AlexzBonner
03-23-2001, 11:13 PM
Here it is! Enjoy! This is the summer after TPSIP...
Letting Go
It was a seemingly quiet summer afternoon at the Bonner house. Jo was off at work, Alexz was reading, and Rick was trying (keyword is TRYING) to fix Alexz's radio.
'Dad, just leave it,' she said. 'I'll get Mom to look at it this evening.' She shut her book, stood up and stretched, just as Jo came in the door with a strange expression on her face. Alexz could usually tell what her mother was thinking by the look on her face, but this one was different. She just shook it away and grabbed the phone and the calling card that Grandma Sarah had sent to her for an early birthday present. She thought she had enough left on it to call Rachel one more time. 'And then, maybe I can call Sara and Jordan, too, if I don't talk to Rachel too long.' 'Mom, I'm calling Rachel.'
Jo nodded, her face still blank. 'Okay... Hurry, though. I'm expecting a phone call.'
'Okay.' Alexz started for her room but her father shook his head ever so slightly and gave her the look that said, 'Do what your mother wants.' So, she turned around and gave the phone to her mother. 'Here you go. Rachel can wait.'
'Th-thanks. Rick, we need to talk.' She pulled him into their bedroom and Alexz followed with a glass cup to one ear. She could hear the muffled voices as her parents talked. 'At least they're having a decent conversation,' she thought. 'Lately all they've been doing is yelling and screaming at each other and the words usually aren't kind ones.' She snapped out of her thoughts and pushed the cup back to the door to listen.
Chapter 2
'What is it, Jo?' Rick asked.
Jo sighed and chewed on her botton lip. By this Rick sensed that she was nervous. 'Rick, I'm feeling something for the very first time and I want you to feel it, too. Now, I stunk at chemistry but you didn't and do you remember what happens when two atoms combine?'
'We're gonna have a molecule? J-J, I'm really happy, I just... we can barely afford to support ourselves and Alexz. We just can't keep the baby. I think it would be best if you got an abortion.'
Alexz's jaw dropped as far as her rubber bands would let her without popping. Although she loved to eavesdrop, she couldn't listen anymore. She ran back to the living room and slipped on her tennis shoes. She stepped into the hall, slid down the wall, hugged her knees to her chest, and cried.
'Rick, we went over this when Alexz was born. You know how I feel about abortion. I might have done it before, but I know now that abortion is wrong. I can't do that to a human being.'
'It's not a human being yet.'
Jo's tone was less than friendly. 'Oh, I think it is! It is a person the the mili-second that it's conceived! I don't believe in it.'
Rick tried to slip his arm around Jo's waist but she resisted and turned her back to him. 'Joanna Marie, you are acting like a spoiled brat. You did it before, why not--'
Jo turned to face her husband. 'Rick, we had a 13 month old daughter and I didn't feel the same way then as I do now. I won't do it. The jury found the plaintiff, Jo Polniaczek, correct and the defendant, Rick Bonner, wrong as usual. Case close. Court is adjourned.' With that she threw up her hands and went for a walk.
Chapter 3
When Jo walked into the hall, she almost tripped over Alexz who was sitting against the wall crying. 'Erica Alexzandra Marie, what are you doing out here?'
Alexz stood up and wiped away a few tears. 'Uh... Just thinking,' she lied.
Jo put her arm around her daughter. 'Al, let's go for a walk.'
Alexz nodded and they stepped into the city.
Rick paced back and forth in the living room. What could he do to change her mind? When Jo had her mind made up, there was nothing you COULD say to change it. They both knew that they couldn't keep the baby and that was about the 5th argument they'd had that week and it was only Monday. Lately, it seemed that they just couldn't get along. They had tried to keep the fights quiet so Alexz wouldn't noticed, but, unfortunately, she had inherited her mother's strong sense of intuition and he knew that she was beginning to suspect something. The only sensible thing to do was to get an abortion and get a seperation. Not a divorce, just a seperation. He'd tell Jo when she came back.
'You were pregnant when I was 13 months old? And you got the abortion because you thought that you couldn't handle it? What kind of SICK family do I have?' Alexz stormed.
