Turning Point..., Natalia and Johnny

Danny rode shotgun in Natalia's car while she drove them to Coffeebeans. His mood had been lighter since she'd mentioned having cravings. Part of him could hardly wait until she began the unique and vague cravings. He imagined it'd be amusing. But it was temporary. Like a lot of things. He'd never thought about who drove who most times but he'd admit he usually liked to offer. But he hadn't uttered a word when Natalia invited him into her car. It was the friendly thing to do. And that's what he was focused on. Friendliness and nothing more...

Before long, the car turned into the lot at the more local coffee place and Danny got out of the car. There was the briefest hesitation on his part as he waited for Natalia to get out before he headed inside without waiting for her. But he did end up holding the door long enough for her to catch it so it wouldn't close. And after that, he was back to waiting on her.

"Where would you like to sit?" Danny asked, looking at her. It really didn't matter to him one way or the other. Hell, he didn't even give a crap about privacy at this point. It was all a miniscule issue in the grand scheme of things.

Danny held the door for her. She'd noticed, even though she was sure that she had no business reading into such a thing. It was platonic, he'd made that entirely clear, at least until they could follow through with the paternity testing. That meant that Natalia needed to find Johnny and let him know the possibilities they faced.

Her luck had never been worse. She recognized him behind the counter at Coffeebeans and silently cursed whoever had the sense of humor. It sure the heck wasn't funny. She turned ever so slightly to Danny without responding to his question. "That's him... Johnny."

The words were uttered quite softly although the rest of the room seemed to be quite loud. The last thing she needed was Danny strangling the man on the spot, and she felt herself shift the slightest bit closer to him and away from the counter. There were only a couple of people in front of them in line, he would certainly notice her in the next few minutes and then the awkwardness would sink in.

Johnny gulped as he saw Natalia walk in. He recognized her instantly, and he hated himself for it. He had been hoping never to see her again, hoping that if he did, he could forget that their night in the SUV had never happened, but he hadn't been so lucky, here she was in his work place, meaning not only did he have to see her, he was going to have to help her if he wanted to keep his job.

He didn't recognize the man she was with, but he hoped that it wasn't her boyfriend. He didn't want to have screwed a woman with a boyfriend, mostly because he knew that he couldn't take anyone in a fight, and the man sitting with Natalia was definitely stronger than he was. He took a deep breath, sucked up his pride, took the orders of the people in front of them and waited for Natalia to reach the front of the line.

"Hi, what can I get for you?" he asked, his voice cheerful just the way it should be at their job. He was going to pretend that he didn't know her, because if this man was her boyfriend, odds are, she hadn't told him about their night together, and he was not going to be the one to give it away, he didn't want to have to deal with that.

It was not to be Johnny's lucky day today. Or maybe anyone else's really. Danny had been focused on trying to be relaxed when Natalia let him know this surprising fact. Once more, his eyes widened and he stared in some shock and he basically froze. Again. Man, he was doing a lot of that lately. Never thought he was the type to react in such a way. But maybe he was doing it as a cautious reaction. Because if he didn't freeze, his first one would be ever so much worse.

Danny recovered quicker than the previous times. Maybe because he was in public and there was a line behind him. Or maybe because he finally, finally had someone to take out his anger on! Because it couldn't be Natalia. Even if he wanted to--and honestly, some part of him did--he didn't know how. He didn't know how he could do anything like teach her a lesson or whatever without maybe feeling regret or something else. But Johnny? Fuck Johnny... Johnny would be a release. Johnny would do nicely.

Having Natalia shift made Danny's temper ratchet. He didn't know if it was awkwardness on her part or if she'd done so to try and block him. But his thoughts were around the latter and he was not a happy camper. But he didn't do anything, really. Instead, he calmly stood in line, waiting for Johnny to notice so he could meet his eyes and realize that he knew.

"We'll take some muffins... and a moment of your time." Danny said, looking up and practically stabbing the man with dead on eye contact. "You should take a break as soon as you can and join our table. Because we need to talk." He didn't add that if Johnny refused, he'd likely cause a scene. Again, privacy was only a mini concern for Danny. Maybe the young man was just too pissed to care.

Johnnys voice was overly cheery, almost like the sugary sweet obviously fake frosting that sometimes appeared on cakes. He was doing his best to alleviate the awkwardness, but little did he know, a blow was about to come to him. Not in the way of violence or thrown fists (or so she hoped) but in the form of one very crucial piece of information.

She could almost feel Dannys tension, without touching him or looking him in the eye. She didn't dare to do either, she chose instead to look apologetically at Johnny and then stare out the window as if something extremely interesting had happened outside.

And then Danny was speaking and she was cringing all over again. She departed to pick a table without waiting for the muffins. Danny could handle the muffins, he could also handle the talking because suddenly she'd found herself unable to speak. It really wasn't supposed to be like this. She didn't know a damn thing about Johnny or his wife, or his ambitions or, or... hell anything. She was in way over her head.

The brunette picked a table that was relatively secluded, so that the words that would soon be spoken wouldn't be passed around the entire town of Evergreen. She couldn't have the agency knowing that she was pregnant, not yet at least.

