Diane stood in the elevator on her way up to the office, checking once again if the blazer she chose to wear today was indeed able to hide the bump together with the new blouse she had bought. If the growth of her belly continued as fast as it did right now, then Diane would be forced to tell people by week 13.
With another week gone by, Diane had also grown a little more accustomed to her pregnancy, which meant she wasn't close to a nervous breakdown whenever she looked at her abdomen or only thought about the baby. But naturally, she still wasn't at that point where she was all over the moon and in full pregnancy mode, buying stuff, preparing the nursery, and so on.
Diane had decided to keep the baby and was comfortable with that decision. She wasn't as far as to share the sparks of happiness, love, and adoration, though. They still belonged to her alone. Small private moments when she was all alone, lying on her sofa or bed, her fingers caressing the bump, feeling the new kind of firmness beneath her skin, imagining the other heart beating within her, her baby.
What really made her worry these days was Will. Diane still hadn't found the courage to tell him she was pregnant, but with every day her pregnancy progressed, she knew the day when she had to tell him neared. She knew she had to tell him before it was too late. Diane wanted him to know before more people found out, even if that meant to do so before the highly critical phase of the pregnancy was over in about three weeks.
Having talked to Kalinda quite often in the last few days, since she was the only one who knew, really made her realize that Will had the right to know. Even if there would be no baby, he had the right to know he would be a father, no matter what happened in the future.
Suppressing a sigh, Diane let her free hand disappear in the pocket of her coat so she would stop fumbling with her clothes right before the elevator doors opened. Greeted by the sight of her busy employees, Diane made her way towards her office; her assistant was already waiting for her.
"Good morning Lisa, any new appointments for today?" she asked with a smile, and Lisa followed her inside the office with the usual stack of paperwork that had already gathered in the time before she had arrived.
"Good morning Diane, not yet, but Mr. Donovan called because of the Watson lawsuit. He would like you to call back later," she said as she placed the stack of papers on her desk.
"Alright, thanks." with that, the younger woman left, and Diane sighed as she eyed the paperwork she had to go through today. Only then did she notice the package of crackers and the note laying next to it.
'Don't forget to eat something!'
Diane couldn't stop the smile. Kalinda really had been a blessing the past few days, she was always around making sure that Diane was doing okay since she still had a strong case of morning sickness and would sometimes avoid eating in fear of getting sick again. But she did way more than that. Whenever she could, Kalinda would continue to work in Diane's office when the others had already gone home, and these times were crucial to Diane as she finally didn't have to pretend or be constantly alerted so nobody would find out about the baby.
Knowing if she delayed her work any longer, she would regret it tonight, Diane started to work on the pile of paperwork on her desk. No matter how many of them she had already worked herself through, there were still days she was amazed by the sheer amount of it. If only half the people working here, some of the partners, knew how much boring and annoying work there actually was, they sure as hell wouldn't try to get her off the job so desperately.
"Diane?" halfway through the workday, Diane was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts on the file in front of her by Will's voice. She had managed to work off quite a bit of the paperwork mountain, being only interrupted by three trips to the bathroom to throw up. Looking up, her heart rate instantly went up, which caused her to get a little nauseous again, and Diane shifted even closer to her desk though there was no way he could see her bump. It really was ridiculous, but Diane couldn't help herself, she didn't want him to simply find out. Instead, she wanted to talk to him about it and have an honest conversation with him.
"Hi, how did the motion hearing go?" Diane asked with a small smile trying to play it cool as she forced herself to calm down.
"Good, your pal Abernathy actually ruled in our favor this time," Will said as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.
"He's not my pal, he-" Diane began, but Will grinned and lifted his hands in mock defeat.
"I know, I know, but I love to annoy you with it," he replied and leaned back in the chair.
"Sure you do, but I also have some good news. Donovan called me earlier, the Watson lawsuit, you remember?" Diane began and watched how Will thought about it for a moment.
"The old people who died in the retirement home due to presumed willful negligence by the owners ?" Will asked, and Diane nodded.
