Yo.

I just wanted to thank you all again for reading/reviewing. Especially Raquel the writer, Lady Miioh, Fairlyoddme, MistyVoid48, xXDarkAngelKittenXx, Cozy Shadow, TextMessage, and Nouveau for sharing your thoughts on the last set. Seeing Scourge really was a long time coming, and I can't wait for you to see what happens next. So without further adieu, please read on!

Chapter 21

Just when I thought life couldn't get more fucked up, it did. Really quickly. I guess that was the problem; hoping things wouldn't get worse just made them worse.

Like when I reached home and had the audacity to hope that Clarissa had leftovers. But I found no leftovers. Or Clarissa. Or Parker.

Just Blaze.

Yup, Blaze was just casually cooking in my kitchen. Almost as out of the blue as what's-his-face waltzing into my life again. I closed my eyes as I sat at the counter.

I mean, what the fuck was that? Was the universe trying to set me up? Yes what's-his-face was in a custody battle with Fiona, which was supposed to be a good thing from my lawyer perspective (a case was a case), but the whole ordeal was as sick as I felt.

"You look sick," Blaze said, confirming just how easy it was to read me. I rolled my eyes.

"A side-effect of being pregnant, I'm afraid." On the bright side, I had only vomited twice today. And I was pretty sure one was induced by what's-his-face.

My mind immediately surged; I started thinking about him, like why he was in my life all of a sudden, why the universe hated me—

"Here, eat this." I was thankful for Blaze's intervention, until I saw the mush she was trying to offer me. I cringed.

"Who let you in again?"

She shrugged as she stirred the concoction that had the consistency of watered-down oatmeal and jello. Yum.

"I have my sources." I wrinkled my nose. Rouge.

"I just want to make sure you're getting all of your nutrients," she then said, like she was being completely sane. "I really appreciate what you're doing for me."

"Then just remind me to take pre-natal vitamins or something," I replied, half tempted to throw the bowl out the window. "You can trust me, remember?"

But could she really? After all, I just allowed Scourge to walk back into my life. I could have declined his case, explained how our history made me a biased lawyer, even if there was no law against defending your ex-boyfriend. Still, this was my first case. And I had already suffered one career blow. I couldn't not do my job. Even if my job was now Scourge.

My heart swelled again, but I couldn't tell what it was filled with. So I ignored the sensation and started for the mush. To my surprise, it wasn't disgusting. But that didn't stop me from going to the fridge and pulling out a carton of soy ice cream. I sighed. Just when I thought life couldn't get worse.

"Do you feel anything?" Blaze then asked. I blinked, looking down at my stomach. Truthfully, I tried not to look at it. I didn't need to be reminded that something was growing inside me.

"Not really. I just feel a little bloated." I would have taken the opportunity to rub my stomach, but Blaze already had her hands on it. She smiled lightly.

"It must be nice." She had that sad type of happiness on her voice that was heart-wrenching. For some sick reason, I had the honor of carrying her child. I couldn't mess this up with her by letting Scourge mess with me. I closed my eyes. Tomorrow I would decline the case and say goodbye to him forever.

I had to.

"So please," she paused, shaking her head. "If there's anything you need to tell me, don't feel uncomfortable. I really want us to be open."

Because I was an idiot, half of me wanted to spill everything right there.

But I held my tongue; I wasn't withholding information if I was getting rid of said information. And his son. Yup.

I just had to accept that life demanded to be difficult.

"We've been through too much for me to throw it all away with a lie," I replied. Blaze was still touching my stomach. I allowed myself to smile. "Besides, the little parasite deserves better."

"What little parasite?" My head snapped toward the front door. Clarissa. She raised a brow. I didn't blame her. A "pregnant" woman was rubbing my "un-pregnant" stomach. I moved back.

"See? I told you your stomach is firmer than mine," I said on the spot. "Way to put pregnant women everywhere to shame."

"Sure."

"Aww! I want to touch Blaze's baby belly!" Clarissa beamed. "How far along are you? Like four months?"

My eyes widened—I was only a little over two months. I was forgetting that Blaze was a few months pregnant before I took over. Which meant this lie was over.

Yay?

