PREVIOUSLY

Dina and Nina Caliente severed their relationship over Dina's harsh decision to terminate her child for fear it was not created through her marriage to Mortimer Goth but through a fling with Ed Wilson. However, she couldn't go through with the abortion and saw Ed one last time to try and convince herself he was only good for passion; it was with Mortimer where her future began.

Nina, busy with her own pregnancy, wasn't aware Dina had kept her baby. Before any attempt could be made to repair their relationship, she fell down the stairs and miscarried, the fall leaving her with a low chance of conceiving naturally. Nina shut down her emotions and broke off her engagement with Don Lothario.

Alex Goth was meanwhile enjoying a new friendship with David Asher, a boy with which he shared his secret with and ultimately fell for. Despite still being bruised from previous events, this time his advances were welcomed and David asked Alex out on his first date, which came to an end all to quickly...

EPISODE SEVEN by Thomas McNab
Chapter One: "Your Call!"
Chapter Two: "Lingering Thoughts"
Chapter Three: "...Back For More"
Chapter Four: "I'm Out!"
Chapter Five: "Family Manners"
Epilogue: "The Uninvited"

*

Chapter One: Your Call!
Dina grimaced as her unborn baby kicked her from the inside. Somehow, beyond the layers of tissue that protected it, it knew, as did Dina, that trouble was brewing. For the past few days, Dina thought her life could return to normal; that was before she found out her husband had lied and had kept his heart attack a secret from her. Mortimer and Dina didn't have the strongest of relationships, but Dina always attributed this to the fact she had betrayed him so early on in their marriage by sleeping with another man... getting pregnant by him... and then lying to both him and Mortimer! She wasn't going to let that bother her anymore now though; she had moved on and made a promise to reform herself now she was pregnant.

She had already took a step in the right direction when she gently confronted Mortimer's son, Alexander, about his sexuality. For a while now Dina had suspected he was gay. And last night, after coming home from his first date with a boy, he had admitted it to Dina when she enquired. Hoping she had gained the trust of Alex, she confessed to him that his father had suffered a suspected heart attack. Her aim was to force herself into an unbreakable bond with this family, since her other one had crumbled so effortlessly. Her fear was Mortimer had some residual doubts about Dina and their marriage, and she was trying her hardest to reassure him they were unnecessary. But it seemed, flipping back the pages of the calendar. it wasn't to be. Dina scowled under her breath as she began calling Mortimer's name. But a distant ringing caught her attention and she decided to put her next confrontation with the Goth's on hold for now.

Despite her hard work, Dina wasn't actually in love with Mortimer. Yet she had sacrificed a lot to stay with him and wanted now to be the time when she settled down to start a family. Yes, she had feelings for him and she cared for him, but she'd stopped loving him a long time ago. Dina didn't feel she was being dishonest, but she did reckon that if anything bad were to happen to her husband she would carry a lot of guilt knowing that she did nothing to help. But these feelings of doubt she now had about her marriage were rudely shoved out of her mind as she answered the phone and heard Don Lothario bellowing back at her.

"Where in the hell is Nina?!" Don asked, as he continued to ramble on and explain how he had casually walked past Nina's house, not intending to see her at all (which Dina easily read as being a lie), when he couldn't help but notice the commotion going on outside. "Some gruff guy wearing a vest told me that he's been contracted to do some renovations whilst Nina's away."

"Nina wasn't there?" Dina asked, almost sounding as shocked as Don had.
"She's gone away somewhere, but the jackass wouldn't tell me where." Don seemed to pout as he talked.
"Well, you two did break-up; technically, it's none of your business." Dina pointed out.
"I figured since it appears everyone else knows our business they might know something I don't." Don said, sarcastically commenting on the fact Dina knew of their break-up despite not being on good terms with her sister. "I take it you two still aren't talking to each other."
"We're just... having a break from each other. We've spent almost our whole lives together, a few months apart won't hurt us." Dina defended.

"I wasn't judging you, Dina." Don felt Dina was getting hostile, and he needed to be on her good side if he was to succeed in finding out where Nina was.
"Too right, I mean, I haven't seen you in ages but it's not that weird." Dina offered.
"Given my work load at the moment, it's not weird at all." Don said, eyeing the two-week-old pizza crust laying on his kitchen countertop.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dina queried.
"Oh... never mind. So can you tell me anything?"

"I know as much as you, Don." Dina said.
"You can't think of anywhere she might have gone to? A friends house, perhaps?" Don persued.
"Well, we didn't have very many mutual friends, but you could always try asking Brandi Broke."
"Great! Thanks, bye." Don said hastily before Dina halted Don.
"Whoa, wait. Did you ever think maybe the reason nobody knows where she is is because she didn't want anybody to know?"
"I don't understand what you're saying." Don simply said.

"It sounds to me like Nina's moving on. Maybe you should do the same." Dina gently broke the truth to Don.
"We lost our child. How do you suggest I move on?" Don shot back at Dina bitterly before defending her claim. "No; she needs me. I don't want to Nina to end up ruining her life because I wasn't there for her when she needed me."
"But she doesn't need you, Don." Dina retorted.
"How the hell do you know what she needs? Maybe the only reason you're telling me to move on is because you figure you can swoop down and get back into Nina's good books whilst I'm neglecting her." Don shot back at Dina, ignoring any plans he had had to get on her good side.

"I'd hardly say you were neglecting her! If anything it seems like the reason you two broke up was because you were being too over-bearing. And now you want to go running after her? It's clear what she's doing; she's trying to remove all traces of you from her life, and get as far away as possible. If you go and find her right now you'll only risk damaging things even more." Dina said in a matter-of-fact tone. She listened to the receiver for any signs her harsh rant had gotten through to Don and finally, after a few seconds, he sighed.

