Things Aren't Always What They Seem

Jon was still in the process of absorbing everything that happened in the last three minutes. Charlotte left him and Rose was standing in front of him telling him that she was-- presumably-- carrying his child. The thought of anyone but Charlotte being a mother to his future children made him want to vomit.

"You-- you're p--pregnant?" Jon stuttered out after a good minute or so.

Rose nodded her head and swallowed as she walked through his door and closed it behind him. He didn't bother putting up a fight.

"Is-- is it mine?" Jon asked hesitantly not really sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Rose looked at him for a few seconds and nodded her head. "Yeah."

***

It'd been about twenty minutes since Charlotte left Jon to deal with Rose on his own. She had felt pangs of guilt the entire way back to her place and was in the process of actively pacing back and forth in front of her door. She felt terrible-- she'd left in a flurry of irrationality and hurt and didn't even give him the chance to refute it. She rested her hand on her stomach, feeling the pit that was sitting there grow with each passing second. She opted to leave him when she knew he needed her most and on her way out said hurtful things that even she knew weren't true. She shook her head at herself. Patrick had done a good number on her, but Jon never really had. He'd made his share of mistakes but then again so had Charlotte.

Charlotte knew-- or at least hoped-- deep down that this baby Rose was claiming to carry wasn't Jon's. She knew it in her heart. It was the very thought of it being true, of someone else carrying the love of her life's child, that drove her mad. She realized that whatever Rose was throwing at Jon was something that Jon wouldn't and shouldn't have to deal with alone. They were a team-- they always had been-- and Charlotte wasn't going to abandon him now.

Charlotte grabbed her coat and threw it over her shoulders as she opened the door and began to rush out of it. The second she stepped out into the hall she immediately ran into someone. She stumbled back and looked up as she let out a little gasp. "Patrick," his name fell from her lips.

***

Jon lost all color from his face and fell back into the couch. He dropped his face in his hands and stared at the ground trying to figure out how he'd gotten to this point.

Rose let out an annoyed sigh and looked away from him. "No," she breathed out like the weight of the world was off her shoulders. "It's not yours. I was ready to tell you it was. I wanted to make you believe it but I guess even I have a limit. I've done a lot of wrong things and Charlotte has every reason to hate me, so I can't blame her for walking out at the sight of me especially with what I said."

Jon's heart started beating and he felt the blood begin to course through his veins again. He snapped his head up and looked at her with an icy glare. "What's wrong with you? Why would you do that? Are you even pregnant?"

Rose breathed out again and took a seat far on the opposite side of the couch. "I wanted to get even with you. I'm pregnant, that's true-- but it's not yours. It's Pat's. I told him last night and he flipped out. See, I'm not stupid. I knew for a long time you were in love with Charlotte. Do you know how shitty it is to be with someone and have them look at another girl with stars in their eyes? It was always her-- and after a while I accepted that to a degree. But, I'd never been with someone I couldn't conquer, I suppose."

"So clearly the best option is ruining my life."

Rose didn't say anything she just looked away.

"I know I wasn't perfect-- I'm not perfect and maybe I should have ended things a long time ago. Hell maybe I shouldn't have let it start, but you did some pretty shitty things Rose."

"I never said I didn't and you know what? I don't feel that bad about it either. I wanted to hurt Charlotte--I wanted to hurt her because I knew if I hurt her that would be the best way to hurt you."

"Who the fuck does that? You're a sociopath," Jon yelled out with dramatic hand gestures to emphasis his point. He was fuming and had every right to be.

"I told you. I've done a lot of awful things and I came here prepared to let you believe it was yours--"

Jon cut her off. "You know I was racking my brain here trying to figure out how that was even possible. We barely had sex especially towards the end."

"I know that," Rose confessed bitterly. "Because I wasn't her."

"You were getting yours though," Jon threw back not letting her play the victim. "You were screwing her fiance."

"Yeah I was," Rose nodded her head and tightened her jaw. "And I didn't feel an ounce of remorse. He might have on occasion but I didn't."

Jon shook his head totally disgusted. He couldn't bring himself to look at her. "So what changed your mind? What made you decide to be a normal human for five seconds and tell me the truth?"

"I saw the look on your face when she walked out that door and I wanted to love it. I really did. I was initially pleased with it. But I don't want to be that person forever. I've done horrible things and I've caused enough trouble-- and I don't feel bad about any of it. See, when I told Patrick last night he didn't want to believe me. And I realized how much I lost by never really having you, because you're a better man than he is. Just not for me. I figured if I could convince you it was yours, I'd have a good father for my baby. But I can't live a lie forever-- at least not to my baby."

Jon let out a deep sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "I'd really like to never see you again. Unless you're with him in which case I'm sure I'll have to from time to time. I don't feel sorry for you, you got yourself in your own mess. I'm just glad you're responsible enough to keep it. Can you manage that-- you know you'll have to think of someone else ahead of yourself for a change."

