Ain't No Sunshine ... (open)

[Hayes Muirso]

Bleh. Right now, there was no better word in the world for Hayes Muirso. Bleh encapsulated almost everything in his life. Even his dog, George the Nek, was looking as though he had seen many better days and few worse days. In the end it boiled down, as most things do, to a girl. For some time, he’d not seen Abby around the Order. They’d never gone on their trip, and he was beginning to wonder if she’d regretted revealing her little secret to him and just … left. Whatever the reason, he had decided the best solution would be to sit, drink coffee and read. In the Bar and Grill. At 3am.

[Abagael Zellan]

Ugh.

Abagael Zellan never got sick. She just didn't have the time to get sick. But it seemed that the years of being germ-free had caught up to her in the form of one heck of a cold. Since sleep was out of the question Abby had bundled up in a coat and scarf and gone for a walk, sniffling and runny.

It wasn't just the cold either. Everything was just sort of...askew. She was no longer working at her father's law firm. She was no longer taking care of her son. She was just sort of... here.

As she shuffled on in the wee hours of the morning, Abagael cast a glance in a door window, just looking for the sake of looking.

There was Hayes.

For a moment she was puzzled, and looked up at the bar sign to see where she was. Ah, Yogs.

But still, why was Hayes there?

She watched him silently for a moment, the smallest of smiles on her face. Then it faded and the woman frowned. She'd been avoiding him, no question about that. Abby didn't know why, she certainly liked him. In fact, she was beginning to think that she even... Abby stopped the thought before it could start.

Now that was interesting.

After a moments hesitation she tapped lightly on the little glass window.

[Hayes Muirso]

Hayes sighed. He’d been reading the same paragraph of the novel in his hands for about half an hour. Every time he got to the last line on the page, he would looked up, away, and loose himself in self-indulgent thoughts – and when he finally got back to the book, he’d find he’d lost his sense of place and needed to begin over again.

This time, however, he was thankful for having looked up, as he spotted someone. Someone who knocked on the door. Someone who was sporting a pair of bleary eyes and a red runny nose.

George, too, seemed to perk up, his ears rising as he turned his lazy eyes to watch Hayes’ pacing over to the door. A little bell rang in the quiet as he turned the handle and let the cold, and Abby, in.

“You’re up late.”

That astute observation was enough of an icebreaker for him.

“…Everything alright?”

[Abagael Zellan]

Abby waited as Hayes made his way to the door and then suddenly felt a flash of panic. Hayes didn't know, he didn't know she was pregnant. She pulled at her coat, trying to poof the fitted jacked over her bump of a belly. A phlegmy cough stopped her, and Abby sighed as he opened the door. It wasn't as if he would never find out, and she would rather it be sooner than later.

Abagael smiled at the tinkling bell and was about to answer when her face scrunched up and she was hurled into the bar and grill from the force of a monster sneeze. She looked up, her hair strewn over her face and managed a wispy laugh.

"Thad's addracdibe, huh? I'be god a code, sday back."

Abby looked at Hayes guiltily for a moment and then spread her arms out in what would have been a sexy stance had she not had fluids leaking from her face.

"Bud I'm sdill doin-g okay. Whud aboud you?"

[Hayes Muirso]

“Same as ever.”

It was hard not to smile after hearing someone talk like that, in spite of how mean it might have seemed.

“Come on, sit down… you should be resting right now, with a cold like that.”

[Abagael Zellan]

"You don'd habe do dell me I should be resding. Bud I can'd breathe, so sleepin-g is oud."

A little hesitantly Abby slitthered out of her coat. She hung it on the back of a chair and turned to Hayes, watching him carefully. Her baby-filled belly was adorned in a stone blue maternity blouse, beginning to pleasantly round out.

"I'be godden a liddle sidedracked ladely. Don'd worry, I don'd think id's yours. I'm preddy sure, ad leasd."

Abby tried to smile and sat down while absently rubbing her stomach.

"Okay?"

[Hayes Muirso]

Well. This was … unexpected. Slowly, Hayes nodded. Don’t start talking with great gaping pauses, he thought to himself.

“You know if you… need, help… with it… he, she? … or anything.”

So much for that.

“… Yeah, congratulations?”

[Abagael Zellan]

Unexpectedly Abby's eyes misted over. It was the hormones, she assured herself, because normally this wouldn't be happening. Hayes was just so damn kind, even now after... Well, after what? They were just friends, granted friends with added benefits, but she shouldn't have felt so guilty.

Abagael groaned and put her head in her hands.

"God Hayes, I didn'd mean for id do happen, id was an accidend. And then I thoud thad id would be bedder if I sdayed away for a liddle while, bud thad was a misdake and now you're jusd exacdly how I thoud you'd be, and id's wonderful bud maybe you shouldn'd be so wonderful do me and..."

Her increasingly-frantic spiel was cut short by another round of hacking. Abby pulled a napkin from the dispenser on the table and swabbed at her red face, still coughing.

