GUESS WHO'S BACK? [JESSI]

[Michael Faucheux]

    Okay, so maybe an impromptu journey to Chicago wasn't the best idea. Maybe Mickey should have told someone that he was leaving. Maybe leaving his pregnant girlfriend behind without warning was shitty. He was never one to think of consequences though, and no doubt he would have plenty. The first destination was the Big House, though Mickey wasn't entirely ready for Chiron chewing him out for his 'reckless behavior.' The whole spiel was rather useless at this point. He had heard it a thousand times before as this certainly hadn't been his first time leaving camp without giving notice.

    Once the damned centaur was done with his repetitive mix of a pep-talk and scolding, Mickey was at a bit of a loss for what to do. He wanted to see Jessi more than anything, but he knew his girlfriend and he knew she was going to be pissed beyond hell. So he lingered, mind in a limbo as he took out his pack of cigarettes. Sure he was already in trouble and smoking in the big house, but he needed to calm his nerves before getting possibly murdered.

Jessi Burke

[Jessi Burke]

Jessi didn't ask to be pregnant. She didn't ask for any of it, but somehow thought it was going to be okay with Mickey by her side. Well, she was wrong again. She hadn't seen her boyfriend in months, if he was even her boyfriend still. Jessi didn't know and she was scared... and very hormonal. She'd been taking weekly trips to the infirmary for checkups to make sure the baby was developing healthily. And it was only a couple of visits ago where one of the campers attending to her mentioned about options she could pursue. And she thought about it for a while. She was starting to show and it was only a matter of time before it would be too late for some of those options. So she had another appointment exploring those options and just walked out of the infirmary when she saw him.

The ass was back. Out of the blue he left and out of the blue he returned. And he was smoking. Normally that didn't bother Jessi, but it must've been the additional hormones swirling around her body that got her mad. Oh, it wasn't mad. It was almost like a pure rage. She stormed up to him with all intention of slapping him across the face. Once she got close enough to him, she raised her hand to him as she hissed, "What the fuck are you doing here? Why do you show up now?"

[Michael Faucheux]

And there she was, absolutely gorgeous as always. She was even more beautiful when she was pissed, and judging by the look on her face she most definitely was. He was hoping for some sort of 'welcome back' or a hug or something, but wasn't quite dumb enough to actually believe that would happen. Mickey knew he had been an asshole disappearing like that and he knew that Jessi had every right to be pissed. Wouldn't stop his cocky idiocy, though.

"Hey there, princess," he said sweetly, trademark little smirk on his face. "Miss me?" He glanced to her hand that was dangerously close to slapping his face and clucked his tongue in a scolding manner. "Now, now. No need to resort for violence."

Mickey chuckled lightly, blue eyes slowly moving down to her middle where a small bump resided. It was so slight that most wouldn't notice it, but the boy had spent enough time tracing every part of her body that he knew it by heart. He was tempted to extend a hand and touch her, to touch their baby, but he didn't want to overstep.

[Jessi Burke]

Princess. He had called her Princess. Jessi wanted to stay mad at him, but couldn't find herself wanting to be mad. She had every reason to be mad at him, but she couldn't force herself to. He done so much to her and she couldn't be mad. She curled her threatening hand into a fist as she lowered it down. She felt the tears threatening to well up in her eyes and she closed them as she turned her head away from him. He had done so much to her. And she wanted to get rid of some of it and was actually in the middle of it when he showed up. Like he always did.

After a few moments, she opened her eyes and looked up at Mickey. Her eyes were probably glistening from the tears threatening to spill over, but she really didn't care at that moment. "Why are you back?" she said lowly with a hint of a hiss in her voice. "Why did you go away?"

[Michael Faucheux]

Ah, shit. She was all hormonal. Not that Jessi wasn't usually a bit... much, but the whole pregnancy thing probably wasn't helping. "I came back for you," he said truthfully. "And as for why I left, well..." That wasn't as simple. He couldn't wrap it up in a simple little present like everything else.

"Just some shit you don't gotta worry 'bout, I promise." he said after a long pause. It was typical Mickey, vague and careless. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to tell Jessi why he'd left. It seemed simpler to leave it at that. He'd rather not drag her into his old shit. Hell, he'd rather not be a part of it himself. No doubt the paparazzi got plenty of shots of their favorite model returning from his mysterious disappearance.

[Jessi Burke]

Jessi curled both of her hands into fists as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. It would not look good to anyone if she beat up her baby daddy in the middle of the Big House. But she was mad. He left her when she was the most vulnerable and here she was trying to do something about it and he came back. And he thought it was going to be okay? Her decision was wavering in her head as she turned back to look at him. A few tears had already streaked down her cheeks, but she didn't care at that moment.

"You came back for me?" she repeated as she reached up to wipe away her tears. "Fuck Mickey... I thought you were gone for good. That's why I was planning to get an abortion. I just met with an Asclepius kid about it."

[Michael Faucheux]

Abortion. The word shook through his an entire body, hitting him like a ton of bricks. Of course, he'd never really cared much about the idea of an abortion before. Hell he'd even thrown around the word himself, as that had always been his plan if something like this happened. An abortion meant no baby, and no baby meant he had no responsibility.

But this was different. He didn't want to lose his baby, regardless of the impending adulthood it would force upon him. Because, even though he didn't know it, he loved it with every inch of his being. That was his baby and no one would ever hurt it.

In his own mini crisis he had momentarily forgotten Jessi. His chest ached as he saw her hand reach to dry her tears, knowing that he was the cause of her anguish. He stepped forward and his hand met hers, pulling it away from her tear-streaked cheeks.

