"Woah...woah, I got this you sit down and relax babe." says Peter. "You've done plenty today helping Laura out. You need to fucking rest."
Willow protests, "Peter it's just a few groceries I can handle it." Willow goes back to the bag she was working on as she dismisses his request.
Peter walks over to her and begins to direct her to sit down at the table. "Babe you've been going all day. Just sit down..." he says sternly, worried still about her fragile state.
Willow looks up at him as he tries to tug her away from the bag of groceries on the small kitchen counter, and she can see the worry in his eyes. "Peter you can't be serious...Really, I'm fine."
"Fuck yeah I'm serious, go sit down and relax. It's only been a few days since your trip to the hospital. Doc said to rest all week."
Willow does not argue anymore. He is right, it has been a busy day helping out Laura, but Willow enjoyed it thoroughly. She walks to go sit down at the table, Peter follows behind her, hovering over her again. She knows he does it out of love and because he is worried about her, neither one of them expected her to be pregnant. They have not really discussed that part since Willow came home from the hospital, she can tell it makes him nervous. At some point though they will need to talk about it.
"You want some of that sparkling water to go with your food?" Peter asks as he helps scoot her chair in as she sits down.
Willow turns to look at him, "Yes that would be perfect. Thank you."
Peter walks back to the kitchenette area and grabs her a glass, and the bottle of sparkling water, for her to start on while he puts the rest of the groceries away. Peter first starts with the cold refrigeratorated items as Willow takes her glass, and pours herself some fizzy, fruity water to sip. She is trying to think of how to approach the subject of pregnancy with him.
Peter and Willow's relationship has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride of emotions since the two of them met years ago at the grocery store. Willow of course was already in a relationship when the two met, she was with Nathan, but not fully ready to commit to him. She had an affair with Peter this gave her an excuse. A way out of her commitment to Nathan.
Willow never expected what she thought would only be a fling to turn so serious, but her and Peter just clicked. They could not get enough of each other, and when Willow began to get serious with Peter, he did what she did to Nathan, he cheated on her with Hannah. It did not end there of course, and after more turmoil and heartache these two did eventually find their way back to each other. Peter finally admitted how much he loved her and so did Willow. She recalls that evening in the park when he found her crying, shared his fast food breakfast with her, and told her he loved her. The memory gives her some courage, and so she finally speaks up. If these two are going to go the distance then they need to communicate.
"Hey Peter?", Willow says as she begins to sip her drink. Peter meanwhile finishes up putting away the small amount of groceries the two bought. Peter figures this will last them a few days until he will need to go back for more so Willow can rest for the remainder of the week. All he can focus on at the moment is not reliving the horror of seeing her back in the hospital. It guilts him to know this pain of hers could have been avoided had he chosen to not reverse the vasectomy. He also feels guilt because he is glad she is not pregnant anymore either, a child would complicate things. The thought of being a father scares the shit out of him. The tone in Willow's voice right now has him nervous, he feels she may want to talk about it, because they haven't yet.
"Yeah?", he responds with hesitation in his voice as he fiddles with the boxes of groceries on the upper shelf.
"What did you think of hanging out with Luke's boys today?", Willow inquires. Peter's hand goes still as he puts a box of cereal up on the open shelving that is in the small kitchenette area. He takes a deep breath before turning around. He had a feeling things might head this direction. He could see Willow thoroughly enjoyed taking care of Phoenix and Phineas today.
Peter turns and walks over to the table with the other bag and pulls out a package of avocado sushi rolls for Willow. Her appetite has not fully returned, and so she chose something light to eat while they were at the grocery store. He has a feeling of where this conversation might be going "Um...fine I guess...I dunno...They're good kids." Peter's voice trails off as he concentrates on emptying the remaining contents of the shopping bag.
"It's amazing how much Phoenix is like Luke, don't you think? I mean he looks a lot like Laura, but his personality is so much like Luke." Willow says as she sets her food down in front of her, trying to spur along the conversation.
