Water Ch. 107 - Always Run To You (reworked)

 

"Dad!  Oh dad!  Where are you?" they hear Stephanie yell, as they are finishing getting dressed.

 

"We're in here, hon."  Jon calls out to his daughter.  He makes his way to the door and unlocks it.

 

Stephanie enters with Romeo on her hip, "Mom wants to talk to you.  She's down stairs waiting.". And she rolls her eyes at her dad, indicating that what Dorothea wants to talk to Jon about is stupid.

 

"Ok, thanks."  Jon walks into the bathroom where Beth is drying her hair and says, "Dot is downstairs wanting to talk to me, do you want to go down with me?" 

 

Looking at him in the mirror she can see that he'd rather have all of his teeth pulled out than go down and deal with Dorothea right now.  He and Beth had an amazing night and an amazing morning, he didn't want Dot to ruin it. 

Beth knew she needed to go with him, Dorothea needed to see them together to see that they are a united front.  "Yeah, if you don't mind, I'd like to go down on, I mean with you."  She turns to him and smiles, setting the hair dryer on the counter.  She heard Romeo and ran out into the bedroom to see that little guy jumping on the bed.  Stephanie had his hands and he bounced and bounced until he seen Beth.  As soon as he seen her, he fell to his butt, rolled to his belly and crawled off the bed.  As soon as his feet hit the floor, he was on a dead run to Beth.  When he gets to her she scoops him up and kisses his chubby little cheeks.  "Hi handsome!"  and she kisses him some more.  Looking over at Stephanie, she says, "Hey Steph, how are you?"

 

"Hi Beth, I'm glad to be back, I can tell you that."  Beth can see that she means what she says.  A night at the grandparents isnt too bad.  Lately the kids have preferred to be with their dad.  Whether Beth was there or not.  There was something going on with Dorothea and no one could figure out what it was.   

 

Jon was standing next Stephanie, play punched her in the arm and asked, "What did you guys do last night at grams?  When did your mom get here?"  Dorothea's visit was very unexpected and definitely unwanted, but Jon needed to deal with it in the best possible way. 

 

"After we left here the only thing we could do was go to bed.  Gram and gramps were up way passed their bedtime.  It was boring."  Stephanie always made her dad laugh because she was always so dramatic and everything was a bigger deal to her than it really was, he figured it was her age. Or its one trait she inherited from her mother.

 

Jon and Beth spent most of the morning alone and hurried to get ready in time for the kids to get back. He looked at his watch and seen that it was 1:30, took a deep breath and said, "Hon, will you take Romeo to his room and sit with him until I finish with your mom downstairs?"  Stephanie puts her hands out for Romeo to 'come to her' and he didn't go willingly.  He wanted to be with his 'Bef' and that was all.  After a few seconds of coaxing, Romeo did go with Stephanie to his room and Jon and Beth went downstairs.

 

Whispering, on his way down the stairs, "Do you think she can tell we just had sex?" 

 

"I hope so." and she cracks him on the ass like she has done a million times.  "You're bad, very very bad and I love it."

 

At the bottom of the stairs, there stands Dorothea in her designer clothes and shoes, jewelery from the best designers in the world and the worlds biggest attitude.

 

"Good morning Dorothea.  How are you today?"  Jon asks, without an ounce of concern.  Jon and Beth stop just infront of her.  The three of them are standing in the foyer can hear Jesse and Jake arguing over something. 

 

"Where's Lupetta?"  Dot barks at Jon.

 

"Good morning to you too Jon," and he laughs, "I don't use Lupetta when we're home, there isn't a need for it.  But if you really want to know, I believe she went into the city to see friends last night."  He informs the woman that will be his ex wife soon, and at this moment in time, soon can't come fast enough.

 

"Thanks for the invitation to Matt's party." 

 

Beth can't take it anymore, her and Jon are just dancing around an issue and it's cutting into Beth's kid time.  She wants to get on the road and find the 'Happy Place' that was gifted to Jon, Beth and all 5 kids.  

"Dorothea, is there something that we can do for you?  We have plans and need to get going."

 

Dot looks at Beth with the look of 'OMG, how dare she look and says, "Excuse me, this is a family matter and it doesn't concern you, Beth."