[Hayes Muirso]

Hayes cringed – it sounded as though Abby was about to cough up a lung.

“Do you want a drink or something? Water? Cocoa?”

Neatly, he avoided responding to her accusation of his being ‘wonderful’. Friends help each other, he reasoned, and first and foremost he was as friend, so that’s what he’d do.

[Abagael Zellan]

Abby shook her head and held up a hand.

Cough, hack.

"...No..."

It took another few minutes before she could breathe again. Abagael lay her head on the cool surface of the table and closed her eyes.

"Whud are you readin-g?"

[Hayes Muirso]

Hayes flicked the book up, so that the cover was visible. It said in ominous looking copperplate text Oedipus Rex. It showed a man shrieking at the heavens, as a body lay in waste behind him. The Padawan gave a little shrug, before pushing the book down splayed against the table – an awkward way of keeping his page.

With his arms crossing, folded, over the table, Hayes mimicked Abageal, laying his head down so that the world turned ninety degrees anticlockwise. Something struck him, then.

“… Where’s Trent?”

[Abagael Zellan]

"He doesn'd libe with me anymore."

Abby was still stuck on the cover of the book, and she reached over to pull it closer. She studied the cover silently and raised her eyebrows. Finally Abby put it down, replacing it carefully so that Hayes' page wasn't disturbed.

"Bery inderesdin-g Misder Muirso. Id's good do see you'be been keepin-g busy."

Her cheek had warmed the area which it was resting on, so Abby shifted to a cooler place.

"Hayes," Sigh,"We need do dalk."

[Hayes Muirso]

Hayes nodded.

Slowly, he sat back up and removed his glasses. It was a habitual thing he had developed over time. Whenever he felt there was a moment coming along that would be difficult or awkward in anyway, he would remove them and begin to clean his lenses with his shirt collar. Pressing the glasses back on and up his nose, he nodded again.

“Maybe you and I both should get some sleep first, though… it’s hard to think straight at ungodly hours like these.”

[Abagael Zellan]

Abby had known Hayes long enough to diagnose his apprehension. She shook her head.

"No, no, no. We need do dalk now. Who knows whud will happen by mornin-g? I could be dead."

She knew he was tired, as was she, but Abby wasn't certain she could have this discussion wen she wasn't souped up on cold medicine.

"...Please?"

[Hayes Muirso]

A little frown at the suggestion of such things, and he conceded.

“Okay. I’m all ears.”

[Abagael Zellan]

"I'm goin-g do go oud on a limb here and jusd say id."

Abby stared at him with blank eyes, half-dazed.

"I like you Hayes."

[Hayes Muirso]

Tell me something I don’t know, Hayes thought.

“You already know the feeling is mutual.”

Voice dipping, he just returned the stare, expectantly.

[Abagael Zellan]

"Okay...Yes, okay...Bud--"

Abby gave him a clear look of 'give-me-a-break' and started to chew her right pinky nail. Abby had always had trouble in these kind of situations.

"I'be been married before Hayes, and do be brudally honesd, id was hell. Bud I fathered a child with a man who I didn'd feel half of whud I feel aboud you. Whud I'm dryin-g do say is..."

She stilled.

"...I think I'm in lobe with you."

[Hayes Muirso]

How were you supposed to respond to things like that? Hayes had never been loved by anyone, unless he counted his mother. Likewise, he had never loved, as far as he was aware. He’d felt attachments, strong ones, but… Be a man.

“I think I might be thinking the same thing,” was the best he could come up with.

[Abagael Zellan]

No, no, no...It would have been so much easier if he hadn't said that. Unaware that she'd even closed her eyes, Abby lifted her lids to look at him sadly.

"Then our problem is whether or nod we can."

It was easy to make excuses. Hayes and Abby were so different, there were so many things that would make this difficult... But it was none of these reasons that made her hesitate.

She was scared.

[Hayes Muirso]

Hayes gave a small shrug of his shoulders. He felt regardless of whether or not they were together, they would still be together. It would be impossible to entirely avoid one another and frankly, although he couldn't speak for Abageal, he certainly wouldn't be avoiding anyone, even if this particular meeting turned out a little sour.

"I'm… open, here. It's your call."

[Abagael Zellan]

"Oh God, don'd do thad! Please, my ex-husband used do do thad, I hade making this kind of descision."

Abby 'fwumped' her head down into her hands and sighed, rubbed the back of her neck in slow circles.

"Whud..."

She stopped and tried again.

"...Well, I don'd know whud do do. I lobe you Hayes, bud... Id's difficuld, you know?"

[Hayes Muirso]

"Right. I understand."

He smiled, and it was a genuine smile, not one covering up bitterness.

"Just take some time… think about it. You'll have a clearer head in the morning."

[Abagael Zellan]

"Uh-huh."

Abby didn't sound like she believed him, but she nodded anyway. The woman got up and grabbed her coat, and from all angles it appeared as if she were getting ready to leave. However, she merely walked over to Hayes and--with tremendous difficulty--lowered herself until she was on his lap. It was selfish, she was going to get him sick too but...

