To All My Readers

First of all, thank you to everyone who has left me a review. I really love to hear what you all think of the story, be it plot , dialogue, characters, whatever. And to all of you anonymous readers, PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS! If hardly anyone is reading, then I don't feel like writing – what's the point, right? But if you are reading, let me know what you think!

Also, I'm really on the fence as to whether this story should be rated T or M. I may end up changing it eventually due to upcoming content that I have planned, but for now I'm going to leave it as is. If anyone thinks that it should be changed to M now please leave me a review and let me know your thoughts. Thanks and enjoy the next chapter!

CHAPTER THREE

Sam had somehow found herself in the middle of the Princeton Battlefield State Park . After leaving Austin's dorm, she knew she couldn't go back to her own because he would likely come looking for her there sooner or later, so she just kept walking as far away from campus as she could possibly get . Granted, a five-minute drive is not very far but it took her roughly thirty minutes to walk and by that time she was just about frozen solid. Sam fought the night air that , coupled with the rising wind, was growing colder by the minute. Her nose was running so badly from the combination of the cold and her crying that the congestion was giving her a killer headache. But in spite of it all, Sam had kept walking with her coat wrapped tightly around her and her head tucked into the collar to hide from the wind, desperately trying to forget everything that had happened in the last hour.

Now, sitting on a bench near the Princeton Battle Monument, the one question that kept running through her brain was, 'How could he?'. Sam just could not wrap her brain around the fact that, not only had Austin cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend, but he had gotten her pregnant as well. That pretty much meant that he was Shelby's from here on out. Sam was slowly realizing that she would likely have little place in his life anymore even if she were to forgive him and that made her cry even harder. And that was if he even wanted her to have a place in his life any longer now that he knew he was going to be a father. The irony of the whole situation was that Austin was honorable to a fault and he wouldn't leave Shelby to deal with this alone. Where the hell was that honor on the night of the end of summer party? The night when she and Austin were, supposedly, still a happy and committed couple?

Sam wiped the tears from her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time just as her cell phone rang. It was pointless to check because Sam knew who it was and she knew she wasn't going to answer it, but she pulled it out of her pocket to see the caller ID, more out of habit than anything. 'Austin Dorm' flashed across the screen, as she knew it would. Each ring of the phone caused another memory to flash through Sam's mind as she held it in her hands – the night of their first kiss when he chose her over the football game and everyone else; her birthday when he took her for a romantic, all-day getaway to the beach in Santa Barbara where he gave her the most beautiful drop pearl pendant necklace; Sam held the necklace in her fingers as her memory settled on the night of the end of summer party when he showed up at her house wanting nothing more than to be with her.

"Damn it! Why didn't I just go to that party with him?" Sam cursed the night air that surrounded her. "None of this would have happened if I was there." Sam tilted her head to the side so that her hair would fall forward and she could attempt to finger through some of the tangles embedded in it by the wind, smelling the static in it as it whipped into her face. When her cell phone started ringing again, she moved to turn it off completely, but this time the caller ID said 'Carter Cell' and she answered it immediately. "Car … Carter?"

"Sam? Sam, is that you?" The 'worried father' hormone in him completely took over when Carter heard Sam's voice breaking. "What's the matter?"

Sam completely lost it . Her sentences were incomplete and incoherent ; she was choking on her tears; and she wasn't even really sure if it was Carter on the other end of the phone. When Sam finally started speaking, all Carter heard was, "Oh my … my God … Carter. He … he chea … and Shelby … and he didn't deny … she's preg … and she was here … that party … I got a letter … why didn't I go …"

"Sam, honey, you have to slow down and take a deep breath," Carter interrupted. "I can't understand a thing you are saying."

Sam stopped mid-sentence and did as he said. She took a deep breath in through her mouth which caused her to choke when the cold air filled her lungs but she finally calmed down just slightly so that she could tell Carter what had happened. "Austin slept with Shelby at the end of summer party and now she's here – here in his dorm room and pregnant with his baby!"

"WHAT! You're kidding, right Sam?"

"Would I joke about something like this?"

"Well, no, but how the hell did that happen? I never thought he would do anything like that ."

Sam sighed and whispered quietly into the phone, "I never thought he would either."

"Sam, where are you? I'll come get you and we can talk."

"I'm in a park a ways down from school. I had to get away from there; from him and from her."

"Okay, well go back to your dorm and I'll come get you."

"Carter, you're not going to come and get me. You're over and hour away and plus I don't want to go back to my dorm because he will probably come there looking for me at some point and I soooo do not want to see him."

"Well then, how about you come here? Today's Friday, you can get away from school for a few days and stay with me for the weekend. We have plenty of room and my roommate went home for the weekend anyway."

"I can't Carter. Austin used my car today and he still has the keys; I am not going to him to get them back."

"So take a cab."

