"Lucas, what are we going to do?" Sami wrapped her arms around her belly, "He's going to demand a DNA test."

"And he can have it." Sliding his arms around her waist he pulled her close and said calmly, "At worst he'll see this baby part time just like he sees Johnny. I know you didn't want him to be a part of this child's life, but we can deal with this even if it's not the easiest situation in the world."

"I just wish I'd never slept with him. I don't even know why I did it."

Lucas pulled away, his face tightening "I can't answer that question. All I know is that I walked in and there you were."

"I'm sorry you saw us. You know how sorry I am that I hurt you that way." She reached out for his hand, "But that's all behind us now right?"

With a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes he replied, "Yeah, it's behind us. Look, Johnny comes home today. I need to get some stuff done at work, so why don't I go take care of it now, so that you won't have to deal with EJ on your own later?"

"That's a good idea." She felt his hand slip out of hers and she murmured sadly, "Goodbye. I love you."

He stopped at the door, "Don't do that."

"Don't do what? I just said goodbye."

"Only you...well you and my mother can cram 10 years worth of guilt into every syllable." He turned to face her, "I'm having a hard time with this right now. That does not mean I'm leaving you, that I don't love you, or that I won't be able to love this baby. So please don't act like I'm not going to come back when I walk out this door okay?"

"But you could." She wrung her hands as a tear slid down her cheek, "You could decide that this is too much and just take Alli and leave me. No one would blame you. Not even me."

"You would give me endless amounts of Hell for the rest of my life. And I would blame me. Do I like the idea of EJ being in our lives? No. But I'm going to let him ruin our family." He kissed her tenderly, "I'm going to go to work, then I'm going to pick up some dinner from Tuscany on the way home for us to have after the kids are asleep. And tomorrow? I'll get up and we'll do it all again. Every day for the rest of our lives. Okay?"

"I'm going to hold you to that." She shook herself slightly, "Okay, go do your corporate mogul stuff. I'm fine. It's just the hormones making me a little crazy."

"There are so many things I could say, but I'll be nice. Today." He chuckled when she pouted, "Hey, you left yourself wide open."

After one last kiss he walked out and Sami found herself standing at the door with her hand on the knob, tempted to run out and tell him not to go. Pressing her hands to her cheeks, she murmured to herself, "Clinging to him won't help. No girlie, you need to figure out a way to fix this mess."

"The best way to fix this mess would be to tell me the truth." EJ commented drily as he stepped through the patio doors.

Without thinking Sami lunged sideways for the fireplace, fumbling for a poker she slipped and nearly fell. EJ lunged forward to catch her only to stop short when she screamed "Don't come near me!"

Raising his hands in the air he backed away, "I didn't mean to startle you. I thought we should talk." Smiling affably he said, "In retrospect I probably should have used the front door."

"You think?!" Clutching the poker in her right hand, she stood up straight with her left resting protectively on the bulge of her belly and snarled, "We don't have anything to talk about EJ. I told you, this is my child with Lucas."

"If that's the case I'm sure you won't mind agreeing to a DNA test." He lowered his hands slightly, "And putting down that ridiculous poker. I told you, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"If you weren't trying to scare me you would have used the front door." She cocked her head to the side questioningly, "Where's Johnny? He's supposed to come home today. If you try to keep him from me..."

"I'm not." Sinking heavily into the nearest chair, he sighed, "He's with Maggie. I wanted us to talk without...well without all the yelling would be nice, but I thought that it would be good for us to have a chance to speak without any interruptions."

"EJ, I told you this is..."

"I know. I heard you the first ten times. This is "your baby with Lucas" and none of my business. You'll pardon me if I think the timing is a bit convenient. I don't suppose you'd be willing to take a paternity test right now just so we can stop having this conversation."

"When she's born you can have a test. Until then we have nothing to discuss unless it pertains to Johnny." She used the poker to point at the door, "Now, if that's all I think it's time for you to go."

EJ didn't move, instead staring at her speculatively for so long her arm tired and she was forced to put down the poker. When she did, he said quietly, "You're never going to love me are you? No matter what I do, what happened is always going to be between us."

She nodded hesitantly, staring into the distance she said softly "For a while I thought if I could make myself love you then that night wouldn't be real. It wouldn't be me in that car. But it was, and all the apologies and pretending in the world won't change reality."

He laughed bitterly, "In my efforts to make you love me I made sure that you were never going to be able to...and the woman who offered her heart to me...I ran her off with a few nasty words. Even if that is my child, it'll be the same as it is with Johnny won't it? Every few days I'll see my child, but she'll grow up in this house with Lucas, and I'll just be the Daddy she sees on weekends and holidays."

"What do you want me to say? This situation isn't ideal for anyone, but we're all trying to do what's best for the kids. Lucas is a good man and a good father. We're going to have a wonderful life and a wonderful family." She spun the poker in her hand, "Much as it pains me to say this, you had your shot at this kind of life with Nicole."

"And I blew it." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "Do you know that for the last two weeks she has managed to avoid me completely? She won't take my calls, I believe she's blocked my emails, and security at Basic Black is under strict instructions to not only keep me out of the building but also to dispose of anything I try to send to her."

"Sounds like you're really in the doghouse." Putting the poker back in the stand she took a seat in the chair across from him, "No great loss right? After all you said yourself that you never loved her."

"I never said that. I said that I didn't feel the same way about her as I felt about you." His tone shifted, becoming wistful, "I thought that meant I was settling for her, but different isn't always worse is it? I miss her Sami. I miss her so much."

Opening her mouth to make a crack about Nicole, Sami caught herself and changed tacks as a plan started to form in the back of her mind, "So, what are you going to do about it? Skulk around my backyard and scare me half to death, or make an actual effort to woo her back?"

"I told you, she won't take my phone calls or emails. Not to mention the chief of security at Basic Black actually told me, to my face, that he was personally going to throw away anything I try to have delivered to her." He groaned sadly, "I don't even know how her last doctor's appointment went, or if she's started Lamaze classes yet. I'm not even sure she's going to let me be a part of my daughter's life without a court order."

"Only one way to find out." Getting to her feet she said briskly, "You're going to have to get creative. If you can't tell her that you're sorry with a bouquet of flowers, then maybe you need to think about hiring a skywriter. And instead of sending things to her at Basic Black send them to her doctor's office. It'll annoy them enough that they'll call her and tell her that she needs to get you to stop doing it."

"Samantha, you're a genius!" He bounced to his feet, "If I can't get her to allow me to apologize to her directly, then I'll just have to apologize in so many ways she can't avoid hearing it."

"Good luck." Her conscience pricked her slightly and she said, "Be sure that you actually want to be with Nicole before you make any more promises. I don't think you'll get another chance if you mess this up. With her, or with the baby."

EJ's jubilant mood faded slightly and he asked suspiciously, "You're helping me with Nicole...why? You hate Nicole."

Shrugging casually she replied, "You said that you miss her. I'm not going to be with you, and if Nicole can make you happy then that's what I want for you. I may think you have awful taste, but she is actually having your baby. I hope that child gets a chance to have a happy family."

"Thank you. I hope...well I hope that you and Lucas can have this perfect life that you want so badly." He smiled tenderly, "Goodbye Sami."

"Goodbye EJ." After she closed the door behind him Sami made her way into her bedroom, flopping on the bed she said quietly, "I'm sorry Nicole. If it has to be one of us...well I nominate you to be the object of EJ's obsession."