They ran into each other on the way out of the Tea Room, and C.J. could tell that Elizabeth didn't look too happy about it. Maybe her luncheon date with her ex-fiancé hadn't gone well in terms of rekindling those embers.

"Fancy seeing you here C.J.," Elizabeth said, "I would think if it's not barbecue style, you wouldn't set food in a place."

C.J. shrugged.

"Well I've been having these strange cravings lately for the best sushi in town," she said, "So here I am…"

Elizabeth just glared.

"But Elizabeth, I thought if the waiters weren't only wearing g-strings, you wouldn't be tossing a tip on the table."

Now Elizabeth just widened her eyes and looked up at Matt.

"Well how lowbrow, are you going to let your associate get away with that?"

Matt just looked at her

"I believe we're finished here."

Elizabeth reached up and kissed him on the mouth before he realized it. Trying to coax and tease him into reciprocation but he didn't bite so she just walked away. C.J. looked up at Matt.

"You'd better go after your date," she said, "After all weren't you engaged once?"

His mouth quirked into a smile.

"As you noted, that's past tense," he said, "What are you doing here?"

She smiled.

"Just spending time with my best…female friend," she said, "Catching up on our lives."

Elise just looked at the both of them, her hands on her hips.

"Well thanks a lot," she said, "This guy knocked me a peg down on your best friend list?"

C.J. just smiled and so did Elise who waved a hand.

"Oh don't bother explaining what he can give you that I can't...see you both later."

She winked at C.J..

"And congratulations on this latest development."

C.J. nodded and they hugged goodbye. After Elise left, she turned to Matt who arched a brow, proving once again that he never missed anything.

"News, what good news," he said, "anything you choose to share with me?"

Damn, when he looked at her like that, she wanted to spill about the baby but not like this standing in the middle of a restaurant while lunch hour wound down. She stroked his face.

"I will…later."

"You're leaving now?"

She nodded.

"I got work to do back at the office," she said, "Those contracts…"

Suddenly she felt his arms sliding around her and his mouth caressing her lips. God she needed that right now, as he explored her mouth the ways he knew she liked it. She wanted nothing more than to find some place for them to be alone together. He broke the kiss and touched her lips fondly.

"Hey why don't we go spend the rest of the afternoon at the Beverly Wilshire?"

She looked up at him, and she wanted to agree so they could leave the Tea Room and meet there. Book a suite for the afternoon and create some more delicious memories.

He kissed her mouth again while she considered his offer. Then again…she pulled away this time.

"I can't…I have an appointment."

His mouth moved down to her neck, his stubble tickling her and also doing a number elsewhere.

"What kind of appointment?"

She smiled at him.

"Nothing to worry about Matt," she said, "I'll see you later."

He frowned, his eyes scrutinizing here in a way that made her tense.

"Who's worried," he said, "is it a business meeting."

She hedged.

"No…not really," she said, "I'm just getting my physical and I don't think guys are really keen on getting too much information on what goes on."

He pulled on his tie.

"Okay I get your point," he said, "I'll see you later tonight at my place."

She arched a brow.

"What…why are we meeting there?"

He kissed her slowly on the mouth, his tongue hinting at what the future might hold.

"It's my turn to host."

Oh when he put it that way, she felt herself begin to melt and then scolded herself for it. She had to remain strong and on her game tonight when she told him about her pregnancy.

He left her then to go to his car and she went to head out to her doctor's appointment.

She hadn't lied when she told Matt that she was going to get a checkup. She had put it off for the past several months because between travel and work who had the time? But now that she had just failed a half dozen pregnancy tests, she decided it was time to make an appointment. They'd had an unexpected opening that day and fit her in just after lunch.

After waiting in the lobby, the nurse called her in and had her strip into one of those hated paper gowns that with one wrong move, exposed her backside.

The nurse updated her history.

"Anything changed since your last gynecological exam?"

C.J. nodded.

"Yeah I got pregnant."

The nurse nearly dropped her pen. She sighed jotting that development down in her notepad then she gestured to the familiar gizmo on the table. .

"Better get into the stirrups and we'll get the doctor in here," she said, "What makes you think you're pregnant?"

