I'm currently out of town and I'm using a laptop that's not my own so I can present you with an update, but I won't be able to update until next week.

I'm not sure I have replied to your reviews so I'll do it now:

SSA Annie Em – I am really, really glad you are enjoying the story and I appreciate your review! :)

Come2MyRescue – Oh there's no one better for Emily than Derek but I have to agree with you: JP is good alright! :D – Thank you so much for leaving a reply.

Smurfswilleatya – I'm glad you are digging Jean Philippe and I'm even happier that you are enjoying the fic! Thanks for dropping a review! :)

Now seriously, thank you for leaving me a review. It means a lot. I do realize I'm not getting that much attention on this fic so I genuinely appreciate that you took the time to review. Thank you! :)

On a random note… oddly enough looks like I'm going to be keeping Emily some company on the pregnancy thing. Given the big turn my life took after my fiancé passed away I must say I wasn't expecting the news, but I'm happy. Actually, for the first time in months I can say such thing with conviction. I thought I'd share that with you. It's big news after all.

I hope you are all doing well and please enjoy the new chapter.

Next update: probably Monday/Thursday


Chapter 4

"I'm pregnant."

"What?" Jean Philippe asked dryly, not sure he had heard her right.

"It was a foolish mistake, I..."

Emily looked at him with worry filled eyes.

"I slept with John and... I don't even like him that way. We were drunk and next thing I know we're... It just... happened," she told him, ashamed.
She wasn't sure why she had told him that. It wasn't part of the plan to tell anyone until she figured out a way to tackle her mother, but it felt right, like a natural and comfortable thing to do, and she knew she could use his advice.

"Oh... it's ok...I wasn't expecting that, I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head in surprise. "How... are you feeling?"

Emily scoffed. "Nice question. I don't know. Confused, scared..." she admitted.

"Does the Ambassador know?"

"No! You wouldn't be talking to me if she did," she replied quickly, frowning.

"When are you going to tell her?"

"That's the thing," Emily started. "I don't have a clue on how to approach her. It would be a good thing if she got a posting on some foreign country..."

"You'd still have to tell her," the man reasoned.

"Not until after the baby was born," Emily smirked.

"Do you want my honest opinion?"

The brunette nodded, smiling.

"That's why I told you."

"I think you should tell the Ambassador soon. She may take in consideration you trusted her, and she may stand by your side on this."

"She will hate me, Jean Philippe. I mean... she already does, but she will want me to terminate the pregnancy and the more I think, the more I know I don't want to do that," Emily said, bringing her hand to her stomach instinctively.

"You don't know that..." he told her calmly.

"Oh I do, Jean Philippe... her teenage daughter being pregnant is too much of a scandal for her political career. She will either make me terminate the pregnancy or keep me in hiding until I have the baby and then force me to give up my rights," she told him as she met his eyes for the first time.

"She can't do that Emily. It's your body and your baby. You get to make your own decisions."

He wasn't sure if he was right. He knew the Ambassador could be relentless but Emily already knew that, and he was pretty sure what she needed now was some kind of support.

"Yeah..." Emily muttered unconvinced.

"It's her grandchild growing in there... she's got to have a heart," he offered with a light smile.

"You're so innocent, Jean Philippe," Emily said, laughing. "That woman is a cold-hearted bitch! Are you kidding? She will have a heart attact at the prospect of someone calling her 'grandma' before she's 90 and in the grave," Emily snorted. "And even then I suspect she'll be rolling in it in disdain."

"You probably got that right," Jean Philippe chuckled. "But you never know... people can surprise you sometimes."
Emily nodded.

"Do you really want to keep the baby, Emily?" he asked quietly.

"I think I do, you know?" Emily replied, bringing her legs to her chest and resting her head on her knees, looking at him. "But everything is against this. Even John's parents will want me to clean the mess." She sighed. "If I choose to have this baby I'll be on my own."

"That's not true." Jean Philippe shook his head, reinforcing his opinion.

Emily smiled sadly. "What? Are you going to stick with me and help me out when my mother kicks me out of the house?" she joked.

Jean Philippe shifted uncomfortably as he stared at her. "If you wanted me to I would," he told her simply.

"You're sweet Jean Philippe."

