Chapter 2 She's taken almost all that I've got
Neither the next day, the next week, or the next month did they tell their parents they were engaged, Belle wore the diamond ring Shawn had given her on a chain around her neck, hiding it under her top. They wanted to scream from the rooftops how in love they were, and how, when Belle had finished college and Shawn was working, they would get married. Shawn whispered his plans of his life with Belle into JT's ear every night, rocking his baby brother to sleep, and Belle would inform her Buddy Bear of everything she wanted to do, to say, to be when she was with Shawn. Then he would sneak over to her bedroom, being careful to avoid her brother and father, but their passion was always interrupted before it could extend beyond desperate kisses. Some nights they lay silently in her bed simply holding each other. Watching the other sleep was precious, too easily denied by what Brady had termed his 'midnight raids' on his sister's bedroom to check that her boyfriend-fiancé was not in fact there. More than once, a moment of passion that could have had dire consequences for their future relationship if discovered was interrupted by Brady's premature arrival, and Shawn was beginning to know all too well how to sneak undetected out of Belle's bathroom and into the hall at night.
Yet the risks were worth it all, every close call, every time they knew they had barely escaped Marlena's, Brady's, or worst of all John's detection, gave urgency to their love. They both knew September was approaching fast, and that then, they would have to separate, to part not forever, but for all the months that Shawn would be at the Merchant Marine academy. Belle saw it as a barely endurable separation, but she understood why Shawn felt he had to go. It was his dream. She could not deny him his dreams. That would be too selfish of her, and if there was one thing Belle Black wasn't, it was selfish.
The passion between them smouldered with every fresh glance, and sometimes Shawn wondered how he would ever survive the frustration of not loving her beautiful body once more. Sport became an outlet for his excess physical energy, and he played every moment Belle was otherwise busy, or most commonly of all, shopping.
It was a month and a half after graduation, when Shawn was playing basketball shirtless with Philip, his fit body being deeply tanned by the warm summer sunshine, that he was discussing with his uncle Phil what they would all do in the fall. "So Chloe's going to Juilliard?"
"Yeah, after all she's done to get there, I really think she deserves it." Philip said the words with a straight face. "Not! That girl can't sing, can't tell the truth, and I don't think she's ever actually felt a real emotion other than self pity or greed in her entire life. You know what she did to Brady?"
"No, Belle just said he was really depressed for a while, then he seemed to get over it." Shawn made a three point shot and Philip, who wasn't paying attention to the game in his righteous indignation against Chloe, went on.
"Yeah, well Chloe decided that having Brady under her thumb wasn't enough for her, so she went after Henry and Jason." Philip tried to steal the ball from Shawn, but Shawn slipped past him, making an easy lay up, and coming down with a big grin. "Jan wasn't having any of it though, and Brady found Chloe entangled with her in this huge cat fight and when he realised what she'd been up to, he dumped her. That and the fact she offered to sleep with one of the music professors to get into Juilliard."
"Bitch," Shawn stopped paying attention for a minute and lost the ball to Philip. "I knew Chloe was a bit off, but doing that to Brady is beyond bad."
"Makes me feel lucky that I got out when I did," Philip answered him, and was about to say more when three very beautiful girls walked up to the side of the court. He felt his jaw drop and made no effort to retrieve it. He nudged his nephew, and stuttered, "Um, Shawn, man, eyes left, dude."
Shawn obediently twisted to see Mimi, Belle and Penelope walking towards them. On Penelope's arm was a humbled looking Brady, but the humility of his stance did not stop a wicked grin spreading over his handsome face as Penelope gave his well muscled arm a squeeze.. For a minute the girls just stood and stared at Philip and Shawn's chests, not believing how good they looked, but then Shawn moved forwards and kissed Belle, to Brady's disgust, and as if they were all broken from a trance, Mimi rushed forwards and threw her arms around Philip while Penelope shyly drew closer to Brady, who was more than welcoming to the girl's blushing embrace.
