Obligations

AN: This is a piece I've been toying with in my head for months now, and I suddenly got the urge to post a new Kessi fic because of the reviews I received on some of my older works.

I am doing something I usually don't like... posting shorter chapters. I plan to post at least 15 of them to complete the story, so it should work itself out. I have the entire thing written out expect for the last chapter, so I should be able to post regularly and quickly.

This won't be an incredibly long story; I just decided it was time to do a chaptered piece that I knew I could complete. I hope you all find the story as interesting as I did writing it. It is by no means incredibly unique in any way other than I'm the one writing it :]]

Chapter One

Jessi looked down at her belly her arms wrapped tightly around her midsection, cradling the not yet visible precious life inside. She wondered if he might somehow feel the life they had created together and come back, if he might realize he made the wrong choice.

She knew she would take him back, she loved him enough to except his mistakes, his errors in judgment. She would take him back if he came, but she wouldn't tell him about this and influence his thinking. He had to decide to come on his own.

It had been with that thought, the choice clear in her mind, to keep the baby a secret that Jessi had asked Nicole if they could go have lunch somewhere private.

They had been sitting at the table for less than five minutes, as soon as the waitress left with their drink orders Nicole spoke.

"Jessi, I'm really curious now, what is going on?"

Jessi could hear how anxious she was in her voice, and didn't want to know what she would sound like once she found out.

"Nicole I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this, but I'm going to need to ask if what I'm about to tell you can stay between us, or at least that you not tell Kyle." Jessi kept her voice calm, but serious, she needed Nicole to agree to these terms, because she didn't have anyone else to turn to.

"Can I tell Stephen? I mean if it's something that might affect the family?"

"Yes, I just really need this to not reach Kyle, that's the most important thing." Jessi had pretty much knew it would be impossible to keep this a secret from the family, she just needed to keep Kyle in the dark. He chose to leave, and his choices had consequences.

"This must be serious if you don't want Kyle to know..." Nicole hedged.

Jessi smiled, but she needed to get a confirmation from Nicole one way or the other before she shared anything. "Do you promise not to tell Kyle?"

Nicole sighed, "I promise to keep whatever it is your about to share from Kyle."

Jessi nodded, "Nicole do you consider me as a daughter?"

Nicole looked taken aback by the direction Jessi had taken the conversation, "Yes, Jessi you know I do, I love you like you're my own, you are my own."

"I want to explain why I don't want Kyle aware of what I'm about to tell you," Jessi said, knowing she was jumping around from topic to topic before she got to the point, but she needed her to understand everything. "Kyle moved to New York to be with Amanda, he is living his own life there in the city and I want Kyle to be happy in his choices. I wouldn't want him to come back to be with me because something happened to me and he felt a sense of... obligation."

"Are you sick Jessi?" Nicole asked worry present in her voice.

"No, no... but I want to apologize in advance for what I'm going to tell you." Jessi paused, taking a short breath, "I'm pregnant," she said her eyes not leaving Nicole's face.

Nicole starred at her for almost a whole minute, 56 seconds actually before she said anything. "I didn't realize you and Kyle... that the two of you were... when did you start having sex?"

Jessi appreciated that Nicole knew it was Kyle, and that she understood her enough to know she would have only done that with Kyle. "Just the one time... it was when he was still trying to pick. I had thought it meant he had picked me and for a lot of reasons I think he might have, or at least I like to hope that. All I know is one minute were together, and the next thing he was telling me Goodbye and getting on a plane.

Nicole reached her hand across the table to grab hold of her hand, "I'm not going anywhere, we will handle this as a family and I promise you we will keep this a secret as long as you think it's necessary."

Jessi squeezed Nicole's hand in return, "Thank You."

Nicole sat on the couch, a cup of coffee in her hand just thinking, she was home alone during one of those rare moments when everyone else had plans or work away from the house. The quiet gave her some time to think, it had been a month since Jessi had told her the secret. She and Stephen had decided that they would keep it from the kids until they had to tell them or until Jessi decided to share.

Lori was away at school so it was only Josh they had to be careful around, and that was turning out to be far less difficult than they had anticipated.

Nicole had slowly started baby proofing the house, in small ways that weren't obvious to anyone who wasn't looking for it to be done. She'd started with the outlets, and any open wires. She also decided this was the perfect way to get the whole family eating healthier, a motion that was only voiced against by Josh who was shocked when his father agreed to the new change.

Stephen's reaction had surprised her the most; he'd gone quite for a long time his mind clearly in overdrive, before getting up and going to Jessi. Nicole had followed silently not sure what to expect, when she saw him pull Jessi into a tight hug as he sat next to her on the bed. It was in that moment that she realized how much her considered Jessi as a daughter.

When she'd questioned him later about what he'd been thinking before he got up, he'd smiled and said he was just processing, but Nicole had a feeling it was something much more than that. She had a feeling he'd made a choice between Kyle and Jessi in that moment, something she'd been trying not to do.

Chp1/End

AN: Please review :]]