"I'm leaving out for a few hours… I'll be back though." I hold a sleeping Olivia in my arms and put her down gently on the couch so that she doesn't wake up. Both she and Victoria fell asleep on the car ride home. Thank god Olivia's too little to understand the full extent of what just happened; but Victoria cried herself to sleep because she DID understand that Demi is very hurt. I run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to squander up some extra cash to get myself to St. Joseph's on the toll road. The toll is usually around $3.46, which I think is complete bullshit. It only takes about twenty minutes to get from my house to St. Joseph's. "The girls ate… a box of nachos at the meet." I stuff my extra cash in my back pocket and grab my jacket. "I'll be back late."

Bea untucks her legs from underneath of her, puts down her copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey", and gets out of the recliner in the corner of our living room. "Wait! Where are you going?! Joe, you can't just up and leave without telling me where you're going! We need to talk!" She dashes to the front door and stands in front of it, preventing me from leaving. I could slap her, just like I slapped Demi that day she made me mad. Demi's in the hospital with a SERIOUS injury, and she's trying to prevent me from going to the hospital and seeing her?! "Baby we really need to just sit down and talk. You never talk to me anymore. Where are you going? And why'd you have to come drop the girls off? What's the matter?"

I decide to just cool down. Flipping out on my wife isn't going to make me get to Demi any faster. I'm so confused. I can't explain the kind of feelings I'm having, and I'm not even sure if I should explain the feelings I'm having. I run my left hand through my hair and take a deep breath. "At the meet, Demi did something wrong, and she got REALLY hurt. I saw her very briefly, and her bone was sticking out of her knee. …It's bad. They rushed her over to St. Joseph's for emergency surgery, and I just… it's really important for me to be there for her. You wouldn't understand."

"…You're right. I wouldn't understand. So explain to me." She reaches in the pocket of her long bathrobe she's wrapped up in and holds out a pair of white underwear, with pink and black cheetah print spots on it and pink lace trim. Those aren't hers. She doesn't wear sexy underwear like that. Those, and I could tell anyway by the size of the butt-part of them, are Demi's. "Underneath the couch?" She looks like she's about to cry. "I'm not stupid, Joe. Her underwear are under the couch… you were sweaty when you came up to bed last night… scratches… all over your back. Bite marks on your shoulders… a HICKEY on her neck this morning…" She forces the underwear into my hand. My stomach starts to ache. "I just want to hear it from you. Are you sleeping with that little girl, Joe?"

I don't know what to say. I'm not ashamed of Demi. I'm not ashamed for taking such a liking to her. I'm not ashamed that I love her. So if I'm not ashamed… why do I lie? "…How dare you accuse me of sleeping with my student, Blanda. Of COURSE I'm NOT having sex with Demi! Are you crazy?!" I grit my teeth, trying to think of a smooth enough lie. "…She was really stressed out last night about this meet today. She wouldn't sleep, but I could tell she was tired. She felt unprepared for the meet and she wanted to impress her dad today. So she asked me to spot her while she practiced in the living room last night. THAT'S ALL. I spotted her on a couple tricks, gave her a pep-talk, she went to sleep on the couch after that. THAT IS ALL THAT HAPPENED. The sweat? I sweated a lot while spotting her. The scratches? I almost dropped her once or twice, so she had to hold onto me. I don't know what bite marks you're talking about. And she probably got the hickey from her BOYFRIEND. Now the underwear… she took a shower last night, they must've fell out of her bag or something. But I… am NOT… Having sex… with DEMI."

"….Give me one reason to believe you." I watch as some tears fall from her eyes. "I'm not stupid. I see the way you look at her. The way she looks at you. …Do you love her?"

I'm so sick of lying. I might as well tell her the truth. Not about everything, though. "…I have love FOR her, yes. But it's NOTHING compared to the love… I have for my WIFE." I'm not even entirely sure if I mean that anymore. I used to be so sure when I said that the type of love I have for my wife is head and shoulders above the kind of love I have for Demi. I'm not sure if I'm telling the whole truth about that anymore. And that honestly scares me. "I'm not in love with Demi… but I care… I care deeply about her; which is why I have to go see her." No matter how much my conscience is telling me to tell the truth, the lies roll off my tongue like a second language that I'm fluent in. I love Demi a lot. Am I in love with her?

