"Christina?" Lilly set her keys and the mail on the table. For once, she was home at a semi-normal time.
"Down here."
"Did Scotty phone?"
"No." Christina appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Why?"
"I thought he would have. Did you eat?"
Christina shook her head no. "I was waiting for you."
"Oh. Okay. Fine. Um. Is pizza okay?" Lilly was trying to pretend that everything was normal.
"Sure."
"I phoned the doctor," Lilly said, picking up the phone.
"Okay."
"What do you want on your pizza?"
"I don't care." Christina retreated back to the basement. Lilly sighed and ordered the pizza.
"Listen for the door," Lilly called down. "I'm going to take a shower."
"Okay."
Once she was safely in her room, Lilly reopened Claire's box, which she had brought home with her, and pieced through the contents, trying desperately to make them make sense. She had never in all of her time working for homicide seen something quite like Claire's death. Sure, she'd seen rapes, she'd seen strangulations, and she'd seen ceremonial deaths, but she never seen one in the manner that Claire had been killed. What had really happened in that field on that idyllic May afternoon? What kind of game had those little girls been playing that could have gone so terribly wrong? Who else was there, watching, or doing?
"Hey! You're not in the shower!" Christina said, pulling open the door. "Pizza's here."
"You could have knocked," Lilly complained.
"Sorry." Christina's eyes fell on something on Lilly's bedside table. "Who's that?" she asked, picking up the framed photograph.
Lilly was trying not to let her annoyance show. "Nobody," she said shortly.
"Could you get out of here?" she asked, standing up.
Christina blinked and backed out. "Sorry," she said automatically.
Lilly said nothing, just walked out into the kitchen and started serving the pizza. They chewed in silent for a few moments until Lilly spoke.
"Are you sure you don't know who the father is?" she asked slowly.
Christina said nothing. She chewed her pizza for too long and sighed heavily. "Scotty," she answered finally, letting her voice fade off.
Lilly nodded. She bit her lip to keep from crying, stood up from the table and left the house.
She walked to Scotty's house, taking short, angry steps. He'd told her that they were being careful. He said he'd never risk that. Why did he have to live to her? Sure, it had solved the problem temporarily, but when something huge like this happened, it just hurt her. Tears pricked her eyes and threatened to spill over. What was her problem, anyway? She didn't have feelings for him, not in that way, anyway. He was—or had been—her friend, she reflected, nothing more.
"Why?" she demanded of the empty street. "What did I ever do?" She wanted to scream. She turned down Scotty's street furiously. I hate you, Christina, she thought. I love you so much, and I still hate you. She walked up the steps of the apartment building and down the hallway to Scotty's apartment. She banged on the door and was surprised when he opened it almost instantly.
"Lil!" his eyebrows showed surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Christina's pregnant," she said, finally starting to cry. "She's pregnant and she thinks it's your baby." Her stomach clenched. She sat down.
"What do you mean? This is…that's impossible…" he was panicking. He took a deep breath, tried to relax. Once he thought about it, his eyes softened. "Oh Lil…" He sat down next to her, buried his face in his hands. "I'm so, so sorry."
"You told me you were careful," she said.
"I…forgot. Okay? Neither of us expected it."
"I'm glad to know it wasn't premeditated," Lilly snapped. She wanted to stop crying. She felt foolish.
"I'm sorry, Lilly…Please stop crying." He reached out to touch her hair and she snapped his hand away.
"Go see Christina, why don't you," she said, turning to leave.
"Wait…" he called after her, but she was already out the door.
A/N: Not too much case stuff here…I got distracted by my own evilness. Another less-than-revealing flashback next chapter…And yes, I'm torturing myself as much as I'm torturing you… :-P