Hi all, here's another one-shot. I got this idea while watching General Hospital. It's a Matt and Des one-shot. I'm still working on the Jestiny story. The rest will be coming soon. Hope you enjoy. P.S. - Yes, I know Jack being a math whiz is a stretch, but I assume Destiny had to miss a couple of weeks from school and so, I needed Jack to be a math whiz. ;)

The Wake-up Call

Matthew could barely believe that Drew was two months old. It seemed like Drew had made his first appearance at his great-grandpa Asa's house only yesterday. And now, Matthew and Destiny shared him during the week and they alternated Saturday nights. It was Saturday morning. And this would be his Saturday with Drew…and Destiny, if he could get her to agree to go to brunch with him and his parents. Since the birth of their son, Matthew had been more drawn to Destiny than ever. He couldn't help it. Even now, he marveled at what she went through to give birth to Drew. And even though Drew had been as inconvenient to his and Destiny's lives as Mathew anticipated before Drew was born, Matthew had come to look forward to their family time.

Still, Destiny was becoming less predictable when it came to her plans. Two weeks before when Matthew asked Destiny to hang out, she announced she had plans for the night. When he arrived at the Buenos Dias, to show Drew off to his former art teacher, Mr. Vega, who was home for a visit, he saw something that horrified him. Destiny was sitting at a booth with Dani, Nate…and Jack Manning. She was sitting next to Jack as if they were actually friends and the four of them looked like they were actually having a good time. They were laughing and teasing each other, he even saw Jack poke a finger at her cheek. Matthew couldn't take anymore. He left before anyone saw him.

To say that Matthew reacted poorly, when he saw Destiny the next afternoon for brunch with their families, would be an understatement. First, he told her that dining with Nate after he rendered him comatose was a betrayal. Then he accused her of cheating by being on what seemed to be a double date, to which she happily reminded him that "best friends" couldn't cheat on each other. Though he had used the term "best friends" to describe them when speaking to Destiny, her use of the term ticked him off.

"What kind of mother are you?" was the question he found himself replaying in his mind over and over again, mostly because he knew the answer. Destiny was an awesome mother. Though she was as young as he was, she was amazingly patient. He supposed he had given her plenty of opportunities to practice patience.

Honestly, Matthew wasn't even sure why he'd been so angry when he saw Destiny with Jack. She said there was nothing between them and he really hope it was true. He'd apologized for his reaction many times over the last two weeks. And he would do it again today.

Matthew wasn't supposed to arrive at the Evans house to pick up Drew until noon; he got there at 11:00. Destiny opened the door with a slight frown.

"You're early."

Matthew gave her a faint half-smile. "I thought we could talk."

"I have company."

Matthew peeked around the doorframe to see Jack Manning sitting in the Evans's living room…without his sister. Worse yet, he was holding Drew. The heat rose quickly to Matthew's cheeks.

"You've got to be kidding me!" He practically yelled. Destiny had sworn there was nothing going on between she and Jack.

Without a word, Destiny grabbed him by the hand and pulled him out of the door. She closed the door behind her.

"Don't ever do that again!"

"What?"

"Yell in front of Drew. It will scare him."

"Don't ever let Jack Manning hold my son again. Have you forgotten he's the same kid that almost killed Drew's cousin, Shane, who is supposedly your friend?"

For a second, Matthew thought Destiny was going to slap him. She probably should have. Instead, she took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

"The way Shane tells the story, he asked you for help when Jack was harassing him and you acted as if you couldn't care less." Matthew was ready to counter with another argument, but Destiny put her hand in the air. She continued, "If you must know, Jack is some sort of secret math whiz and he is helping me get caught up on the stuff I missed…even though no one gave him a harder time about Shane than I did. Why do you care whom I hang out with anyway? You made it pretty clear before Drew were born that we were just friends."

"I'm sorry about that. I know I was all over the place, but I never stopped," Matthew paused for a minute before continuing on, "caring about you."

Destiny raised an eyebrow. "You care about me? Great. I care about you too. Now, can we go back inside so I can get Drew and you can go?"

"Why do you seem mad?"

Destiny took a deep breath and leaned against the door. "I'm not mad. I just can't keep doing this. You're always all over the place when it comes to your feelings about me. I can't, no, I don't want to do it anymore."

"But Des, I, I—"

"Yes?" She waited for words that couldn't come out of his mouth. "That's what I thought."

He followed her inside, took Drew from Jack and quietly left. He took Drew to see his Grandma Renee, his Uncle Clint and Aunt Vicki and then back home. The whole time, he continued to wonder why seeing Destiny with Jack made him so upset or why Destiny was so angry with him for saying he cared about her.

