We've Got Unfinished Business

*Alex POV*

"Are we going to Cancun?" I asked Zack. I was trying to guess where he and the guys were planning on taking me for my bachelors party.

"Nope." He said with a poker face.

"Is it somewhere in California?"

"No. Stop guessing."

"Just tell me. I won't tell Rian or the other guys you told." I chuckled.

"No so stop asking. You just have one more week and then you'll know."

"Fine I can wait." I huffed.

Lisa came down stairs to the living room, where we were, with her purse in her hands. "I'll be back babe. I'm going to go shopping with Samantha for outfits for my bachelorette party!" She said excitedly.

"Remember you're only allowed to wear long sleeves and long pants. I can't have you showing too much skin while I'm not there." I joked and she laughed.

"Hush." She leaned down to kiss me. "I love you."

"I love you too." I said and she told Zack bye and left.

"You two are going to make a cute married couple." Zack told me.

"Thanks." I said.

I love Lisa, and up until a few days ago I was convinced I was ready to marry her. Then I ran into Jack and all the feelings I had for him quickly came rushing back to me. I was hoping to avoid him the entire time to stop that from happening but I couldn't. Plus I couldn't stop myself from going over to visit him. I should have known he wasn't over me either. I didn't think he would still lie to me after all this time. Trying to trick me into thinking he was able to get pregnant was a new low for him. I was actually surprised he thought I would fall for that. It made me feel bad that he was actually that desperate to get me to stay.

"I'll be back later on. I'm gonna go hang out with my parents." Zack told me as he got up.

"You're going to leave me here by myself?" I asked.

"Yeah you'll be fine." He chuckled.

"I'll just call Vic and see if he has time for me." I joked as I pulled out my phone. Zack left and I called Vic to see if he was busy.

"Hey Alex, I was just about to call you." Vic said after he answered.

"Are you bored too?" I asked.

"No not exactly. I just needed to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Um well about Jack."

"Vic." I sighed and he continued talking.

"Just hear me out. He and Kellin came over yesterday and he had a baby. His baby." He said in a serious tone, but I rolled my eyes.

"It was his niece." I told him.

"No that was not his niece. It's his daughter, look I'm sending you a picture."

I felt my phone vibrate and I opened the message Vic had just sent me. It was a picture of Jack, but his stomach was huge. It really did look like he was pregnant.

"Where did you get this?" I asked.

"Kellin sent it to me. It's real dude! Jack really had a baby...your baby." He added.

"That's literally impossible."

"No it's obviously not if he has proof to show he was actually pregnant."

"What if the picture was photo shopped?" I questioned and he sighed.

"You're really in that much denial? Dude go get a DNA test if you really don't believe us, but don't just not do anything because you're so positive he's lying. That little girl deserves to know the truth." He told me.

"I gotta go." I said.

"Alex-"

I hung up before he could finish talking. I didn't want to hear anymore, the fact that Vic believed it scared me. He and Rian didn't usually fall for lies as easily as everyone else. I knew for sure that there was no way this was true. Maybe they were just fucking with me because my bachelor party was coming up.

Vic tried to call and text me but I ignored it all. Rian walked through the door a few minutes later. He was holding a cup of coffee and he came to sit next to me.

"What's wrong dude? You look pale as fuck." He said worriedly.

I contemplated on whether I not I wanted to tell him out of fear he would agree with Vic. Then I took a deep breath.

"Rian you are the smartest person I know." I told him.

"Oh thanks man." He smiled and I shook my head.

"I just need to know, have you ever heard of a guy becoming pregnant?"

"Uh no I don't think so." He shook his head.

"Right!!!" I exclaimed.

"I mean I guess it's not impossible if they were born with like a uterus and stuff. Why?"

"Okay so this guy came up to me with a kid and said that it was mine." I explained, purposely keeping Jack's name out of it.

"Dude it was obviously a joke or ploy to get money out of you or something. I'm sure if guys could get pregnant it would be like really rare. So the chances of you meeting a guy like that is really slim."

"But what if there is pictures of this pregnant guy?" I questioned and he sighed.

"I can't talk to you when you're high." He began to stand up and I grabbed his arm stopping him.

"No no I'm not high or drunk or anything, I swear. I'm telling the truth!" I stared into his eyes so that he knew I wasn't lying.

"Who was it?" He asked.

"Jack."

"How do you know that he wasn't lying just to get you to talk to him?"

"I don't know. At first I thought he was but then Vic called and said that they knew for sure Jack actually had the baby."

"You need to go talk to Jack." He demanded.

I sat back further into my seat and sighed, "I know. I think I'm going to go by to talk to him tomorrow."

