Chapter 8

As soon as they hit the wall, he removed his hands from inside her pants, sliding them down along with her underwear as far as he could without changing his posture, his hands immediately finding the zipper that would free her from her yellow French Terry top and sliding it down. Seconds later, she was indeed free. Stepping out of her pants and panties while simultaneously sliding her feet out of her socks and yellow and white Nikes, she kicked them aside, still stroking his substantial erection, still making him moan deeply, still enjoying the low, rumbling sounds she was eliciting from him. Tearing his mouth from hers so he could breathe--shallow breaths to lessen the pain he was trying desperately to ignore--he dipped his head slightly to run his tongue and teeth along her right earlobe while he freed her from her bra. Massaging her breasts with his warm hands, Cristian heard her moan and felt her hand leave his engorged member and cup the side of his face, drawing his mouth from her ear back to her lips, where she proceeded to again take his very much needed breath away. In retribution, he reached between them with his right hand and stroked her wet clit again before inserting one, then two thick fingers inside of her, pumping in and out, hitting her spot over and over again. Relinquishing his mouth, she couldn't stop the cries of intense pleasure from escaping her lips. Quickly recapturing her lips and tongue as she did him--muffling the strained sound of his name from her throat--he finally removed his fingers as he felt her slip from her tip toes and her body get weak, knowing he wouldn't be able to hold her up in his own weakened state. Not able to take the anticipation any longer, Layla decided she needed to feel all of him inside of her, filling her up to capacity. Right now. With both hands flat on his rock hard chest, she pushed him backwards towards the toilet seat, fully intending to straddle and have him there. Her mind a haze of carnal desire and her mouth still molded to his, she rushed him backwards, pushing him down onto the toilet seat lid and straddling him, the quick movement causing him to involuntarily release a sharp groan that this time was undeniably one of pain. The sound breaking through her haze, she immediately pried her lips from his and looked into his eyes, panting heavily, instantly remembering that the man she was about to ride with no shame had only gotten home from the hospital hours ago. "Oh shit!...Cristian...I'm sorry." She gasped for air. "I'm sorry...What...What are we doing?" Her breathing was ragged as she tried to speak and ignore her aching vagina. "What are we doing?" she asked again, her hands still on his chest, her head down while she thought about the reason they shouldn't have done what they just did that had nothing to do with Cristian's physical well-being.

Still trying to take in small amounts of air and get the blood back to his brain, Cristian placed his right hand under her chin, lifting her head up so she could look into his eyes. "It's...okay, Layla." He, too, gasped for air while trying to get sex off his mind and out of his dick. While his spirit had been more than willing, his body had betrayed it. But he soon realized it was for the best. Emotionally, Layla wasn't ready for this. He berated himself for getting things started and reneging on his vow to focus on the life they had created together and nothing more.

Leaning forward, Layla rested her forehead against his, shaking her head from side to side. Both still trying to fill their lungs with air, Layla spoke again, her voice quavering with emotion. "Why do we keep doing this?" After several seconds, Cristian wrapped his strong arms around her, pulling her naked body to his chest. Succumbing to the comfort he was providing, she rested her head against his shoulder, her thoughts running wild. Why was this man always making her lose the sense God gave her? Making her give her body to him so easily? Her mind?...Her heart? His arms enveloping her in a tranquility that astounded her, her mouth started forming words she couldn't believe she was sharing. "I can't keep doing this, Cristian...I can't keep...wanting you when I feel like I'm stabbing my sister in the back." Surprised at her own candor, Layla considered her current predicament and realized she shouldn't be. It's not like he can't see right through me. His baby was already growing inside of her and here she was, straddling his thighs on his toilet completely naked after being fully prepared to give him all of her. Again. And in spite of her troubled mind, he was making her feel strangely serene. Again. She was totally and completely vulnerable in every way with him. Again. So why was she surprised that she was sharing her inner turmoil with him?

The blood back to his brain now, Cristian's thoughts finally became lucid. The surprise at her vocal admission of wanting him subsiding, he spoke, still holding her in his arms. "I want you, too, Layla." Preparing himself to make the sacrifice for her peace of mind, he continued. "But if you need me to keep my distance, I will." Lifting her head from his shoulder, effectively loosening his grasp on her, she looked into his eyes, her heart stopping just at the thought of being away from him for any length of time. No. No. That's not what I need. That's not what I want. "Just promise me you'll take care of yourself and the baby until it's born," while I try to keep myself from going crazy from missing you, he thought.

