"What do you mean, she's gone?" Conner snapped.
"Well, a lot of her clothes are gone and no one has seen or heard
from her in over a day!" Jessica snapped back.
Jeremy shifted uncomfortably. Conner could relate. The last thing
he wanted to do was spend even a second in the presence of Jessica
Wakefield. But Liz…he couldn't believe it when Jessica had called him
this afternoon. He was surprised she did and he felt grateful…and
scared…and guilty. Conner couldn't help but feeling that this was his
fault, and if he had just talked to Elizabeth she never would have felt
he need to run away.
Jessica glared at him and then wrapped her arm around Jeremy.
"Conner," she purred, her tone switching. "I don't believe you've met
Jeremy."
Conner gave Jeremy a small nod and then looked away.
"He's my boyfriend," Jessica added. Jeremy cleared his throat and
Conner shut his eyes. He couldn't believe that Jessica was acting so
lame just to make him jealous. There was no way that she could still
like him after what he did. Hell, he hadn't even thought about her in
weeks. Unlike Elizabeth who was on his brain, oh, every second.
Then for effect, Jessica leaned in and gave Jeremy a long exaggerated
kiss. Jeremy turned bright red and Conner tried to hold back a laugh.
"Jess, can we see her room?" he said impatiently.
Jessica sighed with exasperation and led Conner and Jeremy upstairs.
"A lot of stuff is missing from her drawers and closet," Jessica said
gesturing. "My mom and dad went to Sweet Valley University to see if
she's with Steven or somebody because they haven't been able to get a
hold of Steven. They told me to look around and see if I could find
anything that might suggest where she's gone." Jeremy and Conner
nodded. Jessica flopped down on Elizabeth's bed and started to paw
through the nightstand. Conner blushed at the picture and the
memory of that night…
Jeremy logged on to Elizabeth's computer and started checking
at the sites that she had accessed recently. Conner felt weird going
through Elizabeth's stuff, especially behind her back. But he really
wanted her to come home and to be with him…as needy as that sounded.
Conner scanned the contents of her desk drawers but he didn't see
anything that would suggest where she might have taken off. Jeremy
shut the computer down and looked through the trashcan and then went
into the bathroom to look through that trashcan. A moment later a loud
clanging noise rang through the house and Jessica and Conner looked
up in surprise. They got up and joined Jeremy in the small bathroom.
Conner's mind again went into overdrive when he remembered scaring
Elizabeth in here wearing nothing but a towel. But the look on Jeremy's
face brought Conner back to reality. It was look of surprise, sympathy,
and confusion. "Conner," Jeremy said quietly. Conner was trying to
figure out what was going on when he saw something in Jeremy's hand.
He saw that it was a white stick. Conner felt a deep feeling in his stomach.
Jessica had gone pale and wouldn't look at Conner or the stick. Jeremy
held it out to Conner who took it silently. He stared at the small stick
and saw that there were two faint lines showing on the middle of the
stick. Conner felt his whole world stop. "What…. Does this mean?"
he choked out hoarsely, even though he had a pretty good idea what it meant.
Jessica glanced at it and said coldly, "It means that you got my sister
in trouble."

"Look who finally decided to grace us with her presence," Gabe said smiling.
Elizabeth gave him a weak smile in return and set down her bagel and orange
juice. "Sorry, I'm just really tired."
"Well, you're lucky that you woke up in time, the breakfast bar closes in five
minutes," Gabe said raising his eyebrows.
Elizabeth shrugged and began to pick at her bagel. Gabe returned to his
newspaper and tried to read about the new sewer system that the LA mayor
was proposing, but Elizabeth was just too distracting. Gabe was dying to
know her story. She was definitely a woman of mystery, which made her
infinitely sexier. After a few minutes of silence, Elizabeth glanced up at
him. "Look, Gabe, I know I've been kind of a jerk. You didn't have to invite
me to come with you, but you did and I've been nothing but standoffish and
rude. I'm sorry, and I guess I just wanted to say thanks. This really means
a lot to me."
Gabe was speechless. Could it be that Elizabeth was finally warming up
to him? "It's okay," he said gently. "I understand that you needed space
and a little bit of time…believe me, I understand."
Elizabeth gave him a small smile and Gabe's heart clenched. That small
smile was pretty much the best thing that had happened to him since he
had left home.
"You should eat more," Gabe said turning away. "That crumb of bagel you
put into your mouth was the only thing I've seen you eat since I've met you."
Elizabeth turned bright red and jammed a huge chunk of it into her mouth.
"See, I eat," she protested as bagel oozed out the sides of her mouth.
"Attractive," Gabe said laughing and he handed her a napkin.
Elizabeth grabbed the bagel and prepared to take another bite, but she
hesitated and a strange look came over her face. She set the bagel down
and stared at Gabe. "I hate to ask you this…but can you take me to
a doctor's?"
Gabe looked at her intently. "Sure," he said. Sure, he had wanted to see
the sites, but he knew that Elizabeth would never ask a favor of him unless
she really, really needed it. And the fact that she had asked, made him feel
needed, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

