Third Shred of Love

Chapter 7

The 'couple of weeks' that Marc said you had left to tell Steven about the current situation were slowly finishing.

Thanksgiving was in 5 days, and you still didn't tell poor Steven that he'd have to meet up with your family.

The reason for your forgetfulness was your constant worry about your dad. You'd call your mom everyday to make sure that he was ok and thank god he was, she'd even hand the phone over to him and you'd get to hear his voice.

It was a cold Saturday afternoon, Steven was peacefully reading in the kitchen while you were making vegetable soup behind him.

"Steven?" You finally managed to say after a lot of mental preparation.
"Yes, love." He simply lifted his head without taking his eyes off the words in the book.

"I have to tell you something." You slowly cut the carrot that was in front of you.

That phrase usually makes anyone worried. Steven included, so he cleared his throat and turned around to look at you in his funny glasses.
"What is it?" He gave you his full attention this time.
You looked behind you seeing his slightly scared eyes.

Putting down the knife and rinsing your hands, you decided it was better if you sat down.

"Promise you won't freak out." It was more of a statement, rather than a question.
"I-I'll try." He folded his glasses and put them down on the table.
"I should've told you weeks ago, bu-"
"Are you pregnant?"
"WHAT?NO!" You went red. Like red red. Redder than the tomatoes that were in your soup.

"Sorry I just thought."
You cleared your throat "Uh I, hold on." You put your hand on your face.
"S-sorry, dear. I just, I dunno."
"Yeah no, it's ok. I uh my family's having a gathering for thanksgiving." You hurried to get to the point so you could forget what had just happened.

"Oh really? What's the occasion?"
"My dads sick and it was my sisters idea."
"Oh gosh."
"He's better now, it's ok he's fine." You quickly added before all the apologies started flooding in.

"That's good, but I can't help asking why do you look so worried?"
"My mom, and my sister, want you to come with me. Since you are family, it would be appropriate."

Steven felt butterflies inside him after hearing the word family. An instant smile grew on his face.

"Family." He said in a dreamy voice.
"Yes. That means you're going to have to meet my mom and my dad. And Willow. And Willows husband." You sort of bursted his dream-full bubble.

"Husband? She's married?"
Why was everyone so surprised.
"Yes. And they have a baby."
Stevens eyes lit up "A baby?"
You chuckled at his reaction.

"Would you like to come with me?"
"I would absolutely love to!" He exclaimed in excitement grabbing your hand.
"I can finally meet you mother and father. Oh I'd be over the moon if they'd have me." He gleamed.

Thank.

Heavens.

You couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief at Steven's reaction. You were so worried he'd freak out or something.

"Will we be staying at a hotel? When are we leaving? I have so much questions."
"I don't have any answers I'm afraid. Hotel would be nice, tickets for the day after tomorrow possibly?" You shrugged.

"Gosh New York." His eyes sparkled.
"Would you like to look for a hotel? I'll deal with the tickets."

"Yes." He was a ray of sunshine.

"Alrighty, now I just have to tell Jake and we should be sorted." You got up walking back to the cutting board with the carrots.
"I can tell him." Steven offered.

"That would be great." You'd save yourself the dad apologies.
"Wicked. I'll go look then yeah?"
"Yes, yes please do because I think I'm doing things too late."
"I'll have a look at the tickets too then if I find the hotel quickly." You felt his head pop up on your shoulder.
"You are a lifesaver, Steven." You kissed his cheek.

He grinned and in no time he was out of the kitchen and in his room, roaming all the hotel sites of NYC.

"Ugh too much potatoes." You realized that you had peeled too many because you were lost in thought for the past 20 minutes. Couldn't let them go to waste right?

You pulled out the baking tray and began laying halves of potatoes in rows. After that, you covered them in mayonnaise, salt, pepper and a bit of garlic.

You were about to place them in the oven when you heard a yell leave Stevens room.

"¡DIOS MÍO!" It was Jake.

Steven must've told him about the trip.

Since Jake had a New York accent when he spoke English, you assumed that that's where he was from.

You never thought about how only Jake could speak Spanish, but Steven couldn't.

It must mean that Marc knew Spanish too.
His mother was Latino and therefor it was most likely that she taught him Spanish growing up.

Also the question that you only started asking now was how did Jake even appear?
You knew that Marc suffered severe trauma, and Steven was born to cope with that trauma. That's how DID works.

Jakes mere existence implies some sort of trauma that would make his existence necessary to Marc. Additionally, you knew from Steven that Jake was ruthless and sometimes psychotic, which you thought was impossible, considering how gentle and caring he was around you, but despite your personal connection with him, you wondered about the connection between him and Marc.

Your deep thoughts were interrupted by Jakes running.

"For real?" He panted, sliding right into you with his arms spread out.
"Yes," you chuckled. "Careful my hands are covered in mayo."
"Eso es absolutamente loco!" He squeezed you. "Will I get to meet your parents?"

"Eehh, I'm not sure about that." That was kinda Stevens job.
"¿Por qué?"
"Well, my mom knows he's British and I don't think I'd be able to explain that you guys are a 3 in 1 deal."

He slightly frowned, but then shrugged it off. "That's ok. As long as I get to at least see them."

You smiled "Thanks for understanding. I'm sure one day I'd be able to explain everything to them, it's just that my dads sick and I don't think it's a good idea to-"

"Your dads sick?" Jakes tone changed.
Oh shit. You were so worried about someone else finding out that you accidentally mentioned it yourself.
"Yeah, but he's better now so everything's fine."
"Oh I'm sorry."
"He's not dead, you don't have to apologize." You turned back to your potatoes annoyed.

Jake raised his eyebrows seeing that you were clearly unhappy.
You could feel him staring at you, but tried your best to ignore him.

Suddenly you felt two hands slither round your waist catching you off guard.

"Jake," you said in an annoyed tone.
"¿Quuué?" He purred, resting his chin on your shoulder.
"Let Steven look for the hotel. We're short on time."
"Hm?" He pretended that he didn't hear you.

You had finished with the potatoes and were about to step towards the sink but Jake was not letting you move in his embrace.

"Jake." You rolled your eyes.
He just rubbed his cheek against your shoulder like a cat.

"Muévete, Jake." You struggled.
"No."
"Ja-" You turned your head to the side to yell at him, but you were cut off with his lips on yours.

You were startled at first, but went along with it in no time.

It was Jake.

Who could resist?

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Translations:
"Eso es absolutamente loco!"-That's absolutely crazy
"¿Por qué?"- why not?
"¿Que?"-what?
"Muévete"-move