"Shawn," Belle whispered into his ear, "I need to talk to you."
"OK, I'll just finish my game with Philip. Dot Com in an hour?" He kissed her on the forehead, ready to return to his game, when he noticed her blue eyes clouded by worry. "Belle?"
"No, make it the woods, our place." She kissed his lips again and sauntered off. He wasn't sure, but he thought her backside wiggled a little bit more than usual.
"Man, those girls are hot!" Philip watched as Mimi definitely wiggled her backside and sashayed away from them. "What did Belle want?"
"Nothing much." Shawn took the ball from his uncle's hand and shot it through the hoop before Philip could turn around. "As soon as I've kicked your ass at basketball, I'm meeting her."
That, naturally, started an argument that went on until Shawn proved that he could beat his uncle at basketball, and made him late for Belle. She was sitting alone on the same log as he had sat her on the night he had proposed. Coming up quietly behind her, he could see she was playing with the engagement ring on its chain. Twisting it in her fingers, and letting the light catch it, Belle's eyes were fixed on the ring.
"Oh, Shawn, how can I tell you this?" she said to herself, not realising he was standing behind her.
"Tell me what?" She jumped and Shawn put a comforting hand on her shoulder, coming around to face her. Their were tears on her beautiful face, and he felt instantly guilty, thinking he had caused them. "Belle, why are you crying? I'm sorry I'm late. Phil was being his usual self and." the words trailed away as Belle slammed her lips against his in a hot and heady kiss.
"No, it's not that," she breathed as she released him. "Shawn, I think you had better sit down." He obeyed her, holding her gaze. "Shawn, do you remember the first night you brought me here?"
He smiled, his trademark grin spreading slowly across his handsome face. "How could I forget?"
"Well, do you remember what happened afterwards?" Belle could see that he did, his brown eyes were burning with passionate desire. "It's about that I wanted to talk to you."
The bottom fell out of Shawn's stomach. They hadn't been together like that since that night. Their parents or Brady had always been home, or making sure that one of them came home alone, or something else had always stopped them. He was suddenly terrified that she was going to say it had all been a mistake, that they should never have done it, that she didn't love him anymore, and hated him because he had taken her virginity.
"Shawn, I went to Dr Bader today, and she confirmed what I suspected. I don't know how to tell you this, Shawn, but." Belle held his face in her hands and gazed deep into his eyes, allowing him to see all of her fear, and her worry, but also all of the love in her heart. "I'm pregnant."
Shawn fell over backwards. He had heard about how easy it was to fall off a log, now he was experiencing it for himself.
Sitting back up, he stared at Belle, "You're what?"
"I'm pregnant." She repeated more loudly, worried by the look on his face.
Then he did what she had never expected him to: he lifted her up in his arms, swinging her around and around in circles as the sunshine streamed through the trees and laughed. Putting her down he grinned and answered her with a kiss. "Belle, I love you, and I will love this baby until the end of time. How could I not? It was made of our love!" He kissed her again, and she lost her breath as he started striding up and down the clearing, waving his arms around and grinning ecstatically. She had never dreamed he would take it so well. She had been terrified for days, ever since her period had been late, that he would reject, ask her to get an abortion, or just leave her in his dust, pregnant and alone, while he became a Merchant Marine. She should have known better. "Belle, I know I already asked you to marry me, and I know we wanted to get married after college, but I think we should have the wedding before the baby comes, which means telling our parents."
She nodded. She knew it wasn't the kind of secret you could keep for long, and now that he was happy, she was happy, more than happy, overjoyed. They would be parents, and it would be hard, but they would do it together. She only now dreaded what her father and brother were going to do to Shawn when they found out. She hoped it wouldn't be a repeat of the episode when they had discovered Shawn and her kissing outside the door, and had dragged them inside for a question session that would have honoured the Spanish Inquisition.
"So I guess," Shawn said, walking behind her and unhooking the chain around her neck. "We'd better put this here engagement ring on you finger."
