Disclaimer: Only the ideas are mine, characters and the show they come from are not...


"... Theresa... Theresa?" Theresa snapped back to reality and out of her reverie, Jared was standing in front of her looking concerned. "You keep... going away on me" he said. Is everything OK? It's not the baby is it?

'The baby' she thought, and looked deep into his eyes. Was that a hint of suspicion masked behind the his thoughtfulness? Theresa put on another of her dazzling smiles, and told him it was nothing, she just had so much on her mind 'like Ethan' she thought... then suddenly felt guilty. She still couldn't pinpoint where these thoughts had begun, only that they had been increasing in frequency since...

"Mrs C... Theresa, Mr Winthrop is at the door. Ms Hotchkiss is not with him, shall I show him in?" It was Henderson, formerly the Crane driver, he was now the doorman and head butler, since he was getting on in years and was no longer able to drive safely.

"Yes please Henderson" Said Theresa, suddenly filled with butterflies. She forced herself to be calm.

Before Henderson even had a chance to leave the room, Ethan strode in, with the largest grin Theresa had seen on his face since... well since the last time they had been together...

"It's official" He announced. "It's legal, and official, and it's over. The divorce was finalized an hour ago Theresa. It's over. Gwen moved the last of her things out of the house last night, now you can leave J... Oh" Ethan stopped as he noticed Jared sitting on the other side of the room, his enthusiasm falling quickly. "So how are things? Are you feeling Ok? How is the baby?" He said, gently rubbing her belly, oblivious to the shocked look on her face.

Jared sat in his chair stewing... he had known since their engagement party almost a year ago, that Ethan wanted Tess for his own, he also knew that his wife was committed to him, and their marriage, and now with this new baby on the way there was nothing that could come between them, so he decided to keep his mouth shut over Ethan's comments, there was no point in upsetting Tess.

"Ethan, I'm with Jared now, we have talked about this. You had your chance, and your choice, you chose Gwen. Just because that's over now doesn't mean you can settle for second best, because I won't be that. I won't be that for you, or for anyone else." She looked over at her husband and saw him smile. "There is some new paperwork that has to be signed though, as promised now that Gwen has moved out, and I am assuming the locks have been changed so that she no longer has access..." Ethan nodded so she continued "We agreed that you could start with overnight visitation once she was gone." she looked once again at her husband "Jared would you excuse us while we go sign the paperwork? Then Ethan and the children can go, and we can be off on our walk"

She noticed the resigned look on Jared's face as they prepared to leave the room, but he nodded just the same and Ethan followed Theresa out of the sitting room to the Library.

Once there he locked the door behind him and swept Theresa into a passionate kiss, it was only seconds before she pulled away, but it felt like a lifetime, for time seemed to stop when they were in each other's arms.

"So you haven't told him yet" Ethan said

"There's nothing to tell Ethan. We are married, we took vows or have you forgotten that?"

"No," he said "but I also haven't forgotten that last night that we spent together eight months ago... The night before your wedding, where you pledged to love another man with all of your heart till death do you part... but that isn't true is it Theresa, because you still love me, you know that you do..." He pulled her into another kiss, this time caressing her arms and her breasts as he did. She felt her nipples involuntarily harden at the sudden unwelcome [and yet very welcome] stimulation. Pulling away before it could go any further, she hurried over to her desk and pulled out a stack of papers.

"These are the amendment papers as promised Ethan... sign them and go. On your next visit you can take the children overnight, if they want to... but if they don't..." She stopped. Of course they would want to, EJ loved Ethan and wanted to spend every possible moment with him. That was the reason Jared hadn't adopted him, because EJ had asked them not to.

"What about a family sleep over?" Ethan asked making his way over to her once again "that way if they feel uncomfortable since it is a new situation, mommy is there... and after they're in bed we can..."

"No Ethan! I am going through a difficult pregnancy, it's hard enough making sure I stay calm without you pulling these crazy stunts, and if Jared thought for one minute that I was risking his baby..."

"His baby?" Ethan asked raising an eyebrow "So you still haven't told him about the possibility that its mine?"


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