"Excuse me? I think that I misunderstood. Maybe I heard you wrong. Maybe I am just deliriously tired. It sounded like you said that you're pregnant."

"I did."

"You're joking, right?"

"Would I call you in the middle of the night, if I were kidding?"

"No, good point. You're serious? You're pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Wait, when did that happen?"

"Does it matter."

"Oh, no, wait."

"What?"

"You're pregnant. No wonder you want me to like him. You're knocked up, again, by the sperm donor. I thought that you would have learned your lesson the first time."

"It's different now."

"You're older, and wiser, and richer. Now you can live happily ever after with your perfect family, perfect job, and perfect life."

"No, that's not it, at all."

"Are you sure? You couldn't do it right the first time, so you'll try not to screw it up the second time?"

"If I were trying to have a perfect life, don't you think that I would have been married, before I got pregnant?"

"Good point."

Maura doesn't say anything, she fights off tears. Allison hears heavy breathing on the phone.

"Maura?"

"Huh?"

"Have you told him, yet?"

"No."

"Why are you telling me, before him?"

"I don't know," she lies.

"You're afraid that he's going to abandon you again, aren't you?"

"No," she lies, again.

"Then why haven't you told him."

"I..." she trails off.

"You what?"

"I'm scared," she admits.

"That's ok."

"No, it's not. I shouldn't be scared. I can do this on my own, if I have to."

"But you don't want to."

"Does anyone?"

"It feels like you're a pregnant teenager all over again, doesn't it?"

"A little bit," Maura admits.

"You're afraid that you're already making the same mistakes you made before."

"Yes. I jumped in too soon. I trusted him too quickly. I haven't told him, and I don't know if I want to. I don't know if I'm ready to have a baby."

"You're not a scared kid anymore. You're an adult. You can handle this. You don't have to grow up, you already are."

"You're not mad?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then why are you being so understanding?"

"Because you would do the same for me."

"I'm your mother," Maura points out."Sometimes I do a better job at playing the mother role."

"I know," Maura admits, "I've never been very good at it."

"Now you have a chance to be great at it, if you want to be."

"I should let you go, I know that you're tired."

"I'll call you tomorrow, but not early."

"Ok. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"Love you, Allie-cat."

"Love you, mom," she yawns as he hangs up the phone.

Maura hangs up the phone, and places it on the bedside table. She flips off the light, and crawls back under he covers. She situates herself in the bed. She flattens her pillow to form perfectly to her head. She closes her eyes, and exhales for the first time in what seems like forever. Finally she falls asleep.

A few short hours later she is being awakened to the sound of her alarm squealing at her. She hits it, and sheepishly rolls out of bed. She haphazardly collects clothes to put on, and heads into the bathroom. She turns on the shower, and begins to peel off her pajamas.

As she is about to climb into the shower a bout of nausea hits her like a ton of bricks. She rockets towards the toilet, and lands in the bowl, face first. She pushes her hair back, in the knick of time. She spends the next several minutes emptying the contents of her stomach into the porcelain thrown.