Happiness blossomed in her chest, and bloom came to her cheeks. Belle couldn't speak, only nodded as the love of her life shifted the ring from the chain to the fourth finger of her left hand, and kissed it.
"Belle, I want to spend the rest of the day with you. We can tell our parents tonight. I want to be just us for now," he kissed her lips, gently this time, and led her away to the Fancy Face 2.
"What are you doing, Shawn?" Belle watched from the dock as Shawn fiddled with the sail.
"Didn't I mention that we were going sailing today?" He looked at her with wide, innocent, brown puppy dog eyes.
"No," she grinned at him. He whirled her off the dock and onto the deck of the boat, holding her close in his arms, savouring the feeling of having her there. "You didn't."
"Well, we are." Then they were off, gliding through the beautiful blue water out into the dark sea, with a cloudless sky above them and a cool breeze at their backs. That had been one of the most wonderful days of her life, and one of the worst.
Swimming in their underwear in their favourite cove without her swimsuit, Belle wished it could last forever, that the day would never end. It did, and as the sun began to go down, Shawn wrapped a fluffy towel around her shoulders, rubbing her dry, and place gentle kisses all over her upturned face and slender neck.
"It's time to go home," he whispered in her ear.
She groaned. "Do we have to?"
"I don't want to face your father and brother either, baby, but we have to go back." He unwrapped his arms and set sail, watching Belle more than the sea as she lay quietly on deck, contemplating what they would tell their parents.
It was well past dinner time when they arrived back at the Brady house, and not only his parents but hers and Brady were waiting for them. The moods were black, and Shawn drew Belle close into his arms as they walked in. The thought flashed across his mind that Dr Bader had told them about Belle's pregnancy, but he dismissed the idea. They were over eighteen, their parents no longer had the right to hear about it from the doctor.
"What's wrong?" Belle stammered out, staring at the most important and beloved people in her life all looking ready to kill each other.
"Belle, Shawn, I think you had better sit down." The last time that had been said to either one of them, it had led to happiness. They couldn't know that the day was about to become the worst of their lives.
"Why?" Shawn stiffened, Belle could feel his protective arms around her tighten too, and became more afraid of what was to happen. If Shawn was worried, it was going to be bad.
"Sit down, Tink," Brady's voice was deep, and seemed as worried as she felt. Shivers of fear traversed Belle's body. Even Brady was looking serious.
"What? What is it?" Belle sank into a chair, but Shawn stayed standing, his hand on her left shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. "We have something to tell you too."
"Belle, you really need to hear this first." That was her mother, her voice that was so usually calm was now shaking.
"Do you remember when your mother and I married and went on our honeymoon?" John asked his daughter. Belle nodded, not understanding what her parents' honeymoon had to do with anything. "Well, when we were on honeymoon, Princess Gina turned me back into Soldier Black, Stefano's mercenary, and we made love in her submarine."
Brady choked. "You and Gina had sex on a submarine?"
Belle looked towards her father, confused by the shattering of her image of him and why any of this had to come out when they were with the Bradys. "Why are you telling me this?"
JT gurgled in his playpen, the two year old happily watching all the people around him.
"Because of JT," Hope said gently. "You see, I thought I was Gina then." From the look on Shawn's face, he had guessed the truth before she could say it. "JT isn't Bo's son. He's John's."
"No," Shawn said it so quietly that it was more like a whisper in Belle's mind. "It can't be true."
"I'm sorry, baby," Hope reached out her arms to him, but Shawn ignored her.
"Dad?" The word came slowly, drawn out in the boy's fury. Enraged, Brady turned to his father, anger and blood flooding his face. His big fists clenched, and his jaw went tight. "How could you keep this from us?"
Belle never heard her father's reply. She stood up slowly, walked a step towards the adults, and screamed in pain, clutching her stomach.