Conner's mouth was dry. He couldn't say a word. Which was probably better,
because at that moment he couldn't remember a single word. This tiny stick
had reduced him to a stuttering idiot. Ironic, because that's what Elizabeth
had reduced him to half the time. He stared blankly around the small
bathroom. Jeremy looked uncomfortable and was staring at his feet.
Jessica was turning an interesting shade of purple. Conner cleared his throat
and unclenched his hand causing the pregnancy test to fall from his fingers
and drop to the floor. The sound it made when it hit the tiles was like a bomb
going off.
"I can't believe this," Conner said hoarsely and collapsed onto the seat of the
toilet. "I can't believe any of this."
"You better believe it," Jessica snapped, placing her hands on her hips. "I
just can't believe that you two…behind my back!" she yelled, unable to say
the words.
Conner stood up, his body completely rigid. "This is all your fault,
Wakefield," he growled.
"My fault?" Jessica said sputtering. "I'm not the one who seduced my
sister into bed! How dare you say this is my fault!" she said jabbing her
finger onto Conner's chest.
"If you had let us be together then she wouldn't have run away!" Conner
said pacing in the small space. "She only ran away because she thought
that she couldn't tell me…or face anyone. She thought that no one cared
about her. She doesn't know how much I cared…how much I still care.
Because of you," Conner said coldly.
Jessica paled. "That's not true," she said softly. "All I did was try make
her feel how badly I felt."
"That's impossible, Jess. Because you didn't love me." Jessica was
silent. "Because you know she'd never cheat on you if she didn't. She
felt horrible Jess…she never once forgot you…"
Jessica looked away and Conner could tell that she was trying to hold
back tears. "But none of this would have happened if you had just told
me the truth," she said quietly.
"No," Conner agreed. "Nothing would have happened because Liz and
I would never have been allowed to be together. She would never have
been able to date me after I broke your heart."
"But wouldn't it have been better not to hurt me then to have been together
and hurt both of us?" Jessica cried.
"We tried to stay away from each other as long as we could-"
"What? That's supposed to make me feel better? How noble of the two of
you!" Jessica said sarcastically. "Didn't you guys ever once stop and think
what you were doing to me? My reputation?"
"God Jess!" Conner yelled. "You know, not everything is about you! For
once this isn't about you. This is about me and Liz and our little baby
growing in her stomach. In no way is there a you in this whole mess!"
"Jeremy?" Jessica whimpered. "Are you going to let him say those things
about me?"
Jeremy opened his mouth to talk but Conner cut him off. "Can't take
people saying things about you? You let people say those things
about Elizabeth when she didn't have anyone to defend herself.
What she needed most was friends and support but thanks to you
and your friends big mouth she had no one to turn to.
Jeremy looked at Jessica questionably.
"If you hadn't spread all those lies and stories about Elizabeth around
school, she never would have been lonely enough to run away."
Jessica started to cry quietly. Conner continued. "You know that even
though Elizabeth went behind your back, you know she would never say
stuff like that about you. You spread those rumors and you caused her
more pain then I ever did because I was just her boyfriend. You're
her sister."
Jeremy shot Jessica a look of disgust and pushed out of the room.
"Jeremy, wait!" Jessica cried out pitifully. Conner shot her a look of
disgust and he also left. Jessica collapsed onto the bathroom floor in
a frenzy of uncontrollable sobs.

"No," Gabe said grabbing Elizabeth's arm. "Don't give them your
insurance card," he hissed into her ear. "You're under your parents
name, right? They'll be able to trace your activity."
"But I don't have enough money," she hissed back.
Gabe reached into his back pocket and pulled out his credit card and
handed it to the receptionist.
Elizabeth poked him in the side and gave him a dirty look, which, he
ignored. Elizabeth sighed. He had done too much for her already…he
didn't need to pay for her screw-ups. They sat in the waiting room
for what seemed like hours until they were finally called. Elizabeth
stood up and gave Gabe a tug. "Can you please come with me?"
Gabe started to protest but when he saw the pain in her eyes, he
allowed himself to be led back to the examining room. The nurse
asked Elizabeth the basic questions about her height and weight. She
handed Elizabeth a robe and left. Elizabeth stared at Gabe and he
turned around as she slipped her clothes off and put the robe on.
They sat in silence until the doctor came. He asked her a lot of
embarrassing questions and Elizabeth looked at the floor while she
answered. Then he asked her to lie down while he examined her
and to draw fluids to make sure she was pregnant. Gabe turned away,
which Elizabeth was very grateful for. After a few minutes the doctor
left with blood and urine samples. When he returned he gave
Elizabeth a large smile. "Your suspicions were correct Miss Wakefield,
you are four weeks pregnant," he continued speaking but Elizabeth
wasn't hearing a word of what he said. This was the end of her life.
Conner would freak and bail, her parents would disown her and she
would be the outcast of the century. She nodded mutely to the
doctor's words of encouragement. "While you're not required to
say, it would be wise to let us know who the father of the baby is."
"Uh-" she stammered. "You didn't want to point the finger at Conner
yet. "Would it go on the birth certificate?" Elizabeth asked.
"No," the doctor assured her. "It's just for our own personal records in
case question of the paternity arise. The obstetrician and city records
will never know anything except what you tell them."
Elizabeth didn't know what to say. Basically the doctor was letting her
lie.
"It's me," Gabe spoke up for the first time. "Gabriel Stewart."
The doctor nodded and jotted it down. He left and Elizabeth turned to
Gabe. "You didn't have to do that."
Her gave he hand a squeeze. "I know."