The Return
By: Agent Newbeau
(This is a sequel to Picking Up the Pieces, so please read that first or
you probably won=t understand this.)
It was about three months after Mike and Julie broke up that she decided
she made a mistake and wanted to come back. I was not happy with this
little turn of events because in those three months I had started dating
Mike and we were very happy. That all changed one afternoon. It all
started with a letter.
I had promised to take Micky and Peter to the zoo, I don=t know why, it
just seemed like the thing to do, so I wasn=t there when the letter
arrived. Davy was outside when we got back. I knew something was wrong
because Davy looked really upset, which was really out of character for
him. AWhat=s wrong?@ I asked him, trying not to sound too upset. ADid
something happen to Mike?@
AIt=s Julie,@ Davy said. AHe got a letter from her today and she said
she=s coming back.@
ATo see him or you?@ I asked. I regretted it when I saw the pained look
in his eyes. He had already suffered enough for his momentary lapse of
reason concerning Julie.
AShe=s coming to see him, not me,@ Davy said.
AHow did he take the news?@ Micky asked.
ANot good,@Davy said. AHe punched a hole in the wall.@
AIs he okay?@ Peter asked.
AI don=t know,@Davy said. AHe kicked me out.@
AMaybe I better go see him,@ I said.
AThat might not be such a good idea,@ Micky said. AYou know what a bad
temper Mike has.@
AI can take care of myself. Besides, this involves me much more than any
of you.@ I walked into the house before any of them could talk me out of
it.
It was a mess, to say the least. I noticed the hole in the wall
immediately and I knew Babbit would have a fit about that. Papers and
broken dishes littered the floor. I didn=t see Mike anywhere. Then I
noticed blood on stairs and figured he must have gone upstairs. Sure
enough I found him in the bedroom. He must have calmed down because the
room was not messed up like downstairs.
AWhat are you doing here?@ he asked when he saw me.
ADavy told me you got a letter from Julie,@ I said, sitting beside him
on the bed. AI just wanted to see if you were okay. Judging from the way
things look downstairs, I don=t think so.@ I reached over and took his
hand, not surprised to see it was bloody. AYou hurt yourself,@ I said,
getting up to go to the bathroom for bandages. AThat=s not good for
you.@
ALeave me alone,@ he said.
ANo,@ I told him. I found the bandages and quickly bandaged his hand.
AI=d like to read the letter if you still have it.@
AI doesn=t concern you.@
AYes, it does, Mike,@ I told him. AShe=s coming here to see you and I=m
not going to let her hurt you again. Do you remember all the hell she
put you through? And not just you, but everybody and that includes me.
Let me read the letter.@
Mike handed me the letter. AShe mentions you in it. I guess I=ll have to
tell her about us.@
AI don=t think she=ll be surprised,@ I said and read the letter. It was
your basic AI=ve made a big mistake, I miss you, please take me back@
kind of thing. I didn=t believe she was sincere about it. That didn=t
really bother me until I got to the part where she mentioned me. She had
a few colorful things to say about me, worse than anything I had ever
said or thought about her. It was well known that I did not like Julie
even before she dumped Mike. Looking back I have to say that the reason
I didn=t like her did have to do with her dating Mike, but it also had
to do with her personality. She could be very rude and two faced. I
never got up the courage to ask Mike why he had dated her and now was
not the best time to ask.
AThis is your basic b.s.,@ I said, handing the letter back to Mike. He
crumpled it up and threw it away.
AThere=s more to it,@ he said, handing me another sheet of paper.
I read it, not quite believing what I was seeing. I didn=t want to
believe it and obviously Mike didn=t want to, either. She was saying she
was pregnant and that Mike was the father. AIs this true?@ I asked him.
AI don=t know what to believe,@ he said, Abut I do know that it=s not
mine.@
AAre you sure?@
AYes, because it never happened.@
AI believe you.@
AThanks,@ he said and kissed me on the cheek.
AAny idea who it could be?@ I asked.
