TW: mentions of rape. Nothing graphic.
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I didn't use to appreciate days off. I loved my work, it helped me stay busy since being bored usually leads to me making stupid decisions, like buying a breadmaker or trying to learn how to quilt. Or getting stuck in my own head. Some days that's fine, but then come those when it's really not. Sometimes doing nothing reminds me of those months in Texas and it makes me restless.
Right now, however, a free Sunday allowed me to stay on my couch and make out with Spencer as much as I damn well pleased. No distractions, no wanting to touch but can't. We were going at it like teenagers on spring break.
He was sucking on the sensitive skin under my ear. My eyes rolled back. I loved when he did that. I moaned and I could feel him smiling. Just as my hand slid under his boxers and his breath stuttered, the fucking phone rang. The unwelcoming sound interrupted the electricity filled make out session. I groaned when he got up.
He chuckled: "Don't be impatient."
As soon as he picked up the phone his face fell.
"Kar-Kara, calm...calm down. Where is he?"
He was frantically zipping up his pants.
"Yes, of course...No, don't worry...I'll...I'll go and...Kara, he'll be fine. I promise. I'll call you as soon as I see him. Love you too."
His voice was calm as talked to this Kara person, but as soon as the call ended he started anxiously looking for his shirt.
"What is it?"
He ignored me.
"Spenc-Spencer."
I got up and stopped him by grabbing both of his hands.
"What is it? Is everything alright?"
"My son."
His what now?
"He's in a hospital. An allergic reaction because of some blueberry candy. He was at a birthday party."
I blinked, still kind of stuck on him having a son thing.
"What?"
"I need to go."
He pulled his hands away and started fumbling with his phone. Knowing him he was calling his driver.
"I can drive you."
"What? You would?"
I rolled my eyes and picked up my shirt from the floor.
"I have a car here. Makes no sense for you to call your driver."
He breathed out nervously and nodded.
"Come on."
X
I was driving, while Spencer kept looking at his phone.
"So...You have a son?"
He gave me a look that usually meant "Not the moment Lukas." I thought it was, but I wisely stayed quiet. We pulled up in front of the hospital and he ran out of the car. I followed him and the nurse directed us toward the third floor.
We found the room, but before he could enter Demetra walked out. I was surprised to see her, but Spencer must have expected it. He let out a relieved sound and hugged her.
"He's fine Aron."
"Really? Are you-are you sure?"
"Yes, I am. His vitals are fine, he is breathing on his own and he seemed to have an apatite."
I really thought Spencer was about to start crying. He thanked her and went to see his son.
Son?!
I didn't move. I couldn't. How could I have not known he was a father? I mean, how is that something you don't mention? In fairness, he doesn't know a lot about me either, but I always figured he wasn't that selfish. I expect him to be better than me. I cannot believe I am sleeping with someone who has a child.
"Did you drive him here?"
I am not going to lie, I forgot Demi was here.
"Yeah, I did."
She leaned on the counter of the nurse's station behind her.
"What were you two doing?"
She made sure she used the most falsely innocent voice I've ever heard.
I narrowed my eyes. She couldn't know right?
"Working."
"On a Sunday?"
"Yes," I forced through my teeth.
She tilted her head. Her gaze daring me to flinch. It felt like I was being poked by an acupuncture needle. Then she looked away. Ha.
"So when he gave you a hickey, you were what? On a lunch break?"
Alright not ha.
My hand flew to the part of the skin under my ear, where I could still feel the softness of his lips. As much as I was hoping my face didn't give it away, I knew this particular move did. How the hell did he give me one? We both agreed that there would be no-
I noticed she was trying to hold back her smile. The cat-like eyes were glinting with amusement and a fair amount of pride. Or was it smugness? I lowered my hand.
"There is no hickey is there?"
Her lips now stretched in an obnoxious smile.
"No."
"You bitch."
"Yeah, yeah. I can't believe you guys hooked up. Actually no, I totally believe it."
"Shut up."
"Not a chance."
I groaned. To be honest I wasn't really counting on her to drop it.
