I've read your theories, and they're good! I'm actually excited to reveal who the real killer is and what happens next! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Looking at a sleeping Steffy, Bill tried to quiet the screaming thoughts occupying his restless mind. He'd tried sleeping multiple times and was met with unyielding remnants of insomnia. Steffy didn't have that issue.

She slept more, Bill admonished as he began to notice all the minuscule things that brought him to the conclusion of a child that shared their blood. For at least two weeks she had been sleeping an inordinate amount of time, and her wine consumption had come to a complete halt all of a sudden. There was also the indescribable fullness of her perfect breast. So many things about her had changed and he was just now putting it all together. The burning question was why she hadn't told him. Did she think he'd rebuff the idea? No, that was out of the question with his admission earlier in the night. It had to be the fact that he'd admitted to murder.

Letting off a ragged breath, he saw when her side of the bed shifted. He tried to remain still, but saw when her eyes flickered open in their dark room. Kissing the side of her head, Bill stroked her hair and flipped on their bedside lamp.

"Here." He handed her a bottle of water he'd snagged from the kitchen a while ago, knowing her tendency to wake in the middle of the night with a dry throat.

"I was about to head downstairs for a bottle," she admitted.

"I know."

"What are you doing awake? You're usually out cold this time of the night."

"I am, but I always manage to wake when you get out of bed. It's one of your habits and now waking up has become mine."

"I didn't think you noticed. I'm sorry I disturb you."

"You don't," he assured her. "It's just—being away from you is hard. Even for a minute makes me feel strange. I only want to protect and care for you."

"You're not just talking about me going downstairs, are you?"

"No." He shook his head and her forehead met his.

"Why did you do this? I know you, and you wouldn't do what you admitted to."

"All anyone needs to know is that I did."

"You saying things like that lets me know I'm right. I don't know who you're protecting, but stop. Let them handle their own mess."

"This was all my cross to bear. He was in your life this time around because of me. Katie too. She wouldn't be mixed up in this if she hadn't been with me. I knew my father was a vile person, but I tried to look past it just because I had some need to have him be proud of me."

"We all seek unneeded validation from our parents. My dad could be my biggest cheerleader and adversary all at the same time. He'd root for me to do well as long as it made him look good and didn't surpass him or his golden girls, Hope and Brooke. I ran myself ragged to please him. I did it for years with Liam and look where that got me."

Bill shook his head and pulled her into his arms. "I hate him, but in a way it's good you were with him."

"What?" Steffy balked. "How could you think that's a good thing? He treated me like an inconvenience. How can you think me being with another man was a good thing?"

"I don't like thinking that he was able to touch you, I don't like thinking of any man having that pleasure, but he brought us together again. He hired me to work for you and when I did I realized you were the woman I had been looking for all these years."

"I still can't fathom how a man like you spent all that time looking for me."

"Are you kidding me?" He gave her arms a squeeze. "Have you seen yourself? You're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen and you're not just your looks. You're smart and driven with a heart the size of this state. How could I not search for you?"

"I used to think about nights like this. Me wrapped in the arms of the man I'd love forever, the man that would love me forever, and after that night I met you I thought of you for so long until I met Liam. I mean, I still thought of you then, but it was more of a fantasy and didn't seem possible. Now look at us. We were almost perfect, murder charges aside, of course."

"We're still perfect. This isn't changing that."

She sat up and bit down on her lip, eyeing him intensely. "I have to tell you something."

Bill waited for it as her hands slid up his chest. She looked nervous, and he just stared into her wondrous blue eyes. She had tears brimming and threatening to slip down her otherwise flawless cheeks.

"Baby, talk to me," Bill prodded.

"I'm so afraid of all of this changing who and what we are. I got the best news, I mean it's great to me and scary, but—I need you know nothing was planned... I love you and I need you to know I'm excited and scared and I hope you won't be mad because I just love you and—"

"Steffy," He interrupted her. "Calm down and tell me you're having my baby so that I can tell you I've never been happier or loved you more than I do now."

"But I—I didn't plan—wait, how do you know?"

He smiled. "I pay attention to you. I figured it out a little late, but I'm excited as well. I don't know what kind of dad I will be, but I'm going to give you everything."

She took a deep breath and burst into tears. "You can't promise me that. You could go to prison. We could lose our family before it even starts."

"I have a good lawyer," he assured her. "He will clear this up."

"You are planning to confess to murder. Nothing is right about that."

"I'm confessing to a fight I participated in. It will be fine."

"They pulled you out of our house in the middle of the night. Who's to say it won't happen again and for good? This baby has to know you, it has to know both of us."

