My thanks to Sylvain for the beta work.

Face to Face

Part 46

It was over a month now since he'd moved in with Jackson. It was working out all right, between him and Jackson it was anyway. Hazel was taking a little getting used to, they got on ok, he liked her and she seemed to like him. It was just that she was full on, she talked non-stop, she filled an entire room with her presence, she was just so in-your-face and he found that irritating at times. He didn't like the fact their bedroom was next to hers either, the walls were paper-thin and knowing that, he was more than a little inhibited. It was a different story at Paddy's, his room was along the hallway, and more than one wall separated them. Anyway, this was Jackson's mum, he didn't want her hearing them.

Hazel was supposedly looking for a place of her own but she didn't seem to be putting much effort into it. She was obviously happy with the current arrangement. Jackson seemed to be too, at least he hadn't said he wasn't, and because of that, Aaron was keeping quiet on the matter. He didn't want to stir things up any, things were rocky enough on the home front as it was...at least, they were as far as his nearest and dearest were concerned. And his dad had written to him from prison, both letters having been unceremoniously dumped in the bin without being opened… he had some nerve! Why couldn't he just leave him alone? He really didn't need him screwing with his head right now.

He'd not been back to the Smithy, he avoided the place like the plague. He didn't want to see his mum and Paddy playing house, wanted no part of what he considered to be a farce. He saw them both on a regular basis though because they called to see him at the garage. Things were strained between him and them, admittedly all his doing. He was still annoyed with them both, and just couldn't let his disappointment in Paddy or his anger at his mother go. He couldn't be happy for them, not knowing it wouldn't last, that his mum would bail out at some point leaving Paddy nursing another broken heart. They were forever asking him to go home and he was forever telling them no. He was happy where he was, and he certainly didn't want to see them snogging on the sofa anymore than he wanted to be witness to them going their separate ways. No, he didn't want any part of it.

Jackson hated the fact he was at odds with them and had tried talking to him about it. It hadn't got the older man anywhere, nothing would sway him, nothing, not even Jackson could change his way of thinking this time. He was sitting back waiting for the relationship to end, and it would, he knew it would. It would either fizzle out like a damp squib or end with one almighty bang.

He'd been lost in his thoughts but the click of high heels had brought him out of his reverie. He didn't need to turn around to know it was his mam that was walking towards him, making her first visit of the day.

Ignoring her greeting, he didn't make eye contact until she was standing right next to him and only then did he grudgingly speak, "What do you want?" He snapped, he knew he was being rude, but he couldn't help himself, he couldn't mask his feelings towards her, he wouldn't even try.

"I need to talk to you."

"If it's about you and Paddy, then you'll just be wasting your breath, I've heard it all before, just like I've seen it all before."

"It's not what you think. Please, Aaron."

His mum looked uncomfortable, maybe even a little upset. A thought hit him, maybe this time around Paddy had seen sense and had dumped her, "He's given you your marching orders, hasn't he? Well I didn't see that one coming!"

"No!" Chas retorted indignantly, "Things are good between us, really good."

He wasn't convinced, he could hear something in her voice, he didn't know what, but he was certain he wasn't going to like what she had to say. "Then, what is it?" he demanded impatiently, he had work to do, Cain was away for the day and he didn't want to fall any further behind with the workload than he already was.

"Not out here, someone might hear."

His mum tottered inside the garage and he reluctantly followed her, wondering just what it was she seemed desperate to keep between the two of them. Once inside, his impatience got the better of him again, "Well?"

"I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do!"

He suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for her, she actually sounded scared, like she really didn't know which way to turn. "What is it?" He was genuinely concerned now.

"I'm pregnant."

He hadn't heard her right, he can't have done, "What?"

"I'm pregnant."

No, she couldn't be! Could she? He just couldn't get his head around that idea, which meant he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He should be happy for her, he supposed, but his mum didn't seem at all happy about it, she had tears in her eyes now. If everything was so good between her and Paddy, why wouldn't she be happy about having his baby? Unless…"It's not Paddy's, is it?" Where that notion had come from, he didn't know, but whether it was a wild guess or just intuition on his part, he knew he was right, the look on his mother's face told him that.

"I don't know, not for sure, it could just as easily be Carl's."

He felt the bottom fall out of his stomach, that was all too easy to believe, his mother had jumped into Paddy's bed within days of leaving Carl's. She was openly crying now but the last thing he wanted to do was comfort her, she'd caused this mess, and it was, he realised with a jolt, one almighty mess, "Does Paddy know about the baby?"

"No, and I don't know how I'm going to tell him, or even if I should tell him."

"Of course you should tell him. You have to tell him!" Whatever made her think there was an option.

"No, I don't. He need never know."

"No." He didn't like where this conversation was going." No, you can't!" How could his mother even think about getting rid of the baby.

"If it's Carl's, it'll come between us."

"But it could be Paddy's! And he'd want the baby, you know he would." He knew Paddy had always wanted kids of his own and he'd make a great dad, the best.

"He wouldn't want Carl's baby though, would he? And he wouldn't want me if I was carrying another man's child."

"He took me on!" He'd been no innocent either, he'd given Paddy hell but it hadn't changed the way he'd felt about his mam, he'd still loved her, he'd have done anything for her back then and still would.

"This is different."

"Only in that the baby could be his. It more than likely is." How likely, he didn't know, but he desperately wanted it to be Paddy's, he hated the thought of it being Carl's, it would tie the two of them together if it was. It would give them reason to talk, to get involved again. No, this baby was Paddy's. It had to be.

TBC