My Baby, My Darling.

Dexter POV

"You always knew how to make a good first impression." she smiled lightly.

I maintained my stoic stance, crossing my arms. "Why are you here?"

"I need to talk to you." Monica let out a breath of air, pursing her lips like she did when she wanted to be serious.

I narrowed my eyes, "Talk."

"Not here," she put her hands on her hips. Her thin frame reached up to my chin, a height difference I'd grown used to over the years that I'd known her. She gestured towards the lake. "Can we go for a walk?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and focused all of my power into maintaining my impassive expression. I knew that I needed to talk to her. I needed answers. As much as I hated it, I had to talk to her. I forced myself to swallow my pride and nodded slowly, gesturing for her to move out the gate, which accessed the lake. I followed behind her, but maintained my distance. Once we were out of earshot, I matched her pace but still maintained my distance.

"So that lake house is nice, right? Beautifully constructed." she nodded slowly, crossing her arms as she continued to walk.

I let my arms drop, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my swim trunks. "Is that why you came here? To talk about the architecture of the lake house."

She shook her head slowly, taking in a deep breath and stopped in her tracks, turning to face me. "I'm sorry, Dex." she breathed, looking into my eyes. I blinked, staring at her face for what seemed like an eternity. Those green orbs  that I once associated with lust now only held the gaze of a stranger. Because that's what she was now, a stranger. A stranger that was sorry. She was sorry? Are you kidding me. I clenched my jaw, staring into the eyes of the woman I thought I knew so well, I thought I was willing to spend the rest of my life with three years ago. The woman I once loved with every being inside of me. She was sorry.

"You left me at the altar, Monica. And then you completely disappeared. No phone calls, no letters, no fucking email." I winced, recalling the events that had shattered me. I tried to maintain a calm stature, but my tone only grew intense, betraying me. "I came back to the apartment and your stuff was gone, just like that. Not even a fucking note or anything." 

I raised my voice louder. "I haven't seen or heard from you since! Three fucking years, Monica. That's a long fucking time to be just sorry, don't you think?" I was now yelling at her. She averted her eyes from mine, wincing at the sound of my angry tone.

I lowered my voice slightly, barely to a murmur but still maintaining it's intensity. "Sorry is the fucking understatement of the year."

She blinked, licking her lips. She didn't move, she didn't make a sound. She just looked out onto the lake, past the horizon. Her even breaths came out jagged, and when she spoke, there was a definite rasp. It only appeared when she was nervous. "I wasn't ready, Dexter." she spoke quietly. "You had to know that. Fuck, I was only 18 for gods sake. We weren't ready."

"I was. God, did you even think about that? Don't you think there are better ways to tell me you weren't ready other than leaving me at the altar?" I snapped, looking into her eyes, searching for something, anything.

"Don't you think I tried?" she hissed, "All those signs, they were there. You missed them. You didn't understand."

"You didn't. You were the one that didn't try." I shook my head. "I wasn't the one that assumed anything. You were. Don't you dare blame any of that on me. God, Mon! Do you know how many times I tried to find you? I searched for months. And now you just show up out of nowhere? What did you think was going to happen?"

"I don't know!" she raised her voice for the first time. "I don't know what I thought. I just, I needed you to know. I needed you to know-"

"That you're sorry." I interrupted her, nodding as I took in her words. "Well I don't need your fucking apology." I spat as I moved past her, starting my trek back to the lake house, shoving my hands into my pockets.

As I made my way through the sliding door, I spotted Annie chatting with a few college students I had partied with a couple times in the kitchen. She smiled, seeing me out of the corner of her eye. She furrowed her eyebrows, observing my facial expression and mouthed "What's wrong?" from across the room. And suddenly her eyes grew wide, her gaze traveling past me, out the sliding door. I knitted my eyebrows in confusion and turned around to see what she was looking at. My breathing caught in my throat as I looked out the sliding door.

What I saw, not only pissed me the fuck off but also instilled a hint of worry inside of me. I clenched my jaw as I saw Chelsea's head roll back in laughter, laughter caused by the one and only Monica Hightower.
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Chelsea POV

After Nicole and I pulled the canoes out of the shed on the side of the house, I made my way back into the yard in search of Dexter. I weaved through the huge crowd towards the ice coolers where I had left him and saw that he was no longer standing there. He must have gotten pulled away by another one of his many friends. I silently prayed that he wasn't back in the house talking to that blonde bimbo. I spun around and was about to make my way into the crowd of people littered all around the backyard when I accidentally bumped into someone, hard. I worriedly  looked up and apologized, flashing her a friendly smile. I couldn't go one party without injuring myself or someone else, could I?

The girl only waved me off, not even worried that i had crashed into her. She didn't look like the usual girls that were walking around  at the party with barely any clothes on. Her light blonde hair was natural and her fair skin was beautifully  illuminated in contrast with her black dress, which was patterned with hot air balloons.

"Your dress is honestly one of the cutest things I have ever seen." I grinned lightly, gesturing towards her high-low.

She flashed me a friendly smile, looking down at her dress, "Oh, thank you. I actually got it at this one boutique in Washington."

"Oh, did you just move here?" I asked her, noticing her beautiful green eyes. My god, she was beautiful.

She nodded slowly, "I'm originally from here. I moved to Washington a few years back. I'm thinking about moving back here again. There's a bit of history here that...I'm not quite ready to let go of yet."

I laughed, "I don't know what you could possibly want to keep in this town. But, I'll take your word for it. I'm Chelsea, by the way." I extended my hand out to her, flashing her a smile.

"Monica." She shook my hand, smiling up at me. 

Monica? I raised an eyebrow at her. Could she be Dexter's Monica? No. That couldn't be possible. I stared at her face, examining all of her features. I knew one thing was for sure. If she were Dexter's Monica, I stood no chance. She was far more beautiful than I could ever be.

