Disclaimer: Not my characters. They belong to BVE. No deserted mines in the middle of San Francisco Bay were harmed in the making of this fic.

Author's notes: Here's part 2, just so I have some peace. *Glares at Rach, Gamine, Vanessa, Chris, and Dagmar.*

Inside Out
By Selma McCrory
Copyright 2002
Part 2

*I'm pregnant,* she thought. *By... Eric?* The thought was ludicrous. But she hadn't been with anybody else, and even though the two of them had done their best, it appeared that she had become pregnant.

Cole was looking at her, with his patented concerned-leader look. "Are you okay?" he said finally.

"I will be," she said, though she knew that her response didn't bear its usual firmness.

"You might want to talk to Eric."

"Talk to Eric. Right." *Like I want to talk to Eric right now.*

Cole just looked at her. Not steely, but the Cole puppy-dog expression that was his way of being stubborn.

Taylor sighed inwardly and pulled out her Growl Phone. "I will. In just a few minutes." When Cole just stood there, she added. "I have to mentally psych myself up for this, okay Cole?"

Her teammate and leader gave a small nod before finally leaving, and Taylor sat down on the ground. *And what do I tell him when I call? I'm *not* going to tell him this over a cell phone!* She just stared at the Growl Phone, knowing Cole would not let up. *Couldn't he have not told me and let me find out for myself?* she thought.

But that was an impossibility. Obviously her Eaglezord hadn't been able to communicate its concerns to her, so it had done the next best thing. It had talked to Cole. And he had done probably what it asked him to do... tell its very human partner what was going on.

So she gave up, and dialed Eric's number. She was greeted by Eric's gruff answer. "Commander Myers."

"Eric."

"Taylor."

"I need to talk to you."

"What about?" Eric sounded suddenly wary, and she didn't blame him. Neither of them was into surprises.

"Let me explain over lunch."

"All right. Where?"

She gave him a location, knowing lunch was just the beginning.

"I'll be there." With that, Eric hung up.

* * *

Taylor nervously waited for Eric outside the restaurant. She'd chosen one that was noisy – better to spring mind-shattering revelations on him – and also one that was indoors, so that nobody and nothing could report on her progress. She glared at the two eagles that seemed to be following her about wherever she went.

Eric strode up the path in full uniform. Which wasn't surprising; he was probably carving this lunch out of a busy day. It was just that she wished he'd been a little more inconspicuous. Fortunately, Silver Guardians were common enough that most people just looked at Eric briefly and then turned their attention elsewhere. Except for the tourists, of course.

"So?" Eric asked without preamble.

"Wait until we're inside," Taylor told him.

"And that will be?"

"A few more minutes."

Eric nodded, allowing this small delay. Taylor herself was anxious to get in, but unfortunately she needed a noisy atmosphere and that meant waiting a few minutes to get into the busy restaurant.

Several long minutes later, she heard her name, and the two of them went in.

* * *

"What's going on?" Eric asked, having contained his curiosity until after they'd ordered.

Taylor tapped the table for a moment before speaking up. "I'm pregnant."

"You're *what*?" Eric said, obviously making an effort not to rise. He looked as surprised as she'd felt when Cole had brought her the news.

"Pregnant." She spit the word out.

"How? We took precautions!"

Taylor inwardly winced. "Apparently not good enough."

"Yeah," Eric said. "Have you gotten it confirmed?"

"I just found out. Of course I haven't gotten it confirmed."

Eric seemed to be fascinated by the salt shaker. "But I guess your zord would know if anything would, right?"

"Right." Taylor decided that the pepper shaker was just as interesting. "We're linked. It apparently has been feeling the past few Saturdays."

"Great." Eric looked at her. "Does anybody besides you, me, your zord, and Cole know?"

"I don't know," Taylor said. *If I stay pregnant, everyone will have to know. Shayla, Alyssa, Max, Danny... Merrick, though I don't think he'd care.*

Eric didn't seem to know what to say, and Taylor struggled to find words to break the silence. She'd had her share of close encounters with guys, and Eric was only the latest. The only difference was that this time she'd been unlucky.

"So, what do we do now?" Eric said, looking at her.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," Taylor confessed.

"Great."

"What, you expect *me* to make all the decisions?" Taylor demanded. "It's your child, too!"

"Yeah, it is," Eric said. "But I wouldn't be so *stupid* to presume to know what you want. It's your body."

Taylor found herself unexpectedly mollified. Yeah, Eric could be stupid sometimes. He could be a total idiot in fact. And she'd met him at a traffic stop. But he had smarts – had to be, to be a lone wolf on a Ranger team. And he seemed intelligent enough. "I haven't really had time to think about it," she said. "Cole surprised me."

A weak excuse, she knew, and Eric knew it too. She should be faster on her feet, but her relationship with him was often unpredictable. It worked wonderfully for a sparring partner and a bed partner, but not for anything reliable. Not something she wanted to deal with when facing impending motherhood... if she chose to be a mother. "I guess... I'd better let you think about it," Eric said, looking as awkward as she'd ever seen him.

"*We'll* think about it," she corrected. Much as she'd like, she couldn't let him off, and honestly, she doubted she wanted her child to have him as a father if he didn't participate. Of course, this was assuming she had a child.

"Oh, yeah. We will." Eric's voice was firm. He was stepping away, she saw, letting her make a choice... but he wasn't going to let this go completely. "We will."


*tbc*