A/N: Biiiiig thankyou to betty-boo, leslienicolespeaks, Dani, KangarooGirl and Jet for reviewing.
Four and a half months – she was four and a half months pregnant now and still Leon had no idea. He was completely and utterly oblivious.
Ruby ran her hand over her still relatively flat tummy and blinked back the tears. True to her wishes, she'd not gotten big at all so far, sometimes she even wondered if she was actually pregnant herself. For a little while she'd been convinced the doctor had gotten it wrong, made a mistake… Then a week or so earlier she had felt it. A strange fluttering feeling low in her belly that had scared her into going to the doctors during her lunch hour. Her baby had moved. It moved. It was real and she definitely was pregnant. There was no denying it at all now.
With every passing day it was becoming more and more difficult hiding it from Leon. She wore flowing clothes normally as it was, so when her skirts had gotten a tad snug around the waist he'd not noticed her wearing them a little lower, the longer, looser shirts went unquestioned.
It was the physical aspects of their relationship that took some creative manoeuvring. At night he liked to curl up behind her and sling his arm around her waist – that had to be stopped, so now she slept on her belly so he couldn't do so. She'd also gotten good at knowing when he was sneaking up behind her to cuddle her and hadn't been caught unawares in some time. Their sex life had been the difficult part. Leon liked to touch her and there was no way she could suddenly just say 'no more' without him becoming suspicious. That had taken some quick thinking. He was so involved in Letty's pregnancy, that much she knew, that he would know or at least suspect if he touched her stomach. She wasn't sure how she had managed it, but so far she had succeeded in keeping him away from her stomach. As conceited as it sounded, she knew that if she touched him enough, lavished enough affection on him, that he wouldn't suspect a thing.
So far, so good.
Sitting back in the seat of the cab, Ruby laid her head against the window and stared out at the rapidly passing scenery. Unconsciously her hands found their way to her belly and were slowly rubbing small circles over the harder spot where the baby rested.
She'd just come from a check up and sonagram with her doctor to make sure things were progressing alright and for the third time she'd made an excuse for the father's lack of presence. She wasn't about to come out and say 'oh he isn't here because I'm too gutless to tell him' now, was she. Today the obstetrician had offered to try and find out the sex of the baby and Ruby had jumped at the chance. Ever since she'd felt it move she was almost bursting with love for her unborn child – sometimes she swore it was almost painful. One could only imagine her excitement when her beautiful little baby had been more than cooperative and they were able to find out the gender. Now she knew just what she was having and she couldn't be more excited about it. Still, the stress of the day and then with all the excitement of the last few hours had worn her out and she found her eyelids growing heavy.
She'd told Leon she was working back an extra hour at work that day .. hopefully he wasn't home yet and she'd get there before him. The last thing she needed was him getting suspicious of her whereabouts.
Ruby winced as she climbed from the cab, both because of her aching feet and back and the fact that the familiar dark green Skyline sat in the driveway. Le was already home, which meant almost as soon as she got in the door she'd be hit with a barrage of questions and an overly enthusiastic little boy throwing himself at her. She almost groaned at the thought. It wasn't that she didn't like Cade, in fact she loved him more than she could understand, but it was so difficult telling him not to climb all over her without hurting his feelings.
The instant she opened the door she knew something was off. The house was almost silent, save for some quiet sounds coming from the kitchen and she felt her curiosity spike. It was too quiet for Cade to be there, so he must still been over at Angie's place. He spent the days there while Leon and herself were at work.
A wave of apprehension swept over her as she dropped her bag on the couch as she passed it and her feet slowly carried her into the kitchen. She was almost relieved when she saw Leon's wide form bent over the sink, paint splatters all over his arms and pants. He glanced up and toward her when she cleared her throat and offered her a tight smile, then went back to whatever he was doing.
"Where's the boy?" she asked softly, tired still and ready to go and curl up in bed. There was a heavy thunk as Leon dropped something into the sink and he wiped his hands on his pants before reaching across to flick on the coffee maker.
"He's over at Angie's," he muttered, confirming her suspicions, "-she offered to have him for the night." His tone was short and words clipped, making her wonder if he'd had a rough afternoon at work. He was in a wonderful mood before leaving that morning and had still been in it when she'd called him around lunch to tell him she was 'working back'. Something must have happened between then and now to upset him.
He cleared his throat, turning around now to lean back against the counter. "How was work?" His arms folded across his chest, intense green eyes fixated on her in the doorway. "Did they say you were getting overtime for this afternoon – God knows you're going to need it with a baby on the way."
Ruby felt her heart stop for a moment and she suddenly felt ill. He knew. "What are you.."
