~ Spoiler Alert: Do not proceed if you haven't read all chapters of Sour Candy | T. Drake. ~

For those of you who have read the Coffee and Liquor Series, specifically the book Sour Candy | T. Drake, you know that the main climax of the book was Dora's unexpected pregnancy that posed a lot of risk to her and the unborn child as well.  

In the story that is already posted and completed, Dora chose to abort the baby to avoid complications or a fatal end though the decision took quite a toll on her as she never wanted to give the child up. It took a lot of time and convincing for her to reach that decision and even afterwards, she suffered from the guilt.

Obviously, things eventually took a turn for the better but as my mind is always inclined towards the tragic scenarios, I have once again been pondering on that situation.

So I have just been thinking about what would have happened to the Coffeeverse plotline if Dora chose to keep the child and take the risk by not opting for an abortion. Since this was a very climactic twist of events, changing the decision would change the entire story. And this chapter is just my view of what would have happened if the other decision was taken

It's not going to be a happy fluffy chapter but I hope you guys read it and appreciate the original version of the story even more by coming to know what other options I could have chosen to write out but didn't.

The chapter starts from [16] Letting Go in which Tim and Dora come back to Gotham from Bludhaven and Dora has to make the most difficult decision ever for her. From then onwards, I will be including scenes of how the story could have progressed differently and most likely, this chapter will be broken up into parts.

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Tim was out in the garden after he had packed his and Dora's stuff up, pacing in the soft grass barefoot. He was lost in thought hence he didn't notice Luke join him there either, his mind deviating towards Dora and the decision that had put so much at stake.

He was afraid that Dora would choose to save her child rather than her own self because he had seen the yearning in her eyes when she had asked him that question two days earlier. What if I want to have a mini Tim with me, a child that would have eyes like yours...

He didn't want to seem selfish but he couldn't stop himself from thinking about both the possibilities either. Ever since Dora had brought that topic up, he had been thinking about the fork of paths that were laid out before them, the choice quite difficult for Dora.

He knew very well that for a mother, her child was the utmost priority and no mother could willingly give her child up. He also knew that the idea of a mini Tim running around Dora's Coffee Haunt, having a laugh as clear and pure as Dora's sounded absolutely fascinating.

But not having Dora around to love and take care of their child seemed nothing short of a curse.

Not having Dora with him was indeed a possibility that he could never even consider.

"Tim."

He almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing a voice so close to him but saw it was just Lucas, standing beside him with concern evident in his hazel eyes and hands kept in his pockets.

"Oh, it's you..." He took in a deep breath, composing himself.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, I thought you knew I was here. I have been walking alongside you for five minutes now."

"I... I didn't notice," deep down that was concerning that he hadn't noticed Luke had been with him for five minutes.

But then he realized that it was not due to the fact that he had been lost in thought himself.

He observed Luke was very silent, just like Jason, his footsteps created no sound. And the truth hit him again that he was Deathstroke's son, of course he would be trained from a young age to keep discreet.

Luke spoke up and he internally thanked him for that because he did not want to go down that train of thought again, "so you guys are going back."

"Yes."

"Look Tim, I know you care for Dora very much and would never ever want her to come to any harm. But please consider that it is just as difficult for her as it is for you. I might not be the best person to talk about this but I can say that by now I know Dora to some extent and I can see she is hurting just as much as you are."

He nodded, letting him resume because he didn't know what to reply to him at that moment.

"Whatever she decides, please don't let her go."

Tim sighed, "Lucas, I can't think of even a second without her. How can I think of letting her go?"

He could sense the pain in his voice as he stepped closer, hand resting gently on his shoulder, "I trust you, Tim. Don't fall apart because right now, Dora needs you the most."

He nodded and eventually Luke left when he made no attempt to keep up the conversation.

No one knew better than Tim that the only thing that was keeping him from falling apart was the fact that Dora needed him to be there for her. Otherwise, he had no idea how he would have dealt with such a situation on his own.

Because even though in just twenty years of his life, he had been through a lot and faced many battles on his own, the current situation was much different. Not only was it emotionally taxing but both Dora and their child's life was at stake.

Whatever decision they took, they would have to make one sacrifice for it and choosing who to let go was a question to which Tim had no possible answer.

***

The first thing Dora did after coming back to Gotham was call Steph, Helena and Selina to her place because they were her close friends and she wanted to discuss the matter with them before deciding anything. Selina was like a mother figure to her, Steph was more than a friend, in fact, she considered her as a sister and Helena had helped her out in the worst times.

So she wanted to take the three into confidence as well.

For Steph, the matter was much more personal because she had herself gone through a similar situation but only Tim and Luke knew about it. She had eventually told Luke everything about herself, including the existence of her daughter who she had given up for adoption.

So as she sat there listening to Dora, she was thinking about that part of her life when she had felt everything had been lost and she would never be able to pull herself out of that mess. But Tim had helped her through it and three years had lapsed since then.

Steph occasionally met her daughter Felicity and the couple who had taken her in but she had kept that truth from the rest of her family and friends, not wanting to relive it ever again.

By then Selina was convincing Dora that she should not overthink a lot and even told her that her friend Pamela could help in providing an antidote to the Toxin. There had been a time when Scarecrow and Pamela Isley, or rather Poison Ivy, had experimented on botanical toxins together so there was a high chance that Pamela would know how to break down the composition of the toxin and deter its effects.

That was certainly a ray of hope for them if Pamela could be able to create an antidote but even then Selina advised her to not take any life-threatening risk, the foremost of which was choosing to keep the baby.

Helena had agreed with her too, saying that Dora was important to all of them and they would not want to lose her ever.