Johnny's smile faded as Danny made his request...though it was more of a demand than anything. "Yes, sir." He nodded, helping him with the muffins, though he really wasn't feeling much like helping this guy with anything. It was clear that something was up, and Johnny was positive that it was the obvious thing - he had fucked this girl, and now her boyfriend wanted to get some sort of revenge on the bastard for doing so.

Of course, the sex had been mutual, so why would Natalia have come with him? He gulped again, trying not to let his mind wander to places that it shouldn't go. What if she had told her boyfriend that he had forced her? He hadn't really known Natalia long, and he didn't know what kind of person she was, hell, he didn't even know her name, so she really could have been anyone.

"Give me a few minutes."['/b] He barely managed to get the words out, and he was upset that his break time was actually coming up. He would have loved to be able to say that he didn't have any more breaks that day, but that would have been a lie, and he didn't want to dig himself in any deeper with this guy; he was already terrified of what was going to happen between them.

After a few minutes of wiping down tables, Johnny clocked out and gingerly sat down at the table with them. He folded his hands in his lap, trying to hide how nervous he was. He had not been joking earlier when he had been sure that Danny could take him, and now, he was even more acutely aware of that. [b]"So um...what's up?" He asked, his eyes cast down at the table, too afraid to look at either of the people he was sitting with.

He patiently waited for the muffins, aware that Natalia was quiet. Then with a nod, Danny took said food and headed over to the table, pretty much expecting Natalia to follow but not looking behind him expectantly. That would give off the wrong message. An urge that grew more insistent seeing that this guy had touched her. It was stupid. Other men had been with her. This shouldn't be different. But it was. And he just needed to stop all of that.

Before long, they were all at the table and Danny tried not to notice where she chose to sit. As if it didn't matter when in reality, it did. It mattered a lot. Tact should have been a necessity here. But...

"Natalia's pregnant." There it went. "I know you two were together at one point so that means that you also have a fifty percent chance of being the father of her baby." He thoughtfully picked up a muffin. "And in case you were wondering, I know you have a wife at home. So I guess the question now is... what do you wanna do?"

Danny delivered the blow as harshly as possible. She didn't blame him, couldn't blame him really. She did feel a bit bad for Johnny. She knew that he had a wife, and she also didn't want to start trouble. The only reason she was doing this was... she really didn't know why she was doing this. She could've left Johnny in the dark and he never would've been involved. She silently groaned and began to munch on a muffin.

"We had the first appointment today, i'm five weeks along. They can't do the paternity test until ten." It was just factual, but Natalia didn't raise her eyes from the food that she was picking at. She was starving, really starving. She hadn't noticed the increase in food intake until after realizing she was pregnant.

It was such a little thing, but now it made so much sense. "I'm not asking for anything," she said blatantly and that was clear. "Danny and I... we're..." she let it trail off with a shrug. "Well lately I think he contemplates throwing me down a staircase but that's beside the point," she muttered before stuffing a piece of muffin into her mouth.

Johnny stopped short as Danny said what he had apparently come there to say. His heart began to race and he felt his chest tighten around the muscle. He didn't know what to do. His instinct told him to run, just like it had when he had had this conversation with Maddie four years ago...though that had been more certain; Johnny HAD to be the father there, he had been the only man in her life at the time.

He gulped, gripping the edge of the table, trying to keep some of his emotions in check as best he could. He was terrified about all of this. How did this keep happening to him? He was clearly being punished for cheating, and he knew that he shouldn't have done it, but still...a potential second accidental child? "We...we used protection," he managed to stammer out, though he knew that didn't make a difference, he had had a condom break before, and nine months later, he had a son.

He closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He had said that he was married, and now he knew that he had to explain to Maddie at least to some degree, what had gone down. After a few moments of thinking, he managed to raise his eyes to the couple. "If it's my child, I want to be there for it," he stated. "I'll help to support it, and I'd be in it's life if you'd let me...but as far as my wife is concerned, I don't think she needs to know anything until we get the results of the paternity test. At that time, I will explain everything to her, whether or not the kid is mine, but this is my mistake. She doesn't need 5 weeks of anxiety and uncertainty about whether or not I have another child on the way." He gulped. "I can also help cover medical bills, if need be." He hardly had any money, but he was sure he would be able to pick up some extra shifts if it was necessary."

This situation wasn't supposed to be a laughing matter. But when Natalia candidly expressed her opinion about how he was feeling, Danny nearly laughed. It wasn't out of amusement really. It was almost a bit of sheepishness. Was his anger radiating off him in such a way to seem so obvious? Apparently so. Honestly, he was less pissed and more hurt. And whatever anger he had was not such a degree that he'd contemplate tossing her down a flight of stairs. He thought briefly of correcting her opinion but opted to keep quiet. To let her think it. Maybe he was petty but if his anger bothered her... that meant something.

She'd started to say they were something but had trailed off. That was funny too. Here they were, both confused on what relationship they had.

Danny merely raised an eyebrow when Johnny stressed that they used protection. Yeah? Well, it didn't work. Hell, that was no sure way to keep from being pregnant. Condoms were only what percentage effective?

