July 17th, 2003

Kim closed her locker door. She had a feeling today would be a strange day. She got a chill down her spine as she thought that. Maybe it was the changing weather. She looked down at her hand and saw that her wrist was bare.

"Oh God." Kim whispered. Her bracelet. Her bracelet was missing. She opened up her locker to see if it had fallen ito a pocket of her jacket. Alex stepped out of the bathroom.

"Kim?" She said softly.

"I can't find my bracelet." Kim said as she dropped to her knees to search the floor.

"Kim, I need to talk to you." Alex said. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"My bracelet. The one with Joey's name on it. I can't work with out it." Kim said as she looked under the table. Alex sighed and got onto her knees, "It's my good luck charm. I can't work with out it."

"Found it." Alex pulled it out from beneath the couch. "You must have knocked it off when you took your jacket off."

"Thank god." Kim crawled over to Alex. If Carlos would have walked in, he would have gotten an eye full. Alex started to tie it on, "I'm so glad you found it. I know it just a bracelet, but…"

"Kim, I'm pregnant." Alex said. Kim's eyes widened as she looked at her best friend.

"You're what?" Kim asked.

"Pr-Pregnant." Alex stuttered. Kim leaned back against the couch.

"How long have you know?" Kim asked. Alex's lips trembled slightly.

"About five minutes." Alex said taking the pregnancy test stick out of her pocket. She showed it to Kim. Kim looked down at it. There were two big fat ink lines. "I d-don't know wh-what to do, Kim.'

"Jimmy doesn't know right?" Kim asked. Alex shook her head as she wiped her eyes, "Wow…"

"I t-took it five minutes ago, Kim. Of course he doesn't know about it." Alex said. Kim watched Alex's tears. She recognized the look in her eyes. She had that look about ten years ago.

"Well, you're working with me today so we can talk this through and all your options, okay?" Kim asked her. Alex nodded as she stood up.

"I'm so scared Jimmy is going to be angry with me." She sad softly.

"If he is and does anything stupid I will punch him." Kim said. Alex smiled weakly.

"Me too." She sniffled.

* * *

Carlos sat at the table eating from a bag of Oreo cookies. Doc shook his head.

"If you throw up while we work, you're leaning it up." He said.

"Toss me one." Jimmy said with a grin. Carlos threw him a cookie.

"I have gossip." Carlos said.

"Do we care, Carlos?" Doc asked as he poured some coffee.

"I think you will care about this," Carlos said, "It means we may loose a coworker."

"Lose? Who?" Doc asked.

"Well, that I don't know." Carlos grinned, "I have narrowed it down to two people."

"Tell us." Jimmy chuckled.

"Well, I walked into the bathroom about twenty minutes ago and found something." Carlos said, "I found a pregnancy test box. It as empty and go figure, one of the rigs left with two of our coworkers about ten minutes ago." Doc and jimmy stared at him.

"A pregnancy test?" Doc asked.

"Yup. I wonder who it is." Carlos looked at Jimmy. Jimmy stood up and started to pace. "Kim hasn't had a date in awhile has she?"

"No." Jimmy mumbled with a touch of Anger. Doc looked at Jimmy.

"Is it Alex?" Doc asked. Jimmy ran his hand through his hair.

"We've used protection…" Jimmy whispered. His heart was racing.

"Well, That's not one hundred percent, Doherty." Doc said.

"I know that." Jimmy snapped, "It's not Alex, All right?" he growled and stalked to the locker.

"Okay." Doc said softly, "What if it is though?"

"Then we'll deal with it." Jimmy said, "Even if it's Kim, I have a lot to deal with."

"I know." Doc said, "I'm sure we're all over reacting."

"I hope so." Jimmy said. "I need to go pick Joey Up."

* * *

Alex walked quietly into the house. Jimmy's car was in the driveway. Her heart thumped in her chest.

"Jimmy? Joey?" Alex called out.

"Joey is next door playing with the new dog they got." Jimmy said as he emerged from the kitchen, "I told him to be back for dinner."

"Cool." Alex said softly, "I'll start cooking soon." Jimmy shook his head.

"I already started." He said.

"Oh okay." Alex said softly as she walked into the kitchen. She wasn't looking into his eyes. She wanted to hurry past him. She was pregnant. Jimmy sighed deeply and went into the kitchen.

"I don't want another baby, Alex." Jimmy said. Alex stopped in her tracks.

"Wh-What?" She stuttered, not turning around to face him.

"I know you're pregnant, Alex." Jimmy said. Alex turned around finally.

"How?" She whispered.

"Carlos found a pregnancy test in the bathroom." He said, "Alex, I'm not really ready for another baby. Alex's eyes welled with tears.

"Oh!!!! And you think I'm ready, Jimmy?" She asked him.

"Why didn't you tell me you thought you were pregnant?" He asked.

"B-Because I didn't want you to freak out and yell at me, Jimmy, "Alex said, "I didn't want you to leave me." Jimmy sighed.

"I'm not going to leave you, Alex, but we need to deal with this. We're not ready for a baby. We don't know each other well enough to have a baby together." He said. Alex narrowed her eyes.

"I know you well enough to know you're a selfish asshole." Alex snapped and stalked out o the room. Jimmy growled.

"I'm just worried about us, Taylor. A baby is a huge responsibility." Jimmy said following her. Alex turned and looked at him.

"This morning, I was thinking about having an abortion and not telling you about it, but I talked with Kim about it. She made me realize that's not what I wanted." She said, "This baby was what I wanted. It is part of you and me. Hell, it's part of Joey. He deserves to have a little brother or sister. Kim said she'd help me out if you won't want to be part of this baby's life. I can do it just fine on my own." Jimmy stare at he. She wanted this baby. He couldn't believe that she wanted to keep this baby.

"I can't believe you talked to my ex-wife about this." Alex narrowed her eyes.

"Kim is my best friend so get used to it." Alex stalked up the stairs to her bedroom How dare he not be the one bit supportive. Another baby...He had never thought about another baby.

"Dad, can we get a dog? Please!!!" Joey asked as soon as he walked into the house. Jimmy stared at him blankly. A dog?

"No. Go put the salad on the table. I'll be right back." Jimmy slowly limbed the stairs. He could hear soft sobs coming from their bedroom. His heart lurched into his throat. He had made Alex cry. He pushed open the door, "Alex?"

"Go away!" She cried Jimmy sat on the bed next to her and put his hand on her back.

"How far along do you think you are?" Jimmy asked softly. Alex turned and looked at him.

"Five or six weeks." She said softly.

"You really want this baby don't you?" Alex nodded as she sat up.

"I never realized how much I wanted to have this baby until an hour ago." Alex said, "I want this baby." Jimmy nodded.

"Joey wants a dog." Jimmy said, "I guess a little brother or sister will be nicer."

"This baby isn't a dog, Jimmy." Alex frowned. Jimmy chuckled.

"I know." He said, "Okay, you're still really early, maybe I'll warm up to the idea of being a dad in the next thirty-four weeks." A soft smile came across Alex's face.

"You're a great dad, Jimmy. You can do it again." She said.

"We'll see." Jimmy said laying next to her. A baby. There was going to be another baby in his life in about eight months. That scared the shit out of Jimmy, but maybe he could do it right this time.