C.J. looked at the chaos all around her. Elizabeth the ex-fiancée from hell had fainted in the back of the room and now was being revived with smelling salts. To do what? Wreak more havoc? God, someone should just tell the redheaded frizzy number to just buy a clue and move on with her life.
Serena the spoiled heiress who'd been robbed of the chance to murder her own daddy had been hauled off in handcuffs still yelling profanities in three languages. As for Christina, the one who'd still wanted to latch her "rooster", C.J. couldn't figure out what had happened to her.
Matt got surrounded by reporters and so did she and damn they crowded close to her threatening to overwhelm her. She didn't know what to say, she just knew she wanted them gone because she was feeling woozy all of a sudden.
She hadn't felt sick in a while, thought she was getting past it but right now her stomach roiled.
"Excuse me…"
She tried pushing past two reporters but they wouldn't budge.
"I'm gonna be…"
They refused to budge just asking her questions about how she wound up knocked up by Matt. Well duh, how did it usually happen? Oh no, they wanted her to admit to some sordid deal with him since the rumors about her having a conjugal affair with Robert in prison hadn't panned out.
"I'm warning you last chance…"
Then she just lost it and threw up, on some camera man's shirt. He just jerked away as if he'd been burned and looked horrified.
She should have felt embarrassed but she just wanted to go curl up in bed somewhere. Sweat breaking out on the back of her neck beneath her outfit.
She thought she heard Matt's voice somewhere in the distance.
Matt looked as Elizabeth got on her feet albeit weekly and pointed at him.
"I…I thought I was the love of your life…not her," she said, "I should have been carrying your baby…we should be married right now."
He sighed.
"Elizabeth…we called it off, you decided to try to blackmail me back to marrying you by threatening to take my company away."
"All I wanted was for you to fall in love with me all over again," she said, "What we had…it was so special."
"I don't know what happened, just that it moved so fast. We both saw that and we called it off. You couldn't live with what I do for a living."
She pouted.
"I know what I said but I didn't really mean it, well not mostly. It's just I got so scared that you'd die out there somewhere and I'd be all alone."
"I take care of myself and don't take unnecessary risks," he said, "C.J. understands what my job's all about and why it means so much to me."
Her lip trembled as she tossed back a tendril of curly hair.
"Did you…were you intimate when we were together?"
He looked taken aback.
"No…we were already over by then," he said, "She and I are happy and we built a new company together…though the baby matters more."
Elizabeth dabbed her eyes.
"I so wanted it to be us Matlock. We just had 'it' you know what other couples so desperately want but can never find…true love and now you've thrown it all away on some commoner you knocked up."
Matt frowned.
"She's my best friend and my business partner," he said, "Now she's going to be the mother of my child so you treat her with respect. It doesn't matter if we're civil or not you need to remember that."
She didn't look happy.
"Oh Matt you really haven't thought about this enough…just listen to me. I know if the two of us could just get away together from all this craziness for a while…"
He shook his head.
"No….I think you'd better just go now."
A cameraman wandered over looking thoroughly disgusted.
"I can't believe she just threw up on my shirt."
Matt looked at him.
"What?"
"Your baby mama just lost her lunch while we were interviewing her."
He rushed on over there to see that C.J. was sitting down a chair looking a bit flushed. He knelt beside her.
"You feeling okay?"
She just looked at him shaking her head so he picked her up in one swoop to take her out of the chaotic room.
At the beach house, he got her to lie down on the bed putting a comforter over her while he called the doctor.
"Houston…I'm fine…I just got a little morning sickness later in the day that's all."
He had his phone out already.
"I just want to make sure you're okay. So humor me, the doctor's on her way over and is going to make us both feel better."
She nodded, curling up feeling so tired all of a sudden. He made sure she settled in and then went to call his uncle and everyone at the office telling him they wouldn't be in.
When the doctor came by she examined C.J. and asked her about what she ate, or drank as she suspected that it might be some sort of food poisoning.
"It could have been the salmon…"
Matt sighed.
"We shouldn't have eaten it."
She snorted.
"You had the bass. I should have ordered what you did…"
The doctor smiled.
"You just rest and if you get dehydrated, give me a call or if there's a fever."
Matt nodded.
"I'll make sure of that."
After the doctor left, she sat up in the bed wrapped up in the comforter.
"I'm really fine…well mostly," she said, "Maybe I should pay to have that man's suit cleaned."
"Don't you worry about it," he said, "Now you lie down and get some rest. It's been crazy lately and well, it's not good for you or the baby to be caught up in it."
She pointed a finger at him.
"Don't coddle me Houston. I can handle it."
He smiled.
"We'll talk about it in the morning," he said, "You need to get some sleep okay?"
She considered that and nodded.
"Only if you stay with me," she said, "I don't like sleeping alone right now. Don't know why."
He smiled again and climbed on the bed to lie next to her, enclosing her in his embrace. She settled into his warmth and closed her eyes.
"Feel better?"
"Yeah I do…I really having you here…"
He kissed the back of her neck.
"I wouldn't be anyplace else."