Tell It Like It Is

Chapter 23

Lizzy tried for the umpteenth time in the past four hours not to look to the side of the waiting area where Will sat with his face in his hands, and instead flipped another card that Fitz and Georgie quickly slapped and fought over.

"My hand is under yours!" Georgie whined, trying to pull Eddie's deck of cards out of Fitz's hand.

"But mine was there first," Fitz whined back, sounding even more juvenile than he did in high school. "Wasn't it Lizzy?"

Lizzy shrugged helplessly and snapped her attention back to the game they were playing. "Why don't you just split them?"

Both Fitz and Georgie immediately began to bicker over who would get the highest card when the door to the waiting room opened and Eddie came through looking thoroughly discouraged. Everyone jumped to their feet, and Will even managed to pull his face out of his hands to watch Eddie as he addressed the odd quartet that was far too dressed up for a hospital's waiting room. Eddie shook his head slowly, then a smile burst across his face. "It's a boy!"

Everyone rushed to Eddie, swarming him with hugs; everyone except Will, who just put his face back into his hands. Georgie smiled as she pulled away from Eddie. "It had to be a boy didn't it? Doesn't God know that we have enough of them in the world?"

Eddie laughed and hugged her again. "Sorry Georgie, it's a boy."

Georgie scowled for a moment then smiled. "Whatever. Just make sure he doesn't become a bastard."

Will in his corner shuffled, but kept his face planted firmly in his hands. It had been but five hours ago that his bride-to-be rushed down the aisle, confessed about all her cheatings, and then ripped her dress when it got caught on the door as it slammed behind her. Needless to say, he was still in shock.

"C'mon, Godfather," Georgie squeaked excitedly, as she plopped down beside him and grabbed his arm to pry his hands from his face. "Don't you want to meet your godson?"

Will looked up just in time to see Fitz wrap his arm over Lizzy's shoulder as the pair of them followed Eddie out of the waiting room. He hated that all thoughts of Melanie running out on him just disappeared and he was back in school pissed off at the world because Lizzy was flirting with his cousin. Then suddenly it hit him like lightening. He didn't have to be upset that it was Lizzy on his mind and not his fiancé, because Will Darcy no longer had a fiancé. He was free to think about whoever he wanted and that just happened to be Lizzy Morgan. Hell, Will was finally FREE!

Will smiled slightly and finally stood up. "Yeah. I really would," he told his sister who promptly hopped to her feet beside him and grabbed his hand to lead him to Erin's room where the rest were waiting for him.

There was Eddie and Erin, laying together on her bed, both glowing in the new parent brightness and sweat. Fitz was cooing over the little baby that Lizzy held in her arms, giggling as she played with his tiny little fingers. She looked up at him and smiled, and, for the first time in a long time, Will felt a little glimmer of hope tug at him. "Do you want to meet your godson?" she asked as Fitz stepped aside and sat down heavily in one of the chairs a nurse had brought in for them.

Will stepped closer and smiled at the miniature creature that lay in Lizzy's arms and lightly poked its bare stomach. Lizzy laughed softly and bounced the baby in her arms. It's eyes opened and glittered the a blue that matched Lizzy's.

"Erin I think you have some explaining to do," Darcy said, smiling for the first time that day, or possibly that month. "Neither you, nor you husband have blue eyes."

Georgie, who had been peering over his shoulder, punched him on the arm and smiled. "It's a recessive gene, Will."

Eddie chuckled from the bed. "Don't worry Will. I'm sure it's mine."

Lizzy walked back to Eddie and gently passed him his son. "Plus lots of babies have blue eyes right after they're born. They just get darker later," she added smartly as she too took a chair with Fitz.

"It's so cute," Georgie cooed. "I want one!"

Will's eyes bugged and his jaw dropped. Fitz chuckled. "Not yet, you don't, cuz."

"And you can stop referring to my son as an 'it', Georgie. It- he's," she corrected quickly, "a boy, named Connor, and he's six pounds, seven ounces, and absolutely beautiful," Erin added as she too cooed over the little baby.

"Not to mention, bastard free," Eddie added while Erin punched him on the arm and chastised him for cussing in front of her son.

Lizzy jumped for a moment and wriggled around in her chair until she produced a phone from god knows wherever she had it hidden in her killer pink dress. "Core?" she asked the phone and smiled.

"Where are you?" Corey shouted at Lizzy from her line of the phone.

Lizzy smiled. "I'm at the hospital."

"Oh god," Corey groaned into the phone. "I knew that wedding would end badly, but the hospital!"

Lizzy laughed and Will cast her a questioning glance, wondering what her best friend could possibly be saying. "It's not that. Erin had her baby."

Fitz backed away as the entire room heard the phone bust with a horrible grainy screaming, and Lizzy quickly pulled it away from her ear. "It's a boy," she replied eventually. "They named it Christian," she added seriously and everyone shared confused looks. Then she laughed and told Corey she was only kidding. "News? What kind of news?" Lizzy asked the phone, while absentmindedly playing with the hem of her dress. She didn't know it, but this was driving Will crazy.

"Good news about me? I don't know how much more news I can hear about today," Lizzy replied to the voice no one else could hear, but could safely guess what it had said.

Will shifted uncomfortably as he put two and two together. He hoped it would be his last uncomfortable shift for the day. But knowing what Corey was hinting at to Lizzy, he couldn't help but know what kind of hole his own stupidity had dug for him.

Okay, he reflected. What kind of loser says okay when the answer is clearly no?

Will had more than his share of bridges to burn, but looking at Lizzy Morgan as she teased his cousin and fit so well with all of his best friends, Will knew he'd do anything it took to have her back in all her coconut scented goodness. ...Just like high school.

I love it when Will is niave... I'm not saying anything...

Anyway. I quit one of my jobs! ( Today! I'm on a screw the establishment high!)Woo-hoo! Do you know what that means? More writing time! (Hence the presence of another chapter.) In case you haven't noticed I'm determined to finish this story, THIS week. (So not gonna happen seeing as I have four parts remaining and work a double for the next two days. But Gimme 'till Wednesday.)

Okay I hafta go. I got another chapter to write.

I need a six letter word that starts with an R and means "To look at again."