Thanks again to all you wonderful people reading, reviewing and following this story.

I'm so sorry I didn't get chance to update before the last episode but I just didn't have time as its been such a chaotic few weeks. I hope this chapter is better late than never. For those of you wondering about the pregnancy situation - here it is. I also plan to write another story that will work as an ending to the series. An ending we fans never got.

Chapter 13

It had taken a whole 15 minutes for the food to settle in Beth's stomach before her hang-over took fierce control. She had emptied her stomach into the toilet, the whole time Jack had held her hair back for her and rubbed soft circles on her back.

Finally she reached up and flushed. She sat back, feeling hot and exhausted. Jack was quick to grab a damp cloth for Beth to wipe her face and mouth with. He then grabbed another damp cloth and held it against her forehead. The coolness of it felt good.

Beth looked up at Jack, smiled, and said "Thanks...you're sweet. I'm not gonna lie that was the most humiliating moment of my life." she confessed.

"That's nothing. My second year of high school I was trying to impress this tall, blonde beauty with my base ball skills. She was the most popular girl in school. All the guys drooled over her, and all the girls wanted to be her," Jacks said.

"So what did you do?" Beth asked.

"Put it this way my base balls skill are as impressive as my first impressions." Jack said.

"Yikes!" Beth said, knowing they must be bad.

"I tripped and landed on my face, my shoe came flying off and hit me on the head. I bust my nose...there was blood everywhere."

Beth could only laugh.

"That's not the worse of it, my trousers split!" he told her.

Beth laughed harder, making Jack laugh too. He loved hearing her laugh like this, he had never seen her laugh like this. "Its not funny!" he said.

"I'm so sorry!" she laughed.

"I wanted the earth to open and swallow me up," Jack said.

Beth laughed more, then asked, "Did you get the girl though?"

"God no, her friend was impressed though."

"Was she blonde?" Beth asked.

"Red head."

Beth smiled. God she liked Jack, more and more so the longer she spent with him. She loved his smile and the way his eyes smiled too.

Jack found himself looking at Beth, she truly was amazing. He loved that she could find the strength so soon after what she had been through to laugh, even if it was at his expense. He had to force himself to look away, not wanting to make her feel uneasy.

"Lets get you on the couch," he said before he scooped Beth up into his arms. He really liked holding her, he loved how well her she fit in his arms, like she was made to be in them.

He carried her straight through into the living room and laid her down. Let me grab you a blanket and a bucket, just in case." he said. It only took him a few minutes to grab the duvet off the bed, and grab a mop bucket, the only bucket he had.

"If you want we can just be lazy and watch films on TV all day..." Jack said as he returned to the living room. He quickly realised he would be watching films alone when he saw that Beth was already asleep.

He put the bucket down next to the couch and then placed the duvet over her. "Sweet dreams," he said to her as he carefully brushed her hair back off her face.

~0~0~0~0~

Two weeks later

Beth felt huge as she walked through to the kitchen. Her bruises were long gone, her wounds healed into scars, just her swollen tummy was the evidence of what Ray had done to her, all that he had put her through. She had hated it at first, having Ray's child growing inside of her belly had made her want to somehow climb out of her own body, but she had been too far along when she had realised she was pregnant to do anything but have the baby.

She still didn't know how she felt about the whole situation, but the further into her pregnancy she got the more she got used to the even liked the feel of them now. It often made her smile, and she often found herself taking to her growing unborn baby.

She walked over to the fridge and pulled the door open. She reached in and grabbed a carton of apple juice and took a long a greedy swig. She craved the stuff all the time. Having finally had her fill she returned it to the fridge and pulled the door closed.

She couldn't help but scream at seeing Ray, standing there in her kitchen, having been hidden behind the fridge door. She turned and tried to run, but Ray's hands slammed into her back, shoving her forward into the kitchen worktop. Her stomach hit it hard, the pain was sickening. She tried to kick out and hit Ray as he came up behind her, but he had grabbed a knife and with a swish of his arm the blade slashed across the flesh of her leg.

She cried out in agony. She needed to move but Ray's body was suddenly pressed up against hers. "This won't work, Michelle," Ray said to her as he rubbed one hand over her tummy. "If I can't have you both then theres no other way," he told her as he brought the knife up to her chest.

