CHAPTER 6:

"I think we should go back to Cooper's place. I know Fiona wanted to apologise to you."

"She did?" Jen asked. She could hardly believe that Fiona would actually want to apologise. It wasn't like her to be the first one to back down from a fight. Jen sighed slowly. "I guess we should." Jen replied, grabbing her jacket. James grabbed his keys and wallet and beat Jen to the door to open it for her. Jen walked past, squeezing his hand on the way. "Another thing…let's stay quiet about this, for now. All right?" Jen said, holding her hand over her belly. James nodded in agreement. The last thing they wanted was for the other two to freak out, more so in these circumstances, about Jen being pregnant.

Fiona and Cooper were still sitting at the table. They had gone silent. Cooper had run out of things to say, to keep it as non-awkward as possible. Cooper was drumming his fingers on the table and the sound was resonating in Fiona's ears. The moment the door was knocked on, both of them jumped out of their seats to answer it. Fiona saw Cooper doing the same thing and she sat back down while he answered the door.

"Ah, you both are back. Come in." Cooper allowed Jennifer and James inside. Great…thought Fiona, from one awkward situation right into another. Fiona stood up and walked over to the front hall. James and Cooper began talking about getting another car to drive around in and gradually left the two women standing alone. Jen looked at Fiona, waiting to hear this so-called 'apology'. Fiona took in a deep breath and decided to indeed apologise.

"Jen, about yesterday…you know my argumentative side doesn't like to back down. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't really think about it now, how important going on a honeymoon was. Again, I'm sorry." Fiona looked at Jen.

"I forgive you. It wasn't just the honeymoon thing…well it was but…look…something else is…"

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." Fiona offered. She and Jen exchanged glances again. Jen wanted to tell Fiona about her pregnancy even though she told James they were going to keep it quiet. Jen bit down on her lip. Normally Jen would never have told someone something if she didn't want to, but with all the extra hormones in her body, she felt obligated to tell someone. That someone happened to be Fiona.

"Fiona…come here." Fiona walked closer.

"What is it?" Fiona asked with a concerned look on her face. Jen looked around. When she saw no sign of James or Cooper indoors, she looked back at Fiona.

"I'm…pregnant." Fiona at first looked at her friend in shock, but then she smiled.

"Well you're obviously not that far along." Fiona said, sneaking a glimpse at Jen's stomach.

"No…roughly six to eight weeks I think."

"Wait a moment…so this happened before you were married."

"Um….yes. Unplanned. Completely unplanned. But I guess that's what happens when both of us have had too much wine." Jen laughed quietly.

"Aww, I'm happy for you two. He knows, right? You didn't pull one of the 'telling the friend before the father' type things did you?"

"No, he was the first, besides me. You're the second person to know and perhaps the only other person for the time being. We kind of decided to not tell anyone, meaning you and Cooper, because…because with all this stuff going on, we didn't want you to freak out."

"Oh…well…we'll just have to be extra safe. Besides, have you seen Cooper's gun collection? Or his skills with a baseball bat?"

"True. Very true." Jen replied, thinking back to when she first came to his apartment.

"I'm so…congratulations!" Fiona squealed, embracing Jen in the process. Jen laughed at Fiona's enthusiasm. Jen was glad she had told Fiona, even though James and Jen had first thought to keep it a secret. Having a baby was something great, and it was something to be shared among friends.

"So, have things worked out between you two?" Cooper asked, as he and James walked out of his massive garage. James nodded.

"Yeah we did. It was…everything's good." James said rather quickly.

"Is there something more? I mean, I'm no socialite, but you seem kinda nervous."

"Well….I'm going to be a father." James half regretted saying those words, but it was far too late.

"Oh! Congratulations then?" Cooper shrugged.

"Um….yep. Just….don't say anything. I promised her we'd keep it quiet. She thought that with everything that's going on, you and Fiona would freak out and go into super protective mode or something and we're still kinda iffy on keeping it." James chuckled as the pair of them arrived at the front door.

"I promise I won't say a word." Cooper held out his hand to James'. James laughed and shook his hand. It was good to know that James was able to confide and trust Cooper without worrying about it at all.