justprompts: Surprise!
Des chuckled as he stretched, flopped on the couch while he watched TV. Gabriel was in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes from dinner. Des had tried to help him, but he'd just kept getting in the way and distracting Gabriel by grabbing his ass. Gabriel had finally had to banish Des to the living room, citing the fact that he wanted to get the work done before it was morning.
He arched an eyebrow as he heard a knock at the door, and he tossed the remote onto the couch as he sat up. "Hey, Gabriel, were you expecting somebody?" he called toward the kitchen as he got to his feet.
"What? No," Gabriel called back. "Who is it?"
"I have no idea!" Des yelled. "Gimme a chance to answer the door, babe!" He laughed lightly and then crossed over to the door, glancing through the peephole. He sucked in a startled breath, completely shocked by the sight of a petite brunette, a toddler balanced on her hip. He recognized her, but it had been a good two, almost three years since he'd last seen her. Part of him wanted to turn away from the door and just pretend that nobody was home, but he knew that she would probably knock again, and then Gabriel would come out and answer the door himself, making things even more awkward.
His mouth was dry, and he tried to swallow, his heart thumping against his chest as he opened the door. "Laura," he said in a shaky voice that was at least an octave above his normal range. He quickly cleared his throated and dragged his tongue over his lips, feeling nervous.
Laura Harden snorted softly, adjusting the child on her hip. "Oh wow, you remember my name," she said dryly. "I'm shocked."
He frowned slightly, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, you know what they say. You never forget your first ditched bride," he said, a bit of a snarky tone in his voice.
Laura made a face, scrunching up her nose, as she gave a rather fake laugh. “Oh, that’s just so hilarious, Desmond,” she said. She bent down and picked up a red suitcase with a picture of a Pokemon on the front of it and thrust it at him. “Here, take that, will ya?”
Des blinked in surprise but grasped the handle of the suitcase, automatically stepping back as she pushed her way into the apartment. “What the hell is going on, Laura? I haven’t seen you in almost three years and you suddenly show up on my doorstep? Who the hell is that kid?”
“Hey, watch your language,” Laura snapped as she set the toddler down on the couch and then dropped the oversized bag she had slung over her shoulder onto the floor. He couldn’t have been much older than two, and he had dark, curly hair. He was currently asleep, his thumb in his mouth, and he was sucking away at it.
“He’s asleep, Laura,” Des grumbled. “What are you doing here?”
Laura sighed and rubbed her hand over the little boy’s back before straightening up. “He’s yours.”
Des froze, his eyes widening. Had it been a cartoon world that they were living in, his jaw would’ve hit the floor with a resounding thunk. Surely he’d heard her wrong. There was no way that kid could be his. “There’s no way that kid can be mine,” he exclaimed.
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You know, I knew you’d say that,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Jackson was born on February 17, 2007. I found out I was pregnant with him in June of 2006. When were we supposed to get married?”
Desmond’s insides went cold at that, and he felt a little bit like he was going to get sick. “May 19, 2006,” he muttered.
She nodded. “Four weeks later, I found out I was six weeks pregnant,” she said quietly. “He’s yours, Des. I was never with any other guy but you the entire time we were dating, despite what Jude thought.” She motioned toward the sleeping baby, whose mouth was slack, drool collecting on the cushion. “Need more proof? Look at him, Des. He looks just like you.”
Des swallowed heavily, raking his fingers through his hair. “Why tell me now? He’s two years old.”
Laura sighed and looked away for a moment, and then glanced back at him, her face hardened. “It’s your turn to be the ditched one.” With that, she started to hurriedly stride toward the door.
It took Des a few, long, precious minutes to catch on, during which he just sort of stood there and blinked rapidly. When it finally dawned on him what she meant, he spun around, eyes wide. “No! Oh hell no! Laura, you can’t--” Of course, his words fell on deaf ears because she’d already bolted out the door. He scowled darkly and then raced out into the hall just in time to see the elevator doors slide closed. “Laura! Dammit!” He slapped his open palm against the wall, wincing at the sting of pain, and then sighed heavily, trudging back into the apartment.
Jackson, as the child was apparently called, hadn’t even noticed that something was wrong. He was still asleep on the couch, the drool puddle growing ever larger by the minute. Des winced slightly as Gabriel entered the room, a concerned look on his face.
“Des, honey, what’s going on?” Gabriel asked. “I heard loud voices.” He froze, eyes widening behind his eyeglass frames as he caught sight of the child. “Wha...”
“Surprise?” Des said, shrugging sheepishly, not sure what to say.