It was like taking that home pregnancy test again, and finding out that she was pregnant a second time didn’t help the shock and terror the idea instilled in her. Saige felt fresh tears coming to her eyes and she hugged her mother.
“Are you going to be up to job hunting today?”
Saige sniffled but nodded, “The sooner I get to see Aidan, the better.” She sucked up the last of her tears and tried to be strong. “Thank you doctor,” She muttered as she slipped off the table and headed for the door. “I don’t know why I was so shocked, I already knew after all. But still…” She smiled weakly at her mom. “Let’s go…”
Jessica agreed and took the results from the doctor before they left. By the time they reached the car Saige had recollected herself. “Let’s get this over with,” She said.
“Right, and remember Saige, smile!”
Saige frowned instead, ‘How the hell am I supposed to do that?’ She thought.
Saige must have submitted thirty resumes that day, and by six o’clock she was beginning to get discouraged. No one had asked for an interview, and she doubted she would be called back. At this rate, she was never going to see Aidan again.
Their last stop for the day was at a local Tim Horton’s coffee shop. She walked inside, trying to keep her head up high and her mind off her pregnancy. She walked up to the counter and asked for the manager. In a few minutes, the manager arrived and looked at her expectantly.
“I uh…I came to drop off a resume…” Saige explained quickly.
“Oh, OK,” The woman took it from her and looked it over. And then, she said the something that made Saige want to kiss her, “Would you be able to come in for an interview tomorrow?”
“Yes!” Saige had to stop herself from screaming in joy. “Yes, um…what time?”
“4 o’clock?”
“Perfect.” She smiled genuinely. “Thank you so much.”
The manager nodded absently and returned to the back. Saige ran out to her mother joyously. “I got an interview!” She squealed, “I got it! I can see Aidan now!”
Jessica nodded, “When is your interview?”
“Tomorrow at four.”
“Ok then, day after tomorrow I’ll drive you up to North Bay.”
Saige was grinning madly, and then, surprising even herself, she hugged her mother tightly. “Thanks mom…”
The interview went by without a hitch. A different manager this time, came out and conducted a fifteen-minute interview, asking her questions off a sheet. They were simple, stupid questions like ‘What would you do if you saw someone stealing?’ or ‘What would you do if you were unsure of a situation?’. When she returned to her mom’s car, she couldn’t have cared less if she would get the job or not. All she could think about was tomorrow. Tomorrow…when she would finally get to see Aidan again.
Someone pinch me please! I’m having a hard time believing this is real! My mom finally agreed to let me see Aidan! Under the circumstances though…do I really want to? How can I tell him I might be having his baby? How can I tell him I might not be having his baby? But there’s no way around it. I have to tell him. My mom says it would be easiest to just tell him right away. Get it out in the open and see what he says about it. I don’t know…it all seems so surreal. It’s going to be so hard to do this…I’ve gotten myself scared now, that’s just perfect. I won’t be able to sleep at all tonight. Of course, I wouldn’t have anyway. The excitement of seeing Aidan again is too much for me. I wonder what he will think of me, now that I’m not chained and helpless anymore? I guess I shouldn’t worry about it too much, whatever happens, happens, right?
Well, goodnight, Diary. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.
Aidan sat, as he normally did, on the old, rotting couch in the living room of the group home. The administrator was screaming at someone over the phone, as usual, and Zeke had gone off to meet Lacy somewhere. As a result, he was stuck babysitting the small ones while the administrator was busy neglecting them. He hated the times when he was left alone. He always ended up thinking…about anything. And then that anything would lead him back to the fire…he shut his eyes and heard his mother screaming, he felt the heat, and his burns started to ache again. He hated being alone so much sometimes his eyes would start to water.
But today, oddly enough, he wasn’t thinking of the fire that had ended his childhood and sent him hurling into adolescence. Now he was thinking about the second tragedy in his life. He was thinking about Saige. How was she dealing with returning home? He hoped things were better for her now. He wondered if she thought of him. As he shut his eyes, he saw Edgar raping her again, and then he saw himself…his skin crawled at the memory. He’d taken advantage of her, and no matter how he tried to convince himself that he had no choice, he was being eaten alive by guilt. He took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped the fresh tears from his eyes.
“Boys don’t cry…”
Zeke, as usual, chose that time to reappear with Lacy. Aidan quickly wiped his eyes. “Hey guys,” He smiled, glad to finally have something to distract him.
“Aidan! If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were happy to see us.” Zeke laughed.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Aidan shrugged, “I’m just getting bored.”
“Oh well, then I am here for your amusement.”
Lacy chuckled and glanced over her shoulder, listening to the administrator. “He hasn’t changed.”
“What made you think he would have?” Aidan scowled.
Lacy shrugged her shoulders, “I guess it’s just hard to remember him, that’s all. It seems like forever since I left.”
“I told you no unauthorized visitors are allowed in on such short notice. Come back Friday if you want to adopt the little brat…” The administrators voice rang clear through the home.
“Wonder who he’s talking about?” Zeke wondered.
“You don’t need to explain Lady, I’ve already gotten dozens of calls from desperate publicity seekers like you.”
The teens snorted at the irony. There was no greater ‘publicity seeker’ than the administrator himself.
“You can come by if you want, but I’m not letting you in to see him…what? Well in that case…”
“Sounds like money has just gotten involved. People must really like you now, Aidan.” Zeke grinned.