"How did it happen?"
"It just did."
"Oh come on don't be a dick. Give me something."
"So you can spread it around? No thanks."
Her nostrils flared and she almost seemed a bit offended.
"I don't spread gossip about my friends."
Her voice was harsh, the kiwi accent becoming more pronounced.
"I know. Sorry."
She had a ridiculously infuriating ability to make me feel sorry for things I would never even think twice about in any other instance. What would my parents give to have even half of that power when I was younger.
She cracked a smile and then started laughing really hard.
"What?"
"It's just-" I was struggling to understand what she was saying through wheezing.
"-You got cock-blocked by a kid."
I snorted. I should have known it was something this stupid.
"Don't you have patients to see or something?"
"Yes, I do actually, but this was more than worth being late for the checkups."
I couldn't stop myself from smirking.
"Aren't you even a little bit proud of snatching a Spencer?"
"I didn't think about that."
"It's still impressive. Do you have any idea how many women and men would be gloating right now?"
"I guess I'm just humble."
"Hm, so it was that golden heart of yours that won him over?"
"That and also I'm smoking hot. And from what I hear, totally his type."
She snickered.
"Alright, darling, I do have to go now" she kissed my cheek "And call me if you want to talk about Texas."
My smile fell immediately.
"Ok."
She squeezed my arm and walked away. Hopefully, she understood that ok meant not even if hell freezes over.
The only reason she even knew where I was for those five months is so she would stop any rumours from circulating and ending up finding Spencer. It wasn't so I would have someone I could vent to. No matter how fun that particular idea sounded.
The glass hospital room opened and a very tired-looking Spencer stepped out. I never understood what it meant to age ten years in five minutes, but I think I get it now. I am not exaggerating when I say that I had to glance at his hair just to check that they were still just blond not grey.
"You alright?"
"Mhm, I just need-" he wiped his hand over his face. He didn't seem alright.
"I need sugar. Straight into my vein. Stat."
I almost smiled.
"Do you want me to go buy you a jar of Nutella or something?"
He shook his head.
"I'm just going down to the cafeteria to see what they have."
"Want me to come with you?"
"No, but can you just go in Tim's room and keep an eye on him."
No, no, no, NO. Is he insane?
"Um, can I just go to the cafeteria for you?"
"I am also picking something up for Tim. And he just had an allergic reaction so right now I am not in a trusting mood when it comes to his food."
Understandable.
"I am not sure-"
"He's sleeping."
"Then why does he need a babysitter?"
"Lukas."
I might dislike kids, but not as much as I disliked that tone.
"Fine."
"Thank you."
He really did look worn out. I walked into the room and sat down on one of the obscenely comfortable visitor chairs. Well, technically they were one of those sofa chairs or whatever they are called. I tried to be as quiet as possible considering there was no way in any of the nine circles of hell I will manage to talk to this kid alone.
Damn, this chair really was fantastic. I have stayed in hospitals before and I distinctly remember my and my visitors' backs not being very grateful.
It was then that I took in the whole room. It was big, bright, almost hotel-like with fancy cushions and curtains. Must be nice to be a billionaire's son.
He is his son. Still hard to believe.
"Who are you?"
The small voice interrupted my examination of the smooth silky mat grey material I was currently sitting on. My head turned to the kid watching me with almost...black eyes? Huh. I kind of expected the signature Spencer blue.
Right, I should probably say something.
" I am your dad's friend."
Dad. Spencer is a dad. This continues blowing my mind. The silence was tense and I had no idea what to say.
"What's your name?"
Shit, did I actually not introduce myself.
"I'm Lukas."
Do you tell your full name to a child?
"I'm Timothy."
"Cool."
Cool?
He angled his head in an almost judgy way. Well, now I could see the resemblance.
"I don't know you."
Yeah, I didn't even know you existed, so...
"Um, I guess you've never had a chance."
"Dad talks about you sometimes."
Oh?
"To aunt Margo and aunt Vanessa."
Oh no.
"Mhm, that's, uh-"
"Are you dad's boyfriend?"
