A/N: I don't expect this to be a long sequel—probably ten chapters at the most. It's mostly just so I can finally get these characters out of my head and for those of you who asked for a sequel. Please R/R.
Rachel bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. No. This wasn't happening. Not yet—not now, not on this God-forsaken island in the middle of nowhere. She threw her foe into the plastic garbage can and splashed her face with water before twisting open the doorknob and facing reality.
Lisa was sitting on Rachel's bed, her eyes closed and her hands clasped in her lap, silently praying. Her lips moved slightly with the words, but when she heard Rachel's soft footfalls, her eyes popped anxiously open.
The ecstatic look on Lisa's face was simply too much to bear, and Rachel slid to the floor in a heap, sobbing. Lisa collapsed next to her and wrapped her up in a gentle embrace.
"Sh," Lisa consoled. "What's wrong?"
"I'm too young."
"You're twenty-three."
"I'm not married."
Lisa let Rachel's hand rest in the hollow of her neck. "It's okay, babe. You'll make it. This is a good thing, remember? You love Alex."
"I promised myself I wouldn't do this before I saw my parents again," Rachel moaned. "None of this is right."
"It's not like you planned it," Lisa interjected mildly. Rachel exploded.
"I could have stopped it! We didn't even use protection, Leese, and—God!" Rachel pulled away and began pacing.
"There are still options, Rach," Lisa muttered. "You could--"
"I am not getting an abortion," Rachel spat.
"I was going to say that you could put it up for adoption."
"With the what, five families on the island?" Rachel sighed. "No. And that's another problem. Where the hell will I have this thing?"
"Jackson is--"
"Jackson is not going to deliver my baby," Rachel said, surprising herself at the immediate attachment to the not-even three-week-old embryo. True, Jackson was trained, but there was no way in hell that she would let that idiot touch her. It was crazy enough that Lisa granted him that privilege.
"Calm down, Rachel," Lisa replied, a bit more sternly. She gripped Rachel's shoulders and shook her to attention. Rachel realized then how insane she must be sounding. Thick, salty tears coursed down her cheeks, and she trembled from head to toe. "There are medicine women. Housewives. We'll figure it out."
Rachel pressed a hand to her face, shaking her head. None of this was the way it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be married and living in New York with Alex, all charges against him dropped and retired from his stupid job. That's what he'd promised her, all those years ago. He'd promised it. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant her first time, with Alex's baby. Not her. Not something that only happened in movies.
"What'll I tell him?" Rachel groaned. "What'll he say? What if he's angry?"
"He won't be angry," Lisa soothed. "This isn't just you. Alex is smart, hon, and he loves you. You guys will figure it out, and Alex will help you."
"Help you with what?" Alex appeared suddenly behind Rachel, wrapping his sturdy arms around her waist and planting a kiss on her neck. Rachel tried not to panic as she looked Lisa heavily in the eye.
It figures, she complained to herself, the one night he's early is the one where I just so badly want to be alone.
"I need to talk to you," she murmured quietly. Lisa nodded encouragingly. "Privately."
Lisa mechanically took her cue and left, silently shutting the door behind her. Alex ignored Rachel's request, moving around and kissing her face. She pushed him away. "No," she said. "Not now."
He sighed and placed matching hands on his hips. "What's wrong?"
Rachel instinctively placed a hand on her stomach and said nothing, searching for words. It wasn't necessary. Alex's bright green eyes—the ones that used to scare her so badly—traced her arms to the area and, as he put two and two together, widened.
"Rachel," he muttered. "Really?"
Sighing, she hung her head. "Yeah."
She refused to look at him, certain that because of his silence he felt the same way as her: crushed, devastated, and worried. She cried to herself, pressing her face to the wall, and only looking up when Alex took her shoulder.
He wasn't angry, and he wasn't crying. He was grinning. "Rachel, I'm so happy!"
"What?"
He wrapped his arms around her, and try as she might to break free, he would have none of it. "Tell me that you don't want to have my baby."
