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abbatoirablaze · 1 year

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How To Get Away With Murder, Chapter 8

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: teenage pregnancy, slight angst, blackmail/manipulation.

"Frank," she whispered over the phone, "I need you to come out here."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just, I need to talk to you."

"I can catch a plane out sometime next week," he offered.

"No," she said quickly, "I know Eve would be looking into you, especially after you would tell mom you headed to New York."

"Hey," he said in a simple tone, "What's going on?"

"I don't want to say it over the phone."

"It's okay, you can tell me," he said in a sweet tone. The bed he was in shifted, "Can I call you back?"

"Oh, uhm, yeah. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I'll call you back in ten minutes." he said simply, "I love you."

"I love you too, Frank!" she sighed, hanging up the phone. He put his cell down as the woman behind him wrapped her arms around his waist. She kissed his shoulders.

"Who was that?"

"My sister."

Kennedy looked at him with a questioning glance, "Your sister is calling you at 1 am?"

"Who else would I say I love you to?" he said, forcing a laugh. He stood up and got out of Kennedy's bed, sliding on his boxers and pants. Then he started working on his shirt, "It's a family thing. I have to pick her up."

"Is everything okay?" the debutante asked, pulling the covers around her otherwise naked body. Frank nodded and put his shoes on before grabbing his wallet and his cell phone, "Call me?"

He waved her off as he left her apartment. When he got in his car, he pulled his cell phone back out and called her up, "I'm coming to see you."

"What?"

"I'm coming to see you," he replied once more. He started his car up and began driving out to New York. It'd been five months since he'd seen Cheyanne and now that she was calling him, he was going to take it for everything it was worth. Even though they only had that one weekend together, he'd never felt happier.

When Annalise said that Cheyanne was going to live with Eve for a while, he didn't know what to expect. He didn't want to contact her because Eve was the only one that knew about their relationship. But every day, he missed Cheyanne.

"I don't know if that's a good idea, to come out right now."

"I don't care."

"Frank it's one a.m., you won't get here until three!"

"Then it's an even better excuse for me to stay over when I get there."

"Eve might kill you."

"I'll be fine."

"Frank, I'm pregnant," she blurted out, "It happened that one weekend."

"What?"

"I wanted to call you because I wanted to tell you...I have my five-month appointment today. I get to find out the sex of the baby this afternoon...Eve is against me having the baby, but I told her I want to keep it."

"You're pregnant?"

"Yeah," she sighed, "And I'm keeping it."

"Tell Eve I'll see you in two hours." he said. Then he hung up. The entire drive up he couldn't think straight. He tried to think back to that week of the Mahoney case. Then he remembered they slept together when they’d both gotten drunk, "Fuck."

When he arrived at the apartment building Eve was standing in the lobby, waiting for him.

"Come on up, Frank," she said coldly. He nodded, following her to the elevators. They got off on the twenty-seventh floor. She unlocked the door and inside was a very anxious Cheyanne sitting on the couch, staring at her cell.

"Chey?"

The sixteen-year-old got up and turned around. Frank saw the baby bump protruding from her normally flat stomach, "Frank."

"Oh my god," he whispered. Frank moved towards her, and she ran into his arms, showering him with kisses.

"I missed you so much," she admitted. He nodded along and let their lips finally crash together. He missed the scent of jasmine and honey wrapping around him. She jumped up into his arms and he caught her. Something about that moment felt so right. He was going to have a family of his own.

"Alright you two," Eve said, trying to separate them. Cheyanne looked from her mother and then to the floor, wiping off her lips, "I'm only allowing this to continue because Cheyanne pleaded with me. She told me she loves you."

"I love her too," Frank said without hesitation. The answer was so quick that it surprised even Cheyanne, “I love you so much Chey…”

"Alright, then we need to talk logistics," Eve said, walking into her kitchen. From there she began a pot of coffee, "You know that once she has the baby, we have to say that she doesn't know who the father is, right? This is to protect you. I already told Annalise and Sam that Cheyanne is pregnant, but they think she's only four months along. They also think she got knocked up when she came here. Needless to say, they aren't too happy with me."

"Thank you.” Frank said, stepping over towards the island.

"I didn't do it for you," she said, looking over at Cheyanne, "I did it for my daughter."

"You don't know how grateful I am," Cheyanne said, sitting down at a bar stool. She reached across the island and took her mother's hand, "Thank you mom. I know it can't be easy with how Annalise and Sam are acting about it."

"It's not," she sighed, "Which is why I'm actually glad both of you are here so we can talk about the logistics of it all."

