Hey! Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed Off the Map yesterday, wow at Tommy and Mina, I love their effortless chemistry and their quips with each other! I have no doubt that they will get together sometime soon, even if toe dude got in the way tonight because if he hadn't I am not sure Tommy would have got to the same conclusion so quickly. I loved seeing Brett Tucker (the Ben's Aussie doctor friend) again though, I was a massive fan of McLeod's Daughters when I lived in Australia, although I wish he'd kept his hat from that! - . (Brett, because seriously he can leave his hat on...)

I hope you enjoy the next chapter, many thanks to my beta Miss Toughie who takes the time to correct my mistakes even when her life is hectic!

4ftM

Chapter Two

Tommy knew something was wrong where Mina was concerned from her first outburst over the chair hockey with Charlie. But his real doubts hadn't started nagging until he had finally managed to drag her out to spend an evening at the Cantina a few days later and she refused her usual drink. Now it wasn't that Tommy hadn't believed her back when she said it was the stomach flu, but her sudden change of behavior towards him alongside her outburst last week, coupled with the sickness that hadn't abated and her sudden reluctance to drink… Well let just say he hadn't needed his medical license to figure that particular equation out. The real burning question now was why she hadn't told him, or worse whether she was planning on telling him at all.

The revelation that Mina was more probably than not pregnant really knocked him for a six and bothered him all evening. He literally could not take his eyes off her, noticing all the subtle and not so subtle clues. What was worse was that she hadn't even noticed him staring. In fact, she hadn't looked in his direction all evening, avoiding eye contact with him at all costs. He thought back realizing that she had been doing that for the past month, starting at exactly the same time that all the progress they had made had not only stalled but gone into reverse as she started avoiding him. Now it made sense, but they were meant to be friends and friends didn't hide things like this from one another.

He struggled to contain the anger at the thought that she had known for at least a month and still not told him, not even when they were alone together. It drove him to start drinking more than he knew he should and it wasn't long before his drunken self needed to physically get her to say it, to admit she was pregnant. So even though he knew he shouldn't, he ordered her an alcoholic drink on his next round.

Clumsily he placed the drinks down on the table with less finesse than he hoped triggering an eye roll from Mina. A flash of rage went straight though him when he realized she was judging him. Whilst hiding her pregnancy with his child she was judging him. It made him angrier that before and even more determined to get her to tell to truth. "Cheers" he said bitterly as he watched Mina take a drink.

"This has got alcohol in it Fuller!" The anger on her face was unmistakable as she slammed the drink back down on the table. "I told you I didn't want to drink tonight. What the hell is going on with you." she ranted finding her purse to get herself a different drink.

"It's fine Mina, its just one drink" he said as he pushed it back in her direction.

She stood up and pushed the glass so roughly back across the table that the dark liquid slopped over the sides. "I said no Fuller."

"Why?" he said looking her directly in the eyes challenging her. He wanted her to say it, to tell him, to admit that she was pregnant with his kid.

She cast her face to the ground under his intense stare shaking her head before replying "Because I don't want to, that's why."

He laughed bitterly, if she was going to play with him then game on, but he was going to win. "Bullshit, you can't waste the drink. Now sit down and drink it." He said as he grabbed her arm trying pulling her back down. Aware that he was being harsher to her than he had originally intended as his anger had well and truly got the better of him.

"No, Tommy!" she said as she desperately trying to free her arm from his vice like grip. "You're hurting me, I said I wasn't going to drink the damn drink."

"And I asked why!" he roared as he stood up his voice carrying clear over the music, instantly alerting Brenner to the escalating tension between the two of them. "So tell me why Mina!" He said grabbing her other arm trying in vain to catch her eye. Annoyed when she instantly looked at the ground.

"Fuller!" Lily shouted as she tried to remove his hands from Mina's arms. "What the hell are you doing, let go of her. Have you lost your mind?" Lily said now slapping his hands away from her friend.

"No" He said eyes widening in hurt as his eyes snapped back and forth between Lily and Mina. "No Mina, don't tell me you told Lily and not me. Tell me you have not told her." His voice broke as he realized Mina hadn't trusted him at all.

Lily was confused and she was getting more aware of the audience they were attracting as she grabbed his arm and looked into his eyes. "Look, Tommy I have no idea what you two are going on about, but Mina hasn't told me anything. So please lets go home now. We can discuss this later when you are sober." She begged the drunken doctor.

Tommy couldn't believe it both his so called 'friends' were lying to his face. "I can't believe you'd lie to me to Lily." He was barely able to contain the tears that were pricking at his eyes.

