She flinched as the timer dinged from within her bathroom. With fists and jaws clenched, she drew out of her prone position on the bed and headed to meet her fate. Her hand shook as she grasped the doorknob and pushed into the bathroom. Bravely she centered her attention to the stick beside the sink and her worst fears were confirmed. Her vision swam and all the blood in her body rushed to her head. She faintly had the presence of my mind to sink onto the toilet seat before her knees gave way. As clear as if it had been black and white, the pink stood out, shouting to Adrianna Cramer that her world was over. She cradled her head in her hands but kept glancing at the pregnancy test, hoping, praying it would change. It didn't.
A weak sob escaped her throat. This wasn't like before, when she had been a stupid little girl with River. This was the biggest accident in the world. Despite all of her caution and care to prevent something like this, it had really happened. She was pregnant- undeniably so according to the glaring pink result. Somewhere in her muddled mind, a jolt struck her and her baby's father occurred to her...Rex. My god, she had gotten pregnant by Rex Balsom, the least likely candidate for Father of the Year. Sure, he had improved in their time together as he was now LPD's newest rookie cop but it was still Rex- broke and couldn't keep his ass out of trouble. He couldn't be a father. What was she going to do? Her mother...how could she break this to her mother? The lady of LaBoullaie couldn't have her perfect daughter knocked up by the Jersey boy, son of trashy Roxy. Adrianna's breath hitched back and forth, her subdued cries causing a stitch of pain up her side. She stood slowly, swaying a little on her shaky legs and faced the floor-length mirror beside her. She rested her hands softly upon her abdomen and tried to imagine the tiny creature growing inside her, a person that was half her and half Rex, created out of their hungry and tremendous love. Her eyes closed briefly and she thought of the last time they had made love, lying shamelessly naked on his living room floor, tucked into his warm, broad arms as if she was a perfect fit. She had never thought that this would be the result of their glorying each other, that such wonder could create such pain. She wearily opened her eyes and once again stared at her flat, tan stomach. Soon it would be the size of a watermelon, her supple skin seemingly stretched to its limit, draped in unflattering maternity clothes, a real live baby inside. Her thoughts drifted at that. A baby growing larger inside her, complete with butterfly kicks and head over heels somersaults. Then a child would be handed to her, a tiny dark-haired head poking out of a pink blanket, sleepy blue eyes would stare up at her.
Adrianna sniffed and tears dotted down her t-shirt. A smile teased at the corner of her lips as she pictured holding her daughter, the next generation of Cramer women. Tia Carlotta, Kelly, Blair would huddle around the delivery room and her mother, Dorian, would be so proud that she'd call the press and throw the year's biggest extravaganza at the Palace. For the first time, a ray of hope shone through her bleakness. Maybe it would be okay after all, maybe it would actually turn out wonderful. She sighed and swept the pregnancy test into the trash basket. There was only one piece missing from her happy picture and that was her boyfriend. How would Rex react and how was she going to tell him?
Rex Balsom kicked off his boots with a grunt and made a face at the smell that wafted through the air. It had been the longest shift of his life today, boring and filled with purse-snatchers and traffic violations. Where was all the good stuff? The murder suspects, assassination attempts, going undercover, all the dangerous, exhilarating crimes his girlfriend despised. She worried for him constantly, wishing he'd take a desk job and quit being Bo's right-hand man. Rex grinned in spite of himself and noticed she'd left a vase of fresh flowers on his kitchen counter before she left this morning. God, he loved that girl. Not just in the lusty, fun in the sack kind of way but heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul way. She was the last thing he wanted to see at night and the thing he wanted to wake up to. Despite his long night management of Ultraviolet, it was something, the only thing, he was proud to have accomplished. His Princess Adrianna was finally just that...his.
As he made his way to the bathroom, he began peeling his uniform off, not caring about the piles of dirty laundry he left behind. Dropping his dark blue trousers, he stepped into the shower stall and grimaced ruefully at the assortment of girly, floral scented soaps and shampoos Adrianna left behind for the constant sleepovers. He had just let the scalding water pour over his head when he heard clatter coming from the living room. He yelled out, dousing his head with what smelled like pineapple, the most manly of the choices.
" Hey, Ade, I'm in the shower!"
A minute later, the bathroom door swished open and softly clicked shut. He grinned at her dark silhouette through the steamed shower door. "Hey, babe, I thought you were having dinner with Dorian tonight. Couldn't stay away, huh?"
She sighed tiredly and leaned against the wall. "Yeah, that's it, Rex. I have nothing better to do than watch you shower."
"Ouch, what crawled up your pretty panties, babe?" he frowned, shaking suds out of his face and pushing the door a few inches open to look at her. "Rough day?"