Why is he so sweet? What the hell was my sister thinking putting this man last when he always puts the people he cares about first? Shaking her head as he spoke and looking into his solemn eyes, she voiced her thoughts while trying unsuccessfully to hold back her tears. "No...No, that's not what I want." I want you. She swore she could see the relief in his eyes when she spoke those words and knew he didn't want to be away from her anymore than she wanted to be away from him.

Sniffing as he gently wiped her tears away, she felt him shift forward on the seat, saw him grimace slightly from the movement, and stared into his eyes as he brought his face an inch from hers. She was captivated. And nothing would break the trance. As if they had a mind of their own, her lips parted once again as he began to kiss her, a kiss so sensual, deep, wet, and lingering she felt her entire body go limp and her mind become a useless mass of short-circuiting neurons. Reluctantly breaking away, Cristian looked into her eyes and caressed her cheek. "It's okay, Layla. Everything's going to be okay. Take all the time you need. I'll be here." He gently touched her belly. "For both of you." He knew what he was feeling and who and what he wanted and that he was as reconciled as he could be that the woman he was falling in love with was Evangeline's sister. Evangeline was his past. He would always care, always want her to be happy, but she ceased to hold his heart long before that night in September.

Who is he kidding? 'Take all the time you need while I kiss every bit of willpower and doubt out of your body.' She knew she didn't need time to sort out her feelings for him. Those were clear as day. They scared the hell out of her but they were there and they were not going away. In fact, they were strengthening every minute that went by that she spent with him. The feeling that she was betraying her sister, however, was not diminishing. Her mind was telling her this whole situation was not right but her heart wasn't listening. It was sticking its fingers in its ears singing "La La La" anytime her mind tried to communicate. Nodding her head, she took a deep breath, came back down to earth, and looked around them before finding his eyes again. "This is kind of awkward, isn't it?" She smiled sheepishly, feeling every bit as naked as she was.

Smiling softly, Cristian nodded. "Just a little."

"I know our food's probably ice cold by now."

"Probably."

Um. Yeah. Very awkward. I have to get my butt-naked ass up off of him and walk it over to my clothes. Looking into his eyes one final time, she resisted the damn near consuming urge to kiss him again and instead rose off of him, walking over to her clothes that were strewn over the bathroom floor. No sense in being shy now. He's seen it all and then some. Remembering his injuries, she stopped as she picked up her panties, preparing to put them back on where they belonged, and picked up his underwear. Watching as he painfully forced himself off of the toilet--it was way too dangerous to help him while they were both completely naked--she took the few steps over to him and handed them to their owner.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Still holding them in his hand, he decided to excuse himself from the bathroom to give her some privacy and himself some since he didn't want her seeing him struggle to put them back on. Even though SHE took them off. "You can have the bathroom. I think I'm finished." He winked at her--Damn that was sexy, she thought--and slowly strolled out of his bathroom, closing the door as he exited. She shouldn't have done it but she watched his retreating back as he left, her eyes glued to his round, taut, and toned ass. Lord have mercy. Shuddering, she went to work putting her panties back on when she glanced at her watch. It was almost nine o'clock. Deciding she might as well take a shower, she looked around his bathroom and spotted some clean towels on the shelf in the corner. Grabbing one, she wrapped it around herself and left the bathroom to grab her bag. Seeing him sitting on the edge of his bed settling his underwear back in place, she offered in explanation, "I just came out to get my bag. It's getting late so I figured I'd go ahead and take a shower."

Looking at her in his red towel as she walked across his room to his desk where her bag was left, he felt himself becoming excited again and tried to temper the feeling by teasing her. "So you're still staying?"

Grabbing her bag and heading back towards the bathroom, she paused and looked at him. "What? You think you scared me away?"

"Maybe."

"Sorry, buster. I don't scare that easily."

"Neither do I."

I swear...Why won't he put his damn clothes on so I can focus when I'm talking to him? "Do you need me to grab your pajamas?"

Pressing his fists into the mattress to raise himself off the bed, he shook his head and replied. "No, I can get it."

It? Walking towards him with her arm outstretched, indicating for him to stay seated, she spoke. "Stay right there, Cristian, and tell me where they are."