Mina couldn't believe what was going on, one minute he had been fine then suddenly he knew and he was angry. Really angry. Her mind was reeling, completely unsure if he was angry because she hadn't told him or simply because she was pregnant in the first place. This wasn't how she imagined telling him, but it had got way past the point of admitting the truth, not if she wanted to salvage some part of her friendship with him that was. "No one knew Tommy…. I didn't tell anyone." she almost whispered as salty tears slipped unchecked down her cheeks.

"Knew?" Tommy said his brain working overtime, there was no way she had got an abortion without him knowing between last week and now, was there? He just didn't know. "You mean, your not now?" He said his words so quiet they slipped below the blaring music of the Cantina.

She saw the confusion and hurt on his face as she shook her head finally looking him in the eye. "No, I am… still. You know..." She admitted awkwardly.

"Still what?" Lily said in complete confusion looking back and forth between her two friends. Then it suddenly clicked. "Ohhh, you mean…" She didn't know what to say it was unexpected. "Umm, well wow. But really guys, lets go back now, we need to talk about this somewhere else." She said suddenly very uneasy and hyper-aware of the crowd of locals that had gathered to watch the live American soap opera.

Tommy didn't move frozen with Mina's last phrase echoing in his head. No I am still. There was a part of him that had hoped he had added one and one together and got four, that he was wrong in his assumption. That he really had not got his friend, housemate, colleague, Mina pregnant. Despite his blatant womanizing ways this wasn't a situation he had been in before. He had always thought it would be something he would plan with some trophy wife when he was a lot nearer to forty.

Suddenly, he realized where he was and the crowd that was staring at them. His eyes focused in on the now crying Mina and the blatantly shocked and flustered Lily who was trying to guide her gently back towards their house.

He knew he should walk back with them, discuss the bombshell further, but he couldn't bring himself to. "I'll catch you up," he shouted but he wasn't sure who he shouted it to, or where he was going as started walking away from them and back towards the clinic.

-/-/-/-

For hours Tommy wondered aimlessly down the jungle tracks, his head reeling from the alcohol and Mina's confession. It was like his entire world has been tipped on it's axis and he no longer knew which way was up. Less than a day ago the possibility hadn't even registered on his radar, now everything had changed.

He was going to somebodies father. The very thought made his heart-rate go through the roof and a cold sweat break out. It was odd, even to his own mind, that even though he was adult enough to be trusted with other peoples lives on a daily basis, he himself didn't feel old enough to be a father. It wasn't like he was fifteen, but part of him felt like a scared teenager. He thought back to what his two older brothers were like with his many nieces and nephews and couldn't imagine himself in their places. They were both undeniably great fathers and even though he hadn't spoken to either of them since he had left the states he found himself desperately wanting to now. Maybe they had faced the same fears, but he doubted it. They were both military like his father so he was pretty sure neither of the decorated veterans feared something so mundane.

Sitting down heavily on a rock he took a look around the area in the now dawning light. It took him a few minutes until he started to recognise his surroundings, realising he was less than five minutes away from their shared house. He was silently glad that at least part of him knew what the right thing to do was. If he was scared he wondered what it was like for her.

He regretted thinking about her instantly because it was like a bucket of ice water to the face. His hazy alcohol fueled self-centred thoughts and worries vanished in a second. He had shouted at her and grabbed her. Oh god, he couldn't believe what he had done. On the scale of stupid things he had done in his life time, this topped it all and he was no stranger to foolish behaviour. But he had made his housemate, his colleague and friend cry, whilst she was pregnant by him none the less. He was glad his father and brothers were not around because this actions of last night were not those of the man he was raised to be. They would kick his sorry ass and he would deserve it. In fact he wished someone would, although he was pretty sure Cole was going to as soon as word got back to him. He knew he needed to make it better with her as he snapped a blade of grass tearing it into little green pieces as he thought. He sat there silently for an hour until he came up with a suitable plan. Then he ran all the way back to the clinic, even thought he knew in the larger scheme of things what he was planning on doing would do little to fix the hurt he had caused. He had to start somewhere though and this was something.

Trees passed him in a great blur of green and he was glad that it was still early, only five am by his watch, so he was sure would be able to get there and back before she woke. Testament to his determination he got to the clinic quicker than he expected clattered up the wooden stairs out of breath, his chest heaving as he tried to draw in as much air as possible to make up for the lack of oxygen he could feel his muscles aching for. He was thankful Keeton and Clark were away as he would have a hard time explaining his disheveled drunken state and tear stained face. Not pausing to think he went straight to the staff fridge hoping there was still one left. He wasn't disappointed when he opened the large white door and saw it sitting alone on shelf. Wasting no time he grabbed it before rushing off to the storeroom. By the time he was finished at the clinic ten minutes later he had an armful of stuff.

