"Home sweet home." said Bridget as she walked through the door of Deacon's Vegas apartment. She spotted the black sofa and slunk down kicking off her sandals. It was a very exhausting day. She was glad they flew back to Vegas. Her family was told the news and what they thought of it, she really didn't care. As for Felicia, Bridget had nothing more to say to her. She didn't want to hear the excuses or explanations. She was still furious at her for blurting out the news about her miscarriage. As far as Bridget was concerned, Felicia had no business announcing that to anyone. Especially Deacon. It was something she was planning on telling him but she didn't know how. It was very painful and it's not easy for her to talk about. Losing something so precious to her, it wasn't anything she could describe.
Deacon carried the bags inside and set them down. He saw Bridget sitting on the sofa. "You okay baby?" He asked.
"You asked me that a million times since we left L.A. I told you I'm fine. I don't want to talk about anything."
"Baby." Deacon said sitting down next to her. "I love you. You can tell me anything."
Bridget smiled. "You know what would help?"
"What?"
"If you would massage my feet. They are killing me."
Deacon lifted her feet onto his lap and began rubbing them.
Bridget closed her eyes and moaned softly. "Thank you." She said happily.
Deacon looked over at her. He wanted to know more about what happened but didn't want it to seem like he was pressing her. "Bridget, what happened?"
"What?" asked Bridget opening her eyes.
"Baby I want to know what happened. The whole story. You can tell me."
Bridget frowned and sat up. "I don't want to talk about it."
"It would help if you did." replied Deacon. "You can't keep it bottled up inside."
"I'm not keeping anything bottled up." snapped Bridget. "Just leave me alone." She got up from the sofa and headed out to the balcony.
Deacon followed her out. He took her in his arms from behind and kissed her neck. "I love you." He whispered to her.
Tears welded up in Bridget's eyes. She wanted to stay there forever. Just stay right where she was in Deacon's arms. Nothing bad could happen to her. As along as she was in his arms, she was safe.
"It was a year ago when I met Dante." She started. "I knew he was the father of Felicia's baby but I thought that it was over with them. Felicia stated he was just a one night stand and nothing more. He seemed so nice. He used to flirt with me and I thought he was cute. It started out as a few dates. Nothing big. Just to the movies or dinner. It started to get a little more serious. And one night, he just started kissing me and I...the next thing I knew, we had made love. "
"Was he the..."
"First?" asked Bridget. "Not really."
"What do you mean?" asked a puzzled Deacon.
"I didn't exactly enjoy it. I um...I faked it."
Deacon looked at her amused. "You faked it?"
"Yes. I just wasn't really...I mean the kissing was...nice but the chemistry wasn't really there. I didn't feel that spark."
"I see."
"But of course, HE enjoyed it. I think it was more about him than me. I found out after that I had gotten pregnant. I was actually very happy. I thought that it was a blessing. I love children and I thought that maybe this child would bring Dante and I closer. And I thought that maybe I could love him. I told him the news and he was thrilled. Then it went downhill from there."
Deacon kissed the top of her head. "Keep going." He said softly.
"I had a doctor's appointment....they went to hear the baby's heart...." Bridget began to sob. "They didn't...there wasn't..."
Deacon turned Bridget to face him and held her tight. "It's okay." He said. "It's okay."
Bridget wiped her tears away. "I lost the baby. I was crushed. I felt like a total failure. When I told Dante, he acted like I lost a favorite pair of earrings and it could just be replaced. He said well we can just try having another baby. No big deal. No big deal!" Bridget exclaimed. "It WAS a big deal!"
"I know." Deacon said. "I know."
"I told him that I couldn't just go have another baby right now. I told him I needed time to grieve this one. I didn't push him away. He didn't understand. He just thought that I didn't want to have anymore babies and that I was being unreasonable. That's when he went running to Felicia. They shared a beautiful healthy baby boy. She made a big point of dangling that baby in front of him. Always making sure it was in her arms whenever he was around. Always cuddling him. Being all motherly. I told Dante how that made me feel and he told me I was being ridiculous. We fought constantly about it and the next thing I knew...he was back with Felicia and they announced they were getting married. That's when I took off to Vegas. I needed to get away. I couldn't deal with it all."
"And then that's when we met." Deacon said brushing his lips against her neck.
Bridget giggled. "Yes that's when I met you. You spilled your drink all over me. And then took me to dinner." She smiled as he kissed her earlobe. "And then to bed." finished Deacon pulling her closer.
"Yeah." Bridget smiled fondly at the memory. "That was my 'first time'" She grinned. "No faking anything."
"I love you." He said kissing her lips. He let go and brushed her hair back. "I'm glad you came to Vegas."