"…What choice do I have but to believe you?" She looks at me with wide, disappointed eyes. The hurt is clear across her face like it was drawn on with a black magic marker. I can't take her looking at me like that. Shit, I feel terrible. "…If you're telling me the truth…" I watch tears, ravaging her face and falling down onto her light red shirt, turning the red fabric darker around the wet spots. "Then tell her I hope she gets better." She shrugs, clearly hopeless and befuddled at what to say to me. "….I was curious, so…I took a blood test at work today… my HcG levels are high. I'm pregnant… but I guess we can talk about that later too." Finally, she reaches up and wipes the tears away from her eyes.

Fuck. Holy shit, that happened fast. That was NOT supposed to happen that fast! Shit, shit, shit. Oh my god, what do I do now? I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I love Demi. There's no doubt in my mind about that. But what do I do now? My wife's pregnant. I guess this is really it. I really have to break it off with Demi this time. "…I'm sorry, babe." I feel my chest tighten up a little bit out of presumed guilt and pull her into a warm, comforting embrace. "I'm so sorry. I'm so happy…. I'm ecstatic…" I rub her back. I'm about to cry, for more reasons than happiness. "But please, baby. Please. Understand where I'm coming from? She's hurt… and she really means a lot to me."

She takes her head off my chest and lets me go. "Just go." She sniffs. "…But just know that you're really starting… to make me regret getting pregnant again."

Demi's Point of View.

"I have a little girl that does gymnastics. She wiped out on the uneven bars once and fractured her rib. She hit the ground pretty hard and landed on her belly, but she didn't break skin. You must have had a really nasty fall, huh?" The tall, lean, brown-haired doctor uses surgical scissors to cut my leotard off me while I lie on a very narrow bed waiting to be dragged off into surgery. I just nod at him. They still haven't given me any pain reducers because my blood pressure won't go up no matter what. The amount of pain I'm in is unlike anything in this world I've ever experienced. It's so severe that I've been having hot flashes for the last half hour. Nobody will take me out of this pain. Instead, they just talk to me, ask me questions and try to calm me down. It's not working. I haven't passed out like they expected me to, so I guess that's one positive thing. "You're a toughie, though. Open fractures are extremely painful, and you're taking it pretty well." He cuts my leotard up my stomach. I'd feel a lot more uncomfortable with being half-naked in front of this doctor if my dad wasn't in the corner watching his every move. "Can you move your fingers for me, honey?"

I carefully wiggle my fingers. They've been asking me to do that periodically for the last hour or so. They're worried that I hit my head so hard that I've been paralyzed, but honestly, my head feels fine. It's my leg that's putting me in agony. He smiles at me when he sees that I'm able to wiggle them and steadily pulls the cut up pieces of my leotard off my body. He leaves me in my bra and underwear and walks over to a cabinet to grab a gown. I'm trying so hard not to look below my waist. The last time I looked down there, all I saw was deep red blood, my insides and the white shards of my bone hanging out of my knee. That sight alone almost made me faint. The doctor starts cutting off my underwear too. I really wish he'd stop cutting up my shit. I guess I understand though. He's not exactly able to pull things down over my knee. My dad shifts his position in the chair across the room and nearly stands up.

My mom went home to be with Madison, which I don't exactly approve of. If I'm being 100% honest, I don't think my mom should be with Maddie alone. And even more honestly, I'd rather her be here than my dad. I love my dad to death, but he's been showing NO emotion whatsoever. At least my mom started crying when they took me in the back of the ambulance. I wonder if my dad will still let me go to her house for the weekend. My surgery will only take an hour and a half. The doctors are gonna go in and fuse my bone back together and pin it so it doesn't re-separate. They'll stitch up the broken tissue inside, staple the outside closed, give me a cast and crutches and I'll be able to go home tonight. I already talked to the doctor about that. They were trying to keep me overnight, but I put up a good fight. If my blood pressure doesn't stabilize after the surgery, I will have to stay overnight though.

The doctor pulls my underwear off and puts them with my leotard. Easily, he reaches behind me and unstraps my bra. My poor dad is sitting in the corner, watching this grown man undress me, helpless. "…Daddy?" I open up my mouth and speak slowly. I've been trying to refrain from talking, because the pain is so unbearable that every time I open my mouth I feel like I might throw up. I breathe slowly to bear with it. "…Can you call mommy? I sort of… want her here when I get out of surgery." I try my best to cooperate with the doctor so that he can get this gown on me. "And can I still… stay over her house this weekend?"