Jo put her hand on Alexz's shoulder but she pushed it away. 'Alexzandra Marie, you know that isn't true! And it wasn't my choice! I wanted the baby! Your father didn't. After we found out about it, your father got mad and that's when we started fighting. Yes, it's been going on this long and I'm sorry it has. Anyway, after a few months, I went to the doctor and she told me that the baby would most likely be born dead and I could carry the baby full term or get an abortion. I wasn't going to make the thing suffer. That's why I did it. I wasn't going to tell you this until you were older but now I have a reason. You know I'm pregnant again, don't you?' She put her hand on Alexz's shoulder again and this time, Alexz didn't push it away.
When Jo came in that night with Alexz, it was Rick who pulled her into their bedroom for a 'friendly' conversation.
Jo crossed her arms over her chest and asked, 'What?'
'J-J, I think that we should get the abortion and then you and I should get a seperation. Not a divorce, just a seperation. For a month or so. You can stay here and I'll find a place in Manhattan. And if we decide that we like it, we'll divorce, and I'll turn into an every-other weekend, every-other holiday father for Alexz.
Jo shook her head and stated firmly, 'I'm not getting the abortion. End of story!' With that, she turned and walked back into the living room.
Chapter 4
The nine months passed quickly for Jo, but for Alexz and Rick, it might as well have been 9 centuries. One night in early January, Jo woke up in a cold sweat. She sat upright and went to touch Rick. Then she remembered, Rick had been sleeping on the couch for the past week. She had had the strangest dream. She had dreamt that something had gone wrong and the baby hadn't made it. She put a hand on her stomach and was rewarded with a firm kick. 'Hey,' she whipered. 'It's past both of our bedtimes. Go back to sleep.' She decided that she would tell her doctor about the dream when she went for her check up later that morning, rolled over and went to sleep.
'Well,' the doctor said to Jo and Alexz. 'It looks like you're about 3 centimeters dialated and I'd say you could be in active labor by this afternoon. You might as well stay here.'
Jo smiled. 'Why not? Alexz, call your father.'
Soon after Rick arrived, Jo started marking time by contractions.
Alexz thought that her hand was going to fall off before this child was born. She was missing school and Rachel was supposed to get her assignments for her.
About 2 hours after Jo's contrations started, her doctor came to check on her. 'How are we feeling?'
Jo opened her mouth to answer, but a sharp pain in her abdomen made her clutch it.
The doctor mumbled gibberish to the nurse and than told Alexz, 'Her appendix may have ruptured. We have to get her into surgery.' They wheeled her off into the OR.
Chapter 5
Jo woke up in a dark room with Alexz sitting in a chair beside her. 'Hey, Al. You look disappointed. Was it a boy?'
Alexz shook her head. 'No, it was a girl. Um... Mom, the baby didn't make it. That was the only way that I could tell you. I'm sorry.'
Jo nodded. 'I guess I should cry, but I don't want to. We'll have to name her. What do you think of Emily Audra? I think it's pretty.' She started to cry.
'Mom, don't do this to yourself. I do like Emily Audra, though. As long as we can call her Audra. Blair, Natalie, Tootie and Bev are outside waiting for you. I got voted to tell you about... Audra. Mom, I'm sorry. Do you want me to tell them to go home?'
Jo shook her head. 'No... I'll see them. Alexz, honey, go eat. When was the last time you ate? Breakfast probably. I want to see your father first.'
Alexz nodded and left. After a few seconds, Rick came in.
'Are you happy now, Rick? You got what you wanted. You wanted that baby to die!'
'Jo, that's not fair!'
'It's true though.' She tilted her nose into the air and said, 'Rick, I want a divorce.'
Rick was amazed. 'J-J, whatever the problem is, I'm sure that we can work it out. It's me, isn't it?'
Jo shook her head. 'No, it's not you and it's not me. It's us. We don't... We can't stand to be around each other. I'll send Alexz to Portland for her birthday like I do every year.' Rick opened his mouth to speak. 'Rick, don't say anything. Hey, I had fun. Can we still be friends?'
Rick laughed a mirthless laugh. 'Friends? Good friends? Good friends that kissed? Good friends that had two children?'