"Let me get those, princess." he murmured softly, wiping away her tears for her. If he couldn't fix the damage the least he could do was pick up the pieces. "I'll always come back, okay? I love you and this damn baby too much to not come back." He didn't want to say anything about opposing the possibility of her getting an abortion, at least not yet. She was already pissed enough at him without bringing up another thing to argue over.

[Jessi Burke]

Jessi looked at Mickey as he reached for her hand and pulled it away from his face. He called her Princess again. She used to hate it, but then she liked it and now she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it. She closed her eyes as he wiped off her tears and opened them again as he started talking again. She blinked a couple of times as she looked at him before she finally said something. "You better come back," she said as she sniffled a bit. "I don't think I can't live with you not coming back. I love you too much for you not to come back."

[Michael Faucheux]

He couldn't help but smile slightly, a bit smugly if anything. She'd said the three words. Of course, he'd heard stupid fan girls yelling them at him before, mixed in with desperate stalkers and creepy blog posts, but no one had actually said those words to him before and actually meant it. She loved him. That was almost enough to take away all the hurt and the damage. Almost. But there was still the matter of telling her why he'd left.

"Babe..." He trailed off, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb. Mickey was always so damn smooth with words until he actually needed to be. He sighed, chewing his bottom lip as he began talking again. "My dad he... He died. Heart attack. I had to go put his will in order and everything, plan the funeral, being the last living relative..." He shook his head, face blank, emotionless. He hadn't shed a single tear the whole trip. His father never loved him, never cared. "He left me the rights to everything. The business, the estate, the funds..."

Mickey was now the owner of one of the most successful companies in the world, not that he had any experience in running one nor the slightest clue how. "Of course, they're only under my name and I won't have access to any of it until I turn 18, but..." He wasn't even sure how to continue and so he left it at that, leaving the heavy words in the air to be processed.

[Jessi Burke]

Mickey was right there in front of her, maybe things would be okay in their little world from now on. If not, she would definitely be borrowing some pointy things from her fellow campers to use against him if he decided to ever leave her again. But things were okay for now... or at least she thought they were.

Her heart dropped to her stomach when Mickey started talking about his dad. She knew they didn't have the greatest relationship, but he died? Her eyes watered up a bit as her heart just ached for Mickey. Usually, she wasn't this sympathetic, but it had to be all the crazy pregnancy hormones running amok in her. Maybe it hit a little closer to home because she lost both of her parents before she arrived at camp.

She sniffled a bit as she looked over at Mickey. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked softly as she tilted her head to the side. "Trust me, I know it's very hard to lose a parent even if they weren't the greatest."

[Michael Faucheux]

Mickey scoffed slightly. She was definitely sugarcoating the feelings between him and his father. He shook his head and grinned at her. "My dad might as well have been a fucking sperm donor," he joked.

He learned long ago that the man who gave him life could care less about him. That was partially why he had acted so much in his young teen years, vying for the fatherly attention that he desperately needed. He had Jessie now, though, and hearing the genuine caring in her voice melted his heart. He had needed someone like her for so long without even knowing it.

"Besides, enough of this sad shit. We got baby stuff to talk about. Unless you already did stuff when I was gone?" The poor boy was getting a bit flustered. He knew little to nothing about babies. He picked up a parenting book at one point, but quickly got distracted by some Hermes kids looking for some fun.

[Jessi Burke]

Mickey tried to joke it off, but Jessi still hurt for him. It was a little too close to home for her and she knew she wouldn't have been able to joke about her parents that way. Even through their ups and downs, she still loved and cared about them and she was still so angry that a stupid harpy had to take them away from her. But, then again, she wouldn't have discovered this demigod stuff and eventually met Mickey, even if she would fall pregnant with his child. So she guessed there was some good that came out their deaths, as morbid as it sounded.

"Okay," she said softly as she reached up to wipe the tears out of her eyes before she started crying in the middle of the Big House. But then Mickey started getting flustered with baby talk and Jessi smiled a bit. "Nah, nothing too major besides going to doctor appointments," she said as she lowered her hand from her face and put her hands on her stomach. There wasn't much showing, but she couldn't help but feel a little protective over the baby inside of her. "The baby's healthy. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl for a few more weeks..." She cut off her sentence as she looked at Mickey and raised an eyebrow. "Unless you want to be surprised when they're born?"

[Michael Faucheux]

Mickey thought he'd had a bit too many surprises as of recent, such as his new title as a dad. Actually finding out the gender of the baby though... He supposed that was more of Jessi's choice. Of course, she was asking for his opinion, but he didn't really feel like he deserved one due to his recent actions.

"I guess it's really up to you," he said nonchalantly with a shrug. "Besides, how would they even do that? Like do they just poke around or...?" The boy trailed off, hoping he didn't sound too much like an idiot. Damn I should've studied atleast a little. The thought was slightly surprising, considering Mickey had never studied for anything in his entire life.

[Jessi Burke]

Jessi had to laugh. Mickey was as clueless about this baby stuff as she felt, but they said like the maternal instinct or whatever would kick in eventually. She shook her head as she tried to quite down her laughing fit. "No, no no. They don't poke around to see what the baby is," she said as she gave him a gentle smile. "They use ultrasound machines like they do in the mortal world. It's kinda like an x-ray, but done in real time and it won't harm the baby at all." She shrugged her shoulders as she moved her arms to cross her arms over her chest. "But I'm kind of mixed on the idea of knowing if they're a boy or girl or see once they're born. Hell, I might wait until they're born before I find out, because knowing my luck so far, I would have a screwed up ultrasound."