Eating his own helping of muffins, the young man listened. The assholish part of him thought Johnny's wife should know now. And maybe he should just ignore this bastard and let it be known. Evergreen was a small enough town. And he already had a last name. Wouldn't be trouble at all to find her. But in the end... Danny decided against it. Maybe it was due to the fact that Johnny seemed so... freaked. He still didn't like him but he didn't feel so determined to hurt him or whatever. Besides, his wife didn't know him. Would she really have a reason to believe him anyway?

"I'll worry about the bills." Danny heard himself say, quickly and firmly. "You don't need to concern yourself."

Now it was on the table. Both men had offered to help her, to help raise the child if it was theirs. While that notion was comforting, Natalia desperately needed it to be Dannys baby. Deep down, she'd come to the conclusion that she needed Danny, that she had developed some level of attachment with him that couldn't be erased or forgotten.

"Thanks both of you, but I can afford it. Money's not my concern at all," she stated simply. It was a minor matter in this mud hole of issues. She was an international model, she made amazing money and had for some time. The last thing she needed was anyone else paying for this for her. She didn't need to be anyone elses' burden, she could do just fine on her own.

"We'll know in five weeks. I'm guessing that they'll just needed a DNA sample from Danny, if it's not his baby then... it's obviously yours. I just thought you should know the possibilities." She didn't know what the right or wrong thing to do was in this situation. She'd never been pregnant, she didn't know how to handle any of this.

The one thing she wanted and needed was Danny, and now he barely looked at her and certainly wouldn't touch her. It was devastating, and she knew in her heart it was going to be an exceptionally long five weeks.

Johnny nodded slowly, glad that money wasn't an issue. He didn't know how he would be able to hide the missing money from his wife, and he really didn't want to tell her until he knew whether or not he was fathering a second child. Sure, his betrayal would sting either way, but he thought it would be worse if there were five weeks of constant fighting and anxiety before they even knew what was going to happen.

He had not planned on telling his wife that he had slept with Natalia, but now after this, he knew that he had to, even if he wasn't the father, it was something that had to come up. He didn't want to tell her, of course, because he knew that it was going to make her angry, and if she got angry enough to ask for a divorce, well, he was probably going to lose his son.

He didn't know if she would try to steal Rylee away from him, but with evidence of him cheating, she would more than have a right to - there was no court in the world that rule him custody over Maddie, not after this. He loved his son, and what scared him the most about this was that he could lose his son, the boy that he loved so much.

"Alright...look, the only think I ask is really that you let me tell my wife in time," he said softly. "We have a son, and I don't want him to have to deal with the stress of all of this. If I handle this the wrong way, I could lose him, and i"m sure that I seem like a horrible person to you, but I really do love my son." He looked down. Maddie divorcing him was something he could live with, but losing Rylee? That would kill him.

Sometimes Danny wondered if he could be way too soft for his own good. He didn't have anything to add now. Natalia thanked him and Johnny but let them know money wasn't an issue. And that made sense. She was an internationally famous model. Of course, she had money. He admitted to himself that he hadn't put a claim on the finance issue until Johnny had offered. He didn't want to dwell on why that was.

But when the other man talked about his son, Danny swore under his breath. Even if he wasn't sure about telling his wife or not, that fact meant he could easily go one way or the other. But hearing about the little boy immediately made the decision, even if didn't really want to. Johnny might deserve to lose his wife but not his kid.

"You have my word. I won't say anything." Yeah... too damn soft. "But I'm holding you to that." Can't be too soft. Come on.

So... what now? "I guess we're done here. You should probably get back to work. Break's probably over by now."

Natalia hadn't known the other man had a son, and she felt oddly uncomfortable at the thought. The conversation was winding down, and Johnny needed to get back to work. She finished a few bites of muffin, and gave both men a curt nod.

"Well, you'll know when we do," she said simply, because really there wasn't much else to say. What more could she offer? The damage was done and until an answer was on the table, this was the best the situation would be.

"I've got to head out, Danny if you need a ride..." She needed some time to herself, to go clear her head. That, and she wanted to go to the book store and pick up a couple pregnancy books. She didn't need hand holding any more. She was the only solid thing that this baby currently had, and it was falling on her to hold up her end of this.

Johnny nodded, gulping as he stood up from the table. His hands were shaking and he was afraid of the coffee that he was sure he was going to spill during the rest of his shift. He was, now if never before, terrified of what was going to become of his life. He couldn't have another kid right now, not with Maddie because they couldn't afford it, and not with someone other than Maddie because...well, it was infidelity.

"Thank you for letting me know," he stated, nodding at the couple. "I have to get back to work but if you need anything, or obviously when you get the results, you know where to find me, for right now, I have to go back to work." The last thing he wanted to do right now, well, second to last among talking to Maddie about all of this, was go back to work and pretend everything was fine.

He was going to have to come clean about this whole thing to his wife, but he knew that waiting was the best thing for all of them. He went back to work, trying to push it from his mind, though he knew that there was going to be very little on that plate for the next month or so. He was terrified of being the father, he was terrified of losing the son he already loved, and he was terrified of being left completely alone.