The One Shot Chapters (18+)

Frank Adler - Sweet Nothing (AU)

She hadn't been expecting this turn of events.

From the moment Frank Adler's name appeared on Thea's phone, she instantly wondered why it was him calling her, considering the main contact that she had with the Adler's was always through his wife, Bonnie.

Upon first meeting the couple, Bonnie had expressed just how right Thea was to undertake the surrogacy that they had been seeking. With a slim chance of being able to conceive, they had taken the path that would hopefully make them a family - and by the end of the meeting, everything was settled. From then on the Adler's became part of her life just as much as she began to become part of theirs.

Frank was a professor of philosophy at a college while Bonnie herself was a teacher. The couple had custody of Frank's niece Mary, and at seven years old, she was also rather bright. But even with Mary, they simply wanted the family unit. Their own blood so to speak - and Thea couldn't blame them for that.

She had felt the excitement not just run through herself, but also through the couple when she had told them the insemination had worked - and that they would very much become parents. Thea had never done this before, however she could see why women did. To give hope to others when they thought that they had none, and reward them at the end with the thing that they wanted to the most.

To see their faces when they would finally hold their baby would be something special indeed.

Except now? That would not be happening, as Frank was explaining to her across the table from where they had met up soon after he had called her.

"What?" She sat there in disbelief while Frank looked at her, a little broken. The dark circles under his eyes told her that he hadn't slept that night.

"She said it wasn't what she wanted...that we had made a mistake. Then she left..." He clarified and then glared into his coffee cup. "I'm sure there's another guy...jeez". He ran his hands back through his hair and then looked up at Thea. "I'm sorry, I just...I can't even imagine how this must feel for you. You're carrying our kid for crying out loud".

She was only three months gone and now left with no family for the child in question. "We can work this out, find a way..."

Who was she kidding? Frank had Mary and there was no way that he could cope with a baby as well, now with a divorce on the horizon, Thea was stuck.

"I don't know how". He told her quietly. "I can't raise two kids and work the job I have at the same time. I don't have anyone else".

"No parents?"

He shook his head. "My mom is the reason Mary is with me. If she even caught wind of this? Then she'd try and have both kids taken off of me. She could never understand why Diane wanted me to take on custody and she's already tried to fight me tooth and nail for her".

"Fuck..." She muttered to herself, knowing that the situation they were now in was a dire one. "Have you tried calling Bonnie? Asking her why she's left and changed her mind? Because this is her baby too Frank, and now I'm left carrying it only to have no one by the end of the whole thing".

"I know, I know - and it's not fair on you, I get that". He now calmed her. "Believe me, I'm pissed too, I wanted to go in the direction of adoption but Bonnie? Nope, she was insistent that we had a surrogate, and now she all but abandons us".

The silence that fell between the pair of them lasted what felt like years rather than minutes, but finally Thea was the one to break it. "So...what do we do?"

Frank just stared at the table more. "I have no idea...but we're well and truly screwed".