Lamb, then Manor, Drinking Stone, Onion Ring Retrieving Lis and then SadMamaFollet
((OOC - Post contains sensitive plot stuff!)) Stone didn't want to go home. He'd stood at Lara's door for a few minutes, contemplating just waiting in the hallway until Valerie was gone so he could apologize, even though an apology was a far cry from ever being able to make it up to Lara what he'd just done. Stone was an asshole. If anything after all this, he was positive of that fact alone. So he'd left the hallway and taken the stairs down to the lobby. He walked through the lobby, outside and right over into the Lamb. He didn't have alcohol in his apartment right now anyway. He tugged open the door, told a waitress he wanted a bottle of whiskey and a glass - no ice God damnit - and then he pointed out a booth in the back that was empty and no one was around it. He told her he'd be there and had given her somewhere around a hundred dollars after asking that she be speedy about it. Then he retreated to the booth. This was where he'd sat for the past forty-five-something minutes, making his way through the bottle and feeling like shit. Not only was he an asshole, but all the months he'd spent trying to prevent this from happening were pretty much wasted fucking time that he couldn't get back.
Lis Rhodes-Hawthorne had lost a bet. It was a pretty stupid bet, with Steve and the rest of the band, but she'd lost it and as payment she had to go down to the Lamb to buy the group a big round of onion rings. Steve completely worshipped the Lamb's onion rings. Lis thought they were just average. Because, onions rings? Seriously? How much variety could there possibly be?
But regardless of Lis' feelings on the subject, she was down there anyway, waiting for her big takeaway order to arrive. She was just starting to get extremely impatient when she saw a waitress go by and talk excitedly with another employee about receiving a huge tip from a guy in the back. Lis perked up immediately. Huge tip? Guy in back? At the Lamb? Who could it be now? (Insert Men At Work saxophone bit here.) Lis had a hunch, and looked around until she spotted a familiar head of hair.
The onion rings were promptly forgotten as she hopped over her stool and headed over Stone's booth. She had to pause when she first saw him. He was looking even more miserable than he had been of late, and on top of that, he was polishing off a giant whiskey bottle.
"Want some company?" she asked, pushing her frown away in favor of a smile as she slid into the bench across from him.
Stone had been staring blankly at the glass in his hand and the table below it. He turned his eyes upward to Lis and it took him a moment to actually come far enough out of his thoughts to speak. He shook his head as he watched her slide into the booth. "I'm an asshole. You should stay away from me." He stated before he lifted his glass to finish it off in on go. "In fact, should invest in a divorce. You can take all the money with you. I don't want it." He said as he filled up his glass until it was just about over flowing and then picked it up and started chugging it back.
Whoa. Lis froze and then went straight back to the frown she had been trying to suppress. "What are you talking about? What did you do?" It was clear in her mind that it was a really good thing she'd found him there.
Stone just finished chugging down that whole glass of whiskey. He flinched a little as he did it, but didn't stop. He took a moment to try and breathe afterward, but avoided looking at Lis altogether. He, instead, reached out for the bottle to start filling his glass again. He left some room at the top so it didn't overflow though this time. He shook his head. "We're not talking about it." He had to stop for a painful heartburn filled hiccup-like constriction of his chest/gut no doubt from that chugging. "Just take me at my word for once." He said before he set the battle down and lifted the glass to drink again.
Lis watched him finish off that glass and fill it up again, pretty overwhelmed at how deadly serious this seemed to be. "Do you really think I'll be able to just take you at your word after that? And after the way you've been acting for the past week? Lara, too. Does this have to do with her?"
Stone put the empty glass down on the table, hard, and finally looked at Lis. "Don't do this to me." He asked, attempting to sound angry instead of pleading. He couldn't tell Valerie and then blab to Lis too and put her in the middle. His throat was already burning and he could feel the heartburn already setting in. It didn't help that he hadn't eaten all day or since...sometime in the afternoon yesterday. It would've been amusing, or probably concerning, normally to know Stone had gone that long without eating, but right now it just meant that the alcohol was moving through his system much faster and easier than normal.
