Growing Pains

His hand slid down over her breast, pausing to cup them, squeeze them, to roll her nipples between his index finger and thumb; to please her. He continued his cold hand downward over her stomach , her soft, pale stomach; over his baby. Downward to the fissure between her legs. Slipping his finger over her; into her.

“I’m tired,” Aubrey eased a steady breath.

Zack hummed. “Quiet, baby,” he whispered.

She nodded her head into the pillow. Despite what she said, she still fucked his finger in an awkward movement. He closed his eyes while he continued to finger her in slow, but rough thrusts, curving so he hit her just right.

“Zack, please…” she moaned from deep within her throat. Her face hot, body sticky; flushed. Her muscles began to shake and she could feel herself tightening around his finger. From the feeling, she could sense he was hot, eyes wild.

She wanted to tell him to stop; wanted to say no. She only ever wanted the truth.

It’s now when he tells her. “Aubrey,” he mumbled into the crook of her neck. She hummed, and as if it was nothing, he tells her those three words, “I fucked Gena.” Not only did he admit, but he complied with more words that should remain unspoken. “I fucked her, Brie. I don’t regret one minute of it.”

Slipping his fingers from within her, he held her hips in his attempt to hold her down. He breathed a sigh of relief when noticing the state he’d put her in. Aubrey was only but angry; she was silent.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Aubrey wanted to make this as painful and less stressful as she could possibly do so. Her midwive's voice had gained back composer. The voice was permanently stuck in the back of her head, and whenever something bad was about to happen, it was Juliet's cue to remind Aubrey about the basic steps she had been taught.

Looking down the spiral staircase, Aubrey clutched onto the railing and her suitcase. She tried desperately to descend down the staircase as fast as she possible could, but it just so happened that she was moving fast enough for Zack to walk after her. She sighed in defeat when Zack appeared beside her and attempt to take the suitcase from her grasp.

Aubrey battled off Zack's hands and continued to take each step in before she tried for another. It was proving to be more of a mission then what Aubrey had firstly imagined. She stopped only several feet from the first story floor and held onto her stomach. The result of walking too fast was the current pain circuiting her lower stomach. Juliet's voice was there, telling Aubrey that she needed to finish the staircase and take a seat.

"Help me," Aubrey breathed out. "I'm in a lot of pain," she added.

Zack hesitated for a moment before he took the suitcase from Aubrey's hands minus the fight she had been putting up previously. He wrapped his arm around her waist protectively and began to walk her down the last few steps. He smiled when they both got to the bottom and he walked Aubrey toward the lazyboy set by the front door.

"Do you want anything?" Zack asked her. "Can I get you a water, painkillers, anything?"

Aubrey frowned before pointing to her handbag that remained at the top of the staircase where she had left it. Zack followed the orders of her finger and quickly ran up the staircase before he returned with her handbag. "Would you be able to call my mother?" Aubrey asked.

Zack searched Aubrey's face for a reason. But the screwed up look of pain showed to be no help whatsoever. "Why?" he decided to ask instead of search.

"I want you to tell her you had sex with another woman," she began, "then tell her I'm coming to stay for a while. Until I sort everything else out."

He hadn't expected such a straight forward answer. He sat down beside Aubrey and took the sidekick unwillingly. Aubrey cast her attention to her sidekick which was doing flips within Zack's care. She glanced back up to notice him staring directly down at her, looking slightly angry. Aubrey sighed and reached to take the phone from his hands, but Zack only drew his hand back as a way of telling her no.

"I'll do it," he quietly snapped.

Zack didn't call Aubrey's mother. He did call her a taxi though. He thought that maybe things could be discussed before it arrived and that maybe, just maybe she wouldn't need to take that taxi to the airport. After calling for a cab, Zack remained quiet, but it was clear he was desperate to say something.

"Say it," Aubrey mumbled. Zack looked down at his wife and watched carefully as she applied the soft shade of red to her lips. All he could think about was how he could have kissed her right now if he hadn't ruined what he called their relationship. He didn't know what Aubrey had called it, but he knew that ever since his court hearing, Aubrey didn't consider what they had to be very much of a relationship.

"I can't believe you," he sighed in frustration. "Why are you doing this to me, Brie? You said you would be there for me no matter what; stick by me."

"Cry me river, Zack!" Aubrey snapped. "This is your own fault. Don't think about blaming anyone but yourself. I have stuck by you. I have been there for you no matter what. Any other wife would have left after hearing the words 'rape charge'. It's simple."

"Why didn't you leave me then?"

"I knew it would be a matter of time before you pulled this shit with me," she said softly. "Please don't tell me you thought we would be together, forever. You know i'm the kind of person to hold a grudge, despite knowing in my heart that I still have love. "

Truth was, Zack didn't. When Aubrey insisted on coming to his court case, fearing that it could be the last time she saw her husband, Zack told her no, because he only knew it would put a hole in their relationship. But with the power of persuasion, Aubrey found herself siting a seat behind Zack. She remembered watching the plaintiff look across from the stand and immediately cry as if the memories had come flashing back with the light from the several cameras. "As a human being," she sobbed, "You, like a person, should have the integrity to stand up and admit when you've made a mistake," she managed to finish.

Zack, or his lawyer showed no emotion for the girls plead. Infact, when it came down to it, not one of Zack's friends had felt sorry for the girl. Aubrey remember Leana sending a horrible glare toward the young girl from beside her. Val, a similar look. Defiantly no sympathy was laced within anything they said either. Aubrey felt as if she was missing a vital piece of the puzzle which actually proved Zack's innocence.

Aubrey showed no emotion when the Jury ruled for the plaintiff. As upset as she was, she couldn't find it in her to assume that Zack was wrongfully accused. She knew him, too well to know that this could possible be a mistake.

Since the hearing, Zack knew that it wouldn't be long before Aubrey finally realized she could have someone better.

"I guess it was god's plan for me to be alone," Zack mentioned.

The loud sound of a horn coming from the outside of the house signaled to Zack that he had failed in hopefully changing his wife's mind. "I'll send you the divorce paper after the baby is born," Aubrey sighed. "I guess we'll have to go through who rightfully owns what-"

"And who rightfully owns our baby?" Zack pointed toward Aubrey's stomach in hopes that she would understand straight away who he was talking about.

Aubrey wrapped her arm around her stomach protectively. "You may have helped in making her, but if I have it my way, we won't have to see you after the divorce is finalized."

"That's a strange way of saying 'I love you'," he laughed playfully.

"I never said I loved you," Aubrey mumbled.

"That's because you love me," Zack suggested. He knew that Aubrey was halfway from changing her mind but she was also halfway from getting out of the house and into the cab. Aubrey sighed and turned away from her husband. She continued toward the car with her suitcase in hand and her husband left behind. "You love me, right, Aubrey?" Zack asked.

Aubrey opened the cab door and looked back at Zack, her house, and what she had contemplated leaving for longer than her marriage.

"I may love you, but not enough to ever trust you, Zack."