AI don=t know,@ he said. AShe wasn=t exactly faithful. Maybe we should
ask Davy.@
AYou don=t really suspect that it=s Davy, do you? I mean, he is your
friend.@
AHe may be my friend, but he went out with her while I was dating her.
Where is he?@
AOutside,@ I said. AMaybe we better let them come inside.@
AOkay. You go get them, I want to stay here. I don=t really feel like
seeing them right now.@
AYou have to see them sometime, Mike,@ I said. ADo you want me to talk
to Davy, see what he knows?@
ANot right now, maybe later,@ he said and laid down on the bed.
I left Mike and went back outside to where the guys were waiting. How
could I tell them about Julie? What if the baby was Davy's? It would
ruin everything, especially his friendship with Mike. I still remembered
how things had been when Davy had confessed he had been with Julie while
she was dating Mike. That had been a rough time for everybody, including
me. I was caught between my boyfriend, who was the most important thing
to me, and one of my dearest friends, a friend I considered a brother.
"Is he okay?" Micky asked, breaking me out of the past.
"He'll be okay," I told them. "He cut his hand pretty bad and he's very
upset about this whole thing, but I think he'll be okay."
"Do you think it would be okay if we went up to see him?" Peter asked.
"Just to cheer him up?"
"In a few minutes," I told them. "There's more to this than just Julie
wanting him back. She's pregnant."
They didn't say anything, just stood there, shocked. I noticed Davy
looked more shocked than Micky and Peter. Perhaps he knew something they
didn't.
"Is it Mike's?" Micky asked finally.
"He says there is no way it's his."
"Do you believe him?" Peter asked.
"Of course, what else can I do? He wouldn't lie to me."
"I'm going to go in and see him," Micky said, going inside.
"I'm going for a walk,' Davy said. "I need to think about this." He
walked away.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked me, giving me a hug.
"I'll be okay," I told him, returning the hug. "I feel sorry for Davy."
"Does Mike suspect him of being the father?"
"Yes."
"Do you think he is?"
"I don't know, you saw how he reacted. He never said what all happened
with Julie. I wish none of us had ever met her, especially Mike."
"She did do one good thing," Peter said.
"What?"
"She brought you and Mike together. He loves you very much and that love
is what's going to help all of us through this because love is what's
important now."
"You're quite the philospher, Peter Tork," I said, giving him a kiss on
the cheek.
He blushed. "Just one of my many hidden talents. I'm going to go see
Mike. Are you coming in?"
"No, I'm going to see if I can find Davy. Maybe he'll tell me what he
knows. I'll be back later."
I searched for an hour, but I couldn't find Davy. I looked everywhere I
thought he would be, but I never found him. He had his problems to deal
with and I had mine. The root cause was the same, but that didn't help
us.
I liked Davy, I really did, though not as much as Peter and Micky. He
couldn't help being attractive to many women, but why did it have to be
Julie, the one woman bent on destroying all of us? Why couldn't she just
leave all of us alone? She had caused enough trouble.
I was surprised that Davy had not returned when I got back to the pad an
hour later. Everybody was worried, even Mike who had enough to worry
about. Micky and Peter said they were going to take the car and look for
him. Mike decided to stay in case Davy came back or called. I could tell
he was genuinely concerned about Davy. That's how Mike was, he cared
about everybody. That was one of the things that attracted me to him.
After Micky and Peter left, I asked Mike, "What do we do now?"
"We wait," he answered and sat down on the couch.
I sat down beside him and took his hand in mine. Luckily, the cuts
hadn't been very deep, but it would be at least a week before he could
play the guitar again. "Mike, I love you and I believe you about Julie
and I know I have nothing to fear by her coming to see you," I told him.
He didn't say anything, just put his arms around me and held me close.
It took a few seconds for me to realize that he was crying. That scared
me. Mike hardly ever cried, it just wasn't his style. The last time I
had seen him cry was when Julie dumped him. The way she caused him pain
made me hate her even more.
