Cristina stared at her naked body in front of the mirror. She placed her hand on her stomach – the baby bump was starting to take shape. She had always had a perfectly flat stomach and to see the obvious curve was strange. She felt the rounding of her swollen breasts. It was amazing to feel the changes in her body and she was only three months along. She could only imagine what her body would look like as the pregnancy progressed.

She heard the doorbell ring. That was probably Owen. She hurriedly dressed, pulling on her underwear and pajamas and stepping into her slippers. She left her bedroom and opened the front door.

Owen was there with a huge smile on his face and bowls of food in his hand. "Hi," he said. "Mom sent these over for you. She said you have to eat properly. One is a casserole and the other is a roast chicken."

"Tell your mom thanks," Cristina said, as she took the bowls from him and placed it in the refrigerator.

Owen stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room. He had not been at her house in more than a month, since the day she had told him that they were not a couple.

"Have a seat," she said. He sat down on one end of the sofa and she, on the other end.

"Have you heard? The person writing the notes has come forward," Owen said. "At least that's what I heard when I went to put in gas in the truck."

"Yes, I heard that, too at the mercantile. I am waiting for Meredith to come home. She will have the inside scoop from the sheriff. I guess that is one of the advantages of dating the sheriff," she said. "I get the scoop, too, because I am her roommate."

"You can always let me know, too," he laughed.

"Of course, as soon as she comes home, I will tell you," she said.

There was an awkward silence. He wasn't sure what next to say. After all, their relationship had been so strained over the last month. It used to be so easy; he could talk to her about anything. But now, he didn't know whether he would be crossing the line since she had declared that they were not a couple.

He attempted some more chit chat, even though that was not what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to discuss what would happen, after the baby was born. He wasn't quite sure how to approach the topic, so instead, he asked, "So did you call your parents?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said. "But they are not too happy that I am having this baby out of wedlock. At least, my sister, Charmaine, was married for two years before she got pregnant."

"Come to think of it," he said. "I never knew you had a sister. Are there any more family members?"

"Yes, I have a brother, Andy. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Genevieve. They have two children, Cody and Clarissa. Charmaine lives in Charleston with her husband Wallace. They have a dog named Rosie. Since they lost the baby last year, they have been trying to get pregnant, again. She seemed a little sad, when I told her that I was pregnant. But I am sure they are going to get pregnant, again," she told him.

"So your parents are a little upset?" he said. He really didn't want the prospective grandparents of his baby to think that he would not marry Cristina. If she would allow him, he would marry her on the spot.

"Yeah, but they will get over it," she said. "Once the baby is here and I take it to show them, they will forget all about me being not married."

That was the first time that Cristina had actually mentioned about when the baby would get here. This was his opportunity, he thought.

"About that," he started. "When the baby gets here, what are your plans?"

"I am going to raise him to the best of my ability," she said.

"Him?" he queried.

"I am just using that word, generically," she replied. She had not mentioned his role in bringing up the baby. He was a little hurt by her omission.

"What about me?" he asked. "How do you see my role?"

"Well, I am sure you will play your part in taking care of the baby. I am giving you full access to the baby," she said. "Don't worry about that. The baby is as much yours as it is mine."

He realized by the way she was responding to him, it was like if she expected that they would still not be a couple by the time the baby was born. This is not what he had envisioned. He had hoped that they would have mended the rift between them and that they would approach the pregnancy and the birth of their baby, together.

"So you don't see a life with me?" he asked. "A life where we are together – you, me, the baby in our own house."

"I don't think that with the current state of our relationship, that we could contemplate that, right now," she said.

"The state of our relationship?" he scoffed. "I have given you the time, the space, yet we don't seem to have made any progress in mending our relationship." He knew he sounded miffed and that was not going to win him any points with Cristina.

He softened the tone of his voice as he pleaded, "I am at my wits' end, here. I don't know what else to do. Tell me what to do and I will do it."

"There is nothing you can do, right now. I just have to be able to forgive you," she said, staring down at the floor.

"Forgive me for what? What did I do?" he said, a little baffled.

She stayed quiet. She had been harboring this for a while and it had continued to fester within her. Just thinking about it made her brought back the hurt that she had felt in that instant.

"Remember the day I had scheduled the appointment at the Millbrook Women's Clinic and you arrived just in time to see Meredith and me leaving the clinic," she said.

"Vividly," he said. "I thought it was one of the worst days of my life."

"Well, what I remember from that moment is the way you looked at me. It was a look of pure disgust," she said. "You looked at me like if I was worse than the dirt beneath your shoe."

Owen slapped his hand to his forehead. "Is that what you have been holding against me? Is this why you have been putting me through the wringer?"

She didn't say anything.

"Cristina, see it from my point of view. I thought you had just terminated the pregnancy. I was distraught, I was devastated," he said. "On my face was just the raw emotions that I felt, then."

"It wasn't just that. It made me come to the realization that you would have had nothing to do with me, if I had terminated the baby. You would have not had it within you to be with me, if that had been the case," she said. "So why be with you when the only reason you are here is because I did keep the baby?"

