A/N – "Thoughts" , This chapter takes place a week after Chapter 10.

A/N 2 – Chapters 11 and 12 will cover one event and two flashbacks. This chapter will end in the flashback and the next chapter will pick up back in the present (in the storyline).

Chapter 11 – Breakup

Miranda laid sprawled out on her bed, staring at the alarm clock on the nearby nightstand. She had been feeling tired a lot lately, but figured it was due to long hours at the office. Then, beginning of this week, she started throwing up and her body felt stiff and sore. While Gordo was worried that she had the flu, she knew her body, and she began to get a sinking suspicion what was wrong.

When Miranda got sick, she was usually floored and for the most part, out of it. This time, aside from the soreness, occasionally throwing up, and being so tired, she felt alright. There had been only one other time when she had felt like this.

"Samantha."

That was why she had taken today off from work, to test her theory. Even now, she was waiting for the results of the home test she bought.

The problem with waiting was that it gave her time to think. So many questions were rolling around in her head and it was making her crazy. "What would Gordo say? Are we ready for another child? Heck, am I ready for another child? What about Sammy?"

Miranda loved being a mother, but Samantha was at the age where she was starting to stake some independence from her parents. Miranda missed her little buddy but was also thrilled to see her daughter growing up. Plus, it gave Miranda more free time for herself. Another child would mean even more demands on her time, and she wasn't sure if she was willing to give that up.

"What am I so worried about? I may not even be pregnant." She knew it was probably a lie but she was grasping at straws right now to keep her sanity.

Hearing the front door shut downstairs, Miranda began panicking. She could hear Samantha's tiny footsteps running, probably heading towards the living room and the TV. Then she heard other, heavier footsteps beginning to climb the stairs.

Miranda continued to lay on the bed as she listened to the footsteps getting louder. Every footstep put her more and more on edge. The last person she wanted to deal with at the moment was her husband. Hearing the click of the door opening, Miranda rolled over so her back was towards it and pretended to be asleep.

Gordo slowly opened the door and looked down at the bed. They had gotten into several arguments over the past few days, so he had already prepped himself for a chilly reception. "Hey," he said softly. When Miranda just grunted in return, Gordo bit his tongue, not wanting to antagonize her. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for somehow stepping on another emotion landmine. "I wanted to know if you wanted to do anything about supper?" he asked carefully.

"I'm not cooking anything," Miranda snapped.

"Alright," Gordo said quickly, "I was thinking more like takeout or I'll cook."

"Whatever," she mumbled, "I'm not hungry."

"You alright?" The second the words left his mouth, he knew he was in trouble.

Miranda's head snapped up and she glared at him over her shoulder. "I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth. "Except for this nagging pain in my ass," she then started shouting, "that won't shut up!"

"I'm just concerned," Gordo said simply.

Getting up, she walked around the bed and up to him. "The only thing you're concerned about is how hard of a time you're gonna have if I am sick." Miranda watched in satisfaction as Gordo's jaw twitched in irritation.

"No I'm not." Glaring back at her, "Heaven forbid I actually worry about my wife."

"That would mean you'd have to care about someone other than yourself." Miranda didn't know where all this was coming from, she just felt angry and wanted to pick a fight with him, to vent. She knew Gordo was one of the last people she'd accuse of being selfish, but at the moment, she didn't care.

"What?" Gordo snapped back at her, letting his frustration take over. "I believe you were the one who bought a pair of two hundred dollar shoes without tell me."

Miranda began to poke him in the chest. "What I do with my money is none of your business."

Pushing her hand away from him, Gordo retaliated, "It's our money. We may be better off than some, but that doesn't mean we can splurge at the drop of a hat. We have a budget."

"And if you weren't so damn inflexible," Miranda started to say but was cut off.

"Well, someone has to counteract your impulsiveness."

"Get out!" Miranda roared at Gordo. She had had enough. A sense of repulsion quickly filled her and she wanted nothing more than for him to leave.

"Fine." Turning on his heel, he ripped the door open and slammed it shut after himself.

After he left, Miranda could hear him shout Samantha's name as he made his way down the stairs. A few minutes later, the front door opened and shut. Then just as suddenly as it came, the anger left her, only to be replaced with a weird, numb feeling, as she listened to Gordo's engine rev up and then get fainter as it drove away.

