A/N: Okay, I can't even begin to apologize for being MIA for so long. I've just had so much schoolwork and now PSAT practice…it's been crazy but I finally got my inspiration back so on to the next chapter of No Regrets! Enjoy! :) Oh and I should also point out that although most of the town knows that Indi's pregnant at this point, ROMEO still doesn't because he's barely left the house since he moved out of the Walker home and he hasn't seen Indi at all. And nobody knows that the baby isn't Logan's except Sasha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Home and Away

CHAPTER 4

Indi's POV:

It had been a long day at uni and I was walking down the beach. I was still struggling to wrap my head around the idea that in less than eight months I would be a mother, a single mother on top of that. It was a lot to handle, even if I had someone, but I was alone and that made it twice as hard. I knew that I had purposely shut Romeo out; it had been my decision not to tell him about the baby, but that didn't make it any easier for me to realize that he would most likely never come back. How did we ever reach this point anyway? What had happened that we had betrayed each other so viciously? I knew that I was mostly at fault, but that didn't excuse the fact that Romeo was constantly trying to do things his own way with very little consideration to what I thought or wanted. I know we were both new to the whole marriage idea, but he could have tried just a bit harder. The way we were going, one of us was bound to cave in at some point. The waves washed across the sand as the tide began it's slow but steady trek back up the shore. It washed across my bare feet; erasing my footprints and making it look like I had come from nowhere. Then I would step forward, and create a new print, starting all over again. I wish life was that simple. If only I could wash away all the horrible and hurtful things I had done to Romeo, and make it look like they had never happened, and then start again, from scratch; I would do so many things different. There would be no grudges, no hard feelings; it would just be me and him, ready to try again. But life wasn't like that, problems don't just disappear, and it's not that easy to forgive and forget.

"Indi!"

Someone called my name, startling me out of my thoughts and jolting me back to reality. I looked up and saw Bianca walking down the beach from the opposite direction. She was also barefoot and was caring her sandals in one hand. I waved slightly as we crossed paths, pausing briefly.

"How have you been?" She asked, motioning to my slightly rounded stomach. "And congratulations by the way."

I smiled half-heartly. "Thanks," I said rubbing my belly a bit self-consciously. I'd been able to keep it hidden over the past few weeks by wearing loose sundresses and oversized t-shirts, but I had finally decided to stop trying to hide it and just wear my normal clothes. I hadn't seen Romeo for a while, but he would find out I was pregnant eventually; I certainly didn't plan to tell him voluntarily. As I thought, Bianca looked at me strangely.

"Is everything alright?" She asked curiously, falling into step with me as I continued on down the beach, "You look upset; what's wrong?"

"What's not wrong?" I said almost angrily. Didn't she know what had happened with Romeo? Didn't she know that this baby would never know its father? Summer Bay was a small town and news traveled fast. Gathered, people still thought that this baby was Logan's, but despite that, there was no way she couldn't know.

"I can think of one thing," she said quietly. "Indi, I know it's been hard for you, with Logan taking off and Romeo reacting the way he did, but have to keep things in perspective. There is a living being growing inside of you. He or she is a part of you – literally. Maybe you feel like he or she isn't worth all this pain and all this heartache, but I can promise you this; when you hold that little boy or girl in your arms for the first time, everything else in this world is going to disappear."

Tears filled my eyes. Of course I had pictured that moment several times in my mind ever since I found out that I was pregnant, but I had always pictured Romeo there as well, standing behind us and looking lovingly at his little son or daughter. Remove him from my imaginary photo and it seemed empty, like a puzzle with a missing piece, a missing teacup from a set of china. It was a noticeable void and one that I would never be able to fill with anyone else but him Logan could come back now, and I swear I would never speak to him. This was not his child, and I thank God everyday for that. It could have been, it so easily could have been, but at least in this way, I'll have a part of Romeo with me, even though he's gone. Gone. The tears spilled down onto my cheeks and I pushed them aside roughly.

"Indi, stop," Bianca said suddenly. Apparently she had been watching me all this time. "There more to this, isn't there?" She asked.

"No, there's nothing I – " I tried to protest weakly, but she cut me off.

"– No, there is something," she said firmly. "I can sense it. Is the baby alright? Are you alright?"

I shook my head, "The baby is…" my voice trail off as my voice tightened around the next word that should have followed in my sentence. The baby is Romeo's…

She covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh Indi, did you loose the baby?" She gasped, "Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't know – "

"No, no," I choked, interrupting her quickly. "I didn't loose the baby, it's just that I…I…" I let my voice trail off once again. I wasn't sure I was ready to tell anyone just yet.

"It's just what?" She asked, looking at me closely. "Indi, you can tell me,' she assured me, "I won't say a word, I promise."

