A/N: KangarooGirl, takerlover21, Amarantha, betty-boop (nope - no trilogy),dogreign, tallyz, Jet, leslienicolespeaks and Dani - thankyou so much for taking the time out to review me - y'all kick boo-tay.

"Are you going to call her?"

Leon looked up toward the doorway, sitting on his bed with the phone in front of him and the small piece of card with Ruby's number on it in his hand. He could feel himself shaking but was unable to stop it – at the present moment it wasn't even on the list of things he needed to do. The little piece of card held precedence over everything else.

Bethany's arms were folded across her chest, her hair a mess from tossing and turning in bed for most of the night listening to him potter around the house wide awake. She couldn't recall the last time he'd slept.

He held the card up a little, then looked at it and his hand fell back into his lap, a deep sigh escaping his lungs.

"I'm scared, Bethy." His voice was almost inaudible when he spoke. "What if she doesn't want to talk to me?" He was vaguely aware of the blonde coming to sit at his side, her hand rubbing his back.

"Leon – if she didn't want to talk to you, she wouldn't have given them her number for you to call."

"But why didn't she call me then? Why couldn't she-" he was silenced by a hand over the mouth.

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe she's just as scared as you, Leon? She literally had nothing but her job before you came along and now she's all alone again, by herself, seven months pregnant! She has to be terrified, Le! Now stop being so selfish and fucking call her or I will!"

Leon blinked dumbly at Bethany, his mouth slightly open. "You just swore at me." He mumbled, awed.

She nodded shortly. "I did – now call her or I'm calling her myself, then I'm calling Vince. You've had that card for a week – stop putting it off."

He cringed, knowing that if she did that he would have another beating on its way and slowly nodded, picking up the receiver and holding it to his ear. Shaking fingers dialled in the numbers written hastily on the card and by the time he was done and the other end was ringing, he realised he was alone. Bethany had left him in private and closed the door. He would have smiled at her consideration but he was afraid if he did, he'd throw up.

There was a few tense moments when he thought there would be no answer, then he heard a slight click and quiet breathing on the other end, a muffled groan as if she was just waking.

"Hello?"

His heart near stopped at hearing her voice for the first time in months and he was struck with the last thing he'd said to her before she'd left him.

"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!"

A choked sob started to creep its way up his throat and he could feel the hot burn of tears against his face already.

"Could you ever forgive me?" His voice was so quiet that he wasn't quite sure that he'd even spoken himself.

There was a silence, then the sound of movement, sheets rustling. "Leon.." he could have sworn he heard a soft sigh creep into her tone and he found himself feeling even more horrible than he did before.

"Do you," he began, picking at the quilt cover, "-do you remember how I said you weren't Letty – before you left?"

There was a slight hesitation, then Ruby cleared her throat. He could hear the tears in her voice when she spoke. "I remember."

He rushed to continue. "Well you're not – but I don't want you to be. What I had with her was something completely different to what we had and I'm the biggest jackass in the world for not realising that when I had the chance." He was struggling to remain composed, scrubbing at his eyes. "You are so important to me, Ruby Jane and I'm nothing without you. I'm really not." He started to cry, unable to refrain any longer. "I miss you so much.."

"…I miss you too, Le."

Her words only made him worse. He'd treated her so badly yet she still cared for him.

On the other end of the phone, Ruby was laying in her bed, one hand holding the phone the other stroking her belly. Tears wet her cheeks as she listened to Leon falling apart on the other end of the phone – all the way back in Miami where she couldn't comfort him or take his pain away. Thinking it best to distract him a little, she went ahead and asked one of the questions that had been burning in her mind since she heard his voice.

"How's Cade?"

There was a sniffle and she could just see him wiping his nose, scratching at his eyes and rubbing at them with his forearm. He always did that when he was upset.

"He's good," Leon sniffled again, "- Vince took him to the zoo on the weekend and he saw the heffalumps."