"Where's Destiny?" His mom asked while she played with Drew. "I thought you were going to see if she would join us for lunch."

"She's mad at me…again."

Nora shook her head. For a minute, it seemed she was smirking. "What happened this time?"

"I told her I cared about her and she got all mad. I don't know what her deal is."

"Oh, you don't?" Nora gave him a look she typically reserved for cross-examining defendants. "Maybe she's waiting for you to tell her how you really feel."

For some reason, his mother's words made him feel flustered. He was not going to have a discussion about feelings and stuff with his mom. "I need to get Drew his bottle."

For the rest of the afternoon, he avoided the subject of Destiny, even though his parents brought her up more than once. Not to mention, he couldn't get his mind off of whether Destiny and Jack were studying more than math.

That night when he put Drew down for the third time, he watched him sleep for a while. Never did he expect that he'd be 18 with a son, but he was no longer sorry that Drew was here.

Matthew stretched out on the sofa. There was no point in heading to bed; Drew wouldn't let him sleep for more than a couple of hours anyway.

Twenty minutes after he closed his eyes, at 11 p.m., his cell phone rang. To his surprise, it was Starr's number. He hadn't talked to her since she left for California.

"Starr?"

After what sounded like sobs, she finally spoke. "I'm sorry to call so late. I didn't want you to hear this on the news…or from anyone else."

"Starr, what is it?"

"I was trying to come home with Hope and Cole and we were in an accident."

"Oh my gosh," Matthew sat up on his elbows. "Are you guys okay?"

"No, Cole…didn't make it. I, I wanted you to know because of the two of you were in the accident…" Starr was rambling, but he knew what she meant. Cole was driving when he and Matthew were in the accident that temporarily paralyzed Matthew. "It would be too much for you to hear on the news. I didn't want you to hear."

"Starr, it's okay. I'm okay. How's Hope?"

"She didn't make it either, Matthew. My baby is dead."

Matthew did his best to comfort Starr through the phone line until she hung up an hour later. For the next hour, he replayed his conversation with Starr. The hour after that, he spent feeding Drew again and replaying the accident that once paralyzed him. It had been a long road to recovery and yet, he thought about the girl that was by his side every step of the way: Destiny. Since the day they met, Destiny had been by his side supporting him and loving him. And in return, he'd given her nothing but attitude and mixed signals.

He imagined what Starr must have been going through. A pain shot through his heart as he imagined Destiny and Drew being taken from him. What would he do without her in his life? Without both of them in his life? At least, Cole knew Starr loved him. He tried to marry her. It was one of the things she told him she regretted that she hadn't done. Then it finally hit him: he loved Destiny. He'd been so self-absorbed that he never told her. He had to tell her how much she meant to him and he couldn't wait.

Looking into Drew's crib, he kissed the baby on the forehead. "I love you son. I love you so much."

Even though it was 2 a.m., he drove to the Evans's house. He sent Destiny a text asking her to come outside. When there was no answer, he began to throw pebbles at her bedroom window; he hoped it was the right one.

Ten minutes later, Destiny marched outside with fire in her eyes. "Have you lost your mind, Matthew?"

"Kind of? I needed to see you."

"At 2:30 in the morning?" A second later, she flew into a panic. "Is it Drew? Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Drew's fine."

"Then what are you doing here?"

Matthew inched closer to Destiny, leaned down and kissed her. It wasn't long before she pushed him away.

"I told you I'm not doing this again. I can't do this up and down thing with you again. Not now that we have Drew. I'm sorry." She turned to re-enter the house.

"I love you." He knew the words were a surprise to her; somehow, the feelings surprised him, although he was fairly certain they had always been there.

"What?"

"I love you." Matthew released a deep sigh and took her hands in his. "I guess I was scared…before. It was like we had my parents' relationship and we were still in high school. And then we had Drew. It all felt like too much." Matthew reached out to take her hand. "But it doesn't any more. Des, I can't imagine what my life would be like without you and Drew."

"Is this because of Jack?"

"It's because of you. I just hope it's not too late."

"It is too late for whatever you think you're doing here." Felicia's voice startled both of them. "Young man it's almost 3 a.m. Is my grandson, okay?"

"He's fine."

"Then you can talk to his mother during decent hours." Felicia gave him a look that meant business. "Drew doesn't need any siblings, right now. Destiny, I think you should come inside."

"Yes, Mommy." Matthew thought it was odd that she still called her mother Mommy even though she was a mother herself. He decided it was cute. He watched as she began to walk inside. Then suddenly she turned back quickly.

"Just a second, Mommy. I have to tell Matthew something." She ran a few paces back to him and whispered in his ear. "I love you, too. We can figure out the rest later"