"I had pseudocyesis," Blaze said calmly. Clarissa blinked at her. Then I blinked at her. Blaze sighed. "A false pregnancy, symptoms and all. When I went to the doctor a few weeks ago, she told me I was actually only a little more than a month along." She shrugged. "It was a little disappointing, but it could be worse."

Clarissa nodded. "Right. Like you could actually not be pregnant."

If Clarissa wasn't totally oblivious, I think Blaze would have set her on fire.

The purple cat smiled instead. "Right."

"Well, as fun as this is, I'm really tired." I yawned obnoxiously, hoping to end this encounter. "Thanks for visiting, Blaze. Good night."

"But you said you'd tell me how work is!" I heard Clarissa say behind my bedroom door. I bit my lip. Work was synonymous with Scourge.

And I was trying to forget one of them existed.

"So you mean to tell me you don't want to do this?" Ms. Ferret said. "Like you have a choice in the matter?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Only she could equate an employee to a lackey.

"I'm just saying that Phoebe might be a better choice," I pushed. "It seems she's taken more of an interest in my client." I watched her flirt with Scourge outside the office. "That's all."

Ms. Ferret didn't look amused or impressed. Fuck. "I know I said you could use your pregnancy to plead insanity, but I'm going to need a legitimate reason." Her orange eyes hit mine, hard. "Do you think you can win the case?"

I pursed my lips. I had looked over the case at least a thousand times since my first meeting with Scourge. And from my hopefully unbiased perspective, it looked like a classic guilt trip case—Fiona trying to take the one thing of greatest worth to the both of them because she gave birth to it. But both of them seemed sane enough. If you didn't know them.

And with Sage being a boy and no obvious threat in either parental presence, Scourge would probably get a little bit more preference in the sole custody case. Especially if I could prove that Fiona was crazy. Which couldn't be hard.

Ms. Ferret cleared her throat. I sighed.

"Well, yes—"

"Then it's settled."

"But—"

There was a knock on the door. My head spun toward it. It took everything not to frown; otherwise my boss would eat me alive.

"Am I interrupting something?" Scourge said. Just everything.

"No," Ms. Ferret replied. I rose to my feet.

"Let's go discuss the logistics of your case, Scour—Mr. Hedgehog." I sighed, forcing the most natural smile I could.

Once we made it to my office, I felt his hand grip my arm. Rage bubbled inside me—I didn't know if it was because of him or the fact that I sort of liked it. I bit my lip before turning to him.

His gaze was serious, unsettling and sexy—I closed my eyes in a hard squint. No!

"Are you sure you're okay taking on my case?" he asked like he actually cared about me.

"I should be asking you the same thing." My voice had lowered into a whisper, but it was still harsh. "All of the law agencies in the world and you choose here? Are you sure you're not trying to do something sneaky?"

"Sneaky?" he hissed. "Do you think I feel good about this? I'm not here for you or me. I'm just trying to do what's best for my son. This is the best family-law firm in the region. I didn't know that you just started working here. So get over yourself."

I glared at him, rejecting any sort of shame I was feeling. Just like him to make me feel bad. "You're an asshole, you know that?"

"You're being unprofessional." He shook his head. "Whatever. You can send me the information when you calm down," he said before starting for the door.

"Wait," I groaned, moving toward him. "I think I have a right to not be happy about this. I didn't even get a warning."

A considerate gaze fell against mine. And for once the air between us wasn't toxic with bitterness and disappointment. We were close—not close enough to be intimate or anything, just enough to really face him. To face the reality that had been non-existent for years. When he sighed, the spell was over.

"Life doesn't come with a warning label." Then he left.

I should have been used to it by now.

Life was unexpected. Which was why I spent the better half of the hour wondering if Scourge had the right to call me out on this fact. I knew he didn't directly choose to leave me. I knew that children complicated things—but maybe I had to stop thinking that unexpected was bad. It wasn't. Scourge wasn't. But it seemed like most things that weren't bad weren't all that good, either.

"Amy." My eyes shot up from my desk. I drained the despair from my face and smiled as graciously as I could.

"Uh, what brings you here, Phil?"

The older man shrugged. "Your lovely boss. We have a lunch date."

Good to see everyone else was getting some.

