Love Drunk: Chapter Thirty Nine

Last chapter Dexter and Lainie had a heated argument where a few things came out into the open. Despite trying to convince her to stay, Dexter is now faced with losing his daughter and Lainie as they plan to move to Bridgeport! Will they go? Or is it not too late for Lainie to change her mind and stay with Dexter?

Dexter Maloney's one year old daughter was moving with her mother to Bridgeport in four days time! Lainie had made up her mind that they were leaving and it had left Dexter broken and alone!

As he sat in his flat feeling depressed, his brother came in with Keira in his arms. She was staying with Dex for the next four days before they moved. His face lit up when he heard her baby babbling and saw her little arms flapping to be held.

Holding her in his arms and tickling her, he felt the first smile on his face since he and Lainie had argued in the diner on Keira's birthday. Dex had a bit of a black eye from where the door had hit him and his headaches had returned with a vengeance.

Ash had put down Keira's toys and her bag and left them to it, "I'll be over at 9am to pick you up okay? Then we can head to the park, oh and Erin wants to come by the way if that's okay? She's really become attached to Kee and she wants to have as much time with her as she can!"

"Sure!" Dex replied and said goodnight to his brother.

As he put Keira in her cot, his heart stung at the thought of her being hundreds of miles away in Bridgeport! 

He was so used to just popping downstairs and seeing her whenever he pleased!

He decided to call Lainie. He wanted her to leave Moonlight Falls on good terms with him, but that wasn't going to be easy. "What is it pretty boy? I gave you everything Keira needs!" she snapped as soon as she picked up her phone.

"I...I just wanted to say hey!" there was a pause and then she sighed impatiently.

"Dexy go away!"

"Freckles..."

"Leave me alone!!!" she shouted and hung up on him.

It made him so frustrated, he wanted to go down there and...give her a good seeing to! He couldn't believe his reaction, rather than be angry with her, her behaviour actually turned him on! He could almost taste her, smell her perfume! It took all of his strength not to go down there.

Taking a very long and very cold shower, Dexter thought about Lainie, how much he loved her and wanted to be with her. How much her voice made him tingle, the thought of her touch sent shivers down his spine as he stood under the ice cold water waiting for the feeling to pass.

Eventually it did. And the depression hit him again just as Keira began crying, most likely awoken by a bad dream.

He cradled her in his arms as he watched some slasher movie and she fell asleep within minutes. She was immune to her father's horror movie obsession. If Lainie knew she was around when he watched them she would probably act out a few scenes on him!

The next morning Ash arrived to pick him up right on time. It seemed it was going to be a group outing as Erin, Charlotte and Drew were all waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

Keira enjoyed herself at the park with her daddy and aunts and uncles. Dex felt sad that she wouldn't see them for a long time after this.

Dexter was loving having Keira for so long, but hating the fact that she'd be long gone in three days! As he fed her in her high chair, she babbled away to him in her adorable baby language. "Is that right Kee Bee?" he replied as she giggled and said something else he couldn't understand.

"Tell me more baby!" she played with her food and chatted away as he just enjoyed the moment. She had really developed while he was on tour, so much he had missed but grateful to have seen her on Skype with Charlotte so he didn't miss it all completely.

After her lunch, Dex tried teaching her to walk a few steps. At first she was a little scared...

...but eventually he gained her trust and there was no stopping her. She was able to walk a little if she was holding onto a couch or any kind of object so holding daddy was just as good.

After getting her to go a few steps holding his hands, he called Lainie to tell her hoping she would be happy. 

But the reception was still frosty. "You what? You had her walking without me???"

"Freckles relax, she was holding onto me, she didn't do it on her own it was just...well I wanted to share this with her mother, forget it!" it was him that hung up on her this time.

Moments later there was a knock on his door, as he opened it and began to yell "Freckles back the hell off..." but it wasn't Lainie...it was Drew! "Hey bud, got a sec?" and he looked rather worried.

"Yeah, sure come in!"

Drew sat down and just came out with what was bothering him, "Dex I'm going to break up with Charlotte!"

"What? Why the hell would you do that? You're a fool!" Drew looked confused.

"Why?"

"Dude, she's the best thing that ever happened to you! Why on Earth would you break up with her??? Are you crazy???"