Jo interrupted. 'Three.'
'Whatever. Sure, we'll be friends.'
'Rick, I--'
'No! It's okay! I just can't see why you wouldn't love me anymore. I'll call our-- excuse me MY lawyer.' He turned around and left.
Back in the waiting room, Blair, Natalie, Beverly Ann, Sara, Rachel, Jordan, and Tootie were trying to calm Alexz down. She had come out of her mother's room, told her father to go in, and collapsed into a chair crying. Rick came out and slammed the door. 'Alexzandra, your mother wants to see you. She says it's important. Go, now.'
Alexz got up. 'Yes, sir!' She went into Jo's room and Tootie whipered to Natalie, 'There's gonna be troublllle!'
Chapter 6
Alexz walked into her mother's room. 'What?'
Jo tensed up. 'Alexzandra, your father and I are getting a divorce. We'll have joint custody and I'm sorry.'
Alexz nodded. 'It figures. I thought that I would miss the trauma of aving divorced parents, but I guess I was wrong.'
Jo scoffed. 'You act just like you father sometimes, you know.'
'I know,' Alexz retorted and walked out of the room. 'Blair, she wants to see you,' Alexz said and pursed her lips together.
Blair went into Jo's room and Rachel told Alexz to follow her into the bathroom. 'What is with you?'
Alexz looked down. 'My parents are getting a divorce. Thirteen years... I'm the only thing that can save them. Rach, you gotta help me!'
'I don't know how. But... okay.'
------------------
B: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
J: Where'd you hear that?
B: It's on the plaque over there.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
J: Tell Mrs. G we're out of mouthwash!
B: Well, if it isn't the kissing valedictorian.
J: Blair I have a sense of humor just like everybody else, but there are certain things in life we do not laugh at.
The Yankees and what Roy did to me. Never, are you ever to mention that!
T: He really planted one on you, didn't he?
N: Your face turned purple!
T: No oxygen!
God bless your every footstep,
~_~ Kenzie ~_~
E-Mail-- LoveNancyMcKeon@webtv.net
or
teddysangeljinny@yahoo.com
or
toocuteforyou67890@yahoo.com
Letting Go
It was a seemingly quiet summer afternoon at the Bonner house. Jo was off at work, Alexz was reading, and Rick was trying (keyword is TRYING) to fix Alexz's radio.
'Dad, just leave it,' she said. 'I'll get Mom to look at it this evening.' She shut her book, stood up and stretched, just as Jo came in the door with a strange expression on her face. Alexz could usually tell what her mother was thinking by the look on her face, but this one was different. She just shook it away and grabbed the phone and the calling card that Grandma Sarah had sent to her for an early birthday present. She thought she had enough left on it to call Rachel one more time. 'And then, maybe I can call Sara and Jordan, too, if I don't talk to Rachel too long.' 'Mom, I'm calling Rachel.'
Jo nodded, her face still blank. 'Okay... Hurry, though. I'm expecting a phone call.'
'Okay.' Alexz started for her room but her father shook his head ever so slightly and gave her the look that said, 'Do what your mother wants.' So, she turned around and gave the phone to her mother. 'Here you go. Rachel can wait.'
'Th-thanks. Rick, we need to talk.' She pulled him into their bedroom and Alexz followed with a glass cup to one ear. She could hear the muffled voices as her parents talked. 'At least they're having a decent conversation,' she thought. 'Lately all they've been doing is yelling and screaming at each other and the words usually aren't kind ones.' She snapped out of her thoughts and pushed the cup back to the door to listen.
Chapter 2
'What is it, Jo?' Rick asked.
Jo sighed and chewed on her botton lip. By this Rick sensed that she was nervous. 'Rick, I'm feeling something for the very first time and I want you to feel it, too. Now, I stunk at chemistry but you didn't and do you remember what happens when two atoms combine?'
'We're gonna have a molecule? J-J, I'm really happy, I just... we can barely afford to support ourselves and Alexz. We just can't keep the baby. I think it would be best if you got an abortion.'
Alexz's jaw dropped as far as her rubber bands would let her without popping. Although she loved to eavesdrop, she couldn't listen anymore. She ran back to the living room and slipped on her tennis shoes. She stepped into the hall, slid down the wall, hugged her knees to her chest, and cried.