"If that is the case, then it sounds like I can't screw things up worse than they already are. I've got nothing to lose anymore." Dina heard a click and called Don's name repeatedly but it was too late, the only thing echoing out of her phone now was a monotonous, pre-recorded voice telling Dina to hang-up.

Angered by this and what she had discovered on the calendar earlier, Dina gave an almighty bellow and yelled Mortimer's name as she marched back into the kitchen.

Dina called out to Mortimer again and after a moment he appeared in front of her, walking with a confident swagger before stopping and holding out his hands. "What did I do now?" He asked.

"Oh don't give me that, you knew perfectly well that I'd be checking up on you this morning." Dina scowled again as she supported her weight and leaned on the dining room chair.

"I'm still in the dark as to what it is I'm supposed to have done." Mortimer mused with a slight grin.
"Do you think this is funny, you almost dying like that?" Dina asked in a stern tone as Mortimer rolled his eyes.

Dina stood up straight and launched at Mortimer with all her rage, "You went and whitened-out your doctor's appointment." Dina pointed with force towards the calendar.
"I got a call from his receptionist yesterday telling me he had to move it to next Tuesday." Mortimer lied.
"Like he-" Dina cried as Mortimer interrupted her. Since Dina had foolishly told Mortimer that the baby had been moving a lot, he had put a stop to Dina's cursing in order to prepare for its arrival. She rolled her eyes and continued.

"Like heck! What's to stop me from calling up the doctor's office and finding out what I already know to be a lie?" Dina said in a matter-of-fact tone. Suddenly coming up with an alternative strategy, Dina put a hand on her baby-bump. "Do you have any idea what this stress is doing to me? I was awake half the night trying to listen to see if you were still breathing!" Dina lied.

"Oh stop being so over-dramatic, Dina. I'm going to my doctor's appointment, of course I am." Mortimer gave in. "I just like to have a little fun with you sometimes."
"Fun?! Oh I'm glad my worrying amuses you." Dina said sarcastically.
"Dina, calm down, Go chill out by the pool! I'll catch a taxi to my appointment and go alone," Dina was about to protest before Mortimer stopped her, "and you can go to Beautique and get your hair styled - on me!" Mortimer's sudden charm begrudgingly made Dina give into his request as she sighed and thought at least he was actually going to go now. And as much as she was acting, it wouldn't hurt for Dina to catch up on some pampering before she was weighed down with the responsibilities of motherhood.

Chapter Two: Lingering Thoughts.
Back on the otherside of Pleasantview, Don sighed as he replaced the receiver and fell against the brick wall of his old apartment. He had tried to disguise his heartache over the phone but Don surmised that Dina saw - or heard, rather - straight through his act. Surely someone must know something of Nina's whereabouts, he thought to himself. But if not even Dina knew, then who would?

Reaching into the pocket of his blazer, Don flipped open his mobile phone and searched through his recently dialled numbers. He didn't have Brandi Broke's number stored in his memory, but he hoped it would be lurking somewhere, unlabelled, knowing Nina had used his phone once or twice when they were together. Upon seeing Nina's old number, he wondered whether she had changed it. Trying not to let himself get too down again, Don figured he had found a familiar looking call and punched in the numbers on his receiver (for his mobile phone had no actual credit).

*ring* *ring*

Don held his breath and prayed Brandi was in, he was needed back at the hospital before six. In fact, he'd been putting in so many shifts in order to keep up with the rent that he hadn't had the time to tidy up...

*ring* *ring*

But then again, housework had never really been his strong suite... fatherhood, now that was a different matter. Don had just gotten acquainted with the idea of becoming a father when...

*ring* *ring*

Feeling himself well up, Don was reminded of the other reason he had taken on so many shifts; the moment he stopped busying himself with pointless tasks...

*ring* *ring*

Why was it he cared so much about finding Nina? He knew full well Nina had made her feelings clear, and the rational part of himself wanted to respect her wishes... but the other part, it couldn't just ignore the fact that if this is how Don felt inside... how on earth must Nina be feeling?

"Oh, my God!" Nina roared with laughter as she held onto her sides.

"True story!" The bartender claimed.
"Oh sure, if I believe that one then I'm as dumb as he was!" Nina betted, shaking her head and sighing with a smile.
"You can look it up, Tom Ontario." The bartender pointed to nowhere inparticular as Nina suddenly stopped laughing and stuttered.
"Did... did you just say Don Lothario?" She asked softly as she felt a chill, despite being in the baking hot sun.
"No, Tom. Tom Ontario." He repeated, mixing up a drink and sliding it in Nina's direction.
"Oh. Thanks." She said, her upbeat mood suddenly evaporating.

But it wasn't replaced with sadness at the thought of her ex-fiance. Instead she was angry that once again Don was spoiling her good times - and he wasn't even here! The whole reason Nina had gotten away was to try and get over what she considered to be the worst two weeks of her life. It wasn't that she didn't still love Don, in some way, but he was just a constant reminder of what they had once had but could now never have again. Scalding herslef for thinking about it for the millionth time, Nina downed her spicy, zingy tasting drink and asked for another one - which luckily came with another story that would soon have Nina's spirits lifted high again!

Chapter Three: ...Back For More.
Finding time to relax these days was a welcome pace for Dina. Between sorting out her husband's hospital appointment (because he refused to) and preparing the nursery for her soon-to-be-born child Dina had not had anytime to rest. Even the night she had had planned to catch up on her reading (for some reason - probably to make her feel more of a housewife - she had joined a local book club) was botched by Alex coming home late, and making Dina worry, since it was her who had extended his curfew.