I needed to get this out, I knew that, but I had never thought it would be here, or to someone like Bianca. Tears were cascading down my cheeks and I had no way to stop them.

"Is this about Logan and Romeo?" She asked worriedly, "Because if it is, Indi I'm sure Logan will come to his senses and realize just how important his child is, and then you can – "

"– You don't understand," I interrupted, fighting back sobs. "The baby isn't Logan's."

Bianca was silent. She stopped walking and just stared at me, a confused expression on her face. "But if it's not Logan's…" she began uncertainly. "Whose is it?"

I looked down at the sand, "its Romeo's" I whispered, my throat tightening as I spoke his name. I had always loved his name because of how different it was, and yes how romantic as well. I remember when I first met him.

"Hi I'm Romeo,"

"Oh really, well I'm Lady Macbeth, and this is Rosencratz."

When I saw his smile after I said that, I knew right then and there that he was the one. I denied it for weeks, months afterwards. We became friends, we got together, we broke up, and then we got back together, then we got married. Our married life was rocky, but I thought it was hard for all couples in the beginning. But then…

The tears came once again and this time I didn't even try to keep back the sobs.

"Oh Indi," Bianca sighed, reaching her arms out. I accepted her hug gratefully and just let myself cry. I felt some of the pain disappear as I let it out, but I knew it would never disappear completely. It was awhile before I calmed down and pulled myself away, wiping my eyes and pushing my hair out of my face.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright," Bianca said soothingly, handing me a tissue that she pulled from her pocket.

"Thank you," I said weakly, wiping my eyes and face with the tissue and then crumpling it in my hand. I didn't know what else to say, or what else to do. I was a bit surprised that I had given away my secret so willingly, but I knew it was in good hands.

"Why don't we go to the diner?" Bianca said, as if nothing had happened. "We can get some lunch and maybe chat for a bit." She looked at me questioningly, as if asking if I was ready, or even just willing, to talk about this some more. I thought quickly. What did I have to loose? Bianca wasn't going to tell anyone, and it was very unlikely that anyone would suspect anything just by seeing her and I together at the diner. I looked up and smiled weakly.

"Okay," I said simply. "That sounds nice."

She smiled. "Then it's all settled." She said cheerfully. She turned and began to walk back up the beach towards the boardwalk and I followed close behind.

Romeo's POV

It was late afternoon, around lunchtime. Ruby had managed to get me out of the house and onto the beach for a surf. I swear that in the three weeks that had passed since my break-up with Indi and had probably only left the house five or six times. I had been to the beach but I didn't and I still don't have the heart to surf. Ruby was still out in the water, the waves were great and it didn't look like she'd be getting out anytime soon. I, however, had swum around a bit and then promptly got out, using my knee as an excuse. Not even the rushing waves and breathtaking wind could make me feel happy today. I stuck my board in the sand near the top of the beach and began walking up towards the boardwalk with the intention of heading to the diner for an late lunch. I strode along the sand, completely ignoring the group of riverboys hanging on one side near the fence at the top of the beach.

"Hey Romeo how goes things?" One of them jeered. "Have you beaten the crap out of your wife's new bed-partner yet?"

I balled my fist and clenched my jaw as I continued walking. They had no idea how close to home their comments were hitting. If I could just make it past them…

"Of course not Vince," one of them groaned, refusing to drop the subject and rolling his eyes in an exaggerated gesture. "Romeo's to nice to do something like that." The guy slapped me uncomfortably on the back as I walked past. "He would take the easy way out and just let the bitch go."

I stopped at that and turned around slowly, my nostrils flaring with anger and my jaw quivering.

"What did you just call her?" I choked out, willing my voice to stay steady.

"Call who?" The guy said stupidly, taking a swig of the beer he held in his hand as he leaned nonchalant against the fence.

"My wife," I growled through gritted teeth. "What did you just call her?"

"Oh herrrr…." The guy said, lengthening his last word on purpose. "Well now I don't remember, hey Vince," he called to his friend. "What was it that I just called that bitch?" He looked back at me and raised his eyebrows in a look that clearly said: "I called her a bitch; what are you going to do about it?"

I practically snarled as I lunged for the guy, knocking him of his feet as I tackled him.

"Don't – you – dare – talk – about – my – wife – that – way – AGAIN," I shouted, accenting each word and then delivering a punch to his jaw. My fist sting with the impact, and it wasn't until after I had done it that I realized what a mistake I had just made. The one guy was out cold, but there were now seven angry riverboys surrounding me on all sides as a stood to my feet. I knew there was no way I could take them all.

