A/N: At long last, we've made it. I know it's felt like an excruciating two weeks, but I wanted this chapter to be perfect before I share it with you. I'm going to keep this author's note short since I've written some end notes at the very end.

The title of the chapter is Keeping Secrets Safe from the song Pretending by the Glee Cast.

The chapter was alpha read by SquarePeg72 and run through Grammarly. I apologize for any errors you may find.

This chapter is dedicated to NathanielCardeu, Frumpologist, and boomersoonerash for riding along with the story since the beginning. I love you all!

Enjoy!

5:45 PM: Are you sure this is a good idea?

5:46 PM: No, but can we really add another lie to our situation?

She looked at her mobile and frowned. Even she wasn't sure of the answer to her own question. They really couldn't afford any more lies to be weaved into the web that they had started stringing all those years ago.

Hidden glances and secret text messages were easy to hide. What made it complicated was when they started secretly meeting. Those secrets became a little harder to keep, but they had always been doable. Then they started sleeping together. That's when all hell started to break loose. There was only so much fighting that one relationship could take. Let alone being involved in two relationships at the same time, both fighting because of fights in the other relationship.

She shook her head quickly as the thoughts muddled her brain. She didn't have time to worry about that now. They were expecting company, and she needed to finish getting ready.

5:47 PM: No we really can't, and besides…

5:48 PM: I really just want to see you

. . . . . . . . .

Hermione looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. She refused to glance down at the timer ticking away on her mobile. At this point, she just needed to know the truth about what was going on with her body, and this was the only logical explanation. She would have to figure out all of the other details involved with this when she knew what was going.

She had never been so nervous about anything in her life. When the timer went off in a matter of moments, her whole life could potentially change, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for it. Could she be a mother?

Was she really ready for that big of a change in her life?

Was her marriage strong enough to raise a child?

Her thoughts continued to spin around her mind like a whirlwind when she heard a faint knock at the loo door. Panicked, she glanced down at the counter and knocked the pregnancy test into the sink and picked her mobile up off the counter and slipped it into her pocket. "Who is it?"

"It's Millie. Let me in," the voice on the other side of the door replied.

Hermione sighed and carded a hand through her curls before stepping forward and pulling up open the door. She smiled as Millie slipped inside before closing the door once more and taking a step back to lean up against the sink. "What's up?"

"Are you okay? You ran out of the kitchen faster than anyone I've ever seen," Millie asked, placing a gentle hand on Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione nodded and pulled her shoulder out of Millie's reach, careful to remain in front of the sink so that even with a stray glance her secret couldn't be seen lying in the sink. "I'm okay. I thought I was going to be ill and I didn't want it to happen in front of everyone."

Millie looked her momentarily with a furrowed brow before shrugging her shoulders and turning towards the door. "Okay, I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay."

"Yup, all good here," Hermione replied, hurrying her out the door. "I'll be out in a few moments."

Just seconds before the door clicked shut with Millie standing on the outside, the timer on Hermione's mobile started ringing. Hermione cursed under her breath as Millie pushed back on the door and stepped inside the loo.

"What was that?" Millie asked, looking Hermione up and down.

"Just a timer on my phone. Time for my medicine," Hermione answered.

Millie crossed her arms over her chest. "What medicine? The last time I checked, you weren't on anything that had to be taken at a certain time…"

"It's nothing to worry about. Just go back out and join the guys. I'll be out in a second," Hermione pleaded, pushing her friend towards the door. The look in her eyes was begging for Millie to give her just five seconds of peace so that she could get her wits about her before rejoining the party.

Millie sighed and made her way towards the door, pulling it open slowly. She looked her best friend up and down once more before stepping outside and pulling the door closed behind her. Something was off about Hermione, but whatever it was, she was sure that Hermione would tell her whenever she was ready.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione leaned back against the door and tilted her head back with her eyes closed. It was time for the results whether she was ready or not. Once she knew, she could better assess how to handle the situation. She took a few steps forward and reached into the sink to pull out the pregnancy test.

Refusing to look at it right away, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. As she exhaled, she willed her eyes to open, and her pupils went wide at the results in her hand.

"Son of a bitch," she mumbled under her breath.

. . . . . . . . . .

7:35 PM: We need to talk

7:36 PM: So come back out here, and we can talk, just like we've been doing all night

7:36 PM: Not that kind of talk

7:37 PM: What kind of talk?

