Chapter 4: Ready for the Walk of Shame

After yet another exhausting day of work, Aimee quietly let herself into the manor. It was nearly 10pm which was surprisingly early for her. She dropped her bags in the foyer then made her way into the kitchen. She reached for the bottle of red wine and poured herself a glass, then took a sip. Setting the glass down on the counter, she heated up a plate of food left in the oven for her, no doubt by her daughter.

Aria. My sweet girl. Still taking care of me, even when I don't deserve it. She thought to herself.

Things had been shaky between the two of them for the past couple weeks, ever since that night.

The night where her biggest secret had finally come out.

Thinking back to that night, she couldn't help but feel guilty about what she had done. Keeping Aaron away from his daughter for 16 years, letting Aria grow up without a father. At the time, it made sense to her. But in all fairness, she was a confused and scared 18 year old making the biggest decision of her life. She felt like she had no one to turn to, no one to confide in. Her friends had their own lives. The first year of college was exciting and free.

Too free. She thought. She was supposed to be having the time of her life. Away from her overbearing parents, meeting new people and going to parties but still finding the time to study. Then she met him and everything changed.

She found him charming and attractive. He was older but still acted like a typically college kid. Something about him intrigued her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but there was something mysterious about him. That just made him even more interesting and she wanted to know everything about him.

They met at a campus party one night. She really didn't want to go but her friends dragged her along. Apparently getting invited to a frat party as a freshman was a big deal. She really didn't care. All she wanted was to get her Medical degree and find a job at a decent hospital so she could support herself instead of depending on her parents.

Her parents. Yet another reason why she felt as if her life was slowly falling apart. If they hadn't put so much pressure on her, things would be different. If only they were more supportive and actually took an interest in her life and feelings. But no. Their work was more important than their children. No wonder her older brother Matt dropped out of Med school. He became a paramedic instead of a medical doctor and joined the army.

Lucky him. She thought.

Now it was up to her to fulfil her parents' dreams of having a doctor in the family. In a way she resented him for putting that extra pressure on her but she also envied him. At least he was out there living his life without their parents constantly looking over his shoulder.

She admired him mostly, for being able to take that step. She knew it wasn't an easy decision and even though she was scared he might get hurt over there, she supported him. They kept in contact as much as possible but it wasn't the same as seeing him every day in person. She missed him terribly.

Her eyes fell on a framed picture of her and Matt when they were teenagers. It was taken at the beach on a rare family vacation. They were dressed in their swimming clothes, goofy smiles on their faces as the sun shone brightly in the background, illuminating the clear blue water behind them. It made her smile.

She made her way up the staircase to check on her daughter. Reaching Aria's room, she was just about to knock but noticed the door was slightly open. She slowly pushed it wide enough to see Aria sitting at her window seat, books and stationery scattered across the floor below and around her. She also heard Aria speaking to someone on her cell phone. Her back was towards the door so she didn't see her mother standing behind her. Aimee watched her for a while, while trying to figure out who she was talking to. She heard Aria laugh and it made her smile. She continued to listen to the conversation. Aria mentioned dinner and a movie. A date, maybe. She thought, frowning.

But that thought was quickly erased when she finally heard who her daughter was talking to:

"Aaron..."

She quietly backed out of Aria's room and headed back to the kitchen. So, she's speaking to him but barely says two words to me? She thought to herself. Even though she probably deserved it, she couldn't help but feel hurt. Sitting down at the kitchen counter, she poured herself another glass of wine and attempted to eat her food. She needed to talk to him. To both of them. And soon. It was driving her crazy to not be able to talk to her daughter. You really screwed up, Aimee. She thought. She needed to make this right, no matter what it took.

She abandoned her half eaten plate of food, grabbed the bottle of wine and her glass, and then made her way to her bedroom en-suite. She ran herself a bubble bath. It's exactly what she needed right now.

Exhausted from her busy day, she soaked her tired body in the warm water and started to relax. In doing so, she couldn't help but think back to that night...

"What do you mean she's gone?" He asked her. "She shouldn't be out in this weather."

Aimee continued to stare at the door in shock, barely even acknowledging that Aaron was still there. If anything happened to her, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"She hates me. My daughter hates me." She said softly.

