Chapter 5

Keep On Running Till We See The Sun

"That baby looks like an alien." Lucy glared at Ian and slapped her hand against his chest as she turned her attention back to her apple laptop resting on her legs. "Ian! That's what OUR baby looks like right now!"

Ian laughed, catching her hand as she moved to pull it back down and kissing her fingertips. "And I'm saying our baby looks like an alien."

Lucy scowled at him out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at the screen. She was officially twelve weeks along, and in the last four weeks, it had become ritualistic for her to sit down on each Monday and read about how their baby was coming along. And each and every week he would tell her that their baby looked like an alien.

"Just wait until next month," She told him. "She'll look more human."

"She?" Ian said. "What makes you think we're not having a boy? Little Ian jr." Lucy giggled. "I thought you didn't want to name our child Ian Jr. And look," she said, pointing back to the screen. "Our baby has reflexes this week!" Ian narrowed his eyes at the screen. "It also says that our baby is only half an ounce and is only 2 inches long. My pe-" Lucy slapped her hand over his mouth and glared at him before looking around the set. Ashley was a few feet away on her laptop while also talking to Ryan on the phone, and Tyler was also close by. Troian and Shay were shooting a scene together.

"Do you mind?" She asked him as she gently pulled down the lid of her laptop. "People can hear you."

Ian laughed and pulled her hand down off his mouth. His attempts at being witty always got worse, the later that they had to be at work. It was after 11 PM and they were desperately waiting to go into turnaround so that they could go home.

"FYI, by the time that baby is here, it's definitely going to be longer than the appendage you're referring to," she added.

"Really, Harding? Sex talk on set?" Holly narrowed her eyes at him as she sat down in her directors chair settled next to Lucy's.

"Ignore him," Lucy said as she turned around. "The man never sleeps anymore. I go to sleep and he's still awake, and I wake up in the morning and he's already up."

"Alright you three! Turnaround!"

Lucy squealed gleefully as Norman came walking across the set. She moved off her chair and began to pack up her things into her bag while Ian and Holly did the same. Once her things were packed together, she slung her bags across her shoulder and then headed down to her dressing room.

She shimmied out of her clothing as fast as possible. She'd been in jeans all day that were uncomfortable. While she didn't have a real bump yet, she was definitely gaining weight, and it was making her usual size two waist rather uncomfortable.

Once the pants and t-shirt she'd been in were off, she hung them up on the hangers that she'd been given that morning, and then stepped into her grey roots sweatpants and the sweatshirt of Ian's that she'd stolen that morning. It was a black sweater with a band name on the back. It was also new, so the lining was extremely soft.

She pulled her hair free from under the sweater and picked up her bags as well as her wardrobe and headed out of the room. She stopped at wardrobe and gave her clothing back to Mandi and then headed over to makeup and let Marsha remove her pink hair clip-ins. Ian arrived a few moments later and took her bags from her before slipping his arm around her. Their relationship was no secret to everyone on the cast, but they had yet to fully come clean about their pregnancy. Lucy knew though that soon enough she was going to have to spill.

"Ready to go home?" He asked.

Lucy nodded. She slipped her fingers between his.

-
Nothing's gonna stop me anyway
I'm holding on, I'm strong
-

Lucy yawned as she awoke the next morning. She snatched the un-tucked sheet from the end of the bed and pulled it around her body as she swung her legs over the side. She and Ian both had a noon call time, but it was barely ten AM. She tiptoed out of Ian's bedroom and walked into the bathroom before pushing the door shut behind her. She let the sheet fall to the floor and then settled on the toilet.

Once she was finished she moved wash up. Her eyes drifted down to the toilet out of habit, but just that quickly the thoughts of what her day would bring washed away by the sight of blood in the toilet. Her stomach dropped and tears were in her eyes that fast.

She hit the flusher and then dashed out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. Ian must've realized she was gone, because he starting to wake up. He looked over at her as she sat down on the bed and quickly perked up when he saw how panicked she was.