"We settled."
"What? For how much?" Will sat up straighter.
"Our limit was 6.5 Million, and we got 10. So that means 4 Million for us." Diane said, and Will's arms flew up while he stared at her in surprise and disbelief.
"No! Really?"
"Yes," Diane confirmed and couldn't help but smile again at his excitement.
"You are magnificent, Di! God, we needed that," Will said as he got with a small laugh and walked around in her desk, and before she could stop him, Will had pulled her up and into his arms. Diane thought her heart stopped for a second. They hadn't been this close since they had slept together. God, how much she had missed this, missed him. She didn't know how it was possible, but she actually calmed down in his arms, and while almost every other smell made her nauseous these days, Will's did not. Why couldn't things be easier?
Why couldn't they live in a world where it didn't matter if she was pregnant with his baby, where they could be happy about their child like most parents around the globe. When Diane could feel Will's arms around her all the time and didn't have to feel ashamed by her fluttering heart whenever he was this close to her. A world in which she was brave enough to tell him she was pregnant and scared out of her mind about the future, that she needed him by her side because she couldn't do this without him.
But that was all wish thinking, and Diane was too much of a coward than to tell Will right now. So instead, before she began to cry, she continued the conversation about their newest success. Trying to avoid the emotional breakdown, her thoughts, emotions, and especially her hormones were causing her.
"I really didn't do much. They just found the last traces of humanity they had left and decided to settle before this could end way worse for them than it already did." Diane answered quietly as they continued to hug, both still lost in their little world, not caring if anyone could see them. When Will didn't answer her, though, Diane grew a little nervous. Why didn't he say something?
"Will?"
"You look beautiful today, and I just...I miss talking to you, holding you. It feels like in the last few weeks, we barely even saw each other. Is this how it's going to be from now on? Because if so, I'd rather forget it ever happened, I want you back, Diane, I want us back." his words, as well as the change of his mood, surprised her, and if she was honest, Diane didn't know what to say to him right now. No matter what happened, it would never be like before their night together. They had opened Pandora's box. They had given in to their feelings for each other though they had wordlessly agreed not to a long time ago. Now it had happened, and they had been sure there would be no consequences for them, only for Diane to find out she carried the paragon of consequences in her womb.
"Will I-" no, she wouldn't find some weak excuses, not today. "I miss you too, but there is just so much going on...maybe we can talk about everything tonight?" Diane offered as she put a little distance between them and looked into his face, hoping he would agree to it. That Will would agree to talk about them and unknowingly agree to find out he was going to be a father. To Diane's relief, Will nodded slowly.
"Yeah...of course, do you wanna go somewhere specific?" he said and suddenly looked more relaxed than he did before Diane answered him.
"No, just somewhere where we can talk in private."
"Alright, I'll see what I can do, I have to be in court again, and then I have to meet with Lionel. I'll pick you up as soon as I'm finished, my guess is half-past seven, okay?" Will asked, and Diane nodded.
With a smile, he leaned down and pressed a short but sweet kiss on her cheek before he left her office as Diane sunk down on her chair again. It took her a moment to realize what happened. They would meet tonight, and then Diane had to tell Will that she was pregnant with his baby. Now she had a little over five hours left to figure out how exactly she was going to do that. But Diane had not the slightest idea how to tell him. Then again, maybe it was for the best if she didn't overthink things and simply told him, or else she would only worry and go mad over nothing.
Carefully Diane leaned down after she made sure nobody was around and pulled the pregnancy book, on which she had put another cover, of course, from her bag. Hidden inside of the book was the sonogram of their child. For the first time, looking at the picture calmed her down instead of scaring her of the future, no matter what happened tonight, Diane would do everything to have this baby, her child.
It was absolutely amazing. In the three weeks since the sonogram had been taken, their baby had grown from an embryo barely recognizable as a human being to a fetus with hands and feet, bones starting to form, organs beginning to work, and even recognizable facial features. It simply was a wonder, and Diane actually couldn't wait for her next appointment where she would see her baby again and how it had developed. Maybe, if their conversation went okay, Will would like to accompany her, she couldn't help but hope so.