Excuse me Spencer Jr? Tact must have skipped a generation.
"Uh, no. We're just friends."
He kind of seemed disappointed.
"He was sad when Cameron left."
Cameron. That fucker.
"It happens. Things don't work out. Boyfriends leave. He's happier now?"
I didn't mean for the last part to sound like a question. He smiled a little. He was kind of adorable. For a child.
"Do you want to be my dad's boyfriend?"
"Uhhhh..."
I was blanking. Kid, these are way too personal things to ask a stranger you just met. The doors opened and Spencer entered with two muffins and a cup.
Oh, thank fuck. He handed me the cup and frowned.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, why?"
His eyebrows shot up. That was a bit too defensive I'll admit.
"Ok..."
I smelled the contents of the warm cup. Chocolate. Huh, he remembered.
He said something to Timothy in a language I didn't understand. My guess would be Slovenian. Unless Spencer knows any other obscure languages. His son responded with a shrug and a few words of his own. Whatever he said must have made no sense at all, because Spencer turned to me like I was supposed to explain to him what his kid was talking about.
"What?"
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
Before I could respond he added: "Outside."
I knew him well enough to distinguish between a request and an order.
I stood up and followed him outside. Before I even had a chance to ask, what this was about he answered.
"Tim said you two talked."
I rolled my eyes. His theatrics sure were fun.
"Seriously? Can you just ask what you want to ask?"
"What did you talk about?"
"He asked for my name and social security number,"
In any other instance, I was positive he would have found it funny.
"He really did ask me what my name was. And if I was your boyfriend."
Spencer blue-screened for a second.
"I, uh, what-what did you say?"
I snorted.
"That we are friends."
"Oh," he breathed out, relieved "Great, thanks."
He looked like I just freed him of a considerable burden.
"What the shit was that?"
"What was what?"
"That" I waved my hand toward him
"The face. Did you expect me to tell an eight-year-old that I'm his dad's fuck buddy?"
"Well..."
"Wow."
"You don't really have the best filter.
"My filter is fine, thanks."
He snickered, his eyes failing to hide the obvious amusement.
"And you said he would be sleeping! So my filters or lack thereof shouldn't even have mattered!"
He smiled. Like he always did when he didn't have a rebuttal, but still felt I was being ridiculous.
I kind of liked that smile. It meant victory.
"Do you want to wait in the car? I'm just going to get Tim released.
I did want to do that.
X
As soon as we stepped into Spencer's apartment, Tim ran into the guest room. To think of it, that would actually explain all the ninja turtles and astronaut covers. I kind of just figured Spencer was compensating for a childhood need of some sort.
We sat on the couch. Or more accurately, fell onto it.
Until now I didn't notice how tired he seemed. But if he thinks him closing his eyes and pretending to nap will make me want to postpone all questions I had, my stare, that I knew he could feel, was a good hint that he isn't resting any time soon.
"Stop it."
His eyes were now open again and narrowed. At me.
"He says as if he doesn't know exactly why I'm doing it."
He groaned.
"It's not a big deal."
I let out a surprised laugh.
"I'm pretty fucking sure it is."
"It's not like you tell me everything. You didn't tell me about ice skating."
I laughed again.
"Me not mentioning that I used to double axel is not even in the same tri-state area of you not telling me that you have a son."
"What about Texas?"
I pursed my lips. I knew he didn't just forget about it, however, I really counted on Spencer being a gentleman or whatever and never bringing it up again.
"That's not the same!"
It kind of was.
"How?"
"Because Texas has no effect on us sleeping together!" I shout whispered, hoping Timothy didn't hear.
"And Tim does?"
"Of course he does! You have responsibilities. Real ones. And you can't just-"
"Fuck around?"
"Literally, yes."
He chuckled before leaning in and kissing me. I responded, even though my brain was screaming that there was a child in the next room. On the other hand, he was the reason Spencer left me with blue balls this morning. Before I could finish this discussion with myself about exactly how fucked up doing this was, Spencer stopped. My lips involuntarily followed his for a few inches as he moved back to his previous position.