"What's wrong?" Lucy shook her head as tears began to run down her face. "I w-went to the bathroom. A-and there was b-blood, Ian."

All the colour drained from Ian's face as her words sunk in. "Are… I- Are you in pain? I mean pain is a bad thing right?" For as much as he liked to pick on her for keeping up on her reading, he'd done a fair share of his own as well.

She nodded as tears started rolling down her face. "It is. And I'm not." She wanted to add a yet to that, but she refrained. Ian moved over on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Just take a deep breath. It might be nothing. Call the doctor and we'll see what she says."

Lucy nodded again. She reached over and snatched her iPhone off the nightstand and brought the screen up. A message lit up the screen as she brought it up. She furrowed her brow as she read the text.

Chris Zylka (unlisted):
I'm in LA. We need to meet and talk.
Please call me when you have time.

She exhaled a frustrated breath and then cleared the message off her screen and pulled up her phonebook. She scrolled down through it until she found the number to her doctors office and then leaned back against Ian as she called the number. He brushed his hand over her hair. Lucy whimpered and closed her eyes as she phone began to rang.

The line clicked over a few moments later and she went through the process of being transferred and then waiting on hold before she finally got her physician's nurse on the phone. She explained the situation, and then was placed on hold again while she waited for her doctor.

"I hate this," she whispered softly as she turned her head into Ian's chest. Ian pressed his lips to her forehead and rubbed his hands up and down her biceps.

The line clicked over again and her doctor picked up.

"Lucy?"

"Yes," she said.

"Faith tells me you're having some bleeding?"

"Yeah," she murmured. "Just started this morning. I know that if its bright red or theres pain accompanied that its bad. It's-… I mean I'm not in pain, but…" "If you're not feeling pain, then it's a good thing. Any kind of cramping, and I want you to call me, but in the meantime, I'm going to put you in for an appointment in the next few days. Think you can make that?"

"Yes," she said firmly. Even if she had to skip work for a day, she'd do it. She'd do anything for her baby.

"Alright, I'm going to transfer you back to the front desk. Keep calm, though, and don't hesitate to call if anything comes up sooner." And just like that, the conversation was over. Two minutes later, she had an appointment scheduled for two days later, but she couldn't help but feel like it couldn't come fast enough. As she let her phone drop into her lap, she turned into Ian's arms and let him comfort her as she began to cry.

Everything that had happened in the last few months had been the last thing she had been ready for. But even so, she didn't want to lose Ian or their baby. This baby had brought them together and given them so much already. They were set to be moving into a new apartment over the coming weekend. She didn't want things to end like this.

As it was, she eventually had to get up and start her day. However, she became increasingly more irritable and gloomy as the day wore on, from the messages she continued to receive. By mid-afternoon, she had half a dozen texts from Chris, and three missed calls.

She shoved out of her directors chair as her phone rang once more and huffed. Ian reached out to grab her arm, but she glared at him, and he quickly pulled his hand back. She stormed off in the direction of her dressing room.

"What'd you do, boy wonder!" Holly said concernedly. "I've never seen Goose that pissed at you."

Ian shook his head and moved off his chair as well. He walked off towards the set that was Ezra's apartment but then stopped when he realized Holly wasn't following him. He turned around and shook his head at her. Taking the message, she moved off her chair and followed after him.

He waited until they were in the makeshift apartment and turned off his mic pack before sitting down on the leather couch. Holly sat down next to him.

"Luce was bleeding this morning," he explained. "The doctor doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong, and there was a heartbeat a few days ago when she had her checkup, but we're scared."

Holly nodded slowly. "You do know spotting is normal, right?" Ian nodded. "I do. And so does she. But whatever she saw this morning was enough to scare her." He exhaled heavily and looked down at the floor, moving his thumb back and forth under his fingers, trying to distract himself.

"That's all?" Holly asked.

Ian shook his head. He looked up at her. "Chris keeps calling and texting her. He wants to see her." "What for?" Holly asked as her brow furrowed.