'Rick, we went over this when Alexz was born. You know how I feel about abortion. I might have done it before, but I know now that abortion is wrong. I can't do that to a human being.'
'It's not a human being yet.'
Jo's tone was less than friendly. 'Oh, I think it is! It is a person the the mili-second that it's conceived! I don't believe in it.'
Rick tried to slip his arm around Jo's waist but she resisted and turned her back to him. 'Joanna Marie, you are acting like a spoiled brat. You did it before, why not--'
Jo turned to face her husband. 'Rick, we had a 13 month old daughter and I didn't feel the same way then as I do now. I won't do it. The jury found the plaintiff, Jo Polniaczek, correct and the defendant, Rick Bonner, wrong as usual. Case close. Court is adjourned.' With that she threw up her hands and went for a walk.
Chapter 3
When Jo walked into the hall, she almost tripped over Alexz who was sitting against the wall crying. 'Erica Alexzandra Marie, what are you doing out here?'
Alexz stood up and wiped away a few tears. 'Uh... Just thinking,' she lied.
Jo put her arm around her daughter. 'Al, let's go for a walk.'
Alexz nodded and they stepped into the city.
Rick paced back and forth in the living room. What could he do to change her mind? When Jo had her mind made up, there was nothing you COULD say to change it. They both knew that they couldn't keep the baby and that was about the 5th argument they'd had that week and it was only Monday. Lately, it seemed that they just couldn't get along. They had tried to keep the fights quiet so Alexz wouldn't noticed, but, unfortunately, she had inherited her mother's strong sense of intuition and he knew that she was beginning to suspect something. The only sensible thing to do was to get an abortion and get a seperation. Not a divorce, just a seperation. He'd tell Jo when she came back.
'You were pregnant when I was 13 months old? And you got the abortion because you thought that you couldn't handle it? What kind of SICK family do I have?' Alexz stormed.
Jo put her hand on Alexz's shoulder but she pushed it away. 'Alexzandra Marie, you know that isn't true! And it wasn't my choice! I wanted the baby! Your father didn't. After we found out about it, your father got mad and that's when we started fighting. Yes, it's been going on this long and I'm sorry it has. Anyway, after a few months, I went to the doctor and she told me that the baby would most likely be born dead and I could carry the baby full term or get an abortion. I wasn't going to make the thing suffer. That's why I did it. I wasn't going to tell you this until you were older but now I have a reason. You know I'm pregnant again, don't you?' She put her hand on Alexz's shoulder again and this time, Alexz didn't push it away.
When Jo came in that night with Alexz, it was Rick who pulled her into their bedroom for a 'friendly' conversation.
Jo crossed her arms over her chest and asked, 'What?'
'J-J, I think that we should get the abortion and then you and I should get a seperation. Not a divorce, just a seperation. For a month or so. You can stay here and I'll find a place in Manhattan. And if we decide that we like it, we'll divorce, and I'll turn into an every-other weekend, every-other holiday father for Alexz.
Jo shook her head and stated firmly, 'I'm not getting the abortion. End of story!' With that, she turned and walked back into the living room.
Chapter 4
The nine months passed quickly for Jo, but for Alexz and Rick, it might as well have been 9 centuries. One night in early January, Jo woke up in a cold sweat. She sat upright and went to touch Rick. Then she remembered, Rick had been sleeping on the couch for the past week. She had had the strangest dream. She had dreamt that something had gone wrong and the baby hadn't made it. She put a hand on her stomach and was rewarded with a firm kick. 'Hey,' she whipered. 'It's past both of our bedtimes. Go back to sleep.' She decided that she would tell her doctor about the dream when she went for her check up later that morning, rolled over and went to sleep.
'Well,' the doctor said to Jo and Alexz. 'It looks like you're about 3 centimeters dialated and I'd say you could be in active labor by this afternoon. You might as well stay here.'
Jo smiled. 'Why not? Alexz, call your father.'
Soon after Rick arrived, Jo started marking time by contractions.
