Annie woke up the next morning in a slightly better mood than the night before. Sliver and Adriana had spent the night and she'd filled Ade in on her pregnancy. She hadn't meant to tell Adriana last night, but she'd been feeling vulnerable and it had just come out. Ade had told them that Liam was back for good. Apparently Australia hadn't worked out for him and neither had Sydney. She knew that it was awful of her to be happy that Liam's relationship hadn't worked out but she was. She thought that this would make it a little easier to tell him about the baby because he wasn't tied down to anyone else. Even if they weren't together, at least he would be around to be a part of the baby's life if he chose to. She looked at the clocked and realized that she was running late. After the girls had left to go home, she had called Dixon to meet for lunch because she wanted to catch up with him.

"You're not going to disappear on me again if I hug you are you?" Dixon asked coming up behind Annie, who was already seated at an outside table of the bistro they'd agreed to meet at.

"Dixon" She jumped out of her chair to hug him "Sorry about last night, I was a little overwhelmed"

"Yeah, sorry I didn't get a chance to warn you about Liam, he kinda showed up and wanted the job and I was looking so…"

"Its fine, I mean, technically it's his bar anyway"

"Your name on the deed says otherwise"

"Yeah well, we'll figure something out, but let's not talk about Liam or the bar, I want to hear all about the label. Dixon had been working on starting his own music label.

"Ok, but first I want to talk about what's going on with you?"

Annie didn't try to pretend like she didn't understand what he meant "I want to tell you Dix, but there is someone else I need to talk to first"

"Are you in trouble?"

"No, I just have a lot to think about" She covered his hand with hers for a second, "But I love you for caring. Now quit stalling and talk"

Liam woke up that morning with a purpose. He was going to see Annie and she was going to listen to what he had to say. She'd run from him last night and he couldn't really blame her because she'd had no warning that he was back, but it had thrown him a bit because the Annie Wilson that he knew didn't run from anything. He'd almost looked forward to her marching up to him and demanding to know what the hell he was doing back and in her bar. He could picture her eyes flashing while her hands were flying all over the place. He'd pictured several scenarios with them seeing each other again for the first and none of them included her running. He hadn't gone after her last night partially because he'd been confused and Dixon had told him to give her time.

After stopping by the bar to check on some things, he headed to her place. Her car wasn't in the driveway, but he knew that she sometimes let one of their friends borrow it, so he got out and knocked on the door. After a few minutes with no answer, he considered using his key to let himself in and wait for her, but he didn't want to give her anymore reasons to be mad at him, so he decided to leave her a message instead. He was pulling out is phone to call her, when he saw the text come through from her.

Hi Liam, I need to talk to you, please let me know when you are available and I will come find you. Tnx. Sighing with relief, he responded

L - I'm actually at your place now. I wanted to talk to you too, so I'll just wait here

A – Ok, should be there in about 20 mins

Liam sat on the stairs and tried to figure out what she wanted to talk to him about. Her text had been so formal and not Annie-like. He wondered if she was going to tell him the same thing he was going to tell her.

Annie was anxious as she pulled into the driveway to see Liam sitting on there. She'd been racking her brains trying to figure out what he had to say to her. The fact that he was already at her place when she'd texted him made her nervous. Did he already know? That would make it a little easier, but how could he? Silver or Ade wouldn't have told him. It must be something else and that made her even more nervous. She got out of her car slowly trying to prolong the moment when she would come face-to-face with him.

He stood up as she approached, trying not to look too nervous. "Hi" he reached down to take the shopping bags out of her hands so that she could pull out the keys.

"Hey" was all she could get out at the moment. Walking into the house, she led the way to the kitchen, where they started to put away the groceries silently. Neither of them realized what they were doing until they both reached for the fridge handle at the same time.

"Umm, you go ahead" Annie stepped back to let him open the door

"I guess old habits die hard huh?" Liam finished putting the last of it away and turned to face her.

"So" they both began

"Uh, you go first" Liam said coming to stand on the other side of the table

"Um…okay" She wrung her hands nervously. "Do you want something to drink?" she walked over the fridge and opened it, than closed it again, walking to the cupboard.

He could see that she was tense, tense and stalling. Whatever she had to tell him was making her edgy. Before she could offer him another drink, he walked over to her and pulled her into the living room to the couch. "Whatever it is Annie, just tell me" He sat next to her, leaving enough room between them so they weren't touching.

