Kelly lay on the couch, re-watching the ultrasound video for the umpteenth time. Every time she watched it she thought of him. This was his baby. His creation. A part of him and part of her. Made out of love, whether or not he accepted it or not. Ryan would accept it, it would just take time. He was starting to. Why, he was trying to get his act together. He was giving up the girls and the coke. He had given her a gift, acknowledging the baby for the first time. It didn't matter that everyone at work told her not to give her hopes up, that women became single mothers all the time, that not all men were cut out to become fathers, whatever that meant. Ryan loved her. Ever since the first time she laid eyes on him Kelly knew that he would be the father of her children, and now that dream was coming true.

She smiled to herself. She never had a dream come true, not really. All of her life she did what her parents wanted her to. She dated the men they wanted her to, and heaven knew it wasn't her dream in life to grow up and work at a paper company. She had even, in a weakened state, went blonde, a process that took ten hours, for a boyfriend who only stayed with her for fourteen hours. It took ten months to grow her hair out. But after meeting Ryan, she finally had a dream that came true. He was everything she had looked for in a man. Okay, it wasn't exactly her dream to have a boyfriend who didn't call himself her boyfriend half the time and who called off sick February 13 and 14 and who broke up with her as often as she broke up with him. But in her heart she could say that she was happy with him, truly happy. There was no man on earth she would rather have a child with, and now that that was happening, she only had one question: why did she feel so sad sometimes?

Yes, she did feel pangs of guilt for lying to Ryan about taking her birth control, but that couldn't be helped. Kelly wanted a child, and she wanted Ryan's child, and there was no way he would have had one any other way, so that called for drastic measures. Somewhere if she wasn't so hormonal it might have occurred to her that the reason he wasn't there with her that night watching the ultrasound with her was because he deeply resented her for lying to him, but perhaps she wasn't thinking quite clearly. Perhaps years of thinking of babies and marriage and living happily ever after with Prince Charming had clouded her thinking, but Kelly was unable, or unwilling, to put herself in Ryan's shoes, and vice versa, and that is where things stood. An emotionally unstable pregnant woman and a self-centered drug addict made for a very interesting combination, to say the least.

0000

Ryan went to work the next day, and smiled at Kelly as if nothing at happened. He was the master of denial. Years of their relationship and of working at Dunder Mifflin had taught him to play the game and play it well, and he had almost convinced himself that he had done nothing wrong. It was all Kelly's fault; that was becoming his mantra. If he said it enough then he didn't have to look in the mirror each morning, and that was good enough for him.

Kelly was ticked. How dare he just walk on by and smile at her like nothing had happened? Who did he think he was? Yesterday he was kissing her and everything was cool and today he was avoiding her. Well she was not about to let him off the hook that easily.

"Ryan Bailey Howard, you get back over here," she called out as he headed to the break room. Everyone looked at him, and even Kevin was ready to obey her, and he wasn't the target of her rage.

"I can't, Andy just called me," he pointed to the device in his ears.

"That's your mp3 player. Now!"

Ryan looked around, hoping Andy would bail him out. But Andy shook his head. "Nope. That wasn't me. You can talk this one out, buddy. Hope you can get this straightened out. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes for all the tea in China," Andy laughed. Ryan made a mental note to put a hit out on him later.

Reluctantly, Ryan walked over to Kelly, and he immediately gave her a hug. Confused, Kelly hugged him back out of instinct.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm just trying to show my girl how much I care. Is that a crime?" he smiled.

"No, but what you did last night was. I know what you were…"

Ryan pressed his lips against hers. "Easy Kel. All we have is the moment, and right now we have each other."

"And the baby," Kelly pointed out.

"Whatever. My point is, why worry about the past when we can start each day all over again? There's no point in blaming each other for whatever happened yesterday when each day is a brand new chance to prove how we feel about each other. Are you with me Kel?"

Kelly clapped her hands and smiled. "Does that mean you forgive me about the birth control pills?"

"Please, don't pressure me. Let's not talk about that, I'm not there yet. But you have me, and that says a lot. So let's just take things a step at a time, k?"

Kelly nodded, confused but happy at the same time. Toby was wrong about him. Ryan wasn't a total jerk. He wanted her, and he wanted the baby. Just to prove him wrong, she would ask him how she felt about it.

"Ryan, everyone says you really don't want the baby. I think they are wrong. How do you feel about it?"

"Who's telling you that stuff?"

"Everyone. It doesn't matter. They don't know you like I know you," she quickly added.

Ryan took her into the conference room. "You do know there are options when it comes to having a baby don't you?"

"Yeah, like it could be a boy or a girl. But I know it's going to be a girl. And it will be the most beautiful girl in the world. I totally hope she has your eyes. I'll enter her in every beauty contest in Pennsylvania and then all my enemies from high school who looked me up on Facebook can suck it."

"No, I mean adoption and stuff."

Kelly looked at him like he had just told her he had come from Venus. Adoption? That's what high school girls did when they were going to raise their babies alone. But that's not what the case was with her. She had Ryan. They were together, he loved her, he told her so yesterday. Or at least he acted like he did. What was up with that baby girl dress if he didn't want the baby? Why would he get her hopes up if he only wanted to make her give it up? This didn't make sense. He loved her, and he wanted what was best for her. That meant loving their baby. So why was he talking foolish. Was he high or something?

"Ryan what's wrong with you? Why are you talking like this? Are you feeling okay?"

"No Kelly, I'm feeling better than ever. I'm thinking that you and I are in no position to raise a baby. Think about it. There's so much we haven't done. We haven't traveled together. We haven't really committed to a relationship. People get married before having kids. Don't you think we should do things right?" Ryan took Kelly by the hands.

"Are you saying you'll marry me if I give the baby up?"

"Interpret it as you will. Nothing's impossible. I just want the best for you Kelly. I worry about you. I want us to have a future, and I don't know if there's room for three in it."

Kelly took a deep breath, as she could hardly believe what she was hearing. She could have Ryan, or her baby, but not both. This should have been the easiest decision she would ever have to make; but as she looked into his blue eyes, she wondered why was it so hard?