Part eight. Enjoy.


"Can I talk to you?," Kenny asked a few days later, knowing that she had been avoiding him, "You can't ignore me forever."

"I'm not ignoring you," Max countered, leaning up against the counter in the coffee room, "I've been busy."

Kenny shot her a look, and didn't believe a word she was saying, "We have to talk Max, this isn't just going to go away."

"I'm well aware of that. What else is there to say?"

"You're kidding right? So you don't want to get married now. Fine, I can't make you. We still have to figure out what we want to do."

"Do you want this baby?'

"What?"

"It's a simple question Kenny," Max said quietly, "We didn't plan it, and you were kind of upset when I told you. Do you?"

"Max."

"Yes or no?"

"Having a kid isn't something I've given much thought to," he began, "But if I was going to have one, I want it to be with you. This baby, now that it's here or at least in you, yeah. I'm in no way ready for it, but I can work on that."

Max nodded slowly, "Neither am I."

"Do you think we can make this work?"

"I want to," Max trailed off, sighing, "It's been so good between us, and I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose you."

"Oh Max," he replied, laying his hand on her cheek, "I know that this changes a lot, but we can make it work. I still want to marry you, and I'd want to regardless of the pregnancy. Maybe I wouldn't be asking you now if you weren't. You're right about that, but I do."

"Can you give me some time?"

He nodded, "I can do that."



"Wow," Carter whispered, stepping back from the door, "Did you catch all of that?"

Skeeter stood there in shock before replying, "Uh, yeah. That's unbelievable. I don't think they want anyone to know right now . . . this is going to changed everything."

"They didn't want anyone to know they got together in the first place," Carter countered, "I take that it wasn't planned. Wow."

"We can't tell anyone," Skeeter hissed, "I mean that Carter."



"Jill. This is ridiculous!," Jimmy exclaimed exasperated, "I don't know what she said, but you've got to listen to me."

"Why would she make that up? Tell me that Jimmy."

"I don't know! She's sex crazed Jill! I love you dammit!"

"She's my best friend Jimmy! She wouldn't lie to me like that!"

"I'm your husband! Neither would I! I wouldn't cheat on you."

Jill shook her head, "You cheated on Lydia, with me."



"Hey you two. I was starting to think that you were both avoiding me," Skeeter said with a grin, later that night, "I hope we're not interrupting."

Kenny shot Max a quick glance before replying, "No . . . We're just . . ."

"On a date," Skeeter supplied, "It's not like no one knows, and you don't have to hide it."

Max suppressed a grin, "I guess you're right about that."

"I've never known you not to have a drink with dinner," Skeeter replied, nodding toward her glass of water, "Are you still feeling sick?"

"Yeah, my stomachs been kind of jumpy lately," Max replied carefully, avoiding looking at Kenny, "So I thought it was probably a good idea to stay away from alcohol for awhile."

"That's probably a good idea," Skeeter agreed, trying not to laugh, as he turned toward Kenny, "Lisa and I were talking the other day, and thought maybe the four of us should do something together?"

"Yeah, that'll be great," Kenny replied, forcing himself to think of something besides impending fatherhood, "We've been hermits for awhile."

"How about dinner on Friday?," Lisa suggested, "There's a great Italian place in Windsor."

Max nodded, "Sure. How about around seven?"

"Sounds like a plan," Skeeter confirmed, "We're going to grab a table, I'll see you guys at work."

"That was odd," Max mused, dropping her voice an octave.

"Maybe now that we're a couple we get more invites?"

Max smiled at him, "Maybe. It'll be good to just do something normal, and to forget about everything for awhile."

Kenny nodded, as he squeezed her hand, "Is that what we're trying to do now?"

"It's like ignoring the pink elephant in the middle of the room."

"Pink elephant? C'mon, you want to get out of here?"



"That's not the same thing!," Jimmy shot back, "Lydia and I were finished, there was nothing left! Jill! You know that!"

"It is certainly a behavior pattern with you!"

"I wouldn't cheat on you Jill! Believe me!"

"I want to Jimmy," she snapped, "You don't know how much I want to."

"Jill, she tried to . . . I pushed her away. Nothing happened. I would never hurt you like that."

She nodded slowly, "I know you wouldn't."



"What are you up to?," Lisa hissed, as her husband watched their friends depart, "Bud."

"Me? Nothing honey," he said with a grin, "I promise."

"Why don't I believe you?"

Skeeter continued to grin like an idiot, "It's just something I heard, not worth repeating."

"Tell me."

Skeeter glanced around the crowd, "Okay, okay. Carter and I overheard them talking this morning, and apparently Max is pregnant."



"Do you want to stay?," Max asked nervously, "I mean we haven't, um, since, do you?"

Kenny smiled at her, and ran his fingers through her hair, "Of course I want to stay, you know how I feel Max. I've missed you these past few days."

"I've missed you too."

"C'mon," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist, as she unlocked the door, "I'm tired of fighting with you. Can we just have one night of just . . ."

"Yeah," she agreed, turning around to face him, "I'd like that a lot. We can figure the rest of this out later."

Leaning in he kissed her softly, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Lifting her into his arms, they stumbled back toward her bedroom.



"Do you want to talk to her?," Jimmy asked hesitantly, "Or do you want me to?"

