A/N: I'm sorry to keep you waiting for this chapter, the last half was a little tougher to write so it took me a little longer. But it's up now, and I hope you like it. :)

Chapter Ten

Blood, Tears, and Revelations

Rebecca sat on the couch in the living room of the ranch house, staring dully at the black TV screen. She had an ice pack to her eye, which was now a dull throb, and her elbows slightly burned from where she had fallen on them. But the physical pain was easier to deal with. It was the emotional pain that kept threatening to swallow her. All she kept thinking of was the way Adam had looked right before Jack had shown up, like he really didn't want to hurt her. She didn't know how to explain it, but it just felt like she could get through to him somehow.

It seemed like everybody had come home around the same time after that. Lou had immediately gathered Katie into her arms once she heard what had happened, and she was now putting the toddler down for a nap. Amy had gone outside to unload a horse from the trailer. Georgie wasn't home yet, but she'll be getting home from school soon. Rebecca kept apologizing to them all, but they kept insisting it wasn't her fault. She knew it was though. She was the one who had shown up out of the blue, the one that led Adam straight here.

"Becky, can you please just tell us what happened?" Ty asked for the fifth time. "We just want to help you. Adam needs to be stopped. The police can do that."

"Please,... just no police," Rebecca said, her voice hoarse. She lowered the ice pack from her face and picked up the cup of tea Jack had given her and took a reassuring sip. "Okay, Adam showed up and we said some things. I thought I could talk to him, but things got emotional, for both of us, and I fell, that's all. It's not a big deal."

"Rebecca, what I saw was not nothing," Jack replied. He'd been quiet until now. "He was hurting, and if you don't say anything, you're only allowing him to do it again."

"No," Rebecca said more firmly. "I know it looks bad, but I also know that deep down Adam really doesn't want to hurt me. I saw it in his eyes. I have to help him."

"Maybe so," Ty replied, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees. "Adam needs real, professional help. You can't do this by yourself."

"Maybe I can," Rebecca said thoughtfully. Ty rubbed a hand over his face, trying to hide his frustration. She put her cup down on the table, having made up her mind. "There's something I have to tell you."

Just then, the front door opened and a second later, Amy appeared in the living room. "How's it going in here?" she asked. Rebecca looked up at her, her nerves almost running out on her.

"Rebecca was just about to tell us something," Ty told Amy. He scooted over, so that Amy could sit down next to him on the couch. Amy sat down.

Rebecca was suddenly nervous with everybody staring at her, waiting for her to say something. "Well, um..." she started, licking her lips. "I am, kind a... I'm pregnant."

A hush fell over the room as everybody took in the news and what that meant. Rebecca looked down at her hands, feeling like a huge weight was just lifted from her shoulders. There was the echo of footsteps as Lou came out of Katie's room. "Did I just hear someone say they're pregnant?"

"I did," Rebecca nodded. Lou's mouth dropped open, but she abruptly closed it. "I found out a couple of weeks ago. That's part of the reason why I left."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ty asked quietly.

"Because," Rebecca breathed out, wiping away tears from her eyes before they could fall. "I thought that if I kept it to myself, then I wouldn't have to face the fact that I might have to raise this baby on my own."

"Becky, you're not alone," Ty told her, quietly, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. "We're all here for you." Ty looked to Jack for confirmation and Jack nodded.

"Rebecca, does Adam know?" Amy voiced the question that was probably on everybody's mind.

Rebecca shook her head. "No, I found out after he was already gone. That's why I was thinking, I should tell him now," she said, trying to think of anything that won't make Adam lost to her. "If anything's going to keep," Adam sober, it will be his baby, right? I have to tell him."

She looked around at all the solemn expressions and her heart sank. Nobody argued with her, but nobody agreed with her either. Rebecca knew she was grasping at straws, but she couldn't help it. If there were a chance to save Adam, even it were small, shouldn't she take it? Rebecca put her hand on her flat stomach, thinking this baby could be Adam's last chance.

"First things first," Jack broke the silence. "We should get you to the hospital, make sure that baby of yours is okay. That was a bad fall you took."

"That's not necessary, I feel fine," Rebecca assured everybody. "There's no pain or anything like that. I'm fine."

"You don't want to take any chances," Lou told her. "You should definitely get checked out by a doctor."

"Look, even if I wanted to, I can't," Rebecca said. "I don't have any money, I wouldn't be able to afford it."

"You just let us worry about that," Jack replied.

"No, I couldn't ask you to do that," Rebecca protested. "Not after all the trouble I've caused. It wouldn't be right."

"Becky, please," Ty tried to convince her. "You've been gone most of my life. Please, just let me take care of you just once."

Rebecca looked at him and then at everybody else. They were all willing to help her, even though they barely knew her. She was overwhelmed; she'd never had this many people looking out for her before. "Okay." she finally said, blinking back tears. Ty pulled her into a hug, and she could tell he was relieved that she agreed to let him help her.

The front door opened just as they pulled apart and a young voice echoed through the house. "School sucks! My teacher hates me, she purposefully gave me a load of homework just because. It's not fair!"

Georgie appeared in the living room, where she abruptly stopped talking. She gazed around at the crowd assembled there, shouldering her backpack and commented, "Wow, who died?"

/X/

Rebecca sat in the waiting room of Hudson Medical Center. She had just finished filling out the forms the nurse had given her and Ty was now handing them in. He had insisted on coming in with her, even though she had told him he didn't have to. She did have to admit it was nice not to be by herself. Rebecca looked around at the handful of people in the waiting room. There was one man in a cowboy hat who had a bandage around his left hand, but Rebecca could see a bright red spot blooming on the white cloth. She shuddered to think what happened. There was another pregnancy too, but the woman was a little older than her and she sat next to her husband, her hands around her rounded belly. The way they kept whispering excitedly to each other, Rebecca couldn't look at them.