Peter kinda nods and says, "Uh huh..." as he walks across the room setting down Willow's heavy bag. "What the fuck do you have in this thing? You shouldn't be carrying this around right now." He does his best to distract himself from the current conversation.
"Just a few art supplies, and reading materials. I like to be prepared.", she replies. She can see this conversation may not go well he is already acting weird about it.
Peter walks back to the table to take a seat across from her. He got some sushi to eat as well. Willow has been doing her best to make sure he eats better since she moved back in with him last year, instead of microwaved food and beer all the time. "Prepared for what? You need to rest right now..." It's all that's on his mind lately. Willow's recovery is the only thing he can focus on at the moment.
"It helped me keep the boys entertained while Laura worked in the kitchen today, didn't it?" Willow responds as she takes another sip of her sparkling water. Her blue eyes looking back at Peter with sincerity.
Peter nods in agreement. It did help for awhile until the boys got hungry or bored. "Yeah true. It did. So you gonna promise me you will take it easy tonight? You need to rest some more."
"Yes, I promise I will rest tonight. I am pretty tired...I'll probably take a warm bath then go straight to bed." Willow admits and as soon as she did Peter's face changes, as worry spreads across it.
"You want me to stay? I can stay. The concert tonight is small, Coco can handle most of it on her own if she needs to.", Peter insists as he continues to worry about her.
Willow loves him but he is hovering way too much now. She needs a break. "No, I'm fine. I will be okay." She smiles at him trying to reassure him.
"You sure? Cuz, you seem worried babe..." Peter picks up on the tension Willow is feeling, but he is not sure where it is coming from. Tonight is his first night back at work since Willow got sick, so naturally he assumes that maybe she is hesitant to ask him to stay, not wanting to be a burden.
Willow lays out her words carefully, "It's just, I want to get pregnant for real this time..." Peter unknowingly lets the sparkling water bottle hit the table a tad too hard as her last words come out. The two of them had an agreement that they would just let things play out, see where life leads them. Peter just assumed that she would never get pregnant because of extenuating circumstances, but she did. And now it seems Willow has a touch of baby fever because of it.
"A baby? You want to have a baby?", Peter snaps back. He is not ready to have this type of conversation today. "Fuck...do we have to talk about this right now? You just got out of the hospital."
"We have to talk about this at some point, and I think now is a perfect time. What would you have done if this pregnancy was normal? Would you have been okay with it?" Willow asks very bluntly she needs to know how he feels. Every time they talk about kids Peter dances around the subject not wanting to fully commit to anything.
"Why does it fucking matter? It wasn't normal. If I had waited any longer you could have died!" Peter shouts out.
Willow pulls at the lid of her sushi container, "I didn't die Peter. I'm still here." She says as she tries to talk him down, try and reason with him. "You know how I feel about kids."
"I know, but don't you think it's a little too soon for this? You just got out of the hospital, you're still recovering for fucks sake." Peter tries again to dismiss this conversation away at least for now. Him and Willow have never seriously talked about starting a family, only brief conversations on how they feel about kids and parenting. Willow knows Peter had an abusive childhood so she knows this is a sensitive subject for him.
"After everything we've been through don't you want to share a child together?" she asks as she grabs her chopsticks and eats a sushi roll.
Peter sets his glass down after taking a sip of water. He could really go for a beer right now seeing where this conversation is headed, but he's got to leave for work soon. "I'd say that's exactly why we don't need to have a kid. I'm too fucking dysfunctional for that shit!"
"No one is the perfect parent.", replies Willow, but she knows what he means. These two have been through quite a lot to get where they are today. Peter does not what to mess that up again and neither does Willow.
"Why can't we just be happy with the way things are right now? Having a kid just immediately complicates shit.", Peter snaps.