My current relationship was with food...and the toilet for the food I'd subsequently throw up. So life was awesome. "That's good to hear," I replied. "Maybe Ms. Ferret will stop breathing fire."

"Only when I'm dead." There was only a little less bite than usual in Ms. Ferret's tone. She handed me a stack of files. "Give me your opinion on these cases by three."

I suppressed the urge to sigh. "Sure thing."

"And I don't know what your client went off to do, but you should definitely establish a proper meeting time." She didn't look annoyed, but she didn't look happy either. "Losing your first case sends a bad precedent."

Phil looked impressed. "I didn't know my Amy was climbing up the legal ladder."

"Trust me, she has a long way to go." The two laughed as they left for their date. And then it hit me.

What if Phil had run into Scourge? My eyes widened.

What if Clarissa ran into Scourge?

I clutched his file to my chest. Shit was going to get real, real fast.

"Ready for your ultrasound?" I spun over my shoulder, realizing I had forgotten the biggest beast of them all.

Blaze.

I blinked at her like an idiot before stopping myself. "Sure."

Blaze raised a brow. "Why do you look so surprised? Didn't I tell you last week?"

I closed my eyes. Yes. But Scourge also dropped into my life last week. Naturally, I couldn't bring my mind to remember much of anything. Other than the fact I had to meet with Scourge. Every week. For who knew how long.

I shook my head, strapping my purse over my shoulder. "Never mind, let's just leave before my co-workers get curious." It was lunchtime, and I was pretty sure I was the only one who opted to stay in. Even the receptionist/secretary was out of sight.

And I didn't need anyone else to make a random appearance.

I should have expected Parker to make a random appearance.

"Amy?" He blinked at me. His expression softened when he turned to Blaze. Who had to be pregnant. Not me. "I met you before—Blaze, correct?"

"Yes." She shook his hand like all of this was normal. "How's life been treating you?"

"Can't complain." He was smiling and being charming. "I imagine you're here for your first ultrasound. Let me know if you need anything."

I could sense Blaze give me on of those "How could you let this hunk of respectable man meat slip away?" looks as I started for the room. Or any room. I didn't know where I was going. It just had to be better than here.

"See you around," I waved to Parker. "Oh, tell Clarissa to make lasagna tonight."

"But you're vegan now," Blaze said passively, as if she wasn't the one enforcing my unfortunate diet. I rolled my eyes. More like I was being punished now. But before I could object, we had made it to the reception area of the gynecology-ward.

You could smell the perk in the air before Dr. Merecat came into view.

"If it isn't my favorite friends!" she said, practically cheering. "Who's ready to catch a glimpse of nature's greatest miracle?"

"So that's what we're calling it." It took everything not to scoff at the absurdity of it all. There was nothing natural about any of this. I was just a vessel; I wasn't even one of the baby's parents. I blinked at the tragic realization. "Where's Silver?"

Anyone could bet that I preferred him not being here, but it seemed sort of wrong. Or at least wronger than simply withholding the truth.

"It's only the first ultrasound," Dr. Merecat replied. "It's best not to get the husbands bent out of shape until we know everything is normal."

Normal? The blood drained from my bloated body. I mean, just because I had gotten pregnant didn't mean this would go smoothly. I was notorious for crashing and burning. Badly. How could Blaze trust me to carry something so sacred?!

As usual, Blaze's expression was calm. I couldn't detect any apprehension or worry from her, which only made me feel apprehension and worry.

I sat down on the medical chair-thing, and felt uneasy as my body rustled against the paper-like slip. I closed my eyes, told myself it was just hormones and willed myself to feel relaxed until I felt a cool gel glide against my stomach. My eyes shot open and fell against Blaze. When she nodded...I honestly still didn't feel any better.

"Can we get on with it?"

"Stress isn't good for the baby," the doctor warned. Funny, I didn't know she could be serious. So I clamped my mouth shut, watched her press some device over my belly.

"This instrument is called a transducer. It will let us see an image of the baby on the screen," she said, nudging her shoulder in the direction of a monitor.

"I can't see anything," Blaze said, taking the words from my mouth. It looked like a weird circular-swirl of black and gray contrast. Or to be more specific, a blob. I was carrying a blob.

