Once Again

Zack stormed into the house after Gena, tossing his keys onto the table and slamming the door shut.

“What the fuck was that Gena?” Zack asked. “You try to start a fight at a fucking five year old’s birthday party?”

“I’m trying to get that lying bitch to tell us the truth!” Gena shouted back.

“That ‘bitch’ is going through enough without you jumping her ass over whether or not it’s true that she was raped!” Zack roared, causing Gena to shrink back slightly since he never yelled at her like this before. “For fuck’s sake Gena her daughter is fucking sick! She was told she might not make it another year! Are you that vain that you don’t care she’s losing her daughter? That Jimmy is losing his daughter?”

“I do care okay? But you know I hate liars and she’s the biggest liar of everyone I know!”

“Will you fucking think about what you’re saying? You’re saying a woman lied about being raped! You’re saying she’s lying about being violated in the worst fucking way!”

“You remember what happened at the studio! She didn’t want to say anything about it. Why would someone not talking about something unless they have something to hide?”

“Would you tell me if you were raped?” Zack asked suddenly. Gena opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. “No, seriously. If it were you, would you tell me someone forced themselves on you?”

“This isn’t about me,” Gena said quickly.

“Isn’t it? Why won’t you answer me? Because if it came down to it, you know you would do the exact same thing Cameron did. You would rather let people believe you cheated on someone rather than admit you were violated.”

“Okay fine I would, but why are you turning this around on me?”

“My God you are one piece of work.” Zack laughed humorlessly. “You just admitted you would do the exact same thing she did. What did she ever do to you to make you want to get rid of her so bad?”

“She broke my friend’s heart.” Gena muttered.

“Since when has Jimmy been a friend of yours?” Zack asked, his eyebrow raising. “You hate him just as much as you hate Cameron,” Zack let the sentence hang in the air, staring at the ground deep in thought. “And I’ve been a fucking dumbass for letting this go on as long as his has. I’m going back to Jimmy’s house, but when I get back, I want you gone. I don’t care where you go, I just want you the hell out of this house because we’re done. It’s over between us.”

“What? You’re breaking up with me? Throwing away five years, over some bitch?”

“Stop calling her a bitch! She might have been gone, but she’s still one of my best friends. And it’s not just because of her, it’s because of Jimmy, Valary, Brian, all my friends okay. You’re evil to them all, and I’ve been letting it go on for way too long. I want you out of my house, and I want it by the time I get back from my niece’s birthday party.” Zack picked up his keys and walked out of the house, driving right back to the party. He walked through the house, wanting to get himself prepared to face everyone again. However, when he walked into the kitchen, he came face to face with Jimmy.

“What’s going on?” Zack asked.
“Hey” Jimmy said, walking up to his friend. “ Raven fell asleep after you and Gena left. Everyone’s just chatting outside now. What happened with Gena?”

“I dumped her. I’m not staying with a woman who pulls that at a kid’s birthday party.” Zack said with a shrug. “I’m sorry about that by the way, she was totally out of line.”

“You shouldn’t be apologizing, you were clear across the yard,” Jimmy said. “Gena’s a big girl, she knew what she was doing.”

“I know,” Zack muttered. “So Ray fell asleep? Is she feeling okay?”

“I don’t know man,” Jimmy replied, glancing toward the back door. Zack glanced out and saw the little girl laying on a law chair under a tree.

“I should go talk to Cam,” Zack sighed, opening the screen door. Jimmy followed him out of the house, but walked up to his parents and sisters instead of following Zack to the pool. Cameron glanced up from her conversation with Val, Michelle, and Lacey and saw Zack walked their way.

“Can I steal her for a minute?” Zack asked the other girls. They nodded and walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

“Hey, I wanted to apologize for Gena earlier. She’s not gonna bother you anymore. I just dumped her.”

“There was nothing you could do Zack,” Cameron replied. “It’s fine, I never let Gena get to me.”

“I know, but I just felt like I should apologize, since I brought her here and everything.” Zack muttered, staring at the ground. Cameron smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she whispered into his ear. She backed away and glanced toward the tree. “The guest of honor fell asleep,” she giggled, though Zack could see the concern in her eyes.

“I know this isn’t the time, so it can wait until later, but we need to have a little meeting about new design ideas,” Zack stated.

“Yes sir Mr. Baker,” Cameron nodded, a smirk on her face.

“None of that Mr. Baker shit right now,” Zack laughed. “It’s a birthday party!”

