CH 33- Theresa's Baby Shower

Fox smiled as he slowly pulled up to the Lopez-Fitzgerald household. He already felt himself grow with excitement as his gaze ascended up the side of the house to Theresa's bedroom window. Ever since Christmas, he couldn't stop thinking about her and how happy it made him feel to know that she wanted to renew their relationship. Of course she didn't say those exact words, but from the way she spoke that day, it was pretty clear. That's why he had come over so suddenly. Fox had to know for sure if his assumptions were right, and that Theresa really was willing to give their love another chance.

He quickly climbed out of the car and made his way to the front porch, ringing the doorbell. It took a little while, but he soon heard her footsteps approach the door on the other side.

"Oh, hey Fox!" She smiled, stepping aside for him to come in. "I hope your not here to see Paloma because she just stepped out."

"Yeah I know, she told me she was going to go out with her friends today." He replied, quickly taking the time to admire her.

From the sweet scent of fresh apple berries, he could tell that she had just gotten out of the shower. Her hair hung in loose curls around her face and she wore a cute white tank top with long black pants that had a slit meeting half way between her calves. With little effort Theresa always managed to look beautiful and now that she was pregnant, Fox thought she looked absolutely radiant.

"So if you know that Paloma's not here, why did you come over?" She looked up at him curiously.

"Oh well, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." He nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"Ok, well can we talk about it on the way?" She asked, grabbing her purse.

"On the way? Where are we going?" He looked at her confused.

"I'm supposed to meet Gwen and Whitney over at Sheridan's cottage. You don't mind driving me over there, do you?"

"Of course not." He smiled, realizing that a car ride would be a perfect opportunity for him to talk to her.

"Great!" She grinned, looking up at the stairwell. "Ethan, are you ready to go?"

"Ethan's here?" Fox shockingly asked.

"Yeah, Sheridan said that she wanted to give him something so I told him to come along." She simply said, as Ethan came down the stairs.

"Fox," Ethan said. "What are you doing here?"

"He's going to give us a ride over to Sheridan's." Theresa replied, holding the door open. "Come on, we can talk in the car!"

As they made their way over to the cottage, Fox let out a deep sigh.

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. He thought to himself. There's no way that I can talk to Theresa now, with Ethan in the car. I guess I'll just have to talk to her later.

He tightened his grip around the steering wheel as Theresa and Ethan annoyingly continued their conversation.

"So how many video tapes do you think we will need?" Ethan asked.

"Oh, at least a hundred!" Theresa giggled. "I want to make sure to get every single move that the twins make on tape!"

"Like their first steps..." Ethan began.

"And their first words..." Theresa excitedly interrupted.

"And we can't forget their first bath!" He smiled. "That's gonna be a wet one!"

Fox rolled his eyes as the two of them continued to giggle in the back seat. Every time Ethan brushed a strand of hair from Theresa's face, Fox felt his insides burn with rage. He couldn't stand to see them together.

"Oh Fox, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Theresa suddenly asked.

"Oh it was nothing," He uncomfortably cleared his throat. "We can just talk about it later."

He steered the car into Sheridan's drive way and honked the horn. When there was no response, they all climbed out and made their way over to the front door. Theresa rang the doorbell and patiently waited for someone to open the door. But strangely there was no response. They even tried knocking, but again, nobody came.

"That's strange." Theresa looked up at them. "I could have sworn that Whitney said to meet at Sheridan's. Why isn't anyone answering?"

"I have no idea." Ethan looked down at her.

"You don't think something happened, do you?" Theresa worriedly exchanged glances with Fox.

"Well there's only one way to find out." Ethan said, slowly turning the doorknob.

"Sheridan?" Theresa called, as the three of them stepped into the dark house. "Sheridan, are you here?"

Fox flipped on the light switch, to reveal a fully decorated living room filled with tons of yellow pink and blue balloons.

"Surprise!"

Theresa screamed in shock as Whitney, Sheridan, Gwen, Paloma, Charity, Simone and Kay all jumped out from their hiding places.

"Oh my gosh!" Theresa exclaimed as her eyes fixed on the enormous banner in the centre of the living room reading, 'Baby Shower!!'

"So how did I do?" Ethan yelled over to Sheridan. "She didn't suspect a thing!"

"Excellent Ethan!" Sheridan laughed. "She definitely looked surprised!"

"You knew about this?" Theresa playfully punched him in the arm. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"

"Well it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if you knew, now would it Theresa?" Whitney came over and hugged her.

"No I guess not." She smiled.