Aaron stared at her. Should he go out there and look for her or should he stay with Aimee? He had no idea where she would go so it would be pointless. He decided to stay with Aimee, at least for now. He needed answers. He just had to believe that Aria would be okay and that she went somewhere safe to cool off and process the news.

"Can you blame her?" That sounded harsher than he intended it to be and he regretted it immediately. He was about to apologise when she turned towards him, shock turning to anger as she walked up to him.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She yelled at him.

"Aimee, I..." He started to say but was cut off.

"No! Don't you dare judge me Aaron. You have no idea what I went through back then. I did what I thought was best." She continued.

"Best for who, Aimee?" He yelled back. "Aria?" She looked away, not saying a word. "Cause that worked out pretty well, didn't it?" He told her, sarcastically.

"You should leave. Now." She told him.

"No. I'm not going anywhere. You at least owe me some answers."

"Why bother? It's not gonna change anything, no matter what I tell you. You wouldn't understand it." She told him calmly.

"Then make me understand. Because right now, I don't. I don't understand why you felt the need to hide this from me. God, Aimee. Did you think that I would just drop you? That I wouldn't have did the right thing and supported you and the baby. Our baby. I loved you, Amelia." He confessed.

She looked away from him, struggling to keep the tears at bay. He only called her Amelia when he was serious. She knew that he loved her back then, but hearing him say it made her heart hurt a little more.

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you." She said softly, as the silent tears slowly rolled down her face. She quickly wiped it away.

He frowned. "I don't follow." He said confused.

She walked into the living room and sat down on one of the sofas. He walked in after her and sat down on the opposite side, slightly facing her. She was quiet for a while and he took the time to study her.

She sat hugging her knees to her chest and it reminded him of Aria, because she had done the same thing earlier on while they were talking. She looked younger, like a scared, lost teenager. He then looked at her face, and he could tell that she was trying hard to rearrange her thoughts before she told him what she meant.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke, while continuing to stare out in front of her. She couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"I didn't tell you because I knew that you would want to do the right thing. That you would do whatever you could to support us. And I couldn't let you do that." She told him.

He frowned. "Why not?"

"I was barely eighteen and you were in your last year of Law school. Not to mention the fact that you were on a scholarship. I couldn't let you throw all that away. Not when you were so close to graduating."

Then it hit him. She did it to protect him. She knew that a baby would stand in the way of his impending career.

"It would've cost you more than it would've cost me, if you dropped out." She said, confirming his thoughts.

He sat there, taking in what she had told him. He slowly got up from his side on the sofa and walked to the window. Her eyes followed him while she remained on the sofa in the same position.

"Aaron?"

"I can't believe you did that for me." He finally said, then turned around.

"It was the hardest decision I ever had to make." She let him know.

"It wasn't your decision to make!" He snapped. "You should have just told me. We could've worked something out. But instead of talking to me, you dropped out of college and moved away without even saying goodbye." She immediately looked away from her noticed her tense up. He walked towards her until he stood directly in front of her. Then he sat down on the coffee table behind him.

"What aren't you telling me?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Me dropping out of college, leaving DC, wasn't exactly by choice." She told him.

"What do you mean?"

She took a breath then released it slowly.

"After I told my parents, they freaked out. Not just because I was eighteen and pregnant. But because they were worried about how it would make them look." She said then shook her head.

"There I was, confused and scared out of mind, while they were more concerned about themselves. If it had gotten out that the teenage daughter of two media moguls was pregnant, it would've caused some big scandal that could've possibly damaged not only their reputations but their company's as well." She sighed.

"So, instead of asking me what I wanted to do, my mother decided for me." She paused, wiping away the tears that had managed to escape her eyes.

Aaron never took his eyes off her. He knew whatever she was about to say wouldn't be good. He placed a hand on her knee, letting her know that it was okay to continue. She gave him a small smile, then exhaled slowly.

"She told me that I had to 'get rid of it' and that having a baby so young would 'ruin my life'. Those were her exact words, by the way." She laughed, humourlessly. "I told her no. In some weird way she actually made my decision to keep Aria a little easier, because I knew that there was no way I could go through with an abortion. Just the thought of it made me sick to my stomach."