Lis looked kind of hurt. "I don't want to do anything to you but help you. And Lara too, I guess, if this has to do with her. Don't you know that you can talk to me?" The last time Stone had seemed to be about this bad, he ran away to a motel for days on end without telling anyone. She was going to do anything she could to keep that from happening again.
Stone shook his head and looked back down at the empty glass. "Not about this." He shook his head. He reached out and picked up the bottle again to start filling it. "Not what you envisioned when you kept getting all excited when I drank anything over the past few months, was it?" He asked as he set the bottle back down, hesitating as he reached out to pick the glass up, frowning at it as he did.
"No..." Lis looked down at the bottle again before looking back up at Stone. "Honey, seriously...what's so bad that you can't tell me?" Well, lots of things, actually, as Lis had learned after last year. But still, the not-telling was because Stone didn't want to, not because she couldn't take it. "My two best friends are looking completely miserable and it's obvious this is more than just a little fight."
Stone frowned some more. He shook his head and lifted the glass to drink half of it down. He frowned again as Lis kept talking and he finished off the glass and set it down, a little lazily this time. He shook his head again. "Don't make me the one to put you in the middle," He frowned at her. Yeah, he was miserable. Lara was even more miserable now thanks to Stone. And what about her psychological state? When he'd been preparing to nod to tell her that yeah, they could talk later about stuff - before he'd snapped at Valerie and fucked things up again - he'd been wanting to do so because he was worried. People that had abortions had all kinds of mental side effects and stuff right? Physical ones too. The fact that he didn't even know if any of those were happening to Lara - of course the emotional ones had to be, she had looked pretty miserable and Valerie had said she was crying so - made Stone feel like even more of an asshole. "Just...go and ask her and...check on her. And...yeah." And stay away from him before he did something horrible to her too.
"Check on her?" Lis furrowed her brow. Stone left her so emotionally devastated that Lara required check ups? "Can't I check on you first? You're right here, and you don't look like you're all in check. And I'd rather be stuck in the middle than completely clueless." He had to know that; it was a given.
He knew she was curious, but she didn't want to be in the middle of this and he didn't think he could handle her being in the middle of it. Was Lara going to expect Lis to take sides and stuff? He didn't want Lis to take sides. He didn't think Lara would do that, but then again he'd just given Lara good reason to want to do that though. He shook his head. "Lis...I know you're curious and we're miserable and you want to know but..." he looked at her and shook his head. "You really don't." Want to know, that is. Stone didn't even know what Lis' reaction would even be to that information anyway.
"Yeah, I do," Lis nodded. She couldn't think of anything that could have happened between Lara and Stone that she wouldn't want to know about, especially if it was affecting them so badly like this. "And the more you tell me I shouldn't know, the more freaked out you're making me about all of this. I've tried asking Lara what's wrong, but she won't tell me anything either. And now you're here drinking and it's obvious something bad happened..."
Stone poured himself another drink after Lis' first comment and started drinking it right away. How was Lara going to react if he told Lis? He'd already told Valerie. What was Valerie saying to Lara right now? What if he ran into Valerie again around the Manor? He didn't want to see her walking around acting all wary of him because of shit she heard or read. Or would she act different now that she knew? Stone's head hurt. "It's not my secret to tell." Secret was a bad word to use when talking to Lis, but Stone was starting to feel light headed and he should stop drinking, It was just going to make things worse. What was it helping?
Lis' eyes widened. "Secret?" she repeated, before letting out a gasp. "Is she pregnant?" What else could it be, right?
Stone let out a snort as he put the glass down, a sarcastic, again derisive snort. He shook his head. "Not anymore." He muttered. Awesome. Twice, he'd given the goods away. This wasn't something he wanted other people to know either. He wanted to figure out a way to deal with it and handle it on his own, but instead he just kept blabbing away. What the fuck was wrong with him?