Ian shrugged. "I don't know."

-
Stay away from my trigger
I'm a loaded gun
-

Lucy sunk down into a seat outside of starbucks and held her cup tightly in her hand. It was quite warm out for early May, but she was enjoying the weather nonetheless. She didn't really want to be meeting Chris, but she knew that if she didn't, that he wasn't going to leave her alone.

"What do you want?" Her voice came out in a growl as she shoved her dressing room door shut behind her.

"Well hello to you too." His voice came over the line.

"You're the one who can't take a hint," she insisted. "What do you want?"

"I was calling to ask if you'd be willing to meet with me. I'm in LA for a few weeks before I go to London. We need to talk," he said.

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"We just need to speak," Chris said. "We need to discuss some things. And besides, I still have some things of yours that you left at my place."

She sighed heavily. "Fine. I've got Thursday afternoon off. I'll call you when I know more."

And so she found herself sitting in a booth outside of the starbucks on Rodeo drive. She'd just come from the doctor and was waiting on some blood tests to come back. Her baby still had a heartbeat, and the sound of it had been the most comforting thing to her after two days of panicking. It had affected her so much that she had started crying. Ian had been there at her side, and though she was crying more, she had seen a few tears fall from his eyes as well. Their nerves had been on edge for two very long days, and the sound of their unborn baby's heartbeat had brought a world of relief.

They had parted at the doctors office as Ian had headed back to the set, and Lucy headed for starbucks. She had been given the day off when she'd explained the situation to her bosses. A part of her wondered if it was because they worried what kind of shape she'd be in if she had in fact miscarried, but she didn't mind having the afternoon off.

"Lucy." Her skin crawled at the way her name rolled off his tongue. It just didn't sound right. She knew that they had dated for 2 months, but the fact that Ian had so easily come between them, should've told her that their relationship wasn't as firm as she thought it was. She watched him with wary eyes as he came to sit in front of her on the other side of the table. He held a chai tea in his hands and stared at her for several long moments before smiling.

"It's good to see you."She nodded slowly. "Sure." They were quiet for a few moments before she spoke again. "So what is it that you so desperately needed to talk to me about?"

Chris stared at her for several moments before he finally opened his mouth. "I had a question. Are you absolutely sure that your baby is Ian's?"

The fact that he had the audacity to ask her that question got so deep under her skin that she wanted to punch him in the face. After all the things he had said about and to her, not to mention to her friends, she couldn't believe that he would actually think that they could share a child together. And if, by some slim chance, she did end up carrying his child, there's no chance in hell she would've told him. Not after all he'd said and done.

She couldn't hold back the sarcastic laugh that slipped past her lips. She shook her head as a frustrated smile spread over her lips. She brought her coffee to her lips and took a long sip before looking back up at Chris.

"Yes. I'm positive my baby is Ian's. And you know, Chris, I'm not sure I would want you to be a part of this baby's life even if you were the father. What kind of future parent says the kind of things that you've said about me, to and about their future child's parent?" She asked.

"I was hurt." He said it like it was supposed to make everything better. But all it really did was make her feel sick.

"That's not good enough," she said. She pushed up from her seat and picked up her purse and coffee. "And I don't think I can be friend with someone who said the things you said about me. I used to sweep the cruel things you said about other people under the rug because I thought I loved you, but you don't say the things that you've said about someone you love. It's not okay."

She looked down at the ground for a brief moment and then back up at him. "We're finished, Chris. I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you. And if I hear from my friends that you're still saying things about me, you can bet its going to be a problem. Don't call me. Don't text me."

She didn't wait for him to answer her as she turned on her heel and walked away. As she did, her phone buzzed in her hand, playing Ian's ringtone. She slid the arrow across the screen and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Nothing. I'm waiting to go into turnaround. I'll just be glad when it's the weekend and we're not split between two places anymore."

A smile tugged across Lucy's face. "Me either. And I'm glad our baby is okay."

"Me too."