Sam smiled at his persistence, "Carter, come on. A cab from Princeton to New York City would probably cost well over a couple hundred dollars. Plus, I have a project to work on so I can't spend the whole weekend in the city."

"Sam, I will pay for whatever mode of transportation you choose, but either you come here or I come there. I am not going to leave you alone at a time like this."

Sam seriously contemplated the idea. Getting away from school and especially Austin for a couple of days was extremely tempting but when the reality of that thought clicked in her brain, Sam's tears came back full force. She never thought there would come a day when being away from Austin would actually be a tempting idea but here she was, trying to figure out if she could actually get away from there for at least a little while.

Sam watched what she thought was a slightly odd shaped dog run into some nearby trees before answering, "I don't know Carter, I just …"

"Hey, I bet you could take a train, it probably isn't more than fifty bucks." Carter moved across the small room to his computer and logged on to the Internet to check the Amtrak website. "Here." Carter hesitated, "Okay, well a one-way ticket is only $43.00 but there is a train that leaves at 8:33 from Princeton Junction."

"Carter, I really don't want to spend $86.00 on a train ride when I could just drive there and only spend about $30.00 in gas."

"Then go get your keys from Austin."

"Hell no!"

Carter smiled knowingly, "Sam, I am not taking no for an answer. Now you either let me come there or I am going to call Amtrak and have a round-trip ticket waiting for you. Can you get to Princeton Junction before the train leaves?"

Sam looked at her watch, "Yeah, I guess. I'll have to call a cab but it's only about a ten minute drive once it picks me up."

"Okay then. You do that and I'll call Amtrak."

"No Carter, it's okay. You don't need to pay for the ticket, I can do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I'm just cheap, you know that."

"Oh I know." Carter smiled to himself remembering a time back in Los Angeles when Sam had driven completely across town just to save three cents a gallon on gas. It didn't matter that half of the money she saved was used up in gas to actually get there; to Sam, she still saved money and that's what counted. "Well then I'll see you at Penn Station when you get in, okay?"

Sam rubbed her eyes, "Okay. Hey Carter?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No problem sweetie. I'll see you soon."

Sam hung up the phone and called a taxi to bring her to the train station. When she finally got there, she bought a roundtrip ticket to return early the next morning because, scholastically speaking, she couldn't afford to spend all weekend in the city. After that , she headed straight to the bathroom, "Oh my God! I look like Ozzy Osborne after being hit by a bus." Sam leaned over the counter to check her reflection in the mirror more closely. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. The very little make-up she wore had managed to make itself the most noticeable thing on her face by leaving eyeliner smeared across her lids and mascara streaked down her cheeks. Sam tried to run her fingers through her hair again and as they slid down to the ends of the strands, her eyes were drawn to the beautiful pearl that hung daintily around her neck. Holding it in her fingers again, Sam couldn't help but wonder what Austin was doing at that moment …

Austin paced his one-hundredth circle around his twenty by twenty square foot dorm room, debating how on earth he was going to find Sam and somehow fix what had happened. She wasn't answering her cell phone or the phone in her dorm. He wanted to give her some time to herself to absorb everything that had happened; actually they both needed that time really. But he fully intended on going over to her dorm sooner or later, probably sooner, to try and talk to her. The problem was that if she wasn't answering the phone in her dorm because she truly wasn't there, then he didn't know where to look for her. He still had her keys so she couldn't drive anywhere. They had only been at Princeton for two months so they didn't have any favorite hangouts yet and neither one of them knew the area very well. That made him start to worry – what if she was wandering around somewhere lost or had roamed into a dangerous neighborhood? If something happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Each time Austin completed a circle of his pacing he came face to face with Shelby sitting on his bed. "Austin, sit down. You're worrying over nothing. I'm sure she's fine and I think there are more important things we need to discuss right now."

Austin stopped mid-stride with his foot still raised in the air to take another step. Slowly, his heel touched the floor and he stood with his hands on his hips, staring down at Shelby as if she were from another planet. "Shelby, you need to leave. I cannot deal with you right now so please just go back to where you came from."

Shelby's eyelashes began fluttering and her lip started to quiver as if on cue, "Austin, how … You're throwing me out? I've just told you that I'm pregnant with your baby and you're telling me to leave?"

Austin knew how it sounded, but he honestly wasn't trying to just dismiss her and forget about her. He just needed time to clear his head and he couldn't possibly do it with her there. Austin squeezed his eyes shut and ran his hands through his hair, briefly tugging on the short follicles before sitting down on the bed. He looked seriously into Shelby's eyes and spoke calmly, "Shelby look, I am not throwing you out . I just need time to process all of this and figure out what to do next . You can't come in here and lay all of this on me then expect me to immediately become the happy and supportive father-to-be. I'm sorry if that's what you were expecting but you're not going to get that from me anytime soon. I'm not saying that I won't accept the responsibility of my actions but Shelby," Austin paused to make sure she understood his next words, "This doesn't change anything between you and me. I am in love with Sam and I am going to do everything in my power to make her forgive me."

