March 30, 2019

I don't know if I'm really good at guessing plots, or if the timing just worked out, but *SPOILERS FOR LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE* I had this gut feeling about her moving out. I wrote the first scene before the episode aired and had a really great laugh about it.

To the folks who left me messages about it, I expected to only see Liam for a hot second, and I'm sad we'll have to wait until April 19th for the next episode, but after that it looks like there won't be any more breaks! Six left until the season finale though. *pouts*

"Fallon!" Kirby cried when the door opened upon Fallon's return home that afternoon. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Why do people keep saying that? Tell you what?"

"You tell Adam you're pregnant but not me?"

Fallon scoffed, holding up a hand in her absolute befuddlement. "I- Excuse me? I haven't told that gold-digging, wannabe-Blake anything."

She took a moment to look around after that, realizing that the staff or any member of her family could've overheard them.

Kirby set her hands on her hips, frustrated. "Then how does he know you're pregnant?"

"I'm not, first of all. But obviously he would've heard that from Ada."

"Obviously?" Kirby parroted, following Fallon as she started heading through the house.

"You want to play pool, Kirby?" Fallon kept walking, heading out the back door and going downstairs towards the pool house.

"That isn't some bizarre baby-related saying, is it? You Americans have the strangest phrases."

Fallon nearly smiled at that one, looking over her shoulder. "No. But it's more private that the manor. We won't be overheard there."

So the women made their way over, making sure they were firmly secure behind closed doors. Kirby hopped up on top of the pool table, but Fallon went straight for a pool cue.

"Get down," Fallon told her, waving a hand in her direction. "If we're in here, we might as well get some use out of it. Lord knows nobody else does."

Kirby stepped down and picked up a cue, waiting for Fallon to hand the chalk over. "So, let's go over this again. You're not pregnant."

"Nope." Fallon lined up the balls in the rack, sliding it back and forth a little before removing the rack to set up a shot and break them. "But Michael, Ada and now Adam think that I am." She made her shot, sinking a striped one. "And they need to keep thinking so. You're solids."

Kirby walked around the table, eyeing her options as Fallon moved to do the same. "Okay, but what about when they tell Blake or Cristal? Steven wouldn't care, but those two would probably react pretty strongly."

"They'll probably assume I didn't say anything because they lost the baby," Fallon mused. "But we just have to avoid questions until I get Michael fired. Liam's mother is already prepared to do so, but I just need to get him worked up enough that he makes another scene."

"Knowing you two, that won't be hard," Kirby said, almost joking. "If they're going to bother you about this, why stay here? That just gives them more chances to ask or figure it out."

"Where do you think I should go, then?"

"You're twenty-six. You never thought about moving out?" Kirby missed her shot, but didn't really care since she wasn't trying very hard. She wouldn't win against Fallon anyway.

Fallon frowned, but walked over to the other side of the table to line up again. "Of course I have. But usually any time I start to consider it, something happens and I end up staying."

Leaning against her pool cue, Kirby mirrored Fallon's frown. "It doesn't seem like that has worked out very well for you."

"Yet here I am," Fallon muttered, sinking another ball and moving on to the next. "I could go stay at the Ritz or something, but that doesn't guarantee they'll be out of sight or mind, considering this family."

"Maybe not. But I can try and keep them from finding you if you want."

Fallon stood up straight to consider that, before finally saying, "Yeah, that's fair. Maybe you're right. But once Adam spreads the word, they'll assume I ran away to hide the truth. It'll only reinforce their assumptions."

"Isn't that good, for now?" Kirby asked, getting more and more confused about what Fallon actually wanted to achieve.

"Yeah," Fallon agreed, leaning over and sinking the last of the striped billiard balls. "So how do we get me in and out before they notice it? Especially before Adam shows up."

"I could say we're going to visit my mum," Kirby offered. "Dad would probably be the only surprised one, but I haven't exactly been the type to stay in one place this long anyway."

Fallon turned her chin a little, eyeing Kirby. "You want to move out with me?"

"Well you don't have to make it sound weird. You need an alibi, and we're a team now, right? Friends?"

Kirby's hopeful expression surprised Fallon enough into a nearly-instant cave. "Yeah, sure. Okay, well then we both need to pack. I'll be ready to leave by dinner if uninterrupted. I'll take a fake call, refuse to talk to anyone on the way upstairs, and we'll be out of here before Anders rings the dinner bell."

