Ben pushed passed both of them, entering the living room as the entire flat went quiet.

"Nice place you've got here, romantic," Ben mused, before his eyes landed on Phil. "Alright, Dad?"

"Ben," Phil stuttered, clearly unaware that his son was going to make an appearance. "How are you-"

"- Out?" Ben finished the sentence for him. "Been out for a week now. I hate to crash the party, but someone wasn't answering my calls."

Ben turned around to look at Jay, who had come back into the living room with Abi. Jay was just glaring at him, as Abi glanced at her boyfriend in confusion.

"Wait, you knew he was out of prison?" Abi asked quietly.

"Ben, I think you should leave," Jay sighed, reaching for the other boy's arm. "Seriously, now's not the time or place for this."

"Yeah, what is this then?" Ben asked, noting all the members of his family in the room. "Family party? How sweet."

"Phil, why don't you get him out of here, yeah?" Max suggested. "Abi's due in two weeks, for crying out loud, she doesn't need this."

"Two weeks? Wow, Jay, you didn't say she was that close to dropping," Ben echoed, turning back to Abi. "You're very quiet over there, Abs. Haven't you missed me?"

"I'm just surprised, that's all," Abi replied, though it was barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised when Jay told me you'd got knocked up at seventeen too," Ben said. "Don't think I'll be able to make the christening, sorry."

"Phil, will you get him out of here please?" Lola stood up.

"Oh, was wondering when you'd open your gob," Ben breathed before giving Lola a false smile. "Alright Lo? Where's Lexi?"

Abi watched as all the colour drained out of Lola's face. She couldn't even imagine how her best friend was feeling seeing Ben now. It made Abi herself feel physically sick, and he wasn't the father of her baby.

"Ben.." Jay warned.

"Don't worry, I know when I ain't wanted," Ben laughed, before turning around and heading for the door.

"Ben!" Phil called after his son, following him out the door. He was quickly followed by Sharon, Ronnie and Roxy.

"Lo, you coming?" Billy asked.

"Of course she ain't coming, Billy," Peter scoffed, comfortingly wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "Look at the state she's in now!"

"I'll call you when I know what's happening," Billy sighed before leaving.

"Yeah, I think we best get off…" Carol said, giving Bianca and David a nudge.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the lovely party," Bianca said as she stood, gesturing to Liam and Whitney to get a move on. Lucy, Cindy, Jane, Patrick, Dot, Cora and Dexter all made their individual excuses and exited at the same time.

"Phil's going to want Lexi back again," Lola mumbled to herself. "I mean, what if Ben wants her?! What am I going to do? I need to go get her from your Dad's, Peter - like, now."

"Okay, okay, come on," Peter sighed, squeezing her hand and placing his free hand on the small of her back. Lola sent an apologetic glance towards Abi as Peter got their coats.

"It's okay, go," Abi smiled reassuringly, as she sat down on the sofa and rubbing her bump.

"Are you okay, darling?" Tanya asked, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah, of course," Abi replied. "Why don't you get Oscar home? It's getting kinda late."

"Are you sure? I can sta-"

"- Tanya, I think she's right," Max interrupted as he picked up Oscar, clearly understanding that Abi wanted to be alone with Jay. "We should leave. You too, Lauren."

Lauren didn't need to be told twice, as she followed Max to the door.

"You call me if you need me," Tanya said as she stood up, and became the last of their guests to leave.

As the door slammed, there was nothing left of their party. How the hell had it all fallen apart in a matter of minutes?

Now it was just the two of them, and Abi wasn't sure she was going to be able to stop herself from crying. She told herself not to over-react, that this wasn't a big deal, that they'd been through worse. A convicted murderer showing up on her doorstep at their flat-warming party two weeks before she was due to give birth wasn't a big deal, right? Right. But when she had a pretty painful, uncomfortable cramp in her stomach, she couldn't think straight.

Jay was quiet too. This was exactly why he hadn't told Abi - or anyone - that Ben was out of prison, or that he was in contact with him. He was scared, for starters. He remembered those few months, keeping the secret about Heather's death. He remembered the weeks that followed, as he was shut out from the entire community and said to be pure evil. He remembered it and he was terrified of it happening again should Ben have returned to Walford. Hence why he'd met him twice this past week; on the day he got out and yesterday, whilst Abi had gone shopping with Lola and Tanya.

He needed Ben to stay away. Him and Abi were at a great place now; she was two weeks away from giving birth to their little girl, she didn't need the stress. They didn't need any more strain on their relationship, and he knew that Ben coming back would strain a lot of things. Like it was doing right now. Even though Abi had forgiven Jay for his part in it, he didn't know how she would react to Ben. He'd been arrested whilst she was in Costa Rica, so she hadn't seen her childhood best friend since before it was revealed he'd killed an innocent woman. He didn't know what that would do to her, and he didn't want to find out until after she'd had the baby.

"Abi…" Jay breathed.

"You knew," she spat, turning to look at him. "You knew he was out of prison?"

"Yes," Jay replied, walking over and sitting down next to her. "He got in touch about two weeks ago, telling me he was getting out. He needed my help, Abs."

"I think you helped him enough when you covered up a murder for him," she argued, immediately regretting it as soon as she said it. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"- It's okay," Jay cut in, knowing she didn't mean anything by it. "I know it's a shock, but...it's just Ben, babe."

"Just Ben?" Abi echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Are you serious? Are you forgetting what he made you do?! Everything that he put you through?"

"No, but…" Jay sighed. "I booked him into a hostel and gave him some money, some clothes, that's it."

"You've seen him once?"

"Twice," Jay confessed. "I went to see him last Saturday, when he was released. I went to see him yesterday too."

"Is he the one that called you?" Abi asked. "On Friday morning, just before you told me about the flat?"