"Demetria, when you come out of that surgery, you're coming out with a cast and crutches. You know that, don't you? You really think for one moment that I'm really going to let you stay over there when you can't properly take care of yourself until you get the cast off? I don't think you realize what you did to yourself." He pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head as if he's just not sure what to say to me anymore. "You're about to have major surgery, Demi… does that not scare you?" He puts his hand on my cheek. "You're coming home with me; where I can take care of you myself." If I'm not mistaken, I can see tears forming in his eyes. He shifts his gaze to the doctor and silently gives him the "please let us have a moment" look. The doctor looks at my chart, pretends to be busy, and hurries on out of the room. My dad keeps his hand on my cheek and looks at me with the most serious look he's ever given me in my life. "Demi… w…when you… when you went down out there… I lost… I lost a part of me for a second. You have to understand what that was like for me." I just look up in his eyes and see the sincerity. "You went down, and all I saw was your face. Your little face, your eyes… I could tell you were HURT. Demi, I didn't know what to do. I heard you screaming… down there crying and all I saw was blood. I really thought I lost you for a second." He kisses my forehead. "You're done. You're so far done. No more. No more gymnastics. No more softball. You're done. I don't care if you're fine to play in a month or so… no softball, no gymnastics. I can't get that feeling again. I refuse to feel that… that helpless ever again. You're coming home with me, and that's that."

"…Dad. I promise I'll be fine. Please. I promised her that I'd go… stay with her."

"NO, DEMI."

"SHE'S MY MOTHER, DAD." I feel my eyes sting and prep their selves for tears to fall. "Like it or not… she's my mom. And don't think I don't know that you gave her the ring back again." I bite my bottom lip… hard. "I'm staying the weekend with her. I'll be alright. I can make my own decisions, daddy. I'll be alright." Just as I finish my sentence, the door opens once again and the same doctor walks back in. He has a cap for my hair in his hand. I think it's time for me to go in the operating room now. I'm not nervous or anything. I'm just ready to get out of this pain. I can hardly function with this pain. I'm trying to keep a brave face for my dad, but I'm really giving up.

"We're gonna go ahead and take Demi back now… the OR is ready." The doctor puts the cap over my hair and tries to act all cheerful. "I'm gonna take you on back to the operating room and start your IV. The anesthesiologist will put the mask on your face to put you asleep… surgeon will come in… We'll have you out of surgery in about… an hour. You ready?" He unhinges the sides of my bed and makes it rise up so that the wheels come out. "Dad, we'll take you up to the room she'll be in once she gets out of surgery. She'll recover and eventually wake up out of anesthesia in that room. Now, when we bring her out, she will NOT be in a hard cast. With a fracture this nasty, we don't quite think it'd be best to put her in a hard cast right away. She'll be in a soft cast. If all goes well, she will be discharged around… maybe 6:30, 7:00 at the latest. Before she is discharged, we WILL give her the hard cast, which will be up to her inner thigh. We'll have a rehabilitation nurse come out and speak with you on how to properly care for her leg with the cast after her surgery, so…" He clasps his hands together. "Ready to go?"

I'm ready as I'll ever be.

Joe's Point of View.

I really just have no idea what to do. I know that I'm going to see Demi, just to make sure she's alright. I wonder what's going to happen with her. Will she be able to walk when she comes out of surgery? What kind of cast will she get? Will she only get a brace or will she get an actual cast? And will she be alright to come back to classes by Monday? More importantly, will she physically be okay? I've seen these things happen to young athletes. They make one false move; go down hard, have a serious injury and they can never compete again. I really hope Demi's alright. Aside from everything else that she comes with, she's a really sweet girl. I just really hope that she's okay.

I turn and pull in to the parking lot of St. Josephs. It's packed in this parking garage. I circle around, looking for a parking space. I'll probably have to do a lot of explaining to her parents. I should probably only let them in on the fact that I'm her teacher. It doesn't seem like I should tell him yes, I'm her teacher, and yes, I've been sleeping with her. At this point, I'm not sure if the relationship between me and Demi is still "just sex." At first, that's all it was ever supposed to be. I messed around and caught feelings for her. And now, the feelings just won't go away. When's it an appropriate time to tell her that my wife's pregnant again?