"Before I do, are you back for good?" Ade had told her he was, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"Yeah, I missed L.A. and it took going away to realize that this is where I want to be. Sydney and I realized that we were better off as friends then anything else, so there was really nothing left there for me" He wanted her to know that him and Syd were no longer involved.

"I'm sorry about you and Sydney"

"Some things aren't meant to be" he looked at her intensely

Annie wasn't sure she wanted to interpret the look in his eyes "I guess not." They sat their silently reflecting on their words.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Liam shook himself out of his thoughts and turned back to her. She was back to wringing her hands, so her took them in his.

Looking down at their joined hands, Annie started "You have to believe me Liam, I didn't mean for this to happen, after I found out, I wasn't even sure how to tell you, you being in Australia, me being here, I wasn't even sure if I should tell you, but now you're here and you need to know" She knew she was babbling, so she stopped and took a deep breath and looked back up at him "I'm pregnant" she said quietly.

"What?" he wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly

"I'm pregnant, thirteen weeks" she bit her lip anxiously

"You're pregnant" He didn't even question whether or not he was the father. "The night before I left..." he stated and she nodded "and now you're, we are pregnant" He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. Of all of the things he'd though she wanted to tell him, this was definitely not one of them. "This is amazing" he said to himself

"It is?" Annie wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't seem angry or sad, in fact he almost seemed happy. "You really think this is amazing?" she shook her head and stood up to pace the floor "Here I thought you were going to be upset or angry. I mean you do realize that this is going to change our lives right?" She walked over to the window and stood starring out of it.

When she'd started talking, he'd sat up on the couch to watch her pace but now he jumped up and hurried over to the window "You really thought that I'd be angry? Why would I be angry about this?"

"Because" she exclaimed "you'd started a new life somewhere else and all this was going to do was drag you back here. Even now, I'm springing this on you. I don't want the baby to be a burden on you."

"Annie, you didn't plan this either but it's happening and we are going to deal with it, together." He took her hands again and turned her to face him. "I love you Annie," he said quietly drawing her into his arms and kissing her forehead. He hadn't meant to say it, but the moment seemed to call for it and regardless of the timing, he was glad that he had.

"Don't" she whispered, "Please don't Liam" she rested her forehead against his for a second before pulling away from him and crossing them room, trying to put as much distance between them as she could.

"Why not Annie?" He didn't attempt to follow her

"Because!" she yelled, then repeated in a quieter voice "because, you don't mean it. This is what I didn't want Liam, for you to feel obligated to the baby or me. If you want to be a part of the baby's life we can do that without being involved with each other"

"If I want to be…of course I want to be a part of his or her life Annie, but what does that have to do with me being in love with you?"

"You're just saying it because you want this child to grow up with two parents who are together because you didn't have that. I'm trying to tell you that we can love the baby just as much whether or we are together." She was babbling again

He walked over to her and took her face in his hand "I love you. I fell in love with you a long time ago and haven't stopped loving you since. No one can frustrate me, or exhilarate me the way you do. No one has ever touched me here" he placed her hand over his heart "or made me feel the way you have. I love you Annie, don't ask me not to tell you"

"You can't" she shook her head, "You left me, I told you how I felt and you left." She cried

"I left, because I didn't think that loved me, I started to read the book and when I realized I was in it, I thought you had used me, and I couldn't deal with that. I couldn't be near you knowing that you had been using me for your book all along." he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration "I didn't read the entire book until I was in Australia and when I realized what you had been trying to tell me, I packed my things and came home."

Annie felt hope begin to rise in her, but was still cautious. "I want to believe you Liam, I do, but I can't get hurt again. What if it doesn't work, what if you realize that you don't want to be tied down and you take off again, I can't put the baby through that."

"Do you know what my first thought was when you told me about the baby?" He continued when she shook her head, "I thought, yes, now she can't get rid of me too easily if she's carrying my child. I know, it's a little crazy, but I want to be tied to you Annie, I want the forever and happily ever after and all the other stuff the books talk about" He could see that she was softening. "Dixon asked me what my intentions were when I came back and I told him it was to win you back"

"You did?"

"I did" he drew her into his arms, picked her up and carried her over to the couch, sitting down with her in his lap.

She slipped one arm around his shoulder and caressed his cheek with her other hand. "I love you" He'd known it, but hearing the words from her lips exhilarated him.

"We've both been really blind haven't we, all the time we've wasted…"

"Let's not waste anymore" she leaned forward until her lips met his.