Lis just stared at him, her eyebrows hiked way up. "Is that a joke?" she asked after a little bit, even though, judging by his reaction to his own statement, it probably wasn't. She just needed to make sure first.
Stone arched his eyebrows. He looked at the glass, the bottle, his hands on the table and then Lis. "...It look like a joke?" He asked in return. He looked miserable. He felt miserable. Did she really think he was joking?
"I wanted to check," Lis frowned. Then she got quiet, letting all of this sink in. Stone got Lara pregnant. Lara had...well, that part she wasn't so sure on. "Did she abort it...or miscarry?" Wouldn't they be relieved if they aborted? Or maybe they actually wanted a kid and then couldn't have it. That seemed less likely though, since Lara was very anti-children. Stone was too, but probably not to the extent that Lara was. But a miscarriage wouldn't factor into taking sides...
Stone frowned. "I really have to answer that?" He asked as he slouched down in the booth and lifted his arms to cross them in an attempt to stop from drinking anymore. He sunk down further in his seat and looked down at his lap. This whole thing was so incredibly fucked up.
Okay, abortion. But Lis was still a little confused. "You said there were sides...you want a kid?"
Stone's forehead scrunched up and he grimaced. "What?" He asked. "No," He shook his head a number of times. He shifted in his spot. "I'd have liked to know before the deed's been done thanks." He frowned. He was also fairly upset about the abortion part. No he didn't want kids, that didn't mean he wanted kids killed, or vacuumed out or...whatever was done.
"Oh." That made a little more sense. Lis grew quiet again as she went back to thinking. This was totally heavy. Lara aborting Stone's baby? Definitely not a scenario Lis had ever thought would happen, but that didn't mean it didn't seem like an obvious conclusion considering Lara's anti-child stance. The fact that she did it in secret, though, Lis wasn't too sure how to feel about that. Well, actually, she did know some things that she felt. Like kind of upset that Lara didn't talk to her about it at all. They were BFFs, right?
"When?" Lis eventually asked. "When did she do it?"
Stone friend and put his hands back on the table. He picked up the empty glass and stared at it, running his thumb over any nicks in it that he spotted as he frowned. He didn't want to talk about this. He felt all kinds of weird things he couldn't explain and it was upsetting, unnerving even. "Ten days ago." If he knew the correct date it was today.
Lis' eyebrows arched back up a bit. She wasn't counting on the answer being less than two weeks ago. Having it happen months ago seemed like it would be more of a reason for angriness and such. "Wow. And she didn't tell you, you found out, and you're upset that she kept it a secret?" Lis was just trying to make sure she understood the situation, which, by the way, felt kind of unreal.
Stone frowned some more. "She told me a week ago." He answered. He didn't want to admit to Lis that he was upset that she'd had an abortion at all. Actually, if Lara had told him in the first place and then told him she wanted to get an abortion, he probably wouldn't have admitted to her either that he would have preferred that she didn't either. He'd have just gone along with it and tried to deal, and probably would've been more supportive and calmer than he'd been over the past week. He would've known, and he would've had something to focus on other than the fact that she kept it from him and that he didn't even know that there was a fetus to destroy in the first place. "After she'd already done it." He said.
So it had only happened a few days before he found out. Lis knitted her brow and reached out to take Stone's glass and the bottle. Now she needed a drink too. After pouring some out and taking a big sip, Lis lowered the glass to the table. "So how is she?" She'd talked to Lara a little bit over the past ten days, but she'd been under the impression that the only problem was another Lara-Stone misunderstanding. Lis didn't know there were actual medical things going on that she needed to be worried about.
Stone watched Lis take the bottle and the glass. He folded his hands on the table and looked down at them. Then he shrugged. "...Prolly awful right now." He frowned, still looking down guiltily. "Her mom knows now." He told her. "Which, s'my fault." He frowned a little more. He hadn't done it on purpose. It just happened...because Stone's patience had worn thin and Lara's mom just wouldn't stay the fuck out of it.
Lis took another drink from the glass, but then almost sputtered and put it down on the table kind of hard when he answered. "You called her mom?"
