A/N: Hullo again! I see that all three have been good to me and made me shout with glee! Thank you reviewers, aka jakc, em and bella! I was pretty depressed before; just came back from the AFL - Hawthorn vs. Essendon, and being a big bombers fan was quite disappointed in the outcome. You guys have just brightened my day though! Oh Bella, you have an interesting choice of fanfics coming; Look forward to the Pjomag thing! Loved Maggie so much in classic heelers.

Yep, next part peeps:

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Jo led her to a bench where she forced Tess to sit and placed an arm around her to comfort her. "I'm so scared Jo," she started, quavering a little, "I've been vomiting and... I'm late... I think I could be pregnant..."

For a moment Jo didn't reply, but held her closer and watched in silence as she kept wiping at her tears. "Have you done a test?" Jo asked cautiously, as though she was not quite sure how to approach the situation. When she shook her head in reply, Jo continued, "I have to go pick up the lunches soon. If... If you'd like, I could go past the pharmacy and pick you up a pregnancy kit?"

Tess didn't answer. She knew she had to find out for sure, and she couldn't go to the hospital; not when Josh was due back in town...

"Would you?" she asked Jo, whom nodded and smiled reassuringly back at her. How Jo could keep cool and smile so enthusiastically was incomprehensible, but her presence was a great comfort. Tess wasn't going through her anguish alone.

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"Lunch, boys!" called Jo as she walked in the door, pushing her way through the crowding blokes, "here you go". She handed out everyone's lunches, except for her own and Tess', then subtly winked at Tess to follow her to the locker room.

Once inside, Jo threw a bag at her. "Here, take it," she said in a rush, "your lunch is in there too. Better hide it before the boys start asking questions".

Tess peeped a glance in the bag. Seeing the pink pregnancy test kit, she quickly shut it again. It brought a strange feeling of impending doom...

"Thanks Jo," she replied, ripping the box apart, stuffing the stick into her pocket and hiding the box in her locker.

(A/N: Ok, I've never had to do a pregnancy test so I don't exactly know what they entail, so I'm guessing it's just a stick thing? meh)

Being as discreet as possible, she left Jo in the locker room and made her way to the toilets. Thankfully, nobody stopped to question her on the way. From now on it was simple. In just a few short minutes, she would know whether she had gone completely mad, or if her gut instinct had been right all along...

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Tess had been in there for ages now. Her odd behaviour had been distracting him all day. She definitely seemed to be on edge. Infact, she'd been acting different towards him ever since they'd slept together, and that seemed like a lifetime ago. He had being giving her the cold shoulder ever since, and it was slowly eating at him. How she had managed to stay so strong was beyond him, as inside he knew that he was crumbling to pieces.

Today though, she seemed to be just as broken as he was. Maybe it was to do with the fact that Josh was returning from Melbourne today. Whatever the reason, something had definitely crawled underneath Tess' skin.

Jo looked concerned too as every minute or so she'd glance in the direction of the toilets, as if deliberating whether to go there or not. Her answer came when Tess walked out, her face looking quite red and blotchy.

He made to get up and follow, but Jo beat him to it. The two girls entered the locker room, leaving the door ajar.

Forgetting his resolve to ignore Tess, he jumped out of his chair and made his way to the locker room after the girls.

As Jonesy approached, he heard them talking inside. Somebody, probably Tess, was crying. Deciding it probably wasn't the right time to barge in, he turned to leave, then heard something that compelled him to stay.

"It was positive Jo, I'm definitely pregnant"

Startled, he lost his footing and accidentally trod on a creaky floorboard. They'd obviously heard him for in the next moment, they'd both reached the door and saw who their eavesdropper was.

The look on Tess' face was heart wrenching. She didn't look disgusted or disappointed in him, she just looked even more miserable.

"Tess," he began, hoping to talk to her. She gave no sign that she heard him however and quickly skulked back to her desk where she knew he wouldn't dare bother her, not whilst all eyes watched him anyway.

He glanced at Jo, but she too ignored him and went back to her desk. Ben, as usual, was oblivious to it all...

For hours, Jonesy tried to catch Tess alone, yet she always found some way to get away from him again. It wasn't till the end of the shift that he found his chance.

"Coming Jonesy, Tess?" called Ben, holding the station door open.

"Nah, I have to finish a few things here first," he replied.

"Tess isn't feeling the best, I think she'll give it a miss," said Jo, nodding in Jonesy's direction. 'Thank you' he mouthed back at her gratefully as she too turned and left. Now they'd gone, it was just Tess and himself left behind.

At that moment, she emerged from the locker room with all her gear in tow. She'd obviously been rushing to leave, hoping to beat him, and so looked very dejected to see him at his desk still.

Before he could open his mouth to utter a word, she interrupted, "I know you heard and no, I don't want to talk about it". She avoided his gaze and dashed off towards the door.

"Wait Tess," he called, hazardously ducking around desks to catch up with her; quite a feat in the dark too. He grabbed her arm, just as she opened the door to leave.

"We have to talk," he said cautiously, keeping a firm grip on her arm, "I could be the father..."

At this comment, her stern expression seemed to drop and she let go of the door handle.

"Tess..." he started, taking his hand off her whilst she turned to face him. Her eyes were filling with tears again, as they so often did nowadays, and she looked completely lost...

"It's not yours," she said firmly, interrupting him again, "Josh and I... weren't as careful"

And that was it. She walked out before he could argue, leaving him standing there alone to contemplate what she had just said. The baby wasn't his...

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A/N: hum de dum, doo da day... methinks I just signed my own death warrant here...

(ducks flying objects her loyal readers chuck at her)

better go hide...