Chapter 20

In continued celebration of my confirmed pregnancy, Ms. Ferret welcomed me to work with a stack of files. Cue the confetti.

"Let's discuss the case in my office," she said. I nodded, but truthfully I had no desire to get up. Although I was only about two months along, mental and physical effort were basically two sides of the same coin, exhausting as hell. To make matters worse, Blaze wouldn't let me drink coffee...

I took a seat on one of the plush chairs and immediately felt at ease. When Ms. Ferret smiled down at me, I knew something had to be going right. Hopefully no more intern status.

She folded her fingers over each other, and the professionalism was back.

"How long have you been pregnant?"

My eyes widened. Ms. Ferret only rolled hers.

"Come on, Amy. You're glowing and you look a lot healthier. Especially in the rack area," she began, as if she was justifying why the sky was blue. "Also, no sane person passes on free drinks. And I'm a mother," she added the latter detail like it was irrelevant.

Her validation was simple but unique, which probably helped my case. True, most of my friends were parents, but they weren't my boss. They wouldn't make such outlandish statements. Even if said statements were true.

My hand found my stomach. I wasn't showing, but the symptoms had revealed themselves. I made a mental note not to act pregnant around the others.

"Two months," I said. "But I'm a surrogate for my best friend. She wanted to keep it a secret until I'm farther along."

Ms. Ferret sighed. I liked to think it was in relief. My explanation was valid, right?

"Actually, this makes you an even better choice for head attorney on this case." My eyes perked up. Head attorney?

"You've been doing a great job so far," she continued, "But I think being pregnant will give you a more critical eye on the case. I mean, I know how much I hated my ex-husband when I was expecting. I think this child-custody case will make you grow. You know, other than horizontally."

"Ha."

"I'm serious." Her orange eyes actually looked slightly distressed for once. "I would have given it to Phoebe but she's way too mean. Your compassion is admirable, but please let me know if and when you feel your pregnancy is interfering with your judgment. This is a very important case."

"Aren't all cases important?"

"In theory." Her phone began to ring and she shooed me out. But I left her office feeling like a champ.

Now if only I could win the case.

I thought random cravings were something pregnant women made up to punish their husbands. Now that the cat was out of the bag, Ms. Ferret was on my case about eating. And since Blaze was always on my case, I was unhappily eating the balanced meal she prepared for me.

"That looks like fun," Phoebe teased.

"Wait, you're vegan?" Tahlia the Tiger, the final full-time lawyer at the firm, asked. I was a vegetarian, but Blaze had taken my diet to an even greater extreme. I mean, no cheese?!

"Unfortunately," I almost mumbled. Instead, I smiled like eating soy paste was fun. "Yup. My health is very important to me."

"What about having a life?" Phoebe said, pulling a sandwich out of the staff room refrigerator. Mmmm...sandwich...

I shook my head and returned my attention to my nutritious mush. I even think she mashed vitamins in here...When the two left for the courtyard area, I shoved the food in the trash. I didn't like being wasteful, but I also didn't like punishing myself.

With my bag, I started for the cafe up the street. A brisk walk turned into a light jog. I was meeting with the client in less than an hour, and nothing screamed more unprofessional than being late for your first case. I beamed.

This was my first real court case!

It was funny how life could progress so nicely. The only challenge would be keeping it this way. Thus, I wasn't surprised when something collided into me and my life spilled everywhere. Okay, my purse just fell. But practically everything inside it was on the ground.

"Shit." I started picking up my wallet and papers.

"My daddy says that's a bad word." I looked up slightly from the ground. Saw a little fox boy of no more than four years. It was weird how I could suddenly tell how old kids were...

I smiled at him, but I probably looked like an ungraceful mess. "Ah, I'm sorry. You caught me off guard." I strapped my purse over my shoulder. "What's your name, little guy?"

"Sage."

"Well, hi Sage," I said, shaking his small hand. "Where are your parents?"

Before he could open his mouth, a man came and swooped him up.

"How many times have I told you to stay with me?" The concern in his voice was almost heartbreaking. But when I saw his face, I'm pretty sure my heart actually shattered.

"I'm sorry, but he loves running around—" When his blue eyes met mine, his expression was just as bewildered.

A rush of emotions hit me at once, until I realized it was just vomit. I swallowed it down. But I couldn't bear looking at him.

Him.

Scourge.

But I did. And the sight confused the hell out of me.

Scourge was a—?

Is that why he—?

My brain turned to mush and I couldn't make sense of anything. I could feel my throat tighten, my breathing increase. Then I remembered that I couldn't breakdown. The child I was carrying needed me to be sane. And the sane thing was getting the hell out of here.

I spun around on my heels, started for the direction of the office. But I guess I was a fool to think he wouldn't stop me.

"Rosie." He grabbed my stupid arm and I resisted. But I didn't want to run. I didn't even know if I wanted answers. I didn't know anything anymore.

"Y-you," I choked out. "Y-you—"

"I'm sorry we had to meet like this," he said, turning me to face him. "I'm so sorry."

My face spoiled as I glared at him. "Oh, I see. You're sorry."

His eyes shifted to the ground. I hated how disappointed he looked with himself. But I also hated him for making me hate him. I turned to the child. He was staring at me like I was a mad woman.

"Why is she so mad?" Called it.

"Because daddy was mean to her," he said, putting the boy on the ground. "Say hi to Miss Rosie."

"How do you know her?"

Scourge offered me a pained look. He couldn't tell a four-year-old the truth, much like he couldn't do the same for me.