Travis suddenly appeared beside me, smiling lightly. "Hey. Gabe's looking for you." his eyes traveled between me and Monica, his eyes landing on Monica.

"Oh, okay." I licked my lips, gesturing towards Monica. "Travis this is Monica. Monica, Travis." I introduced the two of them.

Travis gave Monica a small grin and asked her a few questions about where she was from. I took the opportunity to step away from the conversation and moved through the sliding doors, into the living room in search of Gabe.

I spotted Dexter in the kitchen, completely submerged in a conversation with Annie. I decided that I would talk to him later, when he wasn't busy. I weaved my way through a crowd of people, into the living room. I scanned the crowd and noticed Gabe in the corner of the room, standing behind the DJ stand and flipping through various records. I laughed as I watched the real DJ swat his hand away from beside him. Gabe only looked up innocently and hung his head in shame. I made my way over to him.

"What are you doing?" I laughed, speaking into his ear so he could hear me over the music.

"I'm just trying to c-convince this asshole to l-let me drop a few b-beats." he slurred, gesturing rudely towards the DJ, who merely swatted him away.

I stifled a laugh and nodded slowly, "Travis said you were calling me?"

"Yeah! I was." his eyes widened in amazement and moved close to my ear, yelling over the music. He placed both hands on my cheeks so that I was face to face with him. He smelled like he took a bath in beer. "I n-need you to d-drop everything, and have a g-good time. It's a p-party for fucks sake. S-stop mom-ing everyone." He nodded slowly.

I rolled my eyes, leaning away from his alcohol breath and removing his hands from my face. "Whatever you say, Gabe." 

He nodded slowly, and turned back to the DJ slurring a few more absurdities at him. I grinned lightly at the DJ and gave him a look of sympathy. Gabe was ten times more crazy when he was drunk. 

I weaved my way through the crowd, back to the kitchen in search of Dexter. I stopped in the doorframe and scanned the room. I spotted them on the far side of the kitchen with their back to me in deep discussion about something. As I neared closer to them, I caught a hint of their discussion.

"How did she even know that you'd be here?" Annie hissed, obviously ticked off about someone.

Dexter rubbed the back of his neck and spoke lowly, "We used to have the same group of friends, Annie. It's not that hard to figure out."

"I swear, if that bitch tries anything-"

I inched closer, placing a hand on Dexter's arm. "Who are we talking about?"

They both quickly turned to face me and mumbled "No one" simultaneously. Annie grinned lightly at me and pulled me into a hug.

"Long time no see, stranger." Her eyes twinkled as she pulled away. "You've been running around all day. I haven't gotten a chance to say hello."

I raised my eyebrow at her sudden happy outburst. No witty remark or sly joke. "Yeah, I actually just got relinquished from my job. I'm officially off duty."

"That's great." Annie smiled widely, her eyes traveling between Dexter and I. "Well I just spotted a few people I haven't seen in forever. I'll catch up with you love doves later!" 

I furrowed my eyebrows, watching as she scurried out the sliding room doors. "Tell me what that was about."

"Nothing." he smirked, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close to him, "So you're off duty?"

I nodded slowly, searching his eyes for anything that would give him away. "Yeah. I'm off duty."

"Good," he smirked, placing a kiss on my lips. "Then we can go for a drive."

I raised my eyebrows, "Right now?"

He nodded slowly,  intertwining our fingers and leading me out of the kitchen, towards the front of the house. His pace was quick, moving through the crowd so easily. I had to quicken my steps just to keep up.  Just as we made our way out, onto the front patio, I spotted a familiar face chatting with a few guys that I had seen around at other parties.

"Monica!" I smiled, stopping in my tracks. Dexter saw that I had stopped and widened his eyes upon seeing who I was now talking to. I furrowed my eyebrows and waves him over. "Dexter, I want you to meet someone."

Monica finished up her conversation with the two guys and made her way over to us. Dexter shifted slightly from beside me, and averted his eyes. Monica smiled lightly, her eyes traveling between me and Dexter.

"Monica, this is Dexter. Dexter, Monica. I just met her today. She's from Washington." I explained, grinning lightly at him. He shifted uncomfortably and averted his eyes from the both of us.

"Actually, Dexter and I are old friends." Monica nodded, raising her cup to Dexter, who merely nodded in her general direction.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and turned to face him, waiting for him to say something.

"We were just leaving." Dexter licked over his lips, finally meeting her eyes and glaring at her.

Monica nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact with Dexter. The exchange between them was so stoic, so impassive. What in the world was happening right now.

Dexter's fingers interlocked with mine as he swiftly turned on his heel and started his trek toward the car again. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I allowed him to lead me all the way down the driveway, towards his car. He quickly opened my door for me, and I reluctantly got in, still confused as to what had just happened back there. Before I knew it, Dexter was sitting beside me in an instant and had already started the car, pulling out of the driveway. We sat in silence for a moment as Dexter maneuvered through the narrow mountain road. After a few moments, he finally made his way onto the wide highway. He never spoke, never looked at me. His jaw remained clenched and his grip on the steering wheel tightened, turning his knuckles white.

I let out a deep breath, "Stop the car, Dexter."

"What?" he furrowed his eyebrow, sending me a confused look before returning his gaze out the road.

I hissed, "Dammit, Dex. I said pull over!"

He raised his eyebrows before slowly pulling onto the scenic point at the side of the road. As he put the car in park, I immediately jumped out, taking deep breaths as I leaned against the side of the car. It all made sense now.

He shut his car door and made his way over to me, standing in front of me with a look of concern. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"That was her, wasn't it? That was Monica," I let out a puff of air, "Your Monica."