But fate had yet another plan because Will never showed up.
Diane waited for over three hours for Will, she wrote him messages and called him but received no answers. She simply didn't understand why? What had happened that Will didn't want to talk with her anymore? Why had he changed his mind? They hadn't spoken after Will had left for court, so it was nothing she could have said or done. Diane had even called Kalinda and asked her if she could contact Will, but after a few minutes, she got a message from her friend telling her she couldn't get a hold of him either.
Diane turned the lights off in her office and left to drive home on her own. It had been too good to be true. There was no way that Will had only forgotten, he had ignored her calls. If he didn't want to talk, why hadn't he simply told her so? Had he changed his mind in the hours after their last talk, deciding that maybe forgetting about what had happened was easier and the better solution for him? Diane felt so stupid and naive and didn't like to admit it, but she really was hurt.
When she arrived home, Diane carelessly threw her briefcase on her couch and slipped out of her shoes. She would love to have a drink now, but of course she couldn't have one, so instead she went straight to bed. Maybe she could read a book to keep her mind from speculating and overthinking everything that had happened, to silence that little voice that tried to tell her how dumb she was for believing for one second they would end up as a happy little family. Pregnancy hormones really were the worst. Diane could deal with almost everything else, though the nausea was also something she could live without, but almost crying twenty times a day because of vanities was really frustrating. Especially for Diane, who had to keep her emotions in check and wouldn't let anybody breach the walls she had so carefully constructed around herself.
With all of this going on in her head, Diane gave up on reading after a few minutes because she just couldn't focus on the words. Carelessly throwing the book on the always empty side of her bed, she then laid in the dark and stared at the ceiling. Her hand came to lay on her bump like it happened almost every night now, she could do this on her own, couldn't she? If Will didn't want to be involved in the baby's life, then she was the last person to force him to; nobody ever had to know. Nobody would ever assume that it could be Will's baby. Diane's hand stroked over her bump. She really did love her baby, she wanted this baby, and she would raise her child alone if she had to.
Diane found almost no sleep that night, and she had dark circles under her eyes to prove it the following day. But she couldn't care less about her appearance today, Diane just wanted to get this day done and go home again. She just felt miserable, and the sleepless night didn't exactly help that much with the other pregnancy symptoms. Diane hadn't even been able to keep her tea down this morning. She should have called in sick and stayed in bed all day; that sounded way better than forcing herself to get through the day at the firm.
Against her expectations, her mood reached a new low when she saw Will sitting by her desk, waiting for her. Diane really didn't want to deal with that right now. The hurt from yesterday was still fresh, and she couldn't help but feel angry too, her hormones creating an explosive mix, and she would love to just scream at him and tell him what an asshole he was. But Diane wouldn't do that because then everyone would know, and that was absolutely the last thing she wanted, so she swallowed her anger down as much as she could.
"Don't you have work to do?" she asked as she strode past him and came to stand behind her desk, throwing the paperwork Lisa had handed her on the desk with a little bit more force than needed.
"I want to apologize. I know I fucked up, Di, I just…I couldn't do it-"
"Fine, if you wanted to take back everything you said yesterday, then have the fucking decency to at least answer my calls and just tell me, I deserve that much! I waited for hours Will, I'm not one of your stupid little sluts you play around with, so don't you treat me like one. You don't want to talk that's alright, we'll forget it ever happened, end of the story."
"Wait, no, Diane, that's not what I want! I want to talk about us, please I'm sorry I acted like a fucking idiot. I should have taken your calls and explained...but I didn't know how to tell you," Will said and ran his hands through his hair.
"What?" Diane asked coldly, not sure if she wanted to hear what he had to say.