"Belle!" Shawn said it first, but it echoed around the room as everyone charged forwards. There was blood on her clothes, and she was in Shawn's arms being run out to the car before she regained consciousness. He wasn't speaking to the family, only to her, whispering words of comfort into her ear, trying to give her something to hold onto, so she wouldn't slip away from him forever.
"Belle, baby, it will be alright, it will be OK, just hang on." He laid her across the back street of his father's car, gunning the engine as Brady leapt into the passenger seat beside him, and driving like a maniac to the hospital. He could only pray he was in time.
Breaking so many traffic laws that at a less desperate time, Bo would have had to arrest him, he reached it in record time, and as fast as he could, Shawn picked up Belle and carried her, still unconscious, into the emergency room. The nurses and doctors took over from them, whisking Belle away on a gurney and firing questions at the distraught Shawn.
"She's six weeks pregnant, and she had a bad shock, and she just stepped forwards and screamed and then there was all of this blood." Shawn stammered out, horrified by the blood that had soaked Belle's silvery dress and his shirt.
When they were left alone, and Shawn had sunk into a chair, Brady turned on him, eyes blazing with fury. "Belle's pregnant?" he spat.
"That's what we were trying to tell everyone. We're engaged, we have been for six weeks now, and when she told me that she was pregnant, I said we ought to tell everyone, and get married before the baby came. Then we came home, and found out about JT." Shawn's already shaking voice trailed off as John, Marlena, Bo and Hope came rushing in after them. He scowled, and buried his head in his hands, tears coming all too easily as his anger drained away.
At any other time, with any other boy, Brady would have been pounding Belle's seducer into a pulp, possibly using a baseball bat. Now, none of that mattered. Shawn, Brady knew and had known for years, was the only boy that Belle would ever love. It wasn't really his fault she was hurt now, it was their parents. All of their parents, for he did not imagine that any of them were innocent in their dealings, were to blame.
He dragged them over to one corner, leaving Shawn to brood in peace.
"What's happened to Belle?" Marlena's eyes were full of fear and worry, and for all his doubts of her, Brady knew that she truly loved her daughter, or had done.
He growled, he didn't want to talk to any of them, but this was for Tink's sake. "Shawn and Belle had an announcement of their own to make, and if they had managed to get it out, you would be expecting another Brady / Black baby in seven and a half months."
"Belle's pregnant?" Marlena gasped.
Brady nodded briefly, and growled out his reply, "They were getting married, now Belle's probably lost the baby."
The shocked faces of the people around him confirmed that they had been as without suspicion as he had.
"Lost the baby?" Hope stammered out, horrified by everything that had happened.
"Why do you think she was screaming and bleeding?" Brady snarled, before returning to the stricken Shawn, animosity forgotten in their shared devastation. They hung onto each other like the survivors of a shipwreck, and waited for news of Belle with fear in their eyes.
"Oh, God." Hope whispered, collapsing into Bo's arms. "Oh, God. What have I done?"
It was hours later, an eternity to Belle's lover and her brother that seemed to be dragged out endlessly, when the doctor came out with news of Belle, his face drawn and pale, haggard from the trauma of dealing with tragedy for a girl so young, so full of life, and to know now that her life was so blighted. "Are you family?" he asked no one in particular.
"I'm her fiancé and this is her brother," Shawn stepped forwards quickly, cutting off John and Marlena before they could say a word.
"Did you know that Belle was pregnant?" They nodded slowly, and Shawn had to resist a groan as he heard the word 'was'. "I'm sorry to tell you," the doctor went on, "that she lost the baby."
Shawn fell apart inside, but managed to choke out a question, his face the palest shade of grey Brady had ever seen. "Can I see her?"
The doctor shook his head. "She's resting now. You can see her later."
Then he was gone, leaving a broken Shawn in his wake. John and Marlena attempted to comfort each other, and even Bo and Hope were together again briefly as they held each other and JT and cried. Brady sat next to his cousin, and together they alienated themselves from their families and found solace only in each other's misery.
