Chapter 10

Kristina blinked her eyes she could feel something cold on her forehead. She felt like her arm weighed a ton of bricks as she lifted it to move the cold cloth off of her. She looked around and saw that she was in her bedroom. Did she dream this? Did this really happen? As she tried to focus, Ethan walked in the room with a bottle of water.

She looked like she was about to cry. "So it wasn't a dream." She said softly.

Ethan sat down next to her and put the water on the nightstand. He saw tears begin to fall down Kristina's face. His heart broke to see her this way. He reached over and held her allowing her to cry until she couldn't cry anymore.

He propped his back up against the headboard and held her while she tried to regain composure. "Why…why is this happening to me?" She whispered.

Ethan kissed the top of her head. "This is Helena's fault luv, no one else's. She's a sick, evil, daemonic woman. She'll pay for this, I promise you that."

She let her eyes glaze over for a few moments as she lay on Ethan's arm. "Dad is going to kill her. Literally."

Ethan shrugged. "Probably. He'll have to get to her before I do though." He grit his teeth.

Kristina was silent for a bit but then spoke. "I hate her. I really hate her. But I don't want Brady's Grandfather or Dad pulled into a war with Helena. Plus Mom just shouldn't have to deal with any of that, and you, I would never want you hurt because of me." She sat up and looked at him. "I guess I need to find out if I'm…pregnant."

Ethan hated all of this. He stood up and pulled a small box from his leg pocket. "I…I thought you might be being followed so I….stopped to get you one."

Kristina bit her lip and nodded. "Well, I guess it's better to know." Ethan nodded back to her trying to offer silent comfort to her decision. She took the box slowly and walked into her bathroom.

It felt like an eternity waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. It had been almost fifteen minutes. He knew the test only took three minutes but he wanted to give her time. He finally couldn't take it anymore and went to knock on the door.

"Krissy, luv, are you ok?" There was no response. "Luv, you know I'm here for you please come out." He waited again but then he could hear movement. He stood away from the door and waited for it to open. Kristina opened the door and looked at him. She wasn't crying and had an almost peaceful look on her face.

"I'm pregnant." She said to him. He could feel his heart sink into his stomach. He moved closer to her but she held her hand out. "No. I can't keep feeling sorry for myself. I…I have a baby that needs me to think clearly." She walked back into her bedroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn't believe it. She was going to have a baby. How was she going to do this? How was she going to tell Brady? She sat back down on her bed and let out a breath.

Ethan walked over and sat down next to her. "Krissy, you can give yourself a minute to think."

"Ethan, I don't have a minute. As soon as Helena finds out she's going to make it look like I'm dead, wait for me to have the baby and then probably kill me herself." She stood up and leaned against the wall by her closet trying to gather her thoughts. She bit her lip and had steel in her eyes when she looked back at Ethan. "She's not going to take my baby."

Ethan took a breath and tried to think. "Well, for whatever reason she seems to have Brady's Grandfather on a different scale than Sonny. She seemed, I don't know, she seemed to actually view him as a real threat not just an annoyance."

"I can't use Brady's Grandfather Ethan. I…I don't even know how I'm going to tell Brady that we've been manipulated and violated into having a baby together." She laughed in a tone that was anything but funny. "I told him…I told him he should have walked away from me. I knew…I just knew…damnit!" She felt tears coming again.

"Kristina this isn't your fault." He tried to reassure her.

"Sure, because I'm sure if he'd dated the girl down the street she'd have Helena Cassidine gunning for her too."

"Look luv we have to tackle one thing at a time ok. First, we have to get you somewhere safe, and Helena isn't going to be busting Sonny's door down anytime soon so we had better get going."

"What am I supposed to tell him that isn't going to send him into one of his notorious fit of rages? You know the first thing he is going to do is order Helena killed tonight or jump in a boat to Wyndemere himself tonight and end up in a shoot out with Helena's guards."

"We can't control Sonny. All we can do is try to keep you safe."

"Maybe I should just take off and disappear."

"She'll find you luv. If she wants that Kiriakis/Cassidine heir she isn't going to stop until she gets it." He didn't mean for that to come out as blunt as it did.

Kristina knew he was right as she looked in his eyes, but then her mind started to work on something. Ethan recognized that look.

"What?" He asked.

She began to pace the room.

"What is it luv?"

She stopped and looked at him and then bit her lip before she spoke. "What if…what if…the baby wasn't Brady's?"

Ethan squinted his eyes trying to get on the same track as she was. He knew she wouldn't have been with anyone else right now, fairly sure anyway. "Is it…is it not?"

"No, I mean…yes of course it is, but she doesn't know that." She was trying to think quickly.

