Chapter 48

Outside of mary's place cass was standing in the parkinglot,trying to calm aaron down;"I know that you're hurt by all of this,but beating up adam isn't the answer and it's not gonna change anything."

"I know and I shouldn't have done it,cass,but I got so angry when I found out that she'd slept with him."answered aaron;"I can't understand how she could do that after everything that he has put her through."

"You can't really blame adam for everything that happened two years ago."started he slowly;"I don't know how much m.j. has told you,but not everything was his fault."

"I know what happened back then,cass,I know the whole story."said aaron;"I know why adam broke it off with her and why she left baycity."

"Then you must be able to understand why he broke up with her,aaron,it's pretty shocking to find out that the woman that you're about to marry had sexy with men for money at one time and to see a tape of her going at it on your weddingday?"

"I wouldn't have let her go,cass,no matter how angry I might have been!"

"You're angry at her now!"answered cass;"Don't tell me that you're not angry at m.j. too for sleeping with adam and wanting to go back to him again."

"Ofcourse I'm angry,but if she came up to me to tell me that she made a mistake and that she doesn't wanna leave me then I would take her back without even thinking about it,cass,because I love her!"

"Adam loves m.j. too and he has never stopped loving her,aaron,not even after he found out the truth and convinced himself that he didn't love her anymore."said he;"You said yourself that m.j. has always been honest with you about her feelings for adam,so can you honestly say that you're surprised that she wants to go back to him now that she knows that he still feels the same way too?"

"No,I guess not."answered aaron tired;"Maybe you're right,cass,maybe it's for the best if this is what she really wants."

That night Nicole was having dinner with shane at tops,out on the balcony;"You've really gone through a lot of trouble,shane."

"Ofcourse."smiled he;"Nothing's too good for my baby."

"I didn't forget some special day,did i?"asked Nicole confused;"This seems so strange for just a night out together."

"No,you didn't forget anything."laughed her boyfriend as he kissed her;"But there is a special reason for this romantic dinner,Nicole."

"I knew it!"said she;"What is it?"

"I love you,Nicole love."started shane slowly as he got down on one knew infront of her,while he took a little black box out of his pocket and opened it as he took her hand into his;"Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Your wife?"asked his girlfriend stuned;"Why now,shane?"

"That wasn't the answer that I was hoping to hear."smiled he teasing;"I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,baby,that's why."

"I…."began Nicole hesitating and it suddenly hit her that he must have found out about the baby;"You know about me being pregnant,don't you?"

"Yes,but that has got nothing to do with this,Nicole."answered her boyfriend confused;"I want you to marry me because I love you and not because you're pregnant!"

"Did donna tell you?"asked she angry and got up;"She told you,didn't she?"

"It doesn't matter who told me,Nicole,this has got nothing to do with me wanting to marry you!"said shane and grabbed her arm when she wanted to leave;"What are you doing?"

"I can't let you do this just because you think it's the right thing to do!"answered his girlfriend in tears;"I'm sorry,but the answer is no!"

"Nicole!"began he confused and wanted to pull her into his arms,but she pushed him away and ran off;"It isn't like that at all!"

At the beach marlee was walking in the sand with ryan;"The movie was great."

"So are you."smiled ryan as he suddenly pulled her into his arms;"You look beautyfull tonight."

"Thanks."answered his date softly and wasn't sure about what to do at that point;"Ryan,i…."

"Sssst!"said he and gently kissed her;"You don't have to say anything,marlee,I know that you're scared that I might hurt you if you let me come to close."

"How did you know?"asked marlee surprised;"Is it that obvicious?"

"To me it is."started her date slowly;"I've noticed you're pulling away from me everytime I want to get close to you and I thought that it might be because you're afraid that I might hurt you just like you were probably hurt pretty badly by someone before."

"I don't want to pull away from you,ryan,but a part of me is just so scared of getting hurt again."answered marlee;"I don't want to be scared around you,because I really like you a lot and I want to see where this takes us."

"We don't have to rush this,marlee,we can take it one step at the time untill you're not scared anymore."smiled he and kissed her again;"There's no pressure and I'm not going anywhere either,so don't worry about it."