After checking into the hotel, Fallon dove straight back into work, and Kirby realized how dull it must be to live with Fallon if she wasn't the person you were seeing. What did Fallon even do for fun? Drink? Kirby figured she could arrange that. Just as she started to look at the menu to order something of that nature up to their shared living area, Fallon's phone rang.

"Blake," Fallon greeted as she answered it. "How's dinner?"

"We're two places over-set, actually," Blake drawled. "Or, three, if we're speaking technically? When were you going to tell us?"

"I wasn't."

She heard him scoff on the other end of the line and rolled her eyes.

"Fallon, I don't know if this disappearance is brought on by Adam or your secret lovechild or what, but you and Kirby need to turn around."

"Sorry, daddy. I can't. We're wheels up any minute."

"You're not," Blake countered. "The plane hasn't been taken out."

Fallon laughed a little, setting her laptop aside to lean back on the couch. "Yes, I'm aware, thanks. We're doing this Kirby's way. But if you want to send it over to pick us up when you're done, I wouldn't complain."

"When you two are done goofing off down under, maybe you'll actually try to spend some time with your brother."

"I see Steven every day, actually. We could both do with a break."

"You know who I meant, Fallon."

Fallon sighed heavily, looking over at Kirby and nodding fervently when the redhead held up the drink menu and pointed at the Southside she knew Fallon liked so much. "Listen, Daddy. This is a good thing, isn't it? You get to spend more time with your former-doctor son, and I won't be there to ruin it. We both win!"

"Well, when you're through being selfish, let me know. I'll consider letting you come back home."

He ended the call and left Fallon with a level of shock she hadn't expected. She was being selfish by accompanying her friend – Steven's half sister – to visit her family? At least, she was pretending to. God, Fallon wasn't sure anyone in her family, herself included, knew what selfish even meant. It clearly had too many definitions for her to keep up with.

"What's that face for?" Kirby asked. "It worked, didn't it?"

Fallon shook her head, figuring her disappointment didn't matter. "It did. Just wondering how long it's going to take for that drink to get here."

"I'll place the order."

A couple of Southsides later, Fallon had her reports done for the next day and had moved on to picking out an outfit for the next day. Her phone rang, again. But this time she glanced at the ID and ignored the call, tossing her cell onto her bed. Kirby, of course, couldn't help snooping.

"Why didn't you answer his call?"

"Liam's mad at me. Whatever he has to say, I don't think I want to hear it. Not until he's had time to take it all in."

Kirby flopped across the bed, watching Fallon upside down as she held a shirt and set of trousers up in front of her before a long mirror. "Maybe he has. Just call him back."

A ding sounded, and Kirby held Fallon's phone up to look at it. "He says it's important."

"You wanna read through my emails, too?" Fallon turned to frown at her.

"Fallon. Call him."

It took a moment, but Fallon eventually rolled her eyes and set the clothes down, snatching her phone to dial his number. He didn't answer with a hello, much to her surprise.

"I'm sorry."

Fallon deflated immediately, unprepared for something other than a fight. "...Oh?"

"Yeah. I get why you're doing it," he said, sounding truly apologetic. "I don't mean to jump over the problem at hand, but there's something else. I have to go to New York on Monday to meet with my editor. So I won't be around to back you up when it comes to my mother."

"Then I'll need to work faster. That's fine; I have my actual work done outside of meetings, so I'll have time to think of something."

"Actually, I might have an idea. You'll be in your office tomorrow?"

"Of course," she confirmed.

They said their goodbyes and Fallon hung up, turning to look at Kirby in question. "I'm feeling more and more like a yo-yo every day."

"How do you think Liam felt?"

Fallon pursed her lips, picked up her potential outfit, and went back to the mirror.

"I'm serious, Fallon," Kirby continued. "You can't get upset with him after you didn't tell him what you were up to. If I were him, I'd just be thinking back to old problems, y'know?"

"I really don't need you to psycho-analyze him. Or me." Fallon walked over to the door and hung her outfit on the back of it. "Now, I'm going to call it a night early, if you don't mind."

Suspicious but uninteresting in earning any more of Fallon's ire, Kirby stepped down from the bed, moved through the attached living space, and into her own side, unsure what she was going to do with herself now that she didn't have Sam or the rest of the house to occupy her time.