Title: Bubble Tea

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I no own

Summary: When Bunny Tsukino learns that she's pregnant with Darien Shields child, she feels that her life is over. A baby wouldn't have been a problem if the father hadn't been a one night stand. Now she's unsure with what her next move should be, and if he would be as supportive as her best friends are. She can't help but wonder when her life became a TV-drama. - AU

NO BETA. BEWARE OF ERRORS. (Looking for a beta! Message me if you're interested!)

Order 19. Almond Milk Tea with Boba

Lita turned her alarm off while her mind was still mostly groggy. She felt as if her eyes were on fire, dry and sandy. This was a side effect from working so late the night prior. Still, she had an afternoon wedding to set up for and then she had a day off. Sometimes being your own boss kind of sucked. Lita was sure she worked more now than she had when she was working under someone else.

Andrew mumbled something unintelligible from his warm spot on their bed. Typically he was a morning person, but he had worked late at his family's restaurant last night too. They were trying their best to earn as much money as possible for their own wedding and honeymoon. Especially the honeymoon, Lita wanted to go to Italy.

Dragging her feet to their en suite, she turned on the shower and forced her still too sleep-warmed body to go under the cascade of cool water. Lita hissed but allowed it to wash over her. Cold water was always her go to if she felt that she was too tired, followed by a strong cup (or three) of coffee.

The shower curtain being moved was the only indication that she wasn't alone.

"Please tell me it's not cold water," Andrew begged as he joined her.

"It's not cold water," Lita couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her as he let out a startled yelp once it hit him.

"You suck," Andrew groaned.

There was nothing sexual between them, both too exhausted to try anything more than soft kisses and gentle touches before focusing on their own bodies.

Once she was bathed and dressed, Lita gave her fiancé a kiss goodbye and headed to her car. Andrew had the day off, he had a doctor's appointment that morning and he was in charge of a few errands that needed to be run. A trip to the grocery store was on the top of that list.

The day started out great, until Lita made it into her Jeep. Her car did not want to start. Her old jeep sputtered the few times she turned her key in the ignition, but otherwise refused to come to life.

"Ugh," Lita resisted the urge to slam her head into the steering wheel. She was already going to be late, and her company had a wedding they had to cater to by noon.

She was very fortunate that it was Andrew's day off, although she couldn't borrow his car due to his appointment he could still give her a ride.

"I'll check your car later today. You owe me for this," Andrew teased as he dropped her off at her shop.

"I'm sure I can find a way to make it up to you," Lita promised with a soft kiss before hopping out of the car and into work.

Chad greeted her enthusiastically. Lita had promised him to leave early today after the wedding was done since he put in almost as many hours as she did. He deserved some type of reward for it, and she wouldn't dock his pay. He had been with her since the beginning of all of this, and Chad was loyal. Lita could trust him with anything, which made her spoil him a little extra then her other employees.

The wedding's venue was beautiful, and the greatness of working as a caterer was the privilege of seeing some marvelous wedding places.

Molly was in charge of this one. Lita and she had worked together a few times now and Lita genuinely liked the other woman. Molly was lively and vivacious, with her Boston accent and no nonsense attitude. It made Lita's heart twist at the thought of the game Nephrite was playing, whatever game that was. Lita had to get out of it before it dragged her down and they manage to ruin two families instead of just one.

She wondered if Molly knew that Lita was Nephrite's ex from years ago. Maybe Molly didn't deem it as important, and perhaps it wasn't. They hadn't been together in many years. Nephrite was married with a child while Lita was planning her wedding. They had both moved on with their lives. At least it appeared that way, Lita sincerely hoped so.

The day shifted into gear and everything went by quickly and thankfully without much of a hitch – there had been a server who almost dropped an entire tray of entrees, and there would have been hell to pay had she not managed to catch herself before it happened. Chad helped Lita load up their van before saying his goodbyes. Apparently his band had a gig that night that he was pretty excited about.

