A/N: Sorry for not updating in such a long time, a lot has happened to my life for the past week so, my writing kinda took a back seat for a while… But I have a good news and 2 bad news… the good news: I have a new fic! (please review it…) LOL… the bad news: my first fic and this fic is coming to an end, sniff, sniff… I would like to thank you guys for reviewing this fic, and please let me know what you think of this chapter… :-)

The trip back felt like the longest I had ever taken. I had never felt this excited to return home before, and it wasn't just because I had Alex to come home to now. I kept calling Amy not to forget to pick me up, I had so much to tell her. I had a… (drum roll please) an epiphany, a realization if you will.

"Yeah right, epiphany. Don't you think I can't see the obvious?" Amy said as she maneuvered the car from the airport's driveway and out into the highway. "You're in love with the guy, the guy who's not my bet by the way."

On the way back, we were supposed to pass by Randy's place, where Randy and Alex were waiting, to pick up Alex and just Alex, unfortunately.

"Well Adam is perfect but not for me." I remembered our goodbyes as Adam woke up early to see Dawn and me off. He and John weren't due until that afternoon. He kissed me goodbye on the cheek and promised to call me when he got back to Stamford. Dawn, in the meantime, also got a goodbye kiss from John—on the lips, lasting more than a one second peck, more like three slooow seconds. At least someone got lucky.

"Let's not say I didn't try to hook you up with a gorgeous guy, who you exchanged for some dude who knocked you up," Amy said grudgingly.

"But you gotta admit Randy's gorgeous as well, proof of it is my good looking daughter."

"Yeah, Trish. But are you sure? I mean, you know. This is unlike your flings or the other guys you thought you absolutely loved but realized in the morning you didn't. This is the father of your child, and with him come all the emotional entanglements you probably don't need. If it doesn't happen it's going to be a mess. You know that, right?"

"You're absolutely right. But I love him during the three days I was away. I missed him almost as much as I missed my kid. There I said it." And saying it brought me utter relief; no, it brought me happiness. It was the forehead-slapping moment of epiphany all over again. I was in love with Randy! "I'm going to ask him out or something. I don't know. I'm going to come up with a plan."

"When?"

"I don't know. When he visits next. You're going to help me. I need more cooking lessons."

"You're going to have to up the bar," Amy warned me. "After that big Italian feast, the only way to outdo yourself is to manage the perfect Thanksgiving dinner."

"Fuck," I said. "That's serious business. I told you I wanted to sort of start seeing Randy, not put him under a spell!" I was so giddy now.

Amy shifted gears. "OK, jokes aside: how do you know for sure that in those three days he hasn't met someone? Or taken a friendly relationship with some chick to another level?"

I laughed. "What do you mean? I told you before he's not seeing Stacy. I asked him about her."

"Right," Amy replied. "You asked him about her. But did you ask about the other girls? Remember that this is Randy Orton we're talking about. The Legend-slash-Lady Killer. The Evolution Playboy. He did say he wasn't seeing Stacy but he didn't say he's not seeing other girls—"

I sighed heavily. Amy was taking her devil's advocate role way too seriously. "OK Amy—Ames, listen to me. He's not seeing anyone. He told me. He's not seeing anyone."

Detecting the impatience in my voice, Amy eased up momentarily. "Look, Trish. I'm just concerned, that's all. You can't be wishy-washy about Randy because he is the father of you child. He can't be just one of those let's-see-where-this-goes dates, right? You know that, right?"

"I know."

"Also," added Amy, "you made up your mind about someone in those three days in Sydney. All I'm saying is that you should consider the possibility that maybe Randy's made up his mind about someone in those three days, too."

"OK, you lost me there. What?"

Amy sighed. "You want to go up and ask Randy out which is like saying, you know, that you guys could be a real couple which, given your situation, is really saying that you want to see if you could work out as a family…"

"And…?"

Amy took a deep breath. "And what if, in those three days, Randy decided that hey, she's such a dedicated career woman so there will be days when he has Alex all to himself and there's really no need to hook up with you for life because he gets to see his daughter anyway."

That was when my eyes began to well up. I can't believe that I was getting this much flak from my best friend. The worst part was, there was a whole lot of truth to what Amy was saying. All this time I had considered only my feelings and my needs: what I needed in a partner, or did I need one at all? I had been so busy racking up points for Randy, or Adam, mentally tallying the pros and cons for each guy. And what if Randy was busy racking up points against me? And what if he's decided in the end that he could live without the cons of being with me?

"So…" I said weakly, my lips trembling. "So you're saying he doesn't love me?"

"No! No! That's not what I'm saying! Oh God, sorry if I was so vague!" Amy pulled over by the curb and turned to me. "All I'm saying," she said, smiling sympathetically, "is that you have to be sure that you want Randy and that if you start seeing him again, you'll work hard at the relationship too. You'll have to give up some things. Personally, I don't think the 'hey, no pressure, man' approach still applies, unless you're not all that serious."

A tear escaped my eye, and then another, until tears started rolling down my cheeks. I wiped it away with the back of hand. I was suddenly gripped with fear? And it wasn't the fear of being a single mom—hell, I could live on takeouts or that I could keep on looking for a nanny or even sleep with dates and not see them again if I really needed sex. It was the fear of not seeing Randy planted on my couch, popping open a can of Coke Light; of not hearing him sing off-key at the top of his voice while doing the dishes; of not hearing his bright-eyed adventures in babysitting Alex; of not feeling his hands on my shoulders, and down my back; of not waking up next to him in the morning.

There were some things that I could live with, like being a single mother, if that was my fate. But Randy I couldn't imagine living without.

"Are you in love with Randy?"

I nodded.

"And if he'll have you, are you ready to do your best?"

I chuckled through my tears. "My God, this sounds like a marriage—"

"Honey," Amy said starting to drive again, "you might as well be wearing white."

A/N: Promise i'll update over the weekend! Please review!