Stone's eyes widened as he looked up at Lis. "What?" He asked before he shook his head. "No!" He rolled his eyes a little and shook his head a few more times. "She was there. When I went over." He explained. "Needed my phone."
"Her mom's here?" Lis looked down at the table and shook her head. There was way too much overwhelming stuff going on. She looked up again. "And you told her. Is that why you're an asshole?" That would be a pretty damn good reason.
Stone nodded. He looked back down at the table and nodded again. "I didn't do it on purpose." He frowned and leaned his elbows on the table before dropping his head with a sigh and reaching his hands up into the hair at the back of his head. "This is a huge fucking mess..."
Lis frowned and leaned over a bit to give his hands a pat before brushing her fingers through his hair. "Yeah. It sounds like it. But if you didn't tell Valerie on purpose..." That was only a small part of the big picture, though. "What are you going to do now?"
Stone didn't want to be touched but he didn't do anything about it when she touched his hands. He just shrugged at her question. "I think she prolly thinks I did it on purpose." He said as he looked at the table, keeping his head down and his hands along the back of it. "But her fucking mom wouldn't shut the fuck up and just back the hell off." Damnit.
"Her mom does that," Lis said, still moving her hand through his hair. She was trying to be comforting. "So what happened after you told her?"
Stone nodded. Valerie did do that. "Didn't outright say it." He sighed. "She kicked me out." And he knew she was really upset and totally angry too because, why wouldn't she be and all?
Yeah, that wasn't exactly a shocker. "Maybe you should apologize," Lis suggested, putting her hand back down on the table. "Could make you less of an asshole."
Stone let out a snort of laughter - again with the derisive shit. He shook his head and sat back, slouching and crossing his arms again. "Doubt that'll help much." Really, what good would apologizing do when the damage was already done?
Lis arched her eyebrows and shrugged. "You said it was an accident. And that she probably thinks it wasn't. So you're just going to let her continue thinking that forever?" Or at least until Lis told her herself? Because she totally would.
"I don't think she's going to want to talk to me at all," Stone reasoned, at least not for a long time, right? That's what Stone thought anyway.
"So what?" Lis asked, holding her hands out at her sides, the palms up. "You need to storm in there and start setting everything straight again." She dropped her hands back down at her sides and shrugged one shoulder up. "Unless you want me to meddle...which I will..."
Stone shook his head, a lot. "No. No meddling. I shouldn't have told you. You can't go around letting her know that I did. She'll be angrier when she finds out I told you." He frowned again.
Lis gave Stone a look. "How am I supposed to pretend I don't know that my best girl friend had an abortion last week?" she asked, maybe a little too loud for this kind of conversation. "I need to start being supportive, not ignore-y."
"Shhhhhh!" Stone shook his head and looked around the bar. "We don't need that plastered all over a magazine." He wasn't sure how he'd deal with that after all. "I don't know how but figure it out. I don't need her kicking my ass for blabbing it around to you and her mom." He said before he looked around again.
Lis took a look around, but no one seemed to have really noticed them. It was going to be next to impossible for Lis to pretend she didn't know anything. Maybe she would try, for Stone's sake, but it who knew how long she would be able to hold out?
"So you're both mad at each other, then?" she asked, slightly shifting the subject. "You because she kept it secret, and her because you couldn't?"
Stone nodded. "I guess that's the best way to put it." He reached out for the bottle and just took a big drink from it. His stomach was starting to hurt. "What if I would've had an opinion on the matter? Even if it was different than what she wanted and what she was going to do, I had a right to know and to be allowed to share it damnit." He set the bottle down and then re-crossed his arms, tightly. "And what else is she hiding? How the hell am I s'posed to sit around not wondering if there's something else she's keeping from me that I should know - and I should know stuff like this before it fucking happens, not after."
Lis' eyebrows hiked up again. "Babe, what could she possibly be hiding from you that's bigger than an abortion?"