"She won't marry me! Up until about a week ago she insisted that we you-know-what non stop because she wants a baby and now she's put me on the couch again! I am at my wits end! I don't understand women they're..."

"Weird?" Dexter finished his sentence.

"YES!" Drew threw up his hands and groaned.

"Well I think you need to talk to her, I mean the two of you are just...well you complete each other! Don't throw away the past two and a half years for nothing!"

Drew took his best friend's advice and confronted Charlotte. "Okay Char, why have I been relegated to the couch??? I want an explanation NOW goddammit!!!" Charlotte began to cry and suddenly he didn't feel like a big man anymore, he felt like a jerk!

"Char, oh I'm...I didn't mean to shout! Hey baby what's wrong???"

"Oh Andrew, I'm so sorry but I've been feeling so sick lately and I wasn't fit enough to make babies with you! So I...put you on the couch! I'm so sorry but I can't stop being sick every morning and I'm so scared I'm dying!!!" she wept as Andrew smiled.

"Why are you smiling? I'm ill, I don't think we can have any babies!" Drew laughed softly.

"Oh that's okay Char, somehow I don't think we need to try anymore!" he pulled her in for a hug as she sniffed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm going to pop down to the Chemists and we'll take it from there okay?" 

Charlotte still didn't understand why Drew was taking this so well, but she would soon enough!

Lainie was officially finished in the diner, she had given up the lease to Roxy who was going to continue with Erin. As the three girls sat with a fresh mug of coffee, Ash came in to take Erin venue hunting for their wedding. "Hey there girls! Gotta steal this one if you don't mind!"

Erin stood up and kissed her fiance as the other two girls groaned and made sicky noises mockingly behind her.

"You promise you and Keira will be back for the wedding?" Ash gave Lainie a serious stare.

"Yes I promise big brother!" she smiled.

As Ash and Erin left the diner, Roxy looked at her friend with concern. "You can still change your mind Lain!"

"I know but I won't!" she replied and headed for the kitchen. Roxy didn't want her to go, she wanted her to stay and marry Dexter Maloney, the father of her daughter!

Lainie thought about Dexter, how much he made her feel warm inside, how much he'd hurt her! She had mixed feelings. She wished she hadn't read his journals and found out about Della and Steph in Bridgeport. She wished she hadn't read all about Katie and Rosalie, Selena and Jenna! She remembered his entry about their night in the lift, how fondly he recollected it!

And then she thought about the French girl he had sex with not so long ago and how he kissed her when he got back as if the girl in France meant nothing...or Lainie meant nothing. She thought about how he wanted more than a kiss, at Keira's party! And if she was honest, she wanted it too! She'd yearned for his touch since that night in the lift!

Roxy came in and interrupted her thoughts, "I'm heading up home to Matty okay Lain?"

"Sure thing, see you later!"

"You okay? You look a little...flushed!" Lainie cleared her throat and looked away from her friend.

"I'm fine Roxanne! Go on, get home to your husband!" Roxy hugged her and headed out the back, leaving Lainie alone with her thoughts of Dexter Maloney. 

Suddenly the kitchen doors burst open and Charlotte came breezing in. "Oh Lainie!" she declared, "I have to speak with you it's eating me up inside and I feel ill enough as it is!!!"
"What's up?" she didn't have time for her madness right now!
"This moving away is wrong!"
"Excuse me?" Charlotte raised her hands and frowned.

"Now hear me out! Keira and Dexter are NOT meant to be separated! They're inseparable and...well it's downright cruel!!!" Lainie was shocked at Charlotte's forwardness.
"I see..."
"Furthermore, we will all miss you and it's just...well you'll break up the gang and it's not right!!!" Charlotte began to cry.
"Oh Char..."

"No, no leave me! Andrew says it's my hormones! And he's probably right!"
"Char I understand where you're coming from, but please can you see where I'm coming from too? Dex and I, we're killing each other being in the same town. We both need a fresh start! Look at how well we got along on our own when he was on tour!" Charlotte shook her head.

"No Lainie I'm afraid your recollection is rather different from mine! You were miserable! And when we got to Paris? So was HE!!!" Lainie didn't want to hear this! "You have to ask yourself one thing, are you doing this because it's for the best? Or are you doing this because it means you don't have to deal with your feelings???"