Dr. Merecat pursed her lips. Fuck. That couldn't be a good sign.

"What's wrong?" Blaze's voice was shaking, even if it was only lightly. This also couldn't be a good sign.

"Ms. Rose, how many weeks along are you?" the doctor asked.

"Um—"

"Nine and a half weeks," Blaze answered for me. "Now can you please tell us what is wrong?"

The doctor clicked off the monitor. "Nothing's wrong. It just appears that the appointment was set two weeks too early. We won't get a clear image until the end of the first trimester. But the baby is healthy. So no frowning!"

Blaze was frowning. "This isn't some joke, Dr. Merecat. I expect my physician not to take the health of my child so lightly."

The doctor only smiled. "As my mother once said, there's no point fixing something that isn't broken. It was a simple mistake. However, if we are too serious, sometimes we miss the the bigger issues."

I turned to the window as the two started discussing a matter that had everything, yet nothing to do with me. Seemed fitting.

It took a great deal of willpower, but I made it to his address. He had a smancy apartment in the city now, about twenty minutes from the law office. So I guess he wasn't lying. But Scourge wasn't a liar. At least, no more than I was.

My fist rattled against the door before I could tell it not to. Or convince myself to run in the other direction. Everything froze except my heart, which was beating so fast that my chest almost hurt. But this wasn't exhilarating or particularly terrifying. Again, I blamed the hormones.

When an eternity finally blew over, I heard footsteps. A door unlocking. I took a quick breath, bracing myself.

"Rosie?" Scourge looked at me like he was both confused and tired. Good to know we were on the same page. He shook his head, blinking his eyes alert. "Sorry. I just got Sage to fall asleep."

I nodded; night fell a few hours ago. After getting Blaze off my back, I had some paperwork to complete. Hell, I still had paperwork to complete. But I couldn't get Scourge out of my mind. And I didn't know if that made me a committed lawyer or a dumb ex-girlfriend.

"I didn't know that a toddler could best the green menace himself," I said, folding my arms.

He attempted to glare at me.

"Right." I cleared my throat. "I just wanted to give you a statement on your case with my annotations. You will have a social worker determine whether your residence is child-appropriate anytime within the next few weeks, so I'll be assisting with that. Which will mean I'll be meeting you here. However—"

"Can we sit down to talk about this?" He yawned. "I still have to finish audits for the museum."

I blinked. "You work at a museum?"

"No." He shrugged. "Well, yes, I guess. It's a relatively new gig. Some of the cars I fixed once were on display at the Mobius Metropolitan Museum and I've been working as an art curator there since. " He smirked. "It's random, but it makes me almost as happy as Sage does."

A small smile found its way on my face, but I had no desire to step inside. Okay, I did. And even though I'd have to come inside eventually, between the hour and the casualness of our attire...It wasn't a good idea—it couldn't be.

Probably sensing my apprehension, Scourge let out a hiss, his icy eyes more tired than annoyed. "You know I don't bite."

"Maybe not anymore," I replied, walking through. I forced my brain to forget that we had ever been together—that I was just his lawyer. But what would a lawyer be doing at a client's home at this hour? As I tried to remember why I came here, I took a seat on the leather sofa. I tried to feel comfortable, but I abandoned the notion of ease years ago.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Scourge said, scratching his quills. I shook my head.

"No. But I'm sorry. That's why I came here—to apologize for today." I shook my head again. "The past doesn't matter anymore. Still, I guess it's hard to get past it."

"You're right," he said. "But I never made things easy for you. I really hurt you, and I'm sorry. You have no reason to apologize for anything."

"Alright," I had no idea how to describe it—my heart felt like it was swelling and collapsing at the same time. It wasn't fair how attainable yet forbidden everything was. In this moment, I could forget everything. I could surrender my feelings for the sake of helping Scourge—I could. But I didn't know what I wanted. And now he was here. Asking for nothing, yet everything from me. But hadn't I played this game before?

Hadn't I lost badly?

A snore crackled in the air. My attention focused on a sleeping Scourge. With a sigh, I set the file on the coffee table. He looked so peaceful, and I had always been a desperate peace-seeker. And here we were, together—his arms practically open and my judgment compromised.

Something made me leave before I could go there.

~KB