Apologies for the log thing.
Neither the next day, the next week, or the next month did they tell their parents they were engaged, Belle wore the diamond ring Shawn had given her on a chain around her neck, hiding it under her top. They wanted to scream from the rooftops how in love they were, and how, when Belle had finished college and Shawn was working, they would get married. Shawn whispered his plans of his life with Belle into JT's ear every night, rocking his baby brother to sleep, and Belle would inform her Buddy Bear of everything she wanted to do, to say, to be when she was with Shawn. Then he would sneak over to her bedroom, being careful to avoid her brother and father, but their passion was always interrupted before it could extend beyond desperate kisses. Some nights they lay silently in her bed simply holding each other. Watching the other sleep was precious, too easily denied by what Brady had termed his 'midnight raids' on his sister's bedroom to check that her boyfriend-fiancé was not in fact there. More than once, a moment of passion that could have had dire consequences for their future relationship if discovered was interrupted by Brady's premature arrival, and Shawn was beginning to know all too well how to sneak undetected out of Belle's bathroom and into the hall at night.
Yet the risks were worth it all, every close call, every time they knew they had barely escaped Marlena's, Brady's, or worst of all John's detection, gave urgency to their love. They both knew September was approaching fast, and that then, they would have to separate, to part not forever, but for all the months that Shawn would be at the Merchant Marine academy. Belle saw it as a barely endurable separation, but she understood why Shawn felt he had to go. It was his dream. She could not deny him his dreams. That would be too selfish of her, and if there was one thing Belle Black wasn't, it was selfish.
The passion between them smouldered with every fresh glance, and sometimes Shawn wondered how he would ever survive the frustration of not loving her beautiful body once more. Sport became an outlet for his excess physical energy, and he played every moment Belle was otherwise busy, or most commonly of all, shopping.
It was a month and a half after graduation, when Shawn was playing basketball shirtless with Philip, his fit body being deeply tanned by the warm summer sunshine, that he was discussing with his uncle Phil what they would all do in the fall. "So Chloe's going to Juilliard?"
"Yeah, after all she's done to get there, I really think she deserves it." Philip said the words with a straight face. "Not! That girl can't sing, can't tell the truth, and I don't think she's ever actually felt a real emotion other than self pity or greed in her entire life. You know what she did to Brady?"
"No, Belle just said he was really depressed for a while, then he seemed to get over it." Shawn made a three point shot and Philip, who wasn't paying attention to the game in his righteous indignation against Chloe, went on.
"Yeah, well Chloe decided that having Brady under her thumb wasn't enough for her, so she went after Henry and Jason." Philip tried to steal the ball from Shawn, but Shawn slipped past him, making an easy lay up, and coming down with a big grin. "Jan wasn't having any of it though, and Brady found Chloe entangled with her in this huge cat fight and when he realised what she'd been up to, he dumped her. That and the fact she offered to sleep with one of the music professors to get into Juilliard."
"Bitch," Shawn stopped paying attention for a minute and lost the ball to Philip. "I knew Chloe was a bit off, but doing that to Brady is beyond bad."
"Makes me feel lucky that I got out when I did," Philip answered him, and was about to say more when three very beautiful girls walked up to the side of the court. He felt his jaw drop and made no effort to retrieve it. He nudged his nephew, and stuttered, "Um, Shawn, man, eyes left, dude."
Shawn obediently twisted to see Mimi, Belle and Penelope walking towards them. On Penelope's arm was a humbled looking Brady, but the humility of his stance did not stop a wicked grin spreading over his handsome face as Penelope gave his well muscled arm a squeeze.. For a minute the girls just stood and stared at Philip and Shawn's chests, not believing how good they looked, but then Shawn moved forwards and kissed Belle, to Brady's disgust, and as if they were all broken from a trance, Mimi rushed forwards and threw her arms around Philip while Penelope shyly drew closer to Brady, who was more than welcoming to the girl's blushing embrace.