"So what was the point of getting the reverse vasectomy then?" Willow pushes knowing he did it as a gesture to show her how much he loves her, that she is the only woman he wants, but now reality is sinking in. The consequences of that gesture manifested into an ectopic pregnancy, and the thought of it all scares Peter too much.
"Peter scowls feeling like he is being pushed too hard right now, "You know why I did it...Neither one of us thought you could get pregnant after what the doctor told us."
"So I'm supposed to just get on birth control now? Peter we need to discuss this! If we are ever gonna get more serious, now is the time. I know my chances are slim, but I just want to try again." She pleads with Peter knowing that maybe it will soften him up to understand that she knows the risks going forward, and all she is asking for is a chance at the opportunity to try again.
"Look at Luke and Laura! Two kids possibly a third, and they're at each others throats. Fuck no!...I can't handle that shit. I can't lose you, not again." It is obvious to Willow now that Peter fears she could die, or that a child would drive a wedge between them. Losing her is something he does not want to face ever again. Willow was not the only one deeply traumatized that night he found her in a pool of blood.
Willow tries to reassure him that she is not going anywhere. "Peter you are not gonna lose me. I love you no matter what. You can't compare our relationship to Luke and Laura's."
"Besides all that...You're so good with Phoenix and Phineas. What makes you think you would be any different with our own child?..." Willow pauses. She knows Peter has a gentle side, he just struggles to let it out, years of abuse make it hard for him to be openly affectionate. "You're not your father, Peter."
"Fuck Willow! Don't bring that asshole up!", Peter snaps. They both know this subject is difficult for him. "Can we just eat dinner in peace, and talk about this another time?"
Willow tilts her head to the side feeling emotional she knows it is going to be a rough road ahead discussing a future with him. Peter much prefers to just live in the here and now, "I'm sorry I wasn't trying to upset you...We have to talk about it eventually."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile across town at Vintage Vinyl, Luke and Baz aka "Bobby" are getting ready to close up shop for the night. There are only a few customers remaining. Luke comes strolling out from the back room with a box of records in his arms as Baz rings up another customer.
The young lady smiles and attempts to flirt with Baz, but he struggles to reciprocate. "Do you like this album? You know if it's good?"
Baz stutters. "Um...yeah. It's good." as he stares very seriously at her.
"Um, okay...Thank you." She says as she begins to gather her bag, and the album. The cold stare from Baz making her a little uncomfortable and an unexpected response from him.
Luke rounds the corner noticing that the store is still a bit busy for a Wednesday night. The weather is not too hot just yet, especially after the sun sets, so foot traffic is still making their way in the store even though it is later in the evening.
He plops the heavy box on one of the bar stools that sits behind the counter. He can see "Bobby" is struggling to friendly flirt with the customers so he jumps in. "Definitely a good choice.", he smiles. "You will like it. Thanks for stopping in." The young girl smiles back at Luke blushing a bit, and dashes off with her new purchase.
While Luke thanks a customer for shopping at Vintage Vinyl a few others still remain in the shop with only about 15 minutes left till closing. Lucien and his sister Izora browse the shop. Izora decided to stop having never been to this record shop before. She is an avid vinyl collector, but Lucien did not want to. This sudden reaction of his made her even more curious and so she dragged the two of them inside to check out the store.
"Sha, we needing ta go...It's late.", Lucien pleads with his sister.
"Mamma canna wait, Lucien." replies Izora "I have a feelin'..."
Lucien huffs out a sigh, his sister is stubborn and does what she wants. "I know you do! Mais, we shouldna be here, sha...dis dangerous." His sister shrugs her shoulders as she continues to browse the record selection and dismiss her brothers warnings.
"You shouldna meddle, Izora..." Lucien continues to scold his sister for not listening. Izora just stares back at her brother. He can wait. She is not done looking around the store yet.
Back at the counter Luke encourages "Bobby" to be a little more friendly with the customers.
"It's okay to smile and chat with the customers. We need them to know we appreciate their business." Luke says. "I know it's only your first day, just remember to smile a little more."