"He or she will have all of both of us."

Steffy laid on his chest and exhaled. "This is going to be one hell of a day we face tomorrow."

Remembering the media frenzy from their leaked sex tape and how they hounded her, Bill slid her off his chest and ran his hands through his hair.

"What?"

Looking at her he made a quick decision. "I want you to move out. You should go back to your house."

Looking as if she had been slapped in the face, Steffy slid off the bed, marching into their walk in closet. She slammed the door vehemently.

He chased behind her to find a bag in her hand. "What are you doing?"

"Exactly what you did, checking out." He inhaled at her snarky tone. "I tell you—no excuse me, you tell me I'm pregnant and then you ask me to move out? Well congratulations, you have officially crossed over to being worse than any other man I've ever been with. I really believed all that family talk. I believed you wanted me the way I want you."

"I want you, I love you. I just..."

"You just nothing! You don't know how hard it was to not hate myself for being excited about something I knew you didn't want. I didn't want to trap you if that's what you think. I can take care of this baby alone, but selfishly I didn't want to. I can pay people to be what you should be to this baby, but I thought you'd want to be a part of his or her's life because of how absent your father was to you. I guess that's my mistake."

"Can you stop this and get back into bed?"

"You kicked me out. I'm not getting back into your bed. You are never touching me again."

She was in a full blown rant, and he had to bite his lip to not smile at how adorable it was. Hormones were definitely taking over already. This was going to be a rollercoaster of a pregnancy.

"Who the hell are you laughing at?"

"You." He waited for the blow up.

"You think I'm funny? Screw you." She stormed his way and he caught her at the door. "Don't touch me."

"I'm going to take you back to bed, and I want you to calm down." He picked her up and she swung at him. Dumping her into the soft sheets, he heard the exasperated breath she let out.

"First you ask me to move out and now you want to hold me against my will? Your whole damn family is crazy."

"If that's true then your baby is also crazy, so is your niece, but forget all that. I am not putting you out. I would never do that. I just want you in the safest place and I think your house is that for now. People are going to be all over me for a while, and I don't want them pestering you. Your mom and Amber will make sure no one comes near you."

"That is not my home."

"Steffy—"

"What did I tell you?" She crossed her arms. "Didn't I tell you that you weren't going to be keeping things from me and knowing what's better for me more than I do?"

"We agreed to that, but…"

"But nothing. I'm an adult, and I know what you got us into by doing whatever you did to earn suspicion, but I'm not going anywhere unless you want me gone for good."
"You know I don't want that."

"Then stop this nonsense. I know you're lying and hiding something for someone, maybe it's for me, maybe someone else, but you don't need to do this."

"I have to. You don't understand…"

"Then make me understand."

Bill grabbed her hands and gazed into her eyes. "Your eyes are relaxing. There is no prison in the world that could keep me from seeing them everyday."

"Stop stalling. Why would you do this?"

"When I got to the office I planned to get into a fight with my father. I planned to beat him senseless over all the things he had done to your family and Katie, but when I arrived he was already a bloody mess."

"What did you do?"

"I cleaned the scene up and wiped off the fingerprints. And then I hit him."

"You didn't call the cops? I know you hate him, but that's not like you. Why would you clean up the scene? Bill, it makes no sense."

"I was—There was someone there, Steffy. It was easier for me to take the focus off this other person because I had the best chance of getting off. He has a history with me. He's threatened me recently."

Steffy looked bewildered, he hadn't disclosed this information before now. "Threatened you? Threatened you how?"

"It's not important, now."

"Bill." Her tone was almost as if issuing a warning.

"He threatened to take Zoe away from us and also said that if I stood in his way he'd eliminate me from the situation. I'm used to his idle threats, but I wasn't going to stand for him bringing an innocent baby into it."

"What else did he say?" She knew him too well, he'd omitted parts of the conversation to ease her mind.

"Do you remember telling me about how you lost your virginity to this Rick guy and he treated you badly?"

"How could I forget that? He was the worst mistake I ever made."

"I know, and I'm sorry. If I had known I would have killed him."

"That's not a good joke to make right now, considering, but what does this have to do with anything?"

"Rick was sent to infiltrate your company years ago by my father. He sent him after you. He knew you'd end up at the helm of the company someday and all of this was his attempt to ruin you. He's been messing with your life since before I met you."

"What does that have to do with you? You didn't know. He isn't your responsibility. His evil deeds aren't yours to atone for. What I don't understand is why he would tell you all of this."

