Unexpected Obstacles by OLTLfantimes10

"What can I help you with John?" Jax asked as he tried to regain his composure.

"How about you explain yourself to me…" he said walking closer to Jax continuing to hold his gaze and his hand on his gun.

"You won’t need that." He said pointing down to John’s hand on his gun.

"Well, we’ll see about that." He said with a mocking smile. "How about you explain to me what the word No means."

"Excuse me?"

"You know, the word No, what does it mean?"

"I don’t think I understand your question."

"Oh come on Jax don’t play stupid with me. You understand exactly what I am talking about. Tell me in your own words what the word No means."

Jax started to stumble with his words and his head was beginning to bead with sweat, "It ummm… It means to stop or don’t do something." He said with a cracking voice.

"Okay, well we know that you know what No means. How come it wasn’t clear to you last night when you forced yourself on my fiancé?" he asked now standing directly in front of Jax almost spitting on him.

"I am sorry." He stuttered out.

"I am not the one you should be apologizing too, and if you ever think of laying a hand on her again in any kind of way I think I might have to use this." He said looking down to his gun, "Have a great afternoon." He said with a smile and walked away. Jax took a deep breath and let it out as soon as John walked away.

John walked out of the diner and headed back to his apartment with an extra spring in his step. He made his way up to his room took a quick shower and changed clothes before heading over to Evangeline’s to pick her up.

A few hours later….

"Hey you…" Evangeline said as she opened the door to a smiling John.

John stepped in and kissed her gently on the lips, "You look great." He said spinning her around.

"Thank you." She said with a giggle. "Where are we going?"

"It’s a surprise. Are you ready?"

"Yeap." She said reaching for her purse.

He led her down to the car and opened the door for her, "Well since we have all of these wedding preparations to do, I figured we should get away from everything for a while since I know you will be busy and I won’t get a chance to see you!" he said as they drove through Llanview.

"Okay, I guess."

"Okay, just okay?" he said with a smirk.

"Fine, John I think that is a great idea!" she said mocking him and placing a hand in his hair. "How was your day?" she asked fingering his hair.

"Pretty good. Yours?"

"Decent, I guess. Nora agreed to help with the wedding preparations."

"Well that is good."

"Yeah, I mean, I have never planned a wedding before and don’t even know where to start. Since she has had so many weddings I think she would be a great asset."

"Good idea." He replied with a smile and then turned his attention back to the road.

"John… where are we going." She finally asked when she noticed that they were leaving town.

"You will see."

"McBain…."

"Williamson…." He said laughing. "Be patient." He said reaching for her hand and squeezing it.

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"Alex…." Adian said knocking on her hotel room door.

"Go away Adian!" she yelled through tears.

"I can’t till I know you are okay."

"I am fine, please just go."

"It doesn’t sound that way hun, just let me in." he heard silence and then her walking to the door. The security chain fell and she opened the door. Her face was tear stained and she was still in the clothes that she had on this morning. He kissed her forehead and walked into the apartment. "Nice place." He said kicking the clothes around his feet.

"What do you want Aidan?" she asked walking past him and sitting on the bed. She sat crossed legged on the bed and leaned her head against the headboard and closed her eyes.

"Alex baby look at me." He said sitting on the bed next to her and put his finger under her chin.

"I don’t want to." She said moving her head so that his finger would fall away from her face.

"I need you too look at me." He said reaching for her hand.

"Adian, I really don’t want to talk about this. I can’t talk about this."

"Yes you can, it is not the end of the world."

Alex shot Aidan a cold glare that would freeze the sun in a heartbeat. "Adian I told you I don’t want to talk about this. My so-called father is not who I thought he was and I can’t talk about it right now, it is still too fresh."

"Have you talked with Evangeline?"

"Why would I talk to her?"

"Because she is your sister, that’s why!"

"She is not my sister!" she said shooting up out of the bed and glaring at Aidan.

"Chill out Alex. She is your sister and you know it."

"No damn it! I don’t know the woman from Fred down the street."

Adian laughed at her comment and then stopped at seeing how she responded to his laugh, "I am sorry." He said bowing his head.

"Whatever Adian. Like I said I haven’t had a chance to process all of this. All I know is that you say the man in those pictures is my father and that I have a sister that I never knew about! How do you expect me to respond to all of this?"

