Sometimes the Hardest Thing and the Right Thing are the Same ; for <user site="livejournal.com" user

[bestintention]

One encounter.

One decision to go out, a few drinks, and a very attractive, very flirty guy wearing down her defenses led to his apartment. His bed. And a night full of things Maddie thought she'd never be doing. And now, months later, it's obvious that one of those decisions hadn't been the right one.

She sits in his office, having told the receptionist that it was urgent to see him, and she waits. She fidgets with her fingers, looks around nervously, and considers bolting. But after months of searching with no luck whatsoever, she caught a news story one morning, getting ready for class. And there he was: Tyler Green. The father of her soon to be born baby.

Yeah, it's probably a good idea to at least let him know. Even if she's scared to death of his reaction. This was the right thing to do, right?

...

Right?

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[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler shook his head as he pulled back onto the street. "It's fucking stupid for you to move home. And you're too far from campus. You can stay at the apartment until..." He trailed off, obviously meaning that she could come live with him until she was ready to move home. Until the kid was born. He pretty much owed her that, right?

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

A tiny, offended huff of breath leaves Maddie's lips as she whips her head around to look at Tyler. She'd already had plans! Again, when had they even discussed this turn of events? And after all of this ... why would he offer his own place? Why is he trying to confuse her? Either he's interested in this whole ... thing, or he isn't. "You want me to ... live with you?"

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler let out a quick laugh. "Oh, so not even close," he replied, shaking his head. "I don't want shit getting worse than it already is. At least if you're there, you're not in whatever the fuck Wisconsin...and, you know." He could help. Whenever he actually managed to wrap his mind around this.

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

And that just upsets her even further. "Look - I'm not asking for anything from you, especially not pity. If you don't want me to live with you, then don't offer it. I'm perfectly happy going home to live with my family. At least then, I won't be treated like I'm some sort of ... I don't know ... burden! No, this isn't ideal, but it's happening. And you don't have to be a part of anything if you don't want to. Don't start being chivalrous just because you feel like you have to!"

So maybe she's getting a little bit emotional. She can't help it.

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler was a little surprised at the outburst, not used to that from her, but then again...he didn't technically know the girl. She was just carrying his kid. Fuck, life was complicated. For a guy who liked things simple, that was about as bad as it got.

He stayed quiet until they made it to his parking garage where he could pull in and at least be a safe driver.

When he turned the car off and pulled the keys into his hand, he looked down at them, almost like he was going to offer some sort of sincere thought.

"I don't know what the protocol is here but I'm assuming that writing you a check would be offensive. Not that I'd know what to write on it in the first place," he mused, knowing that he would probably feel obligated to continue adding zeros until he ran out of room.

"I wanna figure this out, for whatever it's worth. Stay here until it's over, then we'll work on it."

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

It's mostly due to stress and out of whack hormones than it is anything else. Immediately following her words, Maddie regrets them. What had Tyler really done to deserve such a thing? She doesn't apologize, though, she just sits quietly in her seat, wishing to be able to just disappear.

She continues looking from the window, even though there's not that much to see. And when they're parked, once she's unbuckled herself, only then does she look over to watch Tyler carefully.

"If that's what you feel comfortable doing, I wouldn't find it offensive. Not that that's what I want - I mean, it's not what I came here for. I don't require anything from you, you know. She sighs, ducking her head, nodding. "Alright. If that's what you want from me, it's what I can do for you."

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler reached up and rubbed his eyes tightly for just a moment, taking at least that to pull himself completely together. Being thrown off wasn't something he did well. When he removed his seatbelt and looked back out the windshield, he let out a quick breath.

"Yep, alright. Let's continue this disaster, shall we?"

Before she could even answer, he was moving from his seat and going around to open her door for her. Shaking his keys back and forth in his free hand almost impatiently.

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

Well. This was certainly going to be pleasant, wasn't it? Staying with someone she doesn't even know, who considers this whole thing a ... disaster. Sure, it's not ideal, but Maddie certainly doesn't think of this baby as a disaster, or as something that's ruined her life. Trying to stay positive would be difficult if this behavior continued. At least if she had a room of her own, she wouldn't have to hear it all the time. That was something.

Even if she wanted to answer, there wasn't much to say that would make the situation any better. Instead, she tries to get out of the car quickly, even though she can barely see her feet. There really was nothing else to do but to forge on, hopefully making the best out of this new step.