"Yes."

"Are you serious?" Abi questioned. "You are unbelievable."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Jay said genuinely. "I just didn't want you to worry. Especially not this close to your due date."

"Oh, right, so you thought I'd freak out a bit less when he showed up on my doorstep in front of my entire family?!"

"I didn't know he was coming back here!" Jay defended himself. "He swore to me that he had no intention of ever coming back."

Abi ran her hands over her face as she let out a deep breath. She couldn't deal with this right now.

"Abi, say something…"

"Jay, you promised me!" She exclaimed, feeling herself getting worked up. "You promised me no more secrets."

"I know and I'm sorry," Jay sighed

"I'm going to bed," Abi said, pushing herself up off the sofa as she tried to keep calm.

"Babe, please don't be mad."

Suddenly, she felt an intense pain in her lower abdomen. She exhaled sharply as she placed her hand where the pain was, and sat back down on the sofa.

"Abi?"

"Abs, are you okay?" Jay immediately asked after a few seconds, reaching for her hand. She didn't answer him, just clenched her eyes shut. "What's the matter? Is it the baby?"

Abi sucked in a breath, before breathing out deeply. She squeezed Jay's hand as she rubbed her bump.

"I'm okay," she breathed, pulling her hand away from him. After a few more seconds, the pain eased down and turned into a dull, uncomfortable ache.

"Are you sure?" Jay asked, unconvinced. "Babe, it might have been a con-"

"-It was just another Braxton Hicks, I'm fine," she interrupted, forcing herself to smile. She refused to believe that pain was what she thought it might have been. "Well, as fine as I can be when a criminal I thought was in prison shows up at my flat."

"Oh, come on, it's just Ben," Jay said softly. "He's my brother!"

"He's not!" Abi shouted. She was far too uncomfortable to be able to have any patience in that moment. "He's not, Jay, he's not your brother and I don't want him anywhere near my baby!"

"Your baby?" Jay raised his eyebrows. "Guess I'm completely irrelevant then."

"Jay, that's not what I meant," Abi sighed, shuffling around to try and get more comfortable. "I just don't trust him."

"But you trust me and that should be good enough," Jay argued. "Ben's learned his lesson, okay? He wouldn't hurt anyone, not again. He definitely wouldn't hurt our baby!"

"Jay, I really don't need this right now.." She sighed, continuing to gently rub her bump. The pain in her

"I know, I'm sorry," He sighed. "Ben begged me not to tell anyone, including Phil. I don't know why he's showed up here now.."

"I don't care, Jay," She whispered through clenched teeth, clearly in pain.

"Abs.." Jay said quietly, dragging out the word as he sat back down on the sofa. "Are you sure that wasn't…?"

"It wasn't a contraction," Abi insisted, shaking her head.

"Okay.." Jay sighed. Before either of them could say anything else, Jay's phone vibrated. He reluctantly pulled it out of his pocket, reading the text.

"Who is it?" Abi asked, as if she didn't already know.

"Ben," He answered. "He wants me to go over to Phil's."

"Off you go then," Abi scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Abi.."

"No, Jay, it's fine," she shrugged. "You want to go back to playing the Mitchell lapdog, then go right ahead. I just thought you had other priorities now."

"You're my priority," Jay insisted, reaching for her hand again. "You and our daughter. That's all I care about. I was just trying to be a mate to Ben, help him get back on his feet."

"By giving him money?" Abi noted. "Money that you should be saving for our daughter."

"It was a hundred quid, just to get him through the week," Jay scoffed. "I know I should have asked you first."

"Yeah, you should have," Abi rolled her eyes. "Anything else you want to tell me now? Or should I just wait patiently for the next bombshell to come walking through the door?"

"There's nothing, I swear," Jay replied, just as his phone started ringing.

"Oh, just go over there," Abi sighed, causing Jay to look at her cautiously. "I don't mind, I promise. Just go see him."

"No, don't be daft," Jay hung up, switching his phone off and chucking it on the coffee table in front of them. "He's a big boy, I'm sure he can cope with Phil on his own."

"Okay," Abi smiled, as she stood up and moved towards the kitchen. As she did so, another throbbing pain shot through her stomach. This time, it was pure agony. She let out a loud cry in pain, as she gripped the kitchen table for support.

"Abi!?" Jay cried in a panic, jumping from the sofa and rushing over to her. He gently grabbed hold of her so that she could lean over on him, as he rubbed her back. "Are you okay?!"

"Do I look okay, Jay?!" She screamed, her hand moving to her bump as she desperately gasped for air. Suddenly, she felt a small gush of wetness between her legs.

"Abs, talk to me," Jay pleaded.

"I'm pretty sure my waters just broke," Abi cried.

"What?!" Jay practically shrieked. "You're in labour?! Oh my God, you're in labour!"

"Oh, thank you so much for that wonderful observation, Jay," Abi seethed, sarcastically. "What would I do without you, hey?!"

"Alright, just sit down, look," Jay suggested, helping onto her the chair. Abi took another deep breath as she stroked her baby bump, feeling the pain from the contraction easing down and trying not to panic. She'd been to the antenatal classes, she'd read all the books, binge-watched One Born Every Minute several times….She knew what she was doing, everything was going to be fine. But it suddenly didn't feel that way at all.

"Jay, I'm scared," she confessed, as he kneeled down in front of her.

"It's okay, babe, it's okay," Jay reassured her comfortingly, rubbing her arm.

"No, no, I'm not ready," Abi cried, shaking her head as she glanced down at her bump.

"Yes, you are," Jay insisted with a gentle smile, lifting her chin with his hand to force her to look at him. "It's time to go have a baby."

Super quick update, but the next chapter's the very last one! As always, reviews are appreciated. :)