"I hade bein-g a aduld."

Abagael rested her head on his shoulder and sighed miserably.

[Hayes Muirso]

"Being a big kid," Hayes yawned, head falling down onto that which was on his shoulder as he gave the big sick lump a hug, "is the bestest. Much easier, but without so many benefits as this… adult-dom has."

[Abagael Zellan]

"Righd. Hayes,"

She paused and scrunched up her face. That tickly feeling of a maybe-sneeze lingered and then passed. Abby swallowed and continued, head still relaxed in tandem with the mans shoulder.

"If somethin-g happens do me, would you dake care of this kid?"

[Hayes Muirso]

Trying to sit up was difficult, but he did managed to half knock Abby's head from his shoulder, "Is something going to happen to you? … Of course, I mean… but, is there?"

[Abagael Zellan]

"...maybe."

Abby looked at him with doe eyes, a small frown on her face. She sighed and shrugged.

"I might go to jail. Murder."

[Hayes Muirso]

"What?!"

A few eyes darted in Hayes' direction. He cringed. Now in a much more hushed, but still audible and quite aggressive voice, he asked:

"Who did you kill?!"

[Abagael Zellan]

In reply Abby glared at Hayes and made an 'o' of surprise with her mouth. She pointed an accusing finger at him and shook it in the mans face.

"I can'd beliebe you jusd said thad! Do you think I would acdually kill someone?! Huh!"

Abby rolled her eyes and would have gotten off of Hayes had she been less whale-like and pregnant. Instead she just turned her face away from him and sighed irritably. There was no reason to be mad at him, really, and she wasn't, really. Just aggravated.

"And for your information, Misder Muirso, I didn'd kill anyone. Id's jusd the whole Zellan thin-g again. He--" By 'he' she meant Dougrey Zellan, "is mad because I quid my job and won'd come back."

[Hayes Muirso]

"Oh."

Of course she hadn't murdered anyone. He was just… over-reacting, in light of recent events. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was glad she'd finally quit, but all of this mess seemed to overshadow that grain of happiness.

"… So what if he's mad. One lawyer is no match for the entire Jedi Order."

[Abagael Zellan]

"Yeah, excepd thad I have been lyin-g do the endire Jedi Order. And thad he can go do the press ad any dime, Hayes."

Abby shook her head, an angry glare covering her cold-infected face.

"He jusd wands do sday in condrol! Id's nod fair, I've done everythin-g he wanded me do do, every sdupid thing! And now he's goin-g do dry and sdick me with the blame."

She hit the table with her fist like an errant child.

"I should habe jusd told everyone when I first god here."

[Hayes Muirso]

"All that would have changed would be that all this fuss would be happening sooner. So you lied – the Order forgave you. They aren't going to let one of their own get in trouble."

[Abagael Zellan]

"I hope you're righd because..."

Abby lowered her voice and looked away.

"I'm kind of... inderesded in this kid. I don'd know whud's happenin-g do me, bud I wand do see whud she looks like."

A very un-Abagael like smile was fighting to creep onto her face. It was soft and held a bit of uncertainty. Looking at her hands that were spread out over her belly, Abby almost started crying again. There was something unexplainable about this pregnancy. Something new.

"Wand do feel id-- her kick?"

[Hayes Muirso]

"Okay."

Hayes couldn't help but smile. Abby seemed, despite all other signs, pleased that she would be welcoming a daughter into the world. It was a sad sight when things were otherwise, so Hayes was pleased that was the case with Abby. Reaching out a hand, he ran his palm back and forth expectantly.

"Show me your moves, kid."

[Abagael Zellan]

Abby looked eagerly down at her belly. The first time she had felt the baby kick the woman had almost had a heart attack, before remembering that Trent had done the same. Still, it was a little unnerving to see ones stomach bumpin'n'grindin' all on it's own.

"C'mon..."

With a frown Abby poked at her stomach a bit. Almost instantly (and sort of irritably) the skin bumped outwards as the little one kicked. A delighted look crossed Abagaels face and she looked at Hayes quickly to make sure he'd felt it. The wonderment in her eyes was as pure as Trents, when he learned something new. Looking at Hayes, Abby began to think very quickly and before she knew it...

"Hayes, leds go on our drip do Naboo. Led's ged married on Naboo. We can leabe donighd, and-and-and we can buy cheap drinked-y rings and ged some old priesd do do the ceremony... in a field!"

Then she stopped talking and covered her mouth with a hand.

"Oh...I can'd beliebe I jusd said thad. Oh..."

Now she had her hands over her face and she was sliding off of Hayes' lap. Abby grabbed her jacket and pulled it on, shaking her head as she fumbled with the buttons.

"Why did I say thad? God, I jusd can'd keep my mouth shud, can I? You're righd, I need to ged some sleep, you need do ged some sleep, we both need to sleep--"

Abby looked down at her coat which was as close to being done up as it had been five minutes ago.

"Argh, whud's wron-g with these buddons?!"