I pull into a parking slot and put my car in park. I doubt that she's out of surgery by now. She had a pretty nasty little injury; they probably have lot of work to do on her. I get out of my car, shut the door to the driver's side and open up the back door to get her presents out. I probably shouldn't have bought her all the gifts I did, but then again, Demi's very, very special to me. She deserves it all. I grab the bundle of purple and light pink balloons I had blown up at the party store and secure them in my left hand. With my right hand, I grab the four foot teddy bear and the purple gift bag off the back seat. Exactly how am I supposed to tell her that I'm having another baby?

And what does this new baby mean? I'm sure it means that I can't see Demi anymore, right? Should I break it off with her today? Maybe tomorrow? I think I'll wait to break it off with her until she's okay. I wouldn't exactly want to end it while she's still very hurt. She's gonna be so mad at me. I'm mad at myself, honestly. I can't believe she's pregnant again. I can't believe I was that stupid. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but I was so wrong about that. How am I going to bring another child in this world with my wife when our marriage is this far in shambles? Victoria and Olivia are still babies themselves. And in nine or so months, we're going to have another baby. What on Earth was I thinking?

I walk in the hospital doors and go straight to the check in desk at the emergency room. Surely they'd know where she was at. When they brought her in here, they brought her through the E.R. right? With the balloons, teddy bear and gift bag all in tow, I rest my elbows against the secretary desk and take a deep breath. "Are you able to tell me what room Demetria Lovato is in? She came in through here about an hour ago…" I ask. I know sometimes they can't tell people where patients are staying, because of some confidentiality thing. I just hope they can tell me.

The elder lady with long, curly grey hair looks up at me with a smile. I can tell that she has dentures. "Oh yes, the little gymnast. She's just as sweet as she wants to be." She taps a couple of keys on her keyboard. "Are you immediate family? She's in the ICU, only immediate family members are allowed up there. If you aren't, I can only give you an update on her status and send you up to the ICU's waiting area."

"…I'm her boyfriend, if that qualifies for immediate family…" I don't know where that came from. I know good and goddamn well that Demi is not my girlfriend. But when I said that I am her boyfriend, it came out so naturally. I don't know what I'm going to do about this. I got myself in the shittiest situation. I love two people. One of those people is pregnant with my baby. One of those people is my wife. I don't even know what to call Demi, honestly. I feel as if I call her my friend, that isn't sufficed enough. She's more than my friend, less than my wife. The place in between is a girlfriend, correct? I'm just so stuck right now. Stuck between what I KNOW is the right thing to do, and what I FEEL is the right thing to do.

I KNOW that the right thing would be to stay with my wife. I made a vow to her to stay with her through thick and thin. I have two of the most beautiful little girls in the entire world with her. Whatever happens, my girls mean the world to me. They deserve to have their mommy and daddy together. And whether this new baby is a boy or a girl, it'll mean the world to me too. So with all that being said, I know that the right thing to do is to stay with my wife; the woman that I've promised my life to. The pros of staying with Bea are: 1) I can be with my girls every day. 2) I can always try to find the love we once shared. 3) She's actually the right age to be settled down with.

But, however, I FEEL that the right thing to do would be to end things with my wife and be with my Demi. I feel like I need to live my life for the sole purpose of making myself happy. As much time as I've spent denying the fact, I have to admit that I am NOT happy with Bea. Demi makes me so… alive. She makes me feel like I'm whole again. Like the entire time I've been with my wife, I've been missing something. And Demi provides me with everything I've been missing. Pros of being with Demi are: 1) I'd never get bored with her. She keeps me well and interested. 2) The sex between us is AMAZING. I've had sex with a good seven girls in my entire life, and Demi is the BEST one. 3) I don't have to think twice when somebody asks me if I love her. She brings out the very best in me, and my girls ADORE her.

I'm not weighing out the cons yet. I think I'm just nervous to actually set the fact that there are WAY more cons to being with Demi than there are to being with Bea in stone.

Demi's Point of View.

"Do you want something to eat, honey?" My mom uses her index finger and her thumb to play with thin strands of my hair. I feel… funny. The nurse said that the anesthesia wore off, that's why I'm awake, but I beg to differ. I don't think the anesthesia wore off completely. I feel like I'm high or something. Like everything in my body is just delayed. It's not a bad feeling, at all. It's just weird. I feel funny. "If you're hungry, the nurse said I can feed you soup, saltine crackers and some apple juice… so it doesn't upset your belly too bad. You want something to eat?" She nestles her hand inside of mine, careful not to nudge it the wrong way and bump my IV. Slowly, she raises my hand up to her mouth and kisses it.