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler watched her struggle for a moment before he stuffed his keys into his pocket and held his hand out for her to take. It wasn't so much that he felt the baby was a disaster, but any circumstance around it was so less than idea. Fuck, at least she was legal.

His other hand moved to pull his sunglasses from his face and hooked them into the top of his shirt.

With the car locked behind them, he started over to the elevator to take them up to the high rise apartment.

"I'll get you a key tomorrow...You can just...call my cell if you can't get in for some reason."

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

She wasn't actually expecting the help, but she murmurs a soft 'thank you', trying to get out as quickly as she can, to stand, wishing that she didn't need as much assistance as she did. But once she was up, she was fine. Maybe it wasn't ideal for either of them, but it's happening, and there was no taking it back.

Maddie follows along, albeit a bit more slowly that she would like, quiet as she listens.

"Thanks. I don't have very many places to go, so I don't think I'll be having a problem with locking myself out."

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

When they stepped from the elevator, he cleared his throat quietly and led her down the hallway to his door. He didn't even know how well she would remember the place, but he was thankful as ever that the cleaning woman would have been in that morning and it wouldn't be a complete disaster.

"There isn't technically a guest room," he commented as he pushed the door open. "We can order a bed and whatever...get it here today."

As he stepped into the loft, he tossed his keys onto the table running along side the entry way. At the very least, the place was clean and the windows let in the late afternoon light.

"We can uh. Your shit from your place, we can go grab that tomorrow?"

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

She remembers the way. If things have changed inside, she won't notice, as there were other things she was concentrated on the night she was here, rather than the furnishings and decorations. She wouldn't even mind if it was messy, considering the fact that she lived with three other college students, and had, for a time, worked in a day care center while taking classes.

"Okay," she concedes, "Whatever you think is best."

The last thing that she wants to do is try to ... take over. Really, whatever he thought was best, she wasn't going to argue. Well, for the moment, anyway. There were certain things she wouldn't give up control over.

"Yeah, sure. We're already here, after all."

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler sighed quietly and moved to the kitchen to drop his suit jacket over the back of one of the chairs. He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer and popped it open before tossing the cap to the counter. He was just taking a few moments to himself. Just to pull his thoughts together.

After a long drink from the bottle, he set it to the counter and pressed his hands against the counter top before he looked to her.

"So. I'll uh. Gloria...from the office. She can get you whatever you want. I'll get you her number."

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

He's more than allowed to take as much time as he needs to think about things, or to at least come to terms with what's happened today. Actually, when she sits on the couch, attempting to get comfortable, it's with the express intention to do exactly the same thing.

At the sound of his voice, she looks up, nodding at the new information.

"Yeah, okay, thank you."

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

He took in a long breath and tipped his head back, eyes closed to focus.

"Leveling with you, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get drunk tonight. You uh. If you need anything, you can call down to the lobby. They'll take care of it."

Coming to terms with it would probably happen sooner rather than later. But a length of thinking was definitely required first. It wasn't her fault, but the beach ball shape she was smuggling under her shirt made his heart race.

"Do you want me to do anything? For you, I mean."

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

It's not that Maddie drinks often, but in that moment, she almost sort of wishes that she could partake, as well. "Okay. I - what's the number? I don't anticipate that I'll need anything other than food and knowing where I'm going to sleep, but other than that, I think I should be fine."

It's a big thing, she knows, especially since she's waited so late to even tell him, and she knew that he had to do something to calm the nerves that he's probably feeling. It's not that she isn't feeling them, too. Maybe it had been a mistake to come forward, but then again, it wouldn't be fair to keep him from the knowledge that he had a kid, and keeping him away from said kid, if he wanted to be a part of their life, anyway.

"I ... don't know. I think I'm okay."

[jolygreen-giant.livejournal.com]

Tyler rubbed his eyes a moment, stressed, before he finished off his beer and tossed it to the recycle bin.

"There's a spare bedroom. Down the hall. Right." The one only his sisters used when they visited. No more than one or two nights at a time. This felt like it was going to be a lot longer.

He turned to another cabinet and retrieved a bottle and glass before grabbing his cell phone to retreat to his room.

"So. I'll see you in the morning."

[bestintention.livejournal.com]

And knowing that she's not helping that only just goes toward making her pull even further into herself than she already was. If she could make herself as small as possible, she would. Unfortunately, the belly doesn't allow for that.

"Great. Thank you. I'll be sure to be quiet so that I don't bother you."

Tonight, anyway. Who knows what the morning would bring?

"Good night. Thanks again ... for everything."