"Because you and Dexter Maloney are meant to be together! You have a beautiful little baby together, you are madly in love with each other and have been since you first clapped eyes on each other! Think of how wonderful it would be to be married to the man you've adored for three whole years!"
"No Char..."

"Lainie, let yourself be loved and cherished and treated like a queen! Because Dexter can do all of those things and so much more! He would make such a wonderful husband! He is a wonderful father, he will be again with your future babies too! Let him look after you, like my Andrew looks after me!" Lainie wanted to weep, she wanted this so much but it just wasn't real!

"Charlotte? It's just a fairytale, I live in the real world and if Dexter married a frumpy little cook like me he'd be a laughing stock among his musical peers! He needs a model on his arm not Ugly Betty!" Charlotte gasped and looked offended at her words.
"Lainie you are beautiful! How dare you speak about yourself like that! I'm disgusted!" she shook her head angrily.

"I always said that a handsome and amazingly pretty man like Dexter Maloney would never be compatible with plain Jane me! And I was right! He felt these feelings for me but couldn't say them out loud, why? Because he was ASHAMED!!!" Charlotte's mouth opened but nothing came out, she was lost for words. "Now excuse me Char, I have things to do, papers to sign before I hand the diner over to my best friend! You can see yourself out!"

Charlotte arrived home feeling worse than she did before as Drew shot up and yelled at her in a panic, "Where the heck have you BEEN???"
"Andrew I failed!"
"I went to the chemists to get the...and when I came back you were gone!!!"
"Did you hear me???"

"What do you mean? Where were you Char???"
"I was downstairs in the diner, I tried to stop her leaving but nothing is going to ever do that! She's made up her mind Andrew! And nothing will ever change it!"

Drew hugged her tenderly and sighed, "I'm sorry honey! I did tell you Dex tried several times!"
"Well I thought I would try and help! Why is she doing this? We're all happy here aren't we? Circle of friends?" Drew let her go and smiled.

"Yes, we are! Now take this? And go pee on it!" Charlotte gave him a shocked look as he handed her a box.
"Andrew..."
"GO! NOW!" he laughed loudly as she took it and headed for the bathroom.

Then suddenly she turned round and said "Andrew we should get married before this baby arrives!" Drew let out a surprised laugh.

"That's if you really are..."

"Oh I am Andrew, I'm having your baby I can feel it!" She smiled.

"And I'm going to be your wife too! Because if two people truly love each other, they should be united and never parted!" Her smile grew even wider and she disappeared into the bathroom.

"Finally!" Drew pumped his fist in the air and did a little dance, whatever happened in that diner had made Charlotte change her mind about marriage, and he was so excited!

Lainie sat in Roxy and Matthew's flat with the paperwork for the diner early the next morning. She was telling Roxy about her conversation with Charlotte looking for some sort of back-up from her best friend, but she got exactly the opposite. "She's got a point Lain!"
"Excuse me???" Roxy stood up and let out a frustrated squeal as Lainie stood beside her.

"Why are you doing this? When it's plain to see for everyone that you and Dexy belong together! You, Dexy and Keira!" Lainie struggled to speak.
"Roxanne I explained..."

"No, no you didn't! You know you make me soooo mad sometimes Evelyn! You have everything! You're smart, you're beautiful, you're funny, you have a rock star madly in love with you and willing to take you with him EVERYWHERE he goes! You have a little girl with him who is the most adorable baby I've EVER seen! And until Matty came into my life, what the heck did I have? Huh?"
"Roxanne..."

"Don't interrupt me! Before Matty came along I was sad, fat and lonely while you and Dexy danced around each other like a pair of awkward teens at a prom! You dated Rob, it was an epic fail because Dexy sabotaged it to get you all to himself which royally backfired on his a$$!"

"You dated David while Dexy looked on with his heart breaking! Then Alex, that no good son of a...he came back and turned your head with his pretty boy charm and his warm brown eyes that hid the evil behind them! All the while he was still humping Liv behind your back, he never stopped humping your sister, even when he was supposed to be in love with you! Dexy looked on in despair while Alex was BULLYING him! He never said a word Lain, not a goddamn word!"