Ethan was getting on board. "So, make her think it's not Brady's and her plan just blew up in her face." He said slowly.

Kristina's face fell a little knowing where this train of thought was taking her. But she really couldn't see any other option.

"Luv, you know the less people that know the better because she'll try to prove that it's his." He looked at her.

"I know." She sighed. "I also know what you're saying. Brady shouldn't know." She sat back down on the bed. "I don't want to keep this from him but I just can't think of another way can you?"

Ethan sat down next to her. He thought for a second and then shook his head. This isn't what he wanted for her. She cared for Brady, she had real feelings for him, he knew that. "Not right now, and unfortunately time isn't our friend." She leaned on his shoulder and they sat there quietly.

Ethan kept thinking and when something finally formed in his mind as one of the most plausible notions Helena would believe he slid out from under Kristina and knelt down in front of her. "Luv, she'd believe it was me. I'm positive she'd believe I spoiled her little plan. She has thrown you in my face before, and if you're being watched she knows we mean something to each other, hell she probably knows I'm here right now."

Kristina's eyes always gave away her thoughts. She what Ethan just said made sense, but the immediate thought that came to mind was Brady. This would hurt Brady.

"Look luv, I know you care for Brady, and for what Helena is putting you through I'm truly sorry. I…"

"No, look I know what you're saying." She stopped him so she could concentrate on her own thoughts. "I just…I just know that including you into this mix will really hurt Brady, and that's the last thing I want to do. But, also, Helena has enough reason with the Spencer/Cassidine feud to come after you if you get in her way and I don't want to put you in the line of fire."

"Look, me being a Spencer always has me in the line of fire when it comes to her, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let her hurt you or your baby." He said sincerely yet bitterly with thoughts of Helena running through his head. "As for Brady, you know I'm not his biggest fan but he is a good man, and for all of this I'm very sorry, but it might be the only way to get him out of the equation so Helena will leave you and the baby alone. Maybe after the baby is born you'll have other options since it will already be here and under both Victor and Sonny's protection, or maybe we'll figure something else out in the meantime to take care of her, I don't know."

Kristina contemplated what he said. She looked up at the ceiling and let out a sob. When she looked back at Ethan he saw the tears falling again. "I…I hate this…I don't want….I don't want to hurt him. I don't want to keep….his baby from him." She cried choking on her own sobs. He reached out and held her again.

"I'm…I'm sorry Krissy."

"It's not you Ethan, and I…I know you're right. I need to protect the baby from Helena and the best way to do that is to make her think it's not Brady's baby, and to make her think it's not Brady's baby I need to push Brady away. It's for his own good anyway. Helena knows about him because of me. He shouldn't even be in this mess." She sniffed. "He's better off anyway."

"Don't say that. That's not any part of why this makes sense." Ethan tried to reassure her.

"Well, regardless, I know what I have to do." She tried to stiffen up to steel herself but Ethan knew better. Her heart was breaking. "I guess you should stay tonight so Helena's men will report back to her and make her aware."

"I'll sleep on the couch." He stood up.

"Brady will be back tomorrow and we're supposed to have dinner in the city. I'll…I'll break up with him before that." Her beautiful face looked so sad. Ethan put both of his hands on either side of her face and tried to get her to look him in the eye.

"We'll make this right luv. I promise. We aren't going to let Helena win. We just have to make sure you and the baby are safe so it gives us some time to figure something out."

She tried to nod her head to reassure him that she understood what he was trying to do but her eyes were still glassy and sad.

"Try to sleep luv. I'll be right outside."

She turned and looked around her room. She walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer retrieving a picture she had laying inside. It was taken at the 4th of July celebration in the park they went to last week. They were both smiling so broad from laughing she remembered her cheeks aching. Studying Brady's strong features she couldn't help but wonder if the baby was going to look like him. She reached her hand over her stomach and softly rubbed it. "How is this happening?" She whispered to herself then traced Brady's face in the picture. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this craziness." Tears were falling silently down her cheeks. "You'll be better off without me anyway." She tried to convince herself.

Ethan was laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. He had never hated someone so much in his life. This evil bitch felt entitled to play god with Kristina's life and trick her into having a baby that she isn't ready for. Then, not only that, but her plan is to kidnap her and then most likely kill her after that baby is born. The hate he felt was almost overwhelming and he felt like he wanted to take off now and kill that rotten, evil, hateful woman. He had to think of Kristina though, she needed him to think clearly right now. She was going to have a baby. A baby. He couldn't believe it, and to top it off it's Brady's. No matter his distaste for the man, he couldn't help but feel badly that he was being separated from his child. But he had to think of Kristina first, if they didn't protect her then Brady would lose the baby to Helena anyway. He closed his eyes and tried to figure out how in the hell this happened.