"What the hell am I doing?" Miranda was upset with herself at picking a fight with him. She always felt bad when she fought with him, but this was ten times worse. Then suddenly, a timer ring sounded. Miranda slowly turned and looked at the half open bathroom. "Oh God, I need him now more than ever, and I've practically driven him away."

-----

Miranda was laying on her bed in her dorm room staring at the far wall. When most college students were celebrating the end of the school year, she was alone in her room, thinking. In almost twenty four hours, her whole world had shifted from getting through finals to the possibility of some of her closest friends being pregnant.

Last night, after her last final, she had planned on going out to blow off steam, but her plan changed when Lizzie called. Lizzie and Miranda were still close friends but had drifted even more over the course of their high school senior year. It didn't help that Miranda spent a lot of her free time with Gordo whenever she could. Going to different universities didn't help, either. While she was at Berkley, Lizzie had gone to San Diego State. It was there that Lizzie had met her new boyfriend, Thomas.

Last night, Lizzie had called Miranda in tears, afraid to talk to her parents, telling her that she had all the symptoms and was almost positive that she was pregnant. Nineteen, barely finished with her first year of college, and possibly pregnant. What made matters worse was when she told Thomas, he responded with he needs some time to think this over. On top of everything else she was feeling, Lizzie was scared that Thomas would run off on her.

Miranda had tried her best to calm Lizzie's fears, but deep down, this scared her too. Lizzie and Thomas had only been together for a few months; she and Gordo had been together for over a year now. She began to think that this could easily have been her, in almost the same position. "Aside from the boyfriend running off," she rationalized to herself. But the more she dwelled on it, "Would he run off? Yeah, most of the time he's mature but he has his moments. What if he got scared?"

When she had still been in high school, their relationship had been easier, since he could come home most weekends and they would go out, USC wasn't too far from Hill Ridge. But with her at Berkley and him at USC, it was about a 6 hour commute one way. So for the most part, they talked via the phone or internet, and one weekend a month, they would rotate visiting each other. With the distance and time apart, when they did see each other, they slept together at least once during their visit.

"All those times, it was like playing Russian roulette. Yeah, we used protection, but so did Liz."

As Miranda was getting herself more and more worked up about this, she began to think about what was going to happen in the near future. As in within the hour.

Gordo had finished his school year a few days ahead of her, so after getting his stuff to his parents' home, he had come up with the cover story that he was going back to L.A. to help a friend bring some of his stuff back to his home. His friend just happened to live in Sacramento. So on the way back, he was going to swing by Berkley. Before he left, he made sure that the Miranda's parents knew about his little trip, so they wouldn't ask too many questions upon finding him with Miranda when they came to get her.

"That boy doesn't just lie, he creates fiction," Miranda thought.

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. "Gordo." Getting off the bed, Miranda slowly made her way to the door, almost dreading the encounter with each step.

As Miranda opened the door, Gordo immediately wrapped his arms around her, stepping forward and kissing her as he used his foot to shut the door behind him. They only had a few hours before Miranda's parents would be here this afternoon, and they had planned on making the most of the little time they had together.

For a brief moment, Miranda's worries left her as she felt the thrill of Gordo's lips pressed against hers. They both knew what it took to get the other going, and that was exactly what Gordo was doing.

Grasping onto her last strand of self-control, "David," she called out hoarsely. When Gordo only responded by running his hands underneath her shirt, Miranda summoned as much self-control as she could, ignoring the incredible urge to run her fingers through his hair. "David," she said again, and gently pushed him, so there was a few inches in between them.

Taking a deep breath, he licked his lips and raked a hand through his hair, as he gave her a look of confusion and curiosity.

"Have you talked to Liz recently?" Miranda asked.

"She left me a message but I haven't called her back yet," Gordo told her. "I couldn't really understand her. She sounded like she had been crying, and was rambling. I tried calling her back, but kept getting her voicemail. If it was important, I figured she would've tried calling me again.

Miranda sighed softly, "She's worried that she's pregnant."

"Oh," Gordo said and then frowned at the agitated look Miranda gave him. "What? Has she gone to the doctor yet? Hell, has she taken one of those home tests?" Gordo asked, a little irritated.

Miranda immediately got defensive. "No," she snapped back. "I convinced her to go today and get one."