"…Yeah, I'm hungry." I nod slowly. I have a bunch of tubes in my knee, all serving different purposes. The longest one drains all the swelling fluid out of it and the little blue one sporadically pumps medicine straight into it so that it doesn't hurt too bad for too long. I have six sets of stitches on the outside and two sets of staples on the inside. I thought I was supposed to have staples on the outside and stitches on the inside, but apparently the damage on the inside was worse than the doctors thought. I guess all that matters to me is that my bone is back inside my body where it belongs. "Daddy said I can't come stay with you anymore this weekend but I want to still stay anyway."

"Your daddy's just scared, baby. That's all." She stops playing with my hair and keeps kissing my hand. "I'm gonna go get you some food, alright? I'll be back in a little bit…" She lets my hand go. "Oh and… there's a boy outside in the hallway. Says he really wants to see you." I watch her lips tug up into a smile. "Should I send him in?"

A boy? It must be Joe. "Yeah, send him in…"

"Alrighty. I'm going to the cafeteria. I'll be right back." She pats my shoulder, stands up from my bed and leaves. I try to think of all the possible boys that could be here to see me. I'm pretty sure it's Joe. It sure as hell better not be Alex. I'll scream to the high heavens if it's him. It might be David, just to be nice. But I'm almost certain that it's Joe.

A mere thirty seconds after my mom leaves the room, my door opens again and before I see a person, I see a big bundle of purple and pink balloons. After the balloons, he walks in. It's him! I knew it was him! I knew he'd come and see me! I can't hide my smile. I can't even attempt to disguise it. It's really him! He's carrying a big teddy bear and a sparkly purple gift bag. For me, I assume. He has that big goofy smile on his face too. I can't explain the feeling I get when I see him. I have a feeling that he feels the same way about me. "Hey!" I lift my arms for a hug.

He drops the bear, the gift bags and the balloons and gives me a tight but careful hug. "Hey baby girl…you alright?" He kisses me on my cheek and strokes my cheek. "God, you're beautiful." He nearly whispers, his thumb grazing over my bottom lip. "I'm so glad you're alright… how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. The nurse said I can go home later tonight after they give me the hard cast. I'm feeling okay." I grab the back of his head and pull his face down to give him a kiss. "The hard cast is going to go up to my thigh, so I'll have to hobble around on crutches for four weeks. Which means no sex… and no baths for me…" I keep rubbing his hair and staring at his lips. I'm beginning to understand Joe. I'm really beginning to read him. And I think he has something to tell me.

He cracks a smile and roughly kisses my lips again. "That just means I'll have to eat it for four weeks… that's fine with me." Instead of my lips, he kisses my jawline. "Seriously, though. I don't care if I can't fuck you for four weeks. I'm just glad you're okay. I'm just glad that you're going to be fine." He runs his hands through my hair. "I got you a couple presents…" He takes his hands off me and grabs the teddy bear and the gift bag off the floor. He hands them both to me and fixates his attention on my knee. It's not in any cast yet. It's not in the soft cast and it's not in the hard cast. The doctor just put it inside a little nook to keep me from moving it.

"Thank you…" I look at the bear for a second and realize that it's not really a bear at all. It's a giant giraffe, I think. …I can't believe he remembered. I think I mentioned it to him ONCE very briefly that giraffes are my favorite animals. I can't believe he remembered. Not even my dad remembered that. "It's a baby giraffe! Thank you!" It's so soft, too. "I love it… I can't believe you remembered."

"I remember everything about you." Very lightly, he brushes his fingers over my stitches. "And I always will."

"…What's in the bag?"

"You tell me." He hands me the bag and lets me open it. I reach my hand inside. There's a small box inside. It's probably, most likely some piece of jewelry. Excitedly, I pull the top off the box and look at what's inside it. Sure enough, inside it is a sparkly silver ring with a sparkly silver infinity sign in the middle. It's so pretty. "…I hope it fits. I took your measurements while you were asleep that day I spent with you at your dorm." He takes the ring out the box for me and shoves it on my right ring finger. It fits perfectly.

"It's perfect… I love it." I hold my hand out in front of my face and marvel at its sparkly beauty. "Thank you…"

The look on his face switches to something really, really serious. "…I'm sorry to lay this on you right now, Demi. I really am… but…" He doesn't even look at me while he's talking, that's how I know it's serious.

My heart beats fast. I'm not sure I want to know what he has to say. Still, he continues.

"I have something to tell you…."