Jack woke up that morning, her stomach in knots and her mind in shambles. She slowly made her way through the sleeping mess of bodies on the floor to reach the bathroom. Lifting her shirt, she finally began to realize how much weight she had gained. ‘No wonder my pants aren’t fitting so well,’ she though to herself. ‘And no wonder I haven’t had my period in so long.’
“Wow, I’m pregnant,” Jack quietly whispered to her reflection in the mirror. As it sank in, she laughed lightly and smiled. “To think, no one ever expected me to be a mother.”
Jack walked out of the bathroom and headed down the hall to the cafeteria. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at one of the empty tables to enjoy it. As she aimlessly stared out amongst the tables, she thought about Darren. Even after all the shit she had put him though, he still loved her. ‘I love him too,’ Jack thought as a tear rolled down her cheek. She took her notebook out of her purse and began writing in her journal. Instead of writing abut herself, she wrote a letter to Darren. All of a sudden, the words for a new song came spilling out of her mind. She wrote that, too, then ripped out the entries and put them in her pocket.
Walking out of the cafeteria, Jack went back to the waiting room to find everyone still asleep. She tiptoed over the individual bodies careful not to step on any fingers or toes. ‘I really need to get out of here,’ Jack though as she sat down on the couch. ‘I am in desperate need of a shower.’ She contemplated whether or not waking Dan would be a good idea then decided against it. He probably had little sleep that night worrying about her and her actions. Jack didn’t know what had come over her when she beat up that reporter.
She stared up at the ceiling for the next few hours waiting for some sign of life among the sleeping people. Her mind began to see shapes among the dots in the ceiling tiles, signs that she was getting overly bored and needed something else to do. Jack sat up and looked around. Still, all were sleeping. ‘Jeez,’ she thought. ‘How late did they stay up last night?’ Finally, there was some movement among the mass of bodies.
Leonie rolled over and opened her eyes. She focused on Jack and sat up, “I need to talk to you,” she said in a serious tone. They left the room and headed back to the cafeteria.
“So, how bad did I fuck this up?” Jack asked before Leonie had a chance to say anything.
“Top of the 10:00 news,” Leonie answered.
“Oh, that bad,” Jack replied as she sat down at a table near the door.
“Why did you do it?”
“I really don’t know. At first it was just to release some pent up anger and energy then everything got cloudy. It’s like I lost control of my body and I couldn’t get it back.”
“I’ve got a guess that it might have been a hormone surge. I mean you are pregnant, so it’s expected. I saw it in Nadia the day she beat the shit out of Darren, and I saw it in you yesterday. It’s so strange, yet it’s so predictable. That little weasel had it coming. Off the record, I’m glad you beat the shit out of him. He’s always been trying to skin us ever since the early days.”
“Who was he?”
“Brett Meyer, one of the more corrupt, most annoying, and most conniving reporters on the planet. He will take any kind of bribe there is. He was the one that caught Anna and the roadie together.”
“Oh, I see why you guys hate him so much.”
“Yeah.”
“When do you think we’ll be able to see Darren?” Jack asked, changing the subject.
“I don’t know. The doctor isn’t letting anyone see him,” Leonie answered as she sipped her coffee. “Have you finally stopped being so pessimistic?”
“Yeah, I guess. I just really want to see him before I make my final judgment.”
“You’ll get your chance. Don’t worry.”
The next few minutes passed in silence as Leonie finished her coffee. They headed back to the waiting room to see if anyone else had woken up since they left. As they approached, Jack could hear the beginnings of an argument.
“That’s outrageous! I won’t stand for it!” Dan yelled into his cell phone. “No, you are not going to do anything to her until I get my lawyer’s opinion… Oh, hell no! That’s bullshit! I won’t pay you a cent! You know what? Talk to my lawyer because I’ve had enough of this crap.” He ended the conversation and turned off his phone. Looking up, he saw Jack and Leonie standing in front of him with quizzical expressions on their faces.
“You really did it this time,” Dan growled, pointing to Jack.
“What did I do?” she retorted.
“Because of you, that sniveling little bastard reporter has a broken nose and four teeth missing, and he wants to sue us,” he angrily answered. “You’re seriously costing me my career. First with Darren’s suicide attempt, and now with this. What do you have in store for us next?” He walked away, fuming.
Jack’s lower lip began to tremble as Dan’s words sank in. “Jack, he didn’t mean that. He was just angry,” Leonie said as she tried to calm her down. She began to put her arms around Jack, but was quickly pushed away.
“Yes he did!” Jack cried. “This is all my fault! I am the troublemaker!” She began running down the hall to try and escape the overwhelming pain her heart felt at the moment. Her legs barely carried her half way down when she collapsed. Leonie ran to her side and gently wrapped her arms around Jack’s convulsing body.
“Sh…” Leonie comforted as she held Jack in her arms.
“I wanna go home,” Jack whimpered.
“Do you want me to take you?” Leonie asked.
“I don’t care who takes me, I just wanna get the hell out of here.”
“I’ll take you home.”