Chapter 13:

One day later:

I let the tears stream down my face. I can't stop crying... ever since I know.

I wipe away the tears, feeling a headache making it's way into my head. Damn it.

How could I be so stupid? How could this happen? Why the fuck weren't we-

"Gabriella!" I hear Ryan yelling from the corridor. "After two weeks of suffering, I think you should start dating! I met some really cute and hot guys in France! And guess what? I've got their numbers. One for you and one for-" his voice abruptly stops as his body stops in the doorframe, seeing me. Sitting on the floor in the bathroom. "... For me." he finishes his sentence, his eye wide with horror.

I look up, my eyes staring into his shocked one. He looks good. Taned from the photoshoot in France. Europe is good for him. For his career.

It's appearantly not so good for me.

"What is... What is wrong? What happened?" he asks me slowly, his eyes scanning the room. "What is all this?" he asks me, his hands waving around himself.

I sigh, before I get up from the floor. I can't stop crying. I can't stop sobbing. I don't know what to do. How to react. How to feel... how to deal with this.

His eyes move beside my body and onto the floor, "Are those... Are those pregnancy tests?" he asks me.

I nodd slowly. It must be about one hundret tests. I tested too many. I thought they were wrong... Well, at least I thought that the first three were wrong... but they're not. I mean, it's impossible.

My bathroom is overwhelmed with pregnancy tests and their packages. I just ripped the packaging open and threw it on the floor. Every single time.

"What happened to your hand?" he asks me, his eyes rested on my bloody right hand.

I shrugg and nodd behind him, towards the mirror.

He turns around and looks at the shattered mirror. I shattered it into a thousand little pieces with my fist. It was right after the third test. The third test which made me so angry, so furious that I... I had to let it out. Out on the mirror.

Drops of blood path the way to the bathtube, which I was leaning against when I sat on the floor. But I feel no pain. No pain at all.

Instead I feel horror. Fear. I've never been so scared in my life. Not even when my father hit me the first time... This is a whole new form of horror.

I don't even know how long I have been sitting there... Time passed by without me noticing it. I can't stop thinking it all over. Making options. Searching for possibilities. Searching for solutions.

"You need to go to a hospital to stitch it up." Ryan's voice ripps me out of my thoughts once more.

I shake my head, "The cuts are not deep. Just on the surface. They'll be gone in a few days..."

"How many of these did you do?" He asks me slowly, his eyes dancing around the room. The bathroom looks like a bomb exploded in it... A bomb filled with pregnancy tests and tissues.

I shrugg.

"Did you rob a drugstore?!" His eyes are shocked.

I shrugg again, "I thought that the first test was wrong, so I..."

"You bought a hundret more. How many of these were negative?"

He brushs through his blonde hair as he turns around, "Gabriella, are you... I mean, does this all mean that you..." he freezes as the tears start rolling down my cheeks again. Within seconds, I feel his arms around my body, trying to calm me down.

If only it were that easy.

Flashback: A couple of hours earlier:

I unlock the door of our brickstone townhouse in London and throw my purse on the floor before I get out of my shoes.

Voices are coming out of our living room. Laughter paired with giggle. But I can't tell whom the voices belong to. I can't even tell if they're female or male voices.

My head is killing me as I walk into the kitchen and get out a cold bottle of water from the fridge. I don't know what's going on with me. I've been sick the whole week. From fever to headaches - I've had it all.

"Good evening, " I hear my best friend's voice saying before I turn around.

"How long have you been here?" I ask Miley.

"Ryan left an hour ago to fly over to Cannes. For a photoshoot... Kelsi and me decided to wait for you to ask you if you want to go clubing but... According to your face, you don't feel so well."

I frown. So, I do look as bad as I feel... Even make-up can't hide that. Stupid make-up industry. See? It can not hide undereye circles and a red nose. Impossible. "That bad, huh?"

She nodds, "You're all pale. Do you need anything? Kelsi and I are good nurses, you know."

I chuckle, "No, I'm fine..."

"You sure?"

I nodd, "I've been holding up the whole week... I have my trip to Spain to get some rest."

Miley frowns, "You won't work this weekend through?"

I return her frown. Am I such a workaholic? Guess so. I shake my head, "No, I'm going to get some rest. In a spa."

Kelsi walks into the kitchen but stops in the doorframe. "Gabi, you look horrible."

I let out a laugh, "You, too? Look I-"

"Go to bed and we'll make you some tea." Kelsi interrupts me.

"And some chickensoup." Miley adds smiling.

"But I-"

"No buts! Bed. NOW." Kelsi demands, shaking her head, "If I knew that you were so sick, I wouldn't have let you work today."

I frown, "I am fine. It's been coming and going. That's all. I'll be feeling fine in a few hours. Nothing to worry."

Kelsi and Miley both frown at me, before their eyes widen sychronically. It so weird to see that they're thinking the same. We really are one family.

"What?" I ask them both confused.

"You don't need chickensoup." Kelsi says slowly.

"And tea." Miley adds, her voice shaking.

I frown at them, "Look, I am fine, you guys..."

Miley shakes head, "No, you're not fine."

"Wha-" my voice freezes as my brain processes the message. No... I mean, I... "No." I say to them, my eyes filling with tears immediately. Seconds later, I feel my body getting pressed into a hugg. No... I mean, that... I can't... NO! "NO!" I nearly yell, pushing them away.