Alexz thought that her hand was going to fall off before this child was born. She was missing school and Rachel was supposed to get her assignments for her.
About 2 hours after Jo's contrations started, her doctor came to check on her. 'How are we feeling?'
Jo opened her mouth to answer, but a sharp pain in her abdomen made her clutch it.
The doctor mumbled gibberish to the nurse and than told Alexz, 'Her appendix may have ruptured. We have to get her into surgery.' They wheeled her off into the OR.
Chapter 5
Jo woke up in a dark room with Alexz sitting in a chair beside her. 'Hey, Al. You look disappointed. Was it a boy?'
Alexz shook her head. 'No, it was a girl. Um... Mom, the baby didn't make it. That was the only way that I could tell you. I'm sorry.'
Jo nodded. 'I guess I should cry, but I don't want to. We'll have to name her. What do you think of Emily Audra? I think it's pretty.' She started to cry.
'Mom, don't do this to yourself. I do like Emily Audra, though. As long as we can call her Audra. Blair, Natalie, Tootie and Bev are outside waiting for you. I got voted to tell you about... Audra. Mom, I'm sorry. Do you want me to tell them to go home?'
Jo shook her head. 'No... I'll see them. Alexz, honey, go eat. When was the last time you ate? Breakfast probably. I want to see your father first.'
Alexz nodded and left. After a few seconds, Rick came in.
'Are you happy now, Rick? You got what you wanted. You wanted that baby to die!'
'Jo, that's not fair!'
'It's true though.' She tilted her nose into the air and said, 'Rick, I want a divorce.'
Rick was amazed. 'J-J, whatever the problem is, I'm sure that we can work it out. It's me, isn't it?'
Jo shook her head. 'No, it's not you and it's not me. It's us. We don't... We can't stand to be around each other. I'll send Alexz to Portland for her birthday like I do every year.' Rick opened his mouth to speak. 'Rick, don't say anything. Hey, I had fun. Can we still be friends?'
Rick laughed a mirthless laugh. 'Friends? Good friends? Good friends that kissed? Good friends that had two children?'
Jo interrupted. 'Three.'
'Whatever. Sure, we'll be friends.'
'Rick, I--'
'No! It's okay! I just can't see why you wouldn't love me anymore. I'll call our-- excuse me MY lawyer.' He turned around and left.
Back in the waiting room, Blair, Natalie, Beverly Ann, Sara, Rachel, Jordan, and Tootie were trying to calm Alexz down. She had come out of her mother's room, told her father to go in, and collapsed into a chair crying. Rick came out and slammed the door. 'Alexzandra, your mother wants to see you. She says it's important. Go, now.'
Alexz got up. 'Yes, sir!' She went into Jo's room and Tootie whipered to Natalie, 'There's gonna be troublllle!'
Chapter 6
Alexz walked into her mother's room. 'What?'
Jo tensed up. 'Alexzandra, your father and I are getting a divorce. We'll have joint custody and I'm sorry.'
Alexz nodded. 'It figures. I thought that I would miss the trauma of aving divorced parents, but I guess I was wrong.'
Jo scoffed. 'You act just like you father sometimes, you know.'
'I know,' Alexz retorted and walked out of the room. 'Blair, she wants to see you,' Alexz said and pursed her lips together.
Blair went into Jo's room and Rachel told Alexz to follow her into the bathroom. 'What is with you?'
Alexz looked down. 'My parents are getting a divorce. Thirteen years... I'm the only thing that can save them. Rach, you gotta help me!'
'I don't know how. But... okay.'
------------------
B: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
J: Where'd you hear that?
B: It's on the plaque over there.
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
J: Tell Mrs. G we're out of mouthwash!
B: Well, if it isn't the kissing valedictorian.
J: Blair I have a sense of humor just like everybody else, but there are certain things in life we do not laugh at.
The Yankees and what Roy did to me. Never, are you ever to mention that!
T: He really planted one on you, didn't he?
N: Your face turned purple!
T: No oxygen!
God bless your every footstep,
~_~ Kenzie ~_~
E-Mail-- LoveNancyMcKeon@webtv.net
or
teddysangeljinny@yahoo.com
or
toocuteforyou67890@yahoo.com