Bonnie Sveen Fan, I think Ethan would be really uncomfortable with doing karaoke, but Alicia could probably talk him into anything! She'd be belting out the song and Ethan would mumble the words and try to hide behind her. I agree it would devastate them to lose the baby. Thank you for your review.

20BlueRoses, thank you for your review. I'm glad you can see both Lily's and Ethan's points of view and that you find it believable for Ethan to pretend it isn't happening. I agree that Ethan would feel guilty - he wouldn't be able to help it. I'm afraid that my idea was that Cal was getting drunk and sleeping with random women, but maybe I can think of something more interesting than that.

Tanith Panic, I'm glad you feel there's humour - I can't promise it will go all the way through the story though. As you're worried about Cal too, I really will have to think about what he's doing! But I won't have to decide quite yet as Cal won't be telling Ethan anytime soon. I don't like Lily and Archie together either, but I had to take Lily out of the romantic equation somehow and Archie seemed like the only option. I'm glad they're working as a pairing. Thank you for your review.

westlife4ever80, I agree that Lily meant well - Ethan is her friend and she cares and she wants to be sure he hasn't got caught up in his romantic dreams and lost sight of reality, but either Ethan was going to block out hat she said or become worried and upset about it. At least he knows she's there for him! Thank you for your review.

"My baby," said Ethan in disbelief as he stared at the monitor. He felt tears falling. "That's my baby!"

"Our baby," said Alicia. She sounded emotional too. She gripped Ethan's hand more tightly.

"Yes, our baby." Ethan reached up a hand to remove his glasses, but he realised he wouldn't be able to see the scanner without them. "It's so beautiful, Alicia. Just like you."

"Well… I wouldn't say it looks that much like me," said Alicia with a shaky laugh.

"But just as beautiful as you," said Ethan, sniffing.

Alicia gazed at the screen. "More beautiful than me. And so perfect."

"And ours." Ethan felt more tears running down his cheeks and was grateful when the midwife, Joanna, put a tissue into his hand. He wiped his face as much as he could without taking his glasses off. "I'm so sorry. I just never thought…"

"That it would look so beautiful?" whispered Alicia tearfully

"So beautiful… so perfect… so, so everything," sniffed Ethan.

Ethan held the print-out in his hand and kept looking down at it as Joanna spoke to them. He wasn't actually being inattentive, but… more happy tears flooded Ethan's eyes and he blinked them away before turning to the midwife once more.

The dating scan had revealed that Alicia was twelve weeks pregnant. That wasn't necessarily the actual date of conception, but if there had been any doubt remaining in Ethan's mind that the baby was his, that was now gone. The baby had been conceived a month after Cal and Alicia had ended their relationship.

"…and that would take place at around 18-20 weeks, if you're interested."

The anomaly scan…

It wouldn't tell them if their baby had Huntington's, but anxiety tightened Ethan's chest all the same.

"No, we're not interested," said Alicia quickly. Almost too quickly.

Ethan's mouth was dry. "Would you also…" He had to stop and clear his throat. "Would you also test for genetic disorders?"

"The anomaly scan checks for physical disorders, as I said, but we can also scan for genetic disorders, if there's a reason for it." Joanna looked at him sympathetically. "Is there a reason?"

"No," said Alicia.

Ethan looked at her in surprise. "But… there is a reason, Alicia."

"No, there isn't." Alicia's voice had tightened. "We don't need to know, Ethan. I don't want to know!"

"But if we know in advance, then we can be more prepared," said Ethan. "We can work out what to tell our child and when."

Alicia shook her head. There was agitation on her face. "There's no need, Ethan. The chances of it happening are so small. I don't want to put my baby through a scan it doesn't need."

Ethan gasped and reached for hand. She didn't pull away, but it sat, limp and cold, in his. "Alicia, you do know the statistics, don't you?" They hadn't discussed it. Although they'd talked about Ethan's condition not long after getting together, they hadn't talked about having children together. Why would they? It was too early in the relationship.

But Alicia was a doctor. She would know the odds.

"There's a 50% chance of me passing on the condition to our child." The words were dragged painfully from Ethan's throat.

"Can we not talk about this now, please?" said Alicia agitatedly. There were tears in her eyes. "This should be a happy day, Ethan."

Ethan felt close to crying too. "It is a happy day, Alicia. Whatever happens; whatever the result of the test, our baby is growing inside you and he or she is going to be the best baby in the world. That will always be something to celebrate."

"But there's a 50% chance you might have given our baby a death sentence!" burst out Alicia.

Ethan recoiled as though she'd hit him. It felt as though she had. He began to tremble and it was all he could do to hold back his tears.

Was that really how Alicia saw it? He had thought of it that way himself at one time. At times, he still did. But he'd tried so hard not to think about that; tried to remember that his life wasn't over yet and many good things would happen to him before the disease took hold.