"Shawn," Belle whispered into his ear, "I need to talk to you."
"OK, I'll just finish my game with Philip. Dot Com in an hour?" He kissed her on the forehead, ready to return to his game, when he noticed her blue eyes clouded by worry. "Belle?"
"No, make it the woods, our place." She kissed his lips again and sauntered off. He wasn't sure, but he thought her backside wiggled a little bit more than usual.
"Man, those girls are hot!" Philip watched as Mimi definitely wiggled her backside and sashayed away from them. "What did Belle want?"
"Nothing much." Shawn took the ball from his uncle's hand and shot it through the hoop before Philip could turn around. "As soon as I've kicked your ass at basketball, I'm meeting her."
That, naturally, started an argument that went on until Shawn proved that he could beat his uncle at basketball, and made him late for Belle. She was sitting alone on the same log as he had sat her on the night he had proposed. Coming up quietly behind her, he could see she was playing with the engagement ring on its chain. Twisting it in her fingers, and letting the light catch it, Belle's eyes were fixed on the ring.
"Oh, Shawn, how can I tell you this?" she said to herself, not realising he was standing behind her.
"Tell me what?" She jumped and Shawn put a comforting hand on her shoulder, coming around to face her. Their were tears on her beautiful face, and he felt instantly guilty, thinking he had caused them. "Belle, why are you crying? I'm sorry I'm late. Phil was being his usual self and." the words trailed away as Belle slammed her lips against his in a hot and heady kiss.
"No, it's not that," she breathed as she released him. "Shawn, I think you had better sit down." He obeyed her, holding her gaze. "Shawn, do you remember the first night you brought me here?"
He smiled, his trademark grin spreading slowly across his handsome face. "How could I forget?"
"Well, do you remember what happened afterwards?" Belle could see that he did, his brown eyes were burning with passionate desire. "It's about that I wanted to talk to you."
The bottom fell out of Shawn's stomach. They hadn't been together like that since that night. Their parents or Brady had always been home, or making sure that one of them came home alone, or something else had always stopped them. He was suddenly terrified that she was going to say it had all been a mistake, that they should never have done it, that she didn't love him anymore, and hated him because he had taken her virginity.
"Shawn, I went to Dr Bader today, and she confirmed what I suspected. I don't know how to tell you this, Shawn, but." Belle held his face in her hands and gazed deep into his eyes, allowing him to see all of her fear, and her worry, but also all of the love in her heart. "I'm pregnant."
Shawn fell over backwards. He had heard about how easy it was to fall off a log, now he was experiencing it for himself.
Sitting back up, he stared at Belle, "You're what?"
"I'm pregnant." She repeated more loudly, worried by the look on his face.
Then he did what she had never expected him to: he lifted her up in his arms, swinging her around and around in circles as the sunshine streamed through the trees and laughed. Putting her down he grinned and answered her with a kiss. "Belle, I love you, and I will love this baby until the end of time. How could I not? It was made of our love!" He kissed her again, and she lost her breath as he started striding up and down the clearing, waving his arms around and grinning ecstatically. She had never dreamed he would take it so well. She had been terrified for days, ever since her period had been late, that he would reject, ask her to get an abortion, or just leave her in his dust, pregnant and alone, while he became a Merchant Marine. She should have known better. "Belle, I know I already asked you to marry me, and I know we wanted to get married after college, but I think we should have the wedding before the baby comes, which means telling our parents."
She nodded. She knew it wasn't the kind of secret you could keep for long, and now that he was happy, she was happy, more than happy, overjoyed. They would be parents, and it would be hard, but they would do it together. She only now dreaded what her father and brother were going to do to Shawn when they found out. She hoped it wouldn't be a repeat of the episode when they had discovered Shawn and her kissing outside the door, and had dragged them inside for a question session that would have honoured the Spanish Inquisition.
"So I guess," Shawn said, walking behind her and unhooking the chain around her neck. "We'd better put this here engagement ring on you finger."