Finally he spoke. "I love you," he said. I would later realize that was
the first time he had told me he loved me since we started dating. I had
always known how he felt, he had just never said it. There had been no
need until that moment. "Everything's going to be okay."
"What if Davy is the father?"
"We'll wait and see about that. Julie will be here tomorrow, maybe
she'll confess. If it's Davy's then it's up to him to decide what to
do."
"And if it isn't?"
"Then I pity the man who is the father."
We talked for a little while longer and then Micky and Peter returned
returned with Davy. They had found him at a coffeehouse drowning his
sorrows with a double irish crème latte. Micky decided it was time to
end the suspense and called a meeting.
"As we all know, Julie will be here tomorrow," Micky said. "We also know
she said she's pregnant and that Mike is not the father. Is that right?"
"No way it could be mine," Mike said.
"What about you, Davy?" Micky asked. "Is there any chance that you are
the father of Julie's baby?"
Davy was quiet. The moment he had dreaded had arrived. He took a deep
breath and began. "I don't know, I don't remember in anything happened.
It was the week before she dumped you, Mike. I saw her downtown and we
started talking. Before I left, she kissed me. I tried to forget, but I
couldn't. She came over a few days later and I was the only one home. We
were talking and she was acting strange. She gave me something to drink
and then we were kissing. The next thing I knew, I woke up in bed and
she was leaving. I don't know what happened. I'm sorry, Mike, I made a
mistake." He was genuinely sorry for everything. We could all feel that.
"It's okay, Davy," Mike said. "I'm not mad at you anymore. It's not your
fault."
"There's something I don't understand," Peter said.
"What's that?" Micky asked.
"Why would Julie say the baby was Mike's when it's not?"
"Because Julie's not very nice," Mike said. "She knows I'm happy now and
she wants to destroy that. That's just the type of person she is."
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"We wait until Julie gets here and then we ask her the truth," Micky
said.
It was getting late and it was time for me to leave. Mike promised to
call me when Julie arrived the next morning. He assured me that he was
okay and I kissed him goodbye.
He called me the next morning about 9:30 to tell me that Julie had
arrived. I started to say something, but he stopped me. "You better just
come on down here," he said.
I arrived ten minutes later to find everything on the verge of chaos.
Mike met me outside. He looked like he hadn't had very much sleep, which
was probably true. He hugged me and I could tell he had been crying
again. "What's going on in there?" I asked him.
"Davy confronted her right away and that started a fight. She's a lot
tougher than I remember. Poor Davy never knew what hit him."
"Is he okay?"
"He will be in a few days, but he's got a bad headache and some
bruises."
"What else is going on? Has she said who the father is?"
"Not yet, but she wants to see you alone."
That did not sound good. "What does she want to see me about?"
"I don't know, but I suspect it has to do with me. Are you ready for
this?"
"No, but I better do it anyway. Where is she?"
"Inside."
"Well, no use in putting off the inevitable. One last thing, though."
"What?"
"Kiss me."
He kissed me softly and slowly as if he didn't want to let me go. I
didn't want to let him go, either. I didn't want to see Julie. I just
wanted to stay in Mike's arms where I felt safe and loved.
"Well, well, well, isn't this a pretty picture," I heard a voice say.
I stepped away from Mike and looked up to see Julie. "Hi, Julie," I
said. "Nice to see you again." I tried to smile, but it didn't work.
"You always were a terrible liar," she said. "Mike, why don't you go
inside and leave us alone. We've got a lot to talk about."
Mike reluctantly went back inside.
"I don't have anything to say to you, Julie," I told her.
"I've got plenty to say to you, though," she said. "You just couldn't
wait to get your hands on Mike, could you? I really wasn't surprised to
hear you two were together. I always suspected he wanted you. He talked
about you too much. If not for you, I would have kept him."
"You didn't lose Mike because of me," I told her. "You lost him because
he finally saw you as you really are. You're hell bent on destroying all
of us and you almost succeeded. Do you want to know why Mike likes me?
