xix.

An idea had begun to form in Cleo's mind. A terrible idea she couldn't shake. When it first came to her, she nearly laughed out loud it was so awful and ridiculous, but the more she thought on it the more sense it made and the more stupid she felt for not having seen it sooner.

She tried persuading herself that she was just being paranoid. Unreasonably jealous. Too invested in soap plots and teenage romance novels to be thinking clearly. But the more she tried to explain it away, the more it embedded itself as a definite in her mind.

It was about Rikki and her pregnancy. The signs were everywhere: the way she was so reluctant to say who the father was; the way she only went to Lewis for help and had been afraid of seeing Zane that past few months; the way Cleo had been seriously warned by her that kissing "guys like Lewis" led to other things. Hadn't she mentioned being naked in a volcano? That made no sense to Cleo, but the rest added up into one terrible theory that would not let her get sleep at night.

Lewis was the father of Rikki's guppy.

Her first thought after accepting the fact was to be angry. Not because it was Lewis and Rikki, and as far as her journal dates coincided with Rikki's pregnancy, this all happened after he had started dating Cleo, but because he hadn't told her. She wasn't by any stretch of the word, happy about her new discovery, but if he had just told her and at least tried to give some kind of explanation she would be far less distraught. She thought.

The hurt and frustration took form in a sudden need to rearrange all the photos scattered about her room in various frames or whimsical holders which kept her occupied for almost three hours. After she'd changed her mind about the placement of her starfish frame with the glitter sand upwards of six times, she finally decided she had to confront Lewis.

This time, they did not meet at the Juicenet. Cleo didn't want an audience to their discussion, and she thought that maybe revisiting their picnic spot would help make him remember the special times he'd spent with her.

Lewis was more than excited to go on another picnic with Cleo, which only made her more upset. His eagerness to spend time with her did not make sense. Unless he was truly a pervert and enjoyed more than one girl at a time. Cleo shook her head violently. That made even less sense!

Their picnic was dominated by Lewis's explanations of a scientific discovery he'd just read about in a news article, and his excitement made him extremely talkative. It suited Cleo just fine as she was unusually quiet due to her nervousness at broaching the subject of Rikki's guppy's dad, but she knew she had to speak up at some point. Before she'd mustered up the courage to say anything on the subject, Lewis had jumped right into it for her.

"Oh! You'll never guess what happened this week!" Usually that was Cleo's cue to offer a plethora of ridiculous guesses until he finally gave away the real answer, but her melancholy only allowed for an inquisitive shrug.

He chuckled. "It's... kind of funny, actually. Well, funny and horrible. Like that time you ran into Mr MacGuire with your ice cream and ruined his paisley shirt. Everyone hated him and his shirt, but it was sad because he held it against you for three weeks, and you lost a perfectly good ice cream."

"What is it?"

"Well... Rikki's dad wants me to marry her."

Cleo burst into tears.

Lewis was frozen in shock for several moments. Cleo was always more apt to show her emotions, but they generally made some kind of connection to their conversation. Lewis was having trouble figuring out why such a hilarious revelation would upset her so much.

"Cleo, don't cry!" He tried to soothe her by patting her back, "I didn't mean to upset you! I'm not going to do it! I thought you'd think it was funny!"

"I'm s—sorry," she sputtered, "I can't help it."

"What's wrong? Are you coming down with another virus? Is... is it your time of the month?" he added cautiously.

"No, nothing like that. I just think, maybe you should marry Rikki. Don't refuse to marry her on my account."

"Are you crazy?" he insisted, "I'm not marrying Rikki."

Cleo's tearful expression grew even more anguished if it was possible. "I thought you were better than that, Lewis. I thought if... if you were part of a mistake like this you'd be more responsible. You have to marry her, now!"

"What are you talking about?" He didn't understand any of this. Was she saying this was his fault because he didn't hand out birth control to the friends he had no idea were going to be involved that way? Or was she upset that he hadn't somehow persuaded Rikki to terminate her pregnancy? Cleo loved kids of all backgrounds and origins! He didn't think her the type to press for such a procedure. Or was he wrong about her, too?

The next words out of her mouth were even worse. "I think we should break up."

"Are you serious?"

She nodded, but was biting down hard on her bottom lip in an attempt to hold back a fresh wave of sobs. "Rikki needs you."

"Not forever! In another six months, she'll go back to wanting nothing to do with me!"

"How can you say that? I... ugh! Never mind. You have no idea of anything. Ask Rikki what she really wants, and I'm sure she'll set the record straight." Cleo was adamant.

This was ridiculous! Had they been talking about this in private? Was Rikki so afraid of telling Zane the truth that she'd rather marry Lewis and have him raise the guppy as his own?

"Cleo..." He wanted to blurt out the truth and tell her everything. But there was still so much secrecy that wasn't his own to share. He wished he could kiss away her fast falling tears and explain that he would always be a friend to Rikki, but there was only one girl he'd ever pictured being married to. The same girl whose mock wedding he had interrupted for some inexplicable reason by dropping a few choice worms onto Josh Lawrey's hair and shoulders. That was nine years ago, and he still remembered the feeling of triumph when Josh ran away squealing, leaving Lewis to fill in as groom to Cleo. To this day, Cleo still had no idea it was Lewis who planted the worms, and he still considered it one of his proudest accomplishments.

But this he couldn't fix with fish bait and fear.

Or could he?

He knew it was crazy—stupid, even—and he had a thousand tiny voices of reason in his head telling him precisely how irrational an idea he was having.

He silenced them all.

Absurd and dangerous and terrifying as it was, Lewis leaned forward, took Cleo's sniffling face in his hands, and kissed her full on the lips.

A/N: I am not killed! I am alive and well, and my laptop that was in the shop for a broken screen is back! That's not the only reason I fell off the face of the FF world again... mostly I'm just a terrible person who's rubbish at keeping an updating schedule. But I have lots of chapters in waiting for you all! I do believe I'll start posting two a week. Maybe three, if I remember. :)