RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

NINETY FOUR

INTERVENTION

River couldn't quite believe that Reggie was doing as well as he was, since Ward had disappeared into the burning embers of the boat upon the water the family had travelled back in silence and retook their places on the couch.

She knew that the family was estranged and that there were secrets even she didn't know but she couldn't shake the feeling that as his father he would have been too broken to sit down and have an intervention.

"Now, where we're we?" Reggie questioned taking a hesitant seat.

"I'm sorry are we going to pretend like that didn't just happen?" River shouted in disbelief still standing up as her mother and father seated themselves anxiously back on the couch without a word, "What the actual fuck is wrong with you people?" She screamed turning around and dragging her hands through her hair.

"River, sit down." Georgia spoke softly and the girl turned to look at her look alike and scoffed, "We know about the pregnancy."

River paused for a second in complete shock, her whole body freezing as her mouth parted and her hands started to vibrate.

"W-what?" River stuttered looking between her family for some sort of answers, it was a pretty sick joke to be playing after her uncle had just blown up in front of her eyes.

"Don't act dumb." Reggie stated bluntly, "You left the positive test on the side of your en-suite and I want to say I understand why you do did it." He spoke glancing anxiously at Georgia, "I know that there was a lot of issues with me and your mother when she wanted you and I guess putting that test into the open was like a- a power move."

River was too stunned to speak, Silas had told her that there was no way she could have been pregnant but now she was starting to wonder whether it had been months and she hadn't known. Either way JJ was going to be a dad.

"I wanted better than this for you, River, your mother and I were very young too." Sean spoke and River let out a loud scoff, maybe all the arguing between her, JJ and Silas was all just pregnancy hormones.

"Better?" She laughed again, "Would've been real great if you were around to want things for me. Oh daddy, lead the way for me and show me what's right and what's wrong." She sarcastically spoke.

"River, that's enough." Georgia whispered which made River hold back another grumble though she desperately wanted to tell her she had no room to talk as the only reason she was alive and living such a hell was because she too was a teen mom.

It still hadn't sunk in that she was pregnant, that that was a real thing that was happening and all of a sudden it properly hit her and she burst into floods of tears. Cries that made her chest hiccup and her cheeks burn.

"It's okay, listen I get that it's scary-" Georgia started.

"Scary? SCARY? You don't understand what scary is, I've just watched my uncle blow to fucking smithereens and now you're telling me I'm pregnant when I didn't even know myself so you can get fucked with your scary." River continued to rant feeling her heart pounding.

She knew she should have checked the test before she left the house, she knew she should have put it away. So why didn't she? Did she subconsciously know? Was this what her inner evil was planning?

"Okay then it's sorted?" Sean spoke up, "She's obviously not ready. She didn't plan it to get back at you like you thought, Reggie. And she definitely didn't do it to be like her mommy. So I'll book a slot at the clinic-" Sean narrowed in on River "-I'll pay."

"Oh how generous." River mumbled rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to the clinic."

"So you want to keep it?" Georgia spoke a little hopefully sitting forward in anticipation which made both males give her a disapproving look. She just wanted to be able to help her daughter the one way she knew how to.

"I don't know, okay? Jesus! Can I just take a minute to process?" She questioned snappily looking across at everyone, "Can you guys take a fucking minute to process Ward's death too?" She asked and everybody sat back in their chairs as if they were hiding something.

"I agree with Sean, you're not ready, Pumpkin." Reggie continued as if he hasn't just heard the girls last sentence so she let out a deep sigh, talking to a brick wall was tiring and she wasn't sure how long she could do it for, "But I do trust your judgement and if you want to keep it and prove to us all that you're going to be a good mother what can I do about it?"

"Reggie, what the fu-"

"I lost Georgia over River and look how gorgeous she turned out." He gushed but it all seemed fake, "My daughter did that without you, Sean, so maybe if you wanted to be part of this conversation you should've been part of her life."

River sat back in complete shock, hearing Reggie speak up for both her and Georgia was a completely foreign concept and she didn't know how to process it.

"I don't need you to stand up for me." River smiled but she was grateful, "I also don't need any of your inputs." She spoke before standing up and leaving the room.

On the walk up the stairs River couldn't stop herself from sobbing she slammed the door behind her and dropped to the floor crying uncontrollably into her knees.

This wasn't real. Surely it wasn't real.

But the positive test result said otherwise.

wrote by lucidgravity