“Yeah, right, I’m going to get out of here before those losers get here.”
“Wait, Aidan! Where are you going?” Lacy called after him.
“I’ll be in my room, “ He answered, “Waiting to run.”
“This is it. You sure you want to go in alone?” Jessica asked her daughter as they pulled up in front of an old rotting home. A rusted sign christened the place ‘North Bay Group Home’. Saige looked the place over and nodded, suddenly feeling very sorry for Aidan. Even her tiny two-bedroom apartment was better than this place.
“I have to go meet that jerk who runs the place about his money,” Jessica explained, “But I’ll be back later to pick you up.”
Saige nodded again and started towards the door.
“Saige…” Her mother stopped her.
“Yeah?”
“…Good luck…”
“Thanks,” She smiled as the tires on her mother’s car squealed and she disappeared down the road. Saige took a long, deep breath and stepped up to the door, raising her small hand to knock. This was it; she was finally going to see Aidan. Immediately, thousands of doubts sprung up in her mind. What if he didn’t want to see her? Maybe he hated her…
She forced herself to forget about these things and pounded her fist against the wooden door. She heard voices inside, and shuffling around as finally someone came to answer.
“It must be those people looking to adopt Aidan again,” A male voice said. It was young, cheerful, and not at all calloused. But it also wasn’t Aidan’s.
The door opened so fast Saige had to stop and blink a few times to remember why she had come. She looked at the boy in front of her and her throat went dry. What did she say?
It was a good thing the boy didn’t give her time to figure that out, because he promptly choked when he saw her and doubled over. “Holy flying Jesus!” He cursed and looked at her again… “You’re…you’re…”
“Um…” Saige blushed at his outburst.
“Zeke, what the hell are you doing?” A girl called from deeper inside. She stepped around a corner, stared at Saige for all of three seconds, and then suffered a similar reaction…without falling to the floor.
“Dear God…you’re Saige right?” She smiled.
Saige nodded and blushed again. “Yes, um…” She looked at the girl, who had flaming red hair, a somewhat thick build and freckles across her nose, she recognised her immediately.
“You were with Aidan when he left the hospital.” Saige observed, the boy as well. These were Aidan’s friends.
“Yes, my name is Lacy, and that moron is Zeke. I guess some people would refer to him as my boyfriend.”
“H-hi…” Zeke squeaked as he regained his composure and stood up.
“Wow…Aidan never said you were so pretty.”
Saige couldn’t control herself. Blood rushed to her face and coloured it deep red.
“Shut up Zeke! Go get Aidan!” Lacy snapped at him.
“Oh yeah! You just wait,” He promised Saige, “Aidan is going to freak!” He grinned and raced up a set of rotten stairs and disappeared.
“Come on in.” Lacy smiled at her, showing her the way into the living room. Saige sat on an old yellowing couch and looked at the empty fireplace. She wondered what Aidan’s reaction to her would be. She wondered how she would react.
“Aidan’s been weird since he got back.” Lacy told her, “You’re all he ever talks about.”
Saige felt her blush returning, “Really?”
“Yeah, Zeke’s been trying to help him get a hold of you, but we there aren’t many resources here.”
Saige nodded her understanding and looked away. She had no idea how to continue the conversation, so she watched the doorway for Aidan.
When she heard steps coming from upstairs, her heart started to race. And then she heard him…Aidan.
“What’s the problem, Zeke?” He grumbled, “I told you I didn’t want to see any more potential parents.”
“Not parents this time.” Zeke promised him, “Even better.”
“Reporters?”
“Better”
“Better than reporters? I tell you Zeke, there is no such thing.” There was a sarcastic bite to Aidan’s voice.
As she saw the two boys coming down the stairs she started to stand and Zeke reappeared, this time half-dragging a tired Aidan behind him.
When Aidan stumbled into the room, Saige’s heart stopped racing; in fact, it stopped completely. She couldn’t even find a breath to say hello. She couldn’t do anything but stand and stare.
Aidan finally looked up after what seemed like an eternity, and stopped in shock when he saw her. She could see Zeke grinning madly out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t care about that. Not now that she was finally reunited with Aidan.
It was Aidan who spoke first, “S-Saige…” He stuttered, “I…” He stopped, unable to continue. “God…” He gasped, “Look at you…”
Saige frowned, “What?”
“No…” He laughed nervously, “I just mean that…you’re so beautiful.”
There were tears coming to her eyes, and she laughed, snorted almost, and wiped them away.
“I missed you…” Aidan continued.
“I missed you too…” She couldn’t stop herself. Saige dove forward and threw her arms around him. Aidan pulled her close and hugged her tightly against him.
“I didn’t think I would ever see you again.” Saige whimpered. “You wouldn’t believe how much begging it took to get my mom to take me here.”
“I believe it, after our encounter in the hospital…”
Saige looked up, “What…?”
“She didn’t tell you?” Aidan frowned, “I came by, but she wouldn’t let me in.”
Saige bit on her lip, she felt the hatred for her mother well up inside of her, but she pushed it down. Her mother had more than redeemed herself by now.
“So what happened to finally convince her?” Aidan wondered.
“Actually Aidan…” Saige bit her lip and pulled back from him. “You may want to sit down for this…”
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