Stone's eyebrows arched. "I don't know but if she can hide that, what else can she hide?" He asked. Yeah he didn't think there could be much worse but maybe there could be and he couldn't figure out what it was because he'd never thought Lara would hide something important like that from him so it stood to reason there were other things she could hide, sure. In Stone's mind it worked out that way anyway.
Lis shrugged a little, because she had no answer to his rhetorical question. Lara was a pretty secretive person about a lot of things, but that didn't mean she was harboring evil secrets or anything. Lis picked up the glass and took a sip before frowning and putting it down again.
"When asked if you would've had a different opinion on what to do...do you really? Or would you have?" Because, well, whoa.
Stone shifted in his seat, extremely uncomfortable about this question. "I don't know," He didn't exactly lie, he didn't really know how he would react as his view was skewed since he'd had no choice in the matter. "That's not that point anyway, the point is I could have had an opinion on the matter that could've been different but no Lara just assumed I'd have a specific reaction and took matters into her own hands." And now he felt like a kid was dead because of his parent issues even if it wasn't solely his parental issues that had influenced this debacle. Stone had guilt issues, of course this was going to make him feel guilty, on multiple counts.
Lis watched his shifting, unsure whether or not to believe him. She'd never really banked on him wanting a kid, but then again he was more fatherly (to Poe) than Lara was motherly (to no one, not even a cactus plant) so maybe it would have made some sense. And really, it was too bad that Lara did have that abortion, if only because it would have been so incredibly awesome if Lis' two besties had a baby. But it would also suck on the party front, so everything had its pros and cons.
"I don't think you should really worry about that," Lis decided with a small nod. "'Cause do you really think your opinion would have made her change her mind? Probably not." Almost definitely not. It was too bad this was all so serious, because Lis was missing the opportunity to tease Stone about wanting to settle down with Lara.
Stone's forehead crinkled up. His head hurt and he felt uncomfortable talking about all of this, especially in public. "It doesn't matter if it would have changed her mind or not. Either way I should have been given the change to know and give my opinion, or even support or something. So stop trying to make me okay with the fact that she told me afterward." He frowned some more. "Cause it's not gonna work."
"I'm just trying to make you feel better about it," said with a frown of her own. "Instead of letting you stay angry. Don't think I don't agree that she should've told you. She should have told both of us."
Stone nodded. "Sorry." He wasn't trying to make her feel bad. He really doubted he'd feel any better about any of this any time soon. He looked down at his lap again and frowned - because y'know he wasn't frowning already. Why were their dreamselves all...better at communicating? That was stupid.
"It's okay," Lis said with a small smile as she reached over to pat his arm. She was just leaning back again when a waitress showed up with a takeout box.
"I didn't know you'd sat down over here," she said with a quick glance at Stone before smiling at Lis. She set the box down and then went back to the bar.
Lis thanked her and put her hands on top the the box. "Onion rings," she explained to Stone.
Stone's eyebrows hiked up when the waitress came over. He was going to tell her that he didn't order food but she handed the box to Lis and Stone was just confused, as his scrunched up brow attested to. He gave a slow nod when she told him what it was, but was unsure why she'd order onion rings from this place in the first place. "Oh." He said, because that was helpful.
"Steve likes them," Lis explained. "And I lost a bet so I had to come down and buy them." She opened up the box to check them out, and picked one up to snack on. She turned the box around to offer one to Stone as she said, "I really think you should talk to Lara about it."
Stone grimaced a little when Lis turned the box around after having nodded to acknowledge that he understood her story. He shook his head at the onion rings. He really hadn't been hungry lately, which was an extremely sad thing for Stone. "Even if I want to I can't now anyway." Because her mother would still be there. And...y'know Lara was no doubt severely pissed.
Lis closed the box again as she chewed on her onion ring. "Well you better do it soon, before I have to talk to her first," she said and turned the box back around.
Stone crossed his arms again and frowned down at his lap. Great, now he had a deadline. Fantastic. Why did everyone always have to get into his business and push him around with their opinions? When had he stopped going with his own opinions instead, damnit? So he just shrugged. Lara couldn't be mad at him for telling Lis. Lis was his friend too and it wasn't just Lara's story/secret to tell. It was equally Stone's as well damnit.