"So, she made you leave DC? Why would she do that?" He asked while moving over to the sofa again, sitting next to her.

"Well, after countless fights, she finally realised that no matter what she said, I wasn't gonna change my mind. One thing about my mom is that she likes to be in control. I guess that's why she's so successful. But I wasn't some business deal that she could arrange the way she wanted. That's when she decided that it would be better for all of us if I no longer lived with them."

"She said that if I didn't follow her rules, I was no longer welcome in her house. If she had her way, she probably would've shipped me off to some boot camp for troubled teens. So, my dad suggested I go live with his sister in Seattle. That's where Aria was born. It was just supposed to be for a few weeks, you know, until my mother calmed down. But weeks turned into months and I ended up staying there for four and half years. My dad kept in contact as much as he could and sometimes he'd visit. But my mom..." She paused, hurt flashed across her face. "She just went on with her life and pretended that Aria and I didn't even exist."

She shrugged. "After what I did to you, I guess I deserved it."

He shook his head. "No, Aimee. I may not agree with how you went about doing things but I understand why you did it. As for your mom shutting you out because of it..." He paused. "You didn't deserve that. No one does." She nodded.

"How do you do that?" She asked quietly.

He frowned. "Do what?"

"Make me feel better. You should hate me." She said as she rested her chin on her knees.

"I may be mad at you but I don't hate you." She nodded.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"You said you stayed in Seattle for four and half years." She nodded. "Why did you come back to DC? Weren't you happy there?" He asked.

"I was." She smiled then it faded. "Then my aunt got sick. She just shrugged it off, said it was nothing and that she was fine, even though I could see she wasn't. When I had finally convinced her to see a doctor, it was too late. They told her she had cancer and that it spread too far to be treated..." She exhaled. "She died a couple months later. Aria was only four years old."

"I'm sorry." He said.

She smiled at him sadly and nodded. "Anyway, after her funeral, my dad asked me if I wanted to go back to DC with him."

"And you obviously did."

"Yeah. It took some convincing though. I still hadn't spoken to my mom in nearly five years so I had no idea what to expect. She never met Aria before we moved back here so I was kinda nervous about that. I was worried she might reject her or completely ignore her. But Aria..." She smiled then shook her head. "She made it nearly impossible for my mom not to love her. She was so sweet and polite and pretty persuasive, even for an almost five year old." They both chuckled lightly.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence until the house phone rang.

"I should probably get that." She said then stood up. He nodded.

"Aria?" She answered hopefully. "Oh, hi Rachel." She listened to what her friend had to say.

Meanwhile, Aaron had gotten up from the sofa and walked towards the foyer. He half-listened to the one-sided conversation, planning on leaving as soon as Aimee was done.

"Oh, thank God." He heard Aimee say, which made him look up at her. "So, she's okay?" Aimee asked, then exhaled slowly.

"I see. Look, I promise I'll tell you what happened but I can't get into it right now." He silently watched her pace the floor in the foyer.

"I know. Thank you. I appreciate you letting me know. Talk soon. Bye." She said then hung up.

She rubbed her hand over her tired face then turned around. Aaron was standing opposite her.

"Aria's fine. She's spending the night at a friend's house not too far from here." He nodded.

"That's good. It's late, I should probably get going." She nodded.

"Aaron, I'm..."

He shook his head. "Don't. I just need some time. I don't think I can handle any more information right now." He collected his coat then walked towards the door. Before he left he stopped to turn around and said:

"Once Aria has calmed down, I'd like to see her again. Would that be okay?" He asked.

"Of course. I don't intend on keeping her away from you. I promise." She replied. He nodded then left. She locked the door, leaned her back against it and slid down it till she hit the floor. She pulled her knees up against her chest and sobbed. Her world was slowly falling apart and her heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces.

She was all alone with no one to comfort her. But maybe, she deserved it.

"I've got my high heels in my hand, Oh, I'm ready for the walk of shame, it ain't pretty, when a heart breaks..." Lady A - It Ain't Pretty