I’ll always be here for you no matter what, right?”

A weak smile spread across Willow’s lip. “Yeah, of course, I know that.”

“Good. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“See you on Monday.”

Then Darlene trickled out of the office space along with the rest of the departing crowd.

Willow worked overtime for about three more hours before she finally couldn’t bear another moment of looking at her glowing computer screen. She stood up slowly and stretched her hands above her head, craning her neck left and right to loosen the cranks there. She wiggled her hips and lower back sore from being glued to her computer chair for so long. Then she brought down her arms and smoothed her hand over her stomach.

She blinked her eyes rapidly as she realized what she was doing and snatched her hand away.

Don’t get attached, Willow, she thought herself. She logged out of her computer and turned it off before she grabbed her purse. On the way out, she told goodbye the janitor Elias. Eventually, she piled inside her car and drove to Sebastian’s place. She used her own key to get inside. Shutting the heavy metal door behind, she pressed her back against it and sighed.

She tilted her head as she noticed white candles housed in vases lining along the winding metal staircase leading up into the second floor. She bit her bottom lip as she walked across the vast warehouse’s first floor and held onto the staircase’s railing as she slowly ascended. She noticed the candles must’ve been burning for a while from how the wax droplets dripped and hardened on the candles. Having reached the second floor, she glanced around as she was greeted with the sight of more candles.

On the bed was a handwritten note:

If you’re reading this, that means you’re very late and I’ve been summoned. If you had been here on time, I would seduced you into this bed, ate that sweet little pussy of yours in this bed, then fucked you just how you like it in this bed. When I get home, I expect you very much naked and waiting for me in this bed.

Yours and only yours,

S.

{}{}{}{}

Sebastian’s head snapped to the side, his cheek burning from the backhanded slap across his face. Juliette began to pace back and forth in front of him like an angry alley cat on the verge of attacking. A slight grin played across his lips as his green eyes followed her every motion, absorbing every detail of her reaction.

“You’re still married to her,” she roared, swiping a mountain of files and office supplies off her desk with a rapid swoop of her arm. He watched with an arched eyebrow as it all tumbled down.

“We’re also registered at Target if you’d like to give us a proper wedding gift such as a toaster or a coffee maker,” he said, his grin widening, “considering your last gift was quite impractical.”

The comment earned another backhanded slap.

“Alright, alright. We can accept giftcards and cash too.”

“You think this a joke, Nathaniel,” Juliette snarled as she sat on top of her cleared desk and crossed one leg over the other. “It’s not. Nothing about this is funny. Every moment you play house with that pathetic excuse of a girl, you endanger the existence of the Authority.”

Sebastian laughed coldly for a moment, shaking his head.

“Let’s not sit here and pretend your hands are clean. You’re the one that sent that voyeuristic piece of shit to videotape me. You’re the one that send that DVD to my wife in hopes that she’d try to go to the police. You were waiting for her to pick up the phone and dial 911, so the call would be rerouted to the organization. Then you could justify killing her,” he paused, smirking as he witnessed her face redden, “but that’s not how it happened. So, in the scheme of things, you and only you endangered the Authority and the woman I love for childish pettiness.”

She narrowed her eyes at him for a long moment, her anger simmering underneath the surface. Then, a cruel smile curled onto her lips.

“You and her in love? Love is a weakness that clouds judgement. Something you have proven to me and the Authority time and time again. You are solely at fault for creating this mess because of your misguided attempt at protecting her honor over a bachelor party game. You have threated and attacked valuable assets of the Authority over this girl,” Juliette stated. “You have continuously disobeyed my command as well as your father’s. You’ve irresponsibly have used the Authority’s resources for a three-week romantic retreat to repair your marriage and after some information I collected today, you obviously didn’t do a good job with that. But I’ll get to that in a moment.”

Sebastian yawned aloud, pretending to be bored by Juliette’s ranting.

She clenched her jaw, exhaling sharply through her nostrils. “The night you inflicted harm on Asset Jasper, your father explicitly stated that we would both be punished. I have already received my punishment. Now, it’s your turn.”