"I'll do it," Lis warned right before her loud and obnoxious 'What's New, Pussycat?' ringtone went off on the phone in her bag. She held up a finger and answered it. Of course it was Steve and the guys wondering about their missing onion rings. Lis told them that she ran into Stone and they had very serious matters to discuss, but she would be back up before the rings got cold.
She flipped her phone shut and put it back. "The guys are getting antsy," she said with a sigh. "You can come up and hang with us if you want."
Stone thought about actually joining Lis, but then he'd be required to join in and have a good time otherwise people would ask what was wrong and then he'd be the party pooper. So he shook his head. "I'm just gonna go home." Maybe. Probably. He wasn't sure yet. "Don't meddle." He added, more like a plea than anything else.
Lis smirked slightly as she stood up. "Don't make me meddle." She moved out of the booth and walked around the table so she could lean over and give Stone a really tight, swaying hug. She also kissed his cheek and told him that she loved him - all very important things.
Even though he hadn't really wanted to be touched much at all by anyone lately either, Stone returned the hug and even that 143 of sorts too. "See you later. And really...don't go meddling. It'll wind up more of a mess and you'll be stuck in it."
"I'm okay with that," Lis shrugged as she let go of him and straightened up. She grabbed the onion ring box and let out a little sigh as she looked at Stone. "But I'll try my best. And you promise me that you won't run this time." She waited for an answer, because this was definitely serious.
"I'm not." Stone replied, because he really wasn't okay with Lis being all stuck in the middle of their shit all the time. It wasn't fair and stuff. He frowned at her when she requested that promise. "I'm not running." He would've already done so if he was going to after all.
Lis nodded. "You better not. I'm going to call you later." She held onto the box with both hands and then headed out of the Lamb, sending quite a few glances over her shoulder on her way. She didn't want to leave him alone, but onion ring delivery was calling. Also she wanted to think about this for a little bit. It still wasn't totally sinking in.
Stone just nodded and then watched Lis go for a moment before he looked back down at his table. He didn't feel like drinking anymore as he was already feeling gross, so he capped the bottle. After a few more minutes of sitting and thinking and making his headache worse, he put another tip on the table and then stood up to leave. He trudged his way back to the Manor, keeping his head and his eyes down as he headed through the lobby.
Valerie Follet was heading through the lobby going in the opposite direction. After talking (and arguing and crying) with Lara for a long time, her daughter finally succeeded in kicking her out for a little bit. So Valerie was on her way to Upstairs, to see Mark.
When she saw Stone coming across the lobby, she stopped and looked at him, feeling emotional all over again as she wondered which of his features the baby would have had.
Stone hadn't watched where he was going. In fact, he was kind of caught up in his own head and therefore, didn't really see Valerie until he'd almost mowed her down in his trek to the elevators. "Sorry," He murmured before he looked up and saw who it was he'd run into. Great. The Follets were inescapable today apparently.
Now that he was looking at her, Valerie could see that he seemed in even worse shape than he had been earlier that evening. She frowned and took a slow breath to collect herself. "Would you have wanted to keep the baby?" she asked after a few moments.
Stone closed his mouth and swallowed. He dropped his eyes and took a step back as he put his hands back into his pockets again. "It doesn't matter what I would've wanted. It already happened and it's done and over with." He shrugged. Did that count as dodging? He didn't know exactly what he would have wanted. He was fairly confused after all, and felt incredibly weird about everything. But he more than likely wouldn't have wanted to go along with killing a fetus just because they were stupid and had caused it to exist in the first place.
"It matters to me," Valerie stated. "And I know that means very little to you, but I need to know if you would have been there for her and supported her." If he wouldn't have, then maybe Lara had a somewhat understandable reason for not having the baby. But if he would have helped her raise it, then that just made Lara's decision even more confusing and devastating to Valerie.