"I failed a bunch of home pregnancy tests," she said, "Besides I'm late a couple of weeks and I'm never late."

"Could be stress…it's amazing how easy it is to upset your body's clock."

C.J. paused as she slid her feet apart exposing her nether parts to the world which she hated.

"Well, it's my boobs too," she said, "When my boyfriend…handles them, they're just ultra-charged, does that make sense?"

"Not really…unless you mean they are sensitive to the touch," the nurse said, "How about any other symptoms?"

C.J. just blinked at her.

"Do I have to answer these questions in this position?"

The nurse nodded.

"Doctor's running late today," she said, "She'll be here in a moment."

C.J. shrugged from the stirrups.

"No otherwise, I feel the same as I always do…"

Except for the fact that sex with Matt had seemed more intense since his return, not that she would tell the nurse that. At that point, the doctor walked in and C.J. smiled at her former college roommate. Otherwise known as the gynecologist to the stars, Skye hosted a late night radio show answering questions about sex that callers were too embarrassed to ask their doctors. It had proven to be a hit and was now syndicated in over 30 cities.

Skye beamed at her in return.

"So what brings you here," she said, "You ran out of excuses to postpone your physical."

The nurse turned to Skye

"She got pregnant or so she says."

Skye looked at C.J., arching her brows.

"I didn't even know you had a boyfriend," she said, "Last time, we did margaritas together we were both checking out the pickings."

C.J. remembered that night. It had been less than a week before she met and Matt got together.

"It happened after margarita night," she explained, "Totally unexpected."

Skye nodded.

"Ah yes, the one night stand right?"

"Well not exactly," C.J. said, "More like about a month though I swear I was on the pill at the time."

"I know I filled your prescription," Skye said, "Well it's not 100% effective, more like 99.5% so you're still in a very miniscule failure group."

C.J. rolled her eyes.

"Oh that's very reassuring to know," she said, "It must have happened that first or second time we…well got together."

"You and the father…?"

C.J. frowned, thinking it was strange hearing that use in reference to Matt but not really in a bad way. She could almost see it in her mind that he might want this baby…but then she remembered his lifestyle.

"Well there wasn't anyone there with us," C.J. said, "God it was intense…but I never thought one of them would actually get through."

Skye smiled and then went to start the examination while C.J. tried to make it as far as she could handle without reaching for the nurse's hand.

This time, she almost made it through.

Matt sat in his office having just gotten off of another conference call meeting. He sipped the remainder of his scotch which had been diluted by melted ice. Chris had dropped off another stack of files for him to review and C.J. was still out of the office at her appointment. He'd see her later on and then…

His mind pulled itself away reluctantly from his fantasies at the thought that Elizabeth had threatened to buy out his company. He had checked around and learned that some financial player had been buying up his stock but nowhere near enough to get a controlling interest. So for the moment, her threats had been idle.

But she could make good on them if he weren't careful. She could buy out his company from under him. He wouldn't like it but he meant what he said to her, he could build a new one from scratch.

What he wouldn't do was succumb to her blackmail. He sighed wondering how he could have misjudged her so much to have gotten engaged to her. If the engagement hadn't gone kaput, they might be married. Would he have ever seen through her otherwise?

It didn't matter. She wasn't going to get what she wanted, to blackmail him into getting back engaged with her. He hoped that when she saw the futility of her plan, she'd give up and go back where she had come from, leaving him with…

"You getting off early today?"

He looked up and saw Chris standing in the doorway.

"I hope to get out of here before eight," he said, "and I think I'm making good time."

She sighed.

"No I mean it's obvious you've been out there getting yourself some and I think it's great and it's done you a world of good if I might say."

Matt just looked at his receptionist like she grew a third eye.

"What are you saying Chris?"

She smiled.

"It's written all over your face," she said, "I just hope the woman who's behind it realizes how lucky she is to have a guy like you."

Before he could respond to that, she had already walked away. He shook his head wondering how she'd seen all that. But then again, she had been right. His relationship with C.J. had done him a world of good.

The best time he ever had in his life and right now, all he could think about was seeing her again.

Skye whipped off her rubber gloves and looked at C.J. who sat there still on her back, waiting the news.

