**WHISPERING PINES, NC**

/Mercy POV/

You're chillin at Shannon's house making breakfast when you hear a knock on the door. Shannon went to go pick up some stuff for the party later. They're shooting The Hardy Show there as one the just hanging out episodes. Just as you finished the thought you answered the door. On the other side is a woman who was holding a kid no more than 3 years old.

"Hi, is Shannon home," the woman asked.

"No, he's not. He went to the store. Who are you?"

"I'm…" as she was about to answer.

"Crystal?!" Shannon shouted from a good 5 feet away. I walked closer to the steps of the house. "What are you doing here?"

"Crystal?" I thought for a second then quickly jumped to say. "You're ex-wife, Crystal?"

"Yes, his ex-wife, Crystal," she answered very nonchalantly. Shannon walked in the house and stood next to me still looking shocked.

"You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here, Crystal?"

"We need to talk."

"About?" Shannon didn't look or sound thrilled. And I'm not going to lie. I wasn't thrilled either that his ex-wife was standing on the doorstep.

"Can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry about that," I suddenly said. She came in and she sat on the couch. "I'm Mercedes, by the way."

"I know who you are. Hi." She seemed to not care about you or who you were. "Shannon, can we talk…alone?"

"Look, I don't know what or why you're here, but you need to check your attitude. This is my house…and Mercy is my girlfriend so you need to chill out. Plus, anything you say to me you can say WITH HER here."

"Fine, Shannon, I'm just going to come out and say it. A little before we got divorced, I got pregnant." You were in schock.

Wait a minute. They got divorced in '05. No…it can't be…

"Yeah…and…what are you getting at?"

I love Shannon, but sometimes he can be so slow. But I stayed silent. This really wasn't any of my business.

"Shannon, I swear, you were never to bright. I got pregnant…and this is your child." She held the baby out to him.

"That's impossible. You were on birth control the last time we had sex."

"Yeah, about that. I forgot to take my pill that day. I didn't think it'd be a big deal. I mean, I'd forgotten to take them before and nothing ever happened. After the divorce was final, I was getting some blood work done and that's when they told me I was pregnant."

"I can't believe it. How could you do this?" Shannon didn't look to sure he wanted to believe that was his child. "And why didn't you tell me before. Why did you wait 3 years?"

"Because, I didn't know if you were going to want anything to do with him after what happened."

"Well, if you'd told me you'd known that I would've never have turned my back on my kid. You know I was raised better than that."

The conversation went on for awhile. You were just sitting next to Shannon not saying a word. You couldn't undersand how something like this could happen to you again…somewhat. Not the whole baby thing…but the other woman thing even though this was way before you and Shannon.

"Look, Crystal, this is something that we're going to have discuss. How about you come back tomorrow. Jeff and Matt are coming over soon and I'm not sure how they're going to react when they see you here."

"Fine, I'll be back around noon." She gets up with her child and leaves.

You were speechless.

"Hello! Earth to Mercy! Hello!"

"Huh? What's up?"

"What's going on in that head of yours."

"Nothing. Just thinking of what to wear tonight." You said without looking at him.

"Come on, you can't really be thinking that after what just happened." That's when you got up and walked away.