Unconditionally ➳ D. O'Brien [2]

➳ 48

"How'd it go?" Cara asked the moment Dylan walked through the door of the living room, freeing himself of the coat he'd worn out into the winter raging beyond the doors of their warm home. All day, she'd been running through different scenarios in her head, all the possible outcomes of the meeting between Dylan and Thea— the one that seemed particularly fond of torturing her was the one that Dylan would decide that Thea was leagues better for him than Cara and thus choose Thea, kicking Cara and Aurora out of their house so he could play happy families with Thea Mills and baby O'Brien-Mills/Mills-O'Brien.

Needless to say, it kind of scared her.

"It was weird," He answered, swooping down to lift Aurora out of her lap. Even then, the baby didn't take her eyes from the Christmas lights that decorated their Christmas tree, staring in awe at it. Cara was just glad that they'd opted for the dimmer lights; she dreaded to think what the outcome might have been for her baby's eyesight.

"Does she know what she's having?" Cara didn't really want to know. If she had it her way, she wouldn't have had anything to do with Thea Mills for the rest of her life, wouldn't have even spoken her name— especially not around the presence of her daughter, who Thea could've very well taken a father from. But, alas, Thea Mills was like a parasite that you couldn't get rid of. She just kept on coming back.

"A girl," He said, sitting down beside Cara. He pressed a kiss to Aurora's head. "She showed me the ultrasound, gave me some of her name ideas — she seems to be fond of Delilah, right now, but it might change, she said —. It was just— it was so much like that time we first met to discuss this little monkey," They both smiled down at Aurora simultaneously before lifting their gazes to look at one another once more, "But it was so different at the same time. It wasn't you, it was Thea, a woman I hate far more than I could ever hate you — and I never hated you, by the way, I was just... upset, I suppose. But, Thea just makes me feel angry and betrayed. I trusted her, and she used that trust to turn me against you. You know, she actually tried to convince me that you were probably lying about the baby being mine— even went so far to suggest Tyler and Sprayberry as other possible fathers. Earlier, she even said that you might do the same, but I know you wouldn't. You're a good person, she's just horrible, and I hope that the baby doesn't turn out anything like her," He sighed, laughing when Aurora curled her fingers around his index finger.

"How do you think I feel?" Cara questioned, "I trusted her, too. She was one of my best friends, she was there when my brother died. I should've realised that something like this might happen again after Logan— but I just— I just thought she was acting out because she was in mourning, but this whole thing— we could've been happy together. We could've been together in London and we could've found out that we were having a baby together. I would've cried on you instead of Paisley, and it would've been happy instead of sad, but Thea took that from me. And I let her. I let her do it, because I believed that she loved you and she wanted to be happy, I believed she deserved happiness, but she doesn't deserve you. I'm not entirely sure I did, but she certainly doesn't. And now that we've had Aurora, and everything's going smoothly, it's just our luck that she comes back into the picture with a baby in tow. It's like the world doesn't want us to be together, and has given us Thea to make sure that it never happens,"

"Do you want to be with me?" He asked, studying her expression with his dark eyes.

"I can't answer that right now, Dylan," She sighed, shook her head, looked at Aurora instead of him.

"Why not? Because you still haven't forgiven me?" He questioned, and Cara saw his eyebrows knit together out of the corner of her eyes, "What can I do to make you forgive me, Cara? Because I love you more than I have ever loved a woman before. You make my head spin and my heart skip a beat— and it's so painful sometimes, knowing that I can't have you, because you don't want me back. But the pain's worth it. I am willing to feel this ache in my heart every day if it means I can spend every day with you and our little girl. Because you two— you're everything to me. I've said it before, and I'll say it a million times again. You and Aurora, you're my family, and I love you. Please, why can't you forgive me?"

"I do forgive you, Dylan," She whispered, casting her gaze to the floor now. She didn't want Aurora to see her cry. "It's just— what about Thea? What if she doesn't like it? What if she stops you from seeing your baby because you're with me? What then? I don't want you to have to choose between me and the baby, because you're going to choose the baby,"

"Then I'll take her to court," He said, "Because I'm not losing either of you. Plus, she has a boyfriend now— your ex, at that — she can't say anything about who I'm dating. She can't stop me from seeing you, because you're also the Mother of my beautiful daughter. So, Cara Brooks, will you be my girlfriend, again?"

"I— Yes."

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#carylan are back on track