“So, single man now Baker, what are you going to do now?” Cameron asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“No fucking idea,” Zack sighed. “It’s gonna take me a while to get back into the dating scene.”

“I don’t think it’ll take you that long,” Jimmy’s voice said from behind Cameron. “Ladies man through and through.”

“I remember that,” Cameron teased. “Around the same time you were,” she said, turning to look at Jimmy.

“Hey, I’m a one girl guy now.” Jimmy said.

“Let me guess, brown hair, blue eyes, about three foot six, 79 pounds?” Zack asked with a smirk.

“You know me so well,” Jimmy laughed.

“Okay, so what happens when you get another girl?” Cameron asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Cameron, if I ever have another daughter, then I’ll love her the same as I love Raven.”

“Can I asked a question?” Zack asked suddenly.

“You just did but you can ask another one,” Cameron replied.

“How the hell did you come up with the name Raven?” Cameron froze, never expecting to have to answer this question.

“Uhm,” she said, glancing up at Jimmy. “Fine, to me, it sounded like it was close to Rev, so I just went with it.”

“Wait a minute,” Jimmy spoke up. “You named our daughter after my stage name?” When Cameron nodded, he laughed even harder, throwing his head back in the process. “So she’s got my stage name as a first name almost, and my last name. You were really hoping to reunite weren’t you?”

“No, I just needed something more to remember you by. What else then naming your daughter after you?” Cameron asked, looking up at him. Jimmy stopped laughing instantly, his face becoming nothing but serious. “I convinced myself I would never see you again Jimmy. I convinced myself you would never know about Raven, but I was wrong.”

“Fate brought the two of you back to each other,” Zack said. “Now you just have to figure out what you’re going to do about it. Sure you’re trying for another baby. You’re trying the save the daughter you have now, but what does this mean for the both of you? Do you two get back together and try to work things out? Do you start over, or do you just ignore your feelings, and possibly see other people? It’s all up to you two. I know one thing though, you two need to decide what you’re going to do soon, because by the sound of things, that girl won’t last too much longer. So you have to decide what you want to do now before it’s too late.”

Zack shrugged and walked off, leaving Cameron and Jimmy alone and both of them confused.

“What the hell was that?” Jimmy asked out loud, staring after Zack as he walked up to Brian and Michelle.

“I don’t know, but he’s right,” Cameron sighed. “We need to be on the same page with everything for Raven.”

“We can talk about this after the party,” Jimmy muttered, glancing up to see that Raven had finally woken up from her nap.

“Daddy!” She called, seeing him watching her. Jimmy smiled toward her and ran his hand up and down Cameron’s arm before running up to his daughter.

“Well, about time you woke up BeeBee.” he said to the girl.

“Party time?” Raven asked, her blue eyes shining with excitement as she looked around.

“Absolutely,” Matt called out to her.

“Presents!” Raven shouted.

“I think we should eat first,” Jimmy said. “Get something in that little tummy of yours.” He started tickling Raven’s stomach, causing her to shriek out a fit of giggles.

“Mommy, help me!” Raven called. Cameron smiled, but she was so caught up with watching Jimmy and Raven she didn’t notice Brian sneaking up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and told her to fight him. She rolled her eyes, but started fighting anyways.

“I can’t baby, Mommy’s stuck!” Cameron shouted out to her. Out of nowhere Cameron felt a sharp pain in her stomach, causing her to wince.

“Brian stop,” she said, taking in a deep breath.

“You okay?” Brian asked.

“Yeah, just a little bit of pain.” she muttered, massaging the side of her stomach to try to ease it a little. “I’m not used to all these hormones going through me.”

“It won’t be for long,” Jimmy muttered, knowing what was going on right away

“Nope, just until they turn me into a pot,” Cameron muttered. Jimmy and Brian rolled their eyes as Barbra walked up to them.

“Cameron, Joe and I were thinking about having Raven stay the night with us, if it’s okay with the two of you.”

“I don’t mind,” Jimmy said automatically. “Do you care?”

“Nope, I know you won’t let anything happen to her. Sounds good to me,” Cameron nodded. Barbra smiled and hugged the younger woman.

“This helps us,” Jimmy pointed out. “We can have our little discussion now without worrying about Raven.” Cameron just nodded, but on the inside, she was a wreck. She was terrified of what would come out of it. She didn’t know what she wanted, so she would just have to wait and see what happens.