"Anything you need," Frank said reaching out to the two women. He took both of their hands in either of his, "Whether its financially, emotional support. Anything you need. I'm only a two-hour drive from you."

"See mom," Cheyanne said, "I told you he is a good guy."

"Well, that's good to know, he's willing to provide support any parent should," Eve said, "Here's what's going to happen. You're not going to have contact with your child very often, because I don't want Annalise figuring out you were screwing our daughter. Secondly, until Cheyanne has her own place, the child will live in New York with me. She's already made it clear that she wants to float between my house and Annalise's, but she still has to finish schooling, which she's already decided to do online."

"Okay," Frank said, trying to lead the conversation, "When you say I'm going to have limited contact with the kid, do you mean, none? Because I want to be able to see my kid."

"How would you feel seeing your kid on it's 18th birthday after I put a protective order out on Cheyanne to bar you from seeing her. How would you feel going to jail for statutory rape?"

"MOM!"

"I'm letting him know what I'm protecting him from," Eve said, "Do you agree to this Frank?"

His clenched fists unballed and he thought the situation through. She was right. He couldn't risk anyone know about the baby being his. Not only would it destroy his life, but also the lives of his unborn child, and of course, Cheyanne. Annalise and Sam would never trust either of them again, "Fine."

"Good," she replied, "We have an agreement. Now, Cheyanne, get some rest, your appointment is in 6 hours."

"Appointment?"

"Yeah," Cheyanne responded, "I get to find out the sex of the baby."

"Really?" Frank asked.

Eve nodded, "Since you are here, would you like to come along, Frank?"

"I'm allowed to come with you?"

"If you come with us, it's as nothing more than a friend. You can't get emotional. I don't want the doctor to suspect anything."

Frank nodded and Eve urged the both of them to get some rest. Frank almost made it to Cheyanne's room, before Eve stopped him and pointed to the couch. While it wasn't the best of situations he was happy to be included. It wasn't until he almost fell asleep that the weight of the couch shifted and he felt a small pair of arms wrap around him. He turned in the couch to see Cheyanne smiling at him.

"Thank you."

He kissed her nose and put a hand on her stomach, "this is our little family."

She nodded and put her own hand over his. Then she pushed it right to the hem of her shorts.

"Chey," he said, "Your mom is-"

But he stopped himself when he felt the baby kicking. His eyes went to hers.

"The baby has been kicking since it heard your voice."

"Cheyanne?" the nurse called out. Eve, Frank and Cheyanne stood up and headed back into the room. They took her weight and blood pressure then led her to a separate room. She laid down and lifted up her shirt.

"You excited?" Eve asked. Cheyanne couldn't contain her smile as she nodded.

"Can I come in?" the doctor asked, knocking on the door. Eve beckoned for her to come in and she sat down on a stool, placing a file on the counter, "Alright, Cheyanne. How are we feeling? Any concerns?"

"None whatsoever," she smiled, taking Franks hand, "Can we see the baby?"

"We will in a second," the doctor laughed. That's when she noticed Cheyanne holding Frank's hand, "And who is this gentleman?"

"I'm Frank. " he said, taking a step forward and shaking her hand.

"He's my mom's assistant. And my best friend," Cheyanne smiled, "Mom had an important case so she sent Frank. Can we send him home with a sonogram for her?"

"The mom that works in Philadelphia?" the doctor asked. Cheyanne nodded, "Well it's nice to meet you, Frank. And yes, we can send a copy home with him."

She turned towards the machine and turned it on, then put a pair of gloves on, and grabbed the gel, "You ready to find out if you are having a boy or a girl?"

Cheyanne smiled, "Yes please."

The doctor moved the wand around on Cheyanne's stomach and spread out the gel and soon the room was filled with the strong sound of a baby's heartbeat.

"Your baby has a healthy heartbeat," the doctor smiled. Frank took Cheyanne's hand in his own as he looked at the screen. It was almost overwhelming to him. The heartbeat made it real, but he could see the outline of his child now too, "There's the head, arms. Feet. And oh...here we are. Do you want to know the sex of the baby?"

"Yes," Cheyanne smiled, “please. I’m so ready to know.”

"Congratulations Miss. Harkness, you're going to have a baby girl." She put the wand down and turned off the machine, "I'll go get the print outs. 3 copies?"

Cheyanne nodded and the doctor went out of the room.

"It's a baby girl," Frank smiled. Cheyanne's grin matched his own as he pulled her to him, and they kissed. There were tears in his eyes as he thought about it. Cheyanne and he were gonna have a baby girl, "I'm going to be the best father to this baby ever, you'll see, Chey."