He glared at her, eyes flicking down toward her flat tummy. "Your doctor called just after I got home. She said to tell you that you left your cell phone at her office and then proceeded to congratulate me on the baby as I'd 'always been otherwise detained and unable to attend the appointments'." His tone turned accusing now, and when he spoke he was almost seething through his teeth. "Where you ever going to tell me, or just wait for the day it popped out and then say 'oh by the way, Leon – I'm pregnant!'?"
She felt the tears starting to well in her eyes already. He was reacting just as she'd feared and wasn't happy about it in the least. Not at all. Her hands moved to her stomach as she felt it churn and a sick feeling swept over her as his eyes blazed at the movement.
"Leon, please – let me-" she started to try to explain herself and he cut her off, standing up straight now, his face incredulous.
"You want to explain? You expect me to stand here and listen to you explain how you got yourself pregnant! How the fuck could you be so damn stupid, Ruby? HOW!"
"I didn't get this way on my own Leon!"
He spun on his heel and glared at her. "Don't you fucking try to pin this on me! What the hell were you thinking not telling me you weren't on anything! How could you be so stupid!"
Ruby's face contorted with hurt, her head shaking slightly. She couldn't believe some of the things he was saying.
"For your information you selfish jerk – I was on something!" She glared up at him, her hands resting protectively over her stomach that he was currently glaring at. "And anyway, Leon – you never seemed to be too concerned about protection! You'd just fuck me when and where it suited you and never even thought of how I felt when you'd run on out afterwards feeling sorry for yourself!"
She backed toward the table when he took a step forward. She'd never seen him so angry before – never. Not even when he'd gone off at Marissa that time. He was more than intimidating in his rage and she was grateful that Cade at least wasn't there to see it.
Snarling at her, he advanced toward her with slow deliberate steps. "You know what, Ruby? If you had any kind of backbone you wouldn't have just spread your legs for me in the first place – you'd have said no and none of this bullshit would have happened! THIS IS ALL. YOUR. FAULT!"
Ruby's eyes widened at his roar and she screamed, dropping to her hands and knees as he picked up a coffee mug from the counter and hurled it toward her, sending it crashing into the wall. She stifled a sob when she heard the sound and scrambled to her feet, running down the hall away from him and locking herself in the bathroom. She could hear his feet thundering down the hall after her and she squeaked, terrified as he pounded on the bathroom door.
"RUBY! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" He shouted from the other side, the door rattling from the force of his fists pounding against it.
Ruby wrapped her arms around herself and tried her hardest not to cry. She couldn't see any of the man she had fallen in love with in the man that was screaming out in the hall. It wasn't her Leon out there any more. Looking back now, she wasn't sure he ever had been her Leon. She thought that maybe he'd come to care about her at least a little bit, but now she knew that was all a great big joke. Leon didn't care about her any more than he cared for Marissa. She had just been an easy lay for him. That was all she was. As the knowledge hit her, she broke down and sobbed, so absorbed in her grief she was that she didn't hear the deafening crack and splinter as the door flew open.
She flinched, startled as his fingers curled around her upper arms and shook her slightly.
"Stop your fucking crying, Ruby! Jesus Christ – how the hell are you going to take care of a kid when you're only a child yourself?" He leant in close to her face, ignoring the tears and the red blotchy cheeks. "You have no idea what it takes to be a parent, do you? You have to give up your entire. Fucking. Life. Your entire life, Ruby!" he let go of her arms with a slight shove, enough to set her off balance and send her stumbling backward. She would have been fine if the bath tub hadn't been there, but it was and it caught her in the back of the knee and she fell backward and into the tub.
The wind was momentarily stolen from her lungs and she gasped for air, fear tightening its fingers around her heart as she thought of her baby. Not their baby any more – hers.
"You planned this all along, didn't you! Saw some poor bastard who was an easy target and went for the kill! You used me and my child just to get one of your own!" He pointed a finger at her accusingly and then took a step back shaking his head, disgusted. "I should never have come back here. Congratulations, Ruby," he scoffed, "-have fun raising that thing alone."
Anger swelled in her gut, filling every fibre of her being at his words. "It's a baby, Leon! Our baby!"
He had already started out of the room when she spoke, but at her words he spun on his heel to face her.
"That is not my child! Cade is my child – my only child! He was born of the woman I love and you, Ruby – are not her!"
Her anger gave way to her sorrow again as he stormed from the room and she heard the front door slam closed, the Skyline roaring to life almost as angrily as its owner and the tyres spinning against the gravel drive. Gradually the roar of the engine grew softer and further away and only then did she allow herself to fully break down and sob, curling herself into a ball there in the bath tub, hugging her belly.