"I guess like you are. I just don’t want you to be alone in all of this. I am here for you, always have been and always will be." He said walking to her and wrapping his arms around her.

"Thank you Adian, I really need you right now. But I can’t have you pushing me into something that I am not ready for. I know I have to talk to Evangeline. How do I tell her that the man she thought was an honest, good, caring, loving, man fathered a child with another woman?"

"I don’t know. But I am sure you will figure it out." He said hugging her tighter.

"Adian?"

"Yes love?"

"Can you stay with me tonight?"

"Sure, anything for you." He said kissing her lightly on the lips

"You hungry?" she asked pulling away.

"Sure am, I have this craving for pizza, you want pizza?" he asked walking over to her bed and pulling out the phone book.

"Pizza sounds fine." She said with a weak smile and joined him on the bed. She tried to push everything out of her mind that had happened earlier this morning. Alex snuggled up in the bed with Adian by her side. She rested her head against his shoulder and he put his arm around hers. They flipped on the pay-per-view channels to find a funny movie to watch.

They ate pizza watched a couple of funny movies and talked about how bad they were. Adian agreed to stay the night when Alex pleaded with him not to leave. She slept next to him wrapped in his arms, safe and secure than she had been all day. He made every bad thing disappear with a simple hug and she loved him for it.

***********************************************************

John pulled up at a park on the outskirts of Llanview, "John what are we doing here?"

"You will see." He said grabbing her hand and leading her out of the car and down the path.

The walk way was light with a string of Christmas lights that directed the way to the surprise that John had set up. He held her hand tight as she followed him closely down the path. It ended at a gazebo that had a web of Christmas lights that light up the whole thing. In the middle was a table set of two with a single rose in the middle and candles on either side of it.

"John…." Evangeline’s mouth fell open at the sight of the gazebo and how it was decorated. A radio was set up in the back and on it played some slow jazz music that his mother had sent him for a birthday present. The gazebo overlooked the lake in the park; the moon was high in the sky and brightens the lake up.

"Do you like it?" he asked pulling out her chair.

"Are you kidding this is amazing, I can’t believe you did all of this?"

"Why not? I can be romantic when I want to be."

"I know, I just…."

"You just what?" he asked as he poured her some wine.

"Nothing, I love you." She said staring into his blue eyes that always made her breath catch.

"I love you too, baby." He said reaching for her hand.

"What’s for dinner?"

"Good question." He said gesturing towards the dome that covered her plate, "Go ahead I know you want too." He said motioning for her to lift the cover.

"Wow! Is this what I think it is?"

"Fresh, from Philly itself…"

"How on earth did you do this?"

"I have my ways. I hope you like it."

"A Philly cheese steak from Philadelphia of course I will like it." She said dipping her steak fries into the ketchup. "God, this is sooo…. Good." She said taking a bite of the sandwich.

"Glad you like it." He said with a smile and ate a bite of his sandwich too.

They ate the sandwiches, fries and cokes that John had gotten from Philadelphia, "I’m stuffed." She said leaning back in the chair and rubbing her stomach.

"I hope not." He said with a wink.

"There is more?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There is always more…" he said walking over to her and taking her hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked as they walked down the park and towards the lake. They walked hand in hand down the pier and to a waiting boat. "Really?" she asked as he stepped in and reached for her hand.

"Really." He replied grabbing her hand. She took it and stepped into the boat and steadied herself before sitting down. She laughed at him as he tried to untie the boat from the dock. "Ready?" he asked as he pushed off from the dock and started rowing the boat.

"Do you know what you are doing?" she asked as she watched him cautiously row the boat along the lake.

"Yes, Evangeline I do…" he replied smiling back at her.

She placed her hands along side the boat and tried to control the overwhelming need to vomit all of a sudden. One of her hands shot up to her mouth and she covered it.

"You okay?" he asked looking at her reaction to the boat right. She nodded and then placed her other hand over her stomach. "Baby are you sure you are okay? You look a little green." He said slightly laughing.

"Don’t you dare…" she said and then leaned over the side and her cheese steak came back up.

He moved quickly towards her careful not to tip the boat over and pulled her hair back away from her face, "Maybe we should have waited till the food settled." John said as he rubbed her back with one hand and held her hair with the other.