"Lionel said it was anonymous, but I know it was Wendy Scott-Carr. She went to the bar's Attorney Compliance and Disciplinary board and told them that I took money from a client back when I was still in Baltimore. That's why Lionel wanted to talk to me yesterday. I'm going to be disbarred, Diane." at once, all the anger, all the hurt vanished as she looked at Will and saw his despair.
"What?" this time the word left her mouth differently, not cold and indifferent. Diane couldn't believe it. Wendy Scott-Carr had denounced Will at the bar association? Was she that fixated on him that she couldn't tolerate him winning and just had to ruin his life? What was wrong with her? They hadn't done anything to deserve that; it wasn't their fault that she had lost to Peter, why wasn't she trying to ruin Eli's career who had done everything to get Peter to win?
"What are you going to do?" she asked as she sunk down on her chair, but Will only let out a short, humorless laugh.
"What do you want me to do? You know I did it, Diane. I don't- there is nothing I can do. I'm paying the price for my stupidity. Once they have you in their grasp, they won't let you go until they crushed everything." Will answered and not meeting her eyes in shame. Confessing this to the woman who was his best friend and for whom he felt much more was hard, Will was sure that Diane wouldn't want anything to do with him after this. He couldn't blame her, not after what he had done yesterday, but Will couldn't meet her after Lionel had told him.
He had planned to ask her if she could imagine them starting to date because, since that night, Will couldn't stop thinking about her. He didn't give a fuck about what everyone else might think, that was none of their business, it was their life, and in Will's case, he didn't want to spend the rest of his life thinking about what could have been if he had been brave enough to ask Diane out. His ordeal with the indictment had taught him that everything could be taken from you, but naively Will had believed to have more time left to talk to Diane. Only to have Wendy Scott-Carr come in at the last second to take this last chance from him.
"No, I won't let that happen. If you don't want to do anything, then I will. I'm sick and tired of people trying to ruin us and especially Wendy Scott-Carr, if she has an inferiority complex because Peter won, she is more than welcome to try and have her revenge on those who are really to blame! It's not our fault she was stupid enough to get fucked over by Peter and lost the case against you. I'm done with their shit." Diane told him, and she meant it, goddammit, she was pregnant and had enough to deal with right now. If Will lost his license, then they could file for bankruptcy right now, then their firm was history.
With that Diane got up, and before Will could say another word, she had already left her office and was on her way to the elevators. Like hell she would let them ruin Will's life. While she was still hurt and somewhat angry at him, she definitely didn't want to see him suffer like this.
For the first time she would put good use to these mood swings and the hormones, and for the first time she really understood why it was a bad idea to mess with a pregnant woman.
When she arrived at the offices of the Illinois Bar Association in Chicago, Diane ignored the front desk and marched right up to where she knew Lionel's office was. But it turned out she didn't have to go that far because she already heard Lionel's voice calling her name when she walked around a corner.
"Diane?" Diane turned around, and when she did, she could clearly see him swallow and flinch a little. He had already been a friend of her father, so they knew each other long enough for him to know when she was angry. And she was furious right now.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Lionel?!" knowing immediately what she was talking about and wanting to prevent a major scene in the hallways, the older man quickly lead her into an empty conference room nearby.
"What do you expect us to do, Diane? Will gambled with a client's money, he knew what he was doing, and there is no statute of limitation here. He was reported, and we have to act, there is nothing I can do."
"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Diane hissed, "You let lawyers off the hook who have done things way worse than Will, and you damn well know it. But, sadly for you, you choose the wrong time to do this, so I will give you one chance to talk to the others on this, or else I'm gonna spill all of your dirty little secrets! I have something on every single one of you." Diane spoke unfazed and coldly, and Lionel's eyes narrowed.
"I know you, Diane, you wouldn't do that," he answered, but she could hear the doubt behind his words, so Diane stepped even closer to him and held his gaze.
"Try me, Lionel. If we go down, I'll gladly pull all of you down with us." with that last threat, Diane turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. God, that felt good. Just because she played fair most of the time, people liked to think she couldn't fight back, and they tended to be most shocked and, as a result, easy prey when she showed that underestimating her was a big mistake.