Ty plopped in the chair next to her with a sigh. "You know, you really don't have to stay," Rebecca said to him. "I thought you had to go to the vet clinic today anyway?"

"I called Scott and told him I wouldn't be able to come in today," Ty explained. "Cassandra's there, so there shouldn't be a problem."

"Great, now I have you skipping out on your job," Rebecca muttered. A lump of guilt rose up inside her. She hated making Ty put his life on hold to take care of her.

"Hey," Ty turned in his chair to face her. "None of that. I'm here because I want to be. How would you even have gotten here?"

Rebecca shrugged. "I just don't want you to think of me as your obligation." she admitted.

"I think of you as my sister, nothing less," Ty told her. "I see my sister, who has been through a pretty tough time and deserves to be taken care of in a place that she is safe and sound."

"Thank you, Ty," Rebecca said. "I don't know what I would have done, if I hadn't ended up at Heartland." Ty squeezed her shoulder affectionately.

"Rebecca Borden?" a nurse called.

"Now, go make sure that baby is okay," Ty said. "I'll be out here when you're done." Rebecca smiled and stood up. She walked over to the young nurse in pink scrubs holding a medical chart. The nurse smiled at her, then turned and walked back through the double doors she'd come through. Rebecca took it as a cue to follow.

They walked down a long, white hallway, eventually turned right down another hallway and then left down a shorter hallway. Finally, the nurse stopped in front of a door with a small, narrow window. She opened the door and gestured for Rebecca to go in first. Rebecca walked into the exam room and then turned to look back at the nurse.

"Dr. Shultz will be in shortly to see you," the nurse told her.

"Okay," Rebecca nodded.

The nurse closed the door behind her, leaving Rebecca alone in the room. She blew out her breath, feeling suddenly nervous. She hadn't thought about what she'd do if something had happened to the baby. Rebecca wasn't even sure of her own feelings toward the baby. She leaned back against the exam table, the paper crinkling under her hands, and looked around the room. The poster on the opposite wall caught her eye. It featured a mother holding her newborn baby to her chest.

Rebecca had mixed feelings about her pregnancy. From the moment she took the test and it came back positive, she didn't know how she felt. Rebecca always knew she wanted to have kids, but only after she finished University, and got married. She never thought she'd be pregnant and alone, living at her brother's fiancee's ranch, with her ex-boyfriend stalking her. Placing her hands on her flat belly, she sighed. The door to the exam room creaked open and Rebecca dropped her hands abruptly, startled. A blonde doctor came into the room, her hair pulled back in a low bun. Her white coat rippled around her from the light breeze caused by the door opening. She looked at Rebecca and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Shultz," the doctor introduced herself. She glanced down at the folder in her hands. "You must be Rebecca and this is your first pregnancy?"

Rebecca nodded. Dr. Shultz looked up at her and laughed. "You can sit down," she said, patting the exam table. "And relax. It says here that you haven't been to a doctor since you took the at-home test."

Rebecca nodded again as she sat up on the table.

"Then let's get started, shall we?" Dr. Shultz replied, putting the folder down.

Fifteen minutes later, Rebecca was pulling her leather jacket back on, while Dr. Shultz scribbled notes down in her chart. The doctor had barely said a word through the entire examination and Rebecca wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. Finally, the doctor looked up at her and stood up from the stool she'd been sitting on.

"Everything looks to be fine," Dr. Shultz told her with a smile. "You are three weeks along, with no problems I can see. Here are some pre-natal vitamins and a prescription for a refill." Rebecca took the bottle and slip of paper from the doctor, but Dr. Shultz wasn't finished yet. "Now, do you want to explain what happened to your eye?"

Rebecca stopped, startled. She had completely forgotten about her black eye. Before leaving the ranch, she had tried to cover up the bruise as best as she could with make-up. Obviously, it was still noticeable. "It was an accident." Rebecca muttered.

"If someone is hurting you, I can help you," Dr. Shultz offered.

"No, really," Rebecca tried to smile it off to reassure the doctor. "There was just an accident with a horse, this is nothing. I'm fine."

Dr. Shultz didn't look convinced, but she didn't press the issue further. Rebecca thanked her for everything and opened the door to leave. But before she could leave, Dr. Shultz said one last thing. "Rebecca, you're not alone in this. There are people who care about you."

Rebecca nodded, and hurried out of the room. She was already beginning to understand that Ty, Amy, and everybody at Heartland did care about what happened to her. When she came back to the waiting room, Ty put down the magazine he'd been browsing through and stood up. He had an expectant, worried look on his face and Rebecca decided to have a little fun with him. Rebecca walked over to him slowly, keeping her face neutral.

"Becky, what's wrong? What did the doctor say?" Ty asked, concern in his voice.

Rebecca couldn't keep up the joke after hearing her brother's concern. She looked up at him with a smile on her face. "Everything's okay, the baby is fine." she told him.

"Really?" Ty smiled back at her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so happy for you!" Rebecca gripped him back just as tightly, feeling like her happiness could burst out of her. When they pulled a part, Rebecca's cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so big.

"So, are you ready to go home?" Ty asked her.

Rebecca didn't even hesitate when she nodded and said, "Yes, I am."

A/N: Okay, you know what to do. Please review and tell me what you think. I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner this time. :)