Stone frowned a little more. He felt exhausted and he hadn't done much of anything lately so he shouldn't be so tired. Well, except for the drinking he'd done. Anyway. He shrugged his shoulders a little. "I can't honestly tell you what I would've wanted. I found out after the fact so my reaction was from hindsight." He frowned at Valerie's other comment. "Of course I would have been there for her." And Lara should have known that, too. He didn't want to make this worse, he wasn't trying to anyway.
"Well, I didn't know that, did I? I don't know you. You're married to another woman, I hear stories about you, Lara used to tell me you were awful, and today you've been nothing but insulting. So you can excuse me for asking for some reassurance," Valerie nearly snapped back, her voice somewhere in the tense-on-the-verge-of-tears range.
Stone set his jaw a little and even bit the inside of his cheek a bit. It took him a moment to respond. "I'm sorry for being a little less than level headed and for the way you found out," He said first because he really was, honestly. "Maybe take a minute to realize that you're not the only one hurt by finding this out." He told her. "And maybe you shouldn't believe everything you've heard and said. Also? Your daughter wasn't always moonlight and roses to me either." Granted Stone was definitely worse to Lara than he was to her. Not the point. The point was Lara was hardly innocent in all of this and Stone was not the big bad wolf.
"Regardless," Valerie said, closing her eyes briefly, "of the way either of you acted in the past, I was asking about now. You tell me I'm not supposed to believe everything I've heard, but when I just asked you for an answer, you got snippy. So I guess I have no choice but to go back to using the tabloids as the main source of information about you. And my daughter." She gripped the strap of her bag tightly and side-stepped him to continue on her way.
Stone set his jaw again. "So I'm supposed to assume because you're upset that you're allowed to be snippy. But I'm not allowed to have any negative kind of reaction at all to this and should be all smiles and sunshine?" Stone side-stepped as well to stop her. It wasn't right for him to keep letting people take jabs at him and not to respond. "Just because my parents are assholes doesn't mean I am. And you're right, you don't know me. Being snippy to you once while under excessive stress doesn't make me a bad person just like you insulting me because you don't like my reactions to you doesn't make you a bad person, now does it?" And why did he care what she thought?
Valerie stopped abruptly when he stepped in front of her. She looked worried for the split-second before he spoke, but once he continued talking she frowned again. "I'm not trying to insult you. I'm just stating a fact. If you don't want to tell me if you're the kind of person who would take care of a child out of wedlock, then I can only go by what I hear from other people. I don't want to fight with you, Stone. One of the last things I want to be doing right now is fight with the man who was almost the father of my grandchild, but I'm having difficulty doing that after the way you talked to me up at the apartment. So unless you're willing to talk to me like the family we just almost were, then please let me be on my way."
"That's the point. You're not trying to insult me but you are." He actually flinched, twice - first when she referred to him as a father and then when she referred to him as possible family. "I'm not trying to fight with you." He attempted to force his voice to be calm but really, alcohol plus weird mixed emotions just wasn't a good combo from him so his tone probably came out pretty strangely. And he'd apologized damnit! She shouldn't still be all indignant like this was all his damn fault when it wasn't! "I answered your question about whether I would or not. It doesn't even matter that I would, because it would have been her choice even if she had told me before she did it." There. He said it. He still felt like crap. He shook his head and lifted his arms to cross them. It was his turn to side step and walk away before he wound up saying something that Valerie might go back to Lara and say that would exacerbate the mess.
"I just wanted to know," Valerie said as Stone walked away. She turned and watched him go, wishing she could pinpoint just what was going on in his and Lara's heads. Or maybe she didn't want to know. Stone claimed he was willing to help Lara with a baby, and not only that, but he definitely had the means to do so. But Lara still terminated the pregnancy. Why? According to Stone's ranting up at the apartment, it was Valerie's fault. She had already asked Lara about that, and she only got even more worked up in response. Valerie would have tried talking to Stone about it, but he was already at the other side of the lobby. Well, Valerie would be here for a while, so there would be another chance later. She took a short breath and then turned to head out the doors.