An hour later, Susan opened her eyes and wondered where she was. 'Oh god...Susie..."
She got to her feet and found Susie exactly where she had left her, still strapped into the walker, sleeping soundly now that crying hadn't gotten her any attention.

"Thank god..."

Susan slowly made her way to the phone and rang the community centre, leaving a message to tell Chloe she wasn't feeling well, and would meet her at home. Uncertain of how much weight her legs could hold, Susan slowly pushed Susie's walker towards her cot, and sat herself down before unbuckling Susie to put her into bed. Rubbing her forehead, she closed her eyes and leaned back on the bed, mind and heart racing as to what had happened to her - she would have to get herself to a doctors tomorrow.


She awoke to the sound of clanging and shouting. Susan sat up quickly and ran to her bedroom door, wondering what the racket outside was. As she opened the door, her heart sank. Chloe was home. Chloe was home, and drunk, and shouting hysterically at Joe.

"I told you..you...fucker, you can do whatever you want, but you DONT bring the bitch home..."
"Chloe! She's not anyone! I just work with her!"
"Yeah sitting in MY lounge drinking cocktails! No..no one you, bloody, no one touches MY home!"
"FINE Chloe, whatever you think! Do you know how hard you are to deal with??? You can take that baby and sister of yours and survive by YOURSELF, see if i care anymore!"
Joe walked out and slammed the door behind him. Susie started wailing.
"SHUT UP, BABY. shut up, shut up, shut up, shut..."
Chloe started crying as Susan opened her door wider and ran out. There was glass everywhere - probably from the two smashed cocktail glasses on the floor.
"Chloe...Chloe...what happened?
Chloe said nothing and just sobbed.

Susan ran to Susie's room to check on her niece, who by this time was crying her lungs out. She picked her up and rocked her, as the muffled sounds of Chloe's distress became slower and slower, until Chloe passed out, drunk, on the wooden floorboards.
As Susie calmed down, Susan felt tears prick the back of her eyes. Of course...she had been stupid for thinking that Chloe and Joe would work out so easily. For thinking that Chloe had changed and that she had a grip on herself - enough to take care of Susie. So the decision to move here had been right, and there was no way she could go back.


A shocked silence hung over the room like an encompassing cover.
"What..?"
Dr Bawldin looked again at her fellow doctor in front of her.
"I said congratulations...you're about five weeks pregnant..."
Susan was speechless.
"Are you sure? I mean, i just passed out once! Why would you run a pregnancy test anyway? Or maybe the labs got mixed up with..."
Alison looked amusingly at her colleague.
"Susan, I thought I'd run it along with your blood tests because that's exactly how I felt before I found out I was pregnant with Jason. I was constantly tired, annoyed, and I'd snip at everyone and anyone. And I passed out three times before I went to see a doctor! I thought it was because of my divorce, and after I found out I had Jason, it suddenly made perfect sense!"
Susan was still silent.
"You don't have to decide what you want to do yet, you know. When I knew about Jason, I told Nick and his response just made me more certain divorcing him was the right thing to do. So I went through with the pregnancy, gave birth, and I'm raising him. By myself. What I'm trying to say is that we have a lot of options here...management is completely supportive of pregnant women - and YOU have a lot of options. I know you're new in Phoenix, and you've probably left lots of things behind...but whatever your decision is, think over it for a few days ok?"
Susan nodded mutely.
"It's a shock, I know. But you'll have to start cutting down on the caffeine soon!"
Susan gave a small smile.
"I guess that's the worst part huh?"
Alison smiled.
"Yeap."
At that moment a nurse opened the door and shouted "MVA in 2 minutes!"
Alison smiled at Susan and opened the door.
"Lets get back to work whilst you have a good think!"