One Shots

Teenage Troublemakers

I found this in my drafts today...

Chris was having a hard time holding his temper. His hand was clenched so tightly around mine that I swore it was going to break.

This must have been how he felt when I was in labor.

All jokes aside, my husband was turning into a raging bull, and I didn't know how to calm him down when we were in the middle of the school counselor's office.

This was the third time we had been called in this month, and I was really starting to worry about Jaiden. The past two times we had been called, he was skipping classes. Of course, the counselor had her ideas as to what he was doing, and so did my husband and I, but there wasn't any hard evidence. Thankfully, or he would've been arrested.

Chris told me if he was arrested, he wouldn't bail him out.

To say Chris was disappointed would be a huge understatement.

Jaiden was our first child. We found out we were bringing him into this world when we were seniors in highschool, and the world was completely against us as parents. Chris was determined not to let him defer his dreams, though, and thus our sweet baby boy grew up in buses and strangers arms while Mommy and Daddy struggled to turn making music into making a living.

I wouldn't wish his younger years on any kid. He may have had two parents, but they were two very stressed out, very tired, very clueless about his needs parents.

He was always a bit of a troublemaker. I suppose that's our fault for teaching him pranks and foul language, but recently he's been indulging in more adult behaviors.

Behaviors that Chris found absolutely despicable, as someone who's never drank or smoked. Of course, I didn't want my eighteen year old son drinking like a fish or smoking like a chimney, but I remember doing the same shit when I was younger than he was. I fucking smoked throughout most of my pregnancy and his infant life, for Satan's sake.

The sound of the door opening brought me back from my thoughts, and my eyes shot to the new-found opening to see who the counselor brought back with her. My other hand instinctively grabbed Chris's arm to hold him back, but I relaxed, a little confused, when I saw one of our good friends step through into the room.

"Kuza? The hell are you here for?" My husband shared my confusion, but I was relieved that his anger seemed to settle for the moment.

Kuza sighed, shoving his hair back out of his face with one hand while his other buried itself in his back pocket. "The counselor said Nora had come to her and was really distressed. They're worried she's going to do something to hurt herself so they thought I should come in to talk to her in a supervised setting."

He was panicked and scared, I could tell just by looking at him. My heart ached for him. We had fallen pregnant around the same time, that was actually how we met. There was a support group for unconventional mothers in Pittsburgh that my mom paid for me to go to, and Mike and I hit it off immediately. He and Chris became fast friends, and we stepped in a lot help him raise his daughter. Even as young and clueless as Chris and I were, at least we had each other and weren't constantly in screaming matches.

Nora and Jaiden, consequently, became very close.

That gave me a bit of hope. Maybe Jaiden was going to come to help support Nora and we were called in for backup.

No such luck.

The counselor sat down behind her desk, looking between the three of us as if she was nervous.

"As Mr. Kuza said, Nora came to me last week and started expressing some extreme anxiety."

Chris, never being one to lick up the sugarcoating, interrupted her. "What was she so anxious about, and what does my son have to do with it?"

If I wasn't so damn concerned about restraining my husband when he was told what was going on, I would have chastised him for being so rude.

The counselor visibly winced. "She's three months pregnant with Jaiden's baby."

My mouth went dry.

There was a moment when both Chris and Kuza were in shock, and then Kuza pounced.

I jumped in front of Chris in instinct, and he ended up punching my eye instead. Which made Chris lose it.

"Don't put your hands on my fucking husband, you bitch." He slammed Kuza up against the wall, gripping his throat with gritted teeth.

I saw the counselor reach for her phone, and I sent her a pleading look as I pried my raging husband away and back to the small plastic chair.

Before he could make another move I straddled his lap and mashed our lips together, letting his anger pour into me through the kiss.

"No PDA." I pulled away at the familiar voice. The voice that I'd heard grow from something so small and innocent into its current state.

Chris was now gripping my hips in a vice and glaring daggers at his own spawn. "You're in so much shit, young man."

My own head turned, my eyes following his hand as it was linked with a very frightened Nora. I tried to give her a smile of reassurance, but it was more of a grimace.

Kuza's anger seemed to melt as soon as he saw his baby, and he was quick to whisk her away from Jaiden and into his arms protectively.

I sighed and made Chris look at me. "I know you're angry at him for the parties and the drugs, Chris, but please..." I pecked his lips, never once breaking our eye contact. "Remember that you've been in his shoes."

His shoulders slumped a bit, the look of sheer disappointment clear in his honey brown eyes. He never wanted Jaiden to make our mistakes, I knew that very clearly.

I turned around and motioned for Jaiden to come to me. He took slow steps, his eyes remaining on his father as I embraced him in my arms.

"You better really fucking love her, Jaiden." I whispered, making him look at me with a stern glare. "I mean it, Jaiden Cerulli. You better treat her like a queen, or I will personally make your life a living hell."

Jaiden nodded, and for a moment I saw the shy little eight year old boy I was taking to public school for the first time instead of my rowdy teenager.

The counselor cleared her throat. "Nora, honey, did you want to say anything?"

Nora sucked in a breath, pulling away from Kuza's grip to glance over at Jaiden, who was now nervously playing with his lip ring.

"Daddy, Jai and I talked about everything and we decided that we are going to keep the baby." She walked over and wrapped Jaiden's arms around her waist, looking up at him as if asking for his permission before she spoke. "We're keeping the baby and we're getting married."

I thought I was going to faint.

"You're doing what?"