He stopped moving and sighed, looking into her face. Not wanting to argue with her especially after what had just happened in his bathroom, he pointed to his dresser. "Top drawer. I think there's some blue ones on top."

She walked over to his dresser and opened the top drawer, finding blue pajama bottoms but no top. Pulling them out and holding them so he could see what she had, she asked, "These?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Oh great. He doesn't sleep in a shirt, does he? That's it. I'm taking my shower and going straight to bed...Bed? "Is there a top?" Closing his dresser drawer, she walked over to him to hand him his pants. I hope he has a sleeping bag for me because we are not sharing that bed.

"I don't like to sleep in one. It gets too hot."

Turn your damn heat down and you wouldn't get hot! I need you to wear a shirt. "Oh." Figuring she was doing a good job of not letting him in on how his semi-naked body turned her on as much as his completely naked one did, she turned to go back to the bathroom with her bag. "I'll hurry up so we can eat, okay?"

Watching her intensely as she walked her perfectly curved body back to the bathroom, he replied almost as an afterthought, "Okay."

Finished with their very late dinner, Layla took his styrofoam take-out container and hers downstairs and placed them in the refrigerator, both having decided not to eat all of their food considering how late it was. Returning upstairs, she climbed back onto his bed next to him so they could finish watching the rest of Mr. and Mrs. Smith on DVD. Both of them never having gotten around to watching it when it was in theaters, Layla had found the shrink wrapped movie amongst Cristian's small collection so they decided to pop it into the player and watch while they ate. Aside from having to watch the sex scene with him, the night had been going well and it felt almost like it was a few months ago, where they could sit and watch a movie as the best of friends before all the sex, lust, drama, guilt, unease, big L-word, and a baby entered the picture.

When the credits began to roll at a little past 11:30, Cristian yawned and stretched as much as he could without causing himself too much pain and discomfort. Contagious as they always are, Layla yawned in response and spoke through it. "I guess it's time to go to bed. Some of us have to go to work in the morning." She smirked at him as he turned to her and smiled--in his matching blue pajama top. The man could read her mind and it drove her nuts. She had had to pick her mouth up from the floor when she'd exited the bathroom after taking her shower and found that he had put his button-down pajama top on. He had never said a word about why he put the shirt on after telling her he liked to sleep without one and she for damn sure didn't ask.

Deciding to come right out with what she was wondering about earlier, she looked at him while scratching the back of her neck and yawning again. "I forgot to bring my sleeping bag. Do you have one?"

Preparing himself to get off of the bed and use the bathroom, he nodded. "I do." Groaning as he finally pushed himself off of the bed, he slowly walked to the bathroom, not saying another word as she waited for him to tell her where it was. Gracefully climbing off of his bed, she reached into her bag to grab her brush and scarf to wrap her hair while she waited for him to leave the bathroom. Just as she was finishing, Cristian walked out. Studying him closely, she saw him walk past the bed over to the small closet situated in the corner of the room. Opening the door, he leaned down inside and grabbed the sleeping bag. Shit that hurt. Coming back up slowly, trying to hide the pain the movement caused him, he forced a neutral expression on his face as he turned around to face her, not realizing she had already crossed the room and was taking the bag from his hands before he knew it. She is too much. "You take the bed, Layla. I'll sleep on the floor."

Already on her knees unrolling the sleeping bag, she looked up at him. "Cristian, you are not sleeping on the floor in your condition so don't even start with me."

"It's not the floor. It's a sleeping bag. And I don't want you sleeping on it. It's not very comfortable."

Here we go again. Deciding to ignore him, she rose from the floor, grabbed one of his pillows off his bed, plopped it down at the head of the sleeping bag, and crawled inside, ready to go to sleep after a mentally exhausting evening. "Goodnight, Cristian."

Damn, she could really work his nerves. He so did not feel right about this. "Layla." When he got no response he tried again, his voice sounding slightly perturbed. "Layla." She thinks she's going to win this round, too. Slowly walking over to the wall by the landing, he flipped the light switch and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before finding his way back to the sleeping bag.

Concerned that he might hit something on his way to his bed, Layla sat up and saw the outline of his frame. "Cristian?" He didn't say a word. Knowing he was ignoring her on purpose like she did him, she spoke again. "Cristian, be careful." Her eyes having adjusted to the dark, she saw him head towards her instead of his bed. "What are you doing?" She watched as he groaned heavily and sat down on the floor next to her, slowly reclining his body until he was lying on his back.

