Chapter Nine-

The Most Important Thing

For a moment, they both stared at the pregnancy test. Case was still holding the ring box, but he dropped it, open, on the couch. They just looked at the test.

"Can you imagine… if it was true?" Cameron asked.

"Yes. I can imagine."

"Would you… would you want to keep it?"

"Of course. It's our baby."

"Do you think it'll be a girl or a boy?"

"I don't know. I don't even know if you are pregnant."

"Should I… should I turn it over?"

"Yeah. Probably."

She reached out, then took her hand back. "I can't do it."

"Me neither." He said.

They spent a few minutes staring at it, still facedown, Robert holding Allison's hands in his.

"I think if it's a girl, we should name it Amy."

"No, Amy was the name of my first girlfriend."

"Oh. How about… Amanda?"

"Hey, who's saying it's a girl?"

"Do you want it to be a boy?"

"Maybe."

"We could dress him up in little sneakers."

"I could teach him catch."

"We could… Robert?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we should get married?"

"Yeah, that's kind of why I proposed." He said, laughingly, but inside, his heart was beating. "Will you marry me?"

There was a horrible silence. 'No." She finally said.

"Why not? This baby needs a mother and a father!"

"You don't want to marry me because you love me, but because I'm pregnant. If and when I marry, it will be about love."

"But I do love you!"

"No you don't. You just think the baby needs parents."

"And what if I do?"

The timer beeped again, signaling five minutes since the test had been ready. The two looked at each other and then both lunged for the pregnancy test, wrestling each other for it.

"It's my baby! I deserve to know!" Cameron said.

"What? As opposed to it not being mine?" Chase yelled. Cameron got free and stood up, turning away from Chase.

"What is it? What does it say?"

"It's…" She turned around. "Negative."

"Oh." There was a definite sense of disappointment for both of them.

"I should probably… go." Cameron said, dropping the pregnancy test in the garbage, and picking up her bag from the floor. "Bye, Robert." She said, and slipped on her flip-flops. She turned the handle of the door, gave him one more look, and left, to walk out into the pouring rain, leaving Robert alone with his ring and his thoughts.

He sat there on his couch for a moment, fingering the ring while he slowly rocked back and forth. Outside, Allison sat on the steps and rocked back and forth too, thinking about the life she had just left behind.

Robert looked up to the table, where he saw Allison's diary. He walked over and picked it up, then began to walk to the door.

Allison stood up and began to walk home through the rain, which she didn't notice.

Robert ran through the doorway and down the steps, then cried out, "Allison!". She turned around, and he was there, in front of her, panting and holding her diary, and, in one impulsive but sure motion, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the life out of him, until he had to choice but to kiss her back and hold her and love her.

"I want you." She whispered.

"I need you." He said, and kissed her again.

"I… I love you." She said, and she knew in that instant that it was true. She wanted and needed and loved him, and she knew he felt the same. She knew he would always be there and that he would always want her and that he would always love her to the end of her days, until they were old and grey.

They kissed passionately in the rain, and he ran his hands over her and looked into her eyes and he knew that she would never leave him. He memorized every detail on her face and knew that he didn't have to, because he would wake up to see it every morning. "Work has always been the most important thing in my life. It was always work over love or family or friends. But maybe work isn't the most important. I think… I think maybe you are."

She looked at him and felt the water on her back and in her hair and in her eyes. But the water in her eyes wasn't rain. Her legs were still wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck.

"Allison Cameron,"

"Yes?"

"Allison Cameron, will you marry me?"

"Yes. Oh, God, yes!"