"Ray, no, please, no!" she begged, her voice dripping with fear.

"We'll all be together this way. First you two and then me," he told her before he plunged the knife deep into her chest.

Beth was in too much pain to be able to make a sound for a moment, then a strangled whimper burst from her throat as the blood spilled from her body, taking hers and her babies life with it.

Beth shot up in bed clutching at her chest, feeling for a knife that wasn't there. Next she quickly shoved the blankets off herself and reached for her stomach, only to find it was no longer swollen.

She struggled to control her breathing as she raked her fingers through her hair, pushing it back off her face. It had been a dream, just a horrible dream. Hoping to forget about it she turned to look at the digital clock-radio beside the bed, 8.05am. The time was there in bright blue numbers, but it was the numbers in small above that that caught Beth's eyes. She quickly grabbed the clock and looked closer. The numbers raced through her mind until she was finally able to make sense of them.

Suddenly realising what the date meant made her stomach turn and she had to dive out of bed and run to the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before she threw up.

~0~0~

"Beth!" Jack called out from the kitchen as he finished plating up their breakfast. Over the last few days Beth had been eating really well and slowly Jack saw her putting on weight, saw her body beginning to recover. She could walk well now, although her foot still caused her a little trouble. He had even caught her attempting to workout. He had quickly advised her that it was too much too soon and luckily she had listened to him. Her bruises seemed less noticeable and some had faded completely. Her cuts, scrapes and grazes were healing nicely.

"Beth, breakfasts ready!" he called out again as he added some salt and fresh herbs to her eggs, just the way she liked them.

He put their plates down on the breakfast bar and then wondered why she had yet to answer him. He knew she was awake, they had spoke, through the door, less than an hour ago. Little did he know that she had fallen back to sleep whilst he had been making breakfast.

"Beth, is everything okay?" he asked as he walked from the kitchen and towards her room.

Jack didn't hesitate in storming right into her room when he heard something crash. The bedroom was empty until Beth came stumbling out of the bathroom. Jack rushed over to her and she fell into his arms. She was holding him so tight that he couldn't get a look at her. "Beth, what is it?" he asked her as he held her back.

He let her cry into his chest for a moment before he had to gently push her back. "Beth, sweetheart, what is it?" he asked, growing more and more worried.

"I'm late, Jack," she said.

Jack looked at her for a moment, wondering what she meant before it hit him. He sighed and asked, "How late?

"Almost a week! I'm never late, Jack. My god, I think I'm going to throw up again," Beth said before she rushed back into the bathroom and threw up again.

~0~0~0~0~

1 hour later

Jack had ran to the store and picked up two twin packets of pregnancy tests. After having done the first one, Beth had done a further three. She held them all now in front of her as she sat on the edge of the bed with Jack sat just beside her.

Neither of them had said a word in over five minutes. Finally Jack had to say something, he hated the fear on Beth's face. "Beth, I think even if you did another four tests they would tell you the same thing."

Beth nodded, "I know..." she replied in a rushed voice.

"You can keep looking at them but the result won't change," Jack pointed out.

In the exact same way and in the exact same tone Beth once more replied, "I know..."

"You're not pregnant, Beth. Not to Ray, not to Perry."

Beth finally released a shaky breath that she felt like she had been holding since realising she was late. "I was just so sure. I mean, I'm never late. What if the tests are wrong?" she said, panic in her voice.

"We can take you to get blood tests if it would help put your mind at rest."

Beth shook her head. She knew that her period could be late due to a number of reasons, such as the medication she was on, the stress of everything she had been through, the lack of food she had been eating before the last few days.

"I had this stupid dream that I was pregnant, and Ray came back to my house to get me. He stabbed me in the chest and told me there was no other way things could be. Jack, if he can't have me he would rather me be dead."

"Well I won't let that happen, Beth. I'm not going to let him do what he did to you again. I promise you that."

Beth smiled and thanked him.

"Now, give me those!" Jack said as he took the tests from her hand and walked into the bathroom to throw them in the trash.

Beth couldn't help but call out to him, "You do realise that I peed on those!"

"I had kind'a forgotten until you just said that!" Jack called back to her.