Happiness blossomed in her chest, and bloom came to her cheeks. Belle couldn't speak, only nodded as the love of her life shifted the ring from the chain to the fourth finger of her left hand, and kissed it.
"Belle, I want to spend the rest of the day with you. We can tell our parents tonight. I want to be just us for now," he kissed her lips, gently this time, and led her away to the Fancy Face 2.
"What are you doing, Shawn?" Belle watched from the dock as Shawn fiddled with the sail.
"Didn't I mention that we were going sailing today?" He looked at her with wide, innocent, brown puppy dog eyes.
"No," she grinned at him. He whirled her off the dock and onto the deck of the boat, holding her close in his arms, savouring the feeling of having her there. "You didn't."
"Well, we are." Then they were off, gliding through the beautiful blue water out into the dark sea, with a cloudless sky above them and a cool breeze at their backs. That had been one of the most wonderful days of her life, and one of the worst.
Swimming in their underwear in their favourite cove without her swimsuit, Belle wished it could last forever, that the day would never end. It did, and as the sun began to go down, Shawn wrapped a fluffy towel around her shoulders, rubbing her dry, and place gentle kisses all over her upturned face and slender neck.
"It's time to go home," he whispered in her ear.
She groaned. "Do we have to?"
"I don't want to face your father and brother either, baby, but we have to go back." He unwrapped his arms and set sail, watching Belle more than the sea as she lay quietly on deck, contemplating what they would tell their parents.
It was well past dinner time when they arrived back at the Brady house, and not only his parents but hers and Brady were waiting for them. The moods were black, and Shawn drew Belle close into his arms as they walked in. The thought flashed across his mind that Dr Bader had told them about Belle's pregnancy, but he dismissed the idea. They were over eighteen, their parents no longer had the right to hear about it from the doctor.
"What's wrong?" Belle stammered out, staring at the most important and beloved people in her life all looking ready to kill each other.
"Belle, Shawn, I think you had better sit down." The last time that had been said to either one of them, it had led to happiness. They couldn't know that the day was about to become the worst of their lives.
"Why?" Shawn stiffened, Belle could feel his protective arms around her tighten too, and became more afraid of what was to happen. If Shawn was worried, it was going to be bad.
"Sit down, Tink," Brady's voice was deep, and seemed as worried as she felt. Shivers of fear traversed Belle's body. Even Brady was looking serious.
"What? What is it?" Belle sank into a chair, but Shawn stayed standing, his hand on her left shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. "We have something to tell you too."
"Belle, you really need to hear this first." That was her mother, her voice that was so usually calm was now shaking.
"Do you remember when your mother and I married and went on our honeymoon?" John asked his daughter. Belle nodded, not understanding what her parents' honeymoon had to do with anything. "Well, when we were on honeymoon, Princess Gina turned me back into Soldier Black, Stefano's mercenary, and we made love in her submarine."
Brady choked. "You and Gina had sex on a submarine?"
Belle looked towards her father, confused by the shattering of her image of him and why any of this had to come out when they were with the Bradys. "Why are you telling me this?"
JT gurgled in his playpen, the two year old happily watching all the people around him.
"Because of JT," Hope said gently. "You see, I thought I was Gina then." From the look on Shawn's face, he had guessed the truth before she could say it. "JT isn't Bo's son. He's John's."
"No," Shawn said it so quietly that it was more like a whisper in Belle's mind. "It can't be true."
"I'm sorry, baby," Hope reached out her arms to him, but Shawn ignored her.
"Dad?" The word came slowly, drawn out in the boy's fury. Enraged, Brady turned to his father, anger and blood flooding his face. His big fists clenched, and his jaw went tight. "How could you keep this from us?"
Belle never heard her father's reply. She stood up slowly, walked a step towards the adults, and screamed in pain, clutching her stomach.