Due to various court appears and client meetings both Diane and Will had this day, and in Will's case, the appeal in front of the panel of the Attorneys Compliance and Disciplinary board, they didn't see each other until they once again were one the only ones left behind at the firm.
Like on so many other days, Diane once more stood in front of the open window in her office, not only trying to fight the almost constant feeling of nausea but also with the attempt to let the cold night air chase some of the sleepiness away.
"You're my heroine Di," Will's voice made her flinch in surprise, and she whirled around to see him closing the door to her office behind him.
"Will! You almost gave me a heart attack! How did it go with the board?" Diane replied as she tried to calm her beating heart and took a few steps towards him. Will ignored what she had said, though.
"They offered me a six months suspension," he answered, and Diane's face fell. Six months? That was all? She couldn't believe it; six months away from the law would kill him. She knew Will, he couldn't stay away from his work for so long, not to mention that in six months, she would be almost nine months pregnant and could go into labor any time, and she really didn't plan to have her baby in the office or at court.
"A six months suspension?! That was their only offer?" she asked, but Will's reaction surprised her. He smiled at her.
"Diane, they were going to disbar me. Thanks to you I only have to stay out of the law for six months rather than the rest of my life! Did you really threaten to reveal the secrets you knew about every board member?" Will questioned, and Diane couldn't help but look a little embarrassed, now that the anger had vanished, though she didn't regret a single word she said to Lionel.
"I kind of did." Will shook his head, amused, and he had wrapped his arms around her in the next second. It took her a second to overcome her surprise and lay her arms around him. She had wanted to stay strong this time, let herself not get roped back into his arms. But it seemed like it was always in vain, Will was her weak spot, no matter what happened, how much he hurt her, she still felt so much for him, and when he held her, Diane finally felt whole, and her heart still beats fast whenever they were this close.
"You saved me again...even though I didn't deserve it," he whispered, and Diane closed her eyes.
"That was the deal, remember? We always have each other's backs." when Will pulled away in the next second, Diane kept her eyes closed, trying to savor the feeling for a little while longer. What she didn't expect was to feel Will's lips on hers in a passionate kiss. They both knew they shouldn't, not here, not now, but they had missed this more than anything ever before, and for a short precious moment, nothing else mattered to them, only they existed right now.
Will pulled her even closer to him, so much that if not for the moment, Diane would have feared he could feel her bump pressed against his belly, and she ignored the pain outgoing from her breasts being pressed against Will's chest. One of Diane's hands was buried in his hair as she used her other hand to hold herself close to him.
Every second, the kiss grew more heated and passionate, almost like it had been during their night together. His lips were warm and demanding against her own. God, the kiss was even better than it was in her memory, Will knew how to kiss, he wasn't just smashing his lips against hers or forcing his tongue down her throat.
All too soon, though, they both had to part to breathe normally again. But Will continued to hold Diane so close to him that even if she wanted to, she wasn't sure she could have left his embrace.
"I'm sorry, I just...I really wanted to kiss you again since that night." Will whispered, and Diane smiled a little.
"Me too, I-" but before Diane could finish the sentence, they heard a door slam shut somewhere outside her office and quickly parted. Only a few seconds later, Kalinda, followed by an associate from the case, who held a laptop in his arms, walked inside her office.
"I just talk to Samir! He might have found Sarah! Viola Walsh might be right, and Samir is going to send us another picture," Kalinda said, pretending not to notice how Will and Diane tried to bring some distance between them. Unknown to them both, she had seen them kiss, and when she had heard the associate approaching, she had quickly kicked a door shut, hoping to prevent them from the awkwardness of being caught by an employee.
After that, the moment Diane and Will had was gone, both had to focus on the task at hand, helping their client. They knew that now was just not the time, and they had to delay their talk once again.
Unknown to either of the three, though, another person had also witnessed their kiss, and they certainly weren't so delighted about what they had seen.