Beth smiled and then smiled more when she heard the water running She pushed herself up off the bed and walked over to a chair in the corner of the room where a hooded jumper lay. It was Jack's that he had given her to wear when she felt cold. Truth was she loved wearing it all the time. She pulled it on, it was far too big for her, it was even too big for him, but it was comfy. It smelled like Jack and she found herself bringing the collar up to her nose to take in his scent even more. It was so warm, she felt like she had Jack hugging her.

"I guess you like that?" Jack asked.

Beth quickly spun round to face him, acting as casual as possible. "It's okay," she replied. "Breakfast ready yet? I'm starving," she said as she rushed out of the room as quickly as she could.

Jack could only smile to himself before following after her.

~0~0~0~0~

Beth was sat on the couch with Jack sat at the other end of it. She was watching him gently massage her foot as they talked. His hands were gentle as they worked. He had been doing this for the past week and she was sure it was helping her pulled and torn muscles get better quicker.

Jack was about to ask Beth what she wanted to do for their evening meal, when his cell phone began to ring. He got up and answered it. "Hi Amanda," he said. "Err yeah, that's fine. No its no problem at all. See you soon." Jack said before he hung up.

"Everything okay?" Beth asked him.

"Yeah, Amanda has to work late tonight so asked could I have Ethan."

"Do you want me to go?" Beth asked him. She was more than willing to go if he wanted her too but the thought of it terrified her.

"Of course not. I was thinking if you wanted to the three of us could go get some pizza or something." Jack suggested.

"That would be great." Beth replied.

~0~0~0~0~

Beth was sat on the couch watching Jack and Ethan playing a computer game. She loved watching Jack be a dad. Ethan clearly thought a lot of him. The pair of them were constantly laughing and joking as they raced each other on the game. Beth couldn't stop smiling. Seeing the two of them was making her remember what it was like to be part of a family and it made her realise how much she missed not having one.

She was a little surprised a moment later when Ethan stood up and walked over to her. He handed her the controller and sat down on the couch right beside her.

"I don't know how to play," she told Ethan.

"It's easy, like this," he told her, quickly demonstrating how it worked.

Beth felt a little embarrassed as she was sure she would be rubbish at the game but an encouraging smile from Jack made her play on. Just a few minutes later she beat Jack in their first on-screen race.

"You win in the office, and now you win at home," Jack said.

Beth smiled and replied, "I learnt from the best." She offered a wink at Ethan, making him smile. Beth could instantly see that not only did he have his fathers gentle eyes he also had his fathers smile.

She spent a moment just watching the two before the games continued.

~0~0~

A few hours had passed and Beth had showered whist Jack was putting Ethan to bed and reading him a bedtime story. She came out of her room, now dressed in pyjama's and walked over to Ethan's room. Ethan was sound asleep and Jack was simply watching him. When he saw Beth looking he gave Ethan a kiss and stood up.

He joined Beth who had walked back into her room. She was sat on the edge of the bed. "You okay?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Ethan is such a great kid." Beth said.

"He is!"

Beth nodded, but Jack could see there was something troubling her. "Beth, what is it?"

"Being with you and Ethan made me think about my own family. I miss being part of a family. Funny thing was in my dream I had gotten used to the idea of being pregnant. I can't help but wonder if I would have grown used to it had the result of my test been different."

"Beth, no matter what I think you would have made a fantastic mother. You will have a family one day, beyond your work family that is."

"Thank you, Jack." she said with a smile before she stood up and offered him a small thankful kiss on the cheek.

It was just meant to be a quick kiss but Beth found she couldn't pull her lips away. She moved them round to his lips and after a moment of hesitation from Jack he soon kissed her back. The kiss didn't last long but it was sweet.

Beth pulled away and rested her forehead against Jack's chest. "Jack would you sleep in here with me again?" she asked.

Jack nodded and replied, "Any time."

They both walked around either side of the bed. Beth threw the quilt back and climbed in. She held the quilt back, telling Jack to get under them too. A little hesitantly he did, but the moment Beth snuggled up against his side he felt at ease. She wanted this and he wanted to do all he could to help her.

TBC

Thanks so much for reading. Please review and tell me what you think?