Baz is a little embarrassed, "Is it that noticeable?". He scratches the back of his head feeling a nervous tick. Baz is not used to directly dealing with the customers back home at the casino. Smiling at them is something he did not frequently do.
"It's fine. Just try to not look so serious all the time. Why don't you take a break from the register, and stock this box of records. I'll close the till for tonight." Luke needs a moment to gather his thoughts, and decide whether or not he wants to go home tonight.
"Okay. Hey...um...My wife and I plan to celebrate my job tonight. You care to join us? Gonna grab a pizza and some beer. We really appreciate you helping us out." Baz pushes, he really wants to get to know Luke some more before him and Eva have to skip town.
Luke is caught off guard by the gesture. "Oh um...I...uh."
"Hey, it's okay. I know you have a wife and kids to get home to, but if you're interested it would be nice to thank you for the help."
Now Luke scratches the back of his head, and Baz wonders if this is something they both have in common. "Yeah um...Sure why the fuck not. It wouldn't hurt for us to get to know each other some more over some beers." Luke likes the idea of getting to know him better. "Bobby" reminds him of Peter in some ways and Luke could use a distraction from reality.
"Perfect! I guess we can hang out at the the motel, my wife can order the pizza, and I'll bring the beers." Baz is thrilled Luke agreed but does his best to conceal it to just a casual, calm nod of acknowledgment.
Luke does the same and nods, keeping the banter casual. "Cool, yeah sounds good to me." While Luke is making plans with Baz, he notices two teenagers trying to sneak into the listening booth. Their body language tells him they may be up to no good.
"Hold on, those two over there look like trouble.", says Luke as he immediately walks off in their direction. The young couple reminding him of how he was at that age. Luke stops them just in time and the girl stares up at him wide eyed in embarrassment.
"The booth is closed." Luke says sternly in his best dad voice, as he walks up on the two teenagers. "And the store closes in ten minutes." He is not sure if they were up to no good or not, but better safe than sorry. "I can ring you up for the record if you want." The young teenage couple nods and follows Luke to the cash counter.
"Okay, total comes to $31.92. Cash or card?" Luke asks, hoping these two have the cash to pay for it.
"Cash...", The boy replies as he hands Luke a couple of twenty dollar bills from his pocket. Luke takes the money and gives him back eight dollars and eight cents in change.
"You two got a good deal on that album, take care of it!" Luke smiles at them. "Thanks for stopping in."
The two teenagers smile back and thank Luke, while Baz works on stocking the box of albums that Luke brought out. He is excited that Luke agreed to have dinner with him and Eva. He feels bad not being able to tell him they are brothers, but it is for the best, Luke does not need to know. He is sure that his mom and dad are in hot pursuit of his whereabouts by now. Him and Eva definitely do not have much more time to stick around.
"We're closing in about 8 minutes, is there anything I can help you find?...We open back up tomorrow at 10am." Luke says as he directs his question to the last two customers that remain in the shop. He has quite a few regulars who come in a the last minute sometimes that he recognizes, but these two definitely are new customers. He does not recognize either one.
"We've been admiring your collection sha...Lots ah variety 'n here." replies Izora.
Luke nods, "Thanks, I try to keep a good variety in stock. Is that the only album you found today?" Luke asks as he gestures at the one in her hand. "I can ring you up if you're ready."
Lucien mumbles under his breath to his sister to leave it so they can leave already, but of course she does the opposite. Izora walks up to the counter and places the album down. Lukes smiles at her as their eyes lock in acknowledgment of each other.
"How long has dis place been here? I neva seen it before...I canna see you not from Nawlins..." Izora asks.
"No I'm not, lived here for over 8 years now though." The young woman carefully looks Luke over, making him very uncomfortable this is something that rarely happens to him. Luke is used to the stares from others. Then suddenly out of nowhere Izora reaches out and grabs Luke's left hand as it sat there resting on the album that was on the counter between them.