"Maybe…" Evangeline replied looking up at him, she turned back towards the lake and threw up again.

"I am so sorry. I didn’t think you would get sea-sick."

"Me either." Evangeline replied sitting up and wiping her mouth. He rubbed her hair and back and sat in front of her, "You okay now?" he asked rubbing her hands.

"I think so. I am sorry John. I don’t know what happened. Normally I don’t get sea-sick." She said trying to help him get over the idea that it was his fault that she was sick.

"It’s okay, you think you can make it back to shore?" he asked moving back to the oars.

"No, don’t I like it out here. It is so peaceful and beautiful."

"You are the beautiful one." He said reaching for her.

"You’re not to bad looking yourself."

"Why thank ya." He said kissing her on the lips.

"John…." She said pulling back.

"What come on, I kissed you when you were sick, this isn’t any different."

"Yes it is now stop." She said placing a hand on his chest and pushing him back some.

"Fine, tell me something."

"What?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"How much longer are you going to work for that slime ball Jax?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, Evangeline really didn’t want to talk about Jax tonight, "I don’t want to talk about him. I may have put a set back in your plans this evening by bringing the dinner back up, but I don’t want to make it any worse by talking about him."

"Okay." He replied with a smile.

"Really?"

"Yes really. This is your night, you get what ever you want."

"Whatever I want huh?"

"What ever you want." John replied with a head nod and a huge smile.

"Well I want to go back to shore." She said scooting back towards the middle of the boat.

"Then that is what we will do." John stated as he picked the oars back up and rowed them back to the shore. He docked the boat and tied it up and then stepped out and helped Evangeline out. "Well we are back on land, you feel okay?"

"Great, dance with me." She said extending her hand to him.

"Here?" he asked taking it and moving closer to her.

"You said I could do whatever I want. And I want to dance with you right now, right here." She said with a smile.

John pulled Evangeline close to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder and they danced to the faint sound of the jazz music that was still playing near the table. Evangeline closed her eyes and took a deep breath then let it out. She could feel his heart beating against her chest, "Baby why is your heart beating so fast?" she asked looking up into his eyes.

"It always does that."

"What do you mean?" she asked as they continued to dance around the park.

"When ever you are this close to me, it beats, it races actually."

"Are you serious?" she asked as she stopped dancing in his arms.

He took her hand and placed it against his chest and looked into her eyes holding a deep gaze that caused her own heart to quicken the pace, "You feel that?" he asked holding her hand against his chest firmly.

"Yeah."

"My heart, my heart…It umm, it…" John closed his eyes and focused on what he was trying to say, "When ever you are close to me, in the same room, or standing this close to me it beats like this. I try to slow it down, but that doesn’t work. I don’t know how you do it. It even beats like this when I think about you. So basically my heart is always beating this fast."

Evangeline was left speechless as her heart picked up it’s pace even faster than before. She saw he wasn’t lying or playing games with her, he was being as honest as a person can be. She saw all of the love he had for her in his eyes and felt his heart racing beneath her palm.

John pulled her back on to his chest and started dancing again. Evangeline rested her head against his chest and listened to his heart beat, the way it beat only for her. She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. John did the same he rested his head on top of hers and let out a deep sigh. "This was the best idea you ever had." She whispered.

"I concur counselor." He replied with a smile.

They danced through the night, not a word was said between them as they danced for hours on end till both their legs were so tired they could have collapsed on the ground. John carried Evangeline back to the car and placed her in it. She slept the whole way back to her place. He didn’t want to wake her so he didn’t. He pulled up to her place and opened the door before going back and getting her. John picked her up and she wrapped her arm around his neck and buried her face into his neck. He kissed her forehead as he pushed the door close with his foot.

He moved through her place as quiet as a mouse and laid her on her bed. Evangeline rolled over and hugged her pillow as John pulled her shoes and pants off. She moaned as she felt his hands moved over her lower body as they pulled her pants down. "John…." She said in a quiet whisper.

John smiled at the mention of his name in her sleep. He undressed and crawled into bed next to her, "I love you." He whispered as she turned over and let her arm fall across his bare chest. "I love you." She said quietly. John kissed her forehead again and drifted off to sleep in his favorite position, her body wrapped around his.