"He assumed I was going to sleep with you and forget you like all the other women in my life. He wasn't counting on me actually falling in love with you and needing you like the air I breathe. Maybe the Rick bombshell was to rub salt in the wound. When he wasn't trying to win me and Karen back he was cruel. I used to wonder why my mom never reached out to him when we were younger, but now I get it. She wanted to protect us. Struggling was a hell of a lot better than being under the restrictions and the puppetry his money would have come with. He didn't want children, he wanted foot soldiers. I was never going to be that."

"He hates my father and grandfather so much he zeroed in on me? Why? My dad doesn't love me that way. He would have done better going after Hope. He loves her more than me."

"And he's a fool for that. My father was a menace, but he saw who would end up being the best part of that company. He wanted to destroy the future of Forrester. That's you, that's our baby."

"How could he do that? To send that man to destroy me was almost life ending for me. I wanted to kill myself after what he did to me. I'd lost my sister and he played with my mind and took advantage of me. My mom found me with pills in my mouth, I was about to swallow when she broke my bathroom door down. She called my dad and he went to Rick and beat him so badly he was hardly able to stand, but I know that wasn't for me. It was because Rick beat him."

Bill scratched his head. "I don't want to ever color your opinion of your father, but maybe, just maybe him going to Rick and beating him up was an attempt to get justice for you. Maybe it was inadvertently his way of protecting you after the fact."

Steffy shook her head. "He never came to me afterward, he never even hugged my about it. We didn't speak about it, ever."

"Now that I'm going to become a father I know what it's like to want to protect your kid. I would beat a guy, kill him even, for doing what that guy did to you. I'm not sure I'd be able to look at our child if I allowed that to happen under my nose. I'd be ashamed. I'm not saying him acting like it didn't happen was right, but maybe he's so ashamed he can't talk to you about it. People don't mind doing whatever it takes to protect you, sweetheart. I'll never think twice about it."

"I know you won't. I love and hate that about you. You could lose everything for being so protective of me."

"Nothing I couldn't do without. Listen," he stared into her eyes. "I just have to do this because you deserve a man that's all in."

"You've been all in since day one, I've never doubted that. But who are you protecting? My dad? My grandfather?"

"No."

"Then who?"

Bill's heart skipped a beat as he parted his lips to speak a name and her cell lit up. His followed, and a knock at their door broke the moment. Amber's voice could be heard through the cracks of the door, and Steffy wasted no time flinging it open.

"She's awake! She's awake, sweetheart." Amber's gleeful tone brought a smile to his face. As he went to their dresser, pulling out clothes for both of them she commented that her mother had called as well.

The ride to the hospital was a blur. When they arrived Taylor was already there, staring at Katie through the glass. Steffy wrapped arms around her mother's neck, and Bill smiled contently. Finally a moment of peace before the gathering storm, he presumed.

That was short lived.

Watching as the love of his life comforted her mother and converged around her sister, he saw the one person that could make her world come undone walk into their space. Rushing to him, grabbing his arm, Bill made a plea that fell on seemingly deaf ears.

"You need to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere," Bill was notified. "I let you talk me into running earlier today, but I can't do that. I'm going to be here for my family and take responsibility for what I did. Thank you. I'm glad Steffy has you looking out for her."

Bill watched as the man made himself known to his family. Steffy's eyes were overwhelmed with tears, Taylor was a mumbling mess, and Bill just took in the reunion he knew would be over soon once all was revealed.

Hugging his mother and sister, Thomas seemed to soak in the moment until Steffy asked a question that segwayed into the secret he'd tried to conceal.

"When did you get here?"

"Last night," Thomas admitted. "I had some things to attend to before I saw you."

Steffy's eyes squinted, watching him, and as if a switch flipped, he saw horror cloud them. "Where have you been?"

"At my hotel thinking about what I should do next?"

"Next?" Taylor asked. "What do you mean by next?"

Steffy lifted Thomas' right hand and shook her head. "It was you. You're who he's protecting. What did you do, Thomas? What did you do?"

"What needed to be done. He hurt you and our little sister. I'm glad he's dead. I just came here to see you guys and let you know that I love you before I turn myself in tomorrow."

"Thomas," Steffy cried. "I didn't want you to do this."

"I know you didn't. You'd never hurt anyone, which is why I took it out of your hands. Little sister, I'd do just about anything for you. Never forget that."

Steffy hugged her brother, tears streaming down her face, and Bill worried how much more she could take. This kind of stress couldn't be good for her. He'd wanted to shield her from this. He knew what damage losing her sister had done, and he didn't want her to lose her brother.

Thomas Forrester would soon be behind bars if he didn't intervene again.