"Mai la!" cries Izora as she grabs Luke by the hand twisting his palm upward. "Your life line sha! I don't know mais, I've got a bad feeling about dis..." she tisks, as she continues to look down at his hand.
Luke's arm is jerked hard across the counter as her fingers begin to trace the lines on his palm. "What the fuck?!..." Luke shouts in reaction to all of it. He tries to jerk away, but something holds him from doing so. "Let go of me!"
"Oh no...dis is bad, so bad...Your pain sha, it is too hard to bear. She will be your undoing if you let her go. Don't let her go!" Izora cries out in sadness. "It gives me the frissions to see you in so much sadness! I see, sha!"
Luke again tries to yank his hand back, but is met with opposition. It's like she literally has a magical hold on him. "What the fuck are you talking about lady?! Let me go!..."Luke stutters. Her words scare the complete shit out of him.
"Izora!...Let go of him..." Lucien shouts to his sister as he turns to yank her away from Luke. Lucien got caught up speaking with Baz but stops as soon as he heard the commotion.
Lucien grabs her arm at the elbow and breaks the connection she was holding with Luke, dragging her towards the door. He knew it was a bad idea coming here, now his sister will stop at nothing to set things straight. "Izora, I warned you sha...Mamma will not allow it."
After that quick commotion Baz stops what he is doing to check on Luke, who is now frozen staring down at his palm. In all his years of living here, Luke has never had an encounter so intense. "You okay?", Baz asks as he walks across the store to check on Luke.
"I know you saw it, Lucien! The woman next to him, tell me you saw it! No?!" Izora whispers as the two walk out the door.
Lucien sighs, "Yes, I saw it. Dat's why I wanted to leave sha...We canna help everyone!"
"Mais, you must Lucien!...Or I will do it without you. No?!" Izora pleads with her brother.
"Izora you know I canna let you do that...", Lucien responds as they walk through the door and out into the cool night. Izora glares at him knowing she may have to take matters into her own hands "Don't get fache with me sha!...These are the rules..."
"I'm fine. Let's just close up shop, and get the fuck outta here.", Luke finally responds to Baz's question as he walks towards the front doors and locks them up for the night.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Luke lays sprawled out in a motel bed. He was so drunk after last night that he ended up booking a room to crash in next door to Eva and Baz. Instead of going home to face Laura, and tell her the truth about everything.
Luke tosses in bed as he sleeps, a loud banging sound disrupting his slumber. He keeps dreaming about that weird encounter he had last night before the shop closed, not even half a dozen beers could drown it out. The moment replaying over and over.
He jerks in his sleep, and kicks out feeling like his hand is being pulled on again by that Cajun girl. Her eyes were mesmerizing, and all Luke can see is her penetrating stare like she could see into his soul, and then the strength she had when she pulled his hand across the counter towards her. Her warnings gave him a chill that went down his spine, nothing has ever made him feel that way before.
Again the banging sound disrupts him and Luke instinctively pops up feeling light headed from the sudden movement. He groans as his head throbs in protest for over doing it last night with too many beers, but at the time he just did not care. The three of them had fun last night getting to know each other. It was a welcomed distraction even though he knows he needs to face Laura today and tell her everything.
Then a third time, the banging sound startles him, but this time he realizes it was not his dream, someone is outside his motel room, shouting his name. He immediately recognizes the voice even though it is muffled some by the crappy paper thin door. "Luke, open the door I know you're in there!" The banging rattles the door again as Luke rubs his hand over his face preparing himself to face the day.
Luke gets up and finally opens the door. Rufus comes shuffling in as fast as she can, carrying a large garment bag with her, she quickly closes the door behind her and locks it shut. She may be much more mentally stable now with these new meds, but she is obviously still very paranoid. She has her head and face covered, trying to keep a low profile to make sure no one sees her entering a shady run down motel.
"Rufus, what the fuck are you doing here?" Luke groans in confusion as he continues to wake up, he can feel the effects of the beer he had last night now a full on drum solo beating down inside his head.