"I'm not sleeping in that bed while you're on the floor. Goodnight."

That damn motherfu... His already traumatized body was going to seriously teach him a lesson in the morning when he woke up. A lesson she didn't want him to learn. Sleeping next to him on the floor would be no different from sleeping next to him in the bed. At least on the surface. Right? "Okay, Cris. You win." Rising from the floor, she grabbed the pillow and set it back onto the bed. Walking back over to stand next to him, she continued. "I'll sleep in the bed. But so will you." Leaning down, she helped him into a seated position, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders to help him up from the floor. While he leaned on her small frame--he really was tired--she led him over to the side of the bed closest to his shelf. "Just don't try anything, buster."

"Hey, I'll keep my hands to myself if you do." Pulling the covers back, she helped him lower himself onto the bed, bringing the sheet and bedspread up to his chin, effectively tucking him in. As she turned to walk to the other side of the bed, she felt him grab her hand and turned back to him to see what he wanted. "Thank you...For everything."

Her mind taking a familiar place backseat to her heart, she couldn't help herself and leaned down to kiss him softly on the lips, his mouth opening to invite her further. Drawing back many seconds later, she spoke softly. "Goodnight." I love you.

"Goodnight." I love you, too.

"Layla! Guess what!" Blair came breezing into Layla's office two weeks later, a bottle of champagne and two flutes in her hands. Looking up from some fashion spreads, Layla smiled. Blair's excitement and exuberance were contagious.

"What?"

"Guess whose magazine just passed Taste in advertising dollars? Yes, Ms. Williamson, that would be us. The best damn fashion magazine east of the Mississippi." Setting the glasses on Layla's desk, Blair began pouring the champagne.

"Really?" Craze and Taste had been involved in a bitter competition going on six months now when Randy Walls came to Llanview, determined to upstage Blair and run her out of business. After having gotten her family back in order, Blair had become obsessed with Taste, getting Dorian in on the madness, and turning back into a cutthroat businesswoman whose fangs were sharpened to draw blood. Layla knew she was crazy but the things Dorian and Blair had been doing over a magazine (and trying to get her in on sometimes successfully) always left her shaking her head.

"Ye-es!" Finished pouring the champagne, Blair picked a glass up and offered it to Layla.

"Um, no thanks, Blair."

"What? Come on. It's the good stuff. Adriana's not here and I have to have someone to celebrate with. Here."

Her brain automatically working to come up with an excuse besides "I'm pregnant," she shut it down. Everybody was going to find out anyway and she was tired. Tired of dreading the shocked, You fucked your sister's man? looks from everybody. Tired of the guilt. Tired of the whole damn thing. The exhaustion suddenly written all over her face, she sighed and put her elbows on her desk, rubbing her face in her hands. "No alcohol for me, Blair." She sighed again, ready to get it over with. "I'm pregnant."

Her mouth opening in surprise, Blair set the glass down. "Really?" Her mind went to Vincent but she quickly wiped the frown off her face and smiled. Layla took her face out of her hands and rested her chin on them, watching every bit of Blair's reaction, too tired to even really care anymore. "Congratulations, Layla." Walking around Layla's desk to perch herself on the corner closest to Layla, she continued, curious about the I don't give a fuck anymore expression on Layla's face. "You don't look happy. Vincent being a little bastard about it?"

Layla parked her head right back into her hands and spoke, her voice a monotone. "It's not Vincent's baby."

Wanting to cheer her friend up, Blair decided to tease her to lighten the mood. "What? Is it Cristian's?" She put a teasing emphasis on Cristian's name. "You two been doing a little something I don't know about?" The smile leaving her face, Blair waited...and waited...for Layla to tell her to knock it off. Instead, her friend sat there just as quiet as can be, her head still in her hands. "Layla? Come on, Hon, you know I'm just teasing. If you don't want to tell me whose baby it is, it's fine."

Yeah right. Pulling her head out of her hands to rest it on her interlocked fingers again, she spoke. "It is."

"It is what?"

"Cristian's."

Her jaw hitting the floor again, Blair closed it before Layla could see it. Expecting her to start the whole What the hell? Are you serious? You're lying! routine, Layla's head jerked around to face Blair as she exclaimed instead, "Get out! When the hell did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? I told you you two had the hots for each other!"

A smile forming on her face for the first time since sharing her news, Layla shook her head. Why did I know she would say that?