"You had sex with the man you're crazy about in a broken down lift, he got you pregnant! Still you kept him at arms length! Only when HE got engaged to a lovely girl did you make your move! Now he's single, he's lonely and he's pining for you! He can't leave you alone, every chance he gets he wants you! He takes hold of you and he shows you just how much you mean to him! He loves and wants you so badly Lain! And you're LEAVING HIM??? What is WRONG WITH YOU???"
"Are you finished?" Lainie replied quietly.

"Hell no! You had all this! I found Matty, well Matty found me, and we clicked! When I left to go on tour I slept with him and it was magical! When I was so ill in France and Dexy found me, he was the sweetest, kindest and dearest friend to me! He took care of me. I lost my baby Lain! I was going to be a mother and it was taken from me! Don't you think Matty and I would have loved to share our lives with our daughter?"

"Do you think for ONE MINUTE we'd be apart if we had this baby together??? Family is precious! Keira adores her father and her father worships her! Why are you breaking them up??? Get your act together Lain! You have EVERYTHING I haven't got! You have the little girl that was snatched from me when I didn't even know she was there!!!"
"Roxanne, your circumstances are different I..."

"Oh bollocks to that Lain! Matty and I are in love, you and Dexy are in love! Marry the man and complete your family unit! Because if you don't? I can't accept the diner and I certainly can't condone your move to Bridgeport! We've been friends for a very long time, don't throw that away because you want to avoid the truth!"

Lainie's eyes grew wide as she stared down her best friend and asked her "Which is???"
"If you have to ask, then you're not as smart as I thought you were!" Roxy left Lainie alone in the living room as she slammed the bedroom door behind her.

Lainie stood for a moment, a little stunned, then grabbed the papers together and left...

...as Roxy sobbed in the bedroom. What was it going to take for her to see the light?

Meanwhile next door, newly engaged Erin and Ash were planning their wedding. "I wanted Lainie as my maid of honour!" Erin pouted as Ash made some coffee.
"Yeah well..." he frowned, thinking of how Lainie's move was affecting not only Dexter and Keira, but the whole gang!

"Maybe I could still have her, I mean Bridgeport isn't THAT far away surely?"
"No, but it's hard to get to from here. Subways and airports! Not easy to drive to!"
"Ash?" Erin called to him in that sad tone she had sometimes.

"Yes baby girl?" he sat her coffee down on the table and smiled.
"Why do you think she's really going? Do you think that Dex..."
"What?" his eyes widened.
"Do you think he...was...inappropriate and made her feel, oh I don't know, uncomfortable???" Ash tutted and sat down.

"Erin my brother is inappropriate on a daily basis! But Lainie is used to him by now! No, she just feels she's giving him the best chance of moving on if she's not here to distract him, and believe me she's been doing that big style lately! They've been all over each other, kissing, fondling, unbuttoning!"
"ASH!" Erin screwed up her face in disgust.

"They're hot for each other, they're gunna do the dirty deed if she stays and then she'll be his forever! And Lainie is a very independent woman, she doesn't wanna be tied down to a man! And Dex intends to make her a kept woman staying at home with the kids and makin' his dinner while he paints and makes records and has girls screaming at him!" Ash chuckled as Erin gave him a disapproving look.

Ash cleared his throat and took a quick sip of his coffee. "But he'll always go home to her and give her his all! Because he loves her, no other woman will exist as long as she wears his wedding ring on her finger! And that's what scares her, not that it won't work...but that it WILL!"
"I don't get it!" Erin frowned in confusion.

"Dexter knows that they will be together until the day they die, she knows it, and it frightens the heck outta her because...miserable is all she's ever known! Happiness is where she and Dexter belong!"
"I still don't get it!" Erin looked away and shook her head as Ash sighed.
"Just drink your coffee Gidget! We have a wedding to plan!"

Ash was on his way to his mother's, she was organising the invitations for the wedding and he wanted to make sure that she didn't invite Selena! Erin had given her address book to her future mother-in-law and her ex-friend's details were still there. The last thing Dexter needed was to be sat near that mad woman!

As he stepped out of his door, Lainie appeared from Roxy's flat. She looked confused, sad and very tired. "Hey little sis! You organised yet? Ready for the big move?" he tried to put on a fake smile, but it didn't come naturally to him. He was going to miss her, no hiding that!
"Hi!" she replied, almost a whisper.