"I'm not joking, Emily. I mean it. I'll be there if you want me to," he said forcefully. "I'll do it in a heartbeat if you tell me that's what you want."

He scooted closer to Emily, hoping she wouldn't push him away and placed his arm around her.

Emily tensed up. While she found it incredibly sweet of him to say something like that and while she enjoyed the comforting embrace, she felt a change in his mood. She was surprised. She hadn't noticed it before but now that she looked back she realized it had always been there - the loving looks, the protectiveness, the extra effort to make her smile - and it scared her. She wasn't girlfriend material - she couldn't fully trust anyone, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she was afraid of letting her guard down, afraid of ending up hurt again. She had been used far too many times simply because her mother had money or because they wanted to get into her pants and, to top it all, despite what everyone might think, she wasn't as confident as she was forced to let out. She was a walking mess.

"Jean Philippe..." Emily started, shifting away from his embrace.

She noticed how his smile fell and it pained her to know she had caused it.

He looked at her with a twitch of disappointment to his gentle blue eyes and she wanted nothing more than to apologize and stay in his arms for as long as he'd allow her. For the two years Jean Philippe had worked for her mother, she had always felt safe around him and it had been too easy to grow close to him - he wasn't afraid to show he cared, and he was bluntly honest with her whenever she had asked for his advice. She was honored that someone as special as him, felt so deeply for her, but she couldn't possibly allow him to get any closer to her and bring him to the mess she knew her life would turn into as soon as she told her mother about her unborn child. She knew it would be very easy to fall in love with him - he was beautiful in every sense of the word - and it wasn't like she hadn't noticed how good looking he was; or how his dimples made him look even more charming. Emily was sure that, if being with her wouldn't ruin his life and get him fired, he was the guy she would be willing to trust her life with.

It was that knowledge though, that made her push away from him. He deserved better. He deserved less complicated and she wasn't about to get in the way of that.

"Did I say something wrong, Emily?" he asked concerned. "I apologize," he said quickly, afraid he had scared her, made her think he was a creep.

"No." Emily shook her head. "No, you didn't say a thing wrong. It's just that, Jean Philippe... you say everything right, and you make a girl feel good about herself," she told him.

However good the words sounded, they made the young woman's face twist into a frown. She wasn't happy.

"Yet you don't sound like that's a good thing..." he pressed.

"Do you like me Jean Philippe?" Emily asked him, ignoring his last comment and hoping to everything she held dearly he would tell her he didn't, tell her she had picked up something that wasn't there. It would make her life so much easier if he would prove her wrong.

"More than friends," she added as she noticed the look of confusion cross his features.

Jean Philippe got up on his feet and extended his hand to Emily. She accepted it and took a moment to wipe her jeans with her hands before returning her gaze to him. He was watching her.

"There it is the adoration look again," Emily thought.

He walked closer to her and cradled her face between his hands.

He looked in her eyes, trying to read her. He had always loved her chocolaty brown eyes - they never failed to show him more than she allowed to voice.

He smiled at her; silently telling her how much he cared. Then, he simply leaned closer and pressed a protective kiss on her forehead.

Emily on her end couldn't move. His hands felt warm on her skin, and his eyes gave her the answer to her question, although she would never accept it unless it came from his mouth.

Her heart was racing in her chest as he kept looking into her - it was beating so fast it ached, the kind of ache she had always heard of but didn't think was possible.

Then he leaned down and pressed his lips on her forehead, and her knees felt wobbly. How he could hold so much power over her, she didn't know; and it surprised her that she was feeling such strong feelings for that man.

Jean Philippe slowly retreated to his previous position and fixed his gaze back on Emily's.

"You are asking me, Emily, but you don't really want me to answer that, do you?" he asked softly, showing her a small smile.

She broke eye contact and felt the warmth of his hands leaving her cheeks. It felt cold in comparison, and she wanted to take his hands and feel them on her skin again, but she knew she had to be stronger than that.

She shook her head - ashamed she wasn't willing to listen to what she already knew, afraid to make it real.

"Then we will leave it as it is," he whispered. "Sometimes when you love someone the best way to prove it is to let them go. And with this I'm not admitting anything... I'm just saying," he smiled.

Emily swallowed hard, wondering if she was making the right decision and trying to understand why it felt so wrong to allow him to let her go.