Chapter 5

I'm Sorry

"Oh my God Jess! What's the matter with her?"

Jess spun around. He was staring at his mother. She had followed him when she saw how panicked he was about Leslie being sick. And now Leslie was lying in the floor in obvious pain, she knew he was right to be worried.

Jess had never been so glad or so scared to see his mother. He just hoped she wouldn't ask questions until later. Right now Leslie needed them.

"Mom...Please help her" The moment of truth "Please ...she's pregnant"

Mary Aarons felt as if someone had hit her square in the chest knocking the breath right out of her. Leslie's pregnant! That means that Jess, my baby boys going to be a dad! She was taken from her thoughts when Jess called her again.

"Look Mom I'll explain everything later can we please help Leslie?" Mary saw the fear in her son's eyes. Then she went over sat next to Leslie and told Jess to run home and get the car. He was worried about leaving her but as his mother said he was faster than her and with that he was gone.

"It's going to be alright Leslie... It's alight" She put her arm around her and help her as Leslie cried. Even though she had been cursing this baby for weeks now that it was in danger, panic gripped her and all she wanted to do was protect it. Jess felt the exact same way. 5 minute later, they were in the car and on the way to the hospital. Mary couldn't believe this was happening.

The drive took 25 minutes. When they got inside Jess called to the nearest doctor "Please help my girlfriends pregnant and she's getting bad pains in her stomach and..." A swarm of doctors swooped in and took Leslie away.

"Jess..." she tried to reach for him but she was being pulled away. Jess tried to go after her but the main doctor held him back.

"Son let us do our jobs please we'll take good care of her. Now what's her name? How old is she?"

"Leslie Burke. She16. Is she going to be ok?" The doctor looked at him and said he'll come find him when he knows something.

Jess went and sat next to his mom. At first neither spoke. Then Jess decided to go first.

"Mom...I...I'm sorry about all this. We were going to tell you but we... we just... we wanted time to figure this out ourselves. And now Les is sick and I don't know what to do and..." He couldn't speak anymore. All the pain and emotion he was holding in since he found Leslie was hitting him now. Mary, who had a big speech to give her son, saw how scared he looked for his girlfriend and the safety of their baby. She just put her arms around him and let him cry.

Half an hour later the doctor came back. He sat across from Jess and his mother.

"How's Leslie?" He just needed to know she was ok.

"Leslies fine" The look on the doctors face told him.

"And the baby?" Jess asked. He realised he was just as nervous about its welfare.

"The baby is fine" Relief washed over Jess. But he had to see Les for himself.

"So what caused Leslie to collapse?" It was Mary.

"Stress. She had been pushing herself too hard" He said "When she goes home she has to rest ok?" He turned to Jess who nodded. "When can she go home?"

"Well I would like to keep her over night, but she says she wants to go home and I can't keep her here against her will so I'm going to run a few more test to make sure everything's ok and then she's free to go!" Jess stood with the doctor and shook his hand. "Thank you. Could I see her?"

"Of course this way" He led Jess and his mother down the hall and onto a ward. "Last bed on the left"

Mary thanked the doctor again while Jess went down to Leslie. Even though the doctor reassured him she was fine seeing her sitting up on the bed smiling at his approach got rid of the anxiety left.

"Oh Leslie" He sat on the edge of her bed and kissed her quickly. As they broke apart he said "Don't ever scare me like that again" She nodded and held him. Mary came in around the curtain and they broke apart, both wiping tears from their eyes, but smiling.

"Thank you Mrs. Aarons" Mary walked around the bed and gave Leslie a quick hug. "You had us worried for awhile there"

"I know I'm sorry." Mary sat in the chair next to Leslie's bed. "Have you called my parents?"

"No. I couldn't reach them"

"Good. I want to tell them myself. And I don't want to do it here" looking around her.

"Well since your refusing to stay the doctor said you can go home soon as soon as you get the all clear." Said Jess.

Within half an hour Leslie was cleared to go. "One more thing" said the doctor as they left. He reached into his folder and pulled out a picture. "We took this while we were checking the baby"

Leslie took the picture, realising she was seeing her baby for the first time. She was only 9 weeks (The doctor explained that even though she had sex 7 weeks ago they start counting from the two weeks before conception) but she could make out small details on the photo. She handed it to Jess who looked at it in awe. He looked at Leslie and smiled and handed the photo to his mother saying "Want to see your first Grandchild?" Mary took the photo and looked it. Tears came to her eyes before she could stop them. She gave the picture back to Leslie and huged both of them. They then left the hospital and went home.

Mary promised not to say anything to Bill, Judy or Jack until Jess and Leslie decided it was time. She dropped Leslie and Jess off at the Burkes and drove home. She walked in the front door holding Jess' hand and the scan in the other. Then Judy ran out of the living room and embraced her daughter.

"Oh Leslie, thank god." Leslie slipped the scan into her pocket "We only got Mary's message 10 minutes ago. Are you Ok?"

"Yes I'm fine. I just got really tired and collapsed. Jess brought me to the hospital to make sure I was ok."

"Thank you Jess for looking out for her" It was Bill this time. He reached out his hand and Jess shook it. "So what did the doctor say?" turning to his daughter

"Just to take it easy and relax" She turned to her mom. "Any chance of something to eat? I'm starving"

Judy laughed and told her her dinner was ready. Leslie said she was just going to wash up. Jess followed her. She went into the bedroom and put the scan in between one of her favourite books. But then she had an idea. She went over to her computer and scanned the picture onto it. She then printed off a copy of the scan and gave it to Jess.