“And here I thought being here with you was punishment enough,” Sebastian returned.

Now, it was Juliette’s turn to smirk. “I’m sure you’ll think you being here with me is a pleasure compared to the punishment that is in store for you...”

“To what punishment as the Authority decreed? I’m trembling in suspense.”

Juliette slipped off her desk and sauntered around him, stationing herself behind his chair. “After much thought, the Authority had no part in the issuing your punishment. It was all Phillip’s doing and I do have to say, his decision was quite…cruel.”

Sebastian stared at her, a tired expression easing onto his face. “I’m on pins and needles. Do go on.”

“You will drive to Alexandria to pay Vivien a visit,” Juliette stated chipperly. “Phillip was also generous enough to allow you to take your lovely bride there for moral support. Heaven knows you’ll need it.”

Sebastian stiffened, his blood running cold.

“And another thing, your wife can leave any time she so chooses, but your punishment ends when Vivien declares it,” she continued. “Apparently, that condition was her idea. If you try to leave before she gives you permission, there will be ramifications that might jeopardize your happy little marriage if introducing your wife to your twisted incubator doesn’t do the trick.”

His eyes veered from Juliette’s smirking face and latched its aim onto a patch of wall beyond her. His face was now emotionless and slack. She spoke further, but her words streamed into his ears as white noise. His jaw clenched and his hands tightened on his chair’s armrests, his nostrils flaring out as he took deep exhales. His heart throbbed hard and fast inside of his chest.

“You are report to her residence in 48 hours,” Juliette paused, her smirk on her face transmuting into something more evil and smug—even for her standards. “Is that a good enough punishment for you, Nathaniel?”

She wasn’t bothered by his silence. In fact, she continued her little speech seamlessly, flipping her platinum blonde tresses over her shoulder. “I’m very sorry it had to be this way, Nathaniel, but there is a price to be paid for our actions and yours just so happens to be quite a hefty price. However, that isn’t all sadly. You see, your loving wife is keeping a secret from you.”

Juliette rounded the desk and pressed the intercom button on her office phone. “Be a dear and bring me the wedding gift I have for Sebastian.”

A few moments later, her office door opened, and Jasper sauntered into the room with a sleek silver laptop. The two alpha men exchanged intense glances and Jasper smirked smugly, giving Sebastian a wink. He placed the laptop onto the desk and opened it. There was some type of recording program on it and purple soundwave was sprawled across within the window on pause, waiting to be played.

Jasper looked at Juliette for permission to press play and Juliette smiled gleefully, nodding her approval. With a simple click of a button, the recording played.

“And?”

The woman’s voice that filled the air was unfamiliar to him. In the recording, then there was footsteps against tiled floor and then the sound of running water from a faucet.

 “Oh. So, what are you going to do?”

 “I don’t know.”

Momentarily, he cocked a dark eyebrow at the sound of his wife’s voice. What the fuck was this all about? Why would Juliette go through all the trouble of wiretapping his wife’s cell and recording this conversation to present it to him tonight?

“Fuck,” she said softly then much louder, “FUCK!”

Willow let out a shaky breath. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

“No, you’re not,” the unknown woman said. “Things like this happen sometimes."

“This is the last thing I need right now.”

Sebastian frowned at his wife’s statement, but continued to listen.

 “Have you and Sebastian ever talked about having kids together?”

He cut his eyes to a smirking Juliette as the unknown woman posed such a question in the recording.

“No,” Willow admitted, sniffling.

“You should set up an appointment and—”

“You’re right. I do need to set up an appointment…at an abortion clinic.”

His eyes increased in size before he could stop himself—before he could control his cool, his image from his enemies. His wife was pregnant. She was carrying his child inside of her at this very moment as she rested in their bed. They both had created this tiny growing life and she wanted to…rid herself of it.

“What,” the unknown woman gasped in shock.

“Trust me, Dar, when I say it’s for the best.”

 “Don’t you think Sebastian should have some say in this?”

“A say? It’s my body. I can do whatever I want to it. It’s not illegal for me to have an abortion, Darlene. Nor do I need to have his consent to do it.”

Then the recording ended.