"Do you have any idea how great you are?"asked his date surprised;'There are not a lot of men that would feel that way."

"I'm not like most men."answered ryan;"I don't mind waiting for someone like you,marlee,because you're worth the wait."

Adam had been sitting next to m.j.'s bed at the hospital for hours,waiting for her to wake up again,when she finally opened her eyes;"Hey,sleepyhead."

"Adam…?"asked she softly and still half asleep;"I…."

"What were you thinking?"started her boyfriend slowly;"You know that you're not suppose to get out of bed and who knows what could have happened if Jamie hadn't walked by."

"Aaron…"said m.j. hesitating when she noticed the bruise above adam's left-eye and gently touched it;"Did he do that,adam?"

"Yes,but it's nothing."answered he;"It's my own fault."

"He was so angry,adam,I have never seen him like that."began his girlfriend with tears in her eyes;"I didn't want to tell him,but he demanded to know the truth about us and I didn't have any other choice then to tell him the truth."

"It's okay,honey,it's good that you told him the truth,m.j."said adam and kissed her"Atleast now I can show everybody how much I love you!"

"But what about aaron?"asked she worried as she tried to get up;"I have to find him and explain why I did what I did to him."

"You're not going anywhere!"answered her boyfriend and gently pushed m.j. back into bed;"Promise me that you won't try to get out of bed again untill Jamie says it's okay."

"You didn't see the look on aaron's face,adam!"started m.j. again;"I have to explain it to him and make him understand!"

"No,you have to stay here in bed and get better again!"said he;"I'm sure that aaron will come back downhere once he's calmed down again."

"But…"answered his girlfriend as she was starting to drift off back to sleep again;"I…."

"Go back to sleep,honey."smiled adam and kissed her again;"Things will look better again in the morning."

At the hudson's donna and Michael were just about to go to bed when Nicole showed up;"You told shane,didn't you?"

"Told him what?"asked donna confused;"Why aren't you with shane right now?"

"You told shane about me being pregnant!"started her sister angry;"Why did you do that?"

"Calm down a bit,Nicole,let's just sit down and talk about this."said Michael as he took her into the livingroom with him;"What happened?"

"He asked me to marry him."answered she and turned towards donna again;"You had no right telling him!"

"What did you say to him after he'd asked you?"began donna curious and couldn't understand why Nicole was so angry;"You did say yes to him,didn't you?"

"Ofcourse I didn't!"said her sister;"I can't marry him if he only asked me because I'm pregnant,donna!"

"But that's stupid,because shane was already going to ask you before he knew that you were pregnant!"answered she surprised;"He came here earlier today and asked me to pack a few things for you because he had booked the honeymoonsuite at tops for tonight,Nicole,he wanted to spend the night there with you after he'd popped the question."

"That's when donna told him that she was glad that you'd finally told him about being pregnant,Nicole,she thought that he wanted to ask you because of the baby."said Michael just before he went to open up the door when the doorbell rang;"Shane didn't know that you were pregnant when he decided to ask you to marry him."

"So he didn't know before?"asked his sister-in-law confused;"Is that true?"

"Yes,shane had no idea that you were pregnant untill I told him after he told us that he was going to ask you to marry him."started donna slowly;"Why didn't you just let him explain that to you,Nicole?"

"Because after he'd asked me I thought that you had told him and that he was only asking me to marry him because of me being pregnant."answered she tired;"I got so angry that I ran out of there before shane had a chance to explain anything to me."

"Then maybe you should talk to him again."said her sister;"Do you want to marry him?"

"Ofcourse I do,but do you really think that he will want to marry me after what I did tonight?"asked niocle softly;"I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to see me again after the way I acted."

"Well,nicole,I wouldn't worry about that."smiled her brother-in-law and when they turned around they saw him standing there with shane;"Look who's here."

"Shane…."started she hesitating;"I…."

"You don't have to say anything,nicky,it's okay."said shane as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her;"Will you marry me?"

"Yes,I do."smiled his girlfriend and kissed him back;"I sure do."