"I'm an old friend of your dad," I finally said. Dad. I could feel the same emotions/vomit rising. This was already too much. And it was only Monday.

Ignoring my feelings, I patted the boy's head. "Well, it was nice seeing you all, but I have to return to work—"

"We should talk." Scourge's icy eyes hit mine. My heart/stomach/soul jumped. And I didn't know whether to swoon or feel disgusted. Time had been kind to him, and like the others, he looked pretty much the same. Just tired.

I shrugged. I didn't know how I could shrug right now. "I don't want to talk."

Talking would stress me out. More. Stress wasn't good for the baby. Which Scourge had. Scourge had a baby—a child. And he didn't tell me. He didn't tell me anything. He just left me.

Like I was nothing.

But because I was trying to seal a cap on my explosive emotions, I didn't say any of this. Nope, I was walking away. Like he did.

He growled lightly before tugging on my arm again. I tugged back again, hissing. "Why don't you do yourself a favor and set a good example for your kid by LEAVING ME THE FUCK ALONE?"

"Why don't you stop being unreasonable for two seconds?"

I shouldn't have punched him. But I did anyway.

Then the boy was yelling. He was calling me a "bad lady" and was crying that his daddy didn't "do anything wrong". I scoffed. That's it. I was done.

"Just let me explain," Scourge pleaded, not even tending to his bruised cheek. He took hold of my hand. I felt a rush of electricity, but I didn't know if it were fueled by exhilaration or repugnance. I shook my head; convinced myself that his touch was poison—that I could never have loved it. Or him.

"You've had years to explain."

"It was never that simple," he said, his grip tightening. "You were better off without me. I know you."

I scoffed. "You don't know anything about me."

"I knew you would have stayed with me even though Fiona was pregnant," he said, hitting me with the facts, the hard truths. "And I knew it would have killed you. I thought ignorance would eventually lead to bliss, but then I met with Shadow and he told me how you were.

"By the time I got the nerve to tell you, you moved to the other side of Mobius." He shrugged, but his expression was hardly shrug-able. He looked distraught and torn, and I didn't know what to feel, what to say, or what to do. All I knew was that I wanted to reject his conclusions. To show that I was stronger than he and everyone else thought. To prove that I wasn't some fragile flower that needed to be protected. That I had thorns, too.

So when my stomach started growling, I wasn't surprised that Scourge jumped to the rescue.

"Let me buy you lunch."

I didn't want him to buy me anything. But I was hungry. And hunger was against the Proper Pregnancy Etiquette contract Blaze made me sign.

"Fine."

He beamed slightly. And although the sight made me not unhappy, I could only hope that I wasn't making a mistake.

Unfortunately, mistakes were easy to come by.

"The years have treated you well, " Scourge said as he walked me back to the office. "You look...healthy." I pursed my lips.

"I'm sure you charm the ladies every time with that line."

"Not a chance." He smirked. My heart jumped even though I told it not to. "Sorry. It's just good to see that something good came out of all of this. You know, other than Mr. Mini-Me over here." He picked up Sage and he started laughing.

The scene was supposed to be light and cute, I'm sure it looked that way to anyone passing by, but my mind couldn't process light and cute things. It actually couldn't really process much of anything. Otherwise I'd be a bigger mess.

"I want the pretty lady to carry me!" Sage then said, reaching for me. I was pretty sure that anger and bitterness were physically radiating off of me. But I carried him anyway. He wasn't really heavy, but reality was. In a perfect world, maybe Scourge and I would have gotten married. Maybe I would literally be carrying our child right now. Instead, I was clutching his bastard. His adorable as hell bastard that ruined everything.

"That's enough," I said, putting him down. When I looked closely, I could see his quills were still growing. So he wasn't exactly a sly fox like his mom. Good. But he was the younger image of his father. Other than his dull green fur (that probably led to his namesake), anyone could tell that he was Scourge's son.

Son.

I stopped abruptly, both at the realization and because we were in front of the office. The door was already open—ridiculous because even though it was technically spring, snow still littered the ground.

"Thanks," I said, even though it felt wrong. I shouldn't be thanking him for anything. I should hate him—I should be spitting in his face. Not having the urge to ki—

"You know lunch break is only an hour, right?" Phoebe said. The porcupine's eyes grew smirky and devious when they landed on Scourge. "Who's your friend?"

I groaned before moving into the warm building. "I don't know if I'd call him that."

Because my bitter bitchiness didn't end with that remark, I didn't even bother looking back at Scourge. In fact, I just wanted him to go away.

Phoebe's purple eyes lit up even more. "I'd love to be something more than friends."

"Unfortunately, I don't think I'm supposed to screw around with my lawyer," Scourge replied, half smirking. I turned away. What did I say about looking at him?

My eyes then widened when I processed what he said. Lawyer? I guess it didn't make sense to Phoebe either, because she raised a brow.

"It's only sort of illegal if we get caught, handsome." She then winked at Sage. "How about it kid? Want a new mommy?"

"No..." Sage said shyly. Phoebe only laughed, before offering him candy from the secretary/receptionist's desk. Cheered him up instantly. I wish I could be cheered up that easily.

Her attention then refocused on Scourge. "Anyway, didn't you get the news?"

He narrowed his eyes. "No..."

Phoebe patted my shoulder. My heart plunged; I knew what she was getting at couldn't be good.

"Miss Rose will be overseeing your case."

Gah!

So it finally happened after all these years! Are you happy? Mad? Speechless? Let me know your thoughts. ;)

~KB