"You are definitely pregnant," she said, "Congratulations are in order or should I get the tissues?"

C.J. sighed as she tried to get out of the contraption in a dignified fashion.

"I'm not sure yet," she said, "I just found out and I haven't told the father yet."

Skye leaned against the exam table.

"You've always had better taste in guys than I did so whoever knocked you up, he's got to be decent enough to weather the news."

C.J. shrugged, not too sure about that.

"It'll be a shock to him for sure," she said, "He's not exactly the settling down type of guy."

"Oh I see…well maybe you two can work something out between you," Skye said, "I've seen quite a few examples of some very civilized orderly agreements between biological parents."

C.J. nodded at that part.

"I know he'll be man enough to be there for his child in some fashion," she said, "Even if we're not together."

But even as she said that to her doctor and friend, a part of her wanted to prove herself a liar and that Matt would somehow be there for her in the way she wanted him to be.

Skye had left C.J. with a prescription of prenatal vitamins and a couple brochures along with some unsolicited advice. After all, she might have been her physician but they had embarrassed themselves as friends long before either earned a degree in anything. Now they'd been buddies who shared a lot with each other but C.J. would have to watch to make sure her pregnancy didn't wind up as fodder on Skye's later night show.

Even with an alias, C.J. had a feeling that someone would guess that she were the one who'd gotten knocked up by her best friend and business partner after his busted engagement and faced losing him to an ex-fiancée trying to get her wedding back on track. Then again, maybe the latest scenario she faced might be very common, enough so that Skye could be talking about anyone besides her.

She tore off the hated gown and got back in her outfit always eager to put a stint in the stirrups behind her. God, she had a lot to think about now that her pregnancy had been confirmed by yet another test. Skye had also told her she hadn't been very far along but she figured it had to have happened when she and Matt first knocked the headboards.

She sat in traffic after getting first her prenatal vitamins and then a burger special with extra onions to go from various drive-thru venues. Her stomach had been growling since her appointment and she needed something to fill it before returning to the office to get some work done. She knew that Matt wanted her to show up at his house tonight wearing something simple on top and something very, very naughty underneath and that he might want her to peel her respectable veneer off with her two-piece suit and pose in front of him in it.

After hitting a drive-through at a burger joint, she headed on back to the office.

The traffic moved and she had finished her burger and some of her fries, which would have tasted better if only there'd been some horseradish sauce on them. Yesterday that would have sounded crazy and a twisted combo but today…

Someone honked their horn at her and she drove forward into the left turn lane to head back to the office. She might be able to plan her entrance at Matt's better if she had some strategic development time at her desk. Hopefully Matt would be at a business meeting or a late lunch.

Hopefully what he wouldn't be doing is rekindling the flame with Elizabeth.

Matt had great plans for tonight at his house. He'd gotten some of Wolfgang Puck's new designer pizza with 12 different cheeses and six sauces not to mention the four food groups of beef, sausage, chicken and pepperoni. He'd toss on a few veggies for C.J. and that along with some champagne and chocolate covered strawberries would set the stage for another night between the sheets. And as soon as he could get away with it, he'd get her out of her clothes.

They'd play some jazz, and maybe do some slow dancing first. But then his thoughts returned to Elizabeth's threats and what could happen if she followed through with them.

Financially it might be rocky for several months if their creditors came calling but they'd ride it out and come out successful again just as they had the first time. And considering that they had crossed that once forbidden line and had become lovers as well, it would be twice as much fun this time around.

Also things could have been worse with Elizabeth because when he first heard that she had news to tell him, he had thought for a moment or two that she had gotten pregnant with his child. The thought of having a child with Elizabeth had nearly froze him in his seat right up to the time he discovered that wasn't what she planned to tell him. Yeah, he wanted kids some day, off in the future with a woman he'd marry after he vetted her through a courtship first.

Right now, he just wanted to play and it wasn't going to be with Elizabeth. No matter what she threatened to take away from him, that wouldn't change. He certainly wasn't going to marry her. He was having the time of his life with C.J.

After all, he and C.J. had always been a team and the fact that they had realized that in the bedroom as well, was just icing on the cake.

Elizabeth would figure that out soon enough and leave once again.