"Okay!" Ash sighed, "What's up baby girl?" Lainie let a tear loose from her beautiful blue eyes as her lip trembled.
"I...Ashton you're the only one of my friends who hasn't had a go at me!" she wept.
"Why would I do that?" he shrugged and this time his smile was genuine.

"I don't know what to do!" she muttered, ignoring the question.
"Honey, only you can decide what's right and what's wrong, it's your life!"
"I'm splitting Dexy and Kee up, but I can't stay Ashton! I can't!" she shook her head violently as more tears stained her freckled cheeks.

"Well, if that is the case...then go!"
"But..."
"Lain if you feel so strongly about this, if you know in your heart of hearts that you can't stay here and be with my little brother, be a family and possibly expand the family you two have already created and nurtured over the past year..."

He looked her straight in the eyes, "...then you have no choice but to leave! I won't have a go at you, I won't beg you to stay...all I ask you to do is this! Have a long, hard think about this! Ask yourself the question, is it truly impossible for you and Dexter to be together? If the answer is yes? Then you leave!"

"If the answer is no? Then stay! But only you have the power to change your fate! Just think hard baby girl! Because your choice will affect not only Kee and Dexter...but all of us! I'll see ya sweetie!"

He gave her a brotherly hug and headed out...

...while Lainie was even more confused than before!

It was finally moving day. Roxy had finally accepted the lease for the diner, rather reluctantly, and things between her and Lainie were rather strained. Matthew managed to reunite the two best friends before Lainie left, but Roxy still couldn't accept her decision.

Dexter sat in his room feeling like there was a hole in his heart. The rest of the gang were downstairs saying goodbye to Lainie and Keira. Dexter had already said goodbye to his daughter but he couldn't face Lainie. He was scared he'd fall to his knees and beg her to stay, make himself look like a total idiot!

Ash came into his room with a face like thunder. "Well that was really pathetic!" he shouted.
"What?" Dex looked at him with surprise.

"Just you stay up here and don't say goodbye to the woman you've been infatuated with for years! Yeah real mature Dexter, real mature!"
"Ash..."
"Shut up I'm ashamed of you!" Dexter couldn't believe his brother's anger. "You could of at least said goodbye and set aside your differences for one minute! Keira would have loved to see her mum and dad kiss and make up!"
"Wasn't my call Ash!"

"What the hell do you mean???"
"She wanted me to stay away, she told me to leave her alone!"
"Dexter grow up! How could you just lay down and let this beat you??? Huh???" Dexter felt himself get angry, Ash didn't listen to a word he ever said!!!

"Ashton I tried to stop her from going until I was blue in the face! What else could I do???"
"She was looking for you! She expected you to be there! I think...I think she was having second thoughts about leaving..."
"No..."
"Shut up big brother is talking! She expected you to be a man and say goodbye!!! She expected you...to be there to justify her doubts!!! But you just confirmed them and now...it's not too late! It's not!" Ash began to mumble.

Dexter felt the tears but fought them back, he wasn't going to cry for her, not again! "Ash leave it okay? No more lectures, she's gone now! End of!"
"NO! NOT END OF!!!" He yelled back, "FIGHT FOR HER!!!" Dexter looked his brother in the eyes, was he serious?

"Get your butt in gear little brother, go to that airport and STOP HER!!!"
"But..." Dex tried to speak but was shot down.
"GO!!!"

The airport was almost empty, most of the flights had gone...hopefully not ALL of them. Dexter arrived at the desk for Bridgeport and his heart leapt in his chest. "Can I help you?" a voice called to him.

"Yeah uh...I'm...my daughter is going on the flight to Bridgeport and she forgot her doll and..."
"I'm sorry sir but the last flight to Bridgeport just took off about ten minutes ago, they should be in the air by now!" Dexter felt a numbness run down his body, he was too late!

As he looked out of the window and up at the sky, he imagined Lainie and Keira sitting there, heading for their new life without him. "Oh freckles!" he mumbled and let a single tear run down his cheek before wiping it roughly.

Suddenly a tiny voice called out from behind him, "DADDEEEE!!!"

Final chapter sooooon! :D