"I wouldn't consider otherwise," she confessed. "Pat can be involved if he wants or he can run away. But you? You're off the hook I guess. I'll stop. I won't say I'm sorry necessarily, but I'll stop trying to pour salt in your wounds. I can see you love her, I always could. I could see she felt the same way about you. I don't think anything I do in the long run would make a difference anyway. It's exhausting, to be honest. And right now I don't have the energy for it anymore. I simply don't have the energy to be so bitter and vindictive about it anymore."

Jon nodded his head but still never looked up at her. "Thanks," he said begrudgingly, though he wasn't sure why he was thanking her. "He'll come around."

"I know," Rose said as optimistic as she could. "He won't make it easy though. I never thought our affair would go this far."

"You know what, in a weird, twisted way...I guess I should thank you. It led to me and Charlotte admitting how we feel, and I can't be mad at something that gave me that."

"I'd say you're welcome but I wouldn't mean it," Rose answered honestly.

"I wouldn't expect anything more."

***

Patrick stood in front of her completely disheveled and obviously drunk. "Charlotte," he slurred her name out. His face was red and sweaty, his eyes were glassy and he reeked of alcohol.

"What are you doing here?" she asked annoyed, anxious to get out of there and back to Jon's. "And why are you drunk?"

"Didn't you hear?" he stumbled over his own words as he waltzed in her apartment. "I'm going to be a father."

Charlotte pursed her lips and sighed out in defeat as her shoulders dropped. All she wanted to do was get back to Jon and maybe punch Rose in the face. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that Rose actually was pregnant-- and she wouldn't do that to a pregnant woman. But her vicious rhetoric? Oh yeah, Rose would get an earful of that.

"Well congratulations to you, I guess," Charlotte said sarcastically as she tried to push him back into the hallway so she could leave. "I have to go somewhere so you need to go back to your place or wherever it is you go nowadays."

"Uh uh," Patrick shook his head tried to keep his eyes totally open. "When I called her up, when I saw you and Jonny boy were an item, we thought it'd be fun to fuck with the two of you. Try and break you up. I thought maybe I'd get a shot at getting you back," he put his hands on her hips and led her backwards, deeper into her apartment. "Fuck I even came up with a fake pregnancy announcement but didn't think she'd actually end up pregnant and it'd be mine."

"Well what do you expect," Charlotte tried to push him off her but he was like a giant gorilla the way he clung to her. "You had sex with her enough. This is your bed you gotta lie in it."

"I don't need this mess. I planned on getting back together with you somehow. I mean it," he tried to lean down to kiss her sloppily. "I didn't realize what I had until I lost you and then saw you with him."

Charlotte turned her head and put her hand up in between her face and his lips. "Stop," she gave him a little shove. "You need to stop it. Get ahold of yourself."

"But I love you," he slurred as he continued to maul at her. He pushed her back onto the couch and literally fell on top of her. "C'mon Charlotte." He had no limits, no boundaries at the moment and didn't think anything of running his hands up her shirt and grabbing her breasts. Charlotte tried to push him off her but he just let it fuel him all the more.

"Patrick stop!" she yelled trying to knock some sense into him as she continued to push him away. He leaned down and kissed her neck, tried to kiss her lips. The scent of the alcohol was enough to make her sick but the way he was behaving topped the cake. He held her arm so hard, dug his fingers into it that she knew he was leaving a mark and realizing that he wasn't going to stop she did the only thing she could think of-- she pinched the sensitive skin under his arm close to his armpit. He lunged back in pain and Charlotte forcefully pushed him completely off her. He fell to the floor and when he sat up she slapped him hard across the face trying to get his attention in hopes he would slightly sober up. She could tell he was startled and he looked up at her with his drunk eyes. "I have a problem don't I? I can't deal with this." he asked trying to catch his breath. She could tell the magnitude of what he'd done hadn't set in yet but when he woke up the next morning he'd feel terrible and she'd be getting a shit load of apologetic phone calls.

"You do and you have to," she nodded her head and breathed in shakily, her body trembling from what he just did. "You need to go. You need to go home, in your bed, and get some sleep. You're having a baby and you need to grow up now."

Patrick nodded his agreement and Charlotte helped him up. She stayed behind him as she led him to the door and as he walked out he turned to her. "I'll probably call you tomorrow."

She forced a smile though she wasn't okay with him and had every reason not to be. "You probably will." She knew deep down that despite all the crappy things he'd done and said to her, he wouldn't have ever crossed that line if he were sober and in the right state of mind. She had good reason to believe that the next morning he'd feel lower than he ever felt-- if he remembered what happened.

Charlotte closed the door behind him after he left and gave it some time so that he could get a head start. She knew he had a driver and that was the smartest decision he made since he decided he didn't want to get any DUI's. She pressed her back against her door and felt herself still trying to catch her composure. Though Patrick came on way too strong and violated her in more ways than one, she got the confirmation that she already knew deep down-- Rose was carrying a baby and it wasn't Jon's. Charlotte didn't even care that Rose got pregnant while she was still technically engaged to Patrick-- it didn't matter to her. All that mattered was getting back to Jon and when she thought that she had calmed down enough to do that, she ran down to her car and pulled out of the parking lot like a mad man.

