Chapter 4-5: Fighting Against Nature

                “Yalena…wow. Come in, come in. You look amazing but I don’t want my neighbors to see,” he said, ushering her through the door.

                “I think it’s time we take our relationship to the next level,” she smiled what she hoped was a seductive smile.

                “What do you mean,” he stammered.

                “I swear, sometimes you are so clueless. I think it’s adorable.” She leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear, “I want you to make love to me, right here.”

                 His eyes lit up with understanding and he wasted no time undressing. They didn’t bother moving to the bedroom and instead enjoyed their first time together quickly and furiously against the bar. It wasn’t quite what she had been expecting but what could you expect when you planned on seducing a man the minute you arrived?

                 Later, they moved to his bedroom where they cuddled for a little while. Cuddling turned to more kissing and fondling and this time, they took their time together, looking for each other’s weaknesses and taking their time to truly enjoy the moment.

                “Ace, I have to get home, the sitter is expecting me,” she finally whispered, waking him from his half doze. She rose and found her coat, covering up for the ride back to her apartment.

                “Let me walk you out,” he offered.

                As they reached the elevators, he stepped in front of her to kiss her. “Yalena, I think I am falling for you.”

                “I think I am falling for you too Ace.” They kissed one last time and she resisted the urge to go back inside with him. If she was late, the babysitter fees increased and she could barely afford what she was paying now.

                 Over the next few weeks, Ace and Yalena continued their renewed relationship. Yalena felt that she had finally found a true catch. Sure, he had some jealousy problems but since that night at his apartment, he hadn’t seemed as threatened by Glen as in the past. Her plan seemed to have worked. Though, to be fair, she hadn’t talked to Glen yet about her thoughts on custody of Brielyn.

                During that time, Yalena finally made up with Lyric. She invited him over to the house one afternoon, to clear the air.

                “Look, I’m really sorry for the way I behaved,” she apologized.

                “What happened,” he asked, clearly still hurt. “You couldn’t keep your hands off me and, the next day, you were a different person.”

                “I was drunk and I was really upset that Ace had blown me off, even though we were getting back together. You were right, I was just trying to make him jealous. I’m sorry.”

                “I’m not.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “I’m not sorry about any of it. Not sorry you did it, not sorry I came home with you, nothing. If anything, it proves to me that, when you actually stop thinking and let your defenses down, you have feelings for me too.”

                “No, Lyric, not like that.”

                “Yeah, you do Yalena. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself. And I know why. But I don’t want to argue.”

                “No, what? How can you think that? Or ‘know’ that, as you claim?”

                “You want to be with someone who can take care of you. Someone who is going places. Someone who will be a good dad to Brielyn. Someone with money. Someone…”

                “Lyric…,” she warned him. He was about to cross the line and piss her off again.

                “…like me. You just forget all that about me. Or don’t want to acknowledge it’s there.”

                He hadn’t said what she had thought. She thought he was accusing her of looking for a sugar daddy but, he was right, in a sense about what he said. She did want someone that she could depend on and that would accept her daughter, not just her. Lyric just wasn’t the person for the job. She didn’t know how to make him realize it though.

                “Lyric, I’m with Ace, can’t you just be happy for me?”

                “No. Because I know he’s the wrong guy. But I’ll be patient. I’ll be your friend and wait until you figure it out.”

                He leaned in and gave her a hug, lingering just long enough that she became physically aware of him and then he pulled away. She felt so confused because her body seemed to not be satisfied with just the hug. She had felt the tension between them and, without her mind’s consent, she was responding to it.

                 “Let’s jam,” he said, changing the subject abruptly. He went and grabbed his guitar from the car and they began to play together. All the tension and unspoken words melted away between them and, suddenly, it was like nothing had changed between them and they were back to being the friends that they had always been.

                “Hey, Lena, are you alright,” Lyric looked up from his guitar.

                “I think I’m going to be sick,” she said, setting her guitar down and running for the bathroom.

                As she heaved into the toilet, she couldn’t help praying that she wasn’t getting a stomach flu. She couldn’t afford to miss any work.

                 With the progress she had made with both Ace and Lyric, she decided it was finally time to call Glen. She invited him over to talk and he agreed to be there within the hour. She figured it was petty but she wanted to meet at her house because it was hers and she felt that she had a bit of the upper hand here. Though she had moved on, Glen was still her first love and she wanted every bit of the advantage she could get.

                “I’m so glad you called. I was starting to wonder if you were just going to avoid me forever.”

                “I thought about it. You’re her father and I know you want to get to know her. I’m okay with that but I’d like it to be supervised by me, at least to start.”

                ‘Supervised? You think I can’t be trusted with my own daughter?”

                “It’s not that. It’s just been so long since we’ve talked. She’ll be a child soon and you’ve missed so much of her life. She doesn’t need to be alone with some random stranger that she’s never met before and that’s what you are to her.”

                “If that’s what will make you happy, fine.”

                 She introduced them and then sat in the living room, reading a book so she wouldn’t intrude but was close enough to keep an eye on them. She listened to them playing together and smiled to herself. She was happy that Brielyn’s father was finally in the picture and that he had been interested to be a part of her life, once he had found out about her. She only wished it hadn’t taken all the years that it had.