"Well, well, now," Vince said, tossing his empty beer bottle to one side. "It appears you have more fight in you than we thought. Care to give us a little exhibition?"

I swallowed hard and my eyes darted from side to side as I searched frantically for some way to get out of my current predicament, but it was too late. The seven guys covered every opening and were now crowded around me so close that I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

"Not so smart now, are we?" Vince leered at me, pushing himself forward so that our faces were only centimeters apart. Then without any warning whatsoever he grabbed me by the arms and shoved me to the ground.

I stumbled, but I didn't fall, and I tried to tackle him, but I was met by at least two of the others who grabbed my arms and pinned them behind me. I struggled for a few seconds, during which several blows were thrown at my face, tossing my head from side to side and making me resemble a rag doll for a short amount of time. I finally managed to free myself from the grasping hands that held me and I struck out at the first guy I saw, a riverboy that I didn't recognize. He fell to the ground with a thud, although I'm not sure if he was unconscious or not. That was a shiner for sure, and a pretty good one at that if I do say so myself. Unfortunately I didn't have time to rejoice on my victory because blows were constantly raining down on me and the pain was starting to get to me as well. I swung at another guy and cried out with him as my fist made contact with some part of him. I clutched my wrist in with my other hand and groaned, doubling over in pain. Then I was shoved roughly over onto my side; this time there was no way I could break my fall, and I landed heavily on my shoulder. I gritted my teeth to keep from crying out, but it was obvious to me and to all the boys around me that there was no way I could resist any longer. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself for the beating that I knew was going to follow and I wasn't disappointed. I could no longer tell where the punches were coming from or how many I received, only that there was pain, pain, pain and more pain and I had no way to stop or prevent it. I was beginning to feel strange and when I opened my eyes everything looked fuzzy. I realized right away that I was starting to black out. All the guys around me slowly became a blur and their shouts seemed vague and distant. I closed my eyes again and was about to submit to the overwhelmingly peaceful darkness that was begging to envelope me when I heard a new voice above all the rest.

"Oi! What's going on here?"

"Nothin', just having a little fun," Vince laughed cruelly.

"You call this fun?" The new voice said angrily, "what are you trying to do, kill him?"

"But he – "

"I don't care what he did or what he said, just knock it off, all of you!" I sensed the men around me back away reluctantly, but nevertheless they had stopped hitting me. I cracked one eye open to see who was my rescuer, expecting John Palmer, Liam, or even Brax, but I was in no way prepared for who I saw arguing with the group of riverboys in my defense. I was so shocked that both of my eyes flew open, and I didn't even notice the pain that resulted from that simple action, because the man standing there was Heath Braxton.

I heard Vince give a loud guffaw in response to Heath's shouting, "Oh common mate what's the harm in – "

I heard the unmistakable sound of fist meeting flesh and then a sickening thud as yet another river boy hit the ground. Between Heath and I that made three in total – not bad of you think about it. I clenched my eyes shut once again trying to fight the dizziness that still lingered despite my Spartan efforts.

"Now, get him on him feet and get all your arses out of hear before I give you all the same treatment!" Heath barked, "And if I ever see something like this happening again, the one who starts it will answer to me. Is that clear?"

There was a chorus of angry and annoyed "yeah's" and I heard the padding of thongs on the boardwalk as the river boys left. Then I heard footsteps come up to me, and I felt someone kneel beside me.

"Hey, mate, you okay?"

I cracked open one eye and Heath's worried face swam before them. "I don't think so, seeing as how I see six of you when I'm pretty sure there's only supposed to be one," I joked weakly, attempting a smile that quickly turned into a grimace as I moved some sore muscles.

Heath didn't smile. "Do you think you can stand?" he asked, "because if you can't, I could call for help."

I shook my head, an action I immediately regretted as needles of pain shot through my temples. "I think I can," I said, far more confident than I really was, "you don't need to call anyone."

Heath looked at me suspiciously, "you sure?"

"I'm sure," I replied, this time without any unnecessary movements. Then I slowly shifted my legs and raised myself into a sitting position. Immediately I felt an intense roaring in my ears; everything began to spin and my stomach did a few flip-flops.

"Whoa," I murmured, clutching my head with my good hand. "When did I get on the merry-go-round?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Heath asked apprehensively, his phone poised.

"I'll be fine just as soon as I can see," I assured him, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples. A few seconds later I felt my stomach settle down and my ears were normal. I opened my eyes hesitantly and was relived to find that things looked more or less normal – if you could call sitting by the boardwalk battered and bruised with Heath Braxton fussing over you normal.

"I think I'm good now," I said, slowly beginning to stand, I forgot my wrist for a second and leaned on it as I stood. I cried out immediately, and clutched to my side.