Lita only had a few of her regular servers drive back with her to unload the truck before she sent them all home early. She was just in a good mood now and thought that maybe it was best if she disinfected her kitchen while waiting for Andrew to come and pick her up. It had been an eternity since she was alone in her own space, and the thought of it was calming.

She reached into her purse for her cell phone and paused when she realized that it wasn't where it was supposed to me.

After a thorough search of her purse, van, and person, Lita groaned. First her car wouldn't start, now her phone was lost. It was probably still at the venue, and was it still going to be there if she were to go back?

The bell above the front door of the shop jingled and Lita peeked out of the kitchen, half hoping it was Andrew.

Her heart sunk at the sight of Nephrite.

"Hey," Lita greeted casually, "what're you doing here?"

He gave her a warm smile that seemed entirely too charming, "Molly said that you forgot your phone."

As if to prove his point he showed her the device and placed it onto the counter in-between the two of them.

"Oh, thank you. I appreciate you coming out here to drop it off. I owe you one." Lita smiled kindly.

Nephrite dipped his head a bit and peered up at Lita through his lashes. The atmosphere around them suddenly changed, Lita knew that look too well. He was planning on touching her in some way, maybe kiss her. Maybe more.

There was a brief spike of fear through her body as he placed a hand gently over her own on the counter.

"You need to leave," Lita found herself saying. Her voice was calm, though her body language clearly stated that she was ready to fight or flee from this entire situation.

The bakery suddenly seemed too small with him there. They had closed and she had sent Chad home early as a reward for always being on top of things. Now Lita regretted that decision. The truth was, if need be, she could fight Nephrite off. But she knew that Nephrite was bigger and stronger than her. Always had been.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Us meeting again was purely coincidence. What we had has been over for years now. I'm going to tell you again, you need to leave."

Nephrite disregarded what she told him and took another step closer. If he touched her she wasn't sure how she was going to react. "Do you really want me to?"

"I believe she told you to leave twice already," Andrew's voice cut clear through the bakery She hadn't heard the bell chime when he came in, but Lita couldn't help the relief that flooded through her at the sound of her fiancé.

Nephrite glanced over at Andrew, assessing him before giving a charming smile. "Of course, my apologies."

With one last longing look at Lita, he left.

Andrew turned to Lita, hazel eyes narrowed dangerously. "What the fuck?"

"His wife was the wedding planner at the event today. I left my phone and I guess she told him to bring it to me," Lita stated. It was the most honest she had been with him since Nephrite had reentered her life.

"So you knew that the wedding planner was his wife?" Andrew demanded, arms folded over his chest. "And you kept this from me."

His anger radiated off of him in sharp waves.

Their relationship had always been an easy one. Open information on both sides, honesty and trust.

"We haven't been together in years!" Lita argued, "It's not like I was cheating on you. This was a onetime thing!"

Lies. They had seen each other a handful of times. Lita kept wanting just a little more of Nephrite whenever their paths crossed. Shame began to flood her, making her stomach ache.

"Stop. Lying. To. Me." Andrew growled before gently placed Lita's car keys on the nearest counter, "Just STOP IT. You're the worst liar that I've ever met, and you've always been honest with me Lee. I knew something was up these last few weeks, I knew! But I love you and gave you the benefit of the doubt. Now I come to find out that it was because you were keeping your ex. Oh, and not just any ex, but the abusive one that I had to deal with being between us for years before I could fully help you heal."

Lita's heart was pumping in her ears now as she stared at him. Fear was beginning to claw at her and she could feel tears burning in her eyes. "Are you going to leave me?"

Her voice was little more than a whisper. Her hands were trembling at her sides and she had to curl them into fists to try to get them to stop. Lita swallowed the lump in her throat at the look Andrew had given her when the question left her mouth.

"I don't know," He finally managed to answer.

The lump in Lita's throat grew.

