Here's the next chapter! I understand that the last chapter I posted raised some negative questions and speculations from you guys, but keep reading. Not everything is as it seems at first glance. Enjoy!

Rick opened the door, so ready to see his wife after all day meetings and book signings. But when he entered the room, it was silent and dark. Uneasily, he set his bag and jacket by the door and did a quick walk through of the kitchen and living room. He was about to call her name when a voice drifted out from their closed bedroom door. He walked closer and realized that it was her's. Deciding not to bother her while she was on the phone, he began to walk away, but was caught off guard by her words moments later.

"You're his father."

Rick stopped and crept back toward the door, putting his head near it so he could hear better. Anger pulsed briefly through him as he contemplated every possible scenario that could have made her say that. And his mind always came back to one.

"I won't tell him." She added, "our secret's safe."

Kate sat on the bed in stunned silence for several seconds. The conversation felt like a dream. It seemed, no matter how much distance she tried to put between her family and LokSat, that the people she loved were always in danger. And it seemed as well that it was always because of her. How had Rick's dad found out about LokSat? How had he become involved? And how was she supposed to keep it from Rick when she had already promised not to lie to him anymore?

With a deep breath in which she attempted to gather all of her thoughts into one collective feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, Kate stood from the bed and slipped out of the room. Bright light caught her off guard as she walked into the living room and the first thing her eyes met were her husband's. They stared for a moment, eyes wide as if each knew something that the other didn't.

"Rick…" she gasped quietly, the fear that he had overheard the conversation paralyzing her where she stood. He was silent, watching the horror grow on her already pale face, "I…didn't hear you come in."

"I was early. I heard you talking and I didn't want to interrupt." His voice almost sounded bitter, and she knew from his hard expression that he had heard her side of the conversation.

"We need to talk."

"Do we?" He asked, suddenly gaining an edge to his voice that hadn't been present before, "because I'm pretty damn sure that I heard everything I needed to already."

She stared at him, watching the hatred and sadness fill his expression. She had seen him upset, enraged, depressed, but never like this. She had never witnessed on his face the pain that was there now. And she wanted to scream, to throw her arms around him, to sob until there was nothing left to let go. She wanted to break down and tell him everything. And she wanted him to hold her and understand. She wanted to wipe away all of his pain like he had for her so many times. But she could see in his eyes that there wouldn't be an easy way to do that.

"Please let me explain." She pleaded.

"Explain what, Kate?" He demanded, "explain how you ended up carrying another man's baby? Explain how you betrayed our marriage? Explain how you could so easily break something incredible that we spent so many years building together? What do you need to explain? Because if it's another excuse or…or another desperate apology you've worked up to find your way around telling me the truth…then I don't want to hear it."

Kate was shocked into silence. She stood with her hands still at her sides and her brain frozen. She felt completely numb, absorbing the shock of the sharp words that had spilled from his mouth and attempting to make sense of them in her mind. Whatever he thought she was keeping from him was not at all what she had been expecting. In fact, it was about a hundred times worse than that.

"You…" she stammered, "you think I…what on earth makes you think I'm carrying another man's child?"

"What makes me think that? What makes YOU think I didn't overhear what you were saying in there?" He snapped, "what makes you think I'm so ignorant that I wouldn't understand who you were talking to?!"

"Ignorant?! Damn right you're ignorant!" She shouted back, feeling anger boiling in her chest, "I can't believe that you have so little faith in me that you think I would do something like that! I can't believe that after everything we've been through you think I could betray you! I don't know how you took that conversation to mean that the child I'm carrying isn't yours, but I find it disgusting that you would jump to that kind of conclusion without even talking to me."

"Oh so now I'm supposed to talk to you when I overhear you talking to the man you cheated on me with?! What was I supposed to say, huh? 'Oh hey Kate, heard you telling some other guy that the baby I thought was mine was actually his! Didn't know you were into sleeping with other men!' Yeah that sounds like a fantastic conversation!"

"Rick…"

"Look I just need the truth from you, okay? Whose baby is it, huh? Or, you know what…" he took a breath, "I don't even care about that. It's your personal life. I just need you to look me in the eyes and tell me why, Kate. What did I do wrong? I thought I'd finally made the right decision with you. I thought I had finally…"

"No Rick. You're asking what you did wrong? What did I do wrong that could possibly make you think I had betrayed you like that?" She demanded, "and you know what? You should know that the last time I slept with anyone who wasn't you was at my eleventh grade prom when I was forced into it by a senior boy I didn't even like!"

Now it was his turn to be silent. Their eyes met once again and it was as if everything around them no longer existed. All they saw was each other's pain.

"This baby is yours, Rick. And I know it's hard for you to believe anything I'm saying right now, but I need you to believe that the child I'm carrying would never belong to anyone but you. Because I love you…" Her voice choked suddenly and he could see the tears building in her eyes, "I love you, Rick. And I need you to listen to me."

He watched her and she saw the anger begin to dissipate from his face, "tell me what the conversation was about."

She sighed with relief and took his hand gently in hers, leading him into the living room. They sat down opposite each other and he placed his clasped hands on his knees.

"The man on the other end was your father, Rick."

It took a moment for him to grasp this, but she could see when he did. He looked up, a new emotion on his face. This time, it was complete confusion.

"My father?"

"He didn't want me to tell you because he knew you would put all of your energy into trying to find him. I don't believe that. But I do know the last thing you would ever do is trust him. So I wasn't going to tell you." She paused to let it sink in, "but he's trying to help us, Rick. He's been watching, and he knows LokSat better than either of us do. He's promised to protect me, and I think he will be a valuable asset."

"You're his father." Rick said a moment later, "you said that to him. You meant my father?"

She sighed, suddenly realizing what had made him think what he did, "yeah. I meant your father. I couldn't say his name out loud or specify whose father he was in case someone had tapped into the conversation. Just saying 'his father' exposed too much."

Rick nodded and then glanced up. She was staring out the window, looking both relieved and uptight at the same time.

"Thank you for telling me." He said, "I'm not happy that my father is part of this, but if he's promised to keep you safe, I guess I can't argue with that."

"I'm sorry, Rick." She said finally.

"So am I."

With the silence that followed, he stood and left the living room. Behind her, Kate heard the bedroom door shut softly.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I felt emotional just writing it. Again, sorry about last chapter's implied angst. Hopefully this chapter cleared some things up and made me seem a tad less cruel. I promise, I'm not the type of writer to break up my OTP! Love you guys...thanks for reading!