"He's my godson."
"Huh?"
He can't just start speaking right after kissing me and then expect me to be able to take in any information.
"He isn't my biological son. I'm his godparent."
"Huh," now I wasn't confused, just a bit surprised.
"Yeah."
"How did that happen? When?"
"When I was 17. Kara- the mother and I, we, uhm, didn't meet in the best of circumstances. She asked me and I said yes. She still wanted to finish school so I supported her as best as I could. Sometimes that included babysitting him. She didn't - doesn't get along with her parents."
As unbelievable as it sounded I didn't doubt that it was true for a second.
"That is... so you."
"Coming from you it sounds incredibly negative."
I smiled and scooted closer to him. My hand was now in his hair. He automatically leaned into my touch like we've been doing this for years.
"It's not. It's just so selfless and not thought through at all at the same time."
"You do know how complimenting should sound like, right?"
"I am pretty sure I said selfless."
"And if you stopped there I would have been flattered."
"Are you telling me that you, a 17-year-old high school kid, had it all figured it out and didn't just jump into this situation, 'cause you felt like it was a good idea at the time?"
He stayed quiet for a moment.
"Yes."
I grinned and practically jumped on top of him.
"Your honour I call miss trial on the grounds of this witness clearly bullshitting."
He didn't let me hover over him for too long as he pushed me back so I was now on my back and he on top of me.
"I would never lie on a stand, Mr prosecutor."
I felt his breath on the shell of my ear. The warmth crept up my spine, settling on my cheeks. Blushing was not something that happened to me frequently, but this specific smokey drawl he used... I wouldn't say I swooned, but I definitely got hornier.
Before we could start anything steamier, someone knocked on the doors. At first, I wanted to complain about being cock-blocked for the second time in four hours, however, remembering that an eight-year-old is only a few feet away we were honestly lucky someone stopped us when we were still in the PG area. Alright, maybe PG-13. Spencer made his shirt and hair look presentable again, before opening the door.
"Kara, hey!
I could hear the smile in his voice as he greeted and hugged the unknown woman.
"Tim!"
Tim came out of the room almost immediately after Spencer yelled for him. He was well-trained. Or raised. Or whatever verb is used when talking about a human and not a dog.
He hugged the woman, Kara, and she kissed the top of his head. So, she is the mother. A very, very young mother. For an eight-year-old. Either she had some impressive skin treatment-plan or just the biggest luck in the gene department OR she had him when she was a teenager. So when Spencer was talking about finishing school he meant high school at least. Maybe college? Probably both. I thought only he was 17 in that story.
She stopped talking to her son when she noticed me. I stepped toward her and extended an arm to introduce myself when she tensed and stepped back, clutching her son's shoulders. Strange.
"Hi, I'm Lukas. O'Neal. I work with Spenc - Aron."
Spencer was looking at her, frowning. Not, because he was displeased. He was worried.
"Oh," she relaxed a bit, letting go of Tim and allowing me to shake her hand.
"Hi. Kara Williams. Sorry for, uh... I didn't see you."
"It's fine," I smiled at her as warmly as I could.
I rarely get the need to comfort people, but she just gave me this primal urge to protect. The only other person who could make me feel like that was Spencer. And previously my grandmother.
"We should go. Thank you, Aron. Really."
Spencer leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"Don't thank me," he squatted down and ruffled Tim's hair.
Tim frowned and grumbled back a response in Slovenian. Spencer only laughed.
"See you on... Wednesday?"
The question was directed at Kara, who nodded. There was something about her. The way she didn't want to look me in the eyes, glancing at me like she expected me to do something. What, I didn't know. She was paranoid. Or scared. But why would she be scared of... me. I've never seen her before. Let alone do-
No. It couldn't. But it made sense. It fit. She was nervous, because of me just being there in the room. Her first instinct was to protect herself and her son from a stranger, which isn't strange, however, I was in the apartment of someone she trusted. She had a kid, when she was very young, possibly around 15, 16. According to Spencer she neither gets along with her parents nor did she meet him in "the best circumstances."