Andrew ran his hands through his dirty blond hair and yanked for a moment before allowing her arms to fall back down to his sides, "did you sleep with him?"

"No!" Her anguish and disgust at the thought that he would believe such a thing rocked her to the core.

"How many times have you seen him Lita?" Andrew asked warily. He had taken a few steps away from her and was closer to the exit of the kitchen now.

Lita licked her lips to moisten them as she thought for a moment, "four. Only four times."

"Only," Andrew almost sneers, "I can't. I can't do this right now." The anger in his voice gave way to pain. "I'll be at my sisters', please don't contact me."

"Wait, Andrew," But a wave of his hand cut her off.

"No Lita. Just…no. You don't get to say anything right now."

Between one heartbeat and the next he was gone. Lita knew that if she really wanted to she could bully him into listening to her. She could easily catch up to him, he hadn't left the building yet and he didn't have a ride home. Still, she couldn't bring herself to move from the spot that she was rooted in.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there, staring at nothing. Her shoulders were curling in on themselves and she pressed her fists to her eyes. They burned with unshed tears.

Was Lita about to lose her fiancé over someone who honestly didn't matter anymore? Why had she been so stupid? Mina had been so adamant about Lita just cutting Nephrite off. Why didn't she listen? Why did she continue to shrug it off as if it didn't matter? As if Andrew's feelings didn't matter?

After several minutes (hours?) of breathing exercises, Lita managed to compose herself.

Andrew was long gone by the time Lita made it to the small parking lot of her shop and to her car.

Lita felt as if she were hollowed out. She wished she could bring herself to go to the gym and just hit something or work out. Anything. But she couldn't will herself to have the energy needed to do anything more than just sit and stare.

Her mind briefly flitted to Amy. Was this the type of anguish her friend had felt? Only it was slightly different. If the scenarios were reversed, did that make Lita Craig? The thought made her nauseous.

Lita turned on her Jeep and began to drive with no destination in mind. By the time she realized where she was she had already parked. It would be easy to hit reverse and head in another direction, but she was too drained for that.

Fatigue ached in her bones.

Lita dragged her feet up the few flights of stairs before she found herself in front of a familiar door. With a few soft knocks, the door opened revealing the form of her petite best friend.

Bunny stared up at Lita with a worried frown on her face, "What's wrong?" She asked as she ushered the taller woman into her cozy apartment.

The moment Lita sat down on the couch, not even bothering to remove her chef's coat – she hadn't realized she was still in uniform- it was as if all the pain in her chest came to a crest. Before she realized it, the tears that she couldn't shed in the kitchen earlier came down like a flood. And she couldn't find a way to stop them.

"I made a mistake. I messed up so big," Lita gasped as she stared up at Bunny with unseeing eyes.

Bunny did what she did best, she grabbed Lita and smothered her in a tight hug. The bump of her belly firm against Lita's side. "There's nothing so bad that can't be fixed."

"I think Andrew's going to leave me!" Lita admitted. She felt as if she were drowning. "I don't know what I'll do without him. But I wouldn't blame him for leaving me, I wouldn't."

Bunny made soothing sounds while rubbing circles on Lita's back. She hummed and cooed the appropriate calming phrases. "Why don't you tell me from the beginning?"

And so Lita did. Her tears didn't stop until she was fast asleep on the couch with Luna curled up on her back.

TBC

MLL: Rushed chapter is rushed. I honestly wrote it backwards, and started with Lita and Andrew getting into it. The rest took a while to write because I couldn't figure out how to lead to that point. The argument between Lita and Andrew (mostly Andrew) took a lot out of me. Have I mentioned before that this fic is emotionally draining? I sometimes dread writing this because I know I'll be left behind emotionally spent. I love having flawed characters, but the drama is insane. On a lighter note, the countdown begins! Only 6 more chapters left. Fingers crossed that this gets finished before the New Year and I can happily retire from fanfiction for a while.

Please review!

PS: Sorry for any typos and/or errors. I don't proof read.