Ethan Blackledge and Kathryn Monroe
"A woman and a baby?" Ethan repeated straight away what Walter had just informed him in sheer disbelief. He just couldn't quite believe a woman with a baby had survived on her own all this time. The house that Walter had pointed to was right behind them and all boarded up. Luckily no one bad had come down this highway or it wouldn't have really ended well for both of them. "This should do for the night. Hopefully we can convince the woman to come with us tomorrow." Ethan told Walter as he started to head towards the front door. Ethan gave him a friendly tap on the shoulder as he walked passed.
"Come on people we're staying here for the night." Ethan informed everyone who was behind him as he knocked on the front door before he slowly opened it and peered his head in simply saying, "Hello." As he waited for the woman to appear.
Kat heard the door open and steeled herself for what was to come. She hadn't been a fan of company even before the world had gone to hell. The guy from before had promised they wouldn't try anything funny, but she was still weary. She should have asked how big the group was.
Several of them called out and she picked up Grace, settling her on her hip before leaving the kitchen to enter the living room.
Then one of the voices sent a shock wave through her. The accent...
Denial flooded her once again. It just couldn't be. The odds were astronomical.
She should have remembered that God had a sense of humor that often bit people in the ass.
Seeing the man the voice belonged to made her stop cold. Her heart froze in her chest as she stared into blue eyes that were familiar. They were the same blue eyes she looked into every day in her daughter. There, standing before her, was the man Grace had gotten those blue eyes from.
Her father.
"Ethan?" she murmured, her mind still wanting to deny the man in front of her. Did he even remember who she was? A one night stand in Vegas where she had skipped out in the morning before he even woke up?
And here she stood, holding the result of that one night. And that gorgeous result was currently staring at the newcomers with those large blue eyes and the golden hair she had also gotten from her father. Anyone who didn't see the resemblance was either stupid or blind.
It couldn't be her could it? Ethan thought looking at the woman in front of him with a baby in hand. The girl from Las Vegas who he'd spent a night with and she'd disappeared before he'd even woke up in the morning. Her face was still as beautiful as ever Ethan remembered. But she was one of the last people he expected to see, especially so far away from Vegas.
"Kat?" He finally managed to reply in the form of a question after what felt like a few hours but probably was only a few seconds. He still couldn't comprehend that it was her, Ethan stood there with his mouth slightly open. All the places they could have gone, they ended up at her door. Straight after it hit him, he looked at the baby in her hands, the face was slightly covered up in blankets and Ethan couldn't make out the face but he started to work out the math of when he slept with her. Seeing if it could actually be his child. His heart started to beat rapidly and he tried to say something to her, but no words escaped his lips. Ethan just looked at her with his mouth open, with what could be his child in her hands.
People were speaking to her but it was all buzzing to her. Everything was blurry and far away except for the man before her. He said her name and she knew he remembered her.
Swallowing heavily, her face was white as a sheet. What could one say in this kind of moment?
Thankfully Grace started fussing to be let down. Kat snapped out of her stupor and went to the makeshift plan pen she had built and placed Grace inside were she could play with her blocks. They were the only toys Kat could find other than a beat up stuffed dog that Grace called "Bug". Or at least that was what it sounded like.
What the hell was she supposed to do now? How could she possibly face him?
Ethan was still stood there with a blank expression as Kat walked off from him. People had started to walk into the house and introduce themselves to him but he just didn't care at this moment in time. Somebody was stood next to him, but he had no idea who it was. He simply said to them, "I think I have a kid."