ellie reynolds (elliereynolds) wrote in hotelcali, @ 2016-03-19 22:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | ellie rivers, jesse rivers |
Who: Ellie and Jesse
What: Jesse has surprising news
When: Saturday March 19
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Laundry. Ellie hated doing it with a passion, but it had to be done, and considering she was out of school, and was in the early stages of working on opening the business she had dreamed about, Ellie had a lot of free time. Which meant, in her mind, that it was only fair that she do the household chores since Jesse was working on things. She finished pulling the items from the dryer, tossing the last sock in the laundry basket and hefting the full basket to her hip. She took a glance at the washing machine, and noticed it wasn’t running the cycle it should be. With a groan Ellie rolled her eyes and kicked the stubborn machine that had been working only sporadically lately, making a chore she already hated even more annoying.
“Jesse!” She called out as she walked out of the laundry room. “The washing machine isn’t working. Again.”
Jesse was standing at the back door, staring at the envelope in his hand. Of all the things he might have expected to get in the mail, this wasn’t one of them. Ellie’s words barely registered but then he snapped out of it and shaking his head, turned to go back to the laundry room. “What’s it doing? Same thing?” it was a relief to focus on something other than what he was going to have to tell her in a matter of minutes. Jesse wasn’t a mechanical person but he at least made it look good before shaking his head. “I guess it’s time to get a new one. That was here when I moved in so it’s about time for it to die. If we can get through this load, we can go look for one later if you want.”
“That same thing, where it refuses to work.” Ellie grumbled as she frowned when Jesse said that. “I think it’s a goner Jesse.” She sighed, she really did not want to have to look for a new one, especially since it would mean having to leave the house on a day when she wanted to stay in. She kicked it once more, because it had worked the other day, and gave a small cheer as it rumbled back to life. Hopefully it would wash the last load. “It’s on it’s last legs, that for sure.” She added as she picked up the laundry basket again, preparing to take it upstairs to fold it and put it away. “Keep me company while I put this stuff away?”
He was distracted by what he held in his hand and didn’t hear her at first. “What?” Jesse looked up at her. “Oh yeah, sure, let’s go.” This wasn’t something that could wait but he had no idea how to tell her. He didn’t even remember exactly when this had happened but apparently it had. “I need to talk to you about some stuff anyway.” He said it casually, hoping Ellie wouldn’t pick up on his nervousness but he had a feeling that she would. Ellie could read him like a book.
Ellie was distracted enough carrying the laundry basket up the stairs that she didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to Jesse’s reaction. She led the way to their room where she tossed the basket on the bed, and began to fold clothes, while Flash attempted to climb in the basket. “Ok so…” She looked over and for the first time really looked at Jesse’s face. “Hey, what’s up? You look like you’ve got something on your mind.”
“Yeah, I do.” Jesse sat down on the bed and opened the envelope in his hand. “Well, you know that before I met you I wasn’t exactly a saint. I wasn’t a huge man whore or anything like that but I wasn’t a monk either. I went to a lot of book conventions and publishing conferences and there was one in Dallas back in 2010. There was this woman, she worked for some publishing company, not mine, and we hooked up. I forgot about it, didn’t think anything of it but now it seems that she has a five year old daughter that she claims is mine.” He shook his head and looked up at Ellie. “I barely remember her, El, and I’m not proud of that. I don’t even know why she’s waiting almost six years to even do this.” He held up the letter. “This is a subpoena, I’m supposed to submit for DNA testing, she wants child support including back pay for the last five years. I can’t deny that I slept with her, I recognize her name but we’d both been drinking and hell I can’t remember if I used protection of not or if I asked her if she was on something….I have no clue. I just...I’m sorry. I’m sorry this popped up, I’m sorry that you’re in the middle of it, I will do everything I can to make this as simple as I can. I know I can get Judith to do the test so hopefully no one will get wind of it and it’ll hit the media. Unless April has already decided to make a big deal of it.”
Jesse remembered her, she’d been a petite redhead, she loved James Bond and that was what they had been talking about. After a few drinks,, they’d ended up in her room, they’d been together that night and the night after then they parted ways. She lived in Dallas but now she was in LA and she’d suddenly decided that Jessie was the father of her child. After five years. According to the paperwork he was holding, the little girl would be six in October.
Ellie was folding clothes as Jesse started to speak, a smile on her face when he said he hadn’t been a manwhore. Jesse had gotten around before they had got together, and while it had made Ellie a little insecure sometimes wondering how she measured up to some of the women in his past, now she was confident enough in her marriage that him getting so apologetic about his past amused her. The amusement faded though as he continued his story and stunned Ellie let the shirt she had in her hands drop back in the basket, “I- wait, what? Jesse….”
