Chapter Nine

Liz smiled. He had been so lost in his thoughts that she had actually snuck up on him, which she hadn't even thought was possible, and now he seemed totally at a loss for words. Her curiosity increased by leaps and bounds. As did her amusement.

Jason stuttered, "Nothing..that is..I..uh, I was thinking about," there was a desperate pause, then triumphantly, "the warehouse! I was thinking about the warehouse." He looked strangely pleased to have come up with the fib.

"Oh, Jason. Emily was right. You really can't lie." She said with mock pity.

"I can lie." He protested, before adding, "Just not well."

She became serious. "After everything I went through with Ric, it makes me feel safe knowing that you don't lie well. At least..not outright." Her voice trailed off, and he knew she was thinking about the last big fight they ever had, the one that had torn it all apart. Not that he could blame her, not only was it more recent in her mind, but he had lied, by omission. He looked into her eyes, and saw the moment she threw it off, brightening. "Did I tell you about the baby?"

He tilted his head. "No. What about the baby?"

"Well, before you came to pick me up, I had an ultrasound." She looked proud. "You are looking at the mother of a healthy, eight-month old baby girl. Or, sort of eight months. I mean, I'm in my eighth month. You know, I should look at a baby book, cause if I ever knew the terminology, I've forgotten it. I mean, I'm sure I knew I was having a girl, but of course, then I didn't, so it was exciting to.." Her voice continued on cheerfully but he no longer heard it, stunned by what she had inadvertently revealed. She didn't look that far along. He had simply assumed she was late in her sixth or early in her seventh month. Not that he had much idea how any of it was supposed to look, but he had assumed. But if she was in her eighth month, then that meant..He inhaled deeply. That meant the baby was probably his. He stared at her, the thoughts rushing through his head, and something in his expression must have tipped her off to the turmoil in his mind, because she stopped talking, a look of concern crossing her face. "Jason? Are you okay?" He could only shake his head jerkily, no. As he considered all the way that this would change his life, his happiness at the news, the worry that he was wrong, his anger at her secret, he found that he couldn't quite breath right.
"Oh my god! Jason?" She jumped up, fleeing the room. He sat on the couch trying to get a deep breath in when she ran back in and handed him a paper bag. "Here, breathe into this. Come on." She hovered over him, fluttering her small hands as he, feeling like an idiot, inhaled and exhaled into the bag, which made disturbing crunchy noises. However, it did seem to work, and the black in front of his eyes disappeared as oxygen streamed to his brain. He continued breathing into the bag long after he needed to, hoping to avoid interacting with her for as long as possible. Eventually, when she started to look even more worried, he gave it up, and removed the bag from his face. Her eyes welled up with tears and she sat on his lap, hugging him. "God, don't scare me like that ever again!" She said into his neck, and he felt the damp of her tears on his skin. He wrapped his arms around her, and one emotion separated itself from the others and worked its way to the front of his mind and heart. Joy.

TO BE CONTINUED

Short but sweet. Ok, some explanations are needed here. I realize they probably would have been handier before the chapter, but I didn't want to give it away. For the purposes of the story, Liz was blind for significantly longer (think another month or two) and she never slept with Zander. Furthermore, you all will just have to be flexible about all the timing and take my word for it that in the story, it's all correct. I don't remember the exact timeline according to the show, and since they've been fucking it all up anyway, I don't particularly care. Besides, this way it can be Jason's baby, and isn't that worth all the confusion? Naturally I expect lots of reviews, so my creative process can be jump-started, yes?

Hope you liked it, Amber