                 Soon, Glen had become a regular fixture around the house. He was there most afternoons to play with Brielyn and watched her sometimes when Yalena had to work. He helped with the potty training. He was there when she took her first steps, cheering her on as she finally made the walk across the living room, unassisted.

                 When she missed her period later that month, Yalena knew she was pregnant. She’d been nauseous and attributed it to the spring flu season. In truth, she had been in denial once again. She and Ace had been steadily seeing each other and though both hinted at the L word, neither had had the courage to say it out loud. Yet, unlike with Brielyn, Yalena was excited about this baby. She loved her daughter but finding out she had been pregnant had been a horrible day. This time, all she could see where the ups of becoming a mother again.

                 “Want to go the park with us,” Glen asked her that morning when he showed up to spend time with Brielyn.

                “Sure. I’m meeting Ace for lunch but I’ll come for a little while.”

                She sat watching Glen with Brielyn and hoped that Ace would be as good a father as Glen had finally turned out to be.

                 “Okay, please don’t freak out, but I’m pregnant.” She cut right to the chase when she met him outside the small café where they were eating.

                 His face told all. She prepared herself for the worst but then, suddenly, his shock turned to glee.

                 “I’m going to be a daddy,” he exclaimed, leaning over to rub her barely there belly.

                “What are you doing here,” Xander objected when he arrived at his niece’s birthday party to find Glen there. Lyric watched on from the corner, silently hoping that Xander might punch him. Lyric wasn’t about to get involved because he knew that Yalena had accepted Glen back into her and Brielyn’s life and, if he wanted her to finally choose him, he had to accept him as well. But he wasn’t against the guy getting the crap beat out of him by a protective, older brother.

                 “Now, now guys. Let’s all get along,” Ace rushed over, trying to be Mr. Nice Guy as Glen stormed off in the other direction. Xander and Lyric looked at him and then glanced at each other as if to say “who the hell is this guy”. Both men had had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting Ace and neither of them liked him. Neither of them wanted to get in the way of Yalena’s happiness though so they bit their tongues and smiled politely.

                 Yalena carried her daughter to the cake, excited about this next stage in their lives. Her toddler was now going to be a little girl and she couldn’t wait to take her shopping and maybe even get pedicures together. And soon, their family would grow a little bigger with their newest addition.

                 “Mommy, why doesn’t Daddy live with us,” Brielyn asked her mom, almost immediately after blowing out her candles.

                “Your daddy has his own house that he lives in.”

                “But why can’t he share ours?”

                Yalena wasn’t sure how to explain to her daughter that mommy and daddy weren’t together. She’d seen how good he was with their daughter and sometimes she caught herself wondering why they weren’t together. She wasn’t sure if it was her pregnancy hormones but she sometimes found herself wondering about Glen, imagining the what-ifs and could-have-beens. 

                 “Honey, let’s get you ready for bed. You’ve got school tomorrow.” She deftly changed the subject and tucked her daughter in, reading her a bedtime story. She knew the topic would come up again but she hoped that she would have a better answer next time around.

                 After Brielyn had been tucked in and read to sleep, Yalena heard her phone buzz with a text message. “Meet for coffee tomorrow at 9?” Ace queried.

                “Sure. I’ll head there as soon as I take Brielyn to school.”

                Getting her daughter up and ready for her first day of school was easier than she thought it would be. Excitement and nerves had Brielyn up at the crack of dawn, fretting over what to wear and if people would like her. They walked to school in silence, Brielyn clinging to her mother’s hand. In front of the school, she quickly grabbed her into a hug.

                “Mommy, I’m scared.”

                “Don’t be. I’m sure you will make a ton of friends.”

                “Promise,” she asked, staring up at Yalena with those big, gray eyes.

                “I cross my heart.” She crossed her heart and hugged her daughter one more time before sending her through the doors and heading over to the coffee house.

                “Yalena, I’ve been thinking,” Ace said as they enjoyed their coffee together.

                “Mhhm, about what?”

                He knelt. “I think that we should get married. We’re going to have a baby together. We should make this family official.” He held her hand, slipping a sparkly ring onto her finger.

                 He stood and kissed her. She leaned in, kissing him back. This was what she had wanted and what she had been hoping for. She loved him and wanted to spend her life with him, didn’t she?

                 Then why did she have a niggling feeling, going over his words in her head? “He didn’t say he loved me.” And then she pictured Glen in her mind, thinking that this is how it should have been the first time.

Chapter 4.4                                                                                                                                              Chapter 4.6

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I swear, I am not doing this all of my own accord! Yalena is, in game, very indecisive. She wants to get married but doesn't know to who. When she is with Glen, she rolls a wish to marry him. Then, when she is with Ace, she rolls a wish to marry him. All along, Lyric is there, autonomously flirting with her and giving her flowers. Some decisions will certainly need to be made!

Also, just a kind of creepy picture. Do not click if you don't want nightmares. Creepy Outtake

After posing them for the sexy picture, they ended up like this and I couldn't NOT snap a picture of it.