Fox quietly stood in the corner as Theresa made her way to the centre of the living room where tons of gifts took over the entire carpet. He smiled as her face lit up at the many presents that stared back at her. He loved seeing her so happy.

"Hey you," Paloma crept up beside him. "I was hoping you'd come."

"Yeah, Theresa asked me to give her a ride over here. But this was a surprise for me too because I had no idea you girls were throwing her a baby shower." He smiled, kissing her sweetly.

"Sorry I lied to you about going out with my friends. I just didn't want you to accidentally tell Theresa about the party." She apologized.

"Don't worry about it." He smiled down at her. "It was nice for you guys to do this for her."

After kissing her one last time, Paloma went over to the living room to join the rest of the girls. Suddenly Fox felt a little out of place as he watched Theresa open her gifts with Ethan close by. A feeling of sadness swept over him as he slowly realized that his assumptions were way off base. Whatever made him think that Theresa wanted to renew their relationship was gone now. It was pretty obvious that she never had such an intention. He had once again let his emotions get in the way of his thinking. But he couldn't be upset with her. They had made the agreement to stay friends and that's exactly what she was doing. She was moving on with her life, while he, like a fool, kept holding on to false hope.

Feeling completely miserable, Fox slowly made his way to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Theresa suddenly looked up.

"I was just gonna get going." He simply replied. "I have a few things that I need to do."

"Oh no you're not. You are going to stay right here and help me open these gifts!" She insisted.

"Yeah Fox," Paloma smiled. "Besides, you're going to be the twins' favorite uncle. You have to be a part of this!"

"Alright, if you insist!" He finally gave up, walking over to them.

Sitting on a nearby chair, he watched as Theresa continued to open Gwen and Hank's gift.

"Awww, these are so cute!" She exclaimed, as she held up the two baby tees, and rattles. "And look, one's pink and the other one is yellow!"

"Well we figured yellow was a safe color for a boy or a girl, since we don't know what the other little one is yet." Gwen giggled.

"Well Fox thinks that it's going to be a boy but I'm almost positive that it's going to be a girl!" Theresa smiled looking over at him.

"Well boy or girl, these little angels are going to be perfect!" Sheridan smiled, whispering to Theresa's tummy. "Because like my mother used to say, 'Pink or blue we will still love you!'"

"That's right." Luis smiled, kissing her hair.

They spent the next few hours eating cake, laughing and opening more gifts. After all the presents were opened, Theresa leaned back in the chair and let out a sigh.

"My goodness! Where am I going to fit all these things?" She laughed.

"Well look at it this way, at least we won't have to buy anything for the nursery room!" Ethan winked at her. "Actually that reminds me of something."

"What?" Theresa looked up at him.

"Well, we need to start fixing up the nursery room as soon as possible, and I was thinking we could use Luis' old room to do it in."

"That's a great idea." She nodded. "But I don't want you to worry about that right now. You just got out of the hospital and I don't want you to have to come over to our house every second."

"Well, that's the thing. I don't think I'll have to." He smirked.

"What do you mean?" Theresa asked confused.

"Well, I was talking to Pilar earlier today about where I was going to stay now that I'm not a Crane and she gave me the most amazing offer." He began. "With the babies on the way, she thought that it would be best for me to be close by incase you go into labor. So, she graciously welcomed me to stay at your house permanently!"

Fox suddenly looked up as Ethan finished his sentence.

Permanently? He repeated to himself.

"Are you serious?" Theresa happily squealed. "That's the greatest news ever!"

Whitney and Gwen exchanged shocked glances as the two of them simultaneously looked over at a saddened Fox.

Theresa excitedly wrapped her arms around Ethan's neck and pulled him in for a passionate kiss, unaware of the hurt expression that flashed across Fox's face.

Immediate rage filled his insides as he continued to watch them. An image of Theresa and Ethan sleeping in the same bed flickered in his mind, as he bowed his head in disgust. Tightening his fists together, he struggled to remain calm.

Suddenly Paloma came over to him, and lovingly wrapped her arms around his neck.

Not wanting to reveal the pain that he was in, he sweetly kissed her on the cheek.

"Isn't this wonderful?" She happily sighed. "Theresa and Ethan are so lucky!"

"Yup," He impassively replied.

"They are going to have two of the most beautiful babies and now that Ethan is going to move into our house, they can finally begin their new life as a real family!" She continued, gently rubbing her cheek against his. "I can't wait until we finally find happiness like that."

Fox miserably sighed, as he softly stroked Paloma's arm.

I did find happiness like that once and it was with Theresa. He thought to himself. But all that is going to change because thanks to Ethan, I have officially lost her forever.