Marrying Alicia and having a baby together would be the best things that would ever happen to him.

But perhaps he was being selfish. Unless a cure was discovered, Alicia would be his carer one day. He'd thought she understood that, but perhaps she hadn't fully taken it in. She was a doctor, but a young and inexperienced one. He and Cal had both known the odds when they'd first met Emilie, but that didn't mean every doctor would know.

And their baby… had he condemned their baby to exactly the same as he would suffer?

"Ethan, I'm sorry." Alicia was crying.

"No. I'm sorry." Ethan didn't think he could ever tell her how much.

"I didn't mean it," wept Alicia.

"I know," said Ethan numbly. Perhaps she hadn't meant it, but that didn't change the fact that she was right.

Joanna spoke gently. "It is a very difficult decision to make. You should take some time to discuss this properly. Can I ask if there is a genetic condition that concerns you particularly?"

Ethan swallowed. "I have Huntington's Disease."

"I'm very sorry, Ethan. That is a condition we can test for, but as you might know, there is a 2% chance of miscarriage and it's also not 100% accurate - it is possible for an unborn baby to test positive when it doesn't have the gene, or to test negative when it does, though the result we give you is very likely to be the correct one."

"I understand that," said Ethan, his voice catching again.

"But there's more than that," said Joanna. "The test is only offered to couples who have made the decision that they will abort the baby if it tests positive for the Huntington's gene."

"Abort?" burst out Ethan.

"It's a very difficult decision," said Joanna. "And if the test is going to be done, I'm afraid it needs to be done soon. The legal limit for abortion is twenty-four weeks, but waiting isn't going to make it any easier."

"I didn't even know…" said Ethan softly. "I know I should have looked it up, but… why would we have to abort it?"

"Because having the test done takes away the baby's right to decide whether to have the test or not," explained Joanna.

Ethan was trembling. "But surely aborting the baby takes away its right to live. You said yourself the test isn't always accurate. So you could be aborting a healthy baby. And there is new research being done all the time. Our baby might not start to show symptoms for forty-five years; perhaps even longer. There might be a cure by then."

"I do think you're making a very good point, Ethan, but those are the rules," said Joanna. "That is the only condition in which a prenatal test for Huntington's can be performed."

"But…" Ethan looked helplessly at Alicia, but she avoided his gaze, staring straight ahead.

Joanna spoke kindly. "I really think the two of you need to discuss this together. It might also help if I can refer you to a Huntington's advisor – they'll know more about the condition than I do and can give you more focused and helpful advice."

"I don't want an advisor," said Alicia in a low voice.

"And neither do I – but thank you very much for the offer," said Ethan. "I don't want my baby to have the same life I'm going to have, but that's better than denying them of any life at all."

Ethan didn't know what to do. Alicia had shut herself up in their bedroom and although it was his room too and he had every right to go in there, he didn't like to.

He had the Huntington's gene and he might have passed it on to their baby. There was nothing Ethan could say to make it any less true.

There's nothing I can do.

I can't save my own baby.

Something wet hit Ethan's hand and he realised he was crying. He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly, wishing there was someone to hold him. He couldn't go to Alicia. It was so much worse for her .

I want Cal…

The thought made Ethan cry harder. He sobbed into his knees for a few moments, then he sat up and reached for his phone. He'd called Cal so many times lately. So far, Cal had always ignored him, but perhaps today was the day when he cooled down and finally realised that all Ethan had done was fall in love.

It rang a couple of times, then abruptly stopped. Clearly, Cal had rejected the call. With another burst of tears, Ethan tried again, but the same thing happened, only much more quickly this time.

The next time he tried, the phone was switched off.

Ethan waited for it to go to voicemail, trying to quieten his sobs. "Cal, it's Ethan. Please call me. We just had the dating scan and everything was fine, but I… please, Cal, just call. I can't blame you for never wanting to speak to me again. What we did to you was bad and wrong. But you're my brother and I need you. I can't do this without you. Please, Cal. I don't know what to do."

Finally, the tears seemed to have stopped. Alicia stayed where she was for a moment, her face in her damp pillow, then she sat up and got a tissue.

She hated the fact she'd been lying here crying when Ethan was probably feeling even worse, but she didn't feel ready to face him.

Ethan hadn't done anything wrong. He'd been honest about his condition. But they'd got into the habit of not talking about it; of enjoying each day together and not worrying about the future, and when they'd learned the baby was on the way, they hadn't discussed it then either. Alicia had been very happy about this because she didn't want to think of it. It was too sad. She didn't want to be sad. Of course, if Ethan had come to her and said he needed to talk about it, she would have listened, but he hadn't.

Alicia had swept the subject into a corner of her mind, hoping that if she didn't think of it, it would cease to matter, but of course it did.

Their baby – their beautiful, perfect baby – might have Huntington's Disease.