"So when's the wedding? You going to do it down in Puerto Rico? Well, you already did it but you know what I mean..."

"Blair! Please! Just stop, okay?!" She sighed, completely exasperated and not in the mood to discuss weddings and Puerto Rico and that damn dream she had of a Puerto Rican wedding to a certain drop dead gorgeous Puerto Rican where she woke up wishing she had never heard the name Freud. "We slept together. Once." Technically twice but she doesn't need to know that. "I got pregnant. We're going to raise this baby. The end."

Folding her arms across her chest, Blair raised her eyebrow and said, "Uh-huh."

"Uh-huh what?"

Leaning towards Layla, Blair continued with her thoughts. "That man is single. Gorgeous. Adores you. Treats women like the most precious jewels on Earth. And he gave you your first baby. Don't go giving me that 'We're just friends who happened to sleep with each other' shit, Layla. Who the hell wouldn't fall in love with him?"

Giving her some neck attitude action, Layla countered. "Uh. You!" Rolling her eyes upward in remembrance, she kept on with her rebuttal. "I seem to recall a certain someone sleeping with her friend at a certain ski lodge. I wonder who that was..."

Sighing, Blair retorted, "That's what happens when you mix alcohol with being pissed off and heartbroken...Then there's Todd. I love the little bastard, what can I say?" Poking her finger into Layla's shoulder, she continued. "But you tell me you don't feel anything for that man. And don't give me any of that Evangeline crap either."

"She was in love with him, Blair. She's my sister. You don't get with your sister's ex. You just don't." And acting like you've actually thought about this is telling Blair everything she needs to know, dumbass!

"Oh please. Evangeline was not in love with him. A woman in love with a good-looking man like that who treats her like a queen does not screw him over for another man, period. Especially Todd. Todd and me, now, that's another story. But you and Cristian, come on, you're perfect for each other. I've been telling you that for ages." She winked at her increasingly exasperated friend. "Glad you finally listened."

Turning her attention back to the papers on her desk, Layla decided she'd had enough. "Bye, Blair. Unlike you, I have work to do."

Turning serious, Blair reached out to touch her friend on her arm, drawing her attention back to her. "Now, you know there's no love lost between me and Evangeline, but she's your sister. She loves you. You're probably the only one besides your parents she's ever really loved." Giving Blair her best Don't get started on my sister or I might have to cut you look, Layla let her continue speaking as Blair raised her hands defensively in apology for going slightly off-topic. "Don't you think she would want you to be happy? I might not like her...understatement of the year...but even I don't think she would try to keep you from being happy. And if she couldn't treat Cristian the way he deserved to be treated, do you really think she would try to keep him from someone who could?"

Why in the hell is she making so much sense? Blair who loves Todd "Sociopath" Manning of all people.

"Layla, you and Cristian are really the only true friends I have. I just want you to be happy. And if it's with each other, there isn't going to be a way around it. Fate and all that shit. God knows it must be the only reason I'm still with Todd." The words still sinking into her brain, Layla remained silent, so Blair continued to talk. "Besides, you're already having his baby. When that baby is born, it's a done deal. You two are going to be connected by that little bundle of joy for the rest of your lives in spite of Evangeline. She's going to know that and she's going to have to accept it because"--she pointed to Layla's stomach--"that's her niece or nephew, you're her sister, and she loves you." Deciding to leave her friend to her thoughts, Blair patted her arm again and got off of her perch on Layla's desk, settling the bottle of champagne in the crook of her arm and holding the two full glasses in her hands, taking a long sip out of one of them. At the door, she gave her final parting words. "Don't waste time worrying over something you can't change, Layla. Trust me on that."

'Don't waste time worrying over something you can't change, Layla.' 'You're already having his baby. When that baby is born, it's a done deal. You two are going to be connected by that little bundle of joy for the rest of your lives in spite of Evangeline.'