"I am too." Bridget replied. "I don't regret a thing."
"Me either." He said kissing her again. "Baby, " Deacon said as the kiss broke. "If you didn't have the miscarriage, would you have married Dante? Would you still be with him?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I wanted to try and make things work because of the baby. I don't know if marriage was in the cards. Why?"
"Well, I was actually going to fly out to L.A around that time. A friend of mine owns a club, The Lair.."
Bridget was stunned. "The Lair? I know that place. My friends and I go there all the time. I love that club."
"Yeah it is great. Well my friend wanted me to fly down to L.A. and run it for him for a few days. He was going to visit his sister in Florida and he asked if I would look after the place for him. I was all set to go because I wanted to get out of Vegas for awhile. Things weren't going great for me. It wasn't too long after everything blew up with Diana. But my friend's plans got canceled so I was stuck in Vegas."
"So...if your friend's plans weren't canceled and Dante hadn't left me. You would have been at The Lair? And we still would have met..."
"I would have stolen you away so fast." said Deacon.
Bridget giggled. "You're awful."
"You didn't think so that night..." He said as he kissed her again and then tickled her side.
Bridget squealed. "I told you to quit tickling me.." She giggled as she crossed her arms to protect herself.
"I choose not to listen." He replied picking her up and carrying her back inside.

"She still blames me." frowned Felicia sitting outside on the patio with a drink in her hand. "She blames me for "stealing" you away." She said to her husband. "Makes me out to be some jealous bitch."
"I know." said Dante sitting in the other white wicker chair. "She's still very angry at us both."
"Mostly me." said Felicia. "And it doesn't matter what I say to her. She won't listen"
"Why should she?" a female voice said.
They both turned and saw Kristen standing there.
"What are you doing here?" asked Felicia setting her drink down. "You come to judge me?"
"No." said Kristen walking over to them. "I came here because I wanted to tell you I think Bridget is right. You were both cruel and heartless."
Felicia sighed and gritted her teeth. "I'm not going to listen to this."
"You ARE going to listen." said Kristen firmly. "You have any idea what she went through? Do you comprehend what that baby meant to her?"
"I know what it meant to her. I AM a mother." snapped Felicia.
"That's right. YOU are a mother. She WAS a mother. And you go and snatch away....did you honestly believe she would be happy for the both of you? Yes Dante I know that you and Bridget were a little shaky a times but I know she wanted to make it work and she thought this baby would be a blessing to bring you both closer."
"She did?" said a startled Dante. "I didn't know that."
"That's right you didn't. You were too busy hanging around Felicia and bonding with your other child to bother with what Bridget was feeling. It was like you cast Bridget aside and said well I can have that family with Felicia. We share a child so that makes it all better."
"That's not how it was." exclaimed Felicia.
"The hell it wasn't." retorted Kristen. "You knew exactly what you were doing. And if I recall you weren't too happy when you found out Bridget started seeing Dante."
Felicia was silent. There was truth to that and she knew it.
"You said he was just a one night stand but when that "one night stand" got involved with someone else, you resented that. Admit it."
"Okay fine. Maybe I was a tad jealous but I didn't set out to hurt Bridget. It just...happened."
"Oh really?" said Kristen. "Just happened. So you parading your baby in front of Dante every chance you got and telling him that he should spend time with that child to ease the pain of losing the baby...just happened?"
"I didn't parade.."
"You did so. Everytime Dante was around, there you were with Dino flaunting him about as to say...hey look you can still have that family...me and Dino...Did it occur to you how that would make Bridget feel? Do you ever think of anyone but yourself? And YOU...Dante....did you even CARE that the baby died? Did you grieve at ALL? Because I think I remember you saying to Bridget she should just get over it because you two could have other babies."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"That's how it sounded. So this excuse of Bridget "pushing you away" was just THAT. An EXCUSE. She didn't push you away...she wanted time to grieve for her child. She needed to heal. Emotionally and physically. You were too busy paying attention to your health baby boy to care about what Bridget needed."
"What was I supposed to do? Ignore my own child?" said Dante.
"No. But you seemed to have a hell of a lot more interest in that baby once the miscarriage happened. It was very traumatic for Bridget. Losing a baby that she loved so much. And to have it's father not care and run off and marry another...How the hell did you think she would feel?" With that Kristen stormed off leaving Felicia and Dante alone.
After a few minutes Dante spoke. "She's right."
"What? What are you talking about? She's not right."
"Yes she is." said Dante. "We never stopped to consider Bridget's feelings. I never considered how...My own child dies...and I act like..."