Adrianna glanced up at him and uncrossed her arms, offering Rex a small, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, honey. You didn't deserve that. Yeah, it's just been a long day."
A naughty gleam flashed in Rex's eyes and he nodded his head suggestively,
" You know, you don't have to just watch if it bothers you so much."
Adrianna sighed and clasped his face to kiss his lips gently, vaguely tasting what she thought her soap. "You never give up, do you?"
"Not if I can help it," he shrugged and dotted her nose playfully with bubbles. "So are you gonna spill it or do I have to torture you?"
She swiped her sleeve across her nose and smiled a pale imitation of the real one. "Don't worry about it, Rex. It's just girl stuff, that's all."
"Ah, the mysterious girl stuff, hormones and such," he contemplated, not believing her blatant lie for a second. He couldn't imagine what was bothering her so much but he decided it was his duty to bring the sunshine back into her eyes. He began to slide his mouth down her neck and wrapped an arm about her waist, feeling her guard start to subside and in a split-second, he made his move. Suddenly he tightened his grip and she was swung into the shower, fully dressed. She squealed as he pressed her back against the cold tile wall, the hot water cascading over both of them.
"Rex! What are you doing! I don't have a change of clothes!" she sputtered between her laughter and the water. Rex chuckled dangerously as he began to ravish her.
"Who said you need to wear clothes?"
The stall door slid shut and soon all you could see was two shadows swaying in the steam.
Afterwards they lay on the bathroom floor, on a bed of damp towels with the heat lamp warming their limp but satisfied bodies. Adrianna opened her heavy eyes and nuzzled her chin into Rex's bare and muscular chest. In sleepy response, he dropped a vague kiss on her soaking, black hair and stroked a lazy hand down her hip. When his hand drifted affectionately across her stomach, she automatically shoved his hand away. Immediately her face colored and she squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she had ruined their moment.
"What the-?" Rex glanced at her in utter surprise. "Adrianna, what the hell is wrong with you? Whatever it is, you can tell me."
"Maybe its none of your business, Rex. Despite what you think, my life is not a cakewalk and I do have actual problems sometimes," she snapped, sitting up and covering her breasts with her arms. "And stop trying to give me your cop's third degree."
She dropped her gaze in shame at the unabashed hurt on her boyfriend's face, hating the haughty, typically Cramer tone that grew in her voice with every snap. Rex drew back from her side and started pulling on a pair of shorts angrily.
"Look, will you just tell me what's wrong? Is it your family? Has your mother done something crazy again?"
Adrianna murmured as she wrapped herself in the driest towel she could find. "Probably but that's not my problem. I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"
Rex's exasperation grew as she continued to refuse to look him in the eyes. As did his fears. "Babe, what is it? You're freaking me out now. I-Is it someone else? Is it Duke?"
"Don't be stupid, Rex," she replied, her voice on the very thin edge of breaking like a piece of fine crystal. "You know you're the only one in my life. The only one until-"
She stopped, a sob caught raw in her throat, denying to let her finish. Rex grabbed her by the forearms fiercely and demanded,
"Damn it, Adrianna, tell me now!"
The cry in her throat came loose with his desperate shake and she blurted out,
"I'm pregnant."
Silence instantly descended like an anvil between them and you could have heard a pin drop, then disintegrate on the tension stretched across the room. Desolate, Adrianna's chin sank to her chest and her eyes burned with tears as if they were grit under her eyelids. Rex tried to swallow hard but the lump in his throat had become a boulder. Haphazardly, avoiding any eye contact, he began to pull his clothes on, not giving a damn if they matched or not. He flailed blindly for the doorknob and choked out,
"I-I've gotta go. Okay? I'll just go."
Panic raced down Adrianna's spine like quicksilver and she reached out for him urgently, snagging his sleeve. "Rex, wait! Rex, where are you going?"
His vision already fuzzy with confusion, he wouldn't let his slightly wild eyes rest upon her drained face. He jerked his arm away and said hastily,
"I-I'll be back later...alright? I just need to go right now."
With that he made a beeline out of the apartment and after a slam of the door, Adrianna was alone. The dam inside her broke and she fell to the floor, curled into a ball. Rocking back and forth on her heels, she buried her face into her knees and cried as if her world was ending- because that's how it felt.
Rex stumbled into Rodi's as if he'd already been drinking for hours. He made his way sightlessly to a bar stool and waved over the bartender. He would have much rather been slinging back drinks at his own club but he couldn't allow any of his employees to see him like this.