"I know Frank."

"I love you."

"I love you too," she responded, "I love you too Frank."

"She's in labor. Her water broke," Eve said over the phone, “you have to get here, now!”

“That’s impossible. She’s only seven months pregnant.”

“I know,” Eve responded, “They rushed her into the emergency room. They think that she’s going to have the baby...the water broke so they think the baby may be in distress. They’re taking her in for a aesarean.”

In that moment Annalise had a flashback to eight months ago. Eight months ago, she was in a car crash. The doctors had taken her to have emergency surgery after the baby went into distress. Now the exact same things was happening to her daughter. Well except the car crash.

“Annalise?” Eve said. Her voice carried over the receiver. Her interns looked at her questioningly.

“Frank,” Annalise barked. He stepped forward. He tried to hide the guilt and concern that was on his face with a blank look, “I have to go to New York. Cheyanne is in labor. Eve I’ll be there in two hours.”

She hung up the phone and barked some kind of order about Bonnie needing to have everyone file the cases and ran to her car. She threw the keys at Frank and got into the passenger’s seat.

"Mom," she cried as they laid her on a gurney. There was a mess of doctors around Cheyanne as they tried to have her be calm so they could put an i.v in her, "Mom I want him. Where is he?"

Eve felt sympathy for her daughter. She could barely look at her. She was 8 months pregnant and going into labor. The doctor said they needed to have her calm so they could get her under anaesthesia to do the c-section. That only scared Cheyanne and she began to beg for Frank. She didn't dare say his name, at the risk of getting him into trouble, but she pleaded with her mother to call him. The best she could do was call Annalise and hope he was there. Thankfully it was 6 p.m. and he was. Now they were on their way to the hospital.

"He's coming, honey," she said, trying to calm her daughter down. She went to the head of the gurney and began to stroke her hair, "You're okay. The doctors are going to take care of you. You just need to trust them. Okay?"

It didn't work amazingly, but it did calm her down enough for one of the nurses to get an iv in her arm. Within five minutes she was groggy from the anaesthesia. The room had cleared to all but one medical student who was keeping watch for when she was under just enough that they could take her to surgery.

"Mom?"

Eve and the med student looked up from their chairs, "What is it honey?"

"I think my water broke again, she whispered. She pulled back the covers, but before Eve could explain that your water doesn't break twice, Cheyanne screamed. The bed was covered in blood. The medical student ran from the room to go tell someone, "Mom, what's going on? Mom?"

Eve looked at her daughter, she didn't know what to say.

"I don't feel so good," she whispered. Her eyes were starting to fall closed before a long slow beep began to fill the room. Eve ran out of the room screaming for help as four nurses ran in and began CPR.

"Take her to emergency surgery," a doctor demanded, "OR 2, STAT!"

Eve was being pushed out of the way before the gurney sped past her. Eve ran after, following the doctor and nurses, but one stopped her as she was about to board the elevator.

"I'm her mother," she all but screamed. The nurse pulled her in, and they rode to the second floor. They went through twists and turns before they went through a set of heavy doors. Eve was stopped by one of the nurses as the remaining nurses and doctor put her on a clean gurney. Then they took her into the operating room, "That's my daughter."

"I can't let you go any further," the nurse explained. Eve broke down in the nurse's arms. She caught her and together they slid to the floor. The nurse let her cry for ten minutes before she got her to stand up and led her to the waiting room, "I promise when we have any updates, I'll let you know, personally."

Eve nodded, crying into her hands. Why did she allow her daughter to do this? Why did she cover for her and Frank? Maybe she should tell Annalise. She watched the clock. It was 6:30. She watched the clock go on. Agonizing minute by minute.

She called Annalise's phone and left a voicemail that something was wrong, and the baby was definitely in distress. At 7:52 the nurse came back. Eve stood up. Her tear-stained face was hopeful, "Please tell me everything is alright."

"Would you like to meet your grand-daughter?" she said with a smile. Eve let a few tears fall and she laughed, pulling the nurse in for a hug.

"Yes," she cried out, "Oh please."

The nurse led her into an elevator up to the fourth floor where the maternity ward was. They went down the hall to the second door on the right. Eve stopped at the open door.

"Knock, knock," she laughed as she tried to lighten the mood, “guess who?”

Cheyanne looked up at Eve and smiled, "Her name is Julie. Julie Evelyn Rothlo."

"You're giving her my name?" her mother asked. She felt her heart catch in her throat, "Julie Evelyn Rothlo? You're sure?"