"You texted me the address last night, after I told you we have to be in court today. You said ok, and to meet you here." Rufus says matter of factly as Luke continues to rub the back of his head like it is somehow going to magically make him remember any of this.
Rufus walks across the dim lit room. She sets down the garment bag on the bed, then follows with her hat, and slides her shades onto the top of her head. Luke on the other hand is freaking out that Rufus expects him to show up in court today. He does not recall anything from last night. "Why today? Can't we do this after your tour is over?..."
"No Luke, a deal's a deal, you signed those papers so now you need to follow through with the rest of it. And besides, my flight leaves later today this is getting done now, so you need to hurry up and get ready so we're not late!"
Luke throws his hands out in protest, "I never said I wasn't going to. It's just I need more time Ru..." Luke knows if Laura finds out about all this on the news or social media before he has a chance to tell her this is going to break her trust in him even more.
"More time for what, and why are you even at a motel?" Rufus asks as she looks around the shady motel room. "Is your wife mad at you for agreeing to be Ruby's father?" She has a feeling things are tense between Luke and Laura she could sense it in his voice when they talked on the phone earlier this week. Rufus knows how stubborn he can get, and sees that look on his face as she inquires as to why he is here in a motel room and not at home.
Luke glares at Rufus for even going there with that kind of question, and walks off towards the bathroom, "I don't want to fucking talk about it..." The sound of the toilet seat and lid clanking together abruptly when it hit the tank. He is obviously not in the mood to talk about him and Laura's situation, especially to Rufus.
Rufus plops down on the edge of the bed and messages Danielle to pick up coffee and donuts for him. It's clear he is dealing with a hangover on top of everything else. Rufus knows him better than he thinks she does. "Danielle is bringing you coffee and food, you need to sober up before we head downtown."
"What?!", Luke says. He can feel the room spin a bit as he looks down hoping he is aiming straight for the toilet.
Rufus gets up and walks to the doorway that separates the two rooms. Annoyed that his drunken ass can hear her. "I said, Danielle is bringing you some coffee..."
"What the fuck Ru?...I'm trying to take a piss!", Luke snaps at her. Too many problems to deal with today and now Rufus in his motel room just sends him over the edge.
Rufus rolls her eyes at him as she turns her face away giving him some privacy. She leans her head against the doorway as she responds back, "Oh please Luke, get over yourself. I've seen your dick plenty of times." Recalling plenty of their wild nights together. "In fact most of the band and crew have seen you naked." Rufus reminds him, knowing full well that Luke was never shy about his nudity when they were younger.
Luke ignores her comment completely and does his best to plead with her about rescheduling this court date. He meets her in the doorway between the two rooms as Rufus stands there with her arms crossed over her body in a defensive manner. "There is no way we can reschedule this? Don't you have another break in the tour coming up?" He knew all this would happen soon, but not this soon.Like next day soon.
"No, I already told you. This is it, we're doing it today Luke. The judge wants us there in person so we're doing it. The press has already been notified, it's all official now. So you better take a shower, you reek of booze and pizza." Rufus remarks as she looks him over.
Luke sighs, "Fuck! Fine I'll get ready, just no more sneaking up on me, okay? Let me shower in peace." Luke is hoping the hot water will help with his hangover headache and give him some time to think things over with Rufus nagging at him to hurry up. He needs to figure out how to tell Laura before it's too late. He will probably have to call her while they're in route to the courthouse. He is not looking forward to this. She is no doubt not gonna be happy he never told her.
About fifteen minutes later Luke comes out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "What the hell, Ru?...Now there are two of you in here?!"
Rufus turns to look at him, "Relax, Danielle is not going to bother you. She has to prepare for court. So hurry the fuck up and get dressed Cooper!" Rufus gets testy with him." What took you so long anyways? You jacking off in the shower?" she snaps. Luke can tell she is getting antsy, she is probably nervous about all this too.