In the week following Will's suspension, Diane didn't have time for anything else apart from work. If her workload had been heavy before, it was almost unbearable now. She spent day and night at the office, even without her pregnancy, it would have been difficult, but now Diane was physically and mentally close to a breakdown.
Like every day for six days now, her office was swarmed with assistants and lawyers. Diane felt like her office had turned into a highway, she hadn't had one single minute to herself since she stepped inside the firm that morning. There was a constant headache throbbing behind her eyes for over a day now, and today the 'growing pains in her womb she had already experienced a few times were particularly distinct. If Dr. Jones hadn't reassured her they were normal, she would have been worried about that, but now they only meant another complication in addition to all the others.
For the hundredth time that day, her phone rang, and Diane was tempted to just throw it across the room.
"Diane Lockhart?"
"Hey, how are you?" Will's voice was her calm in the storm. Because of the work, Diane hadn't had time to see him, and therefore they had barely talked to each other at all.
"I feel like I live at Grand Central Station nowadays... don't you want to write your big autobiography here? And fake my sign on some files and papers in between?" Diane asked, and she heard Will chuckle.
"I'd love to, believe me, but I think Lionel would see it as a violation against the rules of my suspension."
"Since when do you care about rules?" she couldn't help but ask as she signed yet another two documents held under her nose by two assistants.
"Since they could keep me away from the law forever...and from you." god, how much she wished to be alone right now so she could honestly answer him.
"You know that's not true, I-" but it was useless, the people swarming her were making every real conversation pointless. "I'm sorry, I don't have the time right now, Will. I'll call you back, okay?"
"Sure, take a break now and then, Di, don't work yourself to death."
"I'll try, bye Will."
"Goodbye, Di." with that she hung up and rubbed her temples. "Okay, that's enough! Would you please-" but a sharp stab of pain in her abdomen caused her to pause, and she had to bit her lip to keep from making any noise. Maybe it was luck or coincidence, but Kalinda had walked inside her office just in time to witness that.
"Get out! All of you, now, out!" she said, and while Diane and Will were the bosses, nobody was dumb enough to get on Kalinda's wrong side, so it didn't take long for everyone to flee from Diane's office, so it was just the two of them left.
"Are you okay?" Kalinda asked as she leaned against Diane's desk, blocking off the view on Diane as best as she could.
"Yeah, but it turns out pregnancy isn't all sunshine and roses like they display it in movies and TV," Diane said as she used the moment to rub over the side of the bump in the hope of helping ease the pain.
"And working twenty-four-seven like a machine surely doesn't help either, Diane. You look horrible, you have to take a break. Nobody can do this all on their own."
"What do you want me to do, Kalinda? Do you think I like it? If I take a break, then three hundred people are going to lose their job. I-" Diane paused before she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.
"Fine, then I'm will give you a break. If I see you here in the next two hours, I'm going to drive you home and tie you to your sofa! You know I will do that!" the younger woman said as she grabbed a good portion of the files and documents on her table.
"Wait, what are you going to do with that?"
"I'll divide the work between David, Julius, and Martha. They're all too scared to say no to me, and you'll take a break, Diane, you need it." Diane tried to argue with her, but the chance to finally get out of there and have a moment to herself was too tempting, she knew Kalinda was right, and she would thank her later. As fast as she could, Diane took her coat and purse and left the office.
A few minutes later, she sat in her car and enjoyed the silence. It felt like it had been days in which she just had a moment to herself. Nobody wanted anything from her, nobody that drowned her in paperwork, just silence.
Now she had two hours to get by, then she had to appear in court. She could spend the time alone in some restaurant or drive home and get about half an hour of sleep before she had to be on her way again. Because of those limited options, another thought arose in her mind, she could visit Will. The idea of seeing him again, being close to him, maybe even kiss him or let him hold her in his arms sounded like heaven to her.
Forty minutes later, she stood already in front of his door and rang his doorbell. But when the door opened, Diane thought for a second that in her state of mind, she had ended up in front of the wrong door. Then she recognized the woman as Will's younger sister Audrey, who had been traveling across Europe the last time Will had mentioned her.