Ruby couldn't help herself – she giggled slightly. "The heffalumps?"

Leon grunted slightly. "Stupid movie has a lot to answer for." He answered grudgingly.

Despite herself, she felt a smile creep onto her face and her hand started unconsciously rubbing circles over her bump. The affection she felt for him hadn't abated at all – no matter what, she still loved him.

She cleared her throat. "So Vince is in town?" the awkward silence that met her made her sit up, albeit slowly and rather awkwardly. She was huge. "Leon?"

"He um," he was quiet again, "- he took Cade back to LA just after you left. Said I didn't deserve the child I had let alone the one that wasn't born yet."

Ruby's heart thudded in her chest wildly. Not only had he just acknowledged the baby as his own, but he hadn't seen Cade in over two months. He had to be going mad without his little boy. She forced herself to stay calm, remembering the doctor's orders. The week before she'd been admitted to hospital overnight for observation – she'd been stressed and her blood pressure had gotten dangerously high. Not that she was going to tell Leon that. He had enough to worry about as it was.

"You haven't seen Cade since April?"

He made a quiet sound in the back of his throat, unintelligible. "I talk to him every day or so."

"Leon, you have to go to LA – you need him with you! And don't you argue with me, Leon Michael Orello! You pack your things and you get your ass to Los Angeles within the week. Do you understand me?" Just as she'd finished speaking Bub kicked and she winced, sucking air back in through her teeth. "Ouch."

Leon sounded panicked. "What? What happened? Are you alright?"

Ruby felt herself warm to the toes at the sound of his concerned questioning and blew out a deep breath. "Mm – yeah. I'm alright. The baby just decided to play football with my internal organs is all."

There was a silence again. "… How is the baby?" he sounded nervous, "Is everything ok? How far along are you now?"

She was almost surprised at the genuine curiosity she could hear in his tone, then remembered him when he was younger. He was always so warm with the littler children in the home – even though he'd been pretty messed up when he'd arrived, he would always have time for the younger children.

"The baby's fine – completely healthy." She kicked the sheets off her legs, hot. "I'm about thirty one weeks along- the due date is in late August."

She could hear him mumbling and moving. "August? When in August?"

"The thirtieth." Ruby could tell what he was thinking. It was just July now so really, it wasn't long. Not long at all. She suspected he was sitting there feeling rather ill about it all, but personally, she couldn't wait. She could not wait until she could reach her toes again – until she could hold her baby. Her little piece of herself and the man she loved.

Leon was quiet, obviously thinking about it. "Did – are you very big?" there was more than a hint of nervousness in his tone. "Could I fit my arms around you?"

Ruby laughed slightly, rubbing her belly. "Le, I don't think even Vince could get his arms around me."

The shock was clear in his voice. "You're that big?"

"Yeah – I feel like a damn whale – bet I look like one too."

"You don't look like a whale," he sounded so certain, "- you're beautiful."

She snorted. "Leon, you haven't seen me lately. How can you think I look beautiful if you don't know what I look like at the moment?"

Again, that silence. Finally, when she heard him speak, the tears that had previously stopped started flowing again.

".. Because you're always beautiful."

Ruby wiped at her eyes, trying not to sob. Most of the time she was alright, but occasionally, just sometimes, there were things that would set her off and she'd howl with the best of them. She had the feeling that statement was going to come back to haunt her later on.

"Leon, I have to go – I really do."

He made a soft sound of acceptance. "A-alright then. Will you at least tell me where you are?.. Before I go.."

She smiled sadly to herself. As much as she wanted him to be with her, she wasn't ready for it yet and quite frankly, neither was he.

"Go back to LA, Leon. Cade needs his daddy and you need him – call me when you're home." Not even giving him the chance to respond, she gently hung up the phone and set it down on the bedside cabinet – then the entire conversation came back to her and she started to sob into her pillows.

Back in Miami, Leon was doing the same.