He looked at her, his expression pained. Even though this had happened before he knew Ellie, he still felt like he was betraying her. “I might have a daughter. I can’t understand why she’s just now doing this if she’s so certain that the kid is mine but I have to take a test and stuff…” Jesse looked down at the letter and then back up at Ellie. “I’ll call Ryan. I know this isn’t what he normally does but he knows people, maybe investigate things a little. I honestly don’t know what to do, Ellie.”
“Ok.” Ellie reached for Jesse’s hands and held them. “Calm down. First stop looking at me like you just killed a puppy. I know you had a past Jesse. That has nothing to do with us now. You didn’t do anything wrong. Let’s be honest the idea that you had a one nighter with someone at a convention? Not a stretch, I know it happened. And if you didn’t think to ask if she was on anything? Or use anything? I'm pretty sure you wouldn’t have brought condoms our first time if Becca hadn’t reminded you. I don’t know why she’d wait till now to tell you, and if it’s true it sucks that you missed out on five years of your daughter's life but...This isn’t anything we can’t deal with.”
Jesse took Ellie’s hand and kissed them, relief flooding his body. “You’re right, I probably would have forgotten if Becca hadn’t sent me a text.” He pulled her down beside him. “I have no idea why she’d keep this back for so long. I’m surprised I even remember her because I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning but there must have been something that stuck in my head. Damned if I know what but..you’re right, we can deal with this. I’ll call Ryan and after he laughs his ass for for about ten minutes, he’ll put me in touch with whoever I need to get in touch with. I hate to say it, but it’s more than likely a money thing because why wait five years.” He squeezed Ellie’s hand. “If I had known and if it’s true, I would not have abandoned my kid even if I didn’t want a relationship with her mother, I wouldn’t do that.”
“Jesse, I would never think that you would do that.” She assured him. Ellie had known Jesse for a long time, she knew who he was, and who he wasn’t, and he wasn’t a man that would shirk that kind of responsibility. “It probably is a money thing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true either. Jesse I promise you that no matter what, you and I are good, ok? Things happen, and you had a life before me. You’ll call Ryan, I can talk to Judith, and we can just get it handled. “
He pulled her close and kissed her. “I love you,” he said when he broke away. “I don’t know why you put up with me but I’m glad that you do.”
“ I put up with you, because I love you.” Ellie countered as she let her head rest against his shoulder. She had no doubt this would be ok but she also hoped that it wasn’t true, because she wasn't sure she was quite ready for the adjustments they would have to make if it was. “If she is...if it’s true, you’re going to meet her and everything, right?”
“Of course. I can’t just pretend she doesn’t exist,” he said. “You’re okay with that aren’t you? I mean I have no idea what will happen and right now I’m still in shock. I don’t know how I feel about it.” Jesse shifted to look at Ellie. “Honestly the only thing I could think of when I read the letter was you. I kept thinking that this couldn’t be real because you are who I want to be the mother of my children, not some person that I don’t even know. We’ve never talked about it and honestly if that’s not something you want, I’m okay with it but I’m just saying that I’ve never thought about having kids with anyone other than you. Not after we got together, I just knew that we were forever and if kids happen then great but I’ll be happy either way as long as I have you.”
“Jesse, of course I’m ok with that.” Ellie wasn’t looking forward to the idea, but she wanted him to do what was right, and she was sure she would adjust. She supposed it was natural that this would bring up the discussion of them having kids, but she frowned when he mentioned it because she realized they had never talked about it. “I like where we are now Jesse, which is probably why we’ve never brought this up. I like our life, just the two of us. We do what we want when we want, we can travel ...it’s us. That doesn’t mean I don’t want kids, or that I wouldn’t be ok if this one is yours. I can adjust to that, and I mean, I guess I want kids, I don’t not want them. I just haven’t really thought a lot about it.”
“I like our life too. You know how I like to write, I like to see the places I’m writing about and that would be a lot harder to do if we had kids. We’ve got plenty of time to decide, neither of us is going anywhere,” he kissed her softly. “And if this turns out to be my child, we’ll deal with it. Just know that I love you, nothing will ever change that.”
“You know, that’s something I never doubt.” Ellie returned his soft kiss. It was true, she may be uncertain about things in life at times, but she never doubted that Jesse loved her. “And we’ll figure it all out. Also just FYI, if something happened, if we ended up having one of our own accidentally? That'd be ok Jesse. “ It would be something to adjust to, but it would definitely be ok when all was said and done.
“I completely agree with you,” he said. “If it happens and if it doesn’t? Well then that’s okay too.. As long as we’re together, that’s all that matters.”