Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to Guiding Light, and I'm not making any sort of profit off this story. I'm just a fan.

Chapter Seven: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Now that Emma, of all people, knew, Ava quickly realized that she couldn't keep quiet about her pregnancy any longer. So when they met up with Olivia on Main Street, Olivia had barely begun to apologize for running late before Ava blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

Olivia stopped short, staring at her. "Excuse me?"

Ava hesitated. You've come this far. Might as well go all the way. "It's not like I did it on purpose or anything!" she said quickly, starting to pace. "It's just one of those things, you know, and I only found out a week and a half ago so I haven't been keeping quiet for that long, and I just-" She turned back to her biological mother, her eyes wide, "please say you're not mad at me."

"Of course I'm not mad," Olivia said reassuringly. "I'm here for you no matter what. You know that."

Ava sighed in relief. "Thanks," she said, hugging her. Olivia was still recovering from the heart transplant, but her embrace felt solid and secure, and Ava felt like she could breathe more easily than she had since she took that first pregnancy test.

Olivia smiled, then looked down at her younger daughter. "Hey, Emma, do you want to go get Mommy a drink?" she asked, crouching down and handing her some money. Emma nodded and headed to CO2, and Olivia stood again, her expression serious.

"So who's the father?"

Ava winced. "Bill."

Olivia blinked, then laughed wryly, shaking her head. "He's just the gift that keeps on giving, isn't he?"

"Olivia, I seriously didn't do this on purpose. It was just sex with Bill, you know that! I know it's going to be weird, since Bill used to be Emma's dad, and now I'll have a kid with him, and-"

She looked amused, of all things. "Don't, Ava. He and I have been divorced for a long time now, and we've both moved on. Don't worry about it on my account."

Ava shook her head. "I know, but it still just seems…"

"Don't worry about it. I mean it." Olivia tilted her head, her eyes sharpening. "Does Bill know?"

"Yeah, he's the only person I told."

"How'd he take it?"

Ava groaned, rolling her eyes. "He wouldn't even talk to me until today, and that's-" She was going to tell Olivia about her fainting spell, but thought better of it. Olivia did not need to worry about her. "Well I think he'll be better now."

"He'd better be," she said firmly. "Who else knows, and how?"

Ava hesitated, shifting from one foot to the other. "Olivia-"

"Who. Else. Knows?"

Well, there was no point in lying. "Emma knows," she said reluctantly. "She found out earlier. Lizzie knows, Lillian knows, Jonathan and Dinah both know…"

"Do I want to ask how?" Olivia inquired dryly.

"No, not really." She laughed quickly. "Today's definitely not my day."

They sat down on the bench, keeping Emma in their line of vision. Olivia turned toward Ava, lightly resting her hand on her forearm.

"So you're sure you want to have the baby, then?" she asked quietly.

Ava smiled a little. "Yeah, I am."

"Okay." Olivia sighed. "I can't believe I'm going to be a grandmother. I'm too young for this."

"Just think about how Jeffrey'll feel," Ava teased, then quickly sobered. "Oh god, I'm going to have to tell Jeffrey." She and Olivia looked at each other for a moment, then Olivia laughed and Ava groaned, resting her head on her mother's shoulder.

After a sleepless night, Bill grumpily went to work, snapping at anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way.

He managed to get about five minutes of quiet time in his office before Billy invited himself in, a big smile on his face. "Isn't it a great morning?" he said brightly, probably just to annoy Bill.

His son groaned. "It would be better if I could actually get anything done," he snapped, staring at his computer monitor.

"You don't have a minute for your dad?" he asked, pretending to sound hurt.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Bye, Dad."

"So what's wrong with Lizzie?"

The question, combined with his father's suddenly flat tone, caught him off-guard, and he looked up automatically, blue eyes wide. "Lizzie?"

"Yeah, she called in and said she'd be running late," Billy elaborated, watching him shrewdly. "I could tell she was trying to seem normal, you know, but something's definitely wrong. You two didn't get in a fight, did you?"