Blair's words had played over and over in her mind since that day at work. Sure, it was Blair, who had made so many mistakes in her life--and was still making them--that she was one of the last people whose advice should be taken, but she had made sense. A lot of sense. And she was right. Layla did have sex with Cristian. Mind-blowing sex that went beyond the physical. The kind of sex you have with someone you love even if she didn't know it at the time. There was no taking that back. She was having his baby. They were going to be connected for the rest of their lives. And Evangeline was going to be an aunt to a baby that was ultimately the manifestation of feelings her sister had for her former boyfriend. Layla could run from them. Tell Cristian they would be parents to their child and nothing more. And, knowing Cristian, for her he would comply. They could drop their daughter off at each other's houses and never stay for too long for fear of witnessing her having a "first" moment that would make them melt, look into each other's eyes, and fall into each other's arms again. Layla sighed as her thoughts continued. Running would be impossible when her heart would palpitate whenever she was near him, when she would see him in their child and wish she could be with him, when the thought of seeing him around town with other women would make her burn with jealousy and be ready to cut a bitch because she knew in her heart she should be the one with him, making love to him before watching him fall asleep, waking up with him with the early morning sun casting its rays on his beautiful face.

After talking with Blair that Monday, she had decided to take a trip to Atlanta. The trip. A trip she needed to take alone. She had taken Friday off for the flight there and Monday for the trip back home. She was ten weeks along in her pregnancy and her doctor's appointment marking that occasion was scheduled for the following Tuesday. Cristian had been heartbroken that he wasn't going to be able to make it to the doctor's appointment with her as he had to go to Chicago on art business the Sunday before her appointment--while she was in Atlanta--and wouldn't be back until Thursday. He had wanted to cancel the engagement so he could go with her to meet her obstetrician and ask as many questions as he could but Layla had insisted he go on his scheduled trip. There would be many other appointments he could go to and his trip had been planned and finalized prior to finding out he was going to be a father. After promising to give him every minute detail of the visit, she finally convinced him not to tick off his buyers by canceling an important trip at the last minute so he could go to an early check-up appointment with his...baby mama? Knocked up by him friend? One-time sex, one-time almost sex pregnant partner?...Girlfriend?

After he had gotten home from the hospital, Layla had spent four more nights in his apartment with him. She had cooked for him--meals he had absolutely loved that made her swear he had a tape worm in that sexy ass body--taken him to the doctor for his check-up, and helped him get reacquainted in his studio. By Day Four, he was beginning to get most of his strength back, probably from sheer willpower, and had spent the day working on a piece while Layla was at Craze. While she wasn't going to admit it to him, she had gotten comfortable staying in his space. Too comfortable. It felt like she belonged there, which was so wrong considering how much time her sister used to spend there, even though she and Cristian had never moved in together. Grasping desperately at straws while trying to alleviate some of the stress and guilt, she had wondered if their having never moved in with each other had been a sign. Berating herself for even entertaining that thought, she had quickly let it go and settled herself back into her usual pattern of yearning followed by guilt followed by more uncontrollable yearning and more guilt.

When he had told her to take all the time she needed to sort out her conflicted emotions, he had meant it. She had been staying with him but they had taken pains to keep things friends-appropriate. He had continued to always wear a shirt--Layla shook her head and smiled in remembrance of that one--she never walked around in a towel in front of him, he kept his addictive lips to himself, she had kept hers to herself, and he had stopped staring at her like he wanted to ravish her in the most raw yet gentle kind of way. To make things even less complicated, Layla had brought Adriana's blow-up air mattress--that she eventually convinced Cristian was just as comfortable as sleeping on a real mattress--to sleep on. Adriana, her best friend who was not convinced that just because she was taking an air mattress to sleep on she was going to use it and who was positive they were no longer just friends with one-time benefits but a hell of a lot more, had made her opinions known. While Layla never acknowledged her friend's assumptions, she knew she didn't have to. That nosey heffa already knows.

Though Layla and Cristian had taken many precautions against any other intimate encounters, it hadn't done a damn thing but increase the tension, emotional and sexual. Ever since that first night she spent at his place, after their "naked on the toilet" conversation, their relationship had been in limbo. They weren't just friends. That damn ship had sailed way back on the first of September. They weren't friends with benefits. But they weren't "together" either. Yep. Limbo. No more succumbing. But I can't run either.

She knew running wouldn't work because they couldn't co-parent over the phone. And even if we could, just hearing his voice with that accent... Running wouldn't work because Llanview was the smallest town on earth and she wouldn't take his baby away from him. But running really wouldn't work because deep down, Layla didn't want to. As she sat at the window seat on her Delta flight to Atlanta, she prepared herself for what she had to do: Tell Evangeline she was having Cristian's baby. And she was falling in love with him. And pray that her sister would finally wake up and tell her that everything would be okay and to follow her heart just like she always told her to follow her dreams.