One Time [Montgomery De La Cruz x OC]

Flashbacks (Marci)

A/N: This chapter takes place during the five weeks that Monty went to jail and rehab the first time. That chapter was in Monty's POV so I'd really like to explain how Marci was feeling during that time as well! And it will explain a lot why she had such a character change after all of this happened!

I laid in bed and stared at the empty spot next to me. How could he do this? How could he let things get this far? How could I not notice how bad off he really was? And why did I have to end up pregnant now of all times? How was I supposed to deal with the most vital time during my pregnancy when all of this is going on? My fiancé is going to jail tomorrow and then rehab after that. My fiancé is actually a drug addict. How the fuck did I not know? I growled and roughly rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight, that much was obvious. I subconsciously rested my hand onto my still flat stomach and drummed at it with my fingertips. "Maybe you can save your daddy since the rest of us couldn't." I mumbled bitterly. Why wasn't I enough? Why weren't Savannah and Dallas enough? Why wasn't Annie's love for him enough? Why wasn't his bright future enough? Now he had nothing. He lost his baseball scholarship, he was never going to be able to get into a good college, and he'd always have to work bullshit jobs because any good job isn't going to hire a criminal with his charges. I sat up in bed abruptly and growled again. "Fuck you, Montgomery." I yelled into the empty air. Even though I knew that he couldn't hear it, I needed to get it of of my chest. My bedroom door slowly opened a second later and in walked Emma. "I heard your little outburst. You okay?" She asked while sitting down next to me on the bed. "What do you think?" I mumbled with a roll of my eyes and she squeezed my shoulder for comfort. "Why are you awake?" I asked curiously whenever I realized that she was up at 4 in the morning just like me. "I can't sleep with all of this going on. I care about Monty a lot, he's the father of my son. I'm scared how all of this is gonna play out for Dallas as he gets older." She admitted and I nodded my head in understanding. I knew exactly where she was coming from. "I know. I'm scared for Savannah and the new baby too." I confided in her. Whenever I saw the sadness on her face, I made the conscious choice to not say anything else about it that would make me sound weak. I didn't want sympathy from anyone. I didn't want anyone to be sad about what I was going through. I wanted to make everyone see how truly strong I could be on my own. Before this, I was weak. I was a damsel in distress. Monty had to constantly take care of me and protect me and my girls' always had to help me too. I didn't want to be the little weakling anymore. I wanted to be the hero in this story. The hero for myself, my kids', our family and friends... and even Monty. I wanted everyone to be able to say that Marci was the one who took care of everything. Marci was so strong. Marci really held the fort down. I wanted Montgomery to be able to say that Marci was my strength, she was the one who pulled me through this and away from my bad habits. It was long overdo for me to be everyone's support system. It was time for me to grow some balls and I was ready for it.

