It had stopped raining by the time she left; the streets glistened in the lamplight as he watched her get in the cab, giving him a weak smile and a small wave as the car pulled away. He'd reciprocated, but as the cab disappeared around the corner, he found the smile sliding off his face. He'd closed the door and thrown himself on the sofa, turning on the TV but staring at the ceiling instead.
As the time passed he found the confidence he'd managed to instil in Ainsley and in himself start to evaporate like fog on a sunny morning. He'd always been like this, ever since he was a child. He could take any news, however grim, handle any dire situation with calm diplomacy, but as soon as he was alone, truly alone, it would get him. And now, he was alone in his home, the look on her face when she'd told him the news still unfortunately seared into his mind.
Christ. What the hell was he going to do?
He sighed and picked up the phone from the coffee table and dialled.
He was not at all surprised when Donna answered. She'd sleepily handed the phone to Josh, who answered groggily.
"What is it?"
"It's...can you leave the room? I don't want Donna to hear."
"She's back to sleep already, Sam."
"Josh, just—"
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up. Christ." Sam could hear muffled foot falls and the creaking of a door opening and closing. "Okay, I'm in the hall, what the hell is going on?"
"You're ready? I—I got Ainsley pregnant. Ainsley Hayes. She's pregnant."
There was no response from the other end.
"Josh?"
"You're...you're serious?"
"I am."
"Is it April Fool's Day or something? Are you pledging a fraternity?"
"I'm telling the truth, Josh, I swear to god. She just came over here and started crying and told me was pregnant!"
Josh laughed incredulously. "What—when did you...? And why didn't you tell me?"
Sam sighed audibly. "After the inauguration. We were incredibly drunk, it was four in the morning and we shared a cab. I don't know—I can barely remember it. She wasn't on the pill and I guess I forgot to ask, I don't know! You know how it was. Now...what the hell am I going to do?"
"What did you say to her?"
"I—what could I say? I just told her to make her mind up on her own and that I'd be here for her."
"And you were telling the truth?"
"Yes! Well, what the hell else was I supposed to do? She was soaking wet, she was crying and she was tired. I wasn't going to tell her to get rid of it. And I'd never tell her to, anyways—"
"And what did she say?"
"She said she didn't think she could do it—have an abortion, I mean."
Josh scoffed, "Figures."
"Josh!"
"Sorry."
Sam sighed again. "She said it would be selfish of her. But she wasn't sure."
Sam could hear him rubbing his eyes. "Well, what am I supposed to tell you, Sam? Just don't—don't...try not to get too upset about it now. You know, you can talk to her tomorrow and, who knows? Maybe she'll have changed her mind."
Sam sighed heavily, falling violently into a nearby armchair. "I doubt it. Christ, Josh, I haven't seen her in three—almost four years. Two months ago I was engaged to someone else and now...some stupid fling and she gets pregnant!"
"It could only happen to you, buddy. But keep your chin up, okay? We don't know how this is all going to play out."
"Yeah, I guess."
Josh yawned loudly. "Listen, I've got to get back to bed, I'm going in early tomorrow, but I'll see you there, okay? We'll talk then."
Sam groaned, glancing at the clock with a wince. How had it gotten so late already? And didn't things like work stop when things like this happened? "Alright. Oh, and don't tell Donna, okay? Or anyone else."
"Fine. Just...try to get some sleep, okay?"
"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."
"G'night."