"Belle!" Shawn said it first, but it echoed around the room as everyone charged forwards. There was blood on her clothes, and she was in Shawn's arms being run out to the car before she regained consciousness. He wasn't speaking to the family, only to her, whispering words of comfort into her ear, trying to give her something to hold onto, so she wouldn't slip away from him forever.
"Belle, baby, it will be alright, it will be OK, just hang on." He laid her across the back street of his father's car, gunning the engine as Brady leapt into the passenger seat beside him, and driving like a maniac to the hospital. He could only pray he was in time.
Breaking so many traffic laws that at a less desperate time, Bo would have had to arrest him, he reached it in record time, and as fast as he could, Shawn picked up Belle and carried her, still unconscious, into the emergency room. The nurses and doctors took over from them, whisking Belle away on a gurney and firing questions at the distraught Shawn.
"She's six weeks pregnant, and she had a bad shock, and she just stepped forwards and screamed and then there was all of this blood." Shawn stammered out, horrified by the blood that had soaked Belle's silvery dress and his shirt.
When they were left alone, and Shawn had sunk into a chair, Brady turned on him, eyes blazing with fury. "Belle's pregnant?" he spat.
"That's what we were trying to tell everyone. We're engaged, we have been for six weeks now, and when she told me that she was pregnant, I said we ought to tell everyone, and get married before the baby came. Then we came home, and found out about JT." Shawn's already shaking voice trailed off as John, Marlena, Bo and Hope came rushing in after them. He scowled, and buried his head in his hands, tears coming all too easily as his anger drained away.
At any other time, with any other boy, Brady would have been pounding Belle's seducer into a pulp, possibly using a baseball bat. Now, none of that mattered. Shawn, Brady knew and had known for years, was the only boy that Belle would ever love. It wasn't really his fault she was hurt now, it was their parents. All of their parents, for he did not imagine that any of them were innocent in their dealings, were to blame.
He dragged them over to one corner, leaving Shawn to brood in peace.
"What's happened to Belle?" Marlena's eyes were full of fear and worry, and for all his doubts of her, Brady knew that she truly loved her daughter, or had done.
He growled, he didn't want to talk to any of them, but this was for Tink's sake. "Shawn and Belle had an announcement of their own to make, and if they had managed to get it out, you would be expecting another Brady / Black baby in seven and a half months."
"Belle's pregnant?" Marlena gasped.
Brady nodded briefly, and growled out his reply, "They were getting married, now Belle's probably lost the baby."
The shocked faces of the people around him confirmed that they had been as without suspicion as he had.
"Lost the baby?" Hope stammered out, horrified by everything that had happened.
"Why do you think she was screaming and bleeding?" Brady snarled, before returning to the stricken Shawn, animosity forgotten in their shared devastation. They hung onto each other like the survivors of a shipwreck, and waited for news of Belle with fear in their eyes.
"Oh, God." Hope whispered, collapsing into Bo's arms. "Oh, God. What have I done?"
It was hours later, an eternity to Belle's lover and her brother that seemed to be dragged out endlessly, when the doctor came out with news of Belle, his face drawn and pale, haggard from the trauma of dealing with tragedy for a girl so young, so full of life, and to know now that her life was so blighted. "Are you family?" he asked no one in particular.
"I'm her fiancé and this is her brother," Shawn stepped forwards quickly, cutting off John and Marlena before they could say a word.
"Did you know that Belle was pregnant?" They nodded slowly, and Shawn had to resist a groan as he heard the word 'was'. "I'm sorry to tell you," the doctor went on, "that she lost the baby."
Shawn fell apart inside, but managed to choke out a question, his face the palest shade of grey Brady had ever seen. "Can I see her?"
The doctor shook his head. "She's resting now. You can see her later."
Then he was gone, leaving a broken Shawn in his wake. John and Marlena attempted to comfort each other, and even Bo and Hope were together again briefly as they held each other and JT and cried. Brady sat next to his cousin, and together they alienated themselves from their families and found solace only in each other's misery.
Apologies for the log thing.