"So you're doing okay? Be honest, baby." Monty whispered on the other end of the phone. I braced myself for the lie that I was about to tell and then answered. "Yeah, I'm doing great. I feel pretty good physically too." I lied with a fake happy tone. Truth be told, I was miserable. I missed him like crazy, I was angry with him, I was completely stressed out and overwhelmed, I was embarrassed, and I was exhausted and sick all the time. I didn't want to let him know that though, I didn't want anyone to know that. I had been way too much of a cry baby and a damsel in distress the past couple of years, I had to change if I wanted to be the hero. "Are you going to the doctor this week?" He questioned and I nodded my head, forgetting that he couldn't see me. "Yeah, I'm going in a couple of days. The day before you get released to rehab, actually." I explained in the same fake tone. "That's good. I wish I could be there..." He drifted off at the end. I had to bite my tongue from saying something mean. "Yeah, me too. It'll be okay though. I'll be fine." I lied once again. I heard him sigh on the other line, so I spoke up again. "Your mugshot is everywhere.... literally. You're super famous right now." I chuckled but he didn't make a sound. Before I could say anything else, the automatic system let us know that there was only 60 seconds left for us to talk. "Alright, well, I guess I'm gonna let you go. I'll talk to you later, okay? Love you." I rushed out before he could say anything. As soon as he said I love you too, I hung up the phone without another word. I wasn't trying to be a bitch, I just knew that I needed to get off the phone with him since I wasn't doing anything but upsetting him clearly. That wasn't part of my plan. My plan was to be strong, be the support system. If I wasn't doing good at providing him support right now, then I just shouldn't talk to him until I could. I made the conscious desicion to avoid his phone calls unless I had something positive and supportive to say at the time. He'd understand. He probably didn't even really care to talk to me anyways, since he hadn't really wanted much to do with me the past few weeks to begin with. He had avoided me like the plague, so he was probably just being nice since he found out that I'm pregnant again. I sighed and tossed my phone into my purse, getting ready to go to the front office to pay rent and utilities. I walked into my closet and grabbed the shoe box from the top shelf and took out $1,600 out of the money that Monty had left over and the shit ton of money that I stole from David. Asshole had it coming anyways. I put the money into my wallet and then shoved that down into my purse too before walking out of my room. "Can you listen out for Sav for a minute? I'm going to the front to pay rent and utilities." I asked Emma as I approached her and she nodded her head with a chuckle. "Are you using the money you stole from Davidv?" She laughed and I did the same while nodding my head. "Good. He put us into this predicament, the least he can do is pay our bills." She shrugged her shoulders before looking back at the tv. I chuckled and shook my head at her before heading out. I drove to the front office of our apartment building and then went inside. "Hi, I need to pay the rent and utilities for this month on behalf of Montgomery De La Cruz." I explained and the front office lady nodded her head. "How long is he in jail for?" She questioned while getting the paperwork ready for me. I gave her a questioning look, so she spoke up again. "Everyone knows, sweetie. It's everywhere." She explained. "Oh... well he gets out of jail in a couple of days but then he has to go to a 30 day rehab program." I informed her and she nodded her head sympathetically. There was that damn sympathy again. I wanted her to look at me like I was strong, like she was proud of how good I was doing. Not smile at me sympathetically like I'm going to break at any given moment. "I'm really sorry..." "There's no need to apologize. He did it to himself and I'm doing just fine on my own." I interrupted in a firm tone and her face changed. She looked at me surprised but she also gave me a look that I had never received from anyone before. She looked at me like I was tough. She looked at me like I was determined. She looked at me like I was a strong bitch who didn't need a man to take care of me. She looked at me how I craved to be looked at now. How I should've wanted to be looked at all these years. Instead, until now, I wanted nothing more than for Montgomery to be my constant protector. My guardian angel in all situations. Before we even started dating, he was also there to defend me verbally or physically. I relied on him way too much and it had made an already weak person even weaker. Now that he was gone and had himself in a predicament, I could flourish into who I should be. I smiled back at her, proud of myself, before confidently signing my name on the receipt slip and spinning around on my heels and taking off out the door. I hurried back to the apartment and rushed up the staircase. Whenever I busted through the front door, Emma looked up at me confused. "Lets go to the grocery store." I smiled. "I thought that Annie was going to go for us though..." "No, we're gonna go for ourselves. Montgomery is gone right now and even once he's back, he'll probably never be the same again. You and I rely on him and his family for everything. Don't you wanna prove to everyone that we don't need them to function? That we're strong on our own? Because I know that I do." I said strongly. She stared at me for a second in shock before cracking a smile and standing up. "Alright, let's do it." She nodded and then I scurried off to get Savannah ready. As soon as we were all ready, we went up to the grocery store. Once we got inside, I was feeling a little nervous and overwhelmed because I'd never done with before. Growing up, the nanny that my mom hired to take care of me always did grocery shopping on her own, then whenever I lived with the De La Cruz family, Annie did all of the grocery shopping and now, Monty was the one to do it all. "Um... do you have any experience with this?" I asked Emma hopefully but she shook her head. Two spoiled teenage brats... that's all we've ever been. But now, we, or at least I'm, going to be different. "That's okay. We'll figure it out. How hard can it be?" I shrugged my shoulders before grabbing a buggy and placing Savannah in it while Emma continued to carry Dallas since he's still so young. We got started and I was surprised how easy it actually was. I even was paying attention to the sales that were going on and was making sure to get the cheapest items so that we could get more groceries for less money. "Hello Miss Whitmore, Miss Brown." Mrs. Bradley came up to us in the store, startling us both. "And these must be the adorable little De La Cruz babies." She cooed at both Savannah and Dallas. "How are you Mrs. Bradley?" I asked her with a smile. "I'm doing okay, thanks for asking. And how are you two doing? With everything that's going on..." She asked with that fucking sympathetic look. I grit my teeth together to keep from snapping before I pushed my shoulders back confidently. "We're fine. We're actually doing really well for ourselves. We don't need him to always take care of us." I stated and Emma chuckled under her breath with a playful roll of her eyes. Mrs. Bradley smiled at me proudly and nodded her head. "I've always known that you're a tough girl, Marci. Use this situation to become stronger... I know that you can do it." She smiled before patting my shoulder and walking off. I smiled brightly at the fact that someone had confidence in my ability to develop strength. About an hour later, Emma and I finished up at the grocery store and I was very pleased with how much stuff we were able to get. Whenever we got home, I rolled my eyes whenever I saw Jeff's car parked out front and him standing by it. "What are you doing here, J?" I mumbled, knowing good and well that he was here to check on me. "You told me earlier that you were going to the grocery store and I knew that y'all would need some help getting all of the groceries in since y'all have to get them up a flight of stairs and your ankle is messed up." He said while pointing at my medical boot. "Fine. I guess I do need a little bit of help right now... but just this once."  I said in a firm tone and he laughed at the fact that I was trying so hard to be tough. Once we had everything inside, Emma and I started putting everything away while Jeff entertained the babies. "So princess, I was thinking that while Monty's away, I could come over a couple days a week and help y'all out with the stuff that he would normally do." Whenever I gave him a questioning look, he explained more. "Ya know, taking the trash out, fixing anything that's broken, changing light bulbs if they go out... just the normal guy duties." He shrugged his shoulders and I stared him down for a second before sighing. I didn't want any help but I knew that he was right. There were certain things that I couldn't do and I didn't know how to do. "You promise that it's just because as a girl there's certain things that I can't do and not because you view me as weak and a damsel in distress?" I questioned and he raised his eyebrows at me. Emma shook her head no at him, silently telling him to not even question it right now. "I promise, Mar." He chuckled and I nodded my head. "Okay, it's a deal then. The lightbulb is out in my bathroom if you could go ahead and change that for me?" I suggested and he hopped up without another word and took off to fix it for me. I chuckled under my breath and went back to putting away groceries. I was really lucky to have such a great best friend like Jeff in my life. Accepting just a little bit of help from him didn't make me weak. Everyone needs a little help with some things, right?