Bill's stomach was churning. "It's none of your business, Dad," he said shortly, swinging back around to face the computer screen. He couldn't deal with this right now, and hoped his dad would get the hint.

"Boy, you're in here sulking and she's off somewhere, upset," Billy pointed out, putting his hands on Bill's desk and leaning forward. "You'd better believe it's my business, so you might as well go ahead and tell me, because you know I'll find out." When Bill didn't respond, Billy asked more softly, "You two didn't split up, did you?"

"No!" Bill exclaimed, pushing back from the desk and springing to his feet. "No, we did not break up, we just- something happened, and she's having a hard time dealing with it right now. But we'll be okay, she just- she just needs some time, you know, some space-"

"What did you do, boy?"

"Well it's not like I did it on purpose!"

"Did what?" he asked patiently.

"Dad-"

"Bill, if you'd just go ahead and tell me-"

"Ava Peralta's pregnant, all right?" he snapped, surprising even himself. As he took in his father's dumbfounded expression, he groaned and dropped back into his chair, rubbing a hand over his face. "She and I- it happened before I started dating Lizzie. Ava and I never had anything serious, we just-"

"Kept each other's beds warm," he finished, expression inscrutable.

"Yeah." He paused for a moment, then spoke again, more quietly this time. "I didn't cheat on Lizzie, I swear. I wouldn't do that. You know that."

Billy studied him. "I believe you. So you told Lizzie and she freaked out?" Bill winced, and Billy's tone hardened. "Bill?"

"I- didn't exactly get to tell her," he admitted.

"What do you mean you didn't tell her?!"

"I was going to, all right?" he retorted angrily. "I was going to take her out to a nice dinner and tell her after that. But first she went to Cedars, and while she was there Ava fainted, and Lillian said she was pregnant right when I got there, so it took Lizzie like two seconds to figure out who the father was, and then Jonathan showed up and now she's staying with him, and it's- it's a mess."

"Sounds like it," his father agreed evenly. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know. I have to talk to her, but if she won't listen-"

"Well it is Lizzie," he pointed out. "You know how insecure she still is."

Bill bit back an impatient comment. When would people stop thinking that they needed to explain how Lizzie's mind worked to him? "Yeah, Dad, I know. Why do you think I was so nervous about telling her?"

Billy shook his head. "And what are you gonna do about Ava?"

"What can I do? I'll just be there for whatever she needs and- and then when the kid gets here, I'll be there for them. I mean, it's 2008- we don't have to get married or anything to keep the kid safe and happy."

"Did you tell Lizzie that?" his father asked gently.

"She didn't give me a chance to tell her anything!"

"And how long are you gonna let her go on being miserable and thinking whatever it is that's going through her head right now?"

Bill's shoulders slumped. That was the question, wasn't it? "I don't know," he muttered.

Billy went over to him, put a hand on his back. "You'd better figure it out, boy."

He laughed wryly. "That much I do know."

After Lizzie finished talking to Billy and tucked her phone back into her purse, she grabbed the bouquet of daisies from the passenger seat and got out of her car, heading for the graveyard. She had meant to go to work, as her businesslike outfit proved, but on the way she had impulsively switched routes and now… here she was.

Her walk slowed the closer she got to her destination before she finally halted in front of an all too familiar grave. She knelt down and set the daisies on the ground in front of it, then straightened, not moving her eyes from Tammy's headstone.

"I didn't know where else to go," she said softly, then laughed a little, wiping her eyes. "I know, it's crazy, right- there are so many people I could go to for support now, and I'm still here, alone." She sighed, tucking her hands into the pockets of her khakis, and shrugged. "I wish you were here, Tammy. You'd know what it is I'm going through. I know, that's so selfish of me, to wish for your support even after everything I did to you, but- but I could use someone who would listen and care, you know? And you would. You'd understand, and you'd help me figure out what to do, and-"

"Lizzie?"