***

~The Next Day~

*Jack*

I was just finishing up another online practice assignment for my GED course. Luckily Aubrey had stayed asleep so I could do a large portion of my work. She started to stir in her sleep and I saw her open her eyes.

"Hi baby!" I exclaimed as I picked her up from her bassinet. She had a deep frown on her face, she looked like my mom when she frowned. She was always cranky and difficult when she woke up from a nap.

"Did you have a nice nap?" I asked her and she grunted. "I'll take that a no and a sign that you need your diaper changed."

I carried her upstairs and too her to her changing table. I laid her down and grabbed a diaper and some wipes. She chewed on her fingers and waited for me to change her. I quickly changed her diaper and put her in a new one.

"Now you're all clean!" I told her and she giggled.

I picked her up and gave her the rattle that she was starting to love. Usually I dreaded letting her play with it because the annoying sound, but she really liked it. We went back down stairs to find something to snack on but the doorbell rang before I could reach the kitchen. I went to the door and opened it to see Alex.

"Um hi?" I said unsurely.

"Hi." He looked down at Aubrey and took a deep breath. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"No." I moved to the side and let him in. He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"I'm going to grab something to eat for her really quick." I told him and went to the kitchen. I grabbed Aubrey's banana puffs and walked back in the living room. Alex was tapping his foot and staring off into space, he barely noticed we walked back in. I sat Aubrey in her chair on the floor and put a few puffs on the tray in front of her. She happily squealed and pulled on into her mouth.

"Okay sorry." I said to Alex, but he was watching Aubrey. "Alex?" I called out and he looked up at me.

"Sorry I was thinking." He mumbled. I could tell Vic had talked to him about everything, but I didn't know how he felt now.

"Thinking about what?"

"It's uh nothing. How have you been?"

"Okay, considering I've finally got around to listening to Future Hearts." I said.

"What did you think of it?" He asked nervously.

"Well Dancing with a Wolf definitely caught me off guard." I mumbled.

"You have to understand I was pissed at the time. I put so much time and effort into this relationship that turned out to be a lie."

"I know. I understand that and I'm sorry, but those words still hurt." I told him.

"I didn't write the song to hurt your feelings or get back at you. I just wrote it because it helped ease some of the pain I was feeling at the time. I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings." He said sincerely.

"Thank you." I said and he nodded. He turned his attention back to Aubrey who was eating her puffs and playing with her rattle.

"Did Vic talk to you?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah...he did."

"How do you feel about what he said?"

"Confused." He lightly chuckled. "Scared that it might be true."

"I know that basically everything out of my mouth when we first met was a lie, but I wouldn't lie about this." I said and he looked at me. "She really is yours."

He looked down at the ground for a few minutes. I wanted to say something to see if he was alright or needed anything. I saw him take a deep breath before lifting his head and facing me again.

"Do you mind if I hold her?" He asked and I shook my head. I didn't know if this meant he believed me, but this was progress. I stood up and picked Aubrey up from her chair. Then I walked over to Alex and slowly handed her to him.

"This is Aubrielle." I introduced him and he carefully took her and sat her in his lap. I watched them both stare at each other for a little bit. Aubrey gripped his shirt tightly and she looked at me. I smiled as I watched him place a kiss on the top of her head. He held her close for a minute before talking to me.

"She's six months?" He asked and I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me when you first found out?"

"I was scared. I didn't tell my mom or you because I was afraid of how you two would react. I knew my mom was most likely be pissed, but I had no idea how you would have reacted." I said and he nodded.

"I don't know how I would have reacted either, but I would have been happy to know about her when she was first born." He said and I looked down ashamed.

"I'm sorry."

He took a deep breath before saying, "it’s okay. At least I have the chance to meet her now."
Aubrey began to whine and hold her arms out for me. I felt bad as Alex released her and handed her back to me.

"Sorry she's just um...” I tried to think of a way to sugar coat the fact that he was a stranger to her.

"Not used to strangers." He said for me and I nodded. "I understand. I um… I’ll try not to be a stranger for too much longer." He promised.

"Thank you." I said and he smiled.

"Mhmm. I should probably go lay down, my head is kind of hurting." He chuckled. I understood, finding out that it was actually true that he has a daughter probably took a huge toll on him.

"Take your time." I said.

"No I feel like I need to make up missed time with her." He said. "I'll be back tomorrow." He told Aubrey and kissed her on the cheek.

"Bye." I said.

"Bye Jack." He hugged me and left.

I watched him walk to his car and leave. I took a deep breath and sat back down with Aubrey. It lifted a heavy weight off of my shoulders to know that Alex knew the truth now.

Notes

They're making progress!