Don't Give Up

Deal with it

"You have a visitor." Emily smiled, entering Lindsey's room, with Julia following behind. "I'll leave you two in a minute. I just came in to check if you were doing alright after today's session, you must be exhausted."

"I'm okay." Lindsey said, focusing on his daughter, whom he hadn't seen in longer than he was used to. 

"Well, alright then." Emily gave him a nod and was on her way out. 

Pulling up a chair, Julia took a seat, for some reason avoiding looking at Lindsey. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"A week or so." Julia said, staring at her clasped hands. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"What's wrong?" 

"Everything's falling apart." Julia shrugged. "You told Mom to move on."

"She's better off without me, Jules." Lindsey sighed, starting to believe his words. "I can't give her anything."

"She doesn't need anything, she just needs you, Dad. You shouldn't have been so mean to her, when she visited you. It's... dangerous."

Frowning, Lindsey faced Julia. "Dangerous? What do you mean by that?"

"Mom's with Mark all the time. He's always ready to comfort her..." She trailed off.

"Comfort her in what way?" Lindsey asked through gritted teeth.

"Hopefully, not in that way." Julia made a face, not even wanting to think about it. "Although, I can't be sure. Like I said, they're together everyday, for hours. Mom says he only brings his grandson over to play with Zack, but it's bullshit. True, the boys became friends quickly, but I think it's just an excuse. The worst thing is that Mom wants him around, she likes being with him. The more times you tell her to move on from you, the closer she gets to Mark."

"So, she's not even hiding it?"

"Well, it's not like I've caught them in any compromising situation, but..."

"Do you think she has some sort of feelings for him?"

Sighing, Julia shrugged. "I don't know, Dad. What I do know is that if you don't let her back in soon, things won't end good."

Thinking for a moment, Lindsey was now sure he had made the right decision. "I hope they'll be happy."

"What? What is wrong with you?" Julia couldn't keep her voice down. "Happy? She's your wife! She's the woman you've loved your whole life and now you're going to just... let her go because of some bump in the road?"

"A bump in the road?" Lindsey scoffed, widening his eyes. "Jules, I can barely move my lower body. I just... I have to accept that your mother and I weren't strong enough to move past this together."

Julia groaned in frustration, shaking her head. This was not happening, her parents were not separating. "You can't give up so easily, the both of you!"

"It's too late. Clearly, we've already given up. She already has another man in her life."

"But she loves you, Dad, you know she does. No matter what, her heart will always belong to you. If only you weren't so stubborn, if you called her, talked to her, asked her to come to you... it would all go back to how it was, Dad." Julia finished in almost a whisper, fearing she'd choke on her tears otherwise.

Shaking his head, Lindsey stuck to what he believed. "It's okay, Jules... Couples break up all the time, we're not the first nor the last ones."

"Break up?" Julia asked, her voice hoarse. "No, married couples, who've been together for decades do not just break up. They communicate, they work through their issues, they stick together."

"You're too young to understand. It is what it is and I accept it. I'm fine with it." 

"No, you're not, Dad!" Julia yelled, getting up as she started pacing around the room. "You can't be fine with it! I don't know what kind of drugs they're giving you here that make you talk this crap, but I know you and I know you worship the ground Mom walks on! You can't just suddenly accept she's moving on from you, not even three months after what happened to you!"

Lindsey lay with his eyes closed, afraid that he wouldn't be able to keep the tears from falling otherwise. "Please, there's no need to be shouting, it won't change anything." 

"WHAT WILL?" Julia yelled out again, as if Lindsey just hadn't asked her not to.

"Enough! Your mother and I are over, deal with! I don't need my twenty year old daughter screaming at me, telling me how to live my life. I've decided and it's final!"

 This was going not the way Julia had hoped it would. She thought that telling Lindsey more about Mark would somehow wake him up. "I swear, you are going to regret this. You'll be the one who'll suffer the most. Mom will have her precious Mark, who will you have?" She stared at Lindsey for a moment longer, before jerking the door open and storming out.

After having a screaming match with one of her parents, Julia knew she had to cool down, before she returned to Stevie and she had to go see her mother. Stevie must have caught something, since she wasn't feeling too well for a few days now.

No sooner than two hours later, Julia pulled into her (most likely) once parents driveway, she got out of her car and slammed the door shut, locking it, before she went inside the house. It was unusually quiet. Taking two stairs at a time, Julia went straight to Stevie's bedroom, where she saw Zack sleeping, snuggled up by Stevie's side, who lay wide eyed, staring up at the ceiling.

"How are you feeling?" Julia asked in a whisper. 

"I don't know, how would you feel if you were served with divorce papers?"