Luke is about to open his mouth, but then abruptly changes his mind, cussing her out will not resolve anything. The hot shower did help him to feel a bit better. "Are those my clothes?..." He points to the bag on the bed.
"Yes." Rufus says as she pats the garment bag that is next to her on the bed. "Hurry up we need to leave soon, you're taking forever."
Luke walks over to grab the bag, knowing there is no point in continuing to argue with her. She is doing it to get a rise out of him. Best thing to do now is follow along, and just get this all over with, it's been some years now since he has gone through something like this with Rufus there is always some entourage of people with her. Luke on the other hand had become used to not having all those extra set of eyes on him all the time. "You said there's coffee?" he asks, knowing now he definitely needs some.
"Yes, behind you on the dresser. Coffee from you favorite place.", Rufus purrs as her mood switches again. "Now hurry up it's getting late!" Luke cannot wait now to get this all over with. Rufus is still too much to handle the drama always has to revolve around her.
Moments later Luke appears in the doorway again, "Ru! I can't wear this shit! It's too fucking hot...shits gonna chafe my balls." He gripes as he grabs himself trying to adjust for comfort. "They're so fucking tight I can't even wear underwear." Luke would often go commando under his jeans, but after living here in the south for 8 years you begin to appreciate the invention of undergarments.
"They're perfect.", she smiles as she looks him over in the all black outfit. She is glad she chose the leather pants. She hasn't seen him sport a pair of those in years. "They may be a tad small but you'll manage. You'll only be wearing them for a couple hours baby." Luke can see Rufus's mood change as she takes him in. He sighs knowing this is something he is not ready to deal with again.
All the talk about tight leather pants has Danielle curious, she pauses from her work at the laptop to take a peek at Luke. "I think they're hella sexy...You definitely want to make an impression for the media, you two are gonna blow up so fast as soon as this goes out."
"See baby?" Rufus says as she gets up, and meets Luke halfway. She begins to close the buttons on his shirt as he does his best to soften up to all of it. Rufus will not rest till it is all done her way anyways. "You're gonna be the sexiest man on the internet today." Rufus teases knowing he does not like the added attention.
Luke groans, he definitely does not want to be in the media spotlight, but he did kinda promise Rufus he would go public with it if she helped him out. "Do I have to say anything?"
"No, Danielle will be doing all the talking for us.", Rufus responds as she continues to close the buttons on his shirt. "Don't worry baby, I got you covered. All I need is for you to show up in front of the judge with me."
"You know this shit is just going to stir up more gossip about us?", Luke mumbles. He knows that none of it will be true, but he knows too this is all going to greatly affect Laura and the boys. They are not used to any of this. Plus he has never liked how the media has always portrayed him as Rufus's hot "piece of ass" boy toy.
Rufus runs her hands across his chest smoothing out the wrinkles in the shirt. "I know they will gossip. They always do.", she replies nonchalantly. "I forgot how much I missed dressing you up." Rufus's eyes follow up to his face as her hands move to his hair, it is still damp from the shower. "I should have scheduled a stylist, your hair is a hot mess."
Luke huffs out a sigh of frustration, "Ru enough already. I thought we were in a hurry to get the fuck out of here." She is beginning to treat him like her little boy toy again, and it is annoying him. It was fun when he was young, but not anymore.
"We are, get your things we need to go...Oh, and make sure to wear the silver chain." She smiles at him as she lets her hands drop from his shoulders.
A few moments later Danielle comes back into the room informing them that the car is right outside waiting. Rufus has her hat and sunglasses back on as she waits for Luke to finish getting ready.
"Luke lets go!...We don't have much time left.", Rufus says as she gets testy, tired of waiting for him, she forgot how much he hates mornings. Luke takes a while to get moving, and the hangover he has been adding to it as well. Rufus insisted he at least brush his hair before they go, she could not let him walk out that door without looking good enough for her. Then tells him to hurry up all at once.