Rachel twisted around to look at him, her face a mask of suspicion. "I don't—I mean—it's too early, Alex! I mean, for Christ's sake, you're only--"
"Twenty-seven, and you're twenty-three, and we've known each other for eight years," Alex interjected. "It's not like it was a short summer fling, Rach."
"We're not married," Rachel spat. "I was raised the saintly Christian girl who can't have sex before marriage, let alone have a baby out of wedlock!"
Alex sighed, letting her go and ruffling his hair with his hand. Rachel pushed through the sliding door out onto the porch, pulling on her shoes. "Where are you going?" he called out.
She didn't answer him, but began striding quickly from the house. Walk. She needed a walk. Get some air, clear her head.
Alex jogged up to her as her feet sank into the beach and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to face him. "Rachel, you can't run away from this."
"I'm not," she snarled sarcastically. "I'm walking. Let me go."
"No," he replied. "We need to figure this out, now. When did you find out?"
"About five minutes before you did," Rachel snapped. "And if you think you're having trouble dealing with the whole concept, think of me. The thing's living in me, for crying out loud."
Alex pulled her closer. Rachel struggled to get away from him. "I'm not having trouble dealing with the concept of a child, I just can't figure out why the hell you're so upset. You love me, Rachel, what's the problem?"
"I am so sick of people deciding what I feel!" Rachel screamed, her cheeks flushing and her hair flying into her face crazily.
Alex's face fell. "So you're saying you don't love me."
Rachel sighed, exasperated. "I love you, Alex, but stop assuming that because of that, nothing else matters. I don't want your child if I can't see my family. I haven't seen them in seven years, Alex. Seven fucking years of them worrying about me, not even knowing if I'm still alive. And me. You promised me that I'd be home within a year. 'As soon as things blow over'. And I'm still not there, and you're still a wanted man, and I've probably been given up for dead."
At first glance, Alex' facial expression looked angry and defiant, but at the second, Rachel realized he was silently and desperately pleading with her to calm down. "Rachel, I'm doing the best I can. Do you think I want to keep you here? I hate this place as much as you do, and I don't want to raise a family here any more than you do."
"You hate it," Rachel snorted disbelievingly. "You get to leave once in a while, though, don't you? Every day you get to leave. Try being stuck here for seven years without talking to anybody but the same three people."
Alex grabbed her hand and pressed it between his. "Rachel, please," he said urgently. "Don't be upset. You know its not safe to go to New York. The police could--"
Rachel just stared at him and muttered a, "Selfish bastard" before ripping herself away from him and tearing down the beach.
"Wait!" He was winded when he caught up to her and managed to throw out an arm, "Listen to me for five seconds, will you?"
"I want to leave," Rachel said, and on second thought, "Leave me alone!"
"Just let me—I have something to--" When Rachel tried to pull away from Alex again, she tripped over his foot and went sprawling into the sand with a shout. Alex took advantage of this and pinned her there with his arms bent on her shoulders. "Just listen, goddammit."
Rachel didn't reply, but glared at him in acceptance.
"I came home early today because I needed to talk to you," he explained, still breathing a bit heavily as he reached into his pocket. "I was going to wait until you'd calmed down, but I have a feeling you won't listen to me until you see this."
She knew what it was before it was fully out of his pocket. When he opened the small box, the heavy stone glinted in the midday sunshine, and her breathing ceased for a moment as the impact of the situation hit her.
Alex didn't even have to say anything. The message his eyes were radiating was enough. Rachel choked on her lack of air and tried to figure out something to say herself.
"I can't…not if you don't let me see my family," Rachel insisted. "You can't ask it of me if I can't see them."
He sighed, and touched her cheek. "Give me a week. One week."
She mulled this over. What was one more week after seven years of isolation?
"Will you marry me, then?"
Her mouth didn't move in the slightest. She just nodded, and cried as Alex pulled her into his arms and began to cry himself.