“Is that love, Nathaniel,” Juliette asked in a mocking motherly tone as she approached him, running her fingers through his hair tenderly while every single word pierced through him. “After everything you’ve done for her. After you killed for her. She wants to abort your baby. She can’t bear the thought of carrying your seed.”

“Smart woman. I always knew I liked her for a reason,” Jasper retorted, his smirk widening.

Sebastian’s jaw clenched tightly as he held back the urge to take the glinting letter opener resting on the floor amongst the chaos of things Juliette swept off her desk and stab it repeatedly in his neck and enjoy the sight of Jasper gurgling on his own blood while feeling it coat on his destructive hands.

Juliette pouted. “Be sensitive, Jasper. Nathaniel is hurting.”

Then she returned her attention back to him. “Is this is a good enough wedding gift to you, Nathaniel? Or would you still prefer a giftcard,” she asked teasingly before she walked over the mess she caused on the floor and picked up a particular file.

“Or maybe you’d prefer this,” she offered, waving the file just underneath his nose as if it were a delicious treat he couldn’t pass up. “You’ve been out of commission for much too long. You’ve been playing house for far too long. You need to go back to your roots. This might be just what you need to work through your feelings. The scent of blood is so comforting.”

The monster inside of him itched and craved for blood now.

He took her offer by taking the file from her possession. She smiled sweetly and caressed his bearded face. “You know I’ll always take care of you.”  

“Fuck you, Juliette,” he said coolly.

“Mm, I love it when you talk dirty to me, Nathaniel,” Juliette purred as she sensually teased her fingertips along his neck. He snatched her hand away and she laughed brightly like all of this was a big fat joke.

He left her office.

“I’d ask where you’re registered for the baby shower, but I suppose that would be in bad taste. Bye, bye for now, Nathaniel,” she called after him gleefully.

{}{}{}{}

After much tossing and turning, Willow roused from her sleep by sitting up quickly. Immediately, she noticed her husband sitting on the daybed across the room. She held the bedsheet to her bare chest. He was still fully clothed in all black, wearing his black hoodie that shielded his face with shadows as he watched her. She bit down onto her bottom lip for a moment.

“I got your note,” she said as she dropped the sheet to show him how good she followed his directions.

They stared at each other for what seemed like eternity.

“Aren’t you going to come to bed,” she asked.

More silence.

Something bad must have happened when he was summoned.

“What did Juliette do this time,” she asked suddenly in worry as she climbed off the bed and went to him, yanking off his hoodie to get a good look at his face and survey injuries. “Did she hurt you again?”

Sebastian trailed his intense green eyes along her body before he leaned forward, snuggling his head against her plush stomach—a habit of his. He rained tender kisses on her belly, his hands holding onto her hips with an appreciative grip.

“No, I can handle Juliette,” he said, “but you want to know what I can’t handle?”

“What,” she breathed out softly, savoring the attention he was giving her.

“Finding out through Juliette that my wife planning on aborting my child,” he answered, “without even telling me.”

Willow stiffened before she broke away from him quickly like he was fire. “Sebastian, I can explain.”

Sebastian smirked darkly. “Oh, baby girl. I know you will.”

 






Chapter End Notes:

OMG, it's been forever. This chapter has been half-done for a while now, but I had a strike of inspiration. I enjoy writing this story so much. Uuuh, I miss Willow and Sebastian. Willow isn't taking well to her new fragile condition and she feels like it is best for remove the problem entirely because neither of them is ready for a child, but when it comes to Sebastian, nothing stays secret for long when you got Juliette lurking in the background. 

How do I feel about this? 

Are Willow and Sebastian ready for a child? Yes, no. They've got a lot of shit to work through, but who is ever truly ready for a child? Willow thought a reasonable solution is to just abort the baby, but ya'll know Sebastian. That shit 10 times out of 9 probably isn't going to fly, but you never know. 

Juliette's nosey ass is doing everything in her power to undermine Seb and Will's love, but Willow's sneakiness isn't helping either. The next chapter is the argument. 







Enter the security code shown below:
Note: You may submit either a rating or a review or both.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.