"Then there's nothing to worry about, yet. She may not even be pregnant." Gordo ran a hand through his hair trying to calm down. Lizzie was a sore subject with him, they really weren't as close as they had been. They talked occasionally but there wasn't that bond anymore. Gordo had tried hard to move on, and thought his new relationship with Mirada was a good start. "But everytime I try to move forward, I get dragged back. I'm so tired of being expected to fix everything."

"Nothing to worry about?" she shot back rhetorically. "Damn it, Gordo, she's our best friend and she's scared out of her mind."

"And what am I supposed to do about it?" Gordo snapped. "You said she doesn't even know yet and why do we even have to do anything? I'm not even her boyfriend anymore and I'm still dealing with her issues. That is fucked up. Let her boyfriend, what his name, help her through this. He was a part of what got her into this mess."

"No, David, you're fucked up."

Ignoring the little voice in his head that told him to shut the fuck up, Gordo pressed on. "How? Cause I'm tired of a ghost looming over us? It seems like we can't take two steps forward without having to deal with something, and most of the time it's her."

"She still my best friend!" Miranda shouted back.

"And how many times have you talked to this best friend before last night? And I mean more than just a five minute IM conversation online. Once, twice? You told me you've barely talked to her, even over winter break. People grow apart." Gordo didn't know why he was getting pissed about this, a part of him was worried about Lizzie. But another part, the one that seemed to be controlling him at the moment, maybe due to the lack of oxygen to his brain, was frustrated and very annoyed. Lizzie, once again, had created drama between Miranda and him. What made it more maddening, was a lot of the time it was unintentional.

"You know what," she said, "you're right. But not about Lizzie, about you!" She took a step forward and began pointing at him. "I'm sick of your crap. You have been friends with Lizzie you're entire life and you suddenly don't give a damn! Well I don't want to be with someone who's like that. Every time I try to talk to you, you just brush it off."

Getting defensive, "Everytime I try to have a serious conversation with you, you tune me out! All you ever want to talk about is superficial shit." Gordo felt a throbbing in his head as the fight continued. "Like I give a damn about some stupid actor and who he's having an affair with. I want to talk about us! I love you and I can't even say it!"

"Well excuse me Mr. CNN." .

"That's it. Always make a joke. But you seem to have no problem talking with Christian," he snarled back at her.

Christian was a close, purely platonic friend Miranda had made the first few weeks at Berkley. For as secure as he was, Gordo was a little jealous of Christian and the many what-if scenarios that would run through Gordo's head. Miranda got easily annoyed when Gordo would show off whenever Christian was around. Gordo didn't trust him and whenever Miranda and him fought, the topic of Christian somehow seemed to sneak into their fights.

"You say you want to talk but whenever something comes up, you run to him," Gordo thought, and bite his tongue as he barely kept himself from saying it.

When Miranda was angry, she often said whatever popped into her head, often times intensifying the argument. But what she was about to unleash was like a nuke, basically playing right into Gordo's biggest insecurity and worst fear.

"Oh, we do more than just talk," Miranda said, lacing her words with venom, and for a moment, wearing a smug smirk on her face. It was a bluff, nothing really was happening between them but she wanted to make Gordo squirm. Instead, watching Gordo's eye twitch and his jaw clamp shut, she knew she had really gone too far this time.

For a moment, there was a deadly silence.

"Did she just admit to what I think she did?" Gordo thought as he tired to realize the meaning behind Miranda's words.

At the same time, Miranda was thinking, "Oh God, what the hell did I just do?" It was amazing how so much damage could be done with so few words.

Gordo always feared that he might get dumped like this, his girlfriend admitting to not just leaving him but cheating on him too; and she had used it purposely. She got a sick feeling as she watched Gordo's eyes change from that of a young man in anger, to those similar to a little boy who had just been suckered punched.

Trying to save face, "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I don't need you or anyone else."

"Gordo," Miranda said softly but Gordo ignored her. Turning around, she watched him throw the door open and walk out, slamming it shut behind him. Screaming in outrage, sadness, and a few other emotions mixed in, Miranda kicked the closed door.

Collapsing against it, Miranda pulled her legs to her chest and just starting crying hysterically. "Damn it! Gordo! Damn it!"