Shelby released a small laugh as if Austin were just being silly. "But Austin, come on. I'm the one who's pregnant, not Sam. You're place is with me now." She took her hands in his, "We're finally going to be a family Austin."

Austin wrenched his hands away from her and stood up to start pacing again, "Shelby stop! You know damn well we never had a fairy tale relationship full of happy times and romance so don't act like we're just going to rekindle everything and don't delude yourself into thinking that this baby is going to magically create a perfect little life for us." Austin stood in front of Shelby and bent over to place his hands on his knees in order to look her square in the eyes, "Listen to me very carefully Shelby. I – love – Sam. This," Austin waved his index finger back and forth between the two of them. "This doesn't change anything."

"You know what?" Shelby stood up so quickly that she and Austin almost knocked heads. "Fine. I will go back to my hotel. But I'm warning you Austin, you had better call me tomorrow if you know what's good for you. I would not want to be in your shoes when Daddy finds out that you tried to brush me off."

Austin rolled his eyes, "Whatever Shelby. Please just go." Shelby gave him one last 'hmmph' then grabbed her purse and slammed the door behind her.

'Finally', Austin thought to himself. Now that he had a little room to breathe, he could try to sort through some of this. The thing that pissed him off the most was that he couldn't remember a single second of it . If he had remembered sleeping with Shelby, he most certainly would have told Sam before now. He saw how affairs and secrets had destroyed his parents and, regardless of how badly he screwed up, he would not have lied to Sam about it . That's probably a big part of why she was so upset . Sam probably thought that Austin had been hiding it from her all along in hopes that she would never find out . Austin searched his brain again for some recollection of that night but found nothing. Running his hand over his face, he muttered to himself, "How could I have let this happen?" But regardless of why or how everything happened, Austin knew that finding and talking to Sam was the first thing he needed to do. He grabbed his phone yet again and dialed her cell phone, "Damn it Sam." Austin's eyes started to burn with blurred visions of his life crumbling around him. "Please baby. Please, please answer your phone."

Sam's train pulled in to Penn Station around 9:30 and Carter was waiting for her just as he promised. By the time they had taken the subway back to his dorm, she had pretty much told him everything she knew about what had happened. After that, they had spent the remainder of the past six hours catching up and with Carter trying everything he could to make Sam laugh – she loved him for that .

Now that she had calmed down slightly, Sam was able to relax just a little but she still didn't know what she was going to say to Austin when she finally had to confront him. That was a knot that just kept tightening in her stomach. The thought of seeing his face scared her; she didn't know if she would have the strength to hold her ground or if she would just fall into his arms and never let him go.

"So who sent you the letter?" Carter asked, interrupting Sam's thoughts of self-despair while handing her the water she had asked for.

"I have no idea. There was no return address, it wasn't signed and I didn't recognize the handwriting. Actually, I think I have …" Sam grabbed her coat and reached into the pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "Well this is the envelope," she said as she handed the paper to Carter then reached back into her pocket to find the letter. When she couldn't find it in the same pocket, Sam checked all the others in her coat and on her clothes but found nothing. "It's not here. Damn it, I must have dropped it somewhere." Suddenly Sam looked down at something that had rubbed up against the insides of her ankles. "Well hello there. Who are … Carter! Oh my God, what are you feeding this thing?"

Carter looked down at the large cat at Sam's feet before turning back to the envelope in his hand. "Don't ask me. She's my roommate's not mine."

Sam looked at him incredulously, "But Carter, this animal is the size of a small dog!" Sam went back to petting the cat , "Hey cutie pie. What's your name?"

"Princess Fattypus," Carter answered for the cat, not removing his eyes from the paper in his hands.

"Carter! That is not her name."

"Yes, it is."

"How could you name her that? You're going to give her a complex or something."

"Again, she's my roommate's not mine. Besides, we call her Princess for short so the only complex she has is that she is too magnificent for all of us." Looking more closely at the envelope, Carter changed the subject, "Sam, this envelope isn't even postmarked. It wasn't actually mailed to you."

Sam stood up and moved closer to him to see the envelope. "What are you talking about?"

Carter pointed to the top right corner of the paper, "There's a stamp that whomever wrote it put on it , but there's no postmark stamp that the post office uses to mark when and where it came from."

"So the person who wrote this put it in my mailbox personally?" Sam asked running her fingers over the non-postmarked postage stamp.

"Or had someone do it for them maybe," Carter added.

"But there's no one else from our class at North Valley High here at Princeton with us, not that I know of anyway. So who would do that?"

"I don't know sweetie." Carter looked sympathetically at his friend, "But it seems a little strange if you ask me."