"I don't even know what to say, and I don't want you anywhere near her. Why didn't you tell me first?"

"I didn't want to hurt you, and I didn't think that she would. She was drunk Jill, and I thought she would be too embarrassed that it even happened."

"You should have told me Jimmy."



Something weird is going on, Max mused, as she wondered why everyone in the office had been shooting her weird looks all morning. What the hell is going on? Maybe it's just my nerves, as she glanced down at her flat stomach. Life has been a little different lately, and there is going to be a very little person here in the next few months. Giving herself a mental shake, she tried to focus on the work in front of her.

"Hey, how are you doing?," Allison Quinn, another deputy, asked, "Feeling better?"

"I'm fine," Max replied, forcing herself to smile, "Thanks."

"I'm sure that you are," Ginny said, pausing by her desk, "These things have a way of working themselves out."

"Yeah they do," Max agreed, wondering why they kept staring at her and why they had those wide grins on their faces, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Ginny insisted, shooting Allison a knowing look, "We were just curious that's all. Concerned even."

"Well I appreciate it," Max replied, feeling the first inklings of doubt. Do they know, she thought, forcing herself to play dumb, "Thanks, but I've got to get back to this."

"Don't work to hard," Allison replied, "You don't want to stress yourself out too much."

"Uh huh."



"How's it going?," Skeeter asked, "Good date last night?"

"Yup," Kenny agreed, as Carter came up to join them, "Hi Carter."

"How is that going by the way?," Skeeter asked, shooting Carter a knowing glance, "You two looked very cozy last night."

"We're just taking everything one day at time," Kenny settled on, thinking of the past few weeks, "It's Max and me you know. We don't want to screw this up."

"So you're taking it slowly?," Carter asked, trying not to laugh, "Not big plans yet?"

"What?," Kenny asked, as he watched his two friends exchange a look, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Skeeter cut in, "I just thought that you two might make it a permanent thing. Soon I mean."

"We haven't even been dating that long."

Carter picked up where Skeeter left off, "No, but you two have known each other forever. Just with the current situation . . ."

"What situation?," Kenny asked, as Carter trailed off, "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing," Skeeter interjected, "It just seems like you guys have gotten awfully close awfully fast, so we just assumed that, well that you guys would get married. Soon."

"Who told you?"



"I'm never going to stop throwing up," Max said aloud in the womens locker room at the station, "How can something so small make me feel so sick?"

"Talking to yourself?," Ginny asked, pushing the door open, "Are you still sick?"

"No, I'm fine. It'll go away."

"When? In nine months?"



"Hi Rachel," Jill said coldly, as her friend answered her front door, "Can I come in?"

"Jill . . . I almost expected you to never want to speak to me again. Is everything okay? Did you talk to him?"

"Yes. He denies everything, and I believe him. Why are you doing this? Do you hate me that much?"

"You're my best friend Jill! I wouldn't lie to you, I want to protect you."

"You and Jimmy butted heads to much. Is this your way of payback? Are you that delusional?"

"It happened!"

"He rejected you! Just like Kenny did! Is this what this is all about?"



"Who did you tell?," Kenny asked, walking into her kitchen, "Max! Everyone knows!"

"I know! And I didn't tell anyone!"

"Well how do they know then?"

"Did you say anything?"

Kenny paused, as he looked at her flushed face, "No . . . The other day . . . at work, we were talking in the coffee room."

"The door was closed," Max countered, "But. Do you think that someone was listening? Is there no such thing as privacy in this town? I guess that explains the weird looks I got everywhere I went today. Shit. I wasn't ready for everyone to know yet. I'm still not sure that I'm ready to know."

"I guess nothing stays private," Kenny agreed, "Now what? I kinda liked it when it was just our thing though."

"Kind of like when we first got together?"

"Yeah," he replied, pulling her into his arms and placing one hand on her flat stomach, "Do you think that it's a boy or girl?"

Max smiled despite everything, "Hmm. A girl."

"Really? What does she look like?"

Max pressed her lips to his before replying, "Well I hear that they come out slimy, red and screaming . . . but she is beautiful. She has your eyes."

Kenny smiled back at her, "You have any names in mind?"

"Do you? For either?"

"For this girl? Kylie or Chloe. Or a boy . . . I always liked Andrew or Luke. How about you?"

"You've put some thought into this. I've always liked Christina, for a girl, and Aaron for a boy."

"You okay with people knowing?"

Max nodded, "I guess I better tell my parents, although telling them that I'm going to have a baby . . ."

"Without being married," he finished for her, "And I doubt that they would like the idea of you marrying me."

"Hey. I stopped caring about what they thought a long time ago," she replied, as he looked away, "What about yours? I know that they're pretty strict Catholics. Isn't having a baby about of wedlock considered a sin? Are we going to hell now?"

"You think that this is funny?"

Max looked at him thoughtfully before replying, "No. I want to know. You, being Catholic, is that part of the reason that you're so gung ho about getting married?"

"I want to marry you because I love you," he countered, before sighing, "You're the best part of my life sweetheart. You have to know that. The Catholic thing . . . it is important to me. If you want to wait, we can wait. I don't want to push you."

"You're not," Max replied, kissing him again, as a knock sounded at the door, "Who do you think that is?"


To be continued.