Luke fiddles with putting on his last piece of jewelry, a leather wrist band, as the ladies wait for him. "Calm the fuck down..." Luke is already beginning to get very irritated with her. He does not know how much longer he can pull this off. And to think, he now has to deal with her on a regular basis now that he agreed to claim he is Ruby's father. Luke sighs as he grabs his coffee and turns around to face Rufus and Danielle. "Let's get this shit show over with."
The small entourage heads out of the motel room door and gets in the waiting car the is directly outside, heading straight to the downtown courthouse. Luke does his best in the meantime to mentally prepare himself for the barrage of cameras and media that will be there waiting for them. He knows Rufus is using this too to gain publicity and advertise the band and their new album. Luke is yet again just another pawn in her plans.
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Around the same time Laura comes racing out the the door with Finn on her hip. She heard the rumble of a motorcycle approach outside, thinking it must be Luke so she grabbed Phineas, who was quietly watching TV and playing with his toys and rushed to the door. Luke never came home last night, respecting her wishes after the huge fight they had yesterday over Rufus. She regrets all of it now, hoping they can work things out, but she is worried she has lost him.
"Luke?!...", she blurts out as she opens the door, stepping out onto the porch. There is definitely a man with a motorcycle outside her door, but it is not Luke. Laura instinctively wraps her arm around Phineas as she backs away back towards the front door. She has never seen this man before, but she has a very good idea who he is. The resemblance is uncanny.
"You must be my son's old lady...Where is the bastard at? Too scared to come talk to his old man?" David asks bluntly as he walks towards the porch pushing his sunglasses up off his face. Laura almost gasps audibly as she looks him over. It's almost like looking at Luke but an older version.
Laura continues to back away from David. "Luke isn't here. You should leave. He wouldn't want you here." Laura insists. She reaches behind her back and grabs the door handle letting the latch softly click as she pushes the door open. David can see his presence is making her nervous. He smiles and Laura sees the resemblance even more, making her wish Luke was here right now.
"Listen, I dunno what my boy has told you, but I'm here to help him out of his predicament...Can you at least give him a call. I don't have his number and I drove pretty much non stop from Vegas to get here in time. My ass is tired, and I would really appreciate some ice cold water if you don't mind." David turns on that Cooper charm as he watches Laura's eyes go from worried to curious. She shifts her weight onto her other foot as she juggles Finn in her arms and considers what David is asking her. Almost everything about him reminds her of Luke, the voice, the face, the tattoos and the way he just sweet talked his way into convincing her for some help. Luke is more like his father than he realizes.
"Lemme get you the glass of water, just wait here..." Laura figures it can't hurt to inquire him a bit more about this so called "help" he is here for. Laura knows Luke has been hiding something so she figures she can use this opportunity to see if David can tell her what is going on. Although she has no idea how the two are connected.
David smiles at her, a real genuine smile that reaches his eyes, "Thank you, I really appreciate it." Laura smiles back as she begins to step inside she is still unsure about it all, but her curiosity has the best of her right now.
"Just give me a minute, I'll be right back..." Laura steps all the way inside locking the door behind her...Leaving David Cooper outside on her doorstep...
To be Continued!
^_^
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I truly do appreciate the support!
Please consider checking out and signing up for my Patreon Account I am currently in the process of adding all of my older episodes in a new storybook format, some with bonus content and photos. Eventually I will be adding the new episodes there as well...as I continue to work on moving the blog to Patreon.
In all seriousness I have debated going this route for several years now. As I approach the 11 year mark on this blog I know that this may not be the best time for everyone but realistically for me to continue this I need to be able to financially support what I do so I can continue to create stories. I have tried several different ways to do this over the years but ultimately those other options are very time consuming and leave me mentally exhausted and burnt out trying to juggle an additional business and the blog.
Thank you to all of you who have continued to read my blog over the years and continue to do so....💗💗💗
Next episode will be available Friday September 30th!
