Wayretro - Thanks. The next chapter is here.

nikki007 - If you liked that chapter, your gonna love this one and the next.

siriusforeva - Thanks for the review. You'll find out who her boyfriend is soon. I'll give you a hint: It's someone who used to go to school with them. Yes, there is another mean, evil psycho after her. I feel bad for her even though this is all made up. lol

Koizak- Aww, thanks! )

Chapter 8

It took another hour or so to get some things sorted out, but I eventually left.

When I got back into town, I stopped by to pick up Kia (A/N: She rented a car, I don't think I said that before, but I am now).

I'll give you a guess as to who was there.

Give up?

Doug. As in my brother Doug. His face lit up when he saw me walk in. He ran over to me and hugged me until I couldn't breathe.

. As in my Doug. His face lit up when he saw me walk in. He ran over to me and hugged me until I couldn't breathe.

"Uh, hey, Doug, what're you doing here?" I shot Ruth a look from across the room. She looked down at her feet. Good, you deserve it.

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, sounding exasperated.

"Um, I'm here to pick up my kid." I answered kind of awkwardly.

His eyes widened. "That's your kid?" Oops, I guess that part he didn't know. I guess I should give Ruth more credit.

"Uh, yeah, she is." I saw Kia walk out of the bathroom. She looked so cute. "Come here sweetie." I said and she started to walk over to me. I picked her up when she got close enough.

"Wow. I just thought she was some kid Ruth was minding. I didn't know she was your kid." He said.

"Well, she is. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go. I'm quite busy." I said and called Chigger and turned to leave. The kitten was still attached to Kia's blanket so I didn't have to worry about that. Well, I tried to leave, but someone put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

"Your not going anywhere Jess. Not until you tell us what has been going on." I sighed and plopped down on the nearest couch, still holding Kia.

"Fine." I knew there was no way of getting around it.

So, I told them about almost everything; almost.

"So, this is your kid, you've been living in Florida for the pastfive years, you work for the feds now, and you came back here for business. Oh, and you got knocked up while in Florida." Doug said. It was weird hearing him say something like 'got knocked up'. I didn't correct the last thing. I shot Ruth a look, but she still said it anyway.

"No, she didn't get knocked up in Florida." Doug still looked confused for a minute, but then took a look at Kia and stepped back, eyes wide.

"Are you serious!"

I kissed Kia's cheek and said, "Yeah."

"Holy crap." He said, but just replace the crap with a synonym that starts with an 's'.

We were all silent for about ten minutes and then Doug spoke up again.

"Does he know?"

I sighed and shook my head.

"Jess, you have to tell him. It's not fair."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." I said. I really didn't want to tell him. I couldn't. I mean, I left for his good and everyone else's and for something else that no one should ever know. But it seems like that has come back to haunt me too.

"Jess, he–" he stopped and took a deep breath.

"He went into depression after you left. He finally got out of it and continued on with his life," he let out that breath and then continued, "Jess, he may have gotten over that you left him, but he'll never get over his love for you."

That gave me quite a shock. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I mean, he still loved me? After I left him? After everything he endured? Why?

I wanted to voice all of these thoughts, however, my voice picked that moment to malfunction, so all that came out was a croaky, "What?"

He sighed again, "Jess, he still loves you. Very much."

I leaned back on the couch and took everything in. How could he still love me? After all these years? I mean,five years is a long damn time.

Ruth, seeing my difficulty with speaking, got me a glass of water. It seemed to do the trick. Not as much as I would have liked, but good enough.

"I-I can't Doug." I said. "I want to, but I can't. I've caused him enough trouble as it is. It's just better he doesn't know about it."

"Jess! The man loves you for Christ's sake! You're just gonna sit there and let him pine for you? Go and tell him. Besides, I know you still love him too." He said with a grin on his face. Wait a second...

"Doug, how do you know all this? I mean, how do you know he loves me?" I asked.

"It's quite obvious Jess. He always asks about you whenever we see him. He does all of our car repairs for free. And Mike and I are pretty good friends with him too." He said all matter-of-factly.

"You guys are friends with him?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah. After you left, he was so miserable, and since we were the only other men who knew you well, we comforted him and soon enough we became good friends with him."

"Wow," I said. What else could I say?

"Yeah. So, you gonna go tell him or what?"

I sighed. "What other choice do I have? You guys seem so hell-bent on me telling him."

"Fine," he said and wrote down the address of his apartment and the number and all, "and bring Kia with you."

I rolled my eyes and threw the extra key-card for my hotel at them. "Bring the dog and cat back to my hotel and feed them," I said picking up Kia and walking towards the door, "and find a name for the kitten too."

Then, I walked out the door and down to my rental. I got in and put Kia in the car seat and drove off.

Okay people, now its your turn to review.

I want at least 8 reviews for this chapter for me to post chapter 9.

♥nicole♥