It's because I was always there for him and you weren't. There were many
times when he would call me or come see me because he needed to talk to
somebody and you were gone somewhere, probably off with some other guy.
And then there's what you did to Davy. Tell me, did anything happen or
was it just a plan to mess with his head?"
She slapped me.
I wanted to hit her back, but I didn't. I didn't want things to get more
out of hand than they already were. I didn't say anything, just walked
away and went inside. As soon as I got inside, I started crying.
Mike came up to me and hugged me. "What happened?" he asked.
"She slapped me," I told him through my tears. It took a while, but I
managed to tell him everything that happened. He didn't say anything,
just held me and let me cry. When I was done, he asked, "Where's Julie?"
"I don't know, I guess she's still outside. Where's Micky and Peter?"
"Upstairs with Davy. I'm going to go talk to Julie, see what she'll tell
me."
"Be careful," I told him and went upstairs. Davy was asleep and I could
see a bruise beginning to form on his forehead. "How is he?" I asked
Micky.
"He's okay, he'd be better if he hadn't hit the TV on the way down. What
happened with you and Julie?"
We argued a bit and then she hit me. Mike went to see if she's still
there."
"Why did she hit you?" Peter asked.
"I asked her about Davy."
"What did you ask her about me?" Davy asked groggily from the bed.
"I asked her if anything happened between you two or if she was just
messing with your head."
"What did she say?"
"She didn't say anything." Just then the phone rang downstairs. "I'll
get it," I said and went downstairs. I picked it up. "Hello?"
"I want to talk to Nesmith." It was Mr. Babbit, the landlord.
"He's not here," I said. "He had to go see someone. Would you like to
speak to somebody else?"
"Is Jones there?"
"He is, but he's asleep right now. I'm afraid Davy's had an accident.
Would you like to talk to Micky?"
"Never mind, I'm on my way over," he said and hung up.
A Visit from Mr. Babbit was never a good thing and this was not the best
time for a visit.
"Who was that?" Peter asked.
"Mr. Babbit and he said he's on his way over here. He didn't say why.
I'm going to go see about Mike and Julie."
"Be careful."
"I always am, Peter," I said and went outside.
Julie wasn't there, but Mike was and he did not look happy.
"What happened out here?" I asked him.
"She denied that she slapped you. She said you were yelling at her and
that you tried to knock her down."
"What did you do?"
"I told her I didn't believe her so she got mad and left. I don't know
where she went."
"Maybe she won't come back. Oh, Mr. Babbit is on his way over here. He
just called."
"It's not time to pay the rent, is it?"
"No, I think he's coming about something else. We'll find out in a few
minutes."
We went inside to wait for Mr. Babbit. He arrived ten minutes later and
Julie was with him. "I didn't know you knew each other," Mike said.
"Julie is my niece," Mr. Babbit said. "I understand one of you got her
in trouble. Who was it?"
"Not me," Mike said.
"What about Davy?" Mr. Babbit asked.
"He's upstairs asleep," Mike said, "but I don't think he's the one
either. Tell us the truth, Julie."
Julie did something that surprised all of us. She started crying. "It's
not any of them, Uncle Fred," she said. "I was mean to all of them and
I'm sorry. The father is Nick. He doesn't know about it yet. I was
scared, I'm sorry."
Well, I must day I was shocked by Julie's sudden change of heart and
confession. Nick was a neighbor, a local wanna be hood that caused a lot
of trouble.
Once Julie confessed, everything settled down. She told Nick and I must
say fatherhood has tamed him. They got married and moved to New York,
never to bother us again. Mike and I are still together and things are
just great. Davy recovered and even has a new girlfriend. I give it two
months. Micky and Peter dated two sister for a while, but that proved
too confusing and both are currently single. I guess they have learned
from everybody else's mistakes.
Things have been pretty quiet around here lately and it sorta kinda
makes me wonder what's gonna happen next. I hope it's nothing too
serious. One crisis is enough.
The End!
Or is it?
You never know.
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