7:38 PM: Just meet me in the kitchen in five minutes

7:38 PM: Okay

. . . . . . . . . .

Millie sighed as she collapsed on the couch beside Theo and rested her head against his shoulder. She noticed Draco looking at her out of the corner of his eye, so she furrowed her brow and looked at him. "Can I help you with something, Malfoy?"

Draco laughed and shook his head. "I was just about to ask if everything was okay in there."

"Apparently it's all fine, but I'll believe it when she reappears from the loo," Millie said, rolling her eyes as she snuggled in closer to Theo. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders so that she could get right up beside him. She smiled when she felt him lean over and press his lips to the top of her head.

As she relaxed there, she felt her stomach starting to do somersaults again, and she hoped that it would pass just as quickly as it had this morning. She didn't have time to be sick right now. There was too much going on, and it just didn't seem to fit in her busy schedule. Not to mention the fact that she couldn't figure out what would have caused her to start feeling poorly.

There had been none of her usual poorly indicators overtaking her life in recent weeks, so it would appear that this had come out of absolutely nowhere. She continued to think about what it could possibly be when an idea struck her. Quickly she reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile device. She flipped through the screens until she found her calendar app.

There may be one explanation to her current situation…

"Well shit," she mumbled to herself.

Theo turned his head in the direction of her voice and furrowed his brow. He noticed the frown on her face and was puzzled at the frown she was donning. He leaned down and pressed his lips to the side of her head. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and slipped her mobile back into her pocket. "Nothing's wrong."

Just as Theo was about to say something else to her, Hermione had appeared back in the sitting room. He sighed and turned his attention back to the rest of the crowd around them as Draco pushed himself up off the couch and walked over to wrap his arms around her.

"Everything okay, love?" he whispered, kissing her the side of her head gently.

She nodded her head against his and leaned up, pressing her lips to his cheek. "Everything's fine. My stomach was just upset, that's all. Nothing to be concerned about."

"Then why did you tell me you had to take some medicine at a certain time?" Millie asked, leaning forward with a sour look on her face. "Which is it, Hermione?"

Hermione leaned back and glared at Millie before turning her attention back to Draco with a fake smile plastered on her face. She noticed the concerned look he was wearing and reached up to cup his cheek. "I'm fine. When I felt ill, I remembered I hadn't taken one of my meds earlier."

"Which one?" Millie added, a coy smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"If you must know," Hermione hissed, turning her attention to Millie and Theo where they were seated on the couch. "It was my birth control, Millicent."

"Since when did you start taking birth control?" Millie mused aloud, only to be stopped when she felt Theo pulling at her shoulder. "What?"

"Back off, Mill," Theo grumbled, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "What does it matter what medicine she is or isn't taking? There's nothing wrong with someone taking birth control."

"I know there's not; I just think that it's odd timing. That's all," Millie replied, exhaling sharply as she collapsed back against the couch for a few moments. Then suddenly, she leaned forward and pushed herself off the couch. "I'll be right back. I need some air."

. . . . . . . .

8:00 PM: What the hell is the matter with you?

8:01 PM: What are you talking about?

She glared at her phone as she awaited a reply. Sure she had acted slightly irrational this evening, but there was no reason for hostility to be directed at her. She wasn't the one who was lying about what was going on with her. She just happened to be omitting the truth momentarily because she wasn't even sure what the truth was at this point.

All she knew was that she felt like absolute shit and for the life of her she had no idea why that was the case. Well, that wasn't necessarily true. She had a vague idea as to what could be causing her current issues, but that couldn't be the reason. They were always careful. Always prepared. So there was no possible way…

8:02 PM: You didn't need to bite her head off. So what if she was feeling poorly?

8:02 PM: I don't care that she was poorly. I care that she was lying directly to our faces.

8:03 PM: How do you know she was lying?

8:03 PM: I just know her, okay?

Rolling her eyes, she tossed the device across the cushions on the outdoor sofa. She didn't really want to deal with whatever response came next flashing across the screen. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, inhaling deeply. She needed to figure out what her next step was going to be.