She walked into the room and Cheyanne stretched out her arms, "Do you want to hold her?"

Eve nodded through the tears as her daughter handed over her grand-daughter. She was sleeping, and had her little hands balled up near her face.

"She's so beautiful," Eve whispered, “god she looks just like you did when you were born.”

"She's got his smile, and his eyes. Wait until she's awake, mom. She's got the most beautiful eyes."

"Cheyanne," Annalise said in a loud voice bursting into the room. Frank was quickly behind her. Julie woke up and began to cry.

Eve quickly handed her back, "You need to eat, momma bear. How about I go to the cafeteria and get you something? Annalise, you should join me."

"I'm okay mom," Cheyanne said, turning her attention to Julie. She immediately began cooing to her, trying to calm her down, “Julie…hey baby girl…it’s okay…mommy’s got you!”

"I want to make sure my daughter is okay," Annalise said, pushing towards her daughter and her grand-daughter. Frank stood at the door and watched Cheyanne intently. She looked so beautiful in that moment. Then he took a step forward. He still couldn't get a good look at the little bundle swaddled in a blanket.

"Frank can sit with her for a few minutes. We need to go get Cheyanne some food...and we need to talk." Eve said.

"She's not hungry, right? You're not hungry?" Annalise said, looking at Cheyanne.

"I'm actually pretty hungry," Cheyanne said quickly, understanding that Eve was trying to get her a few minutes alone with Frank. Annalise nodded to herself and her and Eve walked out of the room. Eve closed the door behind them, and they headed to the cafeteria. Frank watched as they got into the elevator then turned to Cheyanne, “hey…”

"December 22, couldn't cut it any closer to Christmas, could you?"

Cheyanne laughed, "This doesn't mean you can skimp on Christmas or birthday presents."

Frank nodded and took a few more steps until he was right next to her and the baby.

"I'm naming her Julie Evelyn Rothlo."

"After your mom?"

"I remembered how you said if you ever had kids, you'd want to name the girl, Julie," she said, "And well, Evelyn Rothlo, yeah because of my mom. For what she's doing for us. When I get out she said I could work part time with her as her assistant...you know, so I could have money for the baby."

"You don't ever have to worry about money," he said, pushing some of the hair from her face. He couldn't help but smile as she remembered what he'd said to her that weekend. He barely remembered telling her he loved the name Julie, "You and Julie will always be okay financially."

"I'm not going to use that blood money, Frank." she sighed. Frank looked away from her.

"How did you know?"

"Frank, we never had a secret between us. I knew the day she dropped off the money. You didn't even kiss me goodbye when you went to put the bug in her room."

"I'm so sorry, Chey." he sighed.

“It’s behind us…what’s important now is her…”

“Yeah…”

"Do you want to hold our daughter, daddy Frank?" she said, holding back a smile. He couldn't help but smile too as he nodded. Cheyanne passed their daughter to him, "She's got your eyes...and your smile."

Little Julie did have his eyes. And his smile. She was also a few shades lighter than Cheyanne as well. Her skin was a perfect caramel. He reached down so he could push the blanket away from her face. She cooed to her father and reached out grabbing his hand. Her grip was strong. She gurgled and her hand flailed as she continued to make faces at him. Then she reached up and her hand touched his beard. He lightly kissed it and began handing her back to Cheyanne.

She didn't want to be handed off, and immediately she started crying. That's when Frank instinctively pulled her to his chest and began rocking back and forth, "It's okay, Julie. Shhh. You're okay."

Cheyanne smiled as she continued taking pictures of Frank with Julie. He hadn't caught on, but she wanted to have the memories of her with him. One day, when she was older, she would have these pictures. Not everyone got to see this side of Frank Delfino, but she did. She snapped another picture as Frank cradled his daughter close to him.

A few minutes later Frank decided it was safe to sit down with her. He noticed that Julie had fallen asleep, "You don't want to let her go either, do you? It feels like a dream…like this shouldn’t be what’s happening."

“Yeah, “he agreed. Frank was pulled back to reality. Cheyanne had her cell phone out and continued to take pictures of Frank holding Julie. He smiled as she took another one, “what are you doing?”

“Getting pictures of you with your daughter, Mr. Delfino!” she said cheekily, “who knows when we’ll have another moment like this.”

"Has anyone taken any of you two?" he asked. Cheyanne shook her head as Frank handed their daughter back. She smiled as Frank pulled out his cell phone and took a few pictures, "I'll send them to you later tonight?"

“Good.”

Chapter 9

#how to get away with murder #frank delfino #annalise keating #sam keating #eve rothlo

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