"Diane? Oh my god, it's been so long! How are you?" before Diane could even say anything, Audrey had wrapped her in a short but tight hug and then pulled her inside the apartment.
"Hello Audrey, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Europe?" Diane asked as the younger woman continued to pull her towards Will's living area and onto the couch.
"Oh yes, I was, but then Will called and told us he was suspended, so I decided to come back and keep my big brother company! But how are you doing, Diane? We haven't seen each other in ages, last time had to be Will's 43 birthday." Audrey asked, and under different circumstances, Diane would have had no problem with Audrey. Diane liked his sisters, though sometimes it was hard to believe the three of them were even related. But today she just couldn't handle Audrey's bubbly and active self.
"Well, I'm as fine as I can be with a firm to lead all by myself, but apart from that-" I'm eleven weeks pregnant with your niece or nephew, congrats! Diane said in her head and almost had to laugh. "Apart from that, I'm fine," she told her and looked around; there was no sight of Will.
"Is Will even home, Audrey?"
"Oh no, he's not, he said he would get us something to eat because his fridge is an empty void, but I think he is taking extra time because he needs some time to accept I'm here for a couple of days." Audrey knew it annoyed her brother that she was staying with him, but they were siblings, so she could be there for him and annoy him at the same time.
"Oh, okay...well, I-I actually only wanted to swing by on my way to court to see how he was doing. I don't have much time, so I should go now."
"But I bet Will is going to be back any minute now! You don't have time for a tiny glass of wine? It's almost four, and it's not like you're a cop!" Audrey said, and Diane knew she really meant it well.
"I'm sorry, I really can't stay," Diane explained as she got up.
"Fine, but we absolutely have to have dinner while I'm here!" Audrey answered as she got up as well and tried to reach for Diane's arm while Diane attempted to swing her purse over her shoulder, which caused Aubrey's hand to collide with her purse and send it flying from her hand and onto the ground a few feet away, spilling its content on the floor.
"Shit! Diane! I'm so sorry!" Audrey apologized as she, way faster than Diane, crouched down to gather everything that had fallen out of the purse. Diane tried too, but another stab of pain in her abdomen prevented her from doing so.
"It's no big deal, and I'd be happy to have dinner with you, but I hardly get to leave the office these days, so I don't know if I can make the time," Diane said, her voice sounding a little forced as she tried to breathe through the pain, which, contrary to earlier times, only faded slowly. She hoped Aubrey didn't notice.
"Alright, that's-" but when Will's little sister stood back up and handed Diane her purse, she paused, and suddenly her bubbly face displayed worry, "Are you okay, Diane?"
"Yes, I'm fine... it's just the work, but I really have to go now." Diane apologized as she quickly slipped past Audrey and hurried towards the door, "It was nice seeing you again, Audrey, and I hope we can have dinner sometime!" Aubrey didn't even have time to answer before Diane was already out the door.
Both of them hadn't noticed the sonogram lying under the coffee table.
Diane got inside the elevator as fast as possible, and only when the doors had closed behind her did she allow herself to take a deep breath and let out the painful groan. The pain had never been this severe before, was something wrong? No, her baby was fine. Dr. Jones had told her it was normal to experience some pain, after all, her womb was steadily growing to accommodate a rapidly growing fetus. Everything was okay; this was normal, it was just the stress of the last few days, Diane persuaded herself. And sure enough, halfway through the elevator ride, the pain had almost subsided, calming her down again.
She just hoped that Audrey didn't think that she had practically fled from Will's apartment because of her, Diane really did like her a great deal, and under different circumstances, she would have loved to spend time with Audrey. But seeing her had brutally reminded Diane that it wasn't just Will she had to tell because he still had a family left, unlike her. He had two sisters and his mother back in Baltimore, they too had the right to know about the baby, though she would let Will decide if he wanted to tell them or not.