"Gabriella-"

"No. I can't... This is..."

"Gabi, when was your last period?" Kelsi asks me slowly.

The tears stream down my face, just like the rain which splashs against the window in my kitchen. I shake my head. It's impossible. I can't be... I mean, we were... NO!

I bury my face in my hands, sobbing all the way. I feel Miley hugging me, whispering something to me. But I don't understand it. My mind keeps wandering back to the terrible possibility. I shiver. I can't...

I look up, seeing Kelsi leaving the kitchen. "Where's she going?" I ask her.

"She's going to buy a test, honey. You need to know." Miley says softly to me as if I was a child.

A child. I can't be expecting one. NO! It's impossible. "But I was safe. Always have been." I say in a shaky voice.

Miley nodds, "Just to make sure, Gabi..."

And then it hits me. There was one time I wasn't safe. One night.

"When was your last period, Gabs?" she asks me slowly.

I frown as I'm trying to remember... A horrible feeling starts making it's way through my body as I can't remember it. Then relief hits me as I remember. "Three weeks ago. I had my period three weeks ago." Yes. Three weeks ago! Thank Lord for that! I had my period three weeks ago. I am not pregnant. NOT PREGNANT YOU HEAR ME?!

"Was it really your period or just a little bleeding?" she asks me worried.

I frown at her. What does she mean by that?

"Did it last over a day, Gabriella?"

I shake my head before I burst into tears again. Oh god, no! Please no!

Miley pulls me into a hugg once more. "When was you real last period?"

"In the States..." I whisper.

End of Flashback

"Not a single one was negative." I say and frown.

"How far are you?"

"Nineth week." I whisper. "If I had to guess."

"You didn't see your gynecologist yet?"

I gaze at him, "I just found out that I am pregnant, Ryan."

"Who is the father then?"

I gulp.

"Could it be Lucas' child?"

I shake my head, "I was always safe with Lucas. Not once we didn't..."

"And with Troy?"

"Troy..." I whisper, feeling my heart breaking once more. Knowing that he lives just fifteen minutes away from me doesn't make it easier to be separate... Yet, we're together. At least, for now. We're bonded. Bonded due to a child who is growing inside of me. Our child. I shiver.

"What are you going to do about it now?" he asks me slowly.

I shrugg, "I don't know."

"What about abortion?"

I shrugg. It's an option. An option I should consider.

"You're really thinking about abortion?!"

"What other choice do I have, huh?!" I yell at him, before I burst into tears again. I wipe them off, angryly. "I don't know what to fucking do!"

He nodds, "Do you want to keep it?"

I shrugg, "I don't know."

"Adoption?"

I shrugg, "Maybe. I mean, I am not capable of being a mother... Not the kind of mother this child would need."

Ryan obviously ignores my answer. I know him, he's already picking out furniture and clothes for this child. He's already in uncle-seventh-heaven, while I am still stuck in hell.

"Who knows about this?"

"Kelsi... Miley... You."

"Lucas doesn't?"

I shake my head, "No. I haven't been able to talk to him yet..."

"Do you think Miley will tell him?"

I shake my head once more, "No. She'll keep her mouth shut. She knows that I have no idea what I should do... Let alone, she doesn't know that Lucas and me have been sleeping with each other nearly two months ago..."

"He didn't plan to fall in love with your best friend."

"I don't blame him. We both knew that this would not end up in a relationship. He used sex to get me over Troy. And it helped me... at least, a little bit."

"And now he's with Miley."

"He's happy. She's happy. I am happy. There's no need to destroy their happiness. She doesn't have to know."

"But he has to know that he's becoming an uncle..."

I nodd, "I know."

"Gabi..." he starts.

I shake my head, "No."

"But you-"

"I will not."

"But-"

I sigh, "He stole my heart, tore it apart and let me flee to London, leaving me totally trainwracked. I can't tell him that he is... I can't tell him that he's becoming the father of... Of a broken relationship." I explain to him, feeling tears streaming down my face again.

"But he literally just lives fifteen minutes away from here."

"That doesn't change anything, Ryan. We're separated. Just because I am expecting his child, he... That doesn't mean anything." I say as I storm out of the bathroom. I have no time to overthink this right now. I have a plane to catch.

"No, it means everything." I stop as his voice reflects nothing but the truth.

I turn around, "I have to go."

Ryan frowns at me, "You're not seriously thinking of flying to Spain right now, are you?"

I nodd, "I booked this trip to relax. Now, I need as much time to relax as I can get, under these circumstances." I say as I stop in the hallway, standing next to my suitcase.

"Gabriella, you're fleeing again."

"I am not."

"You are. But this is not something you can flee from. This is your child. Your baby."

"Stop it, Ryan." I don't want to hear him talking about the accident.

"No, I won't stop it for Christ's sake! You're pregnant, Gabriella. That means you're carrying a child. My niece or newphew! And it's Troy's child as well. So, he deserves to get informed. By you, I remark."

I shake my head, "I have to go."

"Gabriella!" he calls after me, but I am already out of the door. "You can't run away from your very own flesh and blood!"

Uh-ho, what do you guys think of Gabriella's pregnancy? Is she really running... again?

Please review!

Xoxo Nic