"You know it was hard for you." said Felicia. "You loved that baby too."
"Not as much as Bridget. I'm the one who screwed things up. She wasn't sure about how she felt about me. I mean she liked me and all but she wasn't sure if it was love and I...I don't know if I really loved her. When we made love....she wasn't there. I could tell her heart was not with me. I know she tried...it wasn't there. And when she told me she was pregnant...she told me that this baby was a blessing and we could grow closer. When she told me she lost the baby, I go and say...well we can just have another. The poor girl loses a baby and I act like it's nothing. Like getting a bad haircut...oh don't worry it will grow back...you can't replace a child. What an idiot I was."
He walked inside the house and headed into the study closing the door behind him. Sitting down on the brown leather sofa, he rested his head against the back. He thought of Bridget today in the boardroom. How angry she was. She had every right to be. He loused up. Big time. He never deserved her. She was a great girl and he threw it away. At least things worked out for her. She was going to marry this Deacon guy and have his child. He wanted to tell Bridget he was sorry about what he did but he didn't think it would do any good. The damage had been done. She still looked beautiful though. Always had. She belonged to Deacon now. He could accept that. She was happy. He was very happy with Felicia and their child. Maybe someday Bridget would forgive them. If not the both of them, hopefully in time she would be able to forgive Felicia. They were sisters and even though Felicia put on a tough act, he knew that it killed her to have Bridget angry at her.

Bridget sat up in bed eating at cookie after an intense round of lovemaking with Deacon.
"These cookies are heavenly." She said. "God...this is sooo good." She groaned. "Oh God..."
Deacon looked at Bridget and grinned at her as she enjoyed the chocolate chip cookie. "You want to be alone with that cookie?"
"What?" asked Bridget through a mouthful.
"You sound like you are going to have an orgasm."
Bridget turned bright red. "Shut up." She said with a smile.
"Here." said Deacon. "Have another cookie." He said holding the plate out for her.
"Deacon.." Bridget blushed again then grabbed another cookie. "These are wonderful."
"I'll tell Mom to bake more." said Deacon putting the plate down. "I like watching you enjoy them."
Bridget shook her head. "THIS turns you on? Me eating a cookie turns you on?"
"When you are having a orgasm over the cookie it does." He replied kissing her.
"So when do I get to meet her?" Bridget asked to change the subject.
"She wants to have dinner tomorrow." He replied.
"Is she going to like me?"
"Baby of course she is. You are sweet and beautiful."
"I don't think your mom is going to care about the beautiful part." said Bridget.
"Baby she's going to love you. Don't worry."
"Did she like the other girls?"
"Who? Jill and Diana?"
Bridget nodded.
"Well to be honest she wasn't crazy about Jill and of course she turned to to be right. She was okay with Diana but I sense she wasn't exactly thrilled with her."
"Deacon what happened with them?"
"I told you already." said Deacon.
"No I mean...did you love them?"
"Well." said Deacon sitting back against the pillow. "I thought I did. I mean Jill seemed like a great person and when she told me the story about her abusive childhood...and then her abusive boyfriend...I wanted to help her. I wanted to make it all better for her. But like you know...it blew up. Nothing she told me was true and she was just using me."
"What about Diana? Did you love her?"
"Yeah I suppose. I thought she was so different from Jill. I thought she was genuine and honestly cared about me. Did she ever put on an act. I fell for it and then find out she was no different than Jill. You know I almost married Diana?"
"You did?"
"Yeah...I was thinking about it and I even was planning on getting a ring...and that's when it fell apart. That's when I found her..with that other guy. She used me. I couldn't believe it. I thought..what's wrong with me? Why do women think they can just use me? They act like I have no feelings. Like I'm nothing."
"You're something to me." said Bridget. "I love you."
"I love you too baby." said Deacon holding her close. "Promise me one thing."
"What?"
"Promise no matter how crazy I drive you and I will."
Bridget giggled.
"Promise me that you will never leave me. The thought of some other guy making love to you, touching your gorgeous body...I can't handle that. Promise you'll never leave me."
"I promise." said Bridget resting her head against him. "You promise you'll never leave me no matter how much I drive you crazy. I don't like the idea of some other woman putting their hands on you. The idea of this woman getting your love when they don't deserve it...I don't like to think about it. Don't leave me. Ever. Even if I gain 50 pounds. Promise you will always think I'm beautiful."
"I promise baby." said Deacon. "And you will always be beautiful to me. Always."
He lowered her down on the bed. "And if those cookies turned you on...you wait till I'm through with you."
Bridget giggled as Deacon then pressed his mouth on hers in a passionate kiss. and another around of intense lovemaking took place.