Chapter 8

"Ah, good morning Ms. Carrington." Anders greeted, as Fallon sat down at the dining room table for breakfast.

"Hey, Anders." Fallon greeted back, with no particular emotion lacing her voice.

"Mr. Ridley came by earlier this morning, around 8. When I told him you weren't awake yet, he said he'd come back by around noon."

"Ok, thanks for letting me know." Fallon looked down at her phone and saw it was nearly 11am.

Fallon ate her breakfast in silence. Amanda and Sam were at the table with her, but she chose not to talk to them. Once she finished, she made her way back up to her room. She changed into a pair of maternity jeans and a loose top. She did minimal makeup, and by the time she was done getting ready, she was notified by one of the maids that Liam was waiting downstairs.

"Can you tell him to come up here?" Fallon asked the maid. The maid simply nodded and went back down to him.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at Fallon's door. She gave a simple "come in" in response. Liam walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Fallon asked, choosing to stare at her lap as she asked the question.

"I know you told me not to text or call. You didn't say anything about not coming to the Manor, and I really needed to to talk to you." Liam answered.

"Ok, so talk."

"I was wrong. What I told you about me wanting to stay with Ashley was wrong. I do love her, but honestly, the only reason I proposed to her is because I thought it was the right thing to do. We dated for years, and even though we took a break for a while, she still loved me, and my amnesia caused me to believe I still loved her. I proposed to her because she wanted to get married and I just wanted to be a good man for her. I love you, Fallon. I've loved you since the moment I laid my eyes on you. I know how cliche that is, but it's true. I need to stop kidding myself. I thought I could get over you, but when you came to my apartment yesterday, I realized there's no way I'll ever be able to get over you. Judging by the smile on your face right now, I'm assuming you won't be able to get over me either."

Fallon had decided to face Liam as he proceeded with his spiel. Some time during the spiel, a smile graced Fallon's face.

"You assumed correctly."

"Will you take me back?"

"Have you talked to Ashley?"

"I talked to her last night. She said she didn't want to break up, but she understood why I couldn't stay with her anymore."

"So you and her are no longer engaged?"

"We're not. She's moving her stuff out of my apartment today. By tomorrow, she will be completely out of my life."

"That's great to hear."

"Does this mean you and I can try again?"

"I don't know. I think you should take some time to mourn the loss of this relationship. I know there was a time where your relationship with her was everything to you. I don't think we should rush into things with us again, especially because there is a child involved this time."

"I thought you'd be happy about this."

"I am, don't get me wrong, but I also know that you don't get over a long term relationship over night."

"I think I've been over it for a while, Fallon. She and I had been fighting a lot lately since I got the rest of my memories back. She didn't like the fact that I could remember what we had. I don't want or need someone in my life like that. I proposed to her 6 months ago, a day before I got my first memory back. She and I started planning the wedding because that's what you're supposed to do when you're engaged. Our mothers were over the fucking moon when we told them about the engagement. My mom told me she was, and I quote, 'glad I got rid of the selfish rich bitch with the douche for a father.'"

"Well, I wouldn't expect anything less from Laura. She hates me and that's never gonna change."

"I haven't talked to her in a few months."

"You shouldn't ruin your relationship with your mom because of me, Liam."

"If she hates you as much as she does, how do you think she'll feel towards our daughter? Our daughter will never have a great relationship with my mother because my mother can't get over this stupid grudge she has with you. It's better to just start distancing myself now."

"I was gonna give her to you and Ashley." Fallon said, changing the subject and talking very vaguely.

"What?" Liam asked, confused as to what Fallon was talking about.

"The baby. I couldn't do this without you, so I was gonna give her to you and Ashley, for you two to raise her as your own."

"Why would you ever think about doing something like that?"

"I've always wanted kids, but I never wanted to be a single mom. I wanted to have kids with my husband. When you told me you had to move on, I knew that there was no way I'd be able to do this alone, even if you did get her half of the time. I thought that giving her two full-time parents would be what she deserves. I couldn't give her that, but you and Ashley could."

"Are you still set on giving her to someone else?"

"I don't know. I still haven't said if I'm gonna take you back or not, because I don't even know where to start. I do want to take you back, but I don't know where we go from here. I'm 31 weeks pregnant. I should be focused on preparing for a baby, not repairing a relationship. I want to give you time to mourn the loss of your relationship, and I want to give us time to ease back into things, but I don't have that much time. I also need this time to work. I don't want us to rush into things and have it not work, because that won't affect just us anymore. God, this is a mess." Fallon was rambling and kind of freaking out. She was beyond overwhelmed.

"First of all, I think you should sit down and take a breather. I know this is really overwhelming. I think you are panicking a little too much. We can get through this, and I will be right by your side the whole time if you will allow me to." Seeing Liam's smile did calm Fallon down a little bit. She hadn't seen his smile in so long.

"I hate being pregnant right now. I've never wanted a stiff drink in my life more than I do right now, but I can't."

"Not all problems need to be solved with alcohol."

"But it's just so much easier that way."

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I don't think pregnancy was in your five year plan."

"You're right. I thought we'd wait at least a few years after we got married to start thinking about kids. I've never really done things in order, though."

"I never even wanted kids. My family was so messed up, and I didn't want to continue the cycle."

"Then why are you choosing to stay?"

"Because you made me change my mind. I wanted to marry you and I wanted a family with you. I still want that, but I think we should start getting to know each other again before we even think about marriage."

"You're right. And just so you know, if at any point before I give birth you want to leave, I won't hold it against you. After she's born, though, if you leave you will still be responsible for child support."

"I'm not leaving, Fallon. I love you and I know that I will love our daughter."

"Good. Now, I don't know about you, but even though I just woke up 2 hours ago, I'm exhausted. We haven't slept in the same bed in almost eight months. Will you take a nap with me?" Fallon said the last part so quietly that Liam almost didn't hear her.

"I would love to." Liam kicked off his shoes and crawled into bed next to Fallon. He was the big spoon and she was the little spoon. They stayed like this for almost two hours. Around 3pm, Fallon finally woke up.

"You're still here. I didn't expect you to still be here. I thought this whole thing was a dream." Fallon confessed, rolling away from Liam's arms so she could face him.

"I'm still here. That whole thing was not a dream. I really left Ashley and chose you and our daughter." Liam responded, his smile as bright as ever.

"Good." Fallon slowly leaned in for a kiss and was pleasantly surprised when he met her halfway. After a few minutes, she pulled back before things could go any further.

"I thought you were happy I'm here. Why did you pull away?" Liam asked, confused as to why Fallon didn't let things go any further.

"I am happy that you're here, but things can't just go back to the way they once were. We need to take things slow. I don't want to mess this up again. We went without sex once, and we can do it again."

"If you're sure, then ok. I am willing to wait and take things slow."

"Thank you. Now, in the interest of taking things slow, I think it's time for you to go."

"Why?"

"Because you're not staying the night. Right now, think of this stage as the beginning stage of dating. We're a little more than friends, but only slightly. We can see each other everyday, but we're not gonna drop everything for each other. We're not gonna be clingy with each other. We're certainly not spending the night at each other's places. So," Fallon started, before getting up out of bed, walking over to the other side, and pulling Liam up, "I will see you tomorrow." Fallon pressed a quick peck to Liam's lips before walking into the bathroom.