"Now we both have one." Jessed smiled and put the picture in his pocket. Then they both went down stairs for dinner.

Later while Jess was lying in bed looking at the scan there was a knock at the door.

"Jess, it's me. Can I come in?" It was his mother. She came in closing the door behind her and sat on Jess' bed. Jess handed her the scan photo and watched again how her eyes lit up at the picture.

"Look mom...I'm sorry again about today. I didn't want to get you involve..."

"Jess. It's ok" She looked down at the scan again. "I suppose I should be saying congratulations. You're going to be a wonderful dad Jess." She handed the scan back to Jess. She had never seen him look at anything with such love. "You think so?"

"I know so. I raised you right" she smiled and said good night, giving him a kiss on the head before leaving.

"What are you so smiley about?" Jack asked later when his wife went to bed.

"Nothing in particular" She replied giving her husband a quick kiss and going to sleep.

The next few days went by smoothly. Although Les had her morning sickness, it was becoming less often. She had found a way to keep her parents from hearing her. When she felt that she was going to be sick she would start the shower first. She was also dealing with heartburn which was getting old real quick.

She also had the feeling that she was being watched more closely. On Wednesday she nearly had a heart attack when Jess came up behind her. "Damn it Jess, Don't do that" picking up her books.

"Woops, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Are you ok? You've been jumpy all week"

"Yeah...I'm sorry too. It's just...I keep feeling like someone's watching me. It's weird."

"How long has this been going on?" He was worried. She was obviously scared.

"About 4 weeks. It started when we came back to America for the Book tour"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's probably nothing" She took his hand "Don't worry about it! OK?"

"Ya sure, come on were going to miss the bus"

Leslie however couldn't take her own advice. Jess noticed over the next few days she was constantly jumping when someone came up on her and was always looking over her shoulder. Leslie couldn't help it. She knew someone was watching her. Every time she would feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up her hands would move instantly to her stomach, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Jess. He knew she was protecting the baby.

Every night before going to sleep she would look at the scan trying in vain to see if it was a boy or a girl. She and Jess spent that Friday afternoon in the treehouse looking at the picture. Jess was adamant it was a boy but Leslie was quiet sure it was a girl. Today Leslie was 10 weeks.

"Fine we'll just have to wait until November to find out" said Jess."And you'll see I'm right" Leslie was given a due date for around the first two weeks in November. They both carried the picture of the scan everywhere with them.

Leslie fell asleep in the treehouse for an hour. Jess sat out on the balcony thinking. He was still nervous about the baby, but now it was more excited nerves. Looking at the scan still made him feel strange. He had seen scans before obviously May Belles and Joyce Ann's but this one was different. The baby in this one was his baby. His and Leslies. He hadn't heard her wake but Leslie came out and sat next to him.

"Did you get much sleep?" he asked taking her hand. "Not really" she shrugged. "I wonder where PT is." They had brought him with them but they usually let him run around on his own. He always came back when they called him.

"I don't know" Jess looked at his watch. It was going on 6. "Hey...we had better be getting back"

"Ok" He went down the ladder first and helped Leslie on the last few steps. "I won't be able to be doing that much longer" she laughed. They called PT, but he didn't answer. "That's weird. He normally comes when we call" said Jess. "Let's split up. You check over there and I'll check by the creek" She nodded. They set off calling PT.

Leslie had got to the far side of the clearing when she felt it. The same sickening feeling that she was being watched but worse. She knew she was in danger. Her hands went instantly to her stomach. She heard something move in the trees behind her. She turned around. She was looking directly at a man. He was tall – about 6 foot- bald and was heavily built. Leslie could see he had a scar over his left eye. He was wearing all black He was smiling at Leslie. In his left hand she saw he had a rope. She took a step back. He stepped towards her.

"Please, leave me alone" He stepped again and she turned and tried to run "JESS....JESS HELP. AAAAGGGHHH" Then he jumped her putting his hand over her mouth.

She heard Jess calling her "LESLIE...LES!"

She struggled against her captor but managed to free her mouth "JESS HE..." but her attacker had her again. Finally she saw Jess. Her eyes darted between him and her stomach. She looked up again in time to see Jess hit from behind. The other man was similar to the first one in body type but was a couple of inches shorter. He was also wearing black but had a tight professional haircut.

Leslie tried to scream but her captor held her mouth. Her eyes met Jesses for a second when he was hit again. This time the shorter man spoke.

"So this is the knight in shining armour!" Kicking Jess again. Leslie could feel his pain. She watched as he tried to stand falling against a tree but stumbling forward ended up on his hand and knees. She saw the blood coming from the back of his head. All he could ask was "why?"

"Easy" said the shorter man. He turned and walked to Leslie "Mr. Burke wouldn't want any harm"touching Leslies face "to come to his daughter...so were going to keep her safe...and when we get paid for our helpful services she can run along home!" He winked at Leslie.

Leslie's stomach was doing back flips. She felt like she was going to be sick. She bent herself away from him to protect the baby. She vaguely heard Jess say "Don't touch her". The taller man holding Leslie laughed as the other man caught Jess by the hair and threw him on the ground.

He then turned to the man holding Leslie "Time to go. Get her to the car." Leslie felt her legs go out from under her. Leslie locked her eyes on Jess. She then saw the shorter man draw a gun from his back pocket Jess no! Jess I love you! She hoped that he could read her eyes at that moment and then they were lost from view. Then she heard the shot!