His journey back was harder, with every step taking him one closer to her and the mess he had no idea how to put right. He almost stopped so many times, each time wanting to drop the stuff on the path, pack his things and fly back to the States. So far away from the jungle and all the complications it had brought crashing into his life. Yet every time this crossed his mind he hated himself a little bit more because he knew this wasn't a problem he could run from. He wanted to believe he was better man, but the urge to run was almost overpowering. Everything was changing and he had no control. As any semblance of his control had been lost one night and now it was all in her hands, she had the power to change his entire future. It scared him more than he cared to admit even to himself.

Despite his fears and anxiety he finally made it all the way up the well worn path from the clinic to the steps of their shared house. And ignoring the temptation to grab his own stuff and run, he had to forced himself to walk into her room. Knowing instantly that he'd made the right decision when he saw her in bed asleep; she looked so young and so troubled. As he sat down on the floor next to her bed he knew deep down that he'd never leave her and that made him feel better than he had all evening. Now he just had to try make this right again and all he could do was hope and wait.

-/-/-/-/-

Mina awoke with a start, her head pounding from all the crying she had done last night. She couldn't even remember falling into a fitful sleep, the last thing she remembered was Lily laying behind her stoking her hair telling her it would be okay. There had never been a time in her life she could remember ever crying as hard as she had last night. She hadn't even been able to physically say as word as the tears fell uncontrollably down her face. Staring at the ceiling she felt the tears prick at her eyes again as she saw the now familiar mosquito net, there was no way that the jungle was just a bad dream and she was still in Boston. After several long seconds she rolled over with a sigh, determined to keep up appearances.

"Hold on." His voice was soft and he looked as broken as she felt, it didn't stop the wave of anger that she felt seeing his face again after he ran off last night.

"You have a nerve." She ground out as she struggled to get up from her bed. But his reactions were quicker than hers as he jumped up from the floor by her bed and gently raised his hands up careful not to touch her. "Don't get up so fast, I have something for you it'll help with the sickness." He said as picked up the ginger ale he had stolen from Cole's stash and the crackers from the store room he had placed onto her bedside table earlier.

She wanted to shout at him, but the sincerity and shame in his eyes stopped her. He looked genuine and she couldn't face another morning of staring down the aging toilet bowl with its decades worth of limescale. Sitting up slowly she moved the mosquito netting and took the items careful not to touch him or meet his eyes. She knew it was petty but his actions last night were too fresh in her mind, he deserved it she reasoned.

He watched as she nervously nibbled on the crackers and sipped at the ginger ale knowing she was avoiding looking at him. Not that he blamed her, he wouldn't want to look at him either. He knew he should say something while she was a captive audience but looking at her started to cause his heart to race and his palms to sweat. His mind struggling to accept that while she physically looked no different, well apart from a bit worn down, she was different. He couldn't reconcile the two conflicting visions together in his head. First there was Mina, his friend, colleague and housemate, a woman who he'd secretly hoped given time would be more than that, now he didn't know ever would be. Then there was 'it' all nine weeks of it, no bigger than a grape which now connected him to her like an invisible bond. It sounded selfish even in his own thoughts but he'd hoped their shared bond would be more akin to love right now rather than this. Although, he mentally kicked himself for it as she obviously hadn't asked for nay of this this either.

"I'm sorry." He hadn't realised he'd actually said anything until she looked at him, but he meant it. He was sorry, because somewhere between giggling about old lady spit and waking up to Zee's angry rant he had made a mistake. Too late, too rushed, too much fumbling there was hundreds of things they could have done to make the condom ineffective. The worst of it was he was too drunk to have even the slightest clue which. 'That should have been good reason enough not to have been doing it in the first place' said the stern voice in his head that sounded awfully like his mother's and he couldn't help but agree.

Draining the rest of the ginger ale she watched as he got lost in thought. She wanted so badly to hate him right now, but it took two at the end of the day. Even if she really wanted to be really angry at his reaction, she couldn't make herself do so. It was her that had put off telling him for over a month even when she had ample time and opportunity. She didn't know when it had all got so complex and the silence between them seemed to stretch on. There was so much to say and too much to discuss. Neither could find the words to start out this conversation.

"Tommy?" She said as her eyes welled up with more tears.

She saw him look up in what looked to her as hope before he answered "Yeah."

"I'm scared." And with those words the walls that she had put up that past month crumbled and the tears came down, but she wasn't alone as his arms surrounded her as if shielding her from an invisible foe. She had no idea how long they stayed like that but what she was sure of for the first time in weeks was that she wasn't going to be alone and that felt beyond good.