What would their reaction to the news be? What would they say when they found out Diane, of all people, was pregnant with their niece or nephew or grandchild. Diane knew that Will's mother was pushing him to find a nice woman and give her another grandchild to dote on. But what if they found out she was the mother? What if they didn't accept their baby?
Shaking her head, Diane quickly banned these thoughts from her mind. She couldn't think about that now because there was no way to know how they would react until they told them. It was pointless to overthink things, especially since Diane really had other things to worry about right now. With a big sigh leaving her lips, she made her way to her car. Instead of talking to Will, this trip had only wasted her time, now she had no time to do anything else, or she would be too late for court.
Unnerved, Diane decided to drive to court and just take a short nap inside her car. It was better than nothing. But once she sat in her car Diane groaned in frustration since her briefcase was nowhere to be seen, in her hurry to get out of the firm, she must have left it in her office. This day couldn't get any worse. Now she had to drive back to the firm if she wanted to or not, but maybe she could take a nap in her office. Surely Kalinda wouldn't have something against that.
When Diane stepped out of her car once she had made it back to the firm, she turned around to shut the door and walk away. But before she could even take one step, searing pain shot through her whole body, outgoing from her abdomen. The pain was so bad that Diane cried out and doubled over, so she had to hold herself up in the open door frame of the car, or she would have fallen to the ground.
She couldn't breathe, she couldn't see, she couldn't think. All there was, was this pain that consumed her whole being. For a few seconds, Diane's entire world consisted of pain. Then, slowly, after what felt like hours, her brain began functioning again, but there was only one thing on her mind.
Where did this pain come from? Was her baby okay? What was happening? What- but then another wave of pain made every other thought impossible. With this, her world came crashing down and burst into a million pieces. Unable to do anything to stop it, Diane felt a torrent of fluid from within her run down her legs. She didn't need to look to know what it was, but she did it anyway, her body moving on its own accord, and for a few seconds, she stared at her blood-covered hand unable to process what that meant.
Because it couldn't be, no, not now, this couldn't be happening now when she had made it this far. No, it wasn't possible, it simply couldn't be true. Her baby had to be okay, she was already so far along, almost twelve weeks, it was supposed to be okay now...No, no, no. It couldn't be over, she had been fine- She needed help! Diane had to get help, she had to get to Dr. Jones, she had to help her, she couldn't lose her baby!
With blood still running down her legs and shaking hands, Diane searched for her phone, and it almost slipped through her fingers because of the blood and how bad they were shaking. She then called the only person that could help her.
"I thought I told you to take a break Diane," Kalinda said as she took the call, sounding like a mother who told her child to clean up their room for the tenth time.
"Kalinda? I need help...god please, you have to help me," Diane whimpered, scared out of her mind to even say the following words.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Where are you, Diane?" instantly the tone of her friend changed. She knew that this was serious.
"Kalinda...Kalinda, I think I'm having a miscarriage... I'm losing my baby." Diane cried and took a shaky breath, trying with all her might not to break down, as speaking the words out loud made her understand the whole meaning of the situation, made her realize that this was not a nightmare, that this was really happening.
"Where are you, Diane?! Tell me where you are!" Kalinda had jumped up from her seat at the conference table and ran as fast as she possibly could. She ran straight to the stairs since she knew the elevator wouldn't get her down fast enough, and she begged that she would reach Diane in time to help her and prevent this from happening. Kalinda was probably one of the most unreligious persons on earth, but right now, she prayed to every known god that this was not happening to her friend.
"I'm on the parking level, oh god Kalinda, please I-"
"I'm on my way! Diane, I'm on my way, it's going to be okay!" Kalinda said that knowing there was the possibility that nothing would be okay ever again.
Hello, my dear readers!
I umm...I already apologize for this chapter and the cliffhanger. Therefore, I promise that in the next chapter, Will will find out about the baby and that he is (or was) going to be a father. I hope you are still going to tell me what you think about it in a review?
As always, stay safe, my lovelies!