 

"Really Dot, we have to do this?  Come on, we have plans and need to go - what can we do for you?  And as for Matt's party, Jon didn't throw the party, Mrs. B did.  So if you're pissed about that, you need to talk to Ma."  Beth takes a step back and looks down the hallway, hoping the kids weren't hiding and listening.  They didn't need o hear any of what was happening. 

 

Jon jumps in, using his hands "Cut, you two.  Dorothea, why are you here?  Stephanie said you needed to talk to me about something.  What is it?"

 

"Jon, can we talk in private?"  She tries, with the puppy dog eyes.  

 

"No, we can talk right here.  What you have to say, you can say in front of Beth."

 

"This doesn't concern her Jon.  Can we talk in private please, IT'S private." She pleads with Jon to hear her in private.

 

Beth has had enough, first she's uninvited, didn't call and now she's trying to call the shots.  

The thought of being pregnant has never left her mind, but now that thought is screaming at her, 'You're pregnant, you don't need the bullshit.  Walk away.'  She looks at Jon and says, "Take all the time you need, I'll be with the boys when you're ready."  And Beth walks away and joins the boys in the family room.  They found a show on TV and were sitting on the couch next to each other, engrossed in what they were watching.  "Hi boys."  No reaction.  She just sat down with them and waited.

 

Jon was in the foyer with Dorothea.  "Talk.  What has you here, uninvited?"  he isn't playing her game anymore, either.

 

"Why are you so mean to me now, Jon?"

 

"Mean to you?  How am I mean to you Dorothea?"

 

"Can't you hear it in your tone?"

 

"All I can hear in my tone is that I'm am fed up with the bullshit.  What do you want?  Why didn't you just call?" 

"Can we go somewhere private please?" She begs Jon.

Throwing his hands up in the air, he says "Fine!" and heads down the hallway to his office.  Had he not been so pissed about it, he may have given it a thought and known it not be a good idea to take her into his office. Nothing he could do about it now.

He sat in his chair and she sat in the chair that Beth had sat in the day before and was given a house by Jon's parents.  Looking at Jon, the photograph of Beth and Jon caught her eye.  Her filter was turned off and the flood gate open.  Nodding toward the photo she says, "Well isn't that real fucking nice?  I didn't think you would like it Jon.  And you have it on display?"  She laughs a laugh that makes her feel like she has won something or maybe she one up-ed Jon. But that couldn't be farther from the truth.  He retaliated with, "Beth and I both love the picture Dorothea, thank you.  Sorry it didn't have the impact that you wanted it to have."  His voice is getting louder and his Jersey accent is getting stronger, "Now what do you want?!?"

She starts to wimper for two reasons, she thinks he's being mean to her and what she has to tell him is going to piss him off, only because she couldn't leave well enough alone. She's fearful. "I did some checking into Beth's background and I really don't think you have all the information to make an informed decision on whether you want to be with her or not.  Her background is really shady, Jon.  I'm not sure I want it around our kids." And she paused, waited for him to reply.

 

"What the fuck are you talking about?  What information?  And why are you doing this?"  He's pissed, she had no right.  He couldn't believe that she thought he wouldn't have done is homework BEFORE he introduced her to his children and then had her near all of his money?  Jon didn't just fall off the turnip truck.  He knew what he had to do to protect his family and his money.

 

"You do know that her relationship with all of her family is strained.  She hasn't seen many of them in years, and do you know why?  Do you Jon?  Do you know what happened to make her leave her home and run to California?"  Dot has the sound of confidence in her voice.  She feels like she finally has an upper hand, but Jon will shoot that down in a hot second.

 

Jon shoots all of what Dorothea had to say down.  He didn't really think that there was anything she could tell him that he didn't already know.  He's confident that Beth has been open and honest with him from the beginning.  He lets her talk for a few more minutes and then politely asks her to leave. She leaves pissed off but doesn't leave without trying to get one last dig in.  "She may have you now, but I had the best of you."  And she leaves with a smile on her face.

 

Jon brushes his hands together and says out loud, "I'm glad that's over."  And he gets up and goes to find his family.  He's ready to head north and leave at the Dot Dot Dot drama behind.