"Gosh, you are being so stubborn," he said. "Okay, I admit that I had some angry feelings towards you. But the fact of the matter, baby or no baby, I do love you. The best I can say now is that I am very, deeply, truly sorry that I made you feel that way. I just want us to be together. I want you more than anything else in the world. I just want my family intact. You're my family – you, me, the baby – we are a family," he said, his blue eyes pleading.

Just then, Meredith burst through the front door. "I know who the sender of the notes is!" she screamed. She saw Owen, there and was surprised at his presence. As far as she knew, he and Cristina were not together. Owen was not pleased that she had interrupted their conversation. He had finally hoped that he was getting somewhere with Cristina.

"Who is it?" Cristina screamed back.

"Henry Burton. He said that Derek was dragging his feet on the investigation, after he gave him so many clues," Meredith said. "Of course, Derek was totally peeved at that. But Henry said Derek was barking up the wrong tree and that Teddy is not the one he should be looking at."

"Well, Henry does an affinity for Teddy," Owen noted. The two women looked at him. "He probably wanted to take the heat off of her."

"So who is the she in the notes?" Cristina asked.

"Well, that part I didn't find out. Derek said the investigation took a very sensitive turn because the she in the notes is the one who was the mystery woman, who was having an affair with the mayor," Meredith said. "And he had to question her."

"Gosh darn it, Meredith. You only got half the scoop," Cristina said. Meredith chuckled as she headed to her bedroom.

Cristina was laughing. Even though she only brought half of the scoop, Meredith's appearance and her news certainly lightened the mood in the cottage. For that, he was grateful but he wanted to get her back on track on discussing their issues.

"Cristina, remember what I was saying before Meredith got here. I want our family to be together," he said. "And I am sorry for everything."

"Yes, I heard," she said. She got up and walked around. He watched her every move. He wished she would say something more.

Finally, she spoke. "Do you want to see the baby bump?" she asked.

"I saw the baby bump, today. It is small and very cute," he said.

"No, you saw it, when I was lying down. It is really much more obvious when I stand up," she said.

"Well, okay, then," he said. He followed her to her bedroom. He sat on the bed as she removed her shirt. She was bare under her shirt, so he not only saw her baby bump but her fuller breasts. They had not made love in over a month and here she was, half-naked in front of him. The desire in him was intense.

"See, you can see it much more clearly," she said, proudly, as she put his hand on her stomach.

"Yes, I see it," he managed to get the words out. She was absolutely killing him here.

"And my breasts have gotten bigger," she said. He could see that, too.

"Yes, they have," he said. He knew he couldn't take it anymore. It was either she allowed him to make love to her or he had to leave the house, like now. He decided to take the latter option. "I think I better leave." He got up and opened her bedroom door. As he was about to turn the knob, he heard the magic words uttered from her lips, "Do you want to stay?"

He turned around, immediately and rushed towards her. "Oh, God, yes," he said, as he took her into his arms and claimed her lips with his own. He was drunk with the taste of her. He had not been able to kiss those lips in over a month. His whole body ached for her. He tugged at her pj bottoms as he pulled them off her legs. He slipped off her underwear and guided her to the bed, as she watched him strip off his clothing. She could see that he was already at the peak of desire.

He lay on top of her and they kissed again, his nimble fingers working between her legs to get her ready to accept him. He left a trail of kisses from her mouth, her neck, her breasts, her stomach until he reached her sex and feasted on her. Cristina closed her eyes and allowed him to infiltrate all of her senses. The drought had also affected her, too. She wanted him so badly and the pregnancy had also increased her desire for sex.

When he finally entered her, he started off much more tentatively than he usually did. She could see it in his eyes. He was afraid that he was going to hurt her or the baby.

"You're not going to hurt us," she assured him, as she pulled his body more into her.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, sex is actually good for pregnant women," she said. She was sure that she read that somewhere, but in her sex-hungry frame of mind, she was doing all she could to encourage him.

"Okay," he said, as he sped up his movements. She wrapped her legs around him, as her fingers dug into his back with each probing thrust. He was taking her into realms of ecstasy that she had not ever experienced before. She wondered if her heightened level of hormones had something to do with it. Her body had certainly missed his love-making and when she came, the release was actually joyful. Plus it certainly helped that she experienced multiple orgasms.

When he finally came, he felt instant relief as he released all of his pent-up frustrations over the past month. He rested on her for a bit, before he rolled over, next to her. He looked over at her. Her face seemed so serene.

"Thank you," he said.

"Oh, no, thank you," she said. "My body missed you. I missed you."

"Me, too," he said. He needed to ask, even though he was a little fearful of asking. "Does this mean that everything is okay now? I want it to be okay. Please, Cristina."

She turned towards him. "I never stopped loving you, Owen. I always did. I was just hurt."

"We both hurt each other," he said. "But you haven't answered me. Are we okay?"

"Yes," she said, as she curled her body into his. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

"Yes," he said, gratefully.

A/N: Please leave your comments. Reviews help motivate me.