***

When Jon got Rose out of his place he immediately went to find Charlotte. He drove over to her apartment and knocked on the door but he got no answer. He used his key and let himself inside, but to his disappointment she was no where to be seen. He didn't know where she was, if she was purposely hiding out from him or out on an innocent trip, but for once he didn't have the energy to try and figure it out. He sat down on her couch and thought about waiting for her, he just had no idea how long he'd be waiting. He frustratedly peeled his body off her couch and solemnly made his way back to his own place, hanging his head like he'd lost a battle.

When he opened his door he immediately looked around and noticed the candle light which gave the room a soft glow. When he closed the door behind him he heard music start to play and it took him only a second to realize what song it was. It was the Dashboard song that always reminded him of Charlotte when they were growing up-- the song he held her in his arms for when they were at his concert only a few short months ago. He smiled to himself now knowing she viewed that song the same way towards him. He looked around the room and when he finally rested his eyes on her his heart skipped a beat. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him and he slid his arms around her waist, and in the process realized she was wearing a little robe with seemingly little else. It peaked his interest but she didn't give him a chance to find out what was under the wrapping-- she pulled her neck back and looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry," she breathed out genuinely apologetic as she held his cheek in her one hand and ran the other through his hair. "I shouldn't have left you before."

Jon swallowed and flickered his eyes down at the ground, concentrating on what his next words would be. "You used to fight for us. Why are you running now?" It was time for him to say what was bothering him.

Charlotte took a deep breath and he could see the guilt in her eyes. "Patrick did a number on me, relationship wise. And it doesn't help that he tried to convince me the other night that it was only a matter of time til you cheated on me too. Now," she shook her head and looked him in the eyes totally believing what she was about to tell him. "I know you'd never do that. I know you love me and you'd never do that. But it's like some part of me thinks this--us-- is too good to be true. I mean, who really gets to be with the one they've been in love with all their life? Who gets everything they've ever wanted since they were sixteen years old-- you know? Who ends up with the one and only guy they've ever loved and lives happily ever after? I'm almost afraid I'll wake up one day and it'll be gone-- like you'll pinch me and it'll be over."

Jon's heart was pounding hard against his ribcage. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know you aren't," she nodded her head. "I know I said some awful things the other night and again tonight when I left. I'm wrong for trying to push you away with my words...but..." she looked up at him with a slight grin and sexily bit her bottom lip. "You mean to tell me you never said anything mean to me when you were upset? Something you didn't really mean-- it was just to hurt me. Like, I don't know, that you didn't need me in your life..."

Jon couldn't help the smile that spread across his face and he bobbed his head up and down totally understanding where she was coming from. "I see your point."

"You know me better than anyone-- better than I know myself, first off," she admitted. "And this whole mess with Rose and Patrick, I know it isn't yours. I know you love me and you never loved her. I know you asked me to marry you the other night because you actually wanted to and I promise to stop being an asshole as a defense mechanism. I'm not going anywhere either. We're a team, remember? You'll never have to deal with anything alone ever again."

Jon leaned down and couldn't stop himself from pressing his lips against hers-- everything she just told him was exactly what he needed to hear. He pulled her tighter to him and suddenly moved away to look her in the eyes. "So what's under the robe?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Charlotte's cheeks flushed and she gave a seductive grin. "Why don't you open it and find out?"

Jon smiled as he leaned back down to kiss her and undid the robe slowly. He smiled again against her lips when he slid his hands in the open robe and onto her waist where he felt lace pressed against her skin. He ran his hands up and cupped her breasts, felt them popping out of the corset she had on and felt his dick stir as he did so. He ran his hands up a little further to her shoulder and pushed the silky robe off, letting the fabric fall to the ground in one fluid motion. He finally stepped back to get a good look at her and had to steady his breathing as his eyes fell from her breasts to her exposed legs. He swooped in and hungrily grabbed her to him, resting his hands on her ass and lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He carried her like that back to his bedroom and plopped her down on the bed. He immediately sat up and began to undo his jeans as Charlotte sat up on her knees and worked on getting his shirt off. Once he was stripped down to his boxers he snaked his arms around her waist and gently began kissing at her exposed cleavage. He ran the tip of his tongue up her chest and to her neck, lightly nibbling on her soft skin while his hands greedily mauled at her.

When Charlotte suddenly gasped Jon quickly pulled back but didn't remove his hands. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just forgot I have a pizza in the other room for you too. It was an 'I'm sorry' pizza...it's gonna be cold now." She gave a fake pout and looked up at Jon.

He let out a laugh and leaned in, pressing his lips back against hers. "I don't care about that right now," he said against her lips as he guided her back down on the bed.