Steph stayed even after both of them had left and when she was alone with Dora, she carefully edged closer to her, wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

Dora gratefully accepted the gesture, her head resting on her shoulder as she hugged back, words getting lost within her. Steph was the one who was gently speaking to her, "Dora, we are all going to be with you, you know that, right?"

She had hummed in reply, not wishing to speak because she feared she would break down to tears if she did so.

"And I know it's very, very hard for you to go through this but you've always been a really strong person, y'know. You made it through such a lot in the past due to the fact that you never gave up. None of us could bear it if you gave up now."

"I know," she mumbled, pulling back slightly as brown gazed into her green irises, "and I don't want to give up."

"Exactly, you're not giving up," she held her hands in her own reassuringly, "you will make it through this too."

A while passed in silence until Dora finally spoke up, "I think I have made my decision... Would you please send Tim in?"

Steph wanted to ask her first but held herself back, not knowing whether she would like to hear the decision she had made or not. She knew Dora was just as sacrificial as Tim was when it came to the people she loved and cared about so even at the last moment, Steph expected her to be in conflict.

However, right then her brown eyes were sad yet calm and so was she, indicating that she had made up her mind but still wanted to ask Tim one last time because he was just as much a part of it as she was because whatever decision she took would directly affect him as well.

So Steph stepped out, finding Tim down in the kitchen drinking what seemed like the tenth cup of coffee by then. He had looked up when she entered and told him that Dora was calling him.

He quickly finished the coffee, placed the cup by the sink then went upstairs to Dora's room, his heartbeat racing because he could sense why she had called him.

When he entered, Dora gestured him to sit beside her, her hands gently entwining through his as she spoke, "I've decided..."

Tim braced himself to hear her answer though she held his hands in a comforting grip, thumbs stroking his palms softly.

"You know that I can't hurt all of you. I can't give myself up because it would cause pain to you all but..."

Her words trailed off and she felt him tense slightly because there was still an interjection to her statement.

"But I can't let go of something that I might never be able to have again," her voice had lowered and she felt his grip tighten on her hands. She could see he had understood what she was about to say but she didn't have the strength to look up at him, scared that she would see pain and resentment on his features.

"Dora... Are you sure?" He asked, uncertainty laced through his tone, "have you really thought about it carefully?"

She nodded, "I have. I can't decide to save myself if it is at the cost of a precious little soul that would never get the chance to come to this world otherwise. I can't give up our child, Tim. I'm sorry but I can't..."

Her voice broke at those words and tears ran down her cheeks. Tim had engulfed her in a hug immediately, knowing that she needed him most at the moment.

The decision was nowhere near easy for her and it was breaking her inside to take such a huge risk, knowing full well that her chances of survival would be very less. 

And it was breaking him as well to see her like that but he held himself together for her because if he fell apart, it would be twice harder for both of them to make through the pain that was due.

***

Alex had been expecting that.

He knew his sister could never be selfish so for her to choose to save the child instead of her own self, was the only decision that she could agree on.

Though he was worried about what the future held for them and he was going through a lot as well. But he knew that he would always support Dora, no matter what she had decided. 

He had always cared for Dora a lot and right then, he couldn't bear to see her in pain due to a decision that the others didn't want her to take.

Tim had gotten extremely silent after hearing Dora's will but he had not left her side. Alex could see that it was tearing him apart to constantly have that lurking thought that he could lose Dora as an aftermath of that decision, yet he was still beside her as a firm support.

It was that unwavering support of his towards Dora that made Alex's anger at him abate. Truth be told, he had been furious at Tim earlier when he had just found out about the whole ordeal of Dora getting pregnant and being in danger due to it. But by then as he had seen him support Dora throughout despite the decision she had taken and care for her even more, he couldn't stay angry at him for long.

It was so evident that Tim was breaking under the pressure but he was holding himself together for Dora's sake. And Alex couldn't overlook the fact that it took a lot of strength from the boy to keep himself steady in such a trialing time.

Tim's resolution gave him the courage to support Dora as well and when Camille got to know of the decision and panicked, Alex made her understand the situation. He persuaded her that it would only be more harmful to Dora if they pressurized her into letting go of her child and the only way they could help her out was by supporting her and being there for her.

As it was necessary to trace out the origin of the toxin and find a way to eliminate it before it could cause some serious injury to Dora, she had to go through a lot of tests prescribed to her by the doctors. When the doctors were unable to trace out the roots of the toxin or the way to cure it, they had to turn to an alternative.

So upon Selina's insistence, Dora met Pamela Isley who had asked for the reports of the tests she had been through already so that she would be able to study it and see whether she could work upon an antidote for it or not.

Time was passing and by the time Dora turned twenty, she was four months pregnant. She had grown a lot weaker than before but Pamela had worked on an antidote that had stabilized her condition for the time being. She had been warned that if she continued with the pregnancy, the antidote might not be able to work to its full potential, thus causing the risk of her getting hurt during the process.

But Dora was never one to back off from her decision and she stood by it steadily. The more time passed, the more attached she had gotten to the tiny soul evolving inside her and by then, she could not bring herself to let it go, not at any cost.

As for Tim, he had been in a conflict ever since the day he had learned Dora's decision. But he hid it well as he did not want her to get worried due to him. However, Dora knew him very well and she could see that he was slowly descending into a helpless void, watching the person he loved dearly slip away from him with every passing day.

The only hope they had was that Poison Ivy's antidote would be strong enough to help Dora survive but even that hope had a very faint chance of transforming into reality.

***

This is the end of Part 1 of this alternate version of Sour Candy | T. Drake. The word count has gotten a lot and I don't want to chuck everything in just one chapter at you guys. 

Let me know what you think about it and the next part will be posted soon.

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