Well, I decided to write as I await the episode but the On Demand still isn't working. I've decided I'm a Cause of Death addict and when new episodes aren't available, writing is my backup drug to stop me from withdrawing.

Blaise slipped her smart phone into the pocket of her jeans, her hand trembling slightly. She looked visibly shaken by the news she had just received.

How? she thought to herself. "How?" She clenched her hands into fists. "Jesus Christ, I shouldn't have left her!" Her voice rose several octaves.

Jeremy stood up and grabbed her shoulders. "Blaise, calm down. You can't start blaming yourself."

Blaise pulled away from him. "I can. I didn't even tell her she was going to have a grandkid. I left her there. I could have stayed over there and called 911 for her."

She grabbed her keys and made a beeline for the door. "Wait, can I use your car? You know, since mine's at my apartment."

Jeremy picked up his car keys. "I'm driving."

"Oh, come on. I don't need a designated driver!" Blaise argued.

"Blaise, you're too worked up to drive!"

She began to protest but shrugged. "Fine." She turned on her heel and briskly walked out of the apartment.

Jeremy quickened his pace to catch up to her.

"I don't get it. How could she be dead? I was there three hours ago!" Blaise slammed the car door shut with more force than necessary and didn't bother to buckle her seat belt.

The trip to Madeline's suburban home seemed to take much longer than it had earlier that same day, despite the fact that traffic was less congested in the later hours.

"I think I'm gonna go in alone, okay?" Blaise mumbled. Her voice cracked noticeably. "I'll try not to be long."

"Take your time."

Blaise disappeared inside the house. Her sister was in the living room, sitting on the sofa with her head in her hands. "Kelly. What happened?"

"I-I just came in here and couldn't find Mom. I went in the kitchen and saw her on the floor. She... she fell and hit her head."

Blaise made her way into the kitchen. Her stomach sank at what she saw. There was no blood but the scene before her was much harder to watch than any crime scene she had investigated.

Madeline's skin was pale and her eyes were closed. Apurple bruise covered her left temple and forehead. Her nose was swollen and her glasses were broken, the shattered glass reminiscent of a spider web.

Judging by the appearance of the rumpled kitchen rug, Blaise assumed Madeline had tripped over it and hit her head on the hard tile floor.

She touched her mom's stiff cold hand. Tears pooled in her eyes. She refused to believe it when she heard the news over the phone. She refused to believe it while she was in the car. She couldn't try to convince herself otherwise any longer. This was real.

She stayed a little longer until her mother's covered body was loaded into a coroner's van. Finally she returned to Jeremy's vehicle and silently climbed in.

"Ready to go home?"

"Yeah. Take me to my apartment." The bitterness in her voice told him that no matter what protest he brought up, she would win the argument.

He simply did as she said. The silence in the car was unbearable, but neither of them bothered to break it. When they arrived at Blaise's apartment, she finally spoke.

"I'll see you tomorrow... or call... or something." Blaise opened the car door and hesitated for a moment before getting out. "See ya." She closed the door behind her without looking back.

Jeremy took several long moments to think to himself. They hadn't fought since their supposed reconciliation, but they hadn't made progress either. The events that had occurred during the past few weeks hadn't so much as been alluded to.

He hadn't forgotten the fact that Blaise seemingly dropped off of the face of the planet when he was in the hospital after being stabbed. After she broke up with him, he gave her the cold shoulder. Were they really together or simply pretending to be for the baby's sake?

Blaise had said she would see or call him the following day. Jeremy had a feeling that she wouldn't.

CoD-CoD-CoD

Just as Jeremy expected, Blaise didn't call the next day.

After work the following day, he found himself at her apartment door. He stood there for a moment before knocking firmly.

He heard the click of an unlocking door. "Hey."

"Hey." Blaise stepped aside to let him in. She looked as if she hadn't slept in days, despite it only being one.

"You, um... never called."

"I forgot." Blaise picked up the newspaper containing her mother's obituary, reading it for the umpteenth time.

"I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm alright. Really."

"...Really?"

"Don't do that." Blaise scowled. "I'm not in the mood to be talked to like I'm an emotional mess, because I'm not!" She tossed the obituary aside, unable to read it again. "I'm going to bed. You can stay or you can leave. It's up to you."

Jeremy contemplated the two options before following her into the bedroom. The bed was made, an evident sign that she had either stayed up all night or crashed on the couch for a couple of hours.

Blaise threw back the covers and climbed into bed. "Kill the light, would ya?" she muttered into her pillow.

He flipped off the light switch and pulled down the covers on the other side of the bed before laying down beside her.

Blaise tossed and turned. The ominous ticking of the clock was an indicator that she wasn't going to sleep tonight.

Eventually she glanced at her alarm clock. 1:47 AM. She climbed out of bed and stared out the window at the San Francisco nighttime skyline, the full moon illuminating the glistening water of the bay.

She couldn't quite understand why she felt so guilt about not telling her mother about the baby. She knew that even if she had brought the subject up, the sickly woman would have forgotten it. She wondered how long her mother laid unconscious in the kitchen floor. Blaise shuddered and tried to push the mental image to the back of her mind.

Suddenly it came to her realization that she was crying. Damn it, she scolded herself. She sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Blaise?" Jeremy sat up in bed and edged closer to her.

"Just go back to sleep," she whispered hoarsely, turning her face away. Of course he didn't listen.

"What's going on?"

She started to say nothing, but that was far from the truth. "Everything. Everything's going on. I'm so frustrated!" It had only been a little over twenty four hours since her mother's death but already the funeral plans were becoming too much to handle.

She took a glance at him. "Why should you even be here for me? I wasn't there for you. I panicked and ran away from everything. You should be mad."

"I was. I really was. But that's behind me now. We can't just keep getting upset about the past."

"Since when did you become an inspirational speaker?"

"Recently."

"Well, nice little speech." Blaise tried to prevent more tears from falling but failed. Smooth, Corso.

"I need to ask you something."

"...Go on."

"Are we... are we only together because of the baby?"

"I don't know. Everything's so confusing right now! We're right back where we started. Nothing's improved. We're just... I don't know anything right now. I don't know what to do... what we do. Nothing!"

"We have to do something. We can't just avoid each other like we've been doing. This is permanent," he whispered.

"I know that! But what? What do we do? Can we even do this? After everything?" Blaise choked on a sob. Right now she didn't care if she let out her emotions.

Jeremy put his arm around her shoulders. "Just think. What do you want?"

"I want things to work out," she whispered. "For all of us." She rested her head against his shoulder, still upset. "I always wanted more. I freaked out. All these emotions just... they scare me, okay? I'm not used to it."

Now he felt a bit guilty for giving her the cold shoulder after she had ended their prior relationship. "I'm scared about this, too. But it won't work if we don't try."

"I guess I'll give it a shot." Blaise pulled away and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "And if you tell anyone I cried, I'll have a drive-by shooting through your apartment."

I wrote me a diddly! It goes like this: Oh yay I like reviews, I love them so! Da doo ska poo! Review and I will thank you!