"Oh yeah, you're totally good now," Heath said sarcastically, but I could hear the worry that laced his tone. "Look mate, why don't you let me call an ambulance, it would make things much easier and I – "

"– No," I cut him off stubbornly. "I'll be fine, I just forgot about my hand."

Heath sighed, "Fine, but what's wrong with it?"

"It's my wrist," I said through gritted teeth. "I think I threw one punch too many."

Heath chuckled dryly "Who would have thought that the golden boy of the bay had it in him?"

"Never mind that," I grumbled, pushing myself to my feet. I swayed for a moment, slightly off balance, but then I felt Heath's hand on my shoulder.

"Take it easy lover boy," he said, "I think you should get that wrist checked out, and you could have a concussion."

I sighed, but I knew he was probably right. I shakily turned in the direction of my car, but then realized that there was no way that I could drive like this.

"Would you mind giving me a lift to the hospital?" I asked. "I think my wrist might be broken – ," I winced, "– among other things," I finished, still grimacing with pain.

"No sweat," Heath said, pulling his keys out of his pocket. "At least you're letting me do something; my cars right over there," he motioned to a vehicle parked only a couple yards away. He unlocked it with a remote on his key chain and helped me over and inside it. I sat down gratefully and leaned my head against the back of the seat as Heath started the car and backed out of his parking space.

"So, you gonna tell me how that fight started?" He asked after a few seconds.

"I don't really want to talk about it," I mumbled, cradling my aching wrist in my good arm, trying to cushion it against the bumps and jolts of the car on the road.

Heath shrugged. "Suite yourself," he said offhandedly.

We were silent for a while. It only took me a few minutes of thinking to realize that he really did have a right to know. If it hadn't been for him, I could still be lying on the ground right now.

"They were insulting Indi," I said quietly, not looking at him.

It was several moments before he replied.

"Word sure gets around fast, doesn't it?" He commented dryly.

"I'll say," I said, shaking my head.

"I didn't care about the things that they said about me, but I didn't like them disrespecting her the way they were. She is still my wife and I wasn't about to stand by and watch her be treated like that."

"And you shouldn't," Heath added, turning onto the main road. "They had no right to offend you on something that serious, but I guess that means it's true isn't it?"

"What is?" I asked tiredly.

"That Indi's pregnant and it's not yours."

I froze.

Heath glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "Hey mate, you okay? You just turned like six shades paler than you were five seconds ago."

I just stared blankly ahead. Indi was pregnant? Why hadn't she told me?

"She's pregnant?" I said quietly, trying to keep myself from exploding.

"Oh man, dude you didn't know?" Heath said.

I shook my head. That's why she said she couldn't "do this alone," I had thought that she meant uni, and her job, and working things out with her family, and stuff. I never thought that she meant that she was pregnant. The thought had never crossed my mine and now –

"I don't see how you missed it," he said incredulously. "It's all over town; everyone knows that you and Logan both left her and – "

"Wait, he LEFT her?" I cried. "Logan?"

"So what?' Heath said, "So did you,"

"But I didn't know she was pregnant!" I cried.

"And should it have made a different?" He said matter-of-factly. "If you really were leaving because you were upset and angry at Indi than the baby should mean nothing to the equation."

I was breathing hard and I was seriously considering making Heath turn around and head back to town so I could find Indi, but I restrained myself.

"Hey mate, take it easy," Heath said, "You knew they slept together, things like this happen."

"As if you'd be any calmer if this was Bianca we were talking about inside of Indi!" I shouted, slamming my good fist on the dashboard.

"You have a point," Heath said easily, "but the fact of the matter is that we're talking about Indi and not Bianca and you need to pull yourself together before you hurt yourself more than you already are."

He was right and I knew it. I looked restlessly out the window and let my breathe out in a long sigh, trying to stop hyperventilating. After a few seconds and felt a little better, but I was still furious, more at Logan than at Indi.

"But still," I said finally, "it seems so wrong to leave her alone in a time like this, whether it's mine or Logan's."

"If you truly love someone," Heath countered, "is it ever right to leave them alone?"

I didn't have an answer for that.

A/N: Well, well, well, Romeo found out and now he thinks he knows everything…but he has absolutely NO idea…lol this was a really long chapter but I think you guys deserved it after I made you wait for so long. Special thanks to RiverxBoysxGirl for staying enthusiastic and supportive throughout all this time and to SmellsLikeTeenSpirt for her review that gave me that drive to finish this chapter and get it posted before the week was up! Thank you to anyone and everyone who is reading this story and once again I'm SO SORRY for making you wait! Thanks so much for your patience and I promise to try and update more regularly. Please review! Luv you guys! :)

Ella:-)