"Rum on the rocks," he mumbled blearily to the waiting bartender, a young, goateed guy barely out of college. His mind had gone from a chaotic whirl to a numb, blank slate. The only words written on it now were...Adrianna's pregnant. He couldn't ask how it happened. He knew the answer to that but had he been reckless? Had she? His blonde head fell into his hands, his forehead banging slightly against the sticky bar counter. His princess was pregnant with his baby. His baby...the idea didn't seem real. He couldn't have a baby, he couldn't be a father; and yet Adrianna had just told him that was the case. Somewhere in the inner, twisted, cynical part of his mind, he wondered if she was lying- either lying about the baby or maybe lying about him being the father.
He stopped and wanted to strangle himself for such idiotic thoughts. This was his Adrianna he was talking about. She was the most honest and moral girl he had ever known. Sometimes infuriatingly so. She had been telling the truth; she was indeed pregnant with his child. He tossed his drink down the back of his throat and signaled quickly for another. How could he be a father? He didn't know anything about raising kids. His only teachers had been a nonexistent father and a half-assed drunk of a mother like Roxy.
"Heeeeyyyy, baby!"
The slurred screech broke through his reverie and he mumbled,
"Speak of the devil."
"The devil? What are you talking about, Rexy? Have you been drinking so much you're seeing things?" Rex pretended he couldn't hear his mother as the busty, bottle-blonde sidled up to him and threw an arm around his shoulder. "Aw, sweetums, don't ignore your momma now. What's got you here at this dump so early in the afternoon?"
Rex shrugged Roxy off impatiently and started working on his second drink.
"Nothin', Ma- just get lost. Nothin' I wanna talk about to you."
Undeterred Roxy hopped onto the nearby stool; no small feat considering the lack of give of her pink, pleather dress. She glanced around busily and tapped Rex's leather jacket. "So where's your lovely, Miss Priss girlfriend? Did she tell you the fantastic job I did on her pedicure last weekend? But then again you probably found that out, huh?" She elbowed him suggestively. Rex made a gagging sound and grumbled,
"I know you're not asking me about foot fetishes, Roxy...and don't call her that. She's only ever been nice to you. In fact, most times she forces me to be nice to you too."
Roxy shrugged and ordered a beer with a point of her dagger-like fingernails.
"Eh, she's alright to my face, I guess...but that family of hers-snooty as the Buchanans. Thank god, you didn't get hooked up with one of them. But don't go tellin' Natty I said that."
"Mum's the word," he said sarcastically. "Now seriously what the hell do you want? I feel a binge coming on."
Roxy pursed her voluptuous, bright lips together thoughtfully and goaded, poking her son. "Now that doesn't sound like my newly straight and narrow boy. What's got into you? That Adrianna chica mess around on you?"
"No, Roxy!" He was losing patience that had already run out a long time ago. "I don't wanna talk about it."
Roxy was relentless, however. She hugged him despite his groaned protests. "Aw, come on, baby. You gotta tell somebody besides that glass. Trust me, you can't drown your troubles in the bottle. You're still my child and I'm still your momma. Maybe I can help."
"I doubt it," he said but he felt his resolve dissipating. This was eating him up inside. "Fine, I'll give gabbing with you a try but if you say something stupid, I'm gone."
"I'm all ears, baby doll" she grinned in satisfaction. "Talk to me."
He glanced around Rodi's cautiously, then took a deep breath and swig of rum before starting.
"Ok, let's say I were to have a kid, what...um, how do you think I'd be? As a dad, y'know?" He waited with baited breath and could hardly believe his ears when his mother actually burst out laughing. Roxy cackled,
"Where in hell's bells would you get that question? You- be a daddy? Honey, no offense but you're too much like me. Too selfish and too busy enjoying life to be strapped down with a baby. You don't want one, do ya?"
"Well..." he trailed off, not knowing how to respond. "But you had me and you raised Natty."
"Yeah and look at the job I did," she shrugged. "Now I won't beat myself up over it but I wasn't the best momma to you two. Besides why would you want the burden, Rexy? You've got Ultraviolet all to yourself and that new boy in blue job with Bo. You can't raise a baby...unless you wanna entertain him at casinos and bars like I did you and your sister."
Hopes that Rex hadn't even realized he'd had sank Maybe Roxy was right. He certainly didn't want to be a replica of her and bring another screwed up Balsom into the world. There was only so much alcohol after all. He swirled the ice around in his glass, having suddenly lost interest in getting dead drunk. He finally said in a low voice,"
"Thanks, Rox. Thanks for the input."
"Hey, no problem, baby!" she replied, quite pleased with herself. "Glad you got that fool notion outta your head. Now barkeep, gimme another brew!"
Rex wanted to drown himself in his glass. Maybe he should have asked Bo instead.