About an hour later Jude had fallen asleep on the couch in the lobby. Tommy grabbed a blanket from the storage room and carefully covered her up. He then heard his cell phone ringing in the booth. He ran and quickly answered it. "Hello."

"Tommy, it's Kwest. Do you know where Jude is? Riley and the rest of us are worried about her."

"I saw her at the studio," Tommy said, not giving away too muh information.

"Good, I'll let everyone know that."

Bye."

"Bye."

Tommy sat in the studio for almost three hours before Jude work up.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty."

"What time is it?"

"A little after midnight."

"You should go home instead of sitting here with me."

"Do you really think that there's somewhere else that I would rather be?"

"Tommy, don't."

"Jude, I'm sorry, not just for what I've done, but I'm sorry for everything that happened with Riley."

"You shouldn't be, it's not your fault," she said, sitting down on the floor.

Tommy leaned back in his chair and looked around the room, the silence overpowering both him and Jude.

"This is as good a time as any I guess," Jude said. "How have you been?"

Tommy shrugged. "I've been better. I've been clean since you left though."

Jude nodded. "That's great."

"Yeah, it is. Jude, did you miss me at all when you came here?"

Jude looked up at him, pain etched in her face. "Of course I did Tommy. That first week, I would wake up in the middle of the night, crying because I missed you, or at least the person you used to be."

Tommy knelt down in front of her and gently kissed her forehead.

Jude pushed him away. "Tommy, I can't do this with you."

"Jude, I'm still that person. I am still the guy you fell in love with."

Jude shook her head. "Maybe you are," she said standing up.

"Where are you going?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess wherever life takes me."

Jude drove back to her apartment, hoping that everyone would be asleep. She quietly unlocked the door and saw Riley standing by the couch.

"You shouldn't be here."

"Jude, just hear me out."

"How can you expect me to listen to you Riley? You have a baby, that you never even thought to tell me about."

"Let's go to your room."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't want to wake everyone up, and Peyton's in there sleeping."

Jude sighed. "Every part of me is telling me not to listen to you."

"Just follow me."

Jude walked into her bedroom, and turned on the light. The baby was sleeping in a carrier that was setting on the floor. She had to admit that little Peyton was pretty cute. She had fuzzy blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"Talk," She said softly as she stared at the baby.

"My ex-girlfriend and I, we were going to get engaged and then I got hurt at a surfing competition. I got completely worked over and I was laid up for a few months. She told me that she couldn't be with me anymore because the surfing was taking too much of my time, and it was too dangerous. About a month later, she called me and told me she was pregnant. I told her we couldn't get back together, but that I would help out as much as I could with the baby. When I left to go home, it was because she had just dropped Peyton off at my parents. She told them that she couldn't handle a baby at this point in her life and that she didn't want it. My parents have been watching her for the past few weeks until I could get a babysitter arranged and other things."

"So why didn't you tell me sooner, instead of me just finding out like this?"

"I don't know. I guess I knew you were going to leave when I told you."

"I was more hurt this way Riley."

"I know, I'm sorry and I screwed up. But Jude, I don't want to lose you."

Jude sighed and looked at Riley, who was now kneeling in front of her. "So what are you trying to say?"

"I still want to be with you, regardless of the fact that I'm a full-time father now. I'm not going to Hawaii, and I'm not going to surf pro anymore."

"That's your dream though Riley, you shouldn't have to give that up."

"Whose going to watch Peyton when I'm gone? I can't just take her with me."

"I will." As soon as Jude said it, her conscience kicked in. "What the hell am I talking about?" She thought to herself.

"I can't ask you to do that."

"Well you're not asking, I'm offering."

"Jude-"

"As much as I'm still mad at you for not telling me, I don't want to throw what we have away."

Riley smiled and hugged her tightly, kissing her on the cheek. "Thank you, Jude."

"You're welcome." She barely finished her sentence before Peyton started whimpering.

Riley picked her up expertly and rocked her back and forth in his arms.

"You're really good with her."

"Would you believe that I knew nothing about babies before my parents brought her to me?"

"No, not really."

Riley smiled down at the being he held. "Do you want to hold her?"

'Uh, sure," Jude said softly.
Riley placed Peyton in Jude's arms and Jude held her close to her body.

"She's got your eyes," Jude said softly as she ran her finger across the baby's hand.

"She looks more like me than her mom, and I guess that's probably a good thing. Look, Jude as much as I would trust you with Peyton while I would be gone, I can't let you do it."

"Why not? Riley, surfing is your dream, and you're good at it. Why should you be deprived of your dream?"

"I'll think about it."

"Peyton and I would get along just fine by ourselves."

"I'm sure you would, but you didn't sign on to become a Mom."

"No, and I'm not saying I'm going to be, but I can help you out."

Riley nodded. "Just give me some time to think on it and maybe I'll go to a few competitions here and there."

Jude smiled and handed Peyton back to him.

"I should probably get back to my own apartment. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, probably. I have to go into the studio and work until about three, but I'll stop by on my way."

"Sounds good. Look, I'll let myself out the door, you get some rest," he said, kissing her softly.

"Good night."

"Night."

Jude laid back on her bed when she heard the door close. She couldn't believe how forgiving she had been with Riley especially after being with Tommy. She knew she probably reacted the way she did because she knew if she wasn't with Riley, she'd end up back with Tommy, and even though it seemed like he had changed, she wasn't sure he really had.