I swallowed. My stomach was in knots. Spencer walked her out. Spencer turned to me and I just couldn't hold back my question.
"Was she raped?"
The look on his face told me everything. He went from surprised, to angry, to nauseous back to furious.
"How did you know?" his voice was demanding, cutting through the tense atmosphere like a laser.
"It fit."
"If you see her again, don't even think of mentioning or talking to her about it."
"I wouldn't-"
"I'm serious Lukas. You even hint that you know and I will make sure you disappear from both of our lives."
His threat was real, I could see that. He has said things like this before. But he has never meant them. I grabbed his shoulders.
"I would never. Jesus fuck, that's screwed up."
"Yeah."
He sat down, the mood as sombre as it gets.
I wanted to ask if Tim knows, but the answer to that was fairly obvious. I took a seat beside him on the couch. I stopped my hand from lightly grazing his as I did sometimes when he was feeling particularly anxious. But I also recognized when that wouldn't be appreciated.
"Were you, friends, before?" I regretted asking.
His shoulders tensed up even more, which I didn't think was possible.
"No."
The curt response was a crystal clear indication, that it would be better for me to drop the subject. I stood up and no matter how bitter that tasted on my tongue, I asked if he wants me to leave.
He blinked, the blue eyes losing some of their darker shadows of the previous conversation.
His nod was accompanied by a grateful sigh.
"See you tomorrow?" I had to chuckle at his questioning tone.
"Don't worry, you haven't pissed me off enough to quit yet." A small smile was a welcome sight on his previously worried face. I opened the door to leave when I remember something.
"Tomorrow we have the introductory meeting for the alpha case, so if you're late I don't care how many children you have. They'll all be fatherless."
"I won't be late." He said that way too nonchalantly for my liking.
"Spencer, I'm serious, Jesus himself won't save you."
"What would you do to Jesus?"
"I don't know, nail him to the cross again. If the Romans could do it. I mean how hard can it be?"
He snorted.
"I'm pretty sure you just managed to offend at least a couple of religions with this."
"Good."
We said our goodbyes and I walked out. As I reached my car I realized I didn't actually think leaving him alone was what I should have done. Or maybe I just didn't want to leave him? Regardless I stepped into my car and drove away.
X
The next morning.
Spencer actually wasn't late which, despite me threatening him and him promising he won't be, surprised me.
The tense energy present yesterday disappeared as soon as he pushed my legs away from his side of the desk. I smirked at the way his nose scrunched up whenever I did that. He hasn't even properly sat down when my sister's assistant called and we rushed to the conference room. Victoria, my dad, Kent and two other lawyers, Rodizaki and Sanders, were waiting for us. I glared at Kent and made sure Spencer didn't have to sit opposite that asshole. Dad stood up and stepped to the screen on the wall and started speaking.
"As you all know the case alpha has officially opened since the investigation in our client Johnatan Barton-" he tapped on the screen and a face of a middle-aged man with the blackest eyes I've ever seen stared down at me.
I stopped listening because next to me Spencer let out a gasp and shot up from his chair. He hurried out the door and I genuinely could make the case he was running to the bathroom considering how nauseous he looked.
Vicky and every single other person turned to me questioningly like I have a built-in knows-what-Spencer-is-thinking-at-all-times machine. We're partners not a married for forty years couple.
But I didn't say any of that. Instead, I grabbed the file laid before me and went after him.
I found him, unsurprisingly, in our office. What was surprising however, were his shaking hands and it seemed like he might actually explode if a light breeze happens to fly by. He was biting on his inner cheek hard. For the lack of a better team, he was freaking the fuck out. On the verge of having a panic attack.
"Aron,"
He refused to acknowledge me.
I stepped closer and gently pried his hands from his shoulders so he stopped hugging himself. I wouldn't be surprised if I find marks from his fingernails on his shoulders later.
"What's wrong?"
"Th-that guy," his voice was shaking even harder than him.
"What?"
"I know him."
"How?"
"I recognized him. He raped Kara."