She turned, gasping sharply, and quickly wiped the tears from her face when she realized who it was. "Oh, Cassie, hi," she said quickly, taking a step back as Tammy's mother joined her in front of the grave. "I didn't realize- if you want me to go-"

"No, wait," Cassie said, holding up a hand. She looked concerned, something that still amazed Lizzie. After everything she'd done, this woman should hate her. "Lizzie, if you need someone to talk to you can always try me."

And wouldn't that be unbelievably awkward? "I don't know, I should probably be getting to work-" she rambled, beginning to turn away.

"Is there something wrong at work? Or with Bill?"

Lizzie froze. She couldn't help it. She slowly bowed her head, feeling the tears come flooding back again. "Maybe I should've been expecting it," she said quietly. "Everything was so perfect. Too perfect. But I don't understand… of everything it could have been, why…"

"Lizzie, what happened?" Cassie asked quietly.

She shook her head, slowly turning back to face her. "Bill got someone pregnant," she managed to say, and watched Cassie's mouth drop open. "No, not just someone- Ava Peralta."

Cassie blinked, clearly trying to process this information. "Ava's pregnant?" she repeated, and Lizzie flinched. "Are you sure it's Bill's? I've seen how he looks at you, Lizzie- I can't imagine him cheating on you."

"I wouldn't have thought so, either," she said wryly, running her hand over her hair and then gripping it. "Jonathan- Jonathan thinks that maybe Ava got pregnant before we got together, but- but then how long has Bill known, and how long was he going to keep lying, and- and I can't believe I'm talking to you about this." She dropped her hand, tone abruptly hardening. "I should go-"

She started to rush off, but Cassie quickly caught her arm and spun her back around to face her. There was so much pain in Cassie's eyes, the kind that Lizzie once saw when she looked in the mirror, during those dark days that she thought she'd caused her own daughter's death.

"Two years ago, Tammy came to me and told me that Jonathan was the father of your child," she said quietly, holding her gaze. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told her- talk to him."

Lizzie shook her head. "I don't think- what if-"

"You can drive yourself crazy trying to think of all the what-ifs," Cassie told her. "Go find out what is, and go on from there."

Lizzie took a deep breath. "You're right. I- I will. Thank you, Cassie- for listening, even though I don't deserve-"

Cassie smiled slightly. "It's not about what you deserve, Lizzie. Tammy would have helped you, and since she can't, now it's my job."

"I wouldn't have deserved her help, either."

"She would have forgiven you a long time ago."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Lizzie looked over her shoulder at Tammy's grave, bit her lip.

Cassie sighed, moving closer to the grave and back into Lizzie's line of vision. "Go talk to Bill," she said quietly. "I hope everything works out." Better than it did for Tammy. She didn't have to say the words aloud for them to hang between both women.

Lizzie smiled a little. "Thanks, Cassie." She glanced towards Tammy's grave one last time, then turned and headed back to the car. She knew what she had to do.

She checked her reflection in the washroom mirror one last time, making sure that her freshly reapplied makeup looked good and that there was no trace of tears.

"All right, let's do this," she murmured. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and headed for Bill's office.

Just as she got there, Billy walked by, stopping short when he saw her. "Sweetie, Bill told me what's going' on, and if you need to take the day off-" he began, sympathy and love written all over his face.

She just shook her head and kept on going, bursting into Bill's office. She would have given anything to be able to stop and hug Billy and let him do his best to reassure her, but if she crumbled now she might not be able to go through with this.

Bill was sitting at his desk, staring off into space, chin rested on his folded hands. When she walked in he immediately looked over and jolted, his eyes widening and a myriad of expressions- hope, worry, confusion, remorse, surprise- flashed across his face. "Lizzie-"

She shut the door hard behind her, feeling oddly empowered by the harshness of the sound. "We need to talk," she said bluntly, keeping her eyes on his and willing herself to get through this without falling apart.