"How did you let yourself get into this mess?" she mumbled, scrubbing her hands over her face as she leaned forward. Taking another deep breath, she pushed herself up off the sofa and walked over to grab her mobile. When she flipped it over, she noticed that there wasn't a message waiting for her. Maybe he had given up his argument for the time being, or at least that was what she was going to keep telling herself.

Slowly, she made her way back into the flat from the patio. It wasn't that she wanted to go back inside, but she knew that eventually, she would have to or else she would have to walk home. The weather was starting to get chilly and walking home really didn't seem like a viable option. Especially in her current potential position. She didn't exactly have the time to catch a virus.

As she made her way inside, she felt her mobile vibrate in her hand. She shook her head and slipped the device into her pocket, ignoring the message that was waiting for her to read. At this point, she had other things that she needed to worry about.

. . . . . . . .

"What was so important that you couldn't tell me via text or in the other room?" he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked in the room.

She took a deep breath and pushed the door shut behind them, leaning forward to rest her head against the cool wood for a minute. She felt as though she was going to faint and fainting wouldn't be the best idea in her current situation.

As he turned back around to face her, he noticed that she was leaning up against the door. He crossed the floor quickly and placed a gentle hand against the small of her back. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, refusing to lift her face away from the door. She could feel the tears starting to well up in the corner of her eyes and begin to roll down her cheek.

He gently tugged on her shoulder and turned her into him. Once she was facing him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush to him. He brushed a hand over the back of her head and nestled his head into the crook of her neck.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head as a sob wracked its way through her body and she started shaking. Burying her face into his chest, she just started to cry. She didn't have the words to say that would answer his question. It wasn't so simple as telling him what was going on. How was she supposed to say to him that she really had no idea who the baby belonged to? Not that he expected her to have an answer to that question because he knew the reality of their situation. After all, both of them had made that choice.

It was those choices that were starting to alter their relationship. That one pathway that they had both stumbled down had led them to this. This exact moment where everything would change. No matter what was said now, everyone's lives would change from this point on out, and there was nothing she could do to change that fact.

He pressed his lips gently to the top of her head as he held her. Whatever it was that was upsetting her was more than just the awkwardness of the evening. Something else was terribly wrong, and he just needed to tell her what.

As the sobbing seemed to subside, he leaned back and wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye and took a deep breath. He smiled softly as her beautiful tear filled eyes fluttered open to look at him. He had hoped that his smile would bring one to her face. And it did, but it was a faint smile.

"Now that the waterworks have stopped would you tell me what's wrong?"

Inhaling sharply, she took half a step back and scrubbed her hands over her face to wipe away the remaining tears. As she lowered her hands, her eyes met his once again.

Unbeknownst to both of them, the door to the room they had been hidden away in creaked open and in walked two sets of ears who had only the faintest ideas of what the truth really was. What waited for them on the other side was a new adventure full of conversations they would have to have, but at the same time, those conversations that no couple wanted to have. Especially not at a time like this.

That upcoming conversation would lead to many choices that would lead them down different pathways. While all would pay the consequences of their action, it was the two already in the room whom it would cost the most.

"I'm pregnant."

~ Fin ~

End Notes: Hey again! I'm sure you've reached this point and are like "Wait, who's the daddy?" and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are going to be stuck with that question along with others from previous chapters. I know it seems frustrating to not have all of the answers, but if you refer back to the summary of this story, you'll notice that the whole thing was talking about how we're stuck living with the choices that we have made. That is why this ends on what seems like the "wrong" note.

We have followed Hermione and Draco and Millie and Theo along a path of arguments and unanswered questions for the duration of this story. We have also followed the affair couple along that same kind of scenario. I hope by now you have realized that it was only the four characters all along which means that the affair is made up of one of the arrangements of non-married couples. I like the end of this story because in a way it allows you to choose the ending. Do you want each couple to leave happily ever after without any problems? Then it can happen. Do you want the marriages to end and the affair to end? Then go ahead and think that way. Or are you one of the few who is rooting for the affair all along and hope it continues? Because if that's the case then the "choose your own ending" is for you.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it and thank you for letting me leave it as though it feels unfinished. Please be advised that there will not be an epilogue or a sequel. This story is complete and I won't be adding any more to it.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this story and me over the year and will continue to support both now that its over.

I can't